e akahele (be careful)

Recap: He couldn't do it. He couldn't go another night or day without telling her. He wanted her to know. He turned and jogged to the stairs to find her half way up. "Jess," he called out to her. "Yeah?" she asked quietly as she turned to look at him.

"I love you"

*Jess's POV*

Her heart was pounding. He had admitted to her that he loved her. So he did feel the same as she did! She had imagined him telling her many a time and always thought of ways she would act but right now she couldn't move. She couldn't speak; her heart was beating so hard she could hear the thumping in her ears.

"Jess?" she heard Steve ask her quietly. This was her best friend. They'd grew up together, stuck together through the hard times in each other's lives and she truly didnt know what to do. She slowly came back down the stairs so she was eye level with Steve. She looked at him. He looked so nervous. She reached out with her right hand to place it on his cheek.

She could feel him gritting his teeth with her hand through his cheek. His breathing had quickened. "You don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that," she told him as she smiled. A big grin instantly consumed Steve's face as he lifted her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I needed you to know that. You don't know how much it killed me seeing you with Ryan being treated like that. I love you Jess, always have done," he told her and she crashed her lips down onto his. The kiss was laced with passion. His hand had wrapped around her neck eager to deepen the kiss. She could feel his tongue brush against her lips. His hands explored her back as he started to climb the stairs still holding her, kissing her.

They hadn't broken apart once. As Steve reached the top of the stairs with her still in his arms she pulled away. Both breathless they looked at each other. She saw that his hair was a mess due to her running her hands through it and she laughed as she straightened it out. He let her down as he took her face in his hands. She felt like a teenager who had just had their first kiss. She had butterflies, her head felt like it was going to explode and she was nervous. But one thing she did know for sure was that she had to take this slow.

"Steve... I," she began to say but was interrupted.

"I'm not going to rush anything," he told her. How did he know what she was going to say?

"I just need to know that we can give this a try," he stated his hands still holding her face.

She nodded; it's all she'd ever wanted. "I'd love that," she told him as they kissed once more. This kiss was softer than before, almost as if he was reassuring her that he'd take things slow. They broke apart.

"As much as I hate to say this, we best get some sleep," she told him. She would stay up all night if it meant she could spend every minute with him. He chuckled. She was right, they were both back at work tomorrow and the last thing they needed to be was tired.

"You need me to come back tomorrow to drop you off at work?" he asked her. He had gone back to the house she shared with Ryan the day after they had split and got her car back for her. He knew how much she loved it.

"Well I need to stop by the house before work tomorrow to get the rest of my clothes so I'll just take my car?" she told him. She was dreading going back to the house, she knew Ryan wasn't there; he had been arrested for the assaults on her. It was the house. All those bad memories inside there but it had to be done.

*Steve's POV*

He really didnt want her to have to go to the house alone. But she insisted, the same as she had done when she had told him in the first place, that it was something she wanted to do on her own. He took it as a sign of her trying to get some closure on it all.

"Well I need to stop by the house before work tomorrow to get the rest of my clothes so I'll just take my car?" he heard her say and he frowned a little.

"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" he asked hoping that she would just say yes and agree to it. He saw her take a deep breath and smile. "No honestly, I'll be fine. If I need a big bad navy SEAL to come rescue me, I'll get in touch with one of your friends," she joked as she winked at him. He laughed at her.

"We all know I'd be the one you would call. You just can't resist me can you?" he asked as he flexed his muscles and posed. "Oh god," she couldn't help but laugh and playfully punched him in his stomach. He doubled over a bit, exaggerating the whole situation as she was still laughing. "And on that note, god's gift, I'm going to bed," she told him as she took his face in her hands and slowly brought his face up to hers. She kissed him softly before pulling away, "Night Steve," she said softly.

He looked at her. 'Couldn't they share a bedroom now all their feelings for each other had been laid out for them both to see?' he thought to himself. But he had promised her to take this slow and that's what he was going to do. He didn't have any intentions on messing this up so he brought her in his arms to hug her and kissed the top of her head.

