Steve woke to the sun peeking through the blinds of the room. He had slept with the door slightly cracked, in case Azucena's first night back was rough. Catherine was curled up next to him, but he knew he needed to get out and get his swim in. He hadn't been able to swim for the last week and a half. He was ready to work the kinks out of his body.
He leaned down and kissed Catherine's cheek. He slid out of bed, and as his best friend reached for his sleeping form, he placed his pillow in her hands. She pulled it close to her body and settled back into her sleep.
Steve changed into his swim trunks, grab his towel, and exited his room. He considered going straight to the beach, but decided to peek in on his sister and Eddie. As he glanced into the room, her shorter brown hair was spread out on the pillow and the manner in which her body was positioned, couldn't be defined as comfortable. However she found comfort to sleep with all her injuries, he wasn't going to judge. Eddie was curled up at the foot of her bed. He opened his eyes to Steve's towering form and looked at his human. Steve smirked to himself and softly whispered, "Eddie, you're such a ho."
He quietly padded through the hall, down the stairs, and out the back door.
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Azucena woke up to the sound of a snoring dog. She laid in the bed and enjoyed the sound of the relaxed canine, the gentle puffs of air chuffing from his snout. She thought back through the night, he had nuzzled her hand twice during the night. Both times, she had been dreaming of the empty factory with WoFat. Eddie had woken her in each instance.
When she had given herself enough time to wake up, she gently pulled back the sheets and watched the yellow dog offer up a giant yawn in response. She giggled at the sight and slowly moved her body from the bed. Her body hurt, but the pain was less than the previous days. She stretched as much as her body would allow and made the bed. Still in her pajama pants and tank top; she wandered down the hallway and towards the kitchen.
Someone had set her electric kettle back out on the counter. She filled it, plugged it in, and prepared a cup of tea. She watched the sun rise above the ocean as she waited for the tea to steep. She spotted Steve's towel outside on the beach chair, so she made him a cup of coffee, including the scoop of butter. Then she and Eddie ventured down to the beach.
She settled in the chair and Eddie tramped around on the beach. As she was enjoying the sounds and smells of the beach, Eddie brought her a small, broken stick. She took it from him and tossed it on the grass. He chased after the stick and then walked into the water up to his fuzzy chest. He brought it back to Azucena, and she took it that he wanted her to throw the stick into the water. She didn't throw it too far, but enough for him to paddle to the stick. He trotted right back up the beach to her and they played fetch until Steve surfaced near the stick.
As he emerged from the ocean, "I see you made a friend."
"He's a good dog." She replied, as she was given the stick again and tossed it back into the water. He returned with it, stood in front of the siblings to shake off the excess water, sat down in front of them, and chewed on the stick. Steve finished drying off and collapsed into the chair next to her.
"How'd you sleep?" He asked, as he took a swig of the coffee and motioned his thanks by raising the cup and nodding is head at her.
"So good, I've missed that bed so much." She said, nodding back at him regarding the coffee.
Steve nodded and understood, a person's bed could be their sanctuary. "How do you feel about sharing a bed with a canine? I think you might be stuck with him now."
"Well he doesn't seem to hog the covers, so he can stay."
Steve bent down to where Eddie was laying on the beach and scratched the dog's head, "Man, you got lucky. She's gonna let you stay."
Azucena laughed at her brother's behavior and his affection for the dog. Eddie was good for Steve. He loosened him up a little.
Steve grew serious with her, "How bad are the nightmares?"
She looked out at the beach, avoiding eye contact with her brother, "Manageable."
"How many did you have last night?"
"Only two and thanks to Eddie they didn't last long."
"Want to talk about them?"
"Nope." She said, continuing to stare out at the ocean. She knew Steve wasn't going to let this go, but she didn't want to talk about it.
