Author's note: UntilNeverDawns did an awesome job as a beta as always. You need to know that. Definitely.

Dear, dear readers, thank you for your kind words, thank you for just reading, thank you for favouriting and following, thank you period. I'm glad you've decided to come on this ride with me. This is not going to be epic. Medium length, but we still have a few chapters to go. 3? 4? I don't know. We'll find out together. Anyhow, Just like "Honesty Is Always A Good Policy" this one will go into a tiny holiday-hiatus as well, so UntilNeverDawns and I can recharge our respective beta-ing and writing batteries.

Enjoy the holidays, enjoy your time with your loved ones. Food and good people, that's what this is all about, not in that order necessarily. Take care and read you soon! I'll be back before you know it.

P.s.: I'm on tumblr now. My username is the same as here.

And just like they had previously agreed they slowly but surely dwindled into a state of pleasant inebriation over the course of the evening. Since Ally was a lightweight, it quickly made her more tactile and by the second glass of Chardonnay she became practically attached to Steve's hip, whereas the aforementioned Irishman became more talkative and extroverted, doing everything in his power to keep her entertained and impress her. It was cute how he tried to regale her with anecdotes from his youth, she thought, before that thought got submerged in more Chardonnay. He would probably turn beet-red if he were ever to find out that she now knew about his chubby-phase as a ten-year-old, induced by his Nan's passion for baking carrot cake and his for eating it. Actually in her pleasant alcoholic haze she came to associate the word 'cute' more frequently with him.

They were both still laughing and red-cheeked when they later stumbled towards the cab home. There was a brief disagreement over where home was, but not about the fact that they would both be heading there together. It must have driven the taxi driver nuts, but it entertained the both of them immensely. But he had no reason to be angry with them for long. After all his trouble with them he received a pretty massive tip and was more than happy to leave them to some more charmingly disjoint and private conversations in front of Ally's house.

"Now this would be 'bout the right time fer a little jig. Not when we're all sober an' stuff like back at the gym," he suggested out of the blue when they made their way to the front door with unsteady steps, his arm wrapped around her waist to steady her.

She ran her hand through her hair, mussing it up. "You think I'm too drunk to dance? Never too drunk to dance," she told him and promptly tried a dance step, which nearly landed her on her ass. Nearly because he caught her just in time.

"Ooops," she giggled.

"Woah, luv! Easy. Watch yer step," he told her, while she was leaning into him and still giggling softly into his chest.

"What's so funny?" he asked looking down in her slightly reddened face with a grin of his own.

"Nothing," she snorted out another laughter. "Just that one day I'm gonna break my nose on your pecs…"

A dismissive 'pfff' sound was all he uttered.

"Seriously," she poked at his chest muscles. "Hmmmmmm… What size are those anyway? Maybe I should give you one of my bras," now she was actually groping his pecs. He let it happen, chuckling a little.

"That's sexual harassment, girlie," he told her nuzzling her face a little, upon which she actually squeezed his chest.

"Hmmmmm… Let's see… An A-cup? Probably even a little more," she joked, poking fun of him in a way only she could, with a wink in her eyes and a look of adoration in them. Thanks to the adoration bit, he'd let the A-cup comment slide. Suddenly, however, a quizzical expression appeared on her face. "I once saw the Rock do the Pec Pop of Love in a movie… Can you do that?" Her hands sank down as if she was actually expecting him to do that now.

This time he actually laughed out loud. "What the feck's that?"

"You do a little dance with your chest muscles. Dun-da-da-dun-da-da-da. Come on, babe! Dance for mama. If only we had some berries…"

Instead of fulfilling her request he shook his head with a soft chuckle and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Ye know what? Yer daft an' incredibly cute when yer drunk."

"Boooh! And you're already sobering up," she whined with a frown. "No fair!"

"No, actually I'm still a lil' bit buzzed," he tried to reassure her.

She stumbled up the three steps to the front porch, almost landing flat on her face, but catching herself in the last second. "I'm fine… I'm fine," she announced, swatting his helping hands away. "Don't distract me with your manly, gropey hands… You were saying how you were still buzzed. Prove it. Do something stupid," she challenged with a pout on her face.

