As the sun began to peek through the windows of the library, Shane again picked up the blurry picture of the man who might, or might not, be Steve Johnson. Shane studied it for what had to be the 20th time since Tarrington had left. Each time, he had tried to see if there was anything new, anything he had missed on the previous examination. Something - anything - that would tell him definitively if the man in the photo was Steve.

This time was no different. He saw nothing, just as in all the previous examinations. If Shane took this mission, it would be on the same basis as when Tarrington had left.

Shane tossed the photo back on his desk and walked over to the teapot. The tea had long since gone cold, but he nevertheless poured himself a cup, more to give him something mundane to do than because he needed another cup of tea.

Steve. He kept picturing Steve the last time they talked. At Wings, just before Steve had gone to Bo's boat and been caught in the explosion. Only minutes earlier, Steve had rushed to Wings to tell Shane and Roman about Lawrence Alamain's plot to burn down Green Oaks Forest.

That Steve had been a cop and, sometimes, an ISA operative, such a different man than the one Shane had first encountered. When they first met, Steve was simply known as "Patch." Shane shook his head as he recalled their first meeting - when Shane had tried to beat the whereabouts of Bo and Hope out of Patch. Then a few weeks later, in Miami, they had a gunfight that ended with Shane shooting Patch. Patch had been a smart-mouthed punk, just another one of Victor Kiriakis' thugs, and Shane had actually been annoyed that Bo saved the thug from drowning.

How things changed, didn't they? Even early on, Steve was a mass of contradictions. He came to Salem seeking revenge on Bo, but then worked with them to clear Bo's name. For all of his professed loner ways, Steve had joined them to search for Marlena when she was kidnapped. And despite his intense hatred of the ISA, Steve had worked with Shane and Gabrielle when Victor Kiriakis had put a contract out on Shane.

Then there had been Andrew's kidnapping. Shane knew Steve had information about Andrew's disappearance; Shane had been prepared to beat it out of the man in Cleveland. Yet, despite how much Shane wanted to believe otherwise, he became convinced that Steve had no involvement in the kidnapping.

Shane took a sip of the cold tea, and spit it out. It was vile. He probably should go into the kitchen and heat up the kettle, but he knew that was just a way of distracting himself from the decision he had to make.

You're deluding yourself, he thought. There is no decision to make.

For so long, Shane and Steve had been little more than acquaintances. Even after Steve joined the family, they were often at odds. They just had such different ways of approaching things. Shane used logic and worked methodically; Steve seemed to exist entirely on emotion and rushed into things headlong, rarely stopping to consider the consequences.

But they could work well together, couldn't they? Against Stefano, on that island. Against Eddie Reed. Even when Steve was furious at Shane for not telling him about Stefano, or conversely, when Shane was furious at Steve for not revealing that Nick Correlli was alive - even then, they were able to overcome their differences and see things through. They were even able to forgive each other for their deceptions.

Shane walked back over to the desk and picked up the photograph again. There was still nothing new in it. It still was just a blurry image of a man with long blond hair and an eye-patch. A picture of a man who was supposed to be dead.

It was funny, wasn't it, the way death never seemed to be final in Salem. Shane had "died" before, during the chase to capture Jericho. That had largely been due to Steve, actually. They had captured Jericho, but Steve had convinced Shane to let him go in exchange for Marcus. "Some things are more important than the ISA," Steve had said and, probably, for the first time in his life, Shane had believed that. That belief had nearly cost Shane his life.

"More important than the ISA," Shane muttered. Wasn't that the crux of it? Kim had told Shane about the guilt Steve carried after the Jericho mission, guilt for letting Shane "die." It was the same guilt Shane had felt after the boat explosion, much of the reason he had stepped in to be Kayla's protector and why he had worked so tirelessly to bring down Lawrence Alamain.

Now, despite the medical records and the witnesses, Shane had a picture in his hand that seemed to show that death once again was not final. As he looked again at the picture, he wondered why he had even asked Tarrington for the night to think about it. There was only one answer he could ever give. If there was any possibility that the man in the picture was Steve, Shane had no choice. He had called Steve his brother when he spoke at the funeral, and he had meant every word. Now he had to get Steve home. Their history, their friendship, their kinship demanded no less.

It wouldn't just be for Steve, either. Even if the man had been a virtual stranger, Shane would have made the same choice. As much as he loved Kayla, he had told her time and again that he just wanted her to be happy. She deserved nothing less. And Stephanie, the little girl who had stolen Shane's heart, deserved her father. If Steve was alive, they deserved to have him home.

Even if it destroys your chance at happiness? There was that silent voice again, the one he tried not to acknowledge.

"Yes," he said aloud. "Even if it does." Shane put down the picture and picked up the phone. He waited as it rang. Tarrington knew who it was before Shane said a word.

"Donovan," he acknowledged. "What's your decision?"

In the end, the decision was easy. It was made the moment Tarrington arrived the night before.

"I'm in."

"Good," Tarrington said. "There will be an ISA plane waiting for you at 10 a.m." Shane's boss obviously knew exactly what Shane would decide.

Shane hung up the phone. Now the hard part would begin. He needed schematics of the compound, and needed to figure out how best to work with the Green Berets. They were never particularly excited about working with "spooks," so Shane would have to tread lightly.

And, of course, he had to say his goodbyes. On a mission like this, hundreds of things could go wrong - any one of them fatal. He would go see Andrew first, then Eve, and finally Kayla. Kayla. He had no idea what he would say to her. Probably, he would try to convince her it was just another mission. There was no need to make her worry; no need to give her false hopes.

He sighed. As much as he did not want to admit it, that silent voice was begging for that to be all it was - a false hope. Shane would do his best to rescue the man. That was his duty. That was what he owed to Steve, to Kayla, and to Stephanie. But he also could not deny that part of him, deep inside, hoped the man in the picture was anyone but Steve.