Chapter 7

By ten o'clock, Joey had headed back upstairs.

His father's return at eight had changed everything for all of them that day. He had spent the first two hours of it bathing in his dad's affection before he had decided it was time for another sleep.

He had not rested since his mom had had her accident.

But now he had his dad back… he felt that could sleep.

Stephanie, on the other hand, had made plans to meet Abby for coffee as the two cousins were yet to catch up since she had got back to town.

"You are still going to be here when I get back, right?" she had teased as she kissed her papa good bye.

"You guys are not going to be getting rid of me any time fast…" Steve promised.

And that was how he found himself on his own with sister for the first time in years. They had the living room to themselves and a pot of coffee and at last, most importantly… time.

"I know I keep saying it but it is so good to see you. The whole family needs you here," Adrienne said as she looked at him.

"Well, that is why I am here. And I am not going to anywhere, just like I told Stephanie."

"I am glad to hear It." she smiled… then it was time for the two of them to turn to more serious subjects. "I take it you have seen Kayla…"

"How did you work that one out?"

"Well, you are sitting here with me and not busting down the door. You must have seen her."

Steve nodded. "Last night we got in about twelve. I went straight to her."

Adrienne smiled sadly. "You don't surprise me."

"She – she got hurt…" Steve murmured. She reached out, resting her hand on his arm.

"But she is strong. And she is going to be ok."

Once again, he nodded, taking a moment of silence.

She knew he was scared. Nothing scared her fearless big brother, that was what she had believed once upon a time. But something happening to Kayla or one of the kids or herself… she knew that did scare him. A lot.

"Tell me something good. Give me the gossip," he changed the subject.

She racked her brains for something to say…

"Gosh, I – I can't think." She giggled.

But his eye had landed on a picture on the mantel piece…

"How about starting there?"

She turned to the picture of herself and Justin proudly standing on either side of Sonny. Their boy was beaming in a tux. The wedding day seemed so long ago now. So much had changed.

But this was a change of subject and he needed a reason to smile. She could give him one.

"Yeah, that's a good place. Your little nephew Sonny is a married man with a baby."

"Ahh, sis you must be so proud. He has turned into a good looking dude. She must be a lucky lady, his wife."

Adrienne could not stiffen her laughter.

"Sometimes, I forget just how long you were gone. I am going to get the wedding album and you can pour us both another coffee. I am going to need pictures to help me with this."

The next fifteen minutes were spent with Adrienne glowing with pride, over the man her son was – how brave he had been when he had come out. How in love he had been with Will.

"Well, I get falling hard and fast for a Brady. I get that more than anything else," Steve said as he looked at the happy couple.

"And this… this little angel is Arianna Grace…" she pointed out as she turned the page to reveal a picture of the little girl with her daddies.

"Ahh, you can tell how much her papas love her… wait a second…" he said as his expression turned quizzical.

"What?"

"Well… if Sonny is a papa… does this… does this mean, my baby sister is a grandma? Is that what you're telling me?"

Adrienne's look told him all he needed to know, yes she was a grandma. No, the title wasn't her favourite thing in the world.

But Arianna Grace was her favourite little person in the world.

"And you might recognise these two," she said as she nodded to the other side of the page of the album they were on.

"Ahh man – how the hell did Jackson produce two such beautiful kids, I don't get it –"

Adrienne's elbow was soon is Steve's ribs.

"Hey don't –"

"You know I was just playing baby, you know that!" he laughed. It was among the first times he had done that in what felt weeks.

And that was why he kept the news about Jack to himself for then. Jack was going to come home. That was the plan. Without him and Bo it seemed as if the mission could not be completed. There simply were no longer the number of bodies to keep it going with the knowledge which was needed.

One day they were going to get DiMera. But not that day.

He simply found himself unable to explain to Adrienne all that had gone on just then. There was going to be a time when he could, but he had to get some sleep first. And before he did that he had to take the kids to see their mama and he needed to cheek on his sweetness.

Three hours had passed since he had left her side. They seemed too long now.

But Adrienne, he finally noted, was already telling him what great kids Abby and JJ were. Abby worked at the hospital and JJ was off to school in the fall and thought they had both had their issues – they were good kids.

"You're going to really get on with them."

"I am sure I am," he said with a hum.

She grinned as they lapsed into silence.

"Do you know what, little sister, you have told me about Sonny and Will and Ari and Abby and JJ – and I have caught up, or begun to catch up with my own little ones. There is just one more person I need to know about, how they're getting on."

"Who's that?" she said as she turned to him with a smile.

"You."

Adrienne wished her smiled had not faltered there but it did.

It should have been easy to gloss over everything. But it wasn't.

How was she? She wasn't great in and of herself but there were so many in the family having a rougher time than she did.