"Like what?" he asked in a tone that betrayed a dangerous amount of curiosity and enthusiasm.

"I dunno," she shrugged her shoulders, but there was already a grin on his face that told her he had come up with an idea of his own. She let out an adorable little squeal when he backed her up against the front door and cupped her breast with one hand and a fair amount of cockiness.

"How about that?" he asked. "Can ye do the Pec Pop of Love?"

She had by now overcome her initial shock and taken stock of the situation: his knee was wedged between her legs and one of his hands was right next to her head, while his other one was still cupping her breast. His eyes were glittering in the twilight and she felt his warm breath on her face when he spoke again. "What's that ye got here? A C-cup?"

She licked her lips slowly and deliberately before she spoke. "That's your something stupid? Sexual harassment on the front porch?"

"That's already sexual harassment te ye?" he made a dismissive noise and lowered his face to the side of her neck. His fingers closed around her wrist and held it in place when she started to shudder and writhe against him long before he even did anything. "Ah'll show ye how it's done properly," his breath fanned against her skin. She only let out a tiny little whimper in response. The situation had turned from playful to sexually charged in a matter of seconds.

She let out a little gasp when his mouth closed over her neck. What could have just been an innocent kiss became increasingly less innocent when the pressure of his lips grew more insistent and he sucked and lapped at her skin. She squirmed against him, her knees going weak. Finally he let go of her wrist and she soon wrapped her arms around him. "Luv yer taste," he whispered heatedly against her skin and she only made a humming noise in approval, incapable of formulating a verbal response at this point. "A wanna taste every inch of ye. See if the rest of ye is jus' as delicious…"

Now drunk minds have a weird way of working, because she pulled his head back a little, wanting to uttered the words on the tip of her tongue. Her voice was breathless and the expression on her face was sort of funny. He looked at her in surprise, seeing as he could not really comprehend why she would want to say anything right now. "Everything? My hair too?" she made a face. "Yuck! You're such a weirdo."

At this point he had not much left to do but sigh, chuckle and shake his head a little. "Dirty talk's wasted on ye in this state, huh?" He was breathing just as fast as her and despite his question, he could tell thanks to the wild look in her eyes that she was more than a little turned on right there. Why she was asking stupid question in a moment like that was beyond him, though.

"Not wasted," one of her hands had delved underneath his t-shirt and was tracing interesting little patterns on his back and making it hard for him to focus on her words, "but I don't like lines like that. They sound like something out of a hot love scene in a movie. I want genuine you. You know when you go all 'grrrr'. Genuine you is very sexy."

"What if that was just what A'm tinkin'?"

"Was it? Men usually are more pervy in my experience," she arched a delicate eyebrow at him, challenging him to say what was really running through his head. He blushed a little then and it made her chuckle.

"Yeah, like your nice little buzz isn't wearing off. You can't even say it," she teased.

"I can," he told her, furrowing his brows a little.

She raised her chin. "Prove it."

He just stared at her, but before he could summon the courage to say anything, actually it would have gotten a little awkward at this point, because she was more or less challenging him to, she took mercy on him and put him out of his misery. Just like that. Just because she already knew him well enough to do that.

"You know what?" she grinned. "Actually, I think I'm a little bit psychic…" He watched her face with an interested expression. All the blood in his body seemed to rush south when he listened to the next words that passed her lips. "What you were thinking was actually something along the lines of 'I want to take you, right here against the front door', right?"

He suddenly felt very sober and extremely aroused. "Yer right. Yer a psychic," he replied and crushed his mouth to hers again.

"Then…" she gasped, in between kisses, "say that next time. I don't mind you… being like that… Not right now…" His hands had delved underneath her clothes and the sound of his rapid breathing and humming sounds of approval, spiked up her own pulse. "Say it," she repeated again, the words only a whisper, but still rather urgent. "I don't need poetry... I just… need you…. It's been over two weeks."

