Liz wove in and out of people on her way towards the escalator that would take her out of the Metro station. This particular stop was closer to the central part of Washington, D.C., and much busier as a result. The crowd did not help the foul mood that had taken hold during her ride with Jason.

Arrogant... Two-faced... Childish... were some of the kinder adjectives that came to Liz's mind as she decided to bypass the crowded escalator in favor of the stairs, And yet he can still sway your emotions with little more than a look... Liz shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. She would be damned if she was going to let him stay rent-free in her mind. She was unsuccessful. I need to find a distraction...

Liz walked a few blocks briskly until she came upon the front entrance of St. Hedwig's Catholic School. She waited a few moments at her usual spot near the school bus drop-off until students began to spill out of the front entrance of the school and down the white stone steps.

"Lizzie!" Emma ran up to Liz and hugged her around the middle, instantly making Liz smile.

"Hey Emma, how was your day? Where's your brother?"

Liz saw Billy walking up to them slowly. His head was bent low as if he were trying to hide his face, and his white school shirt was untucked from his uniform khakis. A backpack was slung lazily across one shoulder with one hand holding it in place. In the other, he clutched a slightly crumpled-looking envelope.

"He didn't have a good day..." Emma tried to explain, her face falling. In contrast to her brother, her uniformed ensemble looked positively pristine.

Liz bent down to Billy's level and noticed a discoloration near what she could see of his left eye.

"Billy, what happened? Let me see you..." Liz ever so gently lifted Billy's chin so that he would look at her. He did not try to fight it, though his eyes continued to look away, ashamed. Liz saw what was unmistakably a bruise covering Billy's left eyebrow, temple, and upper cheek.

"Teddy Thompson punched him in the face," Emma volunteered brashly.

"Is this the same kid who's been giving you a hard time the last couple weeks?" Liz's tone was sharp. She thought of the twins as the little brother and sister that she had never had, and protective-big-sister mode was starting to kick into high gear. She was not usually like this, but Liz had not been having the best of days so far, and this new development was not helping her Irish temperament.

Billy just nodded and let his gaze fall to his feet. Liz stood up and started walking determinedly towards the front of the school. The twins ran after her.

"Lizzie, where are you going?" Billy was jogging next to her to keep up with her pace.

Liz's mind was made up, "I want to speak to your teacher about this."

"No, wait!" Billy tugged on her hand for her to stop, and Liz complied, "They already called mom and gave me a note," he waved the rumpled envelope he was holding up for Liz to see, "Can we just go home?"

Liz softened when she saw the earnest look on Billy's face. It was an expression of just wanting the day to be over and done with. On second thought, Liz doubted anyone at the school would be willing to talk to her anyway since she was not his parent and legally had no business getting involved. She sighed.

"Of course," Liz smiled at him and began going through their typical pick-up checklist, "Do you guys have all your books? Lunchboxes? Blazers?" The twins smiled and nodded at each pause, "Then let's go home."

Some walking, a ride on the Metro, and a bit more walking later, Liz, Billy, and Emma were back at the apartment building.

"Do you think mom would let me take karate lessons?" Billy voiced hopefully as they climbed the stairs, "Then I could kick Teddy Thompson's butt!"

"Only if I can take them too!" Emma chimed.

Liz was glad at the upturn in Billy's mood but felt the need to respond responsibly, "Just because you can beat someone up doesn't mean that you should." However, Liz actually thought that self-defense lessons could be beneficial for Billy's self-esteem.

"I'll make a deal with you," Liz started. The twins paused on the stairs, intrigued, and looked at her intently, "If we get your homework done fast, I'll try talking to your mom about it."

Billy and Emma's eyes widened hopefully. Simultaneously they shouted "Deal!" and started racing up the stairs ahead of Liz.

