A/N: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy, reviews welcome. :)

In the end, he knew he was going to have to do this alone.

Yes, he may have Shane on his side and it was nice to actually have someone backing him up, but at the end of the day, the only person who could get Stephanie back was him. He had to talk to her, he had to convince her. He couldn't have Shane swoop in and play the hero. Chris was a man and he needed to act like it, not have a go-between. It was just nice to have someone around who understood, well, maybe understood wasn't the right word, but someone who just knew the history between him and Stephanie.

"I can't believe I didn't see it," Shane said, looking up at the ceiling like it would answer him. "I can't believe that I didn't realize you two were dating each other. How in the hell did you manage to cover that up? Everyone knew that Stephanie had a crush on you, a huge one, how did she keep her mouth shut once you started dating?"

"We used the crush to our advantage. Whenever she would get excited or want to hang out with me, everyone just assumed, and by everyone I mean your parents, just thought they would indulge her because it was just a crush. I don't think they ever suspected we were dating."

"You never would have been hired back if he knew you had dated his 17 year old daughter," Shane said, then groaned, "Okay, yeah, I've just grossed myself out again."

"At least you don't want to punch me in the face anymore," Chris said with a laugh.

"So what are you going to do about Stephanie?"

"I don't really know," Chris said, "I didn't expect to come back here and still be in love with her. I guess I always kind of did, but with her being out of sight, out of mind, I thought, hey, I'm over this girl. She's pretty amazing, isn't she?"

"She's my sister, not sure that I'm looking at her the same way that you're looking at her," Shane told him. Chris laughed, that was definitely true. It was strange how amazing she'd turned out though. There was something so different, but familiar with her now. He wanted to know this Stephanie too, like he'd known the Stephanie she had been. He just needed to get closer to her and maybe that was really the key.

"I think I need to just hang out with her again, get close to her," Chris said, "we've been hanging out as friends recently and it's nice, but maybe I should just try to be her friend again like I was before. That was how we were before and it led to more so maybe if I go through that again, if I take the same path then we'll be together again. I mean, I don't think it'll exactly go the same because I don't think she has a huge crush on me anymore, but it's worth a shot, right?"

"I think you should just tell her," Shane said. "Just take her out to dinner or invite her over to her your house or something and then talk to her, hash it all out. It seems like the two of you never really got closure, I mean, I don't know what happened when you left and I really kind of don't want to know considering you slept together, but maybe she still has the same feelings and if she just hears that you want it to, she'll come back to you."

"I don't know, it was pretty closed," Chris said, "well, okay, maybe that's not true. We were rushed that morning because she had to leave and I had to leave, but still…talking to her might scare her. I don't want to scare her. Don't you think I'd come off as a crazy stalker if I was just to go up to her and confess that I was still in love with her?"

"No, because it's not like it would be totally out of line because you loved her once. You're not a crazy stalker, you're an ex who still has feelings for her."

"Yeah, I guess," Chris said, "I'll see how it goes."

"Hey handsome," Stephanie said, placing her hands on Chris's shoulders. "And hey, jackass."

"Nice, Stephanie, real nice," Shane said, rolling his eyes, "I'm your older brother, you're supposed to treat me with respect."

"I thought I was," she said, sitting down next to Chris and smiling over at him. "I thought I was going to have to eat alone, imagine my delight and surprise when I saw two of my favorite guys eating down here, have you gotten your food yet?"

"We haven't even ordered," Chris said, gesturing towards their menus, which were still sitting in front of them. "We've only gotten coffee."

"Amazing timing on my part then," she said, grabbing Chris's coffee and taking a sip. "Jesus Christ, Chris, I thought you would have gotten off the sugar in your coffee by now. I swear, it's like drinking sugar with coffee aftertaste."

"So you guys shared coffee back in the day?" Shane asked, trying to hold in his smirk. Stephanie looked over at him, but Chris didn't think he was giving anything away in his face so Chris relaxed a little. He didn't know how Stephanie would feel about people knowing about their relationship.

"We were friends, yes, I've sipped his coffee before," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "Get a grown-up drink for a change."

"Very funny," he said, taking a long sip of his coffee and setting it down in front of him before giving a look of euphoria, "delicious."

"Jerk," she said, "so what are your plans for today?"

"I don't know, I was just going to use the in-hotel gym, then probably hang out for a while and then go to the show, why did you want to do something?" He hoped he didn't sound too eager and as he looked over at Shane's smug face, he realized he had. He leaned back in his chair, trying to play it cool, but he felt like he was just drawing even more attention to himself.

"Actually, I just didn't have anything to do today," Stephanie shrugged. "Tim isn't here, he's at work and I just thought we could hang out. If you're not busy. I can go to the gym with you, I think I need to work out anyways."