"Keys. Where are yer feckin' keys?" His hands were already searched her body for them quite urgently and thoroughly. No, they were not hidden in the cups of her bra. He eventually found them in the pocket of her skin-tight jeans. He shoved her inside the house and the expression in her eyes had something wild to them. The door fell shut behind them with a loud bang. He had used his foot to close it. She giggled in delight. He advanced at her with a growl and his lips furled back a little, upon which she inched back and let out a little squeak. That reaction was too equivocal for him to interpret correctly right now and he more or less immediately pulled back, not wanting to do something premature. After all they didn't know each other that well yet, at least not in that respect.

"Ye okay?" he asked worriedly. "I didn't a want te scare ye, lass." His breaths were puffing against her hair and she looked up at him with big eyes, her lips a little swollen from kissing.

"Are you crazy? That growl thingie just now? Such a turn on."

"Yeah?" he grinned proudly.

"Yeah," she traced a little pattern on his chest and looked at him from under hooded eyes, chewing at her bottom lip once before she released it again. He interpreted that as an invitation to kiss her again and the whimpering sound she made when he did confirmed at suspicion. Also she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. Out of pure selflessness he decided to make things easier for her by cupping her bum and stumbling over to the bedroom with her in his arms. They more or less fell through the door and towards the bed. Later neither of them would remember how their clothes were removed or how they had actually possessed the presence of mind to think of protection, but somehow they did.

There was no foreplay and that was fine for both of them. Each word they had exchanged over the phone in the last few days, each incidental and deliberate touch tonight had led to this very moment, so in a way there had been two weeks worth of foreplay, come to think of it. What they both craved was a renewal of their physical connection, a reminder of the bond they shared, because now there was one and it wasn't subtle like in the beginning, it was urgent and desperate and filled with longing and that longing could only be quenched momentarily in this one, carnal way.

It was just as much about the sounds she made and how she made him feel as it was about his need to be close to her. He wanted to explain to her what he could not yet put into words – that there was a sense of belonging and possession. He tried to tell her that by the way he intertwined his fingers so tightly with hers, the way he closed his eyes in pleasure when he felt her nails trace down his spine and he kissed her when she moaned his name.

The next morning was really bright. The sunlight that was filtering through the window seemed to be very cheerful it was morning, but Ally was not and its light made her skull ache rather acutely. After uselessly attempting to postpone the inevitable and a good while of tossing and turning, she was slowly coming to. She opened her eyes and instantly squeezed them shut again. The light! Argh! She felt like a vampire. Her head was throbbing dully with the quite noticeable hangover of supposedly responsible drinking. She took a chance again at opening her eyes again, more cautiously now, one after the other. Talking about vampires, there was a pale, muscular male arm resting over hers and the solid weight of another body at her back. Hot exhales were gushing against the nape of her neck. She was wearing a shirt that was several sizes too big for her and only that.

Just as she became aware of those positive and slightly awkward details (she was not sure how she felt about sleeping in his shirt and only his shirt), she became also aware of the unpleasant ones: the pressure of her bladder that would soon require for her to move and the parched feeling in her mouth. She didn't even want to get started on the topic of morning breath after yesterday's alcoholic dalliances.

So it was with great reluctance that she eventually detangled herself from his embrace. She avoided sudden movements, factoring in her hangover and was therefore not surprised when her headache worsened when she slowly sat up in bed. Taking a look over her shoulder was tempting and she gave into that urge. There he was stretched out on her bed. His mouth slightly agape as he softly snored, the blanket wrapped around his hips – So adorable, she thought despite her headache. Curiosity got the better of her, she didn't remember much about last night, only what the pleasant and already dulling ache between her thighs and a couple of vivid flashbacks told her. She slowly raised the blanket and peered underneath, trying not to rouse him from sleep. A smirk delineated on her face. Naked. Hmmmmm. If only she weren't so hung over.

