First chap = disclaimers

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Carol smiled warmly as her father met her at the airport. After a quick hug, he ushered her to the car explaining that Steve was on duty and could not be there to help pick her up.

"I'm guessing that there was something you wanted to talk to me about anyhow. Something that you don't want to discuss around Steve?" Carol said as she got into Mark's car.

Mark sighed, "Unfortunately, you're right. Carol, Steve's had a terrible breakup. He won't talk to anyone about it and he's becoming more and more…"

"Withdrawn?"

"No, compliant. As long as he doesn't have to put any emotion into it, Steve will do almost anything. He's been working extra shifts both at Bob's and the department. He denies it bothers him even when it is apparent to his friends that it does."

"Sounds like typical Steve behavior to shelter everyone else, but the lack of stubbornness in certain areas is disturbing. Too bad the compliancy doesn't extend to dealing with the actual problem."

"That's what I'm hoping you can help with. You and Steve have an unusual relationship. I realize that you've had some rough spots but… Do you think that you could help him out?"

"Dad, he's my brother of course I'll try to help. We don't hate each other that much. By the way, what kind of woman has the gall to dump Steve, or was she another homicidal maniac?"

"No, actually she was a very nice young woman. Well, Steve didn't think so at first, but they sort of grew on each other."

"Thanks to a little nudging on your part?"

Mark nodded, "I think that is one reason Steve won't talk to me about this. He doesn't want to burden me down with any feelings of guilt."

"Sometimes Steve gives himself too much trouble."

"At the moment, I'm inclined to agree with you."

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Steve forced a smile to his lips for the fifth time. Dinner with Carol was nice, too nice. She was trying to cheer him up. He did not want to be happy. He deserved to be miserable. After all, there had to be something wrong with him.

In his bachelorhood he had managed to attract all manners of whackos and women who did not want to commit to him. No matter what his family or friends said, the problem had to lie with him. He had to have some inherent fault that attracted bad relationships. There was no other excuse.

"Steve?" Carol's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Yeah?" Steve replied trying to remember what the topic of conversation had been.

"You looked a million miles away, son," Mark said.

Steve shrugged his shoulders and smiled artificially still trying to remember what he had been asked.

Carol cleared her throat, "Can't remember the topic of conversation?"

"Of course I can," Steve huffed defensively, "You were talking about your job."

"Close, I was talking about my new friend, Ella. She was just through a major break-up. We became friends as I helped her through it."

Steve glowered at his dad, "This isn't subtle." He turned to look at Carol, "Does your friend really exist or is she a hypothetical friend made to get Stevie to open up?"

"Steve!" Mark's voice barked at his son causing some neighboring tables to look in their direction.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want to talk about my failures in life," Steve mumbled around his glass of water as the other tables returned to their dinners.

"Failures? Steve, a failure was that hairdo you had when you were sixteen. A breakup isn't a failure," Carol shook her head, "Whoever she was, she didn't deserve you if she wanted to get rid of you."

"You can't say that. You never met her. Besides, I don't exactly have a great track record with women."

"Well, moping won't solve the problem. If you really think she's the one for you, why don't you go after her?" Carol watched her brother's face intently.

"Because, she needs to succeed. I can't beg her to stay with me and have her dreams unfulfilled."

"Well, if her dreams aren't with you, then she wasn't the right one."

"You can't use logic on this, Carol. Heck, you couldn't use logic on anything with Ellen," Steve mumbled morosely.

Carol's face went blank, "Ellen?"

Mark misinterpreted Carol's look, "Ellen was Steve's girlfriend. And Steve, your sister is right. This isn't your fault."

Carol merely nodded her support too preoccupied to do much more. It would be a really far fetched coincidence, but stranger things had happened to her family. She hid her inner musings by taking a sip of wine.

If her assumptions were correct, she had a good idea of what was needed to fix the situation. If her musings were wrong, then she could end up raising false hopes.

If she talked to her dad, he would want to tell Steve right away. Mark was desperate to see his son happy. So, she could not talk to Mark. She would have to talk to one of Steve's friends.

Anyone at the station was definitely out. Fellow officers were not going to hide anything from Steve. The only other friends that she knew of Steve's were Amanda and Jesse. Amanda did not appear to be the sneaky type. Jesse, on the other hand, seemed to have a little bit of a devious streak to him. Her father had said that Jesse was worried about Steve. She would have to make a visit to the emergency room tomorrow.

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Jesse methodically finished his paper work and headed out to lunch. He had just entered the elevator when Carol rushed into it. The two of them stared at each other for a second in the otherwise empty lift.

"Dr. Travis, I need to talk to you about Steve."

"What about?" Jesse answered although he had a fair idea about the intended topic.

"I think I have a plan to fix this whole mess, but first, I need some help."

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Forty-five minutes later, Jesse Travis sat stunned at a small table at a café close to the hospital. He had elected to go there so their conversation was not overheard by the hospital staff.

"Wow, I mean this is amazing. What are the odds that Steve's sister ends up befriending his ex-girlfriend and no-one knows?"

Carol laughed, "The unlikely seems to follow my brother. I don't think that I'd put it past him to end up in a bar fight with the second gunman on the grassy knoll."

Jesse chuckled in agreement, "So, what do we do?"

"Well, we know that they are both incredibly stubborn, so just talking to them won't work."

"Right."

"We also know that they don't like talking to each other, but that they have to so they can work their relation ship out."

"Right." Jesse nodded his head.

"We have the problem of Ellen's career."

"Yeah."

"And we can't tell Dad because he'll try to reason with them."

Jesse blew a stream of air through his lips, "So all we have to do is overcome their mutual stubbornness, get them to talk, get Ellen a job, and do it all without our master planner who is too emotionally involved."

Carol sighed, "We're in over our heads."

Jesse nodded, "But, as Mark will tell you, I've always been one to jump in over my head. Look, you go back and start working on Ellen. I'll stay here and work on Steve. I'll give you my number so you can call me. You're a Sloan. I'm sure you can plot something."

Carol shook her head, "I hope so."