Steve packed the pumpkin pies Kayla had made into a bag and carried it into the living room. He placed the bag by the door, then sat on the couch to wait for his wife and daughter to finish getting ready for Thanksgiving at the Brady house.
He knew he, more than anyone, had much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. But this was not exactly the happy holiday he had anticipated.
Ever since Kayla had overhead his phone call with Tony and had confronted him about his plan to go after Lawrence Alamain, it had been anything but happy around their apartment. In fact, other than Steve's promise not leave without telling her, they had barely spoken.
He understood why Kayla was upset and he could not blame her. Hell, he couldn't even argue with her about it. It was not much more than a year ago that he had promised to finish up the Riverfront Raider case so they could take their trip around the world. Instead, he had left her. Not by choice, certainly, but it had happened.
So how could he blame her for feeling like he was doing the same thing all over again? Steve knew going after Alamain was dangerous, and probably even foolhardy. But he could not get the images of Alamain's "experiments" out of his mind.
And, worse than that, he kept seeing Kayla and Stephanie writhing in pain, then going deathly still as the toxin took over their bodies. He saw himself kneeling over them, begging them to wake up and knowing they never would.
He knew that any life he had would end if he lost Kayla and Stephanie. So if it meant sacrificing himself to protect them, he would do it with a smile on his face. And as much as Kayla wanted him to, he could not promise to stay as long as Alamain was out there somewhere.
He lowered his face to his hands and wished, not for the first time, that he could go back in time and change things. He would have taken himself off the Riverfront Raider case and left town with Stephanie and Kayla like they planned. Instead of spending most of the last year apart, they would have traveled the world together.
Maybe they would just be coming home from their trip. They would be bringing Stephanie home to see everybody and maybe even to announce that she had a little brother or sister on the way. He would have never suffered at the hands of Alamain, and Kayla would have never spent a night without him.
Steve raised his head and looked at towards the ceiling wondering why things had to be this way. Why couldn't they just live normal, mundane lives?
He turned towards the hallway as he heard Kayla and Stephanie approaching, then smiled as his daughter entered the room a few steps ahead of her mother. Stephanie was wearing a new dress and she took his breath away as she ran towards him.
"Papa!" she called, quickly trying to climb up beside him.
"Hi, baby girl." He picked her up and set her down on his lap. "You look so pretty in that new dress." He glanced at Kayla before turning back to Stephanie. "Almost as pretty as your mama." He looked at Kayla again. "Are you ready to go, Sweetness?"
Kayla nodded, but then sat down beside him on the couch. "Can we talk for a minute before we go?"
"Sure, baby. Is there something wrong?" Steve nearly chuckled at the ridiculousness of his question.
Kayla quirked a brow at him, but then shook her head. "Not really. I . . . I just . . . " she stopped, looking uncertain.
"What is it, Kayla? Just say what you want to say."
Kayla took a deep breath. "When I was getting Stephanie ready, I realized that we've never really had a normal Thanksgiving. The first year that we met, we spent Thanksgiving in Stockholm, trying to rescue Marlena. The next year, I was sick thanks to Harper Deveraux. The year after that we were on Stefano's island. We actually got to have Thanksgiving dinner the next year, but we were separated." She sighed softly. "And last year, you were gone and I was stuck in the tunnels under Lawrence's villa."
Steve nodded at Kayla's words. There was no question that Thanksgiving had been anything but traditional for them.
"This year, we're together, we have Stephanie, and the whole family is with us too," Kayla continued. "I . . . I know things haven't been great with us recently, but I was hoping we could find a way to put that aside for the day. I'd like today to be as normal as possible for my family . . . and for us."
Steve looked down at his daughter. "There's nothing I'd like better, Sweetness." He looked up and into her eyes. "I think we have a lot to be thankful for this year."
Kayla offered a small smile. "We do." She stood and took Stephanie from Steve's lap. "I guess we better get going before we get in trouble for being late."
Steve smiled in return and stood. "You got it, baby. Besides, if we're too late, your brothers will have eaten all those deviled eggs I love so much."
Chuckling, Kayla picked up Stephanie's diaper bag as Steve gathered the pies. "We definitely wouldn't want that to happen. All we need is a battle over deviled eggs."
Opening the door, Steve paused and leaned over and kissed Kayla on the cheek. "Let's go have a happy Thanksgiving, Sweetness."
Kayla smiled and headed out the door. Steve closed the door and trailed closely behind his wife and daughter. Maybe he couldn't make everything perfect in their lives, but he could make sure that today was as perfect as possible. They deserved that . . . and so much more.