"Oh goodness!" Liz suddenly heard a woman call from the stairwell above her. She began hurrying after the twins as they chorused, "Sorry, Miss Kate!" Liz turned onto the landing to find her other third-floor neighbor laughing (Kate lived in the apartment adjacent to Steve's unit, across the hall from Liz), dressed in pale blue hospital scrubs and holding her wicker laundry basket with both hands.

"It's okay, you just caught me by surprise, is all. Billy, honey, what happened to your eye?" Kate questioned, concerned, stooping slightly to look at him.

"I got in a fight at school..." Billy trailed off shyly, lowering his face.

"Do you think he should see a doctor, Kate?" Liz took the opportunity to ask. Having a nurse for a neighbor had its perks, even if she worked odd, long hours and was seldom seen.

Kate smiled at Liz and then back at Billy. He looked up so that she could take a closer look as she knelt down.

"It doesn't look like his eye was affected. Just the skin around it. A little bit of ice now and then, and you'll be good as new in no time." Kate smiled at Billy warmly.

"That's a relief. Thank you," Liz said.

"Thank you, Miss Kate," Billy echoed, then began racing up the stairs with Emma once again.

"You're welcome, honey," Kate called after them, "I get the feeling they can be quite the handful," Kate laughed as she moved to pass Liz on her way down the stairs.

Liz smiled and shook her head as she began to follow the twins, "You have no idea."

They stopped at the twins' second-floor apartment so that Billy and Emma could change out of their school uniforms before heading upstairs to Liz's unit. The twins found Liz's apartment much more entertaining than their own, but then again, most ten-year-olds would. Liz credited this to her video game consoles and extensive movie collection (which boasted a pretty impressive animated film section), as well as a respectable catalog of comic books old and new, many of which she had inherited from her father.

True to their word, the twins immediately sat down and unpacked their books at the table in the dining area off of Liz's kitchen. Liz poured them each apple juice, put out a snack bowl full of trail mix on the table, and joined them. Luckily, there was not much homework for them to do today. Liz helped Billy and Emma write and proofread their English compositions, followed by some math that required them to divide fractions by fractions (to their dismay). Liz attempted to explain that it was more a matter of cross multiplication, to which Billy exclaimed, "What sorcery is this?!" and Emma concluded, "That's much easier!" All in all, homework was completed in less than an hour's time.

"Can we play some video games, Lizzie?" Billy asked excitedly.

Emma liked the idea, "Yeah! Please, Lizzie?"

"Fine by me. First one to the couch picks!" Liz declared in an attempt to avoid that argument, and the twins dashed over to the living room area and hopped over the back of the couch.

"I win!" Emma announced proudly.

Billy sighed, "Just don't pick anything stupid."

"Let's play Wii Sports Boxing. You need to practice." Emma decided, referring to her brother's incident earlier at school.

"Hey!" Billy responded affronted.

"It's true!" Emma teased.

Billy gave in reluctantly, "I know..."

Liz moved the coffee table out of the way as the twins loaded up the game and chose the digital avatars they had made of themselves in the past.

"Now, I want a fair match, you guys. The cartoons are the only ones doing the fighting!" Liz had seated herself in the armchair off to the side as she listed off the house rules that had been created after such proceedings had occurred in the past: "No tickling. No foot-nudging or kicking. No using the controller as a ranged weapon!"

The twins agreed with a "Yes, Lizzie!" as the match began.

Several matches had been played with cheering, boasting, or dismay loudly being proclaimed by any of the parties involved at any given moment. Liz had been tapped in by each of the twins during a few rounds in an attempt for one of them to make a comeback. Liz had just collapsed on the couch after tapping Emma back in when she heard a soft knock on her door.

Liz stood up and straightened her clothing out a bit before going to the door. She peeked through the eyehole in the door quickly before opening it.

"Hey, Steve," Liz smiled, slightly breathless from moving around just a moment ago.

Steve smiled back, "Hello."

"What's up?" Liz brushed a loose strand of auburn hair out of her face. She was not expecting him, but Liz found that she was happy to see him.