She padded to the bathroom, finding two torn up condom wrappers as she went. The second one had been the charm obviously. She remembered that at least. They had blown up the first one and attempted to twist it like a balloon animal. Hadn't worked out. She scoffed quietly under her breath and swayed in the direction of the bathroom with the grace of an un-dead body walking the earth. Once inside, she decided to brush her teeth while she was in there. Having done that, she stood for a moment in the doorframe contemplating what to do next. Slipping back into bed with him sounded tempting, but not yet and not empty-handedly. So she slouched towards the kitchen instead and started a pot of coffee. When it was done, another slight hitch in her plan became apparent to her. She had no idea how he took his coffee, so she went rummaging for a tray and put the coffee pot on it, followed by two mugs, a milk carton, sugar and two teaspoons.

Concentrating on not spilling any of the precious coffee, she padded back inside the bedroom. He had his head buried in her pillow now and one of his hands fisted in the blanket. He was still sleeping. She sat the tray down on the dresser and pulled out a clean pair of panties from a drawer. She quickly slipped it on and sat down on the bed, cross-legged, staring at him as she waited for him to wake up.

After roughly one minute he started to stir and rolled on his back, thirty more seconds or so later, his eyelids started to flutter. His arm instantly came to rest over his eyes, he groaned. Somehow he must have become aware of her presence though, because he subtly shifted his body in her direction. "Morning," she smiled, suddenly feeling more cheerful, seeing that he was just as miserable as her.

She leaned down and pressed a peck to his forehead. He made a grumbling, sort of humming noise, which made her laugh softly and clutch her head in agony almost immediately. That damned headache! Laughing was a bad idea.

Struck with sudden inspiration, she quickly, well at least she didn't slouch anymore, got them a bottle of water from the kitchen and a couple of Advils from the cabinet behind the bathroom mirror. When she got back inside the bedroom, he hadn't moved much. He was still on his back, with his arm covering his eyes. It was a rather attractive look. It almost had something artsy about it. She stood for a second in the doorframe, taking in the scene before her innate hyperactivity manifested itself again and she moved towards the bed.

The mattress dipped under her weight and he groaned. "Don't be so melodramatic," she admonished him with a smile and gently pried his arm away from his face. He sighed and looked up at her, already starting to smile as he took in her features.

"Hi."

"Hi," the word flowed out of her, all warm and affectionate. She reached for the coffee pot and poured him a mug of coffee, while he slowly scooted up against the headboard. He gratefully reached out his hands for the mug, shaking his head cautiously at the offer of milk and sugar. A little appreciative hiss escaped him when he first cradled the hot mug in his hand and sipped from it slowly.

"Hang-over breakfast?" he said eventually, his voice sounding gravelly and low, those words being the first he had spoken all day.

"Yeah. Something like that," she smiled at him over the edge of her own mug. The sleeves of his shirt were always falling forward when she lowered it, though she kept pushing them back instantly. "Advil?" she asked setting the mug back on the bedside table.

He shook his head. "Water," he said, already reaching for the bottle and gulping a quarter of it down right after he had screwed the lid off.

"Attractive," she remarked teasingly.

"Want some?" he asked, holding the bottle out to her. "No thanks," she shook her head and raised her coffee mug. He shrugged and screwed the lid shut. "Any idea where me knickers are?"

She did. They were lying behind her on the floor, but she wasn't about to tell him. She shrugged her shoulders innocently, batting her eyes at him prettily. "Why'd you need them? I've already seen everything," she informed him, gesturing at his body in a roundabout way with her free hand.

"Last smidgeon of modesty, I guess," he shrugged his shoulders and slightly shifted against the headboard.

"Overrated," she told him, grinning at him wickedly as she took another sip from her mug before she settled down next to him, her legs stretched out on top of the covers.

"Nice legs," he smiled and patted her knee affectionately for a moment.

"I know," she replied cockily and took a triumphant sip from her mug.

The delivery of that particular line and the smug luck on her face made him chuckle despite himself and he instantly grabbed his head. "Ow!"

"Yeah, sorry forgot to warn you…laughing hurts," she confirmed and leaned in to press a kiss to his temple. After she had pulled back, he grabbed her hand on top of the covers and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Ye know… despite the massive headache, I'm really enjoyin' every minute of this…"

"Me too… But…"

"But?" he looked at her.

"I… Well, how do I put this?"

