Chapter Thirteen – All Is Forgiven?

As Steve lifted the glass to his mouth he observed the woman sitting across the table from him.  Her hair was pulled back from her face which accented her beautiful eyes.  Their dinner had been pleasant.  It was like the old days.  They were relaxed and enjoying each other's company.  His earlier discomfort had been forgotten.  As he continued to observe her his phone rang.  "Sloan, here, hi, Dad."

"Steve, where are you?"

"I'm at Bob's having dinner with Alex."

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Dad."  Steve heard the sigh on the other end of the phone and knew what it meant.  His father was not happy.  He had been as adamant as Jesse about Steve not going back to work, but had relented when he realized that he couldn't stop him.

"Steve, you need your rest."

"Dad, I know, I'll be home soon.  Don't worry I'm fine."  The other end of the phone was silent for a moment then his father spoke.

"By soon you mean within the hour, right?"

Steve chuckled lightly.  "Yes, Dad, within the hour.  I'll talk with you then."  They said their goodbyes, Steve flipped the phone shut and found Alex watching him intently.  "What?"

"I've missed that."

"Missed what?" Steve asked.

"The way you and your Dad are."

"I'm not sure what you mean?"

She tilted her head to one side.  "You really don't realize how special it is, do you?"

Sudden understanding dawned on Steve.  He knew that Jesse envied him his relationship with his father, but he had never thought about anyone else feeling the same way.  "I do realize it, but it has always been like that, and I guess I just expect it."

She smiled a warm smile at him.  "Let's call it a night, your father was right, you need to be home in bed….," she stopped as his expression changed.  "Alone," she added with a mischievous smile that matched the one Steve now wore.

………………..

True to his word Steve walked through the door of the beach house less than an hour from the time he had talked with his dad.  He slowly walked up the stairs and found his father asleep on the couch, a book resting on his lap.  Steve crossed the room and sat down carefully next to him.  He smiled as he gently reached to remove the book from Mark's lap.  The light touch was enough to cause Mark to stir.  He slowly opened his eyes and grinned in greeting when he saw Steve sitting beside him.

"You're home," Mark stated as he eyed him appraisingly.  "You look tired, is your side hurting?"

"Not much, I am pretty tired though."

"I don't suppose there's any chance of getting you to stay home tomorrow, and give your body a days rest?

"No, Dad, until this case is solved I need to go to work."

Mark looked at him intently.  He was still pale and there were lines of fatigue and pain on his face, but the blue eyes were shining brightly.  "I take it that dinner went well?"

"Surprisingly it did," Steve responded.

"I guess that means you have forgiven her?"

"There are still issues, but I think we can work things out and be friends."

"Friends?  You're sure there's not more to it than that?"

"No, Dad, even though I may have feelings for her, the fact still remains that our jobs don't mingle very well."

Mark sighed, stood up from the couch and stretched.  "Let's go to bed, I know I'm more than ready.  I'll see you at breakfast.  Goodnight, Son."

"Goodnight, Dad, I'm going to stay up for a few more minutes."

"Steve, don't make it longer than that, you need your rest."

"I promise, Dad, I just want to clear my head before I try to sleep."

………………..

Mark yawned as he walked from his bedroom towards the kitchen.  He had just finished tying the belt on his robe when he heard a faint noise coming from the family room.  He frowned and moved towards it.  The sound was emanating from his son who was still on the couch where Mark had left him the night before.  His legs were stretched out in front of him and his head was tilted at an odd angle that all but promised a stiff neck.  He was snoring lightly and probably would have continued on with his deep slumber if not for the rapping that suddenly was heard from the door leading to the deck.  Steve jerked and groaned and Mark looked up to see Jesse waving.  Mark shook his head and headed across to let his friend in.  "Good morning, Jesse."

"Good morning, Mark, hey, Steve you're up and ready early."

"Oh, he's not up and ready early, he never went to bed."

"He what!" Jesse exclaimed.

Mark held his hands up.  "Jesse, it's not like it sounds, he fell asleep on the couch."

Steve was still not completely awake and was therefore unaware that the conversation revolved around him.  He moved to stretch and immediately regretted it.  His wounded side was not quite up to it and made that clear.  He yelped, which halted the conversation going on around him and, suddenly he found himself the middle of a doctor sandwich.  Jesse was on one side and his father on the other.  They both began rapid firing questions at him.  His mind still muddled from sleep and pain made it impossible to comprehend what they were saying.  The comment that brought him back came from his father.

"I'll call for an ambulance," Mark stated.

"Whoa, Dad, why would you call an ambulance?"

"Steve, you seem to be disorientated and in pain, we need to get you checked out."

Steve had fully returned to awareness.  "Dad, I'm not disorientated.  I was sleeping pretty soundly, I forgot about my side, stretched and it hurt." 

Mark moved to look directly in his eyes and Jesse leaned in closely to perform his own examination.

The joint stares made Steve highly uncomfortable.  "I'm fine," he stated brusquely.  "Now, if you'll both excuse me I need to get ready for work."

"Not without a quick exam you don't," Jesse responded.

"Is that what you're doing here this early?" Steve inquired.

"Well, of course," Jesse responded.

"And, it has nothing to do with my dad fixing breakfast, right?"

"Well, I wouldn't turn down a good meal," he responded gleefully.

Mark chuckled.  "I'll go start breakfast while Jesse examines you"

………………..

Steve sat in his car in front of Ray's Gym.  He had interviewed Cathy Jewell and Jamey Coleman again, but other than an intense headache he had gotten nothing.  His second interview with Gwen Sterling had given him an intense pain in another part of his anatomy.  She had seemed to take delight in trying to push him over the edge.  His fatigue and the lingering discomfort from his injuries had made him more susceptible to her attempts.    He rubbed his knuckles across his eyes and nearly jumped through the roof when someone rapped on the passenger side window.  Steve looked over to see the man that Alex had introduced him to at the paper.  He turned the key enough in the ignition so that the power windows would work; pushed the button and watched it slide down.  "Hi, David? Right?"

"Yes, that's right, Lieutenant Sloan," David Larkin responded.

"What can I do for you?" Steve asked.

"Nothing, I just saw you sitting over here, and thought I would say hi."

Steve didn't like this guy, but tried to be friendly anyway.  "Oh, ok, what brings you down here?"

David gestured towards a booth in front of the bakery.  "I'm working the newspaper subscription table.  Have you seen Alex today?"

Steve felt a touch of anger.  "No, I haven't, why?"

"No reason.  I didn't think you had, she was really happy at the office this morning."

Steve's mouth took the shape of a smile but there was no warmth or humor displayed on his face.  "I'm pretty sure you don't know either of us well enough to make any judgments on how exposure to me may or may not affect Alex.  Now, if you will excuse me I need to be going."  As Steve finished, he pushed the button to raise the window and smiled slightly as David Larkin bumped his head as he tried to quickly pull his head out of the rapidly decreasing window space.  If he had looked in the rearview mirror as he drove away he would have seen David's face contorted with a look of pure rage.