Chapter 16

The next morning, Chelsea woke up first. She will still lying in bed next to her mom who was still asleep. It was early, and she thought her mom would have been awake already, wanting to go and see Steve as soon as she could. Looking at the clock and realising it was only 5 in the morning, Chelsea rolled back over to go back to sleep. But just before she could, she heard a noise coming from across the hall way.

Chelsea got out of her mom's bed and walked out of the door, towards her brother's room. When she got there she gently knocked on the door before letting herself in. He was sat on his bed, his hand covered in blood and a picture frame broken lying on the floor.

"Jay? What the hell?" Chelsea asked walking to the picture on the floor. It was a very old photo taken when they were just young kids, of her, Jay, and their mom and dad. Chelsea picked it up and put it back in its place on the desk. She bent down again to pick up the glass, before sitting directly in front on Jay in his desk chair. "Jay, talk to me." Chelsea said, almost pleading with her brother to tell her what had happened.

"Why? It doesn't matter, if I tell you nothing is going to change. It doesn't matter." Jay said trying to dismiss it and not talk about it.

"I remember 2 years ago, me and you made a promise, after I didn't tell you how I was angry with Nan. We promised, no matter, what it is, how bad it is, we would tell each other everything. So spill" Chelsea said, not backing down.

"Mom and Dad were married, they were together for years, they had us together. I know they broke up, but mom didn't even care when dad was in hospital and dying. She called us, but never asked about him. Never came to his funeral. Never said goodbye, yet her and Steve are not married, don't have kids together or anything, but she cares more about him being in hospital. She didn't care about him. She won't speak about him. It's like he is no one in our lives. That photo makes us look like a happy family, a front up until mom and dad broke up. But they always made it seem that they got on, still were happy to be friends and look after us. But she didn't care, never has and never will." Jay said. He didn't look at Chelsea once while he had said this. He missed his mom, he loved his mom but he just wished that she would talk about his dad. He missed him and loved him too. When his mom came home, he hoped things would be different, they would talk about his dad, get to know each other again, and although she had been absent most of his life, fill part of the gap left when his dad had died.

"Jay I know its hard, I wish mom would talk about dad just to know about him. But him and mom never loved each other, I can see that, they got married because of us. They got married because they wanted us to be a family, but mom wasn't happy and she made the right choice, to be happy without him. She loves Steve, anyone can see it. I know you don't like the answer but it's the truth. And if you want to talk to mom about dad, you have to tell her. And you don't need to punch photos and cut your hand because your angry." Chelsea said. She had never seen her brother like this and wasn't sure what to do she told him the truth hoping that, it might help him realise that things had changed, but he could always ask his mom to talk about Steve. "Come on lets get your hand cleaned up." Chelsea said walking into Jay's bathroom.

Later that morning...

When everyone was up, Cath wanted to go and see Steve, so she told the kids they could get breakfast when they got to the hospital. They were about to leave for the hospital, when Chelsea and Jay came downstairs. It was the first time she had seen Jay this morning and she noticed her hand. She wanted to know what had happened, but Chelsea told her they would talk about it later when they got home, because it was a long story, and they needed to go to the hospital. Cath had drove slower than she had last time she made this journey, knowing Steve was alright and would be coming out of hospital today made things better.

When they got to the hospital, Chelsea, Jay and Evie went to the cafe to get some breakfast. Cath was asked to join them but she wanted to go and check on Steve first and speak to him about spending a day apart.

"Morning sailor." Cath said walking into his room noticing he was awake.

"Morning." Steve replied. He sounded a little groggy, but managed to sit up in his bed to give her a kiss. "Where are the kids?" Steve enquired, knowing that Evie wanted to come and see him again, and Jay and Chelsea would probably come as well.

"They are in the cafe getting breakfast. They are going to come up in a bit. But before they do I wanted to speak to you about the kids." Cath said looking serious.

Steve tried to work out what she was going to say from her facial expression, he had always been quite good at reading her, and vice versa, but today all he could tell what it was something she didn't want to do. "Okay."

"I spoke to Chelsea yesterday. She spoke to Evie, who was quite upset that you were going to die, and that she would be alone, and since she had been here you two have not spent much time properly together. Then she said that Jay had some things he wanted to talk about with me. The kids are happy with the both of us going out, but I think that over the last few days we have spent all the time together. We need to spend a day or two apart just to talk things through with our kids, and make sure they are happy with this." Cath said. "The doctor said that you are fine to be discharged tonight, and that you are to take the rest of the week off work, to recover, and then we can go camping this weekend as long as you take it easy. I spoke to Mary who flies back tonight, and she is going to look after you and Evie. Danny, Chin and Kono said they will pop in later to see you." Cath continued. When she had finished she thought she sounded controlling. It wasn't a conversation, it was more her telling him how it was going to be, but she needed to say it, for their kids, to make sure that they got a chance in their relationship to express their feelings and opinions.