"I'm here when you're ready." He said, knowing she wasn't going to look at him. After everything they had endured together, he knew she wasn't going to look at him while they talked about something that made her vulnerable. He knew she trusted him, but it was her own shame and embarrassment that kept her from looking at him.
Azucena changed the subject, also trying to prepare herself for some of the more unpleasant factors of her life, "When is Claudia coming back? I'm sure you and Mary would like to see her and catch up."
Steve rubbed his hand across the back of his neck, Azucena picked up on this gesture and knew whatever he was about to say wasn't good news. "I'm not certain she is."
"What do you mean?" She asked, wanting clarification, she looked at him.
Steve took a deep breath as he looked out at the ocean and then back to his sister, "When we found out WoFat had been put back in prison, Marshall Shannon told us you could go home. I asked about Doris and when she could be released from the program. She was going to reach out to Mom's handlers and find out, but when she looked in the system, Mom wasn't in it. It appears she flew to the new city with the Marshals and then decided to go back into hiding on her own."
Azucena didn't say anything. She wanted to speak of how selfish their mother could be, but she could read the hurt on Steve's face and in his body language. She could only imagine Mary was just as gutted as Steve for being abandoned again. Azucena took a deep breath, and reached her hand out to her brother's forearm, "I'm so sorry Steve. You and Mary have to be devastated."
"Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't see it coming and I'm certainly disappointed." He offered up.
"That's why you went out that night with Mary? She was struggling with it, wasn't she?" Finally connecting the dots.
"Yeah, she's pretty hurt. Hurt Mary and angry Mary are always very destructive."
"Well, I'm glad you both had each other to lean on when you found out."
"How do you feel about it?" Asked Steve, curious about his sister's response. She had almost lost her life to protect Doris, but in the same instance, she never really wanted anything to do with their mother. Her answer would be interesting.
She looked out to the ocean as she collected her thoughts. She turned to look Steve in the eye, "I know she is important to you and Mary, but I represent bad memories for her. Honestly, I'm not upset, if anything, I'm probably relieved. I will tell you that, but I think Mary would be really hurt if I told her that. Now, if this were Jack or Clara, I would be shattered."
"Your feelings are perfectly acceptable. Mary would understand, she's seen how Doris treats you."
"I'm just sorry you all have witnessed that side of Claudia. That version of her is not the version you knew and I feel like I took your version of your mom away from you guys."
"We will manage." Steve said, as he looked back out to the ocean. For a while, there was silence between them. Not an awkward silence that permeated the air, but a comfortable silence. Each deep in their own thoughts and at ease with each other.
However, Azucena began to wonder what else she didn't know about. Not in a angry, what are you hiding from me sort of way. More like a "what else am I missing?" She didn't want to come off rude and angry, but she didn't know how to approach it. She aimed for curious, "Anything else I should know about?"
Steve looked to her, reading her face. It wasn't anger, but more frustration on stepping back into her old life and missing pieces of the life she had been living. He could understand her frustration, "What do you want to know?"
She jumped in with both feet, "Do you know how he found me and you can't tell me because it would alter my memories of remembering on my own?"
"No, I don't know how he found you. Marshall and Mary don't know either. They weren't just questioning you to see if you remembered anything. No one knows how he found you."
"Where did they find me?"
Steve looked to the sand and buried his feet in it, trying to figure out how much to tell her. She interrupted his contemplation, "I'm either going to remember or not, but couldn't you telling me, like, knock something loose in my memory?"
Steve caved, wanting to help her in any way he could, "I don't know much and honestly, I shouldn't be telling you what I do know."
"Shouldn't versus won't." She stated, questioning what his plan was.
"'Cena, I want you to go back to the great life you built for yourself here. I want you to start fresh and not have this hanging over your head."
"Steve, it is always going to hang over my head. If I don't know what happened, I'm going to assume the worst. With all the knife wounds, bruises, the stitches in my head and the gun shot wound to my torso, I'm going to constantly wonder. Maybe you sharing what you know will help me put the pieces together."
