Kim sat silently, picked at her food, and listened to Kayla and Marlena chat about Roman and Marlena's plans to go to San Cristobal to try and recover her memories. Even without looking up, Kim could tell that they were both watching her carefully. After a few moments, she could no longer stand the scrutiny, so she dropped her fork and pushed her chair away from the table.
"I should get back to ICU and check on Shane," she said as she stood up.
"Wait." Kayla quickly reached for Kim's hand.
"Kay. . . ." Kim tried to keep the frustration out of her voice. "I know you're worried about me, but I'm okay. I had some food, I took a break, and I really need to get back and be with Shane."
"I know." Kayla gave Kim a sympathetic look. "I'm not trying to keep you from him. It's just that Steve said he'd meet me down here when he was done talking to Shane. I . . . I just want to give Steve a chance to say what he needs to say."
Kim's irritation quickly left her and she sat back down in her chair. "I'm sorry. I guess I forgot about that."
"It's okay." Kayla smiled. "I understand how you feel." The smile faded from Kayla's face. "When Steve was in the hospital, I didn't want to leave him for a second."
Kim just nodded. Her sister really did understand.
Apparently sensing the need to change the subject, Marlena turned to Kim and asked, "How are Andrew and Jeannie? I bet they were thrilled to see you last night."
"Almost as happy as I was to see them," Kim said, thinking back to her reunion with her children. She turned to Kayla. "Jeannie's walking now."
"Really?" Kayla smiled broadly. "That's wonderful. I remember watching Stephanie take those first steps-" She stopped abruptly, a chagrined look on her face. "I'm sorry, Kim . . . I . . . I wasn't thinking."
Kim shook her head. "It's okay. I actually got to see them. Shane videotaped them." She smiled at Kayla. "With a little help from Steve and Andrew."
Although Kayla continued to smile, Kim could not read the expression on her sister's face. Kayla seemed to be lost in a memory or a moment of some sort. After a few seconds, Kayla looked up and caught Kim's look. "Sorry. I . . . it doesn't matter." She shook her head slightly. "I'm glad you got to see the tape."
"Yeah." Kim laughed slightly. "You know the most surprising part of the whole thing?"
Kayla shook her head.
"Seeing Shane and Steve together with all the kids," Kim said with a smile. "Steve was helping Jeannie and Andrew was cheering her on with Stephanie. And I could hear Shane talking on the videotape." Her voice grew softer and quieter. "I guess some things changed while we were gone."
"I guess so," Kayla replied.
Looking up, Kim spotted Steve in the doorway of the cafeteria. He was scanning the room, clearly looking for them. Waving at him, she told the others, "Steve's here."
When Steve reached the table, he leaned over and gave Kayla a kiss on the cheek. Kim could not help but watch through the corner of her eye as Steve and Kayla exchanged a few quiet words before Steve stood up. Kim fought to squelch the envy she felt, but then she reminded herself that Steve and Kayla had gone through hell to get to where they were now.
"What the hell is this?" Steve snarled, picking up the copy of the Chronicle that Kayla had tossed down earlier.
Kim sighed as Steve alternated between reading the article and cursing Rachel Knight, the ISA, and anybody else he could think of. When he had finished, both Kayla and Marlena tried to reassure him that nobody who knew Shane would believe a word of the article.
"This must have been what Jack was talking about," Steve growled as he tossed the paper back down.
"What do you mean?" Kim spoke for the first time since Steve had seen the article.
"Jack snuck upstairs last night and I caught him," Steve explained. "He said that Rachel Knight was bragging about having the full story from some 'inside sources.'" Steve shook his head. "Jack wanted me to tell him what happened, but I wouldn't do it."
"Why not?" Marlena asked.
Steve chuckled humorlessly. "Because I figured running my mouth off to my baby brother had already caused enough trouble. I didn't want to talk to him until I had a chance to discuss it with Kim . . . and Shane." He paused for a moment. "I guess keeping my mouth shut caused even more trouble this time."
"This isn't your fault," Kayla said quickly. "You couldn't know what the story would be."
"Maybe not, baby, but I'm damn well going to make sure this gets fixed." Steve's anger had clearly not abated one bit.
"What are you going to do?" Kim asked, suspecting she knew the answer.
"I'm calling Jack and telling him to get his rear over here for a little sit down with all of us." Steve stopped suddenly and his voice lost its harsh tone as he looked at Kim. "That is, if you are okay with that?"
"I was actually thinking of something along those lines, but wanted to talk to you about it," Kim said.
"Good." Steve turned to Kayla. "How about you, Sweetness? Are you okay with this?"
Kayla looked surprised at the question. "I . . . I guess. If that's what you think we should do."
Kim could hear the hesitation in Kayla's voice, but set it aside for the moment. "Okay then. Why don't you call Jack, Steve and I'll go check on Shane. You can come get me when Jack arrives."
"Actually, when I left Shane's room, Marcus was getting ready to run a few more tests," Steve said. "He told me to tell you that it would be a little longer before you could see Shane again."
Kim sighed, frustrated at the delay. "Well, then I guess you'd better call Jack and get him over here as quickly as possible. I seem to have some more time on my hands."
"If I know my brother, he's probably just outside the building in that swarm of reporters, but I'll check with Vern first." Steve started to make his way to the phone at the far end of the cafeteria.
"Wait," Kim called after him. Steve stopped and Kim walked quickly to him.
"Thank you for wanting to help get the truth out," Kim said.
Steve gave her a curious look. "You don't have to thank me for that."
"Maybe not, but I do need to apologize to you."
"For what?" Steve asked.
Kim took a deep breath. "For how I acted. I was really angry when Shane got arrested, and I said a lot of things to you - and to Kayla - that I shouldn't have said. I know that you never intended for that to happen, and I know that you've been trying to fix it ever since."
Steve shook his head. "It's okay. I understand. I can't even blame you for thinking I did it intentionally."
"It's not okay," Kim replied. "But thank you for understanding."
Steve nodded and resumed his walk to the phones. Kim returned to the table, sat down, and exchanged a small smile with Kayla. Somehow, despite all that had happened, the fractured relationships seemed to be healing. And as she prepared to wait for Jack's arrival, Kim said a quiet prayer that Shane would do the same.