Who would have known that just hours after she'd kissed Alex, she'd be worrying if the latter would make it through the night? When Alex stumbled into the Black Lantern, bloody and battered, Steph felt like the world was falling to pieces. She couldn't lose somebody else. Not now.

And then the world as she knew it was turned upside down with the words that came out of Alex's mouth next. Jed... tried to kill her? She believed every word, of course, even when Ryan was hesitant to believe it. But that was understandable, in retrospect. It's hard for someone to find out someone they look up to is bad, but even worse when that person is your father.

"Alex..." She stands in the doorway.