Steve carefully tossed another log in the fire pit and sat back down in the chair next to Carly. The sun had gone down about an hour earlier and the fire was just big enough that a light jacket kept them warm. The consumption of beer and wine was helping with the chill as well.

"We need smores," Jules blurted out, reaching her glass up as Craig refilled it with red wine.

Carly moaned, "I'm stuffed from pizza, but you are absolutely right." She mirrored Jules invitation for a refill.

"I think I've got some marshmallows in the pantry," Craig mentioned, pushing himself out of the chair. "I'll be right back."

"God, I haven't had a smore in sixteen years," Steve said, agreeing with Jules.

"What do you mean," Jack said, "that wasn't part of your rations when you were a Seal?"

They all laughed at the idea of it.

"Nah, our fingers would be too sticky for basket weaving class."

That got another laugh.

Marissa looked over at him oddly, "They taught you how to weave baskets in the Seals?"

Steve looked at her and then glanced at Carly and the rest just to make sure he heard her correctly. By the looks on their faces too, he was pretty sure he had. "Um, no. It was just a joke."

"Oh, I thought that was kinda weird."

He had no comment for that and glanced over at Jack with an, 'are you kidding me,' stare as Jack openly bit his bottom lip trying not to laugh at her.

"So what do you do Marissa," Carly asked.

"You mean for work?"

"Yes."

She shrugged, "I used to answer the phones at Stevens, Porter and Kline Law firm, until I met Craig. Now I just plan the wedding."

"How did you two meet," Jules continued.

"His lawyer was Porter, from Stevens, Porter and Kline."

"How long have you known each other?"

"We've known each other for about a year, but it took him six months to finally ask me out. So we've been seeing each other for six months."

"That's a quick engagement," Steve commented.

She smiled over at him, "I guess he liked what he saw and just had to have it," she held her hands up, palms out as if putting herself on display. "You know what I mean, Steve?"

They all looked over at him; surprised she would say something so brass to him right in front of all of them, it felt like an open invitation.

"I do, it's kind of like jumping out of a plane," he never once took his eyes off of her. "At first it's really exciting, the view is so beautiful. You got your hand on the release feeling safe and just when you think it's the right time," he imitated pulling the cord, "Bang! The chute doesn't open and there you are free-falling, and that beautiful view suddenly turns on you and becomes like your worse nightmare. But then you come to your senses and remember there's a way out after all and pull your backup and poof it opens, and you fall nice and easily to the ground with the nightmare behind you." He smiled at her, "You know what I mean?"

She looked at him as if her brain were turning his story over and over in her head trying to decide if it was a compliment or an insult.

"I found some!" Craig said enthusiastically, walking up carrying a bag of marshmallows and some shish kabob sticks. "Not sure these will work, but we can give them a try."

Steve reached out, ignoring Marissa's deer in the headlights glare at him. "I'll take one."

Carly laughed and blew as hard as she could trying to put out the fire that had engulfed the white fluff on the end of her stick. It was quickly turning charcoal black. She was on her fourth glass of wine and feeling it.

Steve grabbed her wrist and blew on it with her, putting it out, "Don't put it in so far."

"Jules says that to me all the time," Jack blurted out.

They all busted up as Jules leaned over and playfully slapped his shoulder as he braced himself for the attack.

Carly leaned forward laughing so hard she dropped the marshmallow off the end of the stick without even knowing it. She pulled it back up to take a bite and it was gone. "Hey! Where did my marshmallow go?" she leaned over looking around at her feet. "It's gone! She looked over at Steve, "Excuse me officer," she giggled, "but can you help me locate my marshmallow?"

"Jack says that to me all the time," Jules retaliated.

The group busted up once again, but Carly fell back in her chair and laughed the hardest, which made everyone else laugh harder. She put her hand over her heart trying to calm herself but couldn't do it. She was having a giggle fit and it was the best feeling she had had in a long time. "Oh my God," she moaned, "I can't breathe."

"Ah, can you describe the missing marshmallow for me ma` am?" Steve asked in a professional manner, putting his arm around her that was holding his beer, trying to look down between her feet in the dark for it.

Carly wiped the tears from her eyes, "It's white but it's wearing a new black jacket," she chortled, trying to pretend like she was upset, "I was good to that marshmallow and now it's gone."

Steve looked up at her laughing, "You burned the shit out of it, no wonder it jumped ship."

She put her hand on his back and started cracking up all over again. "I have to go to the bathroom," she said between gasps.

He leaned back, "Are you telling me or warning me?"

She started laughing again, "I'm telling you so stop making me laugh!"

He stood up and held his hand out to her. "Come on, don't fall in the fire and end up like your marshmallow that's on the run."