His hand squeezed hers a little more tightly. "Jus' say it." The tips of his fingers were suddenly a little cold against her skin. Had she managed to scare him? Maybe it would have been wise to phrase her opening sentence a bit differently. It had sounded like she wanted to initiate a break-up conversation. She looked at his face. In passing her eyes flitted over his chest and she noticed the quick rising and falling of it almost as an afterthought. His blue eyes bore into her expectantly, but also a little anxiously.

"Well… erm… how do I put this? There are moments when we're together and you're sort of… zoning out?" She still wasn't sure how to approach the subject and maybe she was messing up here, because his eyebrows drew together and he was regarding her with a frown. But perhaps that was just the sort of face he made when he didn't understand what she wanted to say. It wasn't like she had made herself all that clear. "It's just that I've noticed and I'm a little worried now. I keep asking myself if… if… it's me…"

He blew out a breath.

"Is it me?" Her voice had an uncharacteristically timid ring to it now. Her heart was pounding fast and loudly inside her ears. Up until now it hadn't occurred to her how important this was to her. Correction, how important he was to her. But it turned out that the thought of him giving her any kind of negative answer or rejecting her, left her with a gaping feeling of dread.

Time seemed to pass much slower now as he regarded her with the intense blue gaze of his eyes. The frown slowly ebbed away from his features and the only remainders of it were the soft lines between his eyes where his skin had wrinkled earlier. Still he remained hesitant to speak.

"Steve… please… This is killing me. Say something."

He sighed. "I've jus' been thinkin'..."

"About what?"

"About ye an' me an' how this is goin' te work in the future…"

Her heart plummeted.

"If you're not happy with-"

"No!" his voice cut vehemently through her sentence. "No, that's not what I wanted te say."

She extricated her hand from his for her second to bury her head in her hands. "Gosh!" her hot breath, fanned against her legs. His hand touched her back hesitantly before she sat up straight again, brushing her hair from her face with a casual and quick flick of her hand. She tried hard to hide her anxiety when she looked at his features again that were uncharacteristically serious for once.

"Now you are scaring me."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean te."

"Then talk to me! Please!"

"I've been thinkin' about us-"

"Steve! Come on! If you're going to break up with me –"

"I'm not! Jaysus!"

Both of them were breathing hard now. The conversation had taken an unexpected turn for both of them. It had made her more anxious and him suddenly and very acutely aware of the fact that it was more serious than he had initially thought.

"I'm not goin' to break up with ye… Last thing on me mind… But maybe ye…"

"Maybe I…?"

"I jus' keep wonderin' sometimes that maybe ye want te… break up that is, an' te be honest I… I don't much like the thought… Despite us not seein' a lot of each other, I tink this works out pretty danm well. Don't ye?"

Her mind needed a moment to wrap around his words and make sense of them. So what was he saying there? That whenever he zoned out he was worrying about her breaking up with him? That was stupid. Actually they had both been stupid and insecure and a little pathetic. They were both worrying simultaneously about the other wanting to break up? How shitty, pathetic and needy was that?!

She didn't want to break up with him. He was damn near perfect with his broad smiles, his sense of humour and his easy-going nature that was occasionally spiced with a little bit of a temper. Actually that description of him was inept and lacking. It was merely superficial at best. But that didn't matter. What mattered right now was the fact that breaking up with him, despite the comparatively little time they spent together, was actually the furthest thing from her mind. It would be stupid. Immensely stupid, because you don't break up with a person whose presence you crave. Yes, she wanted to go with the word 'crave' here. Because talking to him was usually the best part of her day, even it was just over the phone or the computer most of the time.

"Aren't ye goin' te say anytin'?" he asked, subtly nudging her shoulder a little with his.

"Sorry… I guess right about now it was me who did a little zoning out number on you, huh?" she scratched her head and laughed awkwardly, feeling suddenly a bit nervous.

"Yeah. What were ye tinkin' about?"

"How… how we're both some kind of real whack-jobs. We're both sitting around worrying about one of us wanting to break up with the other… That's… We're both such a bunch of losers."

"I guess," he grinned. "We're really a little pathetic, huh?"