"I was just in my apartment," Steve started, holding something out for Liz, "and I heard a ruckus." Steve was trying not to smirk by the end of his sentence.

Liz looked down at the DVD case he was holding out for her and tried not to laugh as she took back the copy of The Breakfast Club that she had lent Steve yesterday. Liz bit her lip smiling, understanding his reference to the movie as she shifted her weight to one foot and looked back at him, "Could you describe the ruckus, sir?"

Just then, a loud cheer from Billy was heard behind Liz in the apartment as Emma groaned.

"Well, it was something like that," Steve laughed lightly.

"We've got the video games going. It's getting a little intense," Liz explained with a smile as she motioned for Steve to come in, "What did you think of the movie?" Liz placed the DVD case on the coffee table that had been moved off to the side nearest her as Steve entered and closed the door.

"I liked it. It wasn't what I was expecting." Steve put his hands in his jean pockets as he looked at what was happening on the television screen and then to Billy and Emma, who were engrossed in the heat of battle, "What in the world are you guys doing?" He asked from behind the couch, amused.

"We're teaching Billy how to fight so he might stand a chance against Teddy Thompson!" Emma stated matter-of-factly. She swung a final punch at the screen as Billy's avatar fell to the floor. Billy was unable to recover, and the match ended.

"Shit!" Billy shouted as he fell back on the couch.

Liz's eyes widened as she reflexively responded with, "Language!" in a tone that sounded quite shocked.

"Sorry, Lizzie..." Billy gave her an apologetic look as he sat up from the couch. His eye looked slightly puffier than it had before.

"I think it's time we put some ice on that shiner there, Rocky." Liz went into the kitchen to find something cold for Billy to put on his eye as she heard Emma giggle.

"What happened here?" Liz could hear Steve from where she was in the kitchen. He sounded genuinely concerned.

Billy responded after a moment, "A kid in my class has been picking on me. I was trying to ignore him today at recess, but I don't think he liked that, so he hit me."

"And what then?" Liz heard Steve ask as she pulled a bag of peas out of her freezer.

Billy's tone sounded defeated, "And... I fell down."

"Did you get back up?" Steve questioned gently as Liz wrapped the bag of peas in a clean dish towel.

"Of course not. I didn't want to get hit again." Billy sounded like the idea of getting up was a suicide mission, "There were a couple other kids with him... And a teacher was coming over."

Liz stood quietly leaning against the archway on the threshold of the kitchen as she watched Steve with Billy. Both Billy and Emma were kneeling on the couch with their arms folded on the back. Steve had taken one knee behind the couch so that he was at Billy's eye level, his back to Liz.

Steve spoke softly but encouragingly, "Always get back up. And if they swing at you again, you swing back."

Liz found herself being deeply moved by Steve trying to help Billy. The boy had been lacking a proper male role model in his daily life since the twins' father, Mark, was currently on deployment. Jason never made that much of an effort with them... Liz mentally slapped herself the moment she finished the thought for comparing her ex-boyfriend on some level with Steve. Steve was not now, nor had he ever been her significant other, so why did it matter? Liz did not want to think about the answer to her own question, but she was happy that the twins and Steve had taken a liking to each other during some afternoons spent together down in the shop.

Billy's eyes widened slightly, "But then I'd have two black eyes! And I've never tried to punch anyone for real before."

"Never let a bully think you're an easy target. Give 'em enough of a hassle, and they'll leave you alone," Steve got up and walked around to the front of the couch. The twins turned to sit properly on the couch in order to keep facing him.

Emma interjected, "How do you know so much about bullies?" Liz could see Emma cross her arms as if she did not believe that Steve was qualified to talk about such things.

"It happened to me a lot before I— When I was a kid." Steve seemed to change what he was going to say mid-sentence, Liz noticed. However, she found that small piece of information about his past very surprising for a few reasons. For one thing, Liz found it hard to believe that a man of his stature and physique would have anyone dare to so much as look at him the wrong way, much less give him a hard time on purpose. He seems like such a gentle soul, though... Liz thought to herself, I guess someone who comes off as being so nice could be seen as weak... Not that Liz agreed, but bullies seemed to have a radar for a certain kind of person.