She thought of Justin and Lucas and…

"Adrienne, baby?" asked her brother.

"I am good. There is nothing going on with me at all. You know me…"

"Yeah… I do. Dimples treating you ok?"

She wished he was. And she wished she could lie to him.

But she wasn't going to lay all this at his door step. Not right now.

"It's just a rough patch, you know all marriages go through them. Don't worry about me."

"It is my job to worry about you," he reminded her.

But she shook her head. "Not this time, big brother. You just worry about Kayla, and Joey and Stephanie. Don't waste your energy on me."

He looked at her in such a way that said he did not think that could ever be a waste of his energy, but did not push the subject.

Not when she so clearly did not want to discuss it.

"Come here," he said at last and she dived in to a hug. It felt so good to have someone on her side… someone holding her back.

"I love you."

"Love you too, baby."

"And now we have got that sorted… may I make a suggestion?"

He nodded.

"Go take a shower, brother mine. A long flight followed by a night in a hospital… it doesn't smell good."

Steve chuckled. "I guess not. Shower it is… then a quick nap…"

"Then back to your sweetness?"

He nodded. That was exactly how it was going to go.

X x x

Going back to the police department where he had worked for the vast majority of his adult life was a bizarre feeling for Bo. When he had been gone, he had thought so much about the people he had missed, that he had not had a lot of time to think about the places he had missed.

But this, along with his home and the Brady pub – this was what he had missed about Salem.

But he was no longer working there. He was a visitor. And so when he got there, he asked at the front desk to go into see Chief Detective Brady, if she was in and available. Then he waited…

He did not know what jobs she has on her case book right then. That in and of itself made Bo feel out of touch.

For so long he and Hope had been partners in everything they had done. It had got to the stage where he had no longer known where she ended and he begun. But there was only one person at fault for putting an end to that… and that was him.

As he sat in the waiting area, wondering if Hope would let him in to her office or not, he saw people he had known from the old days. Some smiled and asked how he was. Others did not. They were so caught up in there days to day business…

And then he found he was not so glad to be home… as he felt like little more than a ghost. As if maybe he should not have come here. Maybe too much time had passed for him to come back to the station.

A pair of high heels clicking on the floor pulled him out of his thoughts.

And for the first time in years he was face to face with… well, his Fancy face.

"Hi," he said, his throat suddenly dry.

"Brady, you best come through to my office," she said. She did not touch him. She barely looked at him. But if she was willing to have him in the office, maybe she was willing to talk.

Quite frankly that was more than he could have hoped for – or deserved.

X x x

It felt weird for the three of them to be walking side by side, but for the first time in a long time, the Johnson family was a united force.

By the time Steve had had a shower and half an hour trying to rest, he had felt himself ready to get back to the hospital. He had not been quite as desperate to get back as he had been on the flight but it was going that way.

And so he had headed back downstairs.

Stephanie had got back from her coffee with her cousin and looked a little less frazzled than when they had met back up that morning. Joey was up too and though as soon as he saw his dad he went in for a bear hug, he was less clingy then he had been initially. And more chatty. The whole way to the hospital; he had filled his dad and sister up to speed with soccer trials and the like. School stuff. Stuff which hadn't mattered to Joey so long ago.

Now it did again.

And that was a good thing.

A very good thing.

On the way up to the hospital room, Joey became more subdued… but things were beginning to work themselves out.

When they arrived, Kayla was sitting up in the arm chair which had been placed by her bed.

She looked a little despondent with her head in the hands, for doctors were always the worst patients. No doubt she was tired as well as bored, Steve noted… until she saw her kids.

Then her face lit up, the same way it had done when the two of them were new-borns.

It was nice to see some things did not change.

"Hi mama," said Joey as he went and kissed her cheek, Stephanie following in turn. He could see how obviously the kids wanted to embrace their mum but they all knew that was not quite possible yet.

They had to be a little gentle with her while she healed.

As Stephanie took the other chair, Joey popped up on to his mother's bed and Steve stepped forward to greet Kayla.

The night before it had not been easy for the two of them, but they had had the luxury of being alone when he took her in his arms. Now he did not know if that had been a mistake or the best thing that could have happened d.

But the kids were in the room this time. So they had to be mindful of that.

Still, old habits die hard.

"How you doing baby?" he asked as he kissed her forehead.

Stepping back, he signed the question.

'Better for seeing the three of you – you're a sight for sore eyes all together.' she sighed making him grin.

"What did she say?" Joey asked.

He had been told his parents could both sign. There was something about seeing the two of them talking together which was slightly memorizing.

"Your mama just said it was good to see the three of us together." he said as he beamed at their kids.

"Can you ask her if she is in any pain?" Stephanie asked.