"Just a little? I mean… Don't take that the wrong way, but you're really a great guy… Why would I want to end things with you, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm a great guy… Yup. Great. Fantastic." He was being self-deprecating again, she could tell thanks to the tone of his voice and the derisive sparkle in his eyes, so she gave him a little shove.

"Please, none of that shit now, okay?"

"Okay."

"What I've been trying to say is… Is. Oh fuck! How do I actually say this without sounding like a complete retard?"

"By not swearin'?"

"No, I don't think that's it," she smiled.

"Sorry, me bad. I forgot how swearin' makes everything sound so much more romantic."

She gave him a slight nudge with her leg and reached for his hand again. Wrapping her fingers firmly around his, she looked at him.

"So what do ye wanna say?" he asked her again this time more softly.

"I dunno. Just that I really, really, really don't want to break up with you."

"Sorry, but that's a bit lame actually."

"Lame?"

"Yup. Ye can do much better than this," he challenged her.

She gave him a long look. There were words on the tip of her tongue now, but maybe it was childish saying them now and a little premature, after all what she was feeling for him, the depth of those feelings, had just started to become clear to her. She was not ready to make any grand declaration yet and maybe he was not ready to hear them yet. She didn't know. Maybe it was just a pathetic excuse because she was too chickenshit to say anything right now. Instead she just turned to him and since he seemed to want to maintain eye contact he mirrored her move.

For a couple of seconds neither of them spoke. They just sat there and looked at each other. And like so many times before she tried to look deeper than just looking at his handsome features and she fancied that for once she actually succeed. Maybe because of the situation or those words they had exchanged earlier. Or maybe it was that for once he didn't try to distract her with smiles and jokes.

His features were relaxed and she saw the soft lines around his eyes. She thought she saw a mixture of different emotions in his gaze: affection, calmness and as always there was a pinch of exhaustion. He was always so tired and worn out. Because of that latter discovery she reached out her hand and touched his cheek. His eyes slowly fell close and he leaned into her touch, almost like a cat would nudge its head affectionately against the hand that wants to caress it.

"You're right. I can," she said softly. Her hand was still cupping his cheek and when he slowly opened his eyes again to look at her, they seemed to pierce her straight through the heart. "You're important to me… In fact if I'm really honest…" she lowered her gaze there for a second, "Being with you has become one of the most important things in my life. When you're not here I feel…"

"Sad?"

"Yeah."

"Which is pretty-"

"Crazy," she finished for him.

"Yeah, that an' a bit ridiculous… The ferst thing I wanna do when I get back te the hotel is call ye… No, if I'm honest… sometimes I'm not even at the hotel yet… it's straight when I get outta the gym. When I get one minute alone an'…"

He couldn't finish the sentence, because there was a little gasp and then she was kissing him. Not like she had last night, like a drowning woman, all desperation and greedy touches. No, this was different. Her lips pressed against his with determination and purpose, but not brutally so. There was a message he was supposed to get and she managed to make herself quite clear by the way her mouth gently moved in time with his and her hands traced over the sides of his face so slowly and tenderly.

"Don't be so sweet," she told him softly when she pulled back and he understood what she meant with those words because her eyes were shining and her voice was a little hoarse.

"Jus' tellin' the truth," he replied, lowering his head.

She smiled. Her feelings for him were so very close underneath the surface now. Warm, affectionate and still a little muddled-up.

"Anyway. I can't help but sometimes wonder if what we have is enough… It's not like I don't know. Because I do… I know it's not enough. Not if-"

"Not if…" she tried to coax him into speaking on.

"Not if this is serious an' we want more." There was a pause in their conversation now during which his blue eyes flitted over her face with something akin to desperation as if she could peer into her head like that and read her thoughts. It turned out he couldn't. "Do we want more?" he asked eventually.

"Oh God!" her voice was vibrating now. She let her head sink to his chest. "Do we have to do this now?"

"We can't do this over the phone."

"No, you're right."

"So?"

