Chapter 6

After leaving Catherine's house Steve felt crushed. He had been shot on many occasions but none of them were as painful as this. He went there wanting to tell her he loved her. That everything that had could still work. They both had family issues that they needed to work out but they could do it together.

When Steve arrived at Mary's they were sitting in the living both watching TV. Steve let himself in and walked straight to the living room. Steve walked over to where both his sister and daughter were sitting, taking a seat in the chair opposite.

"Evie why don't you go and get your bag from upstairs" Mary said, sensing her brother needed to talk. Mary waited until her niece was upstairs before she spoke again. "What happened?"

Steve looked over at his sister trying to work out how she knew something was wrong. "What do you mean Mare?"

"I mean you coming over here asking me to look after Evie, and then you come back less than an hour later looking upset and angry." Mary replied not letting him get out of telling her.

"Me and Catherine are finally over. I don't know what we had but I found out she has two kids, I told her Evie was coming to stay and she made me drop her home. I went round today to tell her I loved her, but she told me we can't be together." Steve replied giving her the short answer avoiding adding any feeling into the statement.

"What happened to my caveman brother?" Mary asked jokingly.

Steve didn't find Mary's statement that funny. After the day he had, all he wanted to do was go home, have a beer and go to bed. "Mary this isn't funny. I love her." Steve replied.

"I know. But Cath has to do what's right for her kids and you have to do what is right for Evie. I know this is easy for me to say, but move on. Just forget about her. I know you never will but she has made herself clear. If she tries to contact you don't let her, Evie is all you need to worry about." Mary knew it was a bit harsh. He loved her, he couldn't just stop but he has a daughter now and she has to be his first priority.

"Yeah I know your right..." Steve was going to continue but he could see his daughter starting to walk down the stairs.

"Can we go now dad. You promised we could start my room" Evie said with a big smile across her face.

"Yeah come on then you." He says standing up and putting his hands on his daughter's shoulders.

After saying thank you and goodbye to Mary they started to make their way home.

The car ride was quite, as always. Steve always wanted to talk to her but she was always quite. He didn't mind the silence for a bit of the journey but this was getting stupid.

"What do you want for dinner? We can have any takeout you like." Steve said looking over towards his daughter.

"Pizza?" Evie asked looking over at her father. "With Pineapple!" she added.

As soon as she said pineapple Steve knew that Danny was going to love his daughter. "Sure I know the best pizza place." Steve replied giving her a smile.

When they got home they sat at the table and started to eat their dinner. Steve still seemed distracted. There wasn't any talking going on. Evie knew that something was wrong with her dad. She didn't know, but she knew it had started when she got here. Every time she spoke to her dad on a video link he seemed happier. He seemed to want to talk more this time he seemed more withdrawn.

"Dad..." Evie said quietly, but she got Steve attention. He looked up at his daughter and waited for her to continue. "Do you love me? I know you say it but ever since I have got here you seem not wanting to talk, and spend time with me." Evie said not looking up from pizza. She kept her voice quite almost in a whisper scared of what he was going to say in return.

As soon as he daughter asked the question before she even said anything else he felt his heart break. To see his little girl look so upset, so sad made him feel like the worst person in the world. He sat looking at his daughter for a few seconds, she wouldn't look at him. He wanted to answer the but he couldn't find the words to speak to tell her.

"Evie, I love you more than anything. I am sorry that I haven't been talking much or spending time with you since you have been here. I know through your life I have been a terrible dad. Seeing you occasionally and speaking about once a month over the phone, but I do love you. I have just had something's on my mind. I don't talk much because I don't know what you like, what you want to talk about." He says getting out of his seat and walking over to his daughter kneeling down in front of her. "I am sorry for all of that. I do love you. How about we start over? We finish dinner, we go and start your room and then we watch any film you like?"

Evie tries not to look at Steve even after he has finished his speech. She doesn't want him to see how upset she it. She keeps looking at the floor, until he lifts her head so she is looking at him. "Okay. Can we watch Just My Luck?" Evie asks smiling. It had become her favourite film once she knew Mcfly was in it.

"Anything you want kiddo." Steve said pulling his daughter into a hug.

They spent the next few hours sorting out Evie's room the way she wanted. All of the new stuff Steve had brought now fitted perfectly into the room. She added some of her belongings she brought with her to make it look like home.

It was getting late by the time they put the film on. Steve sat down with his feet on the coffee table and his daughter tucked under his arm. He had missed times like this when she was younger, and wanted to try and make up for it. He knew that one night wouldn't make up for all the times he never got to do this but it was a start. They sat there and started to watch the film. It wasn't long before Evie was asleep. Steve carried on sitting there enjoying having his daughter close.

Meanwhile...

After Steve had left Catherine walked back to the sofa and sat there thinking about what she had just done. She knew he hadn't come to break things off. They had done that in the car when he had dropped her home. She had let the only man she had ever really loved go. She hoped it was the right decision for her and her kids.

She didn't hear Chelsea coming down the stairs. "Why did you send him away? You have never done anything for the good of me or Jay so why start now? You used us as an excuse. You didn't want to be with him so you used us to get you out of it. Nothing changes." Chelsea was still angry.

Cath didn't understand why her daughter had to blame her for everything. She left them, when she was in the Navy but she was back to look after them. She told Steve it was over for them and not to use as an excuse. "Chelsea, I am not going to argue with you. I did it for you, weather you believe me or not." Cath said.

Chelsea didn't reply. She turned round and walked back up the stairs towards her bedroom. She was just about to close the door when her brother appeared.

"Chelsea you are such a selfish bitch at times. Mum came back to make up for everything. She gave up her boyfriend for us. I always knew about him and mum. Nan used to talk about them all the time but you were too busy blaming her for everything. She did what was best at the time. She was young she knew she couldn't be the best mother and she still came back. Whatever your problem is you need to move on. She loved her boyfriend that was a big sacrifice for her. She could have carried on seeing him while she had us but she didn't she does care otherwise why would she do that? When mum was gone you weren't happy, now you are going to be making her feel the same way about him." Jay said. He was sick of the way his sister kept carrying on at their mother. He knew that what she was saying was right but she had to forgive her. She was the only mother he had.

When Chelsea didn't reply he just left her sitting on her bed. What Jay had said was right. She blamed her mother because there was no one else in her life to blame when things went wrong. She knew the feeling of what it was like when someone you loved had to go away. It was the same feeling she got every time her mother went away on the ship. She had to say something. She knew that the way she was treating her mother wasn't right. Her Nan would never approve. Her Nan had been the most influential person in her life and going against what she would have wanted was something Chelsea would never do.

Chelsea went back down stairs. Her mother was still sitting on the sofa. This time with her head in her hands. When she heard Chelsea coming down the stairs she looked up, she looked like she had been crying.

"Mum" Chelsea said quietly taking a seat on the sofa next to her. "I'm sorry. I know that what I have been saying has been horrible. I still don't agree or understand why you left us for the Navy however, I am not going to stop you seeing your boyfriend person. I know what is was like when you went away and I loved you and missed you, and I am not going to stop you seeing him or speaking to him. I love you mom." Chelsea said before starting to get up to walk off.

Chelsea had said these things to her mom. She wasn't ready to forgive her but she had to try. Cath knew that even after this it would still take time with Chelsea. But she knew that if Chelsea said she could speak to Steve and gave her blessing she meant it. She got up and gave Chelsea a hug before letting her carry on upstairs.

Catherine sat back on the sofa and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She held it deciding weather she should call him or not.

Sorry it took so long to update I have been busy. Please review and I will try to update as soon as possible