Danny pushed Steve up to the table after moving the chair and took the seat across from him at the table in JJ's Bar and Grill. It was a mostly local inhabited establishment off the beaten path of Kalakaua Ave where most of the tourist destinations were located. The décor displayed paintings and pictures of local well known hero's like King Kamehameha and Duke Kahanamoku as well some only the native Hawaiian's knew, like Eddie Aikau, who was just as much a hero in his own time.

"Do you want to do a pitcher?" Danny asked him.

"Sure. You're driving," Steve grinned.

"You're buying then," Danny chuckled.

"That hasn't changed."

"Whatever," he snorted, getting the bartenders attention. "Hey, can we get a pitcher of your best IPA?"

The bartender waved his acknowledgment, grabbing a clean pitcher from the ones lined up against the back wall.

"So how's work?" Steve asked him. "Any juicy cases you want to share for my pure enjoyment?"

"Nothing at work worth talking about, besides it's my day off, I don't want to talk about work."

"What do you want to talk about then?"

"Oh a few things here and there but one in particular," Danny smiled, sitting back in the chair as the bartender set the pitcher and two chilled glasses on the table in front of them "Thanks," he said to him pouring a beer from the pitcher. He slid the first glass over to Steve and then poured one for himself. "How are things going at home with Tyler?" He looked up at him intentionally, wanting to see his initial reaction over that question.

Steve reached out for his beer as a wide grin crossed his face. If there were a gun to his head threatening him, there was still no way he wouldn't be able to smile when thinking of her. "It's good. Things are coming along well."

Danny laughed and shook his head, getting the exact reaction he was expecting. "God you're predictable sometimes."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know something's up with you and Tyler. I came over the other morning and she was asleep with you on the bed. You two looked very cozy."

"What?"

"Don't what me. Unless of course she always cuddles up to her patients, and if that's the case then I might break something so I can hire her."

Steve's eyes narrowed over that remark, feeling a punch of jealousy in the gut. "Shut up. Don't talk about her like that."

Danny roared with laughter, "Damn you are a predictable son of a bitch, and gullible!"

Steve took a drink of his beer with a playful scowl on his face. "You're an asshole."

"I know." He took a drink of his beer and casually sat back in his chair again, "So…" he grinned across at him.

"So what?"

"Don't play innocent with me, the cats out of the bag so fess up. What's going on with you and my employee?"

Steve stared at his beer, running his fingers up and down the glass that was already dripping with condensation. "I've been thinking about having that operation," he blurted out, looking across at Danny now for his first initial reaction.

He raised an eyebrow, not expecting that reply from him. "Oh really? Is this your idea or Tyler's?"

"Mine," he quickly defended. "She's never said a word to me about it, unless I bring it up and ask her opinion."

"And what's her opinion, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Only if you're asking out of curiosity and not out of accusation."

He shrugged, "Maybe a little of both. She and I talked about it once before and we both agreed it was your decision to make."

"Don't worry boss she's following your orders," his tone a slightly sarcastic.

"Hey, don't get all uppity with me. This was before you and she…" Danny paused squinting his eyes in question at him, "what exactly is it between you and her?"

He hadn't really deciphered that yet, "I don't know." It was a troubling question though now that it was brought out in the open. He was sure of one thing, he was falling in love with her, but still had that uneasy lingering thought in the back of his head reminding him that she had other plans that didn't involve him, plans that he felt needed to be pursued.

Danny knew right then and there that things were serious between them, at least they were for Steve, his uneasy expression told him that. "Geez, did you go and fall in love with her?"

He shot him a quick glance and opened his mouth to retaliate that claim but couldn't get the words out to deny it, not ready to share it with the world just yet, but then again realized who he was talking to. He couldn't lie to Danny about it even if he wanted to, he'd already figured it out just by looking at him and mentioning her name.

"Ah shit, Danny," he sighed heavily, "I think so." He swallowed hard, looking across at him with sappy eyes not knowing until that second how much he not only needed his advice on this but his acceptance as well.

Danny shrugged, "She's something I know that, but let me ask you this. Are you in love with Tyler, or are you in love with the girl who pulled you out of that hell you were living in?" He looked at him sympathetically, hating to ask that question but it had to be done. "There's a difference you know?"

"I know," Steve replied knowingly, staring at his beer again. "Maybe a little of both."