"Of course I do. What did you think? That I just wanted someone to sleep with because I felt lonely?" she raised his eyes to his again and in her gaze there was almost something challenging. As if to appease her he reached up his hand and laid it against her cheek. She could feel the rough, dry texture of his palm, lifting weights and taping your hands would do that to you. In addition to that it was warm and strong, but its touch slightly unsteady, because the faintest bit of tremor betrayed his insecurity.

"I hoped that that was not all there was… But ye… ye gotta know that this is where this gets complicated…"

"Why?"

"Are ye happy with the way tings are now?"

"What do mean?" she frowned.

"Well, we can't have tings normal couples have… Normal dates… Seein' each other more often than just a couple a times a month… Everyday tings, arguin' over who takes out the garbage or who gets the remote or how te squeeze out the feckin' tooth paste an' whatnot… Right now I can't give ye that… Not yet. I just can't… I can't stop workin' yet. There is more I want te do." She could tell saying those things cost him a lot of courage. He had probably not said them to anyone for some time, because those sentences came a bit haltingly with a lot of stops and starts.

"And I'm not asking you to… Not right now. I would be a hypocrite if I did. I just accepted this new job, remember?"

"Yeah. Kind a hard te forget. That feckin' job..."

She smiled. "Yeah, just like your fucking job. Couldn't you have picked something less… hmmm… flashy? Like plumber? Or mechanic? Or I dunno…"

"I wrestle. It's what I do. I'm not good at anything else," he said it with conviction, but she thought that maybe he wasn't aware that he could be more, that he already was more. At least to her.

She sighed. "I get it. I do… But it's not true that you're only good at this one thing… You're good with a lot of things. You're funny and kind and smart… and… you're so much more than just that… You're great… One of the best people I know… I don't know what-"

"Ally…" he threw her a look. His forehead set in a frown and the corners of his mouth turned down like he had a bitter taste in his mouth. Had she said something wrong? His hands gripped hers abruptly and she flinched, but only because he had caught her unprepared and there was suddenly this intensity in his eyes as if her words had lit something within him and sparked a new determination.

"Yes," she breathed, because despite feeling queasy and insecure, she needed to know what this was about.

"I… this is stupid… I shouldn't," he stuttered the determination ebbing away somewhat.

"No, you should. Say it."

"Stay with me… Say that ye will," he said with a sudden urgency.

"What is this about?"

"It's about the fact that I need ye, but I have no feckin' right te want ye… Because maybe I'm not good enough fer ye… Screw that… Not only maybe. I want te offer ye more… I should be able te offer ye more…But I can't. And it's killin' me…It's not enough… Maybe I'm not here enough… Maybe ye feel-"

"You might not be here all the time, but that's okay. We talk all the time. Remember?"

"Yeah, on the bleedin' phone or over the computer or some other shite. But is that a way te have a relationship? I mean do ye serious want-"

"Steve… That's the way things are right now. And that's… That's okay."

He nodded, albeit with a grim expression on his face.

Admittedly that expression had her a little worried. "If…If I promise to stay with you, will you stay with me too?"

"Will I stay with ye?" his voice sounded incredulous as he repeated her words back at her. He shook his head and threw her a bitter smirk. "Ye shouldn't be askin' me that. Ye should ask yerself if ye really want this. Because yer not buyin' yerself into a fairy tale here… This is not gonna be easy… It's gonna be-"

"-messy and complicated and stuff. Yadda, yadda, yadda."

His eyes grew huge at her surprising display of irony. He hadn't counted on that to happen.

"Newsflash. You're not Edward Cullen or the Phantom of the Opera," she continued, despite his slack jaw and his open mouth. "Honestly… while I hate having to wait around to see you, it's worth it in the end. Completely. So yes… I do want to take this to the next level. Yes, I do want to stay with you."

In the meantime he had recovered from his initial shock. "Yer really sometin' else, tellin' me te shut me gob like that…I was gonna be a gentleman fer once… and ye go an'-"

"-Shut up! It's your turn to say it now."

He smiled. "Ally."

"Steve. Just say it."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Ally… the answer was always gonna be the same… I do want te be with ye."

Loved it? Hated it? What do think about this chapter? Let me know and give me something to work with! In other words: Please review!