Can't Deny the Heart

Summary: Alternate version to the original story. Takes place morning after Kayla nurses Steve after Victor's goons beat him up.

Rating: PG-13

Beta by: Slynn6776 & SteveKaylafan2

Notes: This is an alternate version. Its one of my favorite things to do, to create a "what if" story. This version is changing history of Steve and Kayla. I do this with full respect to the canon but I had this plot bunny in my head for some time and I had to see how it would play.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of this stuff. But man, if I did...

NOTES for this chapter: Felt the need to say here, I feel I am taking liberties with Hope and especially Bo to serve my story and I apologize to anyone who feels this is out of character for them. I still am keeping that Bo is only pretending to get close to Victor so he can gather more and more evidence, but it might seem odd for him to expect the following of Hope. I also don't remember if the news of Hope's first pregnancy was known yet or if Steve was still the only one to know. I just feel like it works best the way I wrote the story to do the following. I hope you still like it.

Hope knew she was in trouble in more ways than one. When Steve arrived, he was probably going to kill her. She had to risk it though. His background in this special area could be the only thing to pull her out of this jam, and possibly get Victor off Bo's back.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Hope ran to the front door. She had forgotten to tell Steve to come to rear entrance and was cursing herself knowing the commotion he made. Luckily, it was just her in the house as Victor and Bo were out. The butler was also away at that moment tending to an errand for Victor for that evening's party.

By the time she made it to the door, Steve was just about to kick the door in.

"Steve!" Hope cried, glad to see she made it in time. "Be careful!"

Kayla and Steve rushed in and immediately started asking questions. Steve was more worried as he had concern for her and the baby. Kayla also had a list of questions of her own, especially why Hope would call Steve of all people.

Not expecting Kayla, Hope tried to calm her guests down; she only had a little over four hours.

Once Steve realized that Hope nor the baby were actually hurt, he became angry. Stomping around, he said, "What was the big hurry, Hope? You look fine to me! What the hell..."

Hope cut him off, "Steve, please! There isn't time. Follow me to the kitchen."

Steve and Kayla looked at each other, confused but did as they were told. In the kitchen they walked into the biggest mess they have ever seen. Hope stopped and stood in the doorway, the smell getting to her. Breathing in, the nausea hit her and she had to hold a bit of her stomach to maintain control.

Forgetting his earlier anger, Steve worried again about the baby. Mistaking Hope's touching her stomach for cramps, he said, "Hope? What is it? What's wrong? It's not the baby is it?"

Kayla, who was just about to ask Hope what was wrong herself, turned at that and said, "Baby? What...what are you talking about? What baby?"

Hope gave Steve a glare as realization dawned on Kayla's face. Forgetting she needed a huge favor from Steve, she said, "Steve, I told you not to tell anyone." Before Steve could respond to that, Hope then turned to Kayla and said, "Yes, I'm pregnant. The smell of this seafood...this lobster is really getting to me."

Both Steve and Kayla started talking at the same time. Kayla asking how long Hope had been pregnant and why haven't they told anyone. Steve asking exactly what was his purpose here.

Starting with Kayla, Hope quickly said, "Kayla, I'm sorry. With everything going on in our lives and the rest of the family, we decided to wait before we told anyone."

"Well, then how does Steve know?" Kayla asked ignoring the hurt look Steve had at her tone.

"I'll tell you later!" Hope said exhausted. She mentally cursed her hormones, she honestly felt like crying at this point. Looking at Steve, "Steve, I need your help. It's a long story."

Steve leaned up against the wall in his usual obtuse manner, but his face showed anger. Gesturing towards the kitchen, he said, "By all means, let's hear it."

"Steve, there isn't time! Let me just say..." Hope began.

"I can guess what you want me to do here. And you scared me half to death! Now...you tell me the whole story, what this dinner is for, who is coming and why the hell you are in charge of it instead of a catering service. Cause unless the old man has lost his mind, I can't believe he would put his daughter-in-law in charge of the kitchen, ever."

Hope was glaring at Steve now. Kayla, for her part, was confused and upset at the whole situation. Though she hated Steve's actual comments and had no idea what he was doing here, getting an explanation from Hope didn't seem unreasonable.

Sighing, Hope went through the story. Last night the caterers had called to tell Victor they had accidentally double booked and they weren't going to be able to provide their services. Apparently, Victor's status and money couldn't convince them to drop the other dinner, as it was for the Mayor. She remembered Victor's cursing, which was rare for the usually in control man.

Hope had actually bit back the temptation to laugh. It was amusing and she thought her prayers had been answered. The dinner was going to have to be postponed after all. Quickly that thinking changed when Bo, who seemed just as upset that the dinner wouldn't go on either, offered up Hope's cooking talents as a substitute.

Victor was just as surprised as Hope with Bo's words. He insisted that Hope had cooked for dinners in the past and made delicious meals. The food wasn't going to have as much variety as the catering service, but she did know how to cook lobster and had an excellent recipe.

Victor kept glaring at Hope like he thought this was some trick. The anger Hope had towards Bo wasn't nearly as strong at her resentment at Victor for doubting she could pull it off. Before she knew it, she was nodding saying she could easily handle the dinner. Victor wasn't convinced by far, but he had no choice in the matter. His normal cook had been let go under unusual circumstances, and now the catering service wasn't available. Unless he wanted to hire Caroline to make some clam chowder, this was it. He had asked what kind of lobster recipe she knew.

"I have served lobster with asparagus before," she said coldly.