"Fair enough. So…is she on the same wavelength as you?"

She hadn't verbally confessed her feelings to him and neither had he to her, so he wasn't sure how she felt, which troubled him at first until he began to think of the two of them together and the way she touched him; the way she kissed him, looked at him, and honestly, just spent time with him. She was with him all the time, if she didn't feel it too then why would she still be there.

A smile slowly grew on Steve's face at this new revelation. He looked across at Danny. "I think she does. She certainly makes me feel that way."

"Well I guess we'll find out," Danny said.

"What do you mean?"

He leaned forward resting his arms on the table, "The Governor's funky is pulling the plug on your treatment. You're cured as far as they're concerned. Tyler's services are over as of the 15th."

Steve nodded his understanding knowing this day was coming, they both did. In a way he was relieved, it meant he was forced to move forward with his life, but so was Tyler.

"She wants to be a surgeon," he announced. "She told me she applied at some medical schools in California."

"Really?! Wow, that's pretty cool. How do you feel about that?"

"It's great!" He reached out for his beer, washing down the bad taste in his mouth over that huge lie.

"Hmm, great huh? Why do you insist on lying to me? You just got done telling me you are possibly in love with her and then in the next breath you're telling me that if she jumps on a plane and goes to live in California for the next six years that that would be 'great'." He used his fingers as pretend quotation marks, emphasizing his point.

"What am I supposed to say, that it would suck if she gets accepted to one of those schools, because in all honesty it would suck if she got accepted to one of those schools. But it's what she wants and no matter what happens between us if she does get accepted, then I'll encourage her to go. She deserves that and I won't ask her to stay."

"What if she wants to stay?"

He looked across at him, "Then I'll talk her out of it."

"Looks like she has no choice."

"Jesus Danny, it's UCLA, Stanford and San Diego, those schools are hard enough to get into, but to be accepted to their medical school? I can't let her give that up, especially for me. I mean shit, look at me? What is she going to do, stay behind and wait another year or two to get into Honolulu and sit around cooking my breakfast and taking care of me? No fricking way."

"Even after everything that she's done for you and not only that but has taken it to the next level of perhaps falling in love with you and you still think you're unworthy because of the chair? Why?"

"It's not the chair?"

"Bullshit!"

"It's not! I think she's ok with me being in this thing, it's the…" he paused.

"What?" Danny asked.

"She's young, Danny."

He shrugged, "So, so are you. You're ages aren't all that far apart."

He wasn't getting the point he was trying to make so he just laid it out for him, leaning closer so the other couple of patrons and bartender wouldn't hear, not that anyone was listening. "She has needs that I can't fulfill. I can only be there for her in limited ways, but not completely and I'm having a really hard time with that."

Danny understood, knowing exactly where he was headed now. "You can't have sex."

"Right."

"Have you talked about it with her?"

Steve grinned and rolled his eyes, picturing the beach scene a couple days before. "Yes, she called me on it of course. I mean we fool around…" he cleared his throat, "you know, we do stuff, but I can't…completely satisfy her. So where does that leave us?"

Danny shook his head as if not fully understanding the question. "What do you mean where does that leave you?"

"Never mind," he huffed, taking a long drink of his beer.

"No!" Danny replied testily, not giving him an out, taping his finger on the table. "You have to for the first time in your life look beyond the sexual nature of a relationship and focus on the friendship that you have with her. Do you honestly believe that it's the sex that keeps couples together for years and years? Because if you do then you're seriously mistaken."

"Ok, I hear what you're saying but you were married, and I don't want this to sound insensitive to what happened to you, but didn't your marriage break up because of infidelity, which has sex written all over it."

"Yes, it did, but not because we weren't having sex, because the friendship fell apart. I partly blame myself for that. It's the complete opposite of what you are arguing. I took advantage of the friendship because I thought if the sex was good then so would be everything else and I was dead wrong. Marriage is built on friendship and trust and intimacy between two people who respect each other and love each other, and when I mean intimacy it doesn't mean sex, it means being fulfilled by that other person in ways that puts everything else second, including sex. That my friend is the type of relationship you need to look for. I learned my lesson the hard way, but I won't make that mistake again in the next."

It made sense and gave him a glimpse of hope with Tyler.

