Kristin leaned against the kitchen counter as Nathan Bridger put the last pan away in the cabinet under the sink.  As he leaned over she smiled fleetingly at a rather good view of what she considered to be one of the more appealing parts of his anatomy.

"You know, Nathan, that was very good."

He straightened up and grinned over at her while drying his hands on the towel he held. "Yeah, it turned out rather well.  I'm kind of enjoying this part.  I haven't had a chance to really get loose in a kitchen for a long time."  He slid the damp towel over the bar on the front of the stove to dry and picking up his glass of iced tea leaned back against the sink.

"What did you do to that sauce?  It was just esquisite."

That elicited another soft smile.  "Oh, a little sherry, some gentle herbs and just a bit of fresh garlic… nothing really exciting."

Kristin pushed up off of the counter and moved towards him placing a hand on his shoulder.  "Don't sell yourself short.  It was just the perfect sauce for the chicken."  She smiled at his obviously pleased grin.  "Very nice."

Nathan slipped his arm gently around her waist and they turned towards the living room.  "Thanks."  They paused a moment in the dining room, now all cleaned up from the meal that they'd shared.

"Where did Lucas go?"

"Oh, he's probably in his room."  Nathan glanced over at her, "he finally figured out what was wrong with his Internex connection so I imagine he's surfing away."

"That's a good thing… that boy without an Internex connection is a little difficult to imagine."

Nathan chuckled.  "Hey, you didn't have to live with him for the last couple of days.  You should have tried the atmosphere here."  He shook his head at the memory.  "It wasn't like he was completely cut off… but his computer just wouldn't connect so he had to use mine… if you think this, …I don't know… this keeping a distance thing of his drives me crazy usually, …it was really evident during the last couple."  He shook his head again.  "It was like he didn't want to bother me but he was dying to use the computer… eventually, I just spent both evenings reading books so he thought that I didn't have anything to do in the den."

"Well, that was a solution."

Nathan shrugged.  "It worked."  He glanced towards the porch.  "You want to go sit on the porch?"

Kristin squeezed him a little with the arm around his waist.  "That would be lovely."

They walked slowly out onto the porch stopping at the doorway.

"Lights?" Nathan asked.

"No," Kristin said softly and Nathan reached over to flick the switch that turned off the living room, dining room and kitchen lights.

They stood in the doorway for just a moment while their eyes adjusted to the darkness.  The porch wasn't totally in darkness though.  The moon shining in over the water bathed it in a soft, silver glow and eventually they both moved onto the porch where Kristin and Nathan sat down in the matching, comfortable white wicker chairs that had been Nathan's latest purchase for the house.  The wicker groaned softly as they settled down and they set their glasses on the table between them.  With his foot Nathan pushed the ottoman for his chair over between them and they both settled their bare feet on it touching.

"Why do you think he does that?" Kristin asked continuing the conversation about Lucas.

"I don't know," said Nathan softly.  He sighed.  "There's something there… but I just don't know what it is yet."  He paused a moment.  "I've got some suspicions but… I don't know."  He shrugged.  "We'll be alright.  I think he's getting more comfortable."

"Oh, he most certainly is.  I think this is the happiest I've seen him since I've known him."

"Ah, he's only happy because he finally got the backup vocorder working so he can talk to Darwin," she could see Nathan's soft grin in the moonlight.

"Well, that made Darwin happy too.  I don't think I'd ever seen him jump out of the water that high."

"He knows his way here already too."

"Really."

"Yup, almost every morning you can find him and Lucas out on the dock either with Lucas just leaning into the water and rubbing him or actually in the water swimming with him."

"That's nice."

They sat for a little while soaking in calm peace of the evening.  Kristin gazed out at the stream of moonlight dancing across the water and smiled at how perfect a house Nathan had managed to find.  Right on the water, somewhat secluded… well, if you could consider a barrier reef island to be secluded even if it really wasn't that far from the mainland and just the perfect size.  So many of these houses that were a little older were just beach houses and really were meant for partial year living but not this one.  This house was definitely large enough to use all the time… and it had enough space around it to give them some buffer from the neighbors.  To say nothing of the waterfront.  Large enough for the pier and a small beach.  For that matter, Nathan had been talking about expanding the finger pier that was there now into a `U' shape so he and Lucas could have a more practical place to park the sailboat they were thinking of buying.  And the house was well built.  Nathan had told her that the man he'd bought it from had specifically had it built to be resistant to any of the occasional tropical storms that decided to wander this way.  The rooms were so well braced that they were almost soundproofed and the construction was excellent.  Kristin didn't even want to consider how much this place had put him back… but her assessment of Nathan's financial worth had definitely been adjusted some.  That caused a small grin… she absently wondered which one of them had the more money… just out of curiosity….