She giggled, taking his hand. "Whoa," she steadied herself against his arm as she stood up.

"Careful Carly," Jules and the others said.

"I got her," Steve reassured them. "Give me this," he took the glass of wine from her hand, handing it to Jack.

"Just like high school, too much too soon," Jack reminded her, "and good ole' Steve to your rescue."

"Hey, those roles were reversed a couple of times too," she corrected, looking at Steve for absolution, "Am I right?"

He nodded, "Yes you are." He moved his chair out of her path, "Come on tipsy."

She pointed down at Jack teasingly.

Steve sat on the top step of the deck waiting for her. He checked over his phone for any messages and glanced over his shoulder when he heard her come back out.
"Feel better?"

She put a hand on his right shoulder as she took a seat next to him, "Yes, but I have something to show you."

"What?"

She lifted her right leg and crossed it over her left knee, pointing to her ankle, "Look."

Stuck to her sock was the missing black marshmallow.

The group turned as they heard the laughter coming from the deck. Steve was laid out on his back and Carly had her head on his leg, both were in a fit of uncontrollable bliss.

Craig turned back toward the fire, smiling, "They haven't changed."

"Remember how they used to have to get up and leave the theater sometimes because they'd be giggling so much?" Jules recalled.

"I always thought they'd end up together," Jack added.

"They were," Jules reminded him sadly, "for a while." She smiled over at Craig, "Maybe that's why Steve never got married. He's looking for someone like Carly."

"Stop!" Jack insisted, "Don't start with that."

"With what?"

"You know what I'm talking about?" he gave her a look, "Maybe Steve's not married but Carly is, so keep your nose out of it."

"I'm just making an observation."

"Keep your opinions to yourself."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Craig jumped in, "Steve was never the type of guy to mess around with someone else's girl. I can't imagine his priorities on that subject have changed. No matter what the situation," he added, giving Jules the same look as her husband.

"Ok, ok," she caved.

Marissa looked over at the two of them sitting on the deck. After what Craig just said she was pretty sure now the whole story of the parachuting was an insult to her. She wasn't used to men not reacting positively to her flirting; she suddenly didn't find him as attractive as she did before. "Asshole," she thought.

Steve sat up, wiping the tears from his eyes, "Oh my god, Carly," his shoulders shook as he tried to focus on the marshmallow stuck to her sock. She held on to his shoulder with her foot still propped up on her knee.

"Get it off!" she snorted, holding on to him for support.

"Stop moving!" he retorted.

"I'm not, you are."

He grabbed a hold of her shin and pulled it off, holding it up, "Mystery solved."

She looked at him with the most serious face she could conjure up. "You are an awesome Detective!"

"I do my best for the people that need it the most ma'am."

"And you know that's me," she giggled.

"Some people just can't control their marshmallows, there's no shame in that."

She smiled at his playfulness, leaning back against her hands, "Do you like being a Police Officer?"

He shifted his body so he was leaning back against the railing so he could see her, "Yes."

"I bet you're very good at it."

He shrugged modestly, "I have a good team; we feed off each other and get things solved."

"A team?" she said impressed, "not just a partner?"

"Well, technically I do have a partner, Danny Williams. He's a great guy." His voice imitated a gangster, "He's from Jersey."

"Jersey!" Carly chuckled, "You two couldn't have grown up any further apart than that."

"You have no idea."

"Was he a Seal too?"

Steve laughed out loud at that, "No! He hates that part of me more than anything else."

Her expression turned concerned, "Do you get along?"

"Oh yeah, like brothers," he said proudly, "We can drive each other crazy sometimes but at the end of the day I'd take a bullet for him, and I know he'd do the same for me."

Her eyes shot open over that statement, but then she considered whom she was talking too. She sat up and shifted so she was facing him. He had modeled his life around helping other people who couldn't help themselves; it wasn't something he was taught after joining the Navy either, she knew that first hand. It was just apart of who he was. She looked right at him as her smile faded; replaced by an overwhelming regard for who he really was, it went beyond respect. Her voice was full of wonderment at the selflessness he displayed that day sixteen years earlier for her sister. "You were going risk your life and swim down under those rocks to try to save her…weren't you?"

Her question floored him. She could see it all over his face in the blink of an eye.

He didn't feel he deserved the recognition for that, because that's not what happened. He had lost the grip on her hand, that's what he agonized over, not that he had tried to rectify his mistake by going after her but was restrained. It took him a long time after that to forgive Craig and Jack for what they did. He knows now why they did it, because he would have done the same thing if it were one of them.

It was a hopeless, tragic event that changed his life forever. He was falling in love with Carly at the time of Karen's death and often wondered what would have happened if things had turned out differently. But it didn't matter now; he had let them both go.

