A/N: A tiny, tiny little chapter - no real plot, just a moment captured - just to say hello, and thank you for waiting . . . I took a few weeks to concentrate on the Jersey universe for NaNoWriMo, but I'm definitely coming back to this story (if there's still anyone interested!). I also want to say thank you, again, to everyone who takes the time to review and drop notes of encouragement. On bad days, your kind words make a huge difference in my life. Thank you. (That said, I welcome feedback and suggestions - keep me on course, and please, those of you who have mentioned that you read and re-read the story - drop me a note if I create a plot hole! I try to go back and reread from time to time, for the sake of consistency and continuity, but if I miss something I'd love to know so that I can fix it! Everything I write is unbeta'd and the product of very little sleep and a great deal of caffeine.)

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Mary was waiting for Steve when he came out of the water.

He eased himself gingerly into the chair next to hers.

"Holy shit, Steve," she gasped. "Your back . . . you shouldn't be swimming, you idiot."

He gratefully accepted the cup of coffee she handed him. He wrinkled his nose a bit at the taste; it was her coffee, sweet, like Danny liked his. Still, it was hot.

"I couldn't, really," he admitted. "More like a very pathetic doggy paddle. But I needed to move, I was hobbling around like an eighty year old man." He was silent for a moment, taking another sip of coffee, and then handing the cup back to Mary.

"Because your truck got blown up," Mary said quietly.

Steve glanced at her. He'd deliberately spared her that detail.

"Riley saw it happen," Mary continued. "She had a lot of nightmares last night."

"Mare, shit, I'm sorry," Steve said, "I should have been downstairs, I should -"

Mary interrupted him. "No, Steve, this is why I came, remember? To help. Rebecca offered to switch with me, let me stay in her room, but . . . I dunno, it feels right, being the one to help." She paused, staring out over the water. "Steve, is this . . ." She trailed off, shaking her head.

"What, Mare?" he prompted gently.

"Is this why you've pushed me away, all these years? You didn't want me to know . . . all these years, Steve, as a SEAL, the things you've seen . . . you kept me at arm's length, to, what - protect me?"

He looked at her thoughtfully. "What do you mean, pushed you away? Mare, you didn't - there hasn't been - you thought I was pushing you away? God, Mary, I'm so sorry, I never . . . if I was, it wasn't on purpose. But yeah, I think . . . from the minute Dad sent us away, my life belonged to the Navy. Even before I got to Annapolis, it was all about preparing . . . and yeah, I've seem some really bad -" He stopped and cleared his throat. "I guess part of me never wanted to expose you to any of that. I'm sorry, if it made you feel like I was pushing you away."

"I've missed you," Mary said simply, biting her lip as she tried to hold back tears. "I've missed you the whole time."

Steve pushed himself stiffly out of the chair and knelt in front of Mary, stroking a hand through her hair and then cupping her face gently. She seemed so impossibly young, and tiny, and his heart clenched painfully at the thought of her, all these years, feeling alone. Missing him.

"Mare," he whispered, his eyes filling with tears to match hers. "I am so, so sorry."

She shook her head, smiling even as the tears spilled over onto her cheeks. "You were just a kid, Steve. It wasn't . . . it wasn't fair. None of it was fair. Not to you, not to me . . . not to Riley." She sniffed. "And if you tell me that life isn't supposed to be fair I'm gonna kick you in the nuts."

He laughed, then, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and tucking her head into the crook of his neck. "It's not fair," he murmured in agreement. "It was horrible, and I don't understand. I don't understand why our parents made the decisions they made, and I'm so sorry that you and Riley have been hurt."

"And you, too," Mary said. "You've been hurt, too, Steve."

"I'm okay, Mary," he said immediately, assuring her.

She pulled back and looked at him fondly. "Can you do me a favor, Steve?"

"Name it, Mare," he said emphatically.

"Let me grow up," she said softly. "Let me be an adult, and stop trying to protect me from everything."

"I will never stop trying to protect you, Mary, not as long as my heart is beating," he said. "But I will try . . . I will try to stop thinking of you as the little girl that I put on the plane to go to Aunt Deb's."

She pondered that for a moment. "Okay," she decided. "That seems reasonable."

"I try," he said, smiling at her. "I have to go to work," he said reluctantly.

"I know," she said, beaming at him. "That's one of the reasons I came, remember? I'll take care of things here, while you're at work. Now, come on, let's get you back to the house, and you should take a nice warm shower while your back is still stretched out from swimming. I'll make you some coffee and toast . . . "

She wrapped her arm carefully around his waist, and he looped his arm over her shoulder . . . and he let himself lean on her, just a bit, as they walked back toward their home.