AN: Another short update! Thanks everyone for reading and sharing your thoughts. Those I still owe replies to PMs - I will get to at least some of them this weekend.

Tanith


Chapter 26

Irene put an abrupt end to the awkward silence on the drive to General Hospital. She decided it was high time Steve came clean. "Steve, do you remember Jeannie's twenty-first birthday?"

"Hmm, yeah, I guess so," Steve replied flatly. Leaning his head against the cool glass window, he closed his eyes, barely listening to his companion. The pain in his bruised kidney radiated from his lower back through his upper abdominal region and he wrapped an arm around his midsection.

Paying attention to the road and the traffic ahead, Irene continued, "Do you remember what I said to you?"

"Hmm?"

"About waiting too long?"

No response.

"You gave me some advice about Mike?" Irene dropped a few more crumbs, hoping to jog the young man's memory.

This time Steve's attention was diverted from his discomforts and he lifted his head off the window. "Yeah, you said it was complicated or something along those lines. Are you gonna do something about it now?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of what you're gonna do with that wonderful piece of advice you gave me."

"I'm not sure I follow you," Steve said, getting confused. Why would I wanna be dating Mike? Don't be an idiot, that's not what she meant! Why must women always speak in riddles?

Irene rolled her eyes. Men! She was gonna have to spell it right out to him. "I'm not talking about Mike and I. I'm talking about you and Jeannie. Why don't you follow your own advice? You know, take her to dinner, light a few candles..."

Steve let out a short derisive laugh which he instantly regretted when a sharp pain assaulted his injured ribs. "Yeah, I remember now. Well, in case it escaped your notice, Jeannie is engaged to be married. As you can tell, he's made that pretty clear. Besides, I'm not in love with her. She's not even my type," Steve finished breathlessly then looked out the window, watching the trees flash past him. He swallowed hard, surprising himself how much it hurt to say those words out loud when he knew the latter was untrue.

"Oh, really? Alright, look me in the eye right now and tell me you are not in love with Jeannie," Irene dared. They had conveniently stopped at the lights and she couldn't think of a better time to pop the question.

Steve turned to face Irene. "I'm not. There, happy?"

"You just proved my point. You can't say it, can you? You can't say, I am not in love with Jeannie Stone."

Steve was getting annoyed with the triumphant grin on Irene's face. "This is ridiculous. Can we drop the subject please?"

"I will, if you tell me why you threw the first punch?"

"What makes you say I started the fight?" Steve countered.

"Oh, I don't think you started it but I got this hunch that you gave Whitney one first. You wouldn't have such a hard time saying he threw the first punch if that were the case but you got that look on your face like a kid who stole from a cookie jar because someone made him feel like he was a coward if he didn't. Now, the way I figure it is, Whitney's a smart guy. He said something to you to set you off and you don't strike me as the type of guy who would fall into that trap over something trivial."

Steve remained silent.

"Wanna talk about it?" Irene pressed.

"What's to talk about? It sounds like you've got it all figured out," Steve responded with a touch of sarcasm.

"For starters, even if, let's say, I was wrong about you being in love with Jeannie, am I also wrong to think you still care about her?

"Of course I care about her!"

Steve's naturally defensive reaction was what Irene was looking for. "As someone who cares about her, how does it make you feel that she's about to marry someone she believes is Prince Charming but is really a jerk?"

"Look, I care about her alright? But who she chooses to marry is none of my business!" Steve shot back angrily.

"And if you saw a little old lady getting mugged right in front you, would you just turn a blind eye because it's none of your business? It's not in your department so why should you care?"

"Well lately, that's what everyone seems to expect from me."

"What do you mean by that? Come on, Steve, talk to me!"

"Fine," with a sigh, Steve explained to Irene about what had happened to his friend Dave and how Mike had told him that it wasn't their department so they shouldn't get involved.

"I know about the violence in that part of town. I've had to work on a couple of cases in that area in recent months. I'll see what I can find out for you," Irene offered. "I'm sorry about your friends."

"Thanks, Irene. I'd appreciate that and so will Kim."

Irene pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, as close to the front entrance as she was legally able to. "Will you do me a small favour? Don't give up on Jeannie. She could really use a friend even if it doesn't look like she does."

Steve nodded, though he doubted things would ever be the same again between him and Jeannie. Somewhere along the way, a rift had formed. He wasn't sure what made him open up but for some reason it felt comfortable to do so with Irene. "You know what that sick son-of-a-bitch said to me?"

Irene locked eyes with Steve and waited for him to continue.

"He said I'd been eyeing Jeannie since she was just a kid in high school. Preying on her you know? How was I supposed to take that, huh? If Mike…." Steve was unable to get the words out. Whitney's insinuations were far from the truth but given that Steve had been the centre of many womanizing jokes, it did make the detective feel like he really was some predator.

"Hey, listen to me. Firstly, I can't believe he said that to you but I do believe it! Secondly, you know how Mike feels about you. There's no way he's going to look at you any differently just because you and Jeannie both grew up and now your feelings have changed. Steve," Irene said gently, reaching out and placed a reassuring hand on his arm, "you're a good guy. Mike knows it. Jeannie knows it. I know it. You need to know that too. Whatever Whitney said to you, he's just trying to get under your skin. And you know what? He's not worth it so stop doubting yourself!"

Steve was feeling a little overwhelmed by this unexpected turn in their conversation and by Irene's confidence lifting speech. "Thanks, Irene. I really don't know what else to say but thanks."

"Anytime. Alright, let's get you checked out, hmm?"

When Steve got out of the car, Irene was quick to support him as they walked toward the front entrance of the hospital.