"Okay, I think it is a good idea that we spend some time with our kids to make sure they are happy before we move on." Steve said.

He was going to continue but was interrupted by the kids coming in. Evie walked straight over to her father and gave him a hug, before sitting on the bed next to him. She cuddled up to his side and he wrapped his arm around her back.

"How are you feeling Steve?" Chelsea asked breaking the silence that had happened when the kids walked into the room.

"I am feeling better, just a little bruised and headache but I should be out tonight." Steve said, he didn't want to go into too much detail about what had happened and how he was really feeling with Evie in the room.

"Anyway guys, I forgot to tell you, that me and Steve have decided to take you camping this weekend." Cath said, breaking the silence again.

"Camping?" Chelsea asked. "You are taking us camping? As in sleeping outdoors, in the wild, with just a thin piece of crappy material between us and the outdoors? Please tell me you are joking and that by camping you mean staying in a nice warm hotel?" Chelsea asked, she already knew the answer, but was really hoping this was her mom's idea of a joke.

"Yes that camping Chelsea. The outdoors will be good for you.

After a small disagreement in the hospital room between Cath and Chelsea about camping, Chelsea finally gives in realising that she is going to lose, and her mom will make her go camping, they decide to leave Steve to get some rest before heading out for the day, to go to the beach and play mini golf.

Later that day...

Cath and Evie headed to the hospital to pick up and Steve and drop him and Evie back home. Cath didn't want to say goodbye to Steve but she knew that she had to take some time apart for their kids to tell them what they were thinking about the other family.

Once Cath had got back from the hospital Jay and Chelsea were sat in Chelsea's room waiting for Cath. They were watching some film when Cath had walked into the room but turned it off, as soon as Cath took a seat opposite her children.

"Before you guys say anything, I have a few things to tell you and ask you. Firstly, you two are the most important people in my life. I would do anything to look after you and make you happy. Even if that meant me and Steve breaking up. I love you both, and I want you to know that although I haven't always shown it I love you, and you can tell me anything. Now I have said that I have a few things I wanted to talk to you about okay?" She asked looking between her children.

They both just gave her a nod in return, so she continued. "Firstly, Jay what did you do to your hand?" Cath asked, she had wanted to know that answer, but wanted to wait until it was just the three of them.

"I punched a photo frame." Was Jay replied. He didn't want to talk about it with his mom just yet. He wasn't fully sure why he had done it. He knew the reason he had told Chelsea but he wasn't sure if that was the real reason of just something he made up to get her off his back.

"Why?" Cath asked, she could sense that he didn't want to talk about it. Normally, she would have waited for him to talk but, he had injured himself and she needed to know why.

"Because it was a photo of you, me, Chelsea and Dad taken from when we were younger. I looked at in and that photo lies. I can't remember us being a happy family, so why have the photo?" Jay said, not making eye contact with his mom. He knew that this was part of the reason but not fully. He wasn't ready to talk about it properly and until then she would only get the short version. "That's the reason can we move on please?" Jay continued.

"Okay we can move on for now." Cath said, she knew that there was more, but if she forced him to talk, he would just go off and lock himself in his room. "What did you guys think of Steve?" Cath asked, this was the next question that would probably shape the rest of her life.

Chelsea was the first to answer. "I like him, he seems alright, Evie is sweet, needs to speak a little more maybe, but they seem alright. He makes you happy and doesn't seem like an evil step dad type person." Chelsea said. She did like Steve, he made her mom happy, and wasn't that bad of a guy, so for now she was happy with him and her mom.

"He's okay I guess. Evie's nice." Was all Jay had to say.

Cath was hoping for more of both of her kids, telling her that he was nice, was alright, but she needed to know how they would feel about him becoming a permanent fixture in their lives. She was going to ask them more about it, but the way Jay was going she didn't want to push it. She would take that answer for now and ask for more after their camping trip, when they had all got a chance to learn more about each other.

"So...Jay how did your date go with Ellie? We never got time to talk about it last night." Cath said changing the subject. She wanted to be more involved in her kids life.