"You always look beautiful."

"You're too sweet," Stephanie said, beaming at him and making Shane's smirk grow even more. Chris kicked him underneath the table and Shane yelped, "everything okay, Shane?"

"Yeah, just got a leg cramp all of a sudden," Shane said, glaring at Chris.

"Bummer, man," Chris said, "you were just leaving, weren't you?"

"I thought you guys hadn't eaten breakfast," Stephanie said, "did you eat, Shane?"

"Um, I had to actually call Rissa," Shane said. "I promised that I would call her when I woke up and unfortunately, I didn't and I don't want her to worry or anything. I can grab something from room service. I better go."

"Okay," Stephanie said as Shane got up quickly and walked away, patting Chris on the shoulder. "That was weird."

"He's probably just worrying that Rissa will be worried."

"Rissa isn't like that," Stephanie shrugged and then stood up to take Shane's spot at the table. "Oh well, I guess it's just you and me then, huh?"

"Yeah, just you and me," Chris said. Suddenly, it was like he was a bumbling teenager. What had she reduced him to? "I'll be glad to hang out with you today."

"Me too, it's so nice to have you around again," she reached for his hand. "I feel like I have someone to talk to again, someone who gets me."

"You do," he assured her.

"I think I'm going to break it off with Tim," Stephanie said and before Chris could even say anything, she continued, "I know we've been together for years and everything, but I just don't think I'm what he wants to be honest, is that bad?"

"Is what bad?" he said, his voice feeling slightly choked up. This was going so perfectly he couldn't have scripted it better. He had to play this right though. He couldn't be overeager and he couldn't be too nonchalant. If he was too eager, he might give himself away and if he was too nonchalant, she might not break up with him.

"That I'm not what he wants."

"No."

"But we've been together for so long," she said, "he was my first really serious college boyfriend, I guess you could say that he was my first adult relationship. No offense to you meant for that, but you know how people see college as finally being an adult."

"But then you can fall into that pattern of thinking that you've been with this person for a long time so I might as well just stay with them because it's familiar. You fall into a rut and you're afraid to try something new."

"You're probably right," she said as the waiter came over and took their orders. "I guess I just…you're right though, I'm familiar with him. Dating is scary. I don't know how to do it, not really. I mean, there was you and then it seemed there was Tim and that was it."

"You're young," he said and he planned on her not dating anyone but him so he had that thinking, but she didn't have to know that yet. "You've still got a lot of time left, you don't even have to rush into another relationship unless you want to. It's up to you of course, but you could always just take some time for yourself if you want."

He didn't want to see her with another guy, that was the end of it. "That might be good."

"Is there anyone that you might have your eye on?" he asked casually. He didn't expect her to come right out and say that she wanted him back or anything, but it might be nice if she said that she did and he could pretend for a little while that she was talking about him.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I don't really find anyone that attractive to be honest. I know that people think that I'm with Paul, which, I'm not. He's a nice guy, but no thank you. I just…I guess I don't see anyone here that I'm really all that fond of…maybe you."

She winked at him and he wanted her right then and there and it took everything in him not to say something. Okay, so maybe he wasn't as strong as he seemed, "I'm fond of you too. It helps that I've seen you naked before."

She laughed, "Does that help? Are you picturing me naked right now?"

"Do you want me to be?" he asked flirtatiously.

She raised an eyebrow, "Wow, now we're going back to some uncharted territory, are we? Well, if that's how you want to play, then sure, you can picture me naked if you want. I'm probably soon to be a free woman and you are one of only a few men who have seen me naked so you have special privileges I guess."

"You're free to do the same with me," he told her and he liked how comfortable this felt. He wanted to grab her hand across the table, but it might signify to her that this was something more than just flirty banter.

Stephanie pretended to start thinking very hard. "I might need a refresher course, my memory isn't what it used to be."

Was she saying what he thought she was saying? He didn't want to be presumptuous, but it was difficult because she was looking at him in that way he remembered from years ago. The way she just bit her lip and grinned at him; it was driving him nuts. How could he not think she wanted what he was thinking she wanted? He reached across the table and took her hand in his.

"If that's you looking for an invitation, I'll gladly invite you up," he told her, his voice slightly lower than it had been. Stephanie looked at their joined hands and then she just smiled at him and pulled away.

"Wow, breakfast is here," Stephanie said as their food was set down in front of him. He'd gone too far. He knew it, he'd gone too far and now they were in that awkward and weird territory.

"Yeah, it is here," he said, embarrassed now, he'd blown it, completely blown it. But then she went and surprised him again.

"I'm definitely breaking up with Tim."