After Kayla left the staff lounge for her hearing, Steve paced around the room, feeling helpless. He wished that he could be in the hearing room with Kayla, but Neil had made it clear that Steve was not allowed to attend the hearing. That meant waiting, something Steve was never very good at.

After well over an hour, Steve got tired of looking at the same four walls. He walked out to the main nurses station and asked a nurse if Marcus was available. She said Marcus was in surgery. So much for that idea.

He was leaning up against the bank of pay phones, flipping idly through the phone book when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Steve?"

Steve turned and broke into a grin. "Yep, it's me, Mrs. Horton."

Alice Horton smiled broadly and walked forward to give Steve a big hug. "I heard you were back home. It's so wonderful to see you."

"Thanks," Steve said. "You look as beautiful as ever."

"You always were a smooth talker." Alice shrugged away his compliment. "What are you doing here? Nobody is ill or hurt, are they?"

"Everybody's fine," Steve assured her. "I'm just waiting for Kayla to finish her hearing with the Board."

"Oh yes. . . ." Alice frowned slightly. "Tom told me about the hearing. I hope everything turns out okay for her."

"I'm sure it will," Steve said. "And I'm sure that your good wishes mean a lot to Kayla."

As he continued to chat with Mrs. Horton, Steve saw a small crowd gathering around the television in the waiting room just off the nurses' station. "I wonder what that's all about," he said, pointing to the area where the people were standing.

Alice looked curious as well. "I don't know. Maybe we should go find out."

Together, Steve and Alice walked to the waiting room. As he got closer, Steve could see that the television was tuned to the local news station. The "Breaking News" banner was running across the top of the screen.

" . . . more information as it becomes available," Steve heard the newsman say. "Again, to repeat our breaking story: Shots have reportedly been fired at the Salem Elementary school. The shots were fired just before the official start of the first day of the school year. At this time, we have no information about any injuries. The Salem Police Department has secured the area and is conducting an investigation. Initial reports indicate that the suspected shooter was killed while trying to escape the scene."

Salem Elementary. Why was that so familiar to Steve? The realization hit Steve like a punch to the gut. That was Andrew's school. Steve remembered Andrew talking about it several times when they were in England. He had been so excited to start kindergarten this year.

"How could somebody do something like that?" Alice exclaimed. "Those poor children."

Steve nodded, but did not respond. Somebody had tried to run down Kim just a few days ago, and now shots had been fired at Andrew's school on the first day - the day most likely for a mother to accompany her child to school. Steve knew that this was no coincidence. Whoever was after Kim was still out there.

Realizing an upset Alice Horton was still beside him, Steve put his arm around her shoulders and pasted a small smile on his face. "Don't worry, Mrs. Horton. I'm sure that Roman and the Salem PD have things under control. The fact that there's no news on any injuries is good. You know if anybody had been hurt, they would have brought them here already."

Alice patted Steve's arm. "I'm sure you are right."

Steve looked back towards the nurses' station and saw Kayla looking around, clearly trying to find him. Steve excused himself and hurried over to her.

"Hey, baby," he said, kissing her on the cheek. "How did the hearing go?"

"Fine," Kayla said absently. "What's going on in the waiting room? Why is Mrs. Horton so upset?"

Steve took a deep breath. He knew Kayla would get extremely worried. "I don't want you to get upset, Sweetness. But there was some kind of shooting at Andrew's school this morning."

Steve saw Kayla's eyes grow wide with shock and her hand flew to her mouth. She looked around frantically, "Is he okay? Is he here?" She paused, then looked even more scared. "Oh my god . . . Kimmie . . ."

Steve pulled Kayla into his arms. "Take it easy, Sweetness. As far as I know, everybody's fine. I just saw the report on the TV in the waiting room. They didn't have any information on any injuries, but nobody has been brought to the hospital, at least as far as we know. That means everybody's probably just fine."

"We need to find out for sure, Steve." The fear was evident in Kayla's voice. "We need to go to my parents' house."

"All right, baby," Steve said. "Are you sure you can go now? Is the hearing over?"

"Yes," Kayla replied. Turning away from Steve, she spoke to the nurse behind the desk. "Can you call Dr. Curtis's office and tell him that I had to leave due to a family emergency? Please tell him that I'll either come back to the hospital later or call him to find out the decision from the board."

The nurse nodded and picked up the phone to make the call. Kayla turned back to Steve and said, "Let's go."

Steve nodded and took Kayla's hand as they headed to the elevators. Once inside, he pulled her to him again and reassured her over and over that everybody was okay. He silently prayed that every word he said was true. And he silently vowed to do what was necessary to stop Alamain from continuing to target his family.