"Steve," she slid one of her hands in his, "I didn't mean to upset you."

He looked down at her hand as she held it, her delicate fingers trying to comfort him. He looked up at her and saw Karen staring back at him like a ghost telling him it was ok. He squeezed her fingers not sure which one of the two he was confessing too, "I had her hand and I let go," he shuttered, "I'm so sorry."

"You didn't let go!" Carly said angrily, "The water pulled her away. You never would have let go."

"It all happened so fast," he said mournfully, "it all happened so fast." He cast his eyes down away from her, "I couldn't face you at the funeral. I didn't know what to say."

She scooted closer to him, "That was a hard day for everyone. I wanted to find you but I just couldn't bring myself to come downstairs. It wasn't because of you, Steve."

She broke his heart, but he didn't want to tell her that. He put that to rest years ago; especially after he found out she was married. He was relieved to hear that she didn't blame him. The others had told him that same thing over and over but none of that mattered until she said it herself. It was the real closure he was looking for.

"After the funeral, I saw you from my bedroom window talking to my Dad outside in the backyard. Do you remember that?"

He nodded, "Vividly."

"What did he say to you?"

"I was standing with Jack and Craig and he pulled me aside." He clearly remembered that moment, and how nervous he was, thinking the worse, "I remember him putting a hand on my shoulder and telling me how grateful he was that I tried to save his daughter."

Carly put a hand over her mouth, picturing the two of them standing there and never knowing that's what was said.

"I started to get really upset and tried to apologize but he wouldn't have it. He wouldn't let me say it. He told me that he trusted my abilities and that I did everything I could and sometimes things happened for a reason that we weren't meant to understand. It was in God's hands and we just had to trust him." Steve sighed, "And then he gave me a hug and walked away."

Carly pulled the collar of her shirt up and wiped her eyes and nose on it, "My Dad always liked you so much," she sniffed, "He still asks about you. How you are, if I've heard from you." She smiled, "When I told him that you had joined the Seals and made it, he wasn't surprised, but I could tell he was so proud of you. I think that if he ever had a son, you would have been what he hoped for."

"Geez Carly," Steve said humbly, "that's probably the nicest compliment I've ever got."

"It's true. He was so happy when he found out I was going to the prom with you."

Steve chuckled, "I know, he let me take his Mustang, remember?"

Carly reached out again and touched him on the leg, "That's right! He let us take his car. He loved that car. I forgot about that. And remember the time you, me and Karen were watching that movie up in my room, and all three of us fell asleep on my bed?"

"I thought we were in so much trouble," he laughed nervously, "but they never said a word."

She shook her head knowingly, "Because it was you. If it would have been anyone else, we would have been in big trouble for having a boy upstairs, but they trusted you in their house."

"Ok," he put his hand up, "that's enough. I won't be able to get my head through the opening of my shirt tomorrow."

She smiled sweetly at him.

"Well now he has a son for real," he reminded her, "a son-in-law."

Carly huffed and almost laughed in his face, "They don't get along. Let's just leave it at that."

He felt bad for her about that, knowing how much she respected her father. "I'm Sorry."

"Yeah well, Allan can be difficult sometimes," she admitted and then quickly defended him, "He can be critical of himself and sometimes he tries to compensate for that in other ways and comes across…" she tried to think of the right word, "cocky."

Steve nodded like he understood. "When is he coming?"

Tomorrow. He's up in San Francisco on business and is driving down after."

"What does he do?"

"He's a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company." She smiled, "A cop and a drug pusher. I hope you two get along."

Steve chuckled at her joke, but in hindsight she really didn't say it to be funny. She knew before Allan even got there that he was going to have issues with Steve. He had already made a big deal about him being a Navy Seal, and just seeing him again and his physical appearance, Allan was going to be jealous. She was glad now that she had never told him that they had dated briefly. She also hoped that he would ease up on his drinking that had become another strain on their marriage. She felt bad for him and understood why he did the things he did, even though others didn't. He had been so mentally beaten down by his Father that it left him unsure of his own self-worth. He was constantly trying to prove himself to others, especially those he felt threatened by. She had begged him to go to therapy and he did for a while, but considered it a waste of money and claimed the Doctor didn't get him or know what he was talking about. She never mentioned it again.

"I look forward to meeting him, " Steve said truthfully. He really was. After reconnecting with Carly and seeing how great her sense of humor and sweetness hadn't changed, he couldn't imagine that her husband was as bad as Jules and Jack claimed. He just couldn't imagine her with someone like that. At least he hoped he wasn't. She deserved someone who would appreciate her for what she truly was, 'perfect,' he thought.