Kristin picked up her glass and took the last sip of her iced tea.  She stood and indicated the empty glass in Nathan's hand.  "Like a refill?"

"Yes, please," he answered handing her the glass.

Kristin walked to the kitchen and Nathan saw the light of the open refrigerator stream across the floor.  After some clinking of glass the light went off and Kristin was standing next to him holding out his glass.

"Thanks," he said taking the glass and setting it on the table next to him.  Kristin moved closer to him and put one hand across the back of his neck.  He naturally slid his arm to rest around her waist.

"What a lovely evening," Kristin said softly.

"Um hum."

Kristin glanced down at Nathan who was looking at the water but soon brought his eyes up to meet hers.  She moved again, this time switching her glass to her right hand as she slowly lowered herself down until she was sitting in Nathan's lap and gazing into his laughing eyes.  She reached back and placed her glass next to his on the table.  Nathan's hands now found their way around either side of her waist and as her arm came to encircle his neck his right arm slid luxuriously up her back.

They continued to look into each other's eyes as their lips slowly closed the distance between them.  The gentle feather touch of Nathan's lips meeting hers caused Kristin to gasp.  She smiled a little inside.  A simple touch like that shouldn't cause that kind of  physical reaction but it certainly did.  Nathan pulled back a little and then kissed her again… and again… and again.  Each time a little harder.  Each time a little longer.  Her fingers of one hand ran through his hair while the other traced all those little outlines that she was getting to know on his face.  The curve of his ear, the point of his jaw and the strong edge of his chin.  Her thumb ran across the sandpapery surface of his cheek and she leaned a little further into him.

Nathan pulled back again and then she felt the touch of his tongue tracing the edges of her lips before she moaned and opened her lips to the welcome intrusion.  Their tongues parried and dueled.  Their breath becoming more ragged and their hands exploring more and more area of each others bodies.  Nathan's right hand slipped beneath the bottom edge of the camisole top that Kristin wore and she felt the burning hot touch of his hand on her bare skin.

"Oh, there you two are," Lucas said from the doorway.

The couple immediately pulled back and Kristin sank her head down into the curve between Nathan's neck and shoulder.

"Ooops… I think I did it again," Lucas said quietly.

"No, that's ok," Nathan said slightly breathless.  Then he looked up at the boy with a reassuring smile and Lucas relaxed.  "What's up?"

"Well… I…" Lucas stammered.  "I was thinking of watching a movie on the big screen but I guess I'll go back to the computer instead."

"Which movie?"

"It's an old one I found… an old Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry movie I haven't seen.  You two want to watch it?"

Nathan could hear the grin in Kristin's voice as she smiled into his shoulder.  "Thank's much, Lucas, but I think that we'll pass."

"You can go ahead and watch it though," Nathan said.  "Just shut the doors and we won't hear you… as long as you keep the volume somewhere in the reasonable range that is."

Lucas smiled at them.  "Okay, I'll do that."  He moved back into the living room and shut the doors out to the porch.  A small sigh escaped his lips as he set up the big vid-screen that Bridger had installed in the living room.  For a moment there when it was obvious that he'd interrupted… .well…. a romantic moment he'd been afraid but they didn't seem to mind at all.  He stopped and glanced out onto the porch to where all he could see was the edge of the chair and one of Kristin's feet swaying gently.  That was kind of cool.  He smiled.  He'd never seen them sitting like that before, with the Doc on Bridger's lap.  It was kind of like they fit together that way.  When she'd put her head down… after they'd broken up the tonsil hockey game… it was neat the way that Kristin's head just fit right on Bridger's shoulder.  They looked good together that way.  He was going to have to learn to be a bit more careful.  It seemed like lately he was getting really good at busting up their kissing.

"He's getting awfully good at that," Kristin mumbled into Nathan's shoulder.

"Yeah," Nathan smiled as he placed a small kiss on Kristin's forehead.

"You're not angry with him, are you?"

"No… why would I be angry with him?"

"Well… he is getting awfully good at that."

"He's a teenager… he's supposed to be awfully good at that."

"You're not angry with him at all?" Kristin persisted.

"No… are you?"

"No."  Kristin paused a bit.  "You were angry with him the first time he did it though."

"Yes… that time I was angry."  He chuckled just a little.

"What?"

"The first time was probably the one we should thank him for."

Kristin pulled her head back and looked at him quizzically.  "Why?"

The hand that Nathan had slipped under her shirt was now outside the shirt and he ran his thumb across her neck and shoulder.  "Do you think we were ready?… Ready for what was going to happen?"

"No," Kristin admitted.

"Me neither."  She leaned her head back into his shoulder and he rested his cheek against her forehead serenely soaking up the fragrant scent of her hair.  "His interruption has given us something that we wouldn't have had… it's given us time."  Kristin nodded slightly.  "I don't know… we've known each other for what, almost a year and a half now?"

