Chapter 12
Kayla's upset when he had come into the room had allowed Steve a moment's reprieve from the awkwardness was between them. But no more. As soon as Hope was gone and it was just the two of them, it returned.
But Steve knew they could not allow it to feaster. It was not good for her and it was no good for the kids. It was just going to hinder all of them.
'Are you really ok?' he checked.
She nodded. 'I just – I have had enough. I want to go home.'
'I know…' he signed in return. 'The kids can't wait to have you home either.' Neither can I…
He noted the way she was wringing her hands together before she rubbed the back of her neck.
'Sweetness,' he signed before he could stop himself. 'Do you need anything?'
She shook her head. 'Thank you…' she sighed after a few moments hesitation. 'For stopping Hope.'
'You're welcome. You don't have to do anything you don't want too. You don't have to talk to anyone or see anyone – it's all up to you.'
Kayla appreciated that, but what she had wanted a few nights ago was too wake up with him at her side. Deep down she knew the protocol was the reason he had gone… but the effect it had had was not so easily shaken off.
Steve had alwaysbeen and was full of good intentions. She knew that… but after the past few years, it was becoming harder to remember a time he had backed them up with action.
X x x
Salem International Airport was busy on any given day of the week. People came and they went and they left people they loved and they reunited with those they loved the very most too.
The red head hung around the arrivals area, running a nervous hand through her hair. She had known she was going to be here much too early – but she hadn't been able to contain her excitement.
She had wanted to leave to collection him as soon as she had got up. She had waited for about an hour…
Then she had left for the airport, unable to hold herself back any longer. She read a chapter of her book, grabbed a coffee and then just waited.
She had had to be good at that during their life together.
Then at long… long last he walked through the door. Of course he came through with Jack Deveraux too but to Kimberly Brady that did not matter. All she was Shane Donovan.
Her Shane.
The two of them moved together at the same time though it honestly felt to Kim as if she flew to him.
"Oh lord I missed you so much!" she said as he took her in his arms. She wanted to kiss him, but just for then burying her face in his shoulder seems a better option. "It's so good to see you."
Being in love with Mr ISA never did get any easier. But she had cause to remember the good part of their life and his job.
The reunions.
"My darling… my darling Kimberly… oh honey…"
As normal, the two of them were utterly carless of the eyes which were watching them. Shane's hands ran up and down Kim's back as he reacquainted himself with her….
And she was so glad of it… but they were not alone.
PDA was just one of the things on a long list which made Jack uncomfortable but she found she just could not care less. Shane was home. And he was safe. He did not think she could imagine anything better.
"Come here," Shane sighed even as he held her. "Let me look at you."
But Kim was sure if the two of them could get a hood look at one another's faces then they were too far apart. She closed the distance between them and put her lips on his.
Jack left them to their love and their happy reunion for all of thirty seconds before he begun to whistling and rocking back and forth of his heals as he did so. He was glad for them but he was anxious to get to his own happy reunions…
If they were going to be any.
Initially, Shane and Kim took no notice of him, far too swept up each other. But in the end, Kim knew they could not get lost in their own world, not here and not yet. They had a lot to say first.
"It is good to see you, Jack," smiled Kim.
Not quite as good as two see Shane though evidently.
"You too."
"How was the flight?" Just like the period they had been away, too long.
"Perfectly pleasant."
"That's good. Now how about we get this journey over and take the two of you back?"
Shane nodded. "That sounds as if it is a very good idea. And on the way you can tell me about this handsome grandson of ours," he said as kept an arm round his wife. It was going to take a lot for him to let go.
"Oh Tate is adorable, he really is," she confirmed his suspicions. When he had been on the way back she had been able to send him a couple of photos of the baby but he did not think anything could or would match up to the real thing.
"And you can tell me how Kayla is… please?" asked Jack.
They had had so little news since Bo and Steve had left that the only thing he was sure of was that the worse had not happened. If it had then they would have heard.
Kim nodded. She guessed before they got into the subject of little Tate, that was a good place to start.
"Well, she is out of danger and on the mend now. But she can't hear and she can't talk…"
"It all sounds too familiar for my liking," Shane sighed. He remembered the last time she had been in this state.
It had not been good.
"I know. We don't really know what even happened this time and that is the worse thing."
"From what we heard it was a car accident," Jack offered all the information which he had, trying not to think about the last time or the role he had played then…
"It was, but there is more to it than that," Kimberly sighed as she curled around Shane as they walked for a little comfort. "But she won't tell anyone, she doesn't want to talk about it at all."
