Chapter 39

After Steve and Chelsea's conversation in the kitchen, Chelsea went upstairs to see her mom, as she entered her mom's room she froze in place. She could see all of her mom's bruises and cuts and scars. She looked at her for a couple of seconds before Catherine realised she was there.

"They're not as bad as they look." Catherine said. But the look on Chelsea's face, she could tell that she didn't quite believe her. She started to regret her decision to get Chelsea to help her and not Steve. Chelsea nor Jay or Evie needed to see this, this would make it more real for them.

"What did you want?" Chelsea asked, trying to tear her eyes away from her mom's bruises.

"You know it doesn't matter, can you ask Steve to come here and then in about an hour we can get into bed and watch a DVD and have a lazy afternoon." Catherine said changing her plan. Although Chelsea had seen the bruises she didn't need to keep seeing them. She was going to have to accept Steve's help.

"Okay, Chelsea said as she walked out of the room. She could feel the tears brimming in her eyes. She knew her Mom had been injured but she could have never imagined that they would be this bad.

Chelsea quickly found Steve and told him her mother wanted him, before going into the bedroom to try and compose herself after what she had just seen.

"You alright?" Steve asked standing in the bedroom door way.

"I need some help." Was all Catherine said.

"Okay." Steve replied before taking Catherine's hand and leading her into the bathroom.

"I'm sorry." Catherine said, as Steve helped her into the bath.

"What have you got to be sorry about?" Steve asked not understanding where Catherine was going.

"All of this. Leaving you to look after Evie and my kids by yourself. For getting taken. For being like this since I got back, for pushing you away." Catherine explained.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Everything that happens is not your fault. You got orders from the Navy there was nothing that you could do. You being kidnapped if anything is my fault. If I had just left the investigation alone none of this would have happened. I understand you push people away, we have all done the same. I have done this before and I know many people I have worked with do the same."

"It's not alright, you keep on the saying this, but what about the kids. Chelsea saw all of these bruises, all my injuries and her face just dropped. I should never have let her see them. Evie is too young to understand, I left and them came back like this. And Jay, I promised Jay I would never leave again. I have seen him how he tries to act like he is not effected, but I know he is."

"They're good kids, they are strong, you know, yeah they are all effect by this, of course they are, but that's what we are all here for, we're all here to help each other get back to what it was like before. Now how about we finish with you in the bath and you can get dressed and I can start on making dinner."

A couple of hours later Steve had started on dinner, the kids and Catherine were all upstairs watching the TV. When they had finished the kids headed downstairs to see how things were going with Steve and him making dinner.

"Everything okay in here?" Jay asked taking a seat at the table

"Yes." Steve replied absent mildly. He was too focused on what he was trying to cook.

"Are you sure you look a bit stressed?" Chelsea asked.

"I don't know, all of this food is meant to be coming together and it doesn't seem to be working." Steve admitted. He was normally a pretty good cook, but with Catherine coming home from hospital, the proposal and trying to make everything perfect was getting too much for him. He turned around for a few seconds and when he turned back a pan was on fire. He was quick to put the fire out but his dinner was ruined.

"How about you go upstairs get changed. We will clear up this mess. We can order take away." Jay suggested. He had never seen Steve like this. Even when his mom was missing he still seemed composed. Today it was like Steve was a completely different man.

"I wanted it all to be perfect..." Steve started saying.

"And it will be because we are all here." Chelsea carried on for him.

Steve left the room and went upstairs to get changed. Catherine was still lying on the bed resting for a little while longer. Steve tried to be as quite as he could but Catherine still heard him.

"What's going on?" Catherine asked looking at him.

"Nothing. Everything's fine. Dinner will in about 45 minutes. I will come and get you just before." Steve tried to lie.

Catherine wasn't completely buying it but she would let it go for now.

"I have never seen him like that." Evie said as they kids worked to tidy to the kitchen.

"I think he is just nervous give him about hour and he will be fine." Chelsea said.

"Yeah I think he just wants to get it right and it isn't working." Jay added.

Evie was finishing the drying up when Chelsea and Jay moved into the dining room to lay the table.

"I'm sorry about you and Jordon." Jay said.

"It's fine. He obviously wasn't the person I was meant to be with. Me and Mom had a talk earlier and she made me realise that if a guy doesn't accept me and my life he doesn't deserve me." Chelsea said.

"She's right. You are worth so much more than him." Jay said.

"Thanks."

"What takeaway do we want?" Steve asked as he stood in the doorway of the dining room.

Chelsea and Jay took a second to answer both looking at each other. Before both of them asking for Chinese. Steve took their order and phoned up.

When the doorbell rang Steve made his way to the door to get the Chinese and pay for it, while Jay went upstairs to get his mother.

Steve started serving the food on the table. He had thought about plating it up and pretending he had made it himself but knew that Catherine would see through it right away.

"Well this looks better than hospital food." Catherine said as she walked into the dinning room followed by Jay. She was a little surprised that they had take out. She thought Steve was cooking. She had looked forward to Steve's cooking, he had always been a good cook and since she had been in hospital she was looking forward to home cooked food. She knew something was wrong when Steve had come upstairs to get changed and then when the doorbell rang a couple of minutes before Jay came and got her for dinner.

"Yeah we had a few problems in the kitchen." Steve explained.

"You let Chelsea cook?" Catherine joked. Everyone who knew Chelsea knew her cooking skills were very limited to toast if she remembered she was making it and not leaving it to burn like she had a habit of doing.

"No, I have take the blame that the cooking in the kitchen today was my fault. I tried to make something I had never made before and it all went wrong." Steve explained. He had been trying to make all of Catherine's favourite foods and there was too much to do and it wasn't coming together.

They all ate there dinner making small talk about what had been happening since Catherine had been away. Changes that they had made. How school was going. Evie was telling them how she wanted to participate more in school activities. She had made some friends since starting the new school but didn't know everyone she went to school with and she wanted that to change.

Once everyone had finished eating Steve started to clear the plates away before everyone returned to the dining room. Steve prepared to ask Catherine to marry him, something he should have done years ago, even before he knew she had kids, he had know since he had first laid eyes on her that she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life. She was the women he wanted to have more kids with. She was the woman he wanted to grow old with.

Steve looked around one last time at all three of the kids. This couldn't me more perfect. He had wanted the dinner to be better but he realised that it didn't matter about food or where they were because they had their kids with them and they had each other. That's all that matters.

"Catherine, in the last few weeks we have been through so much together. You being missing has made my life so hard. That I don't think I can live without you. I don't want to live without you. I spoke to the kids over the last couple of weeks and they are all happy about this." Steve got down on one knee and opened the ring box in front of Catherine. "Will you marry me?"

"I don't think I can." Catherine replied.

Sorry this chapter isn't long I just wanted to post it. The next chapter is being written so it wouldn't be a really long wait until the next chapter.