20. Night Time Encounters

"Will?" Karmen called out, knocking on his bedroom door.

When no answer came she walked in, and instantly saw Will sitting on the bed, staring intently at the wall, clearly not having heard her. His shirt was soaking wet and it looked like he was sweating, even though Karmen could feel herself beginning to shiver from the cold.

"Will? It's me. Karmen" She spoke up, as Will's eyes jumped to hers.

"What are you doing here?" Will questioned, as Karmen looked away from him.

There was something about his eyes. They seemed so much darker than usual, and she couldn't bear to look.

"I was worried about you…after what happened at the school. How are you feeling?" She inquired.

"I…I don't know" Will admitted.

"That thing I saw surrounding you…what happened to it, Will?" She queried, sitting down on the bed next to him.

"I can feel him" Will mumbled.

"Feel who?" Karmen frowned.

"He's inside of me. He's in my head, Karmen" Will cried, as tears welled in his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay. We can fix this" Karmen insisted, pulling him into a side hug.

"I feel him more and more every second. He's whispering even now" Will told her.

"What's he saying?" Karmen asked.

"He doesn't like you being here…" Will trailed off.

"So…the house looks…nice…" Steve stuttered, as he sat down on Joyce's couch.

"It looks crazy. No need to sugar-coat it" Joyce sighed.

"No, no. It's…cosy" Steve replied, awkwardly.

"Why are you here? You're not Jonathan's friend, or Will's" Joyce blurted out.

"They're Karmen's friends…and I wanted to help" Steve shrugged.

"You're telling me you've really changed so much in a year? Gone from beating my son up to being a model citizen?" Joyce pointed out.

"Yeah um…about that. I'm sorry…I mean I've apologised to Jonathan but, you know I regret what I did. I let my anger get the better of me, I guess" Steve admitted.

"Well…I accept your apology then…I haven't seen a lot of Karmen lately. I wasn't sure if she was even still friends with Jonathan" Joyce confessed.

"He hurt her when he got with Nancy, so she's just backed off" Steve shrugged.

"I thought as much. He didn't…He didn't mean to hurt her" Joyce tried to cover for her son.

"It doesn't make it hurt any less" Steve mumbled.

"I'll be honest with you, Steve. He's left town with Nancy…It's looking like they might get back together" Joyce informed him.

"I know. It's alright. They love each other" He stated.

"That's very big of you to say" Joyce exclaimed.

"I'm trying this new thing called being mature" Steve joked.

"It looks like Karmen's been a good influence on you" Joyce suggested.

"Yeah, she has" Steve said, with a small smile.

"Oh…oh! Are you and her…?" She trailed off.

"What? No. No, we're friends. Just friends" Steve shook his head.

"Will! Will, wait!" They heard Karmen shouting from down the hallway.

Instantly, Steve was on his feet, rushing over to the small brunette who was banging on Will's now closed door.

"What happened?" Steve asked.

"He said I shouldn't be here and then he just shoved me out" Karmen told him, as Joyce rushed over to them.

"Will, honey? What's wrong?" Joyce inquired, knocking on his door.

"She shouldn't be here, mum. I want her to go" Will insisted.

"It's okay, we'll go" Karmen nodded to an embarrassed looking Joyce.

"Hey, your arm…" Steve trailed off, when he saw the hand shaped bruise on her upper arm.

"It must have happened when he pushed me out" Karmen realised, as Steve placed his hand on her arm.

"But Will…he wouldn't hurt a fly. He has the strength of a wet paper towel" Joyce theorised.

"Not anymore. You need to be careful" Karmen warned her, as Joyce sadly nodded.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Steve insisted, softly stroking her arm just under where the bruise was.

"Yeah, I'm okay" She insisted, as Steve suddenly realised he was still holding onto her arm and quickly let go.

Joyce had to hide a smile when she saw this, noticing Steve's flustered reaction and the way Karmen's cheeks had reddened.

"Call me if you need anything. Anything at all" Karmen told her.

"I will" Joyce replied.

"C'mon, I'll drive you home" Steve smiled at Karmen.

Karmen frowned when her eyes shot open, trying to figure out what had woken her. She heard a large bang from her window and turned to see a figure looming there and let out a scream. Her frown deepened when she saw the figure wave at her, as she rubbed her eyes and realised it was none other than Steve.

"What the hell, Harrington?" She mumbled, as she got out of bed and opened her bedroom window for him.

He quickly jumped into the room, as she realised he was soaking wet from the storm that had been brewing outside.

"Steve, I know I said you're welcome here anytime but…it's 3:15 in the morning" Karmen grumbled, as she looked at the clock on her wall.

"I know, I'm sorry, but I had to see you…" Steve trailed off, a puddle forming under him from where his clothes were dripping.

"Hold on, let me grab you a towel. Or five" Karmen mumbled, as she walked to her bathroom and came back with a few.

Steve gratefully took them from her as he started to dry himself off, but she could see his shirt was never going to dry.

"Take your shirt off" She told him.

"Hey, I'm not that kind of guy" Steve joked, as she rolled her eyes.

"You're going to catch pneumonia otherwise" Karmen stated, as she went to her drawers and pulled out a shirt that Steve had left at hers.

"Thanks" He smiled, as she threw it his way.

Steve then stripped off his top, as Karmen couldn't help letting her eyes wander quickly down his chest. Unconsciously she licked her lips, as she noted the water droplets falling down his toned chest and looked away a moment later.

"So…why did you need to see me?" Karmen asked.

"I had a nightmare" Steve informed her, pulling the new shirt over his head, to Karmen's disappointment.

"Okay…not really sure where I come into this" Karmen pointed out.

"It was about you. You…died. That demo-whatever came back and it killed you and I couldn't do anything to stop it-" Steve began, as Karmen cut him off.

"I'm fine, Steve. Look, I'm right here" She insisted, seeing how freaked out he was.

"That's why I needed to see you" Steve admitted, taking a few steps towards her.

"Steve Harrington was worried about me? What did I do to deserve this honour?" Karmen mocked.

"I'm serious, Karmen. It seems like everything that happened last year is coming back. You almost died, remember? We all nearly did. I can't…I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you" Steve explained.

"Hey, it's okay. Nothing bad is going to happen to me. I can look after myself" Karmen told him.

"I need you to promise me that you're not going to put yourself in danger" Steve insisted.

"I can't just let them deal with this without me. They need me" Karmen retorted.

"Then I'll be there too. Just…don't do anything stupid…without me…I guess is what I'm trying to say?" Steve stuttered.

"I promise" Karmen nodded to him, as he suddenly pulled her into a hug.

She couldn't stop the massive smile that grew on her face as she felt his arms wrap around her and didn't even care that he was getting her pyjamas wet. Wait…what did she wear to bed tonight, she thought to herself. She looked down and realised she was only wearing an oversized top and panties and felt herself instantly blush. As they pulled away it seemed like Steve had realised this too and was currently trying to look anywhere but her bare legs.

"I should, um…be going" Steve mumbled, as he began to back away.

"No…I mean, you can stay here. That storm outside is still going" Karmen shrugged.

"Okay" Steve replied, not needing much persuasion.

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm really enjoying writing Steve and Karmen's relationship, if only that stupid boy would realise his friend's feelings for him. Please leave a review:)

tazsgirl6969: Thank you, here's the new chapter!

Micky-Moo: He's advances definitely do seem to be pushing them together, don't they? Haha. Thanks for the review:)