There was a silence between them as they walked following Kim to the car.
"Well – we are going to get to the bottom of this one way or another," Shane promised as he kissed Kimberly's forehead.
That was what they did when they were all together. They sorted things out when they went wrong and they cracked codes and solved mysteries.
If this meant the two of them had to extend their stay in Salem then so be it.
They had to pull together and be a family.
Now more than ever.
X x x
'So I have got some news for you.'
'What's that?' Kayla signed in response.
Steve had hoped when he got to break this news to her there were going to be a few gentle touches and a little more hope for their future, as up until very recently he had allowed himself to hope there was going to be one. But he guessed he would just have to take what he could get…
'I have got an apartment.'
Kayla nodded as she digested the news. That was good.
That was him putting down roots. That was the kind of news she liked. But then the two of them having kids and being a family should have been the roots he had needed to stay with her…. She reminded herself there were no guarantees.
'It is right across the hall from yours. I hope that is ok.'
Once more she nodded.
'I think that is a good idea.' Already she had been worrying about the day when she went home. She was not sure how she was meant to care for Joey when the two of them were going to have, at best, sketchy means to communicate at best…
How was she meant to look after her son if she was not sure what he needed?
No as awkward as it could be, her son needed his father just across to hall. That was a good shout.
'Is there something else?'
Steve nodded. 'When I told Joey, I think he was happy I was going to be so close by but he is also really ready to head properly home. He wants to go back to his own room… so is it ok if I stay at yours with him? Just until you come home.'
She nodded before signing. 'I think that is a good idea too.'
She wanted her son to go home too. If Steve had to move in for just a little bit for that to happen then so be it.
'Thank you.'
Kayla shrugged. It was nothing to her – it was about the two of them doing what was best for their little boy.
'I hope he is ok.'
'Joe is doing well but I think he is going to be better when you gets home.'
She knew that already. The thing about their son was he was already too good at putting a mask on his real feelings. She remembered when Bo had first gone away, Ciara had no trouble talking to any one about how much she was missing her father and just how much she wanted him to come back into their lives. It had never been like that for Joey. He had mentioned his father in passing, or to beam with false pride about what a hero he was…. But at hardly other time.
Kayla was in no doubt that Joe loved his father dearly. When they had been in South Africa running the clinic, Joey had been his father's little shadow as soon as he could walk. If they could have done everything together, Joey would have been the happiest little guy in the world.
So when they had come back and the divorce had gone ahead, her son had been naturally bereft. She had seen a little sparkle vanish from his eyes…. But at a young age, even then… he had hide his feelings. Rarely had he asked for his father, as much as Kayla tried to get him to talk about it.
The fact was, Joey was entirely Steve's son, in the good ways and some of the not so great either.
Maybe a little time with his Pop would break down the barriers Kayla could not breach.
X x x
"Papa can I talk to you?" asked Stephanie as she went into the kitchen at the Kiriakis mansion that evening.
She had had a quiet day up until she had got back to the mansion. She had gone in to town to enjoy the luxury of some peace and quiet and got her nails done. She had then indulged in a little retail therapy before winging by the hospital and seeing her mom.
It had been there she had learnt her kid brother was getting his wish and was going home. Properly home.
Which was good for Joey but she was also aware it could be confusing.
"You, my baby girl, can talk to me about anything. Shoot." Her papa said with a smile.
She was aware of how tired he looked, but knew she had to say what she did.
"It is about you moving into mamas."
"Yeah, I was thinking we would go back tomorrow night, after your brother gets back from school." Steve said clearly excited.
She smiled nervously…. For all the fact she was glad he was back they had to be realistic.
"That's awesome but… you – papa, you have to be straight with Joey, you know that right?"
"I don't understand."
"I don't want him getting the wrong impression –" she said defensively.
"Meaning what?" her father asked and she knew from the tone in his voice he was being genuine. He had no idea what she was talking about.
"I do not want him thinking this is the start of you and mom getting back together."
Ahh, so that is where you have been going with this, little sweetness….
Steve was not sure how to respond to that. He could see his daughters logic... there was no reason to think that they were going to get back together. He had been gone for so long and her mother was in such a bad situation that it was hard to see how Kayla could possibly think with a clear head about the two of them trying again.
