Disclaimer: I do not own Days of Our Lives or the characters. I just borrow them to write total schmaltz.
"I am... not going to be able to drive," Kayla announced as if she'd made a dazzling discovery. A nearly empty wine glass dangled precariously in her hand and the sheet wrapped around her body threatened to slip down at any moment.
"True," Steve nodded serenely. "Lucky for us, we don't have to go anywhere tonight." He reached out for her wine glass and set it on the bedside table. No sense in letting good wine end up on the sheets. Of course, if the sheet she was wearing should happen to slip down, who was he to argue with gravity? They'd been toasting the return of his memory and one toast had led to another until the bottle was empty.
"Lucky for us," she repeated softly with a saucy grin. She glanced down at her hand and a confused expression marred her forehead as if she was trying to puzzle out where her wine glass had gone.
Steve struggled to keep a straight face as he asked, "Something wrong, sweetness?"
Kayla glanced up with a smile that light up her whole face. "Nope. Not anymore."
And just like that, she stole his breath away. How could he have forgotten this? How could he have forgotten what she looked like when she got tipsy like this? How could her forget the slight flush to her face or her soft, wet lips? How could he forget that adoring look in her eyes? That look that made him feel ten feet tall. He remembered how she used to tell him he could do anything. And when she looked at him like that, he almost believed it.
Just as he opened his mouth to tell her how he felt, her mood abruptly shifted again. This time, she wrinkled her nose disapprovingly and challenged, "How many drinks have you had?"
Steve chuckled, content to watch any and every emotion that danced across her pretty face. "A few," he replied.
"Funny," she commented in a suspicious tone. "You don't seem like you've had that much to drink. What's that about, huh?" she questioned as she jabbed his chest with a finger.
Steve held up his hands in surrender, but couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Hey, you don't see me reaching for the car keys either, do ya?"
Kayla's frown deepened. "You better not. I don't want you rushing off. I mean, I just got you back."
Steve reached out and pulled her into a hug. "Yes, you did. Yes, you did, baby. And now that you've got me back, we'll never be apart again."
"Promise?" she whispered against his chest. The pain in her voice almost tore him apart.
"I promise," he vowed. He ran a soothing hand up and down her back as he held her tight. The truth was, they still had a lot to deal with before 'happily ever after' could even be a possibility. There were still chunks of his past missing, years he couldn't remember. But whatever secrets lay in his past, he hoped they'd face them together.