"You're still you, Steve. No matter how much you think that chair has changed your life; it really hasn't. You're still you. That's who Tyler is attracted to." He raised his hand up as if showing him off, "I mean look at you. For one, you look like a fucking movie star, and two, you got a great sense of humor and you're smarter than shit, plus…" he smiled, "you got a great house on the ocean. That alone is a chick magnet."

Steve looked at him appreciatively, "Damn Danny. That was good. I think I want to date you," he joked.

"Nah," he grinned, "those are impressive qualities with the ladies, but from a guy's point of view, all those things make you nothing but an arrogant dick."

They both laughed over that.

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Tyler came inside the Post Office and turned toward the row of PO boxes going down the second row where hers was located. It had been a while since she'd collected her mail, anticipating it to be crammed full.

She unlocked it and sure enough she grinned at all the letters, pulling them all out as two fell on the ground. She closed the box and locked it again.

With the pile pressed against her chest, she bent down and grabbed the two that had fallen and froze, seeing the return address stamp on one of them showing the administrative office of UC San Diego.

She scooped it up and went over to a table and dropped everything except that one, taking a couple of deep breaths and then began to tear into it. She was about to pull out the letter that could change the course of her life when Steve popped into her head, another image that had changed her life.

She looked up and out the window staring blankly at the parking lot. Without warning she got a quick scenario of being two thousand miles away from him. It wasn't a good feeling at all. It hurt. It physically hurt enough that she instinctively put her hand over her heart to ease the pain. She looked down at the letter again and felt another form of discomfort. She wanted this so badly that she had prayed and prayed for it, but that was pre Steve. She had to ask herself if she could be away from him for that long, or if they could somehow maintain a long distance relationship and still pick up where they had left off?

She didn't get a good feeling about either of those plans.

The letter that she had worked so hard for and had prayed her heart out over lost its importance in that span of time.

The acceptance offer now had new meaning. She didn't care so much about going away to medical school as she did about just being plain accepted, because she was good enough to go to their school, and they wanted her.

She took out the letter and unfolded it, reading the first couple of lines.

She felt relieved and disappointed all at the same time.

She was safe in her place with Steve, but it was also disheartening to know she wasn't good enough to go to that school.

She crumbled it up and threw it in the recycle bin next to the table, placed there for unwanted junk mail.

"Oh well," she thought, "San Diego was my third choice anyway."

She filtered through the rest of the mail, keeping only one letter; the notice from the Parole Board indicating her father's denial of parole.

She smiled as she left the Post Office, making plans to stop by the grocery store and pick up a nice steak for Steve's dinner, forgetting all about her letter of rejection.

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Tyler came in the house carrying the grocery bag in her arms and right away smelled the aroma of fish.

"Salmon," she thought to herself with a grin. She loved salmon.

She came around the corner of the kitchen and smiled even brighter at Steve as he closed the oven door, understanding now where the aroma was coming from.

He was making her dinner.

"Hey," he said to her, turning his chair around to face her. "Hungry?"

"What are you doing?" she asked, as if playfully accusing him of doing something sinister.

"Making you dinner for once."

She came up and bent over as he raised his lips to her. "Thank you, I'm starving," she said before kissing him. "And I love salmon…it is salmon right?"

"Yep."

"It smells divine."

He wheeled over to the refrigerator and placed a quart of cream, butter and fresh Parmesan cheese in his lap, going back over to the stove. "Did you get all your errands done?"

"Yes, and how is Danny doing?"

"Good." He left it at that, not wanting to tell her just yet about the governor pulling the plug on her job. He wanted to wait until the time was right.

She narrowed her eyes in concern at his activity, sensing he knew what he was doing but the awkwardness of being able to move around his kitchen now warranted her need to offer her services. "Can I help you with something? I can shred the cheese."

"Nope," was his reply. "I got it. There's a bottle of wine on the counter over there. You can pour yourself a glass though if you want and go out back and relax."

He placed a cutting board on his lap with the shredder and cheese and began to rub the Parmesan over the smallest part. She smiled at his lack of obstacles, pleased that he was not only making the effort for her, but that he was doing a great job at being independent of her. "Ok. That sounds very nice to me."