And yet he could not say that they were not going to be getting back together because…. Because for the two of them to go on as they were, living separate lives was not what he wanted.
He wanted the exact opposite.
But in the middle of all of this there was a thirteen year old boy who barely had any real memories of his parents being together.
And he knew he had to be aware of that.
"Joey knows I have the other apartment. I am just moving into your moms to take care of him till she gets home…"
"Papa…"
"Stephanie, I promise you I am not trying to give your little brother the wrong impression here."
She nodded. "I know you would never try to do it… but you – I don't want any of us getting hurt here papa. Not any more than we already have been."
Over the years the four of them had all got battered and bruised by love one way or another… none of them needed that any more.
She looked up as her dad sighed and she wondered what was going through his mind.
"Neither do I, baby girl... I do not want that."
But at the same time he did not want to sit his son down and tell him there was no chance of him and his mother making another go of it.
Because Steve did not want to believe that. More than anything… he wanted there to be a way back.
"Then you have to tell him straight."
"He hasn't said anything to you about it, has he?"
"Not in so many words… but I know my baby brother, papa. Just please think about it. And think about what you say in front of him, ok?" she asked. "I know mama has needed you, but Joey and I have seen the way the two of you still look at each other…"
Somewhere inside of him, Steve could remember feeling like this the few times he remembered Jo telling him off when he had been a small boy.
But his daughter was saying what she was because she loved them all. He knew that.
"I will."
Steph nodded gratefully before stepping forward and placing a kiss on his cheek. "I know none of this is easy on you either."
"Don't worry about me baby. I have been MIA for the past few years… it is time I stepped up." He sighed heavily.
Steph smiled in a way that said she agreed.
"To be honest, little sweetness, I do not get why you're not laying the hell into me. After all I have done, and all I haven't done…"
His daughter sighed. "Neither do I."
And with that comment she left the room. If this was going to be her last night in the mansion then this was going to be the last chance she had to plead her father's case with her aunt. Another thing she was not sure why she wanted to do.
He had missed so much of her life. So much of her brother's life. Some of it he couldn't have helped. Some of it he could.
But nothing changed the fact the four of them had spent too much time separated by land and sea and loss of memory…. And just because she did not want Joey to jump the gun did not mean she did not think of them as family still.
Because they were… a family. The four of them. And they always would be in her mind.
Left behind, Steve sighed. He still found it hard to believe that the tiny little thing he had held in his hands was now a big grown up lady with more sense of her shoulders than her papa had ever had.
Still… maybe he should believe it as that was not hard, to have more sense than he did.
Steve took a deep breath as he realised Stephanie was right. He was going to have to have a word with his son. He couldn't start thinking this was going to end some way it couldn't…
He wondered how Joey would feel after that conversation… if it was akin to the way he himself was feeling right in that moment. He wanted to think… no. Not then. He could not and would not be that selfish.
He had just been thinking of heading to the pier with his harmonica for a little down time to blow away a few cob webs when his phone rang.
Immediately he feared it was the hospital … but when he looked at the caller ID and saw the word 'Shane' pop up, he knew that was not the case.
"How you doing dude?"
"Steve it's me."
"Billy Jack!" he said, a smile creeping back on to his face at the sound of his brother's voice.
"Hi, are you ok?"
"You know me dude, I am bearing up just fine."
"The kids and Kayla?"
There was a pause as Steve tried to think how best to answer that.
"They are doing as best they can."
Jack sighed in response at the end of the phone. He had not seriously thought his elder brother was going to say they were good but it would have been nice to hear the lie all the same.
"So what about you, you and Shane doing ok?"
"We are doing better than ok now we are back in Salem. I am home, big brother."
"Glad to hear it, Agent Deveraux."
"The only thing I do not quite know where home is these days."
Steve nodded. He was familiar with the problem.
"Well, I have had a chance to lay the ground work with Jen but I do not think you should just rock up there with no warning," he said. He could not imagine that was going to go down too well, even though Jen and Abby seemed delighted by the news he was alive. "Come to the Kiriakis mansion. I could do with your help with Adrienne."
"Is she ready to kill you for keeping –"
"The fact you were alive from her? Yeah…. Pretty much."
"I am sorry you had to take that on right now."
Steve nodded, with everything else going on it had been the last thing he had needed but it was done now.
And though Jack being home was not going to solve the problem it might go some way to begin putting's things to right.
"Just come to the mansion and then we can get this show on the road."
"See you soon."
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