Chapter 8
After school, Steph decided that she and Nate would spend some time together at her house. Walking inside through the front door and arriving at the living room, they were met by Steph's father, Daniel Ernest Tanner, better known to people as simply Danny.
"Hey, dad." Steph greeted.
"Hey, Steph. How was school?" Danny asked, not really noticing Nate right away.
"It was fine, I guess." Steph shrugged her shoulders. She looked up at Nate before smiling at her father. "Dad, I want you to meet someone. Nate, this is my dad, Danny Tanner. Dad, this is Nate Thompson-"
"The volleyball star you told me about?" Danny folded his arms over his chest, a smirk present on his face.
"Sheesh, Steph, have you told every single soul about me being a volleyball star?" Nate rolled his eyes before smiling politely at Danny, extending his hand forward. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Tanner."
"Pleasure's all mine." Danny nodded, accepting Nate's handshake.
"I think I recognize you, though...From TV. Wake Up, San Francisco, right?" Nate questioned.
"Yeah, that's my show. I do it along with my co-host, Rebecca Donaldson, Steph's aunt. We usually have a few guests on or we talk about the current events going on in the state." Danny stated.
"I've seen the show before. Clicked through the channels now and again. I got to say, you guys are hilarious." Nate smiled.
"You think they're funny? You should see Joey. More toys in his room than any preschool kid would probably have." Steph teased. "Dad, we got to study for a while, so..."
"Oh, don't worry. I can take a hint." Danny chuckled. "I was just about to leave. Nice meeting you, Nate." He finished before stepping out of the living room.
"You as well, Mr. Tanner." Nate replied. He turned his head to look at Steph. "Your father doesn't seem like such a bad guy."
Steph nodded. "Yeah, he's really great." She took a seat on the couch and patted the spot beside her, beckoning him over. Nate slowly sat down beside her.
"So, ready to study?" He asked, about to unzip the zipper on his backpack. That was, until Steph stopped him, taking him by the wrist.
"Oh, we aren't...I just made that studying excuse to get my dad out of the room." She batted her eyelashes flirtingly. Nate immediately smirked, knowing exactly what she had on her mind. He wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning forward and brushing his lips against hers in a soft kiss. Steph reached up, running her fingers down his cheek, returning the kiss.
"It's about time you guys got together." DJ spoke up from behind them, causing the two lovebirds to break up their liplock and turn towards the oldest Tanner sister.
"Deej, please...This isn't a free show." Steph commented, which Nate made a small snicker at.
"Sorry, sorry..." DJ chuckled before taking a seat beside her sister. "So, Nate, when's your next game?"
"I'll be returning to playing a week from today." Nate stated, tightening his arm around Steph. "Did they ever find out what happened to me the last time I played?"
DJ swallowed hard, hesitant to answer that question.
"Deej, you're hiding something...aren't you?" Steph asked softly.
"It's just..." DJ began gently. "Nate, it's like this. When we, Michelle, Uncle Jesse and me, left the nurse's office, we came across these two jocks in the hallway."
"Two jocks? Did they have spiked blonde hair and wear wrestling team jackets?" Nate cut in.
"That's them..." DJ nodded, to which Steph and Nate gave surprised glances at. "They said that they drugged up your water shortly before the game started. That's why you began to feel woozy during the second part of the game."
"That's when I fainted." Nate said.
DJ nodded her head again. "Uncle Jesse saw them talking afterwards and stood up to them for you, Nate." She continued. "He began to threaten them, saying that he'd bring them down if they hurt a person that makes her niece happy." She smiled softly before it faded again. "I just hope they don't hurt you..." She stood up and rushed into the kitchen, not wanting to say anymore.
"Nate...I don't know what to say." Steph laid her head on his chest and sighed softly.
"Don't say anything. Rich and Paul don't know what they're getting into." Nate shook his head. "They try anything stupid and I swear they will never want to mess with me again..." He ran a hand through her hair. "It'll be alright, baby." He soothed her.
"You promise?" Steph whispered, her deep eyes reflecting a hint of sadness in them.
"I promise, Steph..." Nate leaned back a little and pulled her closer, holding her there on him. Steph couldn't help but feel like she could fall asleep in his arms. Closing her eyes slowly, she began to drift off to sleep. They laid like that on the couch for a while before Uncle Jesse made his way inside. "Oh, um, hey there, Mr. Katsopolis."
"Hey there, Nate. Oh, and it's Jesse." The former lead singer of Jesse and the Rippers smirked.
"Right, sorry..." Nate chuckled softly.
"Don't sweat it." Jesse looked towards Steph. "You know...She really does care about you."
"I care about her too, Jesse. She's one of the first people I've met here in San Francisco that tried to reach out and be my friend." Nate said softly.
"Looks like you're a little closer than friends now, eh?" Jesse replied. "But I think it's nice...You should've seen how worried she was when your incident happened during the volleyball game. She was so scared for you. And to be honest, I think we all were...Drugs were known to kill people, you know."
"But the important thing here is that I'm okay. Lord knows what Steph here would do otherwise." Nate's gaze shifted towards the sleeping blonde in his arms.
Jesse nodded. "But a word of advice, Nate...Don't go too fast in this relationship. I don't want to see anything bad happen that will jeopardize both of your lives." He said softly. "I've seen a lot of people go to different levels in a relationship and they wind up so messed up...This could be worse for you two, though. You're still in highschool and you're still very young."
"Nothing will ever go out of control like that, though. Steph's a sensible girl and I just want what's best for her." Nate smiled softly. "It'll be fine."
"Glad to hear it. You're a good kid, Thompson." Jesse nodded solemnly before leaving the living room, glad that he could give some advice from the heart to a member of the younger generation.
After a while of sleeping on the couch, Nate and Steph went upstairs to her room, which she shared with Michelle. The younger Tanner sister, however, was nowhere to be found, which let the two of them to be alone.
"So, what do you want to do?" Steph asked.
"I don't know..." Nate shrugged his shoulders, exploring the room to his liking. He went over to Steph's dresser and saw a framed picture of her mother on it. "This is your mother, I assume?"
Steph only nodded, taking a seat on her bed.
"She's pretty." Nate said softly, holding up the photo and looking closely at it.
"Thank you...My dad always said that she reminded him of DJ, Michelle, and me." Steph stated.
"I can see why." Nate set the picture back down and sat down on the bed beside Steph. "So...How do you think the party is gonna be tomorrow?"
"Hopefully really cool. I got what I want to wear." Steph laid back on the bed and smiled.
"Yeah, me too. We're gonna have so much fun." Nate said with a smile. He leaned over a little, laying down, his head resting against her abdomen.
"You know we are." Steph agreed, tilting her head up some to look down at him. She moved her hand to stroke the side of Nate's face gently. "You know...This has been the best year of my life. You made me really happy, Nate Thompson."
"You made me really happy too, Stephanie Tanner." Nate said softly. He shifted his position on the bed so that he was laying right beside her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned forward, kissing her gently on the lips. They stayed in that position for a while, in one another's arms, as they shared another heartfelt kiss.
