Nathan Bridger smiled at the faces greeting him as he walked down the hallway of the UEO Headquarters building.  Especially for a Monday, today was defiantly a good mood day… and there, down at the end of the hallway coming his direction was the auburn-haired lady who had him in a good mood.  As she got a little closer she noticed him too. The sudden firm set of her chin and steely look that appeared in her eyes, however, didn't indicate that her mood was very good... at least apparently as it pertained to him.   Ah, what the heck… may as well just go with the flow and find out what he'd managed to do to upset her now.

He turned to match her step as she came abreast of him.  It was patently obvious that she had no intention of stopping in the hallway to talk to him.  "Good morning."

"'Morning," she said shortly.

"How about lunch?"

Kristin glanced quickly at him and then looked ahead again.  "I'm going to walk."  They'd just finished a new walking trail around the headquarters complex and it was becoming quite a nice place to spend lunchtime.

"I'll walk with you," Nathan shot back cheerfully.

The glance was just a little longer this time but laced with disapproval that Bridger steadfastly ignored.  "That's alright… I'm sure you've got something else to do."

"Nope," he answered quickly.  "Nothing at all."  He turned a smiling face her direction to be met with a solid stone wall that only made him smile more.

Kristin audibly sighed and then looking straight ahead again exited the door and headed for the trail with Bridger only slightly behind her.

He figured he'd try again… perhaps a subject that should be somewhat neutral…  "So how was your Sunday?"  They'd had dinner at his house on Saturday night and then sat up until late in the evening talking… well, sometimes talking but Kristin had spent yesterday at her house and he and Lucas had worked around his.  She sure hadn't seemed pissed off at him when she left on Saturday.  Bridger wondered what had changed over that one day.

"It was quiet."

"Uh huh."

She threw a quick glance at him.  "I read most of the day."

"That's good.  Lucas and I worked on the plans for the dock.  I think it's gonna come out kinda neat."

"Wonderful," she said in a flat voice.

If she kept up walking the speed she was Bridger was sure that she was going to poop herself out in a short time so he just kept walking next to her… talk about power walking….  Finally deciding to take the bull, so to speak, by the horns, Nathan started trying to find out the problem.

"So I didn't see you yesterday so I couldn't have done anything then to upset you."

There was that glare again.  "No."

"And I didn't talk to you… so it wasn't anything I said."

She cleared her throat.  He took that for a no.

"So that leaves us back to Saturday night… Was it something I did on Saturday night?"

The glare.

"Something I didn't do on Saturday night?" he tried.

Oh goodie, a double glare.

"I went too far on Saturday night."  They'd gotten rather involved in some heavy petting that evening but had decided to set down some ground rules about their relationship.  Nathan smiled softly as he remembered the rather convoluted discussion of just how far they had decided they could go when making out before they started running the risk of ending up making love before either of them was ready for it.  It had been a rather interesting discussion, he had to admit that.  But there was the glare again.

They were just coming around the side of the building and Nathan caught himself halfway through the next question when another couple came walking around the corner towards them.  "I didn't go……" he stopped talking until the other couple had passed, "far enough."

Now he got a disgusted glare.

Nathan decided to see if she'd help him a little on this one.  "Give me a hint, Kris.  When did I screw up?  In the beginning, the end, the middle… where?"

"Right in the beginning," she replied sharply.

"Right in the beginning we weren't talking… We were seeing how far we could get down each other's throats."

Oh… and he thought he had been glared at before…..

"Alright, in the beginning."  He thought for a while.  "Let's see… I'll assume it's not about not watching the Dirty Harry movie that Lucas had on the vid-screen."

She sighed but just kept walking… okay, that was a no and he thought some more.

"And I'll also assume that you're not angry with me for not being angry at Lucas for interrupting our make out session."

Another sigh… nope.

"Oookay.  Let's see… don't tell me… you've changed your mind and you…."  Nathan stopped talking abruptly as he heard a jogger overtaking them.  Kristin glared at the silly smile that was on his face until he started talking again.  "You've decided that you don't want to wait until we get to know each other better but you want to go to bed with me right now."

"Jackass."

Nathan grinned again.  At least that got a verbal response.  "Not that… oh well, can't blame a guy for trying."

Back to the glare.

He got a bit more serious as he remembered the next part of the conversation.  The banter was gone from his voice this time.  "You aren't angry with me because I told you that I love you, are you?"

She relented some at the concern showing on his face.  "No… no, that isn't why I'm angry." Kristin slowed down until she came to a stop facing him.  "You aren't one of those disgusting people who remember every little bit about every conversation you've had, are you?"

Nathan shrugged.  "As long as I'm sober… yeah… and it was kind of an important conversation."  He dropped his head and thought a little more.  "Let's see… then I said that I wasn't very good at casual relationships."

Kristin tilted her head to one side.  "Bingo," and started walking off again leaving a confused Nathan standing in the path.

He stared after her a moment and then had to almost run to catch up with her.  Finally striding next to her again he tried to figure out just what in that comment could have upset her so much.  Eventually he thought that he may have hit on it.

"You don't mean that you think I meant to imply that you are good at casual relationships, do you?"