He rubbed the back of his neck. Part of him knew she was right, she deserved to know anything he could tell her. Maybe once she knew, the nightmares would stop, but he knew that was wishful thinking on his part. The nightmares starring WoFat would haunt her for the rest of her life. "I was at work on Wednesday, Jerry was presenting some evidence to the team when my phone rang. It was an unknown number, and I answered it."
He paused, he honestly didn't want to remember this. The sound of her begging and pleading for him to hang up the phone. Knowing that if he did, she was going to be tortured to death in a long, drawn out manner. He took a deep breath, "He said he wanted to give me the opportunity to say a final goodbye to our sister. You were screaming in the background, telling me to hang up. You were ready to go home and be with Jack."
Steve paused and ran his shaky hands over his face, taking a deep breath. He didn't want to remember any of this. He wanted it to stay in the past and never talk about it again, but he knew she needed information and closure. Giving her this information would cause dreams for him that he didn't want to experience again.
She watched him struggle to pick his words and tell her what he knew. She could see his face harden, and if she wasn't mistaken, by the sound of his voice she assumed his throat had tightened up. She wanted to know as much as she could, but knowing how tough her brother was, and how he was reacting to this, she couldn't ask him to continue. She reached out and placed her hand to his shoulder, "No more."
He pulled his hands away from his face and she could see the tears he was blinking back. No matter how painful it had been for her, it had been equally as painful for him and she recognized it.
"You deserve to know." He said, wiping at the lone tear that had managed to streaked down his cheek.
"Not if it causes you this much anguish and pain." She said, and squeezed his shoulder, "If it comes back, it comes back. If not, we just put it behind us and move on."
"You shouldn't have to do that."
"I'll manage." She responded, empathy in her eyes.
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Catherine poured a cup of coffee and joined Junior at the island. As he handed her the sports section, he gestured towards the beach, "I'm surprised you're not out there."
She glanced out the window and saw exactly what she expected, brother and sister reuniting in their normal manner, mornings on the beach. "No, this is their time. Steve swims and she waits for him, so they can run together. They won't run until she is healed, but they will continue this routine."
"They are pretty close, huh?" Questioned Junior, thinking about how close he and his sister had been before the accident.
"Surprisingly close for only knowing each other about two years."
"Two years?" He questioned, surprised. "They fight like siblings who grew up together."
"Oh yeah, he tries to boss her around, she will push him to his final limits and they will eventually meet in the middle. Even with the age gap and not growing up together, they are fiercely protective of each other."
"What's the age gap?" Questioned Junior, beginning to become uncomfortable with how attractively put together the little sister was, even though she was battered and bruised.
"Sixteen years." Catherine paused, knowing where Junior's mind was. "Not trying to get in your business, but she has a boyfriend and they are incredibly loyal to one another."
"I wasn't planning on hitting on the boss' sister." Holding his hands up in front of him in a defensive position.
"I know you weren't, Tani is more your speed. 'Cena's been through hell more than once and she's not very trusting of people. Throw an overprotective SEAL of a big brother into the picture, it is a miracle her and Tommy are together."
Junior was curious, "Where has he been in this whole situation? I mean, did he fly out to Roswell?"
"No, he is currently on assignment with the Marines in South Korea." Catherine thought back to everything, "We didn't call him because we didn't know how badly she was injured. When she finally woke up, she didn't want to call him. She wanted to heal first, so he didn't see how vicious WoFat had been this time around."
"Jerry and Lou said WoFat has kidnapped her before."
"Yeah, he has become obsessed with her because each time he has kidnapped her and tried to kill her, she has managed to escape and survive. He is obsessed with Steve because of his mother. Needless to say, they have been through hell together, hence the fiercely protective behavior."
Junior looked back out on the beach at the siblings, knowing the protectiveness Steve felt.
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Thank you all so much for the lovely notes. I'm so thankful! ~Avy73!