"I don't think this game is going to help you learn how to defend yourself right," Steve stated, "but I can teach you a couple moves that could."

Billy jumped up from the couch, "You can?" He sounded ecstatic.

"I want to learn too, Steve!" Emma had also jumped up, not wanting to be left out.

Liz stifled a giggle from her place in the archway. Steve looked at her after hearing the noise and found her gaze in a way that seemed to ask for permission, "As long as that's okay with Liz."

"I have no problem with that," Liz started as she walked over to the front of the couch, handing the wrapped frozen peas to Billy, who just held it in his hands, "As long as you two remember it's for self-defense only, or your mother might have my head."

The twins looked at her before turning back to Steve, "We promise!"

Steve smiled and took a defensive stance, bringing closed fists up to his face in demonstration, "Lesson one. Protect your face like this..."

A few minutes passed as Steve took the time to help Billy and Emma form proper fists, the best way to keep them up so that their faces were not left vulnerable, and how to place their feet in order to stay balanced. The frozen peas lay forgotten on the couch. Liz had returned to sitting in the armchair off to the side, watching intently. Before long, Steve was holding up a throw pillow he had taken from the couch that the twins took turns punching to practice their swing. Steve encouraged them after every attempt and kindly corrected things that needed improvement. After several rotations, Billy wanted a bit more.

"But Steve, what do I do if someone tries to hit me?" Billy asked, voicing his biggest concern.

"I can teach you that, too..." Steve trailed off, "But it would be easier to show you with someone closer to my size." It took Liz a moment to realize that he was looking at her when he said this. Her eyes widened slightly, speechless; she had never done any kind of real sparring before. The twins were looking at her too.

"Please, Lizzie?" Billy begged, his sister echoed, "Yeah, please?!"

"Fine, fine," Liz got up from the chair, a defeated smile on her face. She straightened out her t-shirt and removed her phone from her back jeans pocket, setting it on the end table that created the corner between the couch and her armchair. She glanced at Steve and saw that he was smiling, too.

"What are you smiling about? I'll have you know that I'm the resident Wii Boxing champion. You should be scared," Liz teased as she removed the dog tags from around her neck and set them next to her phone.

"Is that so?" There was a mocking tone to Steve's voice as he tilted his head to the side, "Show me how it's done, then. Why don't you kids give us some room?" It was the first time Liz had ever seen Steve allow himself to fully smirk unrestrained. Liz was momentarily entranced by the fire that flashed across his blue eyes for hardly a second before it was gone. The twins rushing past to sit in the armchair behind her snapped Liz out of it. Liz had no prior real-life training in this sort of thing whatsoever, but she took what she hoped was an imposing defensive stance as she spread and staggered her feet and brought her fists up to her face. She swayed slightly back and forth from one foot to another.

"Come at me," Steve encouraged. He was in a similar stance and motioned for her to move towards him with one hand.

Liz took a few steps forward and made to swing her first punch with her right arm. She did so in a reserved manner, as this was all for show and not a real fight, of course. As soon as her arm entered Steve's space, it was quickly yet ever so gently deflected outward with his left hand as he made to punch with his right, stopping his fist half a foot from Liz's face. She jumped slightly at the sudden motion.

"Distract and react at the same time," Steve said to the twins, "You can do better than that, Liz."

"I don't want to risk hurting you." Liz was being genuine as she dropped her arms. She had no intention of actually hitting Steve, not that she thought she had any chance of getting past his shielded stance anyway.

"Don't worry, you won't," he laughed in a friendly tone as Liz gave him a skeptical look, "Come on, I won't block you this time," Steve said, standing up straight and relaxing his arms, "Hit me in the stomach."

