Steve and Sydney had arrived in Monterey about an hour after the others. Mark had been growing concerned as they walked into the lobby of the hotel. Sydney had her arm linked in Steve’s and was grinning broadly as they walked in, each with a rolling suitcase in tow. She let go of Steve’s arm to hug each of the other three in turn. As she released Mark he asked the question that was on everyone’s mind.

“What took you two so long?”

Syd started to giggle and it didn’t help when she glanced back at Steve. His face broke into a grin as he stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Syd’s shoulders. “We had a soda accident,” she volunteered, pointing to the stain on her jeans.

“Ahhh… Well, we’d better get going if we hope to beat the crowd at the restaurant. You like seafood?” asked Mark, seeing that his plan to get them together had worked, though not exactly as he had planned it.

Steve replied as Sydney nodded. “Yeah, Dad, just let us dump our bags upstairs and we’ll go.” With that, he and Syd carried their bags up the front stairs, smiling at each other. Jesse waited until they were out of earshot before the made his observation.

“I think Steve has a new girlfriend.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Syd dumped her suitcase on the bed on the far side of the room as Steve came out of the bathroom. He had placed his suitcase in the closet.

“I think that your father set us up.” She said, flopping onto the bed next to her stuff. He sat on the bed across from her, and watched as she sat back up.

“What makes you think that? He asked, reaching over to brush a stray lock of hair out of her face.

“Oh come on Steve! You’re a detective and you can’t see something this obvious?”

“Well, maybe…” Steve conceded. “But it wasn’t that bad of a plan was it?” he asked as he leaned forward until his face was just inches from hers.

“Yes. Yes it was.” She replied straight faced, but Steve could see the laughter in her eyes. “Because now I’m stuck with a really sweet, handsome guy that likes to help me spill soda on myself.”

He laughed and gently brushed a kiss against her lips. “Yeah, that’s me.”

She sat for a moment more; looking into each other’s eyes for what seemed an eternity before Syd laid back down and fumbled in her suitcase for a clean pair of shorts.

“Come on,” she said, changing quickly from the stained jeans into the shorts. “They probably think we got lost or something.”

“Definitely something.” Commented Steve as he followed her out the door.

~ ~ ~ ~