Victor thought on it and said, "Ok, a former employee of mine is a good pastry chef so he can handle the dessert, but I will have no choice to use you for the rest."

Hope steamed but nodded her head. After Victor left them, Hope pulled Bo over and asked, "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

Bo knew this was coming, "Fancy Face, you can make a good lobster dish. You have made it countless times before."

Hope glared, "That was just for the two of us. I have no idea what to serve for...what? Twelve? With lobsters? And the appetizers, the soups, I can't believe you have gotten me into..."

Bo took a deep breath, he had no choice. The people on this list read like a who's who list of organized crime. If he could get them in the same room together, it was quite possible he could help bring down not just Victor but crime bosses all over the country. The dinner had to go on.

Looking at Hope, he wished he could share this with her. He didn't dare. It was better she didn't know anything, but convincing his wife of that was one of two different things. He said, "I know, I'm sorry. I wish. Can...can you just trust me on this please?"

Hope hated the look Bo was giving her now. She gave in but she knew part of it was she wanted to wipe the skeptical look off Victor's face.

Starting out early that day, Hope had gone through all errands she needed to do for a 12 person dinner party. She looked up various recipes and ran to the Brady Market and got Shawn to agree he would deliver the lobster. She went through more checklists of making sure of other ingredients and had it delivered or picked it up herself. Since cost would be no problem, she had over-ordered to make sure she had backups in case anything got ruined. There was even a backup recipe using most of the ingredients in case disaster struck. With all that planning, the problem she encountered was something she never expected. Since being pregnant, Hope hadn't eaten any seafood. Now was a lousy time to find out the smell, especially lobster, made her sick; strongly sick. She could hardly be in the room. She knew Steve could help her out, if she could convince him. It wasn't going to be easy, but luckily he already knew about the baby coming. Calling Steve was the only thing she knew to do.

When Hope was done, she looked at the two people she hoped could help her. Kayla was now giving Hope a look of sympathy and no doubt was going to do everything she can to help out. Steve, who was still leaning up on the wall with his arms folded across his chest, gave a different reaction. He started laughing very hard. Kayla yelled at Steve that it wasn't funny but Hope rolled her eyes. She should have expected nothing less.

"Not funny?" he asked. "How can it not be funny? I mean...look at the situation. Sweet Thing here gets herself tricked into doing a fancy dinner for a large number of guests who probably are expecting snails or something. She has no real experience at this but thinks by just buying two of everything she will be covered. Then when it's time to actually start to make it, she finds out she can hardly come into the kitchen because the smell makes her want to vomit! I mean...seriously Hope. I think you should consider opening up a restaurant."

Kayla glared at Steve as he fell back into another round of laughter while Hope rubbed her temple. Waiting a minute or two, Hope finally said, "Yes, I know it's funny. I promise when this is all over, you can tease me all you want until the day I die, but right now, I need you to help me so get in here and please, help me cook this."

The more Hope talked, the more Steve laughed, which annoyed Kayla, but she had to ask, "Steve cook the dinner? What makes you think..."

"Believe it or not, Steve is a great cook. He actually is a gourmet, I believe," the look on Hope's face told Kayla she was telling the truth but Kayla was having a harder time believing this than Steve sending her roses. Looking at Steve who was finally pulling himself together, she repeated, "A gourmet cook."

"Sweetness, I'm an expert at two rooms in a house, and the kitchen is the other one."

Kayla, disgusted, walked away from Steve. Hope was still looking at him and said, "Steve, are you going to help?"

"Why should I? It's not like I am welcome in this home. I'm damned sure I'm not going to turn myself inside and out to help out Victor and Junior," he said nastily.

"Steve, I know it's a lot to ask..."

"Isn't it, though?" he said, "I think you can head over to that burger joint down by the river docks, you can probably get the super family size and save some money..."

Kayla was furious, "Steve, why are you being like this? What is so important that you can't help Hope out? Is it too much to ask..."

Steve cut her off, "Yes, it's too much to ask. This isn't me warming up a grilled cheese in the frying pan, baby. Look at this kitchen. Look at everything. It's a mess. Not to mention I have no idea if Hope has the right ingredients..."

Hope who was holding back tears, said, "I do, Steve. I promise. What can I do to get you do..."

"Nothing, Hope. There is nothing you can do. Steve only thinks of himself. He's incapable of doing anything nice for someone, isn't that right, Steve?"

Steve got quiet then, hearing Kayla talk like that hurt more than he was willing to let on. He watched as Kayla marched over to the phone, saying, "You know what, Hope? I'll call Chris. He's a good cook too and I'm sure we can get him to come over..."

"Wait a minute," Steve said as he grabbed Kayla's hand before she touched the phone, "what would Kositchek know about cooking?"

Ignoring the sensations in her hand from Steve's touch, Kayla looked at Steve very directly to get her point across. "Chris used to cook me dinners all the time, and I'm fairly confident that with his help..."

Steve laughed, "Just cause he could make dinner for two doesn't mean he can cook for a dozen, especially with the type of food Victor will expect."

Hope snorted at that remark realizing the truth in it, but stated, "What else can we do though?"

Sighing, Steve looked at both women and shrugged, "I guess I will have to think about someone else for a change."

Kayla met Steve's gaze at the last part, knowing it was intended for her. She felt bad for throwing Chris' name as it was a complete bluff. Steve did agree though now and maybe they could do this. She couldn't let her sister-in-law down. Deep inside Kayla's mind, there was a voice telling her she was not doing this for Hope's sake, but to see Steve in action in the kitchen. She ignored it though as Steve started giving them both orders.