Liz furrowed her eyebrows, "Seriously?"

"Go on," he encouraged, "with some muscle this time."

"Okay..." Liz agreed against her better judgment. She got back into a fighting stance, took a breath, looked Steve in the eye one more time, and then back to her target as she swung her arm with what she thought was a considerable amount of force into Steve's abdomen. He was unphased. Liz felt a rock-hard stomach underneath his shirt and a groove of what must have been the definition between two muscles in what she was imagining as an impressive six-pack. Stop undressing him with your eyes, you weirdo! Liz scolded herself.

Steve teased, "You call that muscle?"

"I am literally half your size, Hercules." Liz countered, dropping her arms and looking up at his face.

Steve laughed as he resumed a fighting stance, "Come at me again."

Liz threw another punch at full speed. Steve quickly yet gently deflected and twisted around so that he managed to mock-elbow her in the back of the head. He dictated his movements to the twins, who were absorbing it all in amazement. Steve had Liz throw punch after punch, alternating between arms as he demonstrated different ways to deflect and counter each attack.

Liz's blood was starting to pump after a few demonstrations, and she began to lose focus on any words that seemed to be coming out of Steve's mouth. Most of her attention had been drawn to their fluctuating proximity, his muscles flexing under what she was now sure was an intentionally too small white t-shirt and his absolute control over every movement. Stop kidding yourself, Lizzie. You are absolutely attracted to this guy, and there's no doubt about it, she finally admitted to herself.

Liz realized that Steve was purposely being extraordinarily gentle each time he diverted her hand or arm like she was a glass doll he was trying not to break. She wanted to prove to him that she could be formidable despite her below-average size. Liz forced herself to focus as a flame lit inside her and started giving this her all. Steve must have noticed the change in her demeanor because his eyes lingered on hers as he held her wrist gently after having flipped her arm downward. He grinned as Liz saw the hidden fire in his sapphire eyes return. She smirked back. Steve's demonstration took a more physical turn.

This went on for what seemed like quite some time until Liz felt her muscles start to weaken. She normally did not do much working out, and she was starting to regret that decision. Adrenaline had started pumping through her as Liz felt herself starting to shake. Steve asked for her to attack him again, and she complied. Liz felt her elbow buckle as she somehow managed to actually connect with Steve's bicep and then lost her footing as he slid her fist cross-body. Steve managed to catch Liz in his arms before she went down.

"Alright there?" Steve asked with a soft tone, worried. He was holding her gently against his chest for support. Liz was a bit shell-shocked for a brief moment, half disoriented from whatever twisty thing Steve just did and half distracted by the feeling of his strong chest and arms around her. His muscles were chiseled beneath the fabric of his shirt yet soft at the same time, gently rocking her as he breathed in and out evenly, and his warmth and masculine scent were absolutely intoxicating as she breathed him in. She could feel him looking down at her. Neither of them made to move out of this new position.

Somewhere off to her side, Liz heard her phone start ringing. She immediately snapped out of her trance as she came to her senses and quickly backed away from Steve a few steps, looking at the floor and feeling her cheeks flush with nervous embarrassment as she slid her hands into her back pockets.

"Ewww, it's Jason!" Emma had picked up Liz's phone and held it out in front of her with two fingers as if she were holding a dead mouse by the tail. The look on her face was of pure disgust. The phone continued to ring as Liz stared at it, paralyzed by the caller ID and digital contact photo facing her. It was a selfie that Jason had taken of the two of them hugging and looking at the camera while they had still been together. Liz felt her blood run cold, as it had earlier that afternoon when she had encountered Jason on the train.

Billy grabbed the phone and started tapping at the screen vigorously with his finger, "Push 'ignore'! Lizzie doesn't want to talk to him!"

Liz snapped into action, "Hey, easy there, kid!" She said, regaining possession of the phone. It had gone silent; the photo disappeared.

"Why do you still have a picture of him? I thought he broke your heart!" Emma asked, folding her arms, still disgusted.

