His eye welling up along with hers, swallowing hard, Steve reached into his back pocket for his phone.

"Who are we telling first, Sweetness?" he asked as Kayla shifted into a sitting position on the couch, grabbed the JAMA edition off the floor, and flipped it open on her lap.

"Baby-"

"We'll tell them together, Steve."

"Okay, I-"

"When there's something to tell, we'll tell them," she added.

"Kayla-"

When she shook her head and resumed reading, Steve took a breath and twined his fingers with his wife's—forcing down his frustration and exhaustion to refocus on what mattered.

"I mean sneezing, dizzy spells, a low-grade fever? You call Tripp telling him those are my symptoms and that you're worried, he'll prescribe rest and fluids for me and Xanax for you."

"Sweetness, as soon as we tell him Orpheus caused those symptoms, he'll be prescribing Xannies all around!"

Rolling her eyes, Kayla scoffed, tossing the journal on her lap back onto the rug.

"I don't see why we need to tell them Orpheus is involved," she reasoned. "You didn't before."

"What?"

"You told Stephanie I was at a medical conference after he kidnapped me, Steve," Kayla reminded.

"Well, what else did you want me to do, baby? Go against the bastard threatening to blow you up by spreading the word?" Steve snapped, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand.

"You think if Orpheus knew Stephanie was in on his little joke that she wouldn't have been at risk? Forget that it would've scared the life out of her!"

"So you weren't okay with it then but you are now?" Kayla questioned as Steve frowned, his eye bleary and full of confusion.

"Baby, what-"

"Scaring all three of our kids? Getting them worked up over something that hasn't even happened?!"

When her voice broke, Steve brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of hers.

"You know I'm not okay with it, baby. But we can't not-"

"Why not?" Kayla interrupted. "My symptoms are manageable. I don't see why we can't wait to tell Joe and Stephanie and Tripp when we know more!"

"How much more, baby?!" Steve asked. "You know I'm on thin ice with Stephanie for not being upfront about you and that damn bunker. Our little dude and Tripp start feeling out of the loop and join in the chorus with their sister, I'm in trouble!"

'You can blame me then," Kayla offered. "Tell them I asked you to keep quiet until we knew what we were dealing with," she said, hoping Steve would consider the option, but judging from the expression on his face, she knew it wasn't likely.

"Steve..."

"No, Kayla," Steve said roughly. "Keeping secrets and keeping you in the dark to protect you? How many times have I pulled that crap and had you call me out on it?"

"That's a low blow and you know it," Kayla scoffed.

"But it's true, baby. Me holding out on you thinking it'd keep you from being hurt, making decisions about us without consulting you. I promised you I was done with that, Sweetness," Steve reminded. "Joe and Stephanie and Tripp deserve that same promise," he said as Kayla sniffled, shaking her head.

"I just can't bear the thought of putting them through this. Telling them. Seeing them so scared..."

"I know, baby."

His free hand moving to hold her face, Steve thumbed a tear off her cheek and lifted her chin to make her see him.

"Our kids are strong, though, Sweetness. They're strong and smart and just as sweet as you," he said as Kayla smiled, leaning into his palm resting on her cheek.

"All this hitting the books and research we're doing. You just got through saying our Little Sweetness was your study partner. I'm pretty sure our little dude would be up for pulling an all-nighter with us, too."

"If not, Stephanie can always give him a pop quiz. Right?"

"Right," Steve laughed. "And you know soon as we fill in Tripp Dalton M.D, he's gonna be sitting right here with you in front of all these books, reading and highlighting and making sense of all your pretty cursive."

"Yeah," Kayla nodded. "Maybe he'll have read up on something I haven't that could help," she admitted as Steve nodded. But when he reached for his phone again, Kayla grabbed his hand, giving him a tearful look that froze him in place.

"Tomorrow, Steve. Please?"

"Sweetness-"

"Please?" she begged.

Nodding, realizing it was tomorrow but still too early for a phone call to be anything but a panic-worthy emergency, Steve set his phone on the coffee table and shifted closer to his wife, stroking her hair back.

"We're gonna get through this, baby. Later on we'll sit down with the kids, tell 'em what's going on, and they're gonna get through this right alongside us," he assured as Kayla nodded.

"I'm holding you to that, alright?" she squeaked, giving him a soft smile.

"Yeah? You're gonna hold me?" Steve said with a grin that broadened when his wife grinned back. Taking a grip on his hand, Kayla pulled him onto the couch and stretched out alongside him.

"Mm hmm. And I'll do more than that if you're lucky," she teased before kissing Steve heatedly, not willing to let him up to make them cocoa this time around.

"Kayla, baby-"

Pulling back, Steve downgraded to kissing her forehead and face so as not to get carried away, only for Kayla to thread her fingers through his hair and recapture his lips.

"Sweetness-"

"Steve...," she purred under the kiss, sliding her free hand beneath her husband's black muscle tee.

Starting to slip under her spell, fast, Steve broke the kiss taking Kayla by surprise.

"What? Why did you-"

"Let's just get you to bed, baby, I-"

"Steve-"

"We shouldn't be doing this, Kayla-"

Shaking her head, shushing him, she pressed a finger to his lips.

"If we need to stop, I'll say so."

Reaching for his wife's wrist, gently moving her hand away, Steve kissed the back of it.

"Before, in the hallway, though. I kissed you and you almost-"

"Steve..."

"I want you seeing stars when we're together, baby, but not in that way. I just..."

"I know. But right now, I'm okay. I promise," Kayla assured.

Thumbing a tear off her cheek, Steve leaned in, gently kissing her there.

"I just need to feel you," Kayla murmured, clutching him tighter. "I just want to love you."

"You sure you're not too tired? It's so damn late, baby," Steve murmured, nipping at her ear. "We...you haven't slept since-"

"So?" Kayla smirked, then giggled as his lips made their way to her neck.

"We've been up all night anyway. May as well make the most of our morning, right?"

Pulling back, Steve budded her nose against hers, stroking her hair.

"Baby, if it was any other morning-"

"Let's pretend that it is," Kayla interrupted, managing a tearful smile as her husband's eye welled up.

"Sweetness..."

Sitting up, then scooping her up after getting to his feet, Steve couldn't help but laugh at Kayla keeping her head on a swivel in his arms, telling him which way to step to avoid tripping over the heaps of books and journals still scattered in front of the couch and on the rug.

"Baby, didn't your mama ever teach you to clean up once you finished your schoolwork?" he asked as Kayla nipped at Steve's neck, then instructed him to step to the right.

"You know, for someone so worried about my back before, you have no problem making a maze for me to carry you through right now."

"Well, we don't have stairs," Kayla shrugged. "Had to make sure your one-eyed navigation skills were still up to snuff somehow," she grinned, curling up on Steve's shoulder as he smirked. Hinting at better ways that she could assess his skill levels as he brought her into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind them.