Steve woke up and saw Catherine's face very close to him. She was sleeping very relaxed and he felt like kissing her but at the same time he scolded himself.

"Are you crazy, Steve? Do you want her to kick you out of this house and never look at your face again?" he said to himself in thought. "Today would be a good day to tell her that I like her. Oh, God! How I wish I had the courage to tell her everything I feel, how I feel just being around her, but I'm afraid that my feelings won't be reciprocated by her. So I'd rather not say anything, until she doesn't know about my feelings our friendship will be safe".

Even though he thought so, he almost imperceptibly touched her face with his index finger. She didn't wake up, but moved and made him back down. A few minutes later she woke up and he was lying next to her and looking at the ceiling of the room.

"Hey," she said and looked out the window. "It's getting dark already, Steve. We have to get ready to leave."

"I called Freddie and cancelled, Cath."

"But why?" she asked.

"I lost the urge to go out. I don't think I've taken a nap this good in a long time."

Catherine smiled. "Then stay here. Let's watch a movie together."

"Okay, but under two conditions," he answered.

"Which conditions?" She asked.

"I choose the movie and you make the popcorn," he smiled charmingly at her.

"Are you smiling just so I don't say no? Are you feeling like the most popular boy in high school? Ok, you win. You choose the movie and I make the popcorn".

"Great!" Steve responded and started looking for a movie on TV. "It's going to start a good movie in ten minutes, Catherine."

"It's okay, I don't need ten minutes to make popcorn," she answered from the kitchen.

She opened the kitchen curtain and saw her neighbor looking at her house. This was repeating itself every night since her parents moved out. A few minutes later, she returned to the living room with a bowl of popcorn and soda. They watched the movie and then watched the next movie.

"I have to go, Catherine. It's late," Steve told her after the end of the second movie.

"Don't you want to stay? I'll keep my guest room offer. My dad left some clothes here, and I can lend them to you if you want to take a shower."

Steve stopped to think for a while and deduced that she was having some trouble. She was apprehensive throughout the movie. "What's going on?" He asked.

Catherine hesitated to speak, but she really needed an opinion. "I'm afraid of my neighbor, Steve. He's harassing me. You're gonna think this is silly, but..."

"I don't think it's silly," Steve interrupted her. "This is very serious. What's he doing to you?"

"He keeps looking over here. If I'm in the kitchen, he's looking there, if I'm in the living room, he's looking here. He looks at me with an expression that makes me terrified."

Steve then noticed that all the windows in the room had curtains and it wasn't like this before. "Did you put the curtains in the window?"

"Yes. I put the curtains on the windows that are in the direction of his house. But I got up at dawn the other day and saw him here in my backyard, looking in through the windows on the other side.

"Catherine, why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I want to move from here. I'm afraid of what he might do to me."

"Yes, you should move out of here as soon as possible," Steve told her. "I'll stay here with you. That idiot will never lay a finger on you. And tomorrow we'll go out and you'll find another place to live."

"Thank you. I'll get the clothes so you can take a shower."

"Ok," he answered.

Catherine made the bed of the guest room while he took a shower.

"Your father's clothes are ok on me," he told her as he entered the room.

"That's nice." She answered and then looked at him. "Steve, do you think I'm overreacting?"

"No, I already told you this is serious, Cath."

"Good night, Steve. Make yourself at home," she told him.

He smiled at her. "Have you forgotten I don't have a home?"

Catherine smiled, too. "Feel free then."

"Thank you. I'll leave the bedroom door open. If you hear any noise in the house, just shout."

"Okay," she answered and left the room. Steve turned off the light in the room and waited for Catherine to turn off the light in her room, too. He opened the bedroom curtain very slowly and saw the neighbor in the backyard of Catherine's house. Steve opened the window and surprised him. "Did you lose something here, buddy? Leave her alone or I won't answer for my actions."

The next day they had breakfast together and went out to look for a new home for her. She liked an apartment that was very close to the base and three days later she moved in with Steve's help. She took only the basic furniture and the rest she sent to her parents' house.

"Thanks for sleeping at my house for those four days, Steve."

"You're welcome, Catherine. Now I'm going back to my life of sleeping on a not very comfortable mattress at the base," Steve told her.

"You can live here with me if you want," she made the offer sincerely.

"What? Have you thought about the gossip at the base? Steve and Catherine are living together! It's going to be the subject of the year," Steve replied.

Catherine smiled. "It's true. But don't stop coming to visit me."

"Of course not," he replied.

A month later, Steve traveled on another mission with Joe and Catherine was missing him. She was more dedicated to her work so as not to think about him too much, but it was just an illusion.

A few days later, she received a call from Steve on a secure line while she was at work. "Steve? Why are you calling me on a secure line?"

"Well, I may have told your boss that I was seriously injured, which is no lie."

Catherine was worried about him. "But are you okay now?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I got an invitation to the army ball and if I get back to the United States in time, I'd like to ask you to go with me."

"Depends, if you're well enough to dance with me."

"But we're not going as friends. That's me asking you out... on a date," he said somewhat reticent afraid to hear a "no."

Catherine didn't believe she was being asked out on a date with him after two years of friendship.

"Catherine? Catherine, are you still there?" He thought the connection had been broken because she was silent and he couldn't even hear her breathing.

"Yes, I'm here. I just have one question: What took you so long?"

"Well, I may have heard the advice of a friend and left the fear of being rejected aside."

"And since when have I rejected you, sailor?"

"So your answer is yes?" He asked more confidently.

"Yes. My answer is yes. I want to dance with you on a date."

PS: Thank you for your review in the previous chapter.