Oh, boy… that was it.  She wouldn't even look at him now.  Nathan sighed and shook his head… he'd forgotten just how much fun this `relationship' business was.  It was a damned good thing that she was worth it.  Okay… switch into recovery mode, he thought.

"Kris, I wasn't talking about you… I was talking about me."  She didn't even slow down.  "I was trying to explain that I take relationships seriously… I wanted you to know that," he emphasized.   She was walking fast enough now that even he was having trouble keeping up with her.  Thank God they'd managed to get into a long stretch where there were no other people around because he was having to talk louder to get her to listen to him and most of the time she was striding ahead of him so he was talking to her back. Finally he raised his voice.  "I wanted you to know that I'm not like all the other assholes you've been around."

That stopped her.  She didn't turn but it stopped her and Nathan was able to catch up with her and continue in a more normal voice… albeit a frustrated one.  He came up behind her.  Right behind her back, almost touching her.  "I wanted you to know that I don't play around.  I never have… I never will," he explained earnestly.  She didn't say anything at all… but at least she didn't leave.  He continued in a soft, insistent voice, "I don't get involved with people that I don't love… and there have been very few people that I've loved that way."  He could see that she had her eyes closed but she was slowly shaking her head.  "Relationships like that mean something special to me, Kris.  And I'm corny enough to believe in the words `Till Death Do We Part'."

That got a reaction… Kristin straightened up right away and turned towards him with a stern look.  "Oh Good Lord, now you've got us married," she spat out vehemently.  "You can forget that one, fellow… I've have damned enough of that in my life."  She spun on her heels and Nathan was left once again standing with a confused look on his face as she strode away.

Shaking his head again he ran forward to catch up with her… and he was getting damned tired of talking to her back so he ran ahead and let her catch up to him.  "No… I don't have us married… hell, we haven't even managed to make it into bed together yet."

"And at this point I wouldn't expect it, Nathan," she ground out.

"And that's fine," he stressed.  "If that doesn't happen, it doesn't happen."

Thank God, she slowed down a little… then she slowed down a lot and occasionally even glanced his way.  He kept his eyes fixed on the path ahead of him and after a while continued.  "Kristin, I have no doubt that you put everything you had into your relationships… whether you were married or it was outside when you were married… but I don't think that your partners had the courtesy of giving you the same consideration."

"No," she said softly.

"I just needed you to know that I'm not like that."

"You never had an affair?"

"Not when I was married."

"Before?"

He looked over at her and caught the almost desperate tone of her voice.  "Did I have affairs with women before I was married… yes… but only one at a time…."  He ducked his head a little embarrassed.  "And with a couple of notable exceptions… no one nightstands."  He tried a small smile.  "Kris, I have enough problems trying to keep the moods of one woman straight… I never got brave or stupid enough to try to get involved with more than one woman at the same time."  He shrugged, " and I figure I'm way too old to start that game now."

Oh boy… good sign… she smiled a little at that.  Nathan looked down the path and noticed that they were going to be getting into a whole crowd of people in just a little bit.  He looked around for somewhere else to continue this conversation.  "Kris, come this way," he said indicating a small copse of trees off the side of the path.  Kristin had also been staring at the people ahead of them and nodded as she turned to follow him.

He was standing with his back leaning against a tree that shielded them from the walkers on the trail when she caught up to him.  His eyes were fixed on the ground under the trees and a serious, concerned look covered his face.   He looked up at her as she came level with him.  He shook his head before starting to talk.  "Kris, I don't know how this all got so confused."  He looked away from her.  "I don't know if I just put things the wrong way or if maybe I said the wrong thing unintentionally but I never meant to hurt you." He was heartened when she put her hand on his arm.  "I love you, Kristin."  He brought his eyes up to look at her again.

"I think that maybe… just maybe I may have read a little too much into what you said on Saturday," Kristin said with a smile.

"I didn't mean it that way," Nathan said softly.

"I know… I know now," she said sliding the hand up until it rested on his chest.

A small twinkle came into Nathan's eyes.  "We're going to drive each other crazy… you know that?"

Kristin smiled back at him.  "Yes, but we'll have a great time while we're doing it."  She pulled his shirt a little and he brought his lips down to meet hers.  His hands slipping naturally… oh so naturally around her waist.

As they broke the kiss Kristin kept her eyes fixed on his.  "I love you, Nathan Bridger," she whispered and buried her head against his chest.

He held her close soaking in the feel of her in his arms and the touch of her against him until she mumbled into his chest.

"So… …have we figured out which one of us is the stubborn one yet?"

Nathan smiled and kissed her forehead.  "Yeah… it's you."

Kristin pulled her head back until she looked in his face.  "Really," she asked innocently, "I thought it was you."

Nathan smiled even more and taking her hand in his they turned to head back out onto the walking path shaking his head.  "Couldn't be me… I'm always reasonable."

"And I'm not?" Kristin asked in an offended voice.

Nathan held both of his hands up in the air.  "I give up… I surrender," he put in quickly.

Kristin moved close until she bumped him in the chest.  "And I love you," she said softly for his ears only.

Nathan dropped his hands and again took her hand in his.  "And I love you too," he said with a smile as they continued their walk back to work.