*Jess's POV*

7:03 the clock read as she got up the next morning. She had heard the front door shut with Steve leaving for work so she decided she would get up, get ready and go to the other house early before heading to work herself. She got in the shower, did her makeup, put up her hair into the usual messy top bun and put on her clothes.

She made her way downstairs to grab her phone that was charging in the kitchen. She had one text that hadn't been opened. She read the message to find that it was from Steve just after he had left this morning.

"Be careful. Ring me if you need me no matter what. See you later x"

It was simple but showed that he cared. She was only going to an empty house just to pick up some clothes; anyone would think she was going on a mission that ended in her most likely being dead. But it was the little things like that which had made her fall in love with him in the beginning. She decided to text him back to let him know that she had read it and understood him completely, even if there was no need to worry.

"I will, but I'll be fine i promise! See you later x"

She gathered up her phone and keys to put in her bag, made sure everywhere was locked, put on her boots that were near the door and headed out to her car. Putting her aviators on to shade her eyes from the burning sun, she flicked the radio on, opened the window and proceeded to drive to the house.

She pulled up to the house and took a deep breath. 'It's empty' she told herself trying to reassure both her mind and body that it was fine and her heart didnt need to be beating as hard as it was. Moving her sunglasses to the top of her head, she opened the front door and walked in. The place had been trashed, which didnt actually surprise her, Ryan had probably let his waster friends use it as a place to crash. So she set herself upon gathering her clothes and leaving. Stepping over the endless beer bottles she came to the stairs and began walking up.

She went into the guest room where the spare wardrobe was knowing there were still a few of her clothes in there so she gathered them first and set off to the bedroom she had shared with Ryan. Her face dropped and a sense of dread washed over her as she was met with the state of the room. On the wall behind the bed she saw that in red paint someone had covered it in the word 'WHORE'. She racked her brains thinking who could have done it with Ryan being in jail. Maybe it was his friends? Or maybe he was out of jail knowing that she was with Steve? Her eyes scanned the room and found a picture facing downwards. She went to pick it up and her jaw dropped in horror as she saw what had been done.

The picture was of her and Ryan and had been taken when they first got together. They were both smiling as Ryan had his arm around her. They were happy at one point, for three months she thought he was the best thing to ever happen to her until it turned sour. Her face on the picture had been scribbled at. You couldn't even see it was her anymore, just the bottom half of her body from the neck down. She couldn't stay in here any longer. She folded the picture and put it in her back pocket and quickly walked to the wardrobe to gather the rest of her stuff and immediately found herself crying. Her clothes were all torn and cut. She had nothing. She was so upset and wrapped up in thinking that maybe Ryan was out she hadn't even heard the person walk into the bedroom. They reached out to touch her and she whipped her head round and started to scream.

"Jess, JESS, it's me, ssssh, it's me Danny!" and as she recognised his voice she stopped screaming and tears just consumed her. Danny gathered her in his arms to hug her as he stared at the wall behind the bed. He knew this wasn't good. "Ssssh, it's okay," he told her as he heard her calm down a tiny bit. She pulled away and looked at him, tears staining her face.

"Danny, what are you doing here?" she asked baffled as to why he wasn't at work with Steve. "Steve's been called to a meeting with the governor and wanted me to come check on you. He would have done it himself if he hadn't been called in," he told her as she nodded. What Danny was telling her wasn't really sinking in, she really thought she was finally getting somewhere without Ryan. "Good job I did huh?" he asked as he wiped a tear away that was running down her cheek. She just nodded, words wouldn't leave her. "Come on," he told her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her out of the house. She'd promised Steve that she'd go to the office before going to the bar so he could see her and make sure she was okay after going to the house.

"You okay to drive?" he asked her as they got outside. She wiped her face and forced herself to give him a small smile. "I'll be fine, I'll see you at the office," she told him as she began to get in her car. Danny nodded and began to walk to his. "Danno," she called out to him and he turned to her. "Yeah?" he asked. She thought about whether or not to show him the picture she found but thought against it, "thanks for coming" as she offered him another small smile.

"It's alright," he smiled, "besides super SEAL would have killed me if i hadn't". She laughed a bit as she watched him get in his car as she began to reverse and follow him.

How was she going to tell Steve? How was she going to show him the picture without ruining what she had desired for so long...