"It wasn't a date." Jay said getting defensive.

"Okay, well how did it go anyway?" Cath said trying to get more out of her son.

"Alright I guess. Why are you asking me about Ellie and were not even going out, yet Chelsea is going out with Jordon and you haven't asked her anything about it." Jay said.

Chelsea turned to face Jay staring at him as she did, she thought she had dodged speaking to her mom about Jordon. Her and Jordon had been together for a couple of months but she didn't want 100 questions from her mom.

"Okay. Do I get to meet this Jordon?" Cath asked. She spoke about Ellie with Jay because that was happening now. She had missed out on Chelsea and Jordon starting to go out. But she knew that she was going to have to meet this Jordon.

"He is on holiday at the moment." Chelsea said, starting to go as short as Jay with her answers. She didn't mind talking about him, but she didn't want her mom to meet him just yet. She wasn't sure how she would react to her boyfriend and the first time of them meeting.

"Okay, well when he gets back, he will have to come over." Cath said. "I am going to start on dinner.

Meanwhile...

Steve had got home. He already wasn't taking the doctor's orders; he was walking around the house, making dinner. He had told Mary if she had got plans to go out, he would be fine. Evie was here if anything bad would happen. It was her last night here, and they were going to spend the day together, before they took her to the airport tomorrow night.

Steve and Evie had eaten together, before cleaning up and sitting on the sofa. They were flicking through the channels, but when they found nothing on; Steve turned the TV off and looked over at his daughter.

"We need to talk." Steve said. Evie didn't reply, he decided to carry on. "About your mom, since you got here we haven't really talked properly."

"She gave me up." Evie said. It was a simple statement. This was the first sign that she wasn't coping well, she had never, well never that Steve knew spoke like this.

"I know that. How are you feeling about it?" Steve asked. When she didn't reply again, Steve knew he had to get her too. "I know you spoke to Chelsea. I know that you said you couldn't lose me because I was all you had left, and you don't think your mom loved you." Steve carried on.

"SHE HAD NO RIGHT TO TELL YOU!" Evie said getting up of the sofa and running to her bedroom. She banged the door shut. This was the final sign that something was defiantly wrong.

Steve gave her a little time too cool off before going up and speaking to her. When he got upstairs, his ribs didn't thank her for making him walk around again. He lightly knocked on the door.

"Come in." Evie said quietly. The way she spoke he could already tell that she had been crying. She was lay on her bed facing the wall with her back to him. She didn't role over when he came in. He took a seat at the desk opposite her, moving the chair closer to the bed.

"Sweetheart, you can talk to me. I can't help you unless you tell me what is wrong." He sat there waiting for her to say something or do something but she didn't speak and she didn't move. "Is that about your mom or Catherine?" Steve asked. He knew that it had to be one of them, he was hoping it wasn't the latter.

"It's got nothing to do with Catherine. I like her, Jay and Chelsea." Evie said quietly. She wouldn't look at him, she still lay with her back to him.

"Then is it your mom?" Steve asked. This time she rolled over before she spoke. Steve could see she had been crying and that more were to come.

"She doesn't love me." Was all Evie could say, before the tears started to fall. Steve got up off the chair and went and lay on the bed next to her pulling her close, and allowing her to cry. After a few minutes of tears Evie finally stopped. "I don't understand why she left me. All I want is an reason to why she left, then I won't care anymore. All I want is one more chance to say goodbye to her properly, not just a quick goodbye thinking I will see her again in a couple of weeks."

"Well, I am sure that she will speak to you soon. The rest of your stuff is coming in the next few weeks." Steve said. He was going to tell her there might be a letter but he didn't want the false hope. "I love you and I know it is hard now, but your mom does too, she just needs some time to figure it out. Just give it a little time, it will be hard for a while but it will get better."

"It's not just that. Yesterday when Catherine told me you were in hospital I thought that you were going to leave me as well." Evie said, sounding like she was going to cry again.

"Evie, I am going know where. I am not going to leave you, there is nothing that would make me leave you. I know that sometimes in my job I get hurt, but I will never get myself into a very dangerous situation that will stop me coming home to you. I promise I will never leave you. Your stuck with me." Steve finished. When Evie didn't reply he just lay there waiting for her to say something else, but nothing. He looked down at his daughter and saw her fast asleep, with her head on his heart, being lulled to sleep by the sound of his heartbeat.

Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter they make my day. Please review on this chapter, hope you are liking the story. The next chapter will be the camping trip.