"Um hmm."

"But for most of that time we've been your plain old every day garden variety friends."  Kristin chuckled.  "That would have put us on a plain a little higher than friends."

"Just a touch," Kristin agreed.

"That evening was a reaction."

"Hmm??" Kristin asked with a frown.

"Not that it was necessarily a wrong reaction," Nathan added hastily.  "What happened… or almost happened… was a reaction by both of us to the place, the time… just the situation."  He tightened his arms around her a little.  "Not a decision."

"Okay,…." she said tentatively.

Nathan smiled as he tried to explain again.  "Kris,…" he hesitated a moment.  "Kris, when we make love for the first time I want it to be something that we've both decided we're ready for… that we both make a conscious decision that it's what we want… not some hormone and testosterone induced roll in the hay."  Kristin started laughing.  "I didn't put that quite the way I wanted to," he said with frustration.

Kristin's hand moved gently across his shoulder and chest.  "You did just fine."  Her voice turned serious.  "And yes, I agree… we need to take our time."  She felt Nathan relax underneath her… she hadn't even been aware that he had tensed up.

Nathan spoke softly into her hair.  "And I need you to know some things… I need you to know that I love you."  Kristin closed her eyes for just a moment at the lovely sound of those words and then pulled her head back so that she could look into those incredible eyes of his.  "Because I most certainly do love you, Kristin," he continued softly.

He watched her as their gazes met and a sheen of tears appeared in Kristin's smokey brown eyes and a soft smile came to her face.  "I love you, Nathan… I do love you."

Nathan's hand caressed the side of her face before he lowered his lips to once again capture hers in a soft but intense kiss.  She laid her head down against his strong shoulder again and to her surprise, he continued talking.

"I need you to have more than just the words though.  I need for you to know and feel that I really do love you."  She didn't say anything but just shifted her head a little and he hesitated.  "I'm not very good at casual relationships."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" she mumbled into his chest.

"But I don't want to pressure you….."  His voice sounded a little confused, "It's just that this……" he grasped for the words…. "you and me… it just seems to be so right."  Kristin nodded against him.  "I just don't want to do anything that might ruin it in the beginning and blow it."

Kristin decided to come to his rescue before he got any more tongue-tied.  She brought her head up and kissed him gently on the chin.   "I know," she said softly.  "I agree.  We need to take our time and get to know each other… because besides the fact that we love each other we do have some rather interesting obstacles to overcome here," she said with a little smile.

Nathan grinned back at her.  "Like what?"

"It seems I've heard that one of us is stubborn."

"I wonder which one of us that is?"  His face held a full-fledged smile now.

She snuggled into him again and he closed his arms around her.  "Ummm… we'll have to work on that."

"What other obstacles?"

"Well, there is that human eating machine watching that rather obnoxiously rowdy movie in there."

"You think he's an obstacle?"

"Yes."  She heard the concern in his voice and Kristin decided to explain.  "Nathan," she started patiently, "besides the rather obvious type of obstacle that he's been to our ending up in bed…."  Nathan chuckled again.  "Well, you will admit that if he hadn't lost his keys last Saturday we wouldn't be having this discussion."

"No," Nathan answered shortly.  He'd spent all last Saturday helping Kristin paint and paper her new condo and when they'd finished the work and their take-out dinner the evening had progressed into a serious make-out session on the couch that had been interrupted by a call from Lucas.  He'd once again lost the keys to the house and needed Bridger to come home to save him from spending the night on the pier… thereby effectively ending what might have happened with Kristin.

"You do realize that he's going to be an obstacle in another way, don't you?" Kristin asked tentatively.

"How so?"

"Well, over the last year or so I've noticed something about you."

"Only one thing?"

Kristin pinched him in the side.  "Yes, your butt…."  Nathan chuckled and she continued.  "You have a rather… well, traditional set of morals."

"Yeah??"

"You take this guardianship seriously, Nathan… and part of that seriousness is that I think that part of the consideration you're going to want to make about our relationship is what kind of image it's presenting to Lucas."

"Yes."

"And I understand that… and I respect it… and I agree with it."  She rubbed her head against his shoulder again… did she know what that did to him every time she did it, he wondered?  "And I think that will probably help us keep a good perspective on it."  Nathan was quiet for a moment while he digested this.  It actually wasn't something he'd consciously thought about but he was glad that Kristin had… because she was right.  Kristin continued, "I have a feeling that he's going to get a birds-eye view of a rather interesting development here."  He felt her smile again.  "To tell you the truth, I'm kind of looking forward to this."

"Yeah, me too…." Nathan smiled.  "I like it… we take our time… and make this something that lasts."

