While Steve was sweeping, a girl who was playing near her mother was waving to him. Steve waved back and smiled at the girl.
"She liked you, she's usually not very receptive to strange people. Do you have kids?" The girl's mother asked Steve.
"I don't know," Steve answered.
"Wow! You dated that many women?" She asked.
Steve laughed. "No, that's not it. I have amnesia and I don't remember my past."
"Gee, I'm sorry I misjudged you. I'm embarrassed."
"It's okay," he replied. He saw that she was drawing the landscape, the mountain she saw in front of her and was drawing perfectly. "You draw well," he said.
"Thank you. It's my favorite pastime," she answered.
"Can you also draw the face of a person?"
"I can try. Do you want me to draw your face?"
"No, not mine." Steve told her his story and talked about the face of the woman who populated his dreams every night.
"Wow, what a story. Sit here and tell me what she looks like and I'll do my best".
Steve sat next to her and described Catherine's face.
The woman drew according to his description. "Is she like that?" She asked when she finished.
"Her smile is broader, I can't explain it," he said.
"I'll erase it and try again," she said.
She tried twice more until he was satisfied with the result. "It's her," he said.
"Can I take a picture of the drawing? I can post it on social networks and ask people to share it and maybe this drawing will reach her".
"Sure, I really appreciate you helping me," Steve told her.
"Will you continue here? If one day I can talk to her, will you still be here?"
"Yes, I wouldn't know where to go," Steve answered.
"I really hope it works, and that you can find your family. She handed him the drawing and called her daughter to leave. "I need to go now. Good luck," she told Steve.
"Thanks, thanks a lot," he answered and she left. Her daughter waved to Steve again and he answered by waving too.
Steve stared at the drawing of Catherine's face. "Who are you? I feel like you're important to me, but I don't know how," he said in a low voice.
The next day, Catherine arrived at headquarters with Debby and Joe. She was taking her letter of resignation to Danny.
"Hi, guys," she said upon arrival.
"Good morning, everybody," Debby said.
Joe let go of his mother's hand and began exploring the hall.
"What an educated girl!" Tani said to Debby and ran her hand over Debby's head.
Catherine saw Danny sitting in his office. "I'm going to talk to Danny. I'm going to leave you guys, I'm not going to get in the way of the job anymore."
"I'm sorry, Catherine. I really like working with you. I think we make a good team," Quinn told her.
"Thanks, Quinn. I like working with you, too, but I need to prioritize my kids, and Mary has given me the opportunity to do that," Catherine answered.
Lou just listened and remained silent.
Junior looked at Tani and she understood. "Debby, let's go out and have an ice cream? Let's take Joe too," Tani told the girl.
"I want strawberry ice cream, Aunt Tani," Debby replied.
Junior took Joe in his lap. "Can we take them, Catherine? We won't be long."
"Sure, Junior. Thank you," Catherine answered.
"It's going to get ugly in there," Junior said when he was in the elevator with Tani and the kids.
"I know," Tani answered.
Catherine knocked on the office door and entered. "Excuse me, Danny."
"Hey, Catherine," he answered.
Catherine extended the letter to him. "I brought my letter of resignation."
Danny took the letter from her hand, opened it and read it. "Why is that?" He asked.
"Mary shared with me the money Doris left for her. This will allow me to stay home with the kids until they grow up a little, or until the Navy decides to pay me Steve's pension, but I hope he comes back before then."
"Doris' money? Steve would never approve of that. He returned all the money that was in the family Mausoleum. He didn't want Doris's money."
"I don't have another option, Danny."
"You have a choice. You always have a choice! You had the option not to abandon him, and you abandoned him, and he took you back. Then you had the option not to let him go on that mission, and what did you do? You encouraged him to go. Why did you encourage him to go? Because of money?"
"I'm not a mercenary, Danny. He wanted to go on that mission, the Navy proposal made him happy because he always thought the Navy didn't want him back after the transplant. I encouraged him because I wanted to see him happy, just for that, and not for money."
Danny was silent and she stood there waiting for a word from him.
"It wasn't my fault, Danny. I also don't understand why you avoid my kids, especially Joe. What's your problem? Have you forgiven Rachel who hid from you that you had a child and can't forgive me for less than that, Danny? You know, you pushed Steve to Charlie's school teacher, and then you pushed him to Eddie's vet, but you never encouraged him to come back to me, even though you knew he still loved me. Steve told me".
"Yes, I did, because I got tired of seeing him sad and lonely," Danny replied.
"You were his friend for many years, and the Lincoln who knew him so recently was able to see through Steve much better than you. He told me that he saw in Steve's eyes that he still loved me. How could you not see that? You saw it, but you wanted to change it according to your will. He didn't want to date the teacher or the veterinarian."
"What do you want, Catherine? You mean Lincoln is better than me?"
"I just want to understand your contempt for me and my children. Yesterday was Joe's birthday, and Lincoln called, and you didn't."
Danny got up and took a deep breath before he spoke. "Catherine, I avoid going to your house because it was Steve's house. It hurts me to get there and not find him. It hurts me to look at your children and know that he is not there to see the children he dreamed of growing up with. It hurts me to know that he enjoyed for such a short time the dream of being a father". Danny cried. "I don't want your harm. All I ever wanted in this life was to have my friend back."
Catherine hugged him, and Danny hugged her too. "You have to understand me, Catherine. He's been my best friend for fifteen years," Danny said in tears.
"And you need to understand me too, Danny. He's my best friend and my love twice as long. Let's stop fighting, please."
"Okay," Danny answered.
Junior and Tani went back to headquarters with Debby and Joe. "So, how was it?" Junior asked Lou and Quinn.
"It was okay, they even hugged," Lou replied.
"Really?" Tani said.
"Yes, it's true," Quinn confirmed.
Debby walked into Danny's office and Joe went after her. "Look, Mom, strawberry ice cream," Debby said to Catherine.
"That's delicious, daughter," Catherine said to Debby.
Joe had his face all dirty with ice cream. He tried to say "strawberry," and Catherine smiled at him.
Debby looked at Danny's table and saw a picture of Steve in the frame. Steve was smiling and wore a jeans shirt. "Look, Joe, it's Daddy!"
Joe looked at the frame, too. "Daddy?"
Debby put the ice cream pot on the table and took the frame.
"Give the frame back, Debby. It's from Uncle Danny," Catherine told her.
Debby instinctively hugged the frame. "No! It's mine. It's my daddy."
"It's okay, Catherine. I have that picture on my phone. I can have another one printed. Let her have it," Danny said.
"Thanks, Danny. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work here when I needed it."
"You're welcome to come back someday," Danny answered.
Catherine grabbed the ice cream pot that was on the table and left Danny's office with the kids. She said goodbye to the rest of the team and then went home. Mary was preparing dinner when she arrived.
Debby went up to her room and put the frame with Steve's picture on the nightstand next to her bed. "I'm going to put you right here next to me, Daddy."
Steve was sitting in the courtyard of the monastery and looking at the imposing mountains in front of him. He took the drawing of Catherine's face out of his pocket and was caressing her cheeks on the paper. "Hey you. What's your name?"
PS: Thank you for your review.