She took the steak from the bag that was wrapped in white butcher paper and set it in the fridge, forgoing the rest of the groceries that didn't need to be kept chilled. The wine was already opened and two glasses were sitting on the counter next to it. She poured them both and set his over by the stove, "Just incase you get thirsty."

"Thank you," he smiled up at her. "This should be ready in about fifteen."

Her hand braised over his shoulder as he continued his efforts of shredding the cheese into fine granules. "I can't wait."

He watched her go out back and heard the patio chair being pulled out away from the table.

The pot of water on the stove began to rumble the lid, telling him it was ready for the angel hair pasta. He set the cutting board and cheese on the counter and replaced it with another wooden board and then carefully took the pan off the stove, setting it on his lap. He dropped the pasta in and stirred it around getting it separated before setting it back up on the stove. He picked up an extension wand that Danny had bought for him while at the store and used it to turn the dial of the element to medium.

"Sometimes you are brilliant Danny," he whispered, praising him for his quick solution to the problem they were both going over as he helped plan the dinner for Tyler with him.

He peeked inside the oven at the salmon, estimating about another two minutes but not a second more, giving it just enough time to cool while he prepared the Alfredo sauce.

Tyler could hear him maneuvering around as she took a sip of her drink. She'd only had wine a couple of times before, but really liked whatever kind he had picked out, or maybe she thought with a smile, it was just the pleasurable idea of having a gorgeous man cooking dinner for her that was making it so tasty.

The letter from earlier came to mind and she contemplated whether or not to tell him about it. She still wasn't sure what she wanted to do if she did get accepted to one of the other schools. His doting on her wasn't making her decision any easier either. He was a lot more attentive and romantic than she would have guessed. It also made her feel special that he had gone this extra mile for her when in fact he had done nothing to prep for his date with Katie, accept to put on a clean shirt. Most of the festivities had been her idea.

"Silly, fool girl," she chuckled, thinking of the woman who had left him. She raised her glass to the ocean in a toast, "Your huge loss is my greatest reward." She took a drink but before she could get the glass to her lips she heard a loud crash in the house and some very choice cuss words being bellowed by Steve.

"Son of a bitch! Goddamnit!" he yelled, "Shit!" he flipped the cutting board off his lap that had cooked pasta spilled on it, trying to get his shirt off as the water from the boiling pot soaked the bottom of it, burning his skin at the waist, knowing it was doing the same on his legs but he couldn't feel it.

Tyler came running in and right away saw the carnage and knew exactly what had happened, seeing the pot on the floor by his chair and the angel hair pasta thrown all over, as well as covering him. "Oh my God!" she screamed, running over to him as she grabbed the handles of his chair, turning him toward the opened patio doors and quickly wheeling him outside. She forwent the portable shower knowing it needed to be hooked up to the sink and wasn't. Instead she grabbed the hose and turned the water on from the outside, spraying his red chest and mixing the cool water with the hot that he was sitting in.

He turned his face away from the spray as she doused him. "Tyler! You're drowning me!"

She handed him the hose, "Here, keep wetting yourself down."

She opened the bath doors and wheeled him inside, taking the hose from his hand and setting it in the bottom of the tub. "Lift up," she ordered, gripping him under the arms as she helped move him from his chair to the seat in the bath.

He did as he was told, not giving it a second thought to objecting to one single thing she said. She was moving like lightening and before he knew it the chair full of pasta was pushed out of the way and the hose from the yard was filling the tub at a rapid speed.

"Lean back," she ordered, "let me see your stomach."

Again he did as he was told, but felt no pain from the burn. "I think most it landed on the cutting board," he said, looking at her concerned expression as she gave him a quick once over examination.

"I need to look at your legs. I'm going to cut your pants off."

"What?! No you're not! These are my favorite jeans."

"Steve, you could possibly be blistering under there. I need to get your pants off quickly so I can look you over."

He smiled, trying desperately to hide it, knowing he'd be scolded but he found her last words amusing and rather sexy. "I've had women who have wanted me, but never in such a demanding way. Damn, that's kinda hot."

Tyler looked up at him in astonishment. "I'm on the verge of calling 911 and you're making sex jokes?"

Steve shrugged, "It was in the heat of the moment, no pun intended."

She couldn't help but laugh over that one. "How old are those jeans anyway, twenty years?"

"No! Ten years maybe, but I got 'em all broken in. They're comfortable."