Kristin pulled back to look at him again her eyebrows pursed in concern.  "One question though."

"Hmmm??"

"We're not going to take this too, too slowly… are we?"

Nathan grinned at her a little wolfishly.  "Oh, I have a feeling that it won't be a long, drawn out decision."

"Good," she said with a sigh and leaned against him again.  They sat there in comfortable silence, holding onto each other and contentedly staring at the water.  "So are we going to set any ground rules?" Kristin finally asked.

"Ground rules?"

"Yeah… like how far we can go?"

"You think we need them?"

Kristin looked up at him.  "Honestly??? Yes."

Nathan grinned and leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips.  "Well, kissing is still in," he said as they parted.

"Oh, yes," Kristin agreed.

Nathan leaned down again.  Kristin expected a repeat of the prior soft kiss but instead Nathan quickly accelerated this kiss to a deep, passionate exchange.  "Then we need to keep that," Nathan said panting.  He returned immediately to the kiss they had just ended and Kristin parted her lips at the touch of his tongue to let their tongues join and parry in another explosive, ardent kiss.  After a long time they again broke the kiss and leaned their foreheads against each other's as they struggled to regain their breathing.  "And that?"

"Yes, we keep that," Kristin answered breathlessly.

"Oh good."

Kristin pulled Nathan's head down and took up an attack on his ear and neck to the sound of his soft moans.  "Can we keep this?" she whispered into his ear.

"Works for me."  Nathan opened his eyes to be met with the vision of the soft swell of Kristin's breasts since from where Kristin held his head, his eyes were directed down the front of her camisole.  He leaned forward just a touch to place a soft kiss on the top of one breast and he heard her quick intake of breath.  He left his lips touching the soft skin and mumbled.  "Well?"

Kristin hesitated a moment and then pulled his head a little closer so that he rubbed his stubble-roughened cheek against her chest.  "Yes, I think we can handle that."

Nathan anointed the other breast also with a soft kiss before pulling his head back up to look at her.  "How far?"

Kristin narrowed her eyes at him.  "You are a disgustingly practical person, Nathan Bridger."

Nathan grinned.  "Good thing you're finding out now, huh?" he said with a grin and a little waggle of his eyebrows.  "I just hate disappointing a lady."

"Oh, Good Lord…" Kristin said with a shake of her head.

Nathan's hand, which had sat at her waist had now moved up until it lay on her side next to her breast.  His thumb slid over her clothes and brushed across Kristin's nipple causing her to gasp and arch slightly.  "How far?" he asked seriously.

Kristin's hand smoothly slid up between the buttons on Nathan's shirt and she pinched one of his nipples to his moan of pleasure.  Their lips met again and they shared a gentle, intense kiss before he got his answer.  "Oh, full frontal nudity I suppose?"

"Full?" she heard just a little sound of hope in his voice.

"With all it entails," she reassured him.

Nathan leaned back in the chair with a sigh but with his thumb and finger still teasing Kristin's nipple almost absently.  "This isn't going to be easy."

"No… I don't expect it will be."

The hand on her breast dropped to lay on her stomach and stilled.  "What don't we do?"

Kristin smiled at the slightly pained look on his face and slid her hand out of his shirt to bring it to rest on the wonderful flat plain of his stomach, just above his belt.  She felt the muscles contract as she touched him.  "We don't take our pants off."

He looked down at the serious countenance on her face.  "Underwear type pants?" he asked a little hopefully.

"Get real, Nathan… it better be pants."

He leaned his head back against the wall, closed his eyes and nodded.  "This is really not going to be easy."  He looked back down at her again and smiled.  "But it'll be worth it."

"Yes."

Nathan took in and let out a big sigh, looking out over the water again.  "It'll be the cause of a bunch of cold showers though."   Kristin shifted slightly in his lap, feeling the bulge of him beneath her.  Nathan stiffened and gasped.  "Don't do that," he said in exasperation.

"Sorry," she said with a playful smile.

He looked at her impish eyes and again they shared a tender, passionate kiss.  "And we watch our locale and for who our audience is," Nathan mumbled.

"Umm hmmm," Kristin said through the kiss.

When they parted Kristin settled her head back down against his shoulder.  Their hands took up a lazy, but not so passionate exploration of each other's bodies, carefully avoiding the off-limits zones.  A long time after Lucas' movie had ended and the house had gone quiet Kristin carefully stood and after sharing a passionate good night kiss with Nathan left in her car to go home.

Nathan stood at the edge of the drive and watched her tail lights become more distant and then turn at the stop sign.  He wandered slowly back up the stairs to the porch and picked up their empty glasses, putting them in the kitchen sink for clean up tomorrow.  He came back into the living room and closed and locked the porch doors before heading deliberately down the darkened hallway to take a cold shower.