"Don't talk about it, Emma! You're going to make her sad!" Billy scolded his sister quickly.

Liz looked at the twins, absolutely mortified. Her back was to Steve, and she could feel his eyes on her. She could not bring herself to face him out of embarrassment. At that moment, she would rather have crawled into a corner and keeled over. Liz took a deep breath.

"It's no big deal," she said slowly, much more calmly than she thought she was capable of. Nevertheless, she needed to pause before continuing. She was still trembling slightly, but noticeably. The silence was deafening. Liz decided to change the subject, "It's getting late. Your mom will be home any minute. Why don't you two get your stuff together?"

"Okay," the twins agreed with remorseful looks on their faces, realizing they had brought up a touchy subject, and went over to the dining area to pack up their school books that had been left on the table.

Liz turned around to look at Steve. The emotion on his face was difficult to read. Concern or worry maybe, but there was something else there that Liz could not quite make out. His eyes had a slight stormy look to them.

"Ex-boyfriend," Liz explained quickly, holding up the phone before returning it to her back pocket. A contrite half-smile formed on her lips as she averted her gaze to a corner of the floor.

"Are you alright?" Steve asked softly. He never took his eyes off of her.

Liz tried to brush off what just happened, "Yeah, I'm just out of shape. My muscles gave out there for a moment."

Steve took a few steps toward her and reached his arms out to steady her shoulders, "You're still shaking. You're sure you're just tired?" Liz could feel Steve's eyes boring into her soul. Liz knew he was silently asking her to open up about the scene that had just unfolded with the phone and the twins. She was seriously considering it. Uncovering a sensitive part of her past would bring their friendship to a new level, at the very least. Is that what you want? A friendship? Liz asked herself. She did not get the chance to think about the answer as another knock sounded at the door.

"That's probably Catherine." Liz stepped away from Steve to answer the door.

"Hi, Catherine. How was work?" Liz greeted.

Catherine gave a tired smile, "It was a long day. There were multiple depositions that needed summarizing today from a few cases my firm is working on." Catherine was one of the head paralegals at a law firm in central Washington, D.C. that specialized in criminal prosecution. Working in that field often required her to stay late if critical documents were needed for review in a particular case.

Catherine shared a brief and polite greeting with Steve as she entered the apartment. The twins came and greeted their mother happily. After a thorough inspection of Billy's eye (Catherine had many things to say about the situation and the Thompson family, none of them good) and a double-check for any personal belongings that may have been left behind, Liz said goodbye to the twins as Catherine thanked her immensely for her help as always. On his way out the door, Billy whispered "Karate?!" to Liz, to which she had responded with a hushed tone and a wink, "Let mom cool off about that eye first," and closed the door behind them.

Liz turned back to the living room to see Steve perusing her movie collection. She walked over to stand next to him, trying to follow his eyes, "See anything you like?"

Steve smiled and shrugged. His hands were in his pockets, "What do you recommend?"

Liz scanned the spines of the many cases lining the shelf. She could be very indecisive about picking out something to watch, but her eyes doubled back at something she had just passed, "How about Indiana Jones?" Liz suggested. Before she could second guess herself, she added, "We could watch it together... I haven't seen any of them in a while."

Steve looked at her. His smile met his eyes, "I'd like that. I haven't seen them."

Liz rolled her eyes, "Of course you haven't. Seriously, dude, where have you been?" she laughed as she pulled Raiders of the Lost Ark off the self.

* * * Author's Notes * * *

I know it was a little late and a little long, but my beta reader and I have both been busy the past few weeks!

I hope that you all enjoy this chapter, I had fun writing it! Tried to throw in some feels all around, but the next chapter will be LOADED with them ;-)

If there was something you loved (or something you didn't!) I'd like to know about it in the comments!

Special thanks as always to whimsymuse for making sure that I stay on target with the plot and use proper grammar :-)

Thanks for reading!

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