"We have to get them off," she said again. "I'll lift you and you get them down."

"I'd like it better if I lifted and you took them off," he winked at her.

"Oh my god!" she laughed, "I could strangle you right now."

"That wouldn't be very nurse like."

She shook her head at him, "Lift up!"

He braced his forearms on the side of the tub and lifted his body as she leaned over the side and undid them, sliding them down.

"You're not very good at this," his voice strained from the stress of holding himself up.

"They're soaking wet," she growled, "it's…not…very…easy to work them down." She tugged them from side to side until she got them past his thighs. "Ok."

He let himself fall back down to the seat as she steadied him. "Hold on," She reached over and turned the water off as it began to overflow from the tub edges.

"I don't see anything burned," he said looking down at his thighs.

"Me either," she agreed, running her hand over his right thigh. "You're jeans must have protected your skin."

"See! And you wanted to cut them to shreds. They saved my life."

She rolled her eyes, "Ok, drama queen settle down." She looked up and sniffed the air. "Do you smell something burning?"

Steve's face became concerned, wondering if the hot stove had maybe caught something on fire, then all at once it hit him to the reason for the smell of burning. "The salmon! Ah shit! Go get it!"

Tyler ran inside seeing tiny bits of smoke coming from the oven. She turned off the broiler and reached for the hot pads, opening it up as a ball of smoke rolled out. She backed away and then reached in with her head turned to the side and took out the pan that held the black mess.

She came out back still holding it, "Well this poor fish has seen better days. Unless you like a little ash with your fish?" She set the dish on the grass to cool.

Steve blew out a long anguished breath. "Damn." He looked at her as she came toward him. "Sorry. I gave it my best shot."

"It's the thought that counts." She bent over the tub to him, "and to this day that will be the best salmon dinner I've never had." She gave him a quick kiss. "Thank you."

He leaned back, casually laying his arms on the edge of the tub shaking his head at her with a gratifying smile, "God your easy to please. You make it too easy Tyler."

"Would you rather I complain and whine?"

"No!" he blurted out, "I love you just the way you are." The words just flowed out of him, not taking into consideration the impact of that one four lettered term that stood out amongst the rest. "I mean…" he tried to reveal the true meaning of what he'd said, but then again wasn't sure it would come out right a second time and wasn't sure he wanted to amend it.

The word 'love' stunned her at first but as it began to settle she understood his meaning behind it. She decided to let him off the hook, "Ok then, no whining." For his sake she changed the subject. "This water is cold, you must be freezing. I think I've tortured you enough, and that mess inside needs…"

"Tyler," he interrupted her, knowing what she was doing. He reached out and took her hand that was resting on the side of the tub's edge. "Don't run off now and leave things weird between us because of what I said."

"I know you didn't mean it…that way," she replied, blushing slightly over their dilemma.

"I care about you a great deal. I meant it the other day when I said I want good things for you, nothing but the best. You've been like a godsend to me and in that time frame things…feelings have changed. I've got to know you, and I love who you are as a human being. You're everything I admire in other people all rolled into one."

She looked up from her shyness and met his eyes, feeling the impact of it as the hairs on her arms rose to the occasion and a wonderful tingling sensation moved through her body, making her tremble. She couldn't leave him she decided at that moment, she didn't want to.

"I feel the same way about you," she confessed. "That day we came down from Makapu'u Lighthouse and you had that revelation about your life," she smiled as tears came to her eyes over the memory of it. "I remember looking over at you and really seeing YOU for the first time. I thought my heart was going to burst. I was sitting next to the sexiest man I had ever met in my life."

It was his turn now to shy away, but she held firm to his hand.

"I know that you have reservations about being with me, only because of the chair, but I wish you wouldn't. The other day at the beach, " she smiled provocatively at him, "that was the best sexual experience of my life." She felt her face flush over the memory of it, "You're more of a man than anyone I've ever met in my life, and the bravest man I've ever met. You overcome anything that stands in your way Steve, anything." She squeezed his hand, "and that's what I love about you."

He could relate to her description of feeling her heart bursting, because he felt the need to cover his chest to prevent his from jumping out and landing right at her feet.

'Don't go, Tyler,' he thought selfishly. 'I don't ever want to be without you.' But he kept the thought to himself for one reason and one reason only, because he did love her, and her needs were more important than his.