She knew she was – she could see it by looking at her but – but she had to ask.

'You still sore?'

'A little. Not so much.'

"She says it's getting better."

Steve knew this was going to be his life for a while. Translating for the kids and Kayla. But he didn't mind. Not a jot.

"I want to learn," Joey cut in.

"Learn what, little dude?"

"Learn to sign. I want to talk to mama, the way you do."

Steve grinned. That was his boy talking right there. "Well, then I am going to teach you," he said as he signed and spoke at the same time.

'Teach Joey what?" Kayla questioned from where she sat.

'To sign,' he said as he continued to speak and sign the words he was saying. Somehow he had always found it easier that way before any way. It was as if his mouth lead his hands. 'Joey wants to learn and I am going to teach Stephanie too,' he said knowing that his daughter was not going to protest that. 'You and the kids are going to be communicating easy, real soon."

Kayla nodded. All of that sounded very good to her.

As grateful as she was for him being there, speaking through someone else… she found things got lost in translation. And there were going to be moments when the kids would want to tell their mom things they did not want to tell their dad.

As far as she was concerned, the sooner they could sign the better.

'Thank you, Steve.'

'You don't have to thank me.'

He owed her everything. She owed him nothing.

X x x

"So I am guessing you got back in pretty early this morning," said Hope as she sat down in her office chair, nodding to the one opposite for Bo.

"Depends on the way you look at it. It was late last night really… we went straight to the hospital."

She nodded, that much she expected. "How was Kayla doing?"

"She was asleep and Steve went in. I didn't get much of a chance to see her."

Hope nodded. She guessed she could easily imagine that. Whenever Kayla was hurt or scared, their friend's protective instincts seemed to go in to over drive.

And then there was silence.

As hard as it was to believe the fact his sister had been in a devastating car accident which had robbed her of her hearing once more, that was the safest topic of conversation which the two of them had right then.

The silence stretched on and on until they broke it at once, their questions crossing in mid-air.

"How's Ciara?"

"Where the hell have you been?"

Hope's trumped Bo's. He looked down and did not know what to say. Europe… they had had a stint in Asia too, but he had a feeling geographically was not what she was talking about.

Where had he been? How could he leave them? He had always knows where his heart was. Right here in Salem. But what had he been thinking? He was meant to have been gone from his partner and his little one for a short stint to help his mom… then when he had been in LA, he had been staying with Kimberly and Shane while his mother had been in the clinic, who had mentioned one last mission.

It had sounded like a last hurrah before they all went home having taken down Stefano. They would then be able to live in peace with their wife's and kids.

It had not quite worked out that way. For any of them. He was beginning to realise it never did.

And he should have realised that a long time ago.

"Where Brady?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Hope asked. God for so long she had dreamt the two of them were going to be in the same room. And even eighteen months before hand, if he had walked through the door, then she could not have sworn she wouldn't have just wrapped her arms about him and said no matter what… she forgave him.

He had come home to his family at last and that was enough.

But now… now it wasn't. He had been gone for three years… and he didn't know where? And somewhere deep within her, a voice she didn't like that much reminded her even then he had not come home for her or Ciara.

But for Kayla. If Kayla hadn't crashed... He wouldn't be there.

"You left me on my own, you abandoned our daughter without so much as a Christmas or a birthday card for the last three years. 'You don't know?' that doesn't even begin to cut it." she said scathingly.

The two of them had walked the thin line between love and hate before but as he looked up at her with tears in his eyes, she knew the two of them were dangerously close to falling on the wrong side.

"I know I hurt you."

"You have no idea. You have no idea how much you hurt me, how could you possibly know that? YOU WEREN'T HERE."

She could no longer count how many times she had needed him at home. She only knew that there had been times when she had ached she had missed him so much.

And now he was here she was too angry to enjoy it.

"Fanc-"

"Well, I hope you got my note," she cut him off before he could finish the well-known endearment that caused her heart to contract just then. "My letter?" she asked.

"I know we're divorced, but… I – I need to explain."

"I don't need to hear it," she lied. "What I need is for you to get out of my office so I can get on with my work."

"Hope, come on!"

"No. not today!" she said firmly. All of a sudden she knew she was not going to get through this without any tears and she was not going to cry in front of him.

Apparently, he had no such pride. That became apparent as a tear fell on to his cheek.

"Well… I am home. And when… if you are ready to hear it…. I am going to be around. I am just so sorry…"

She nodded. She could see he was sorry. But it changed nothing. It made nothing better. Him being sorry did not mean Ciara hadn't cried herself to sleep more times than any child should because her daddy hadn't come home and didn't seem to want too any more. It did not take away the months of loneliness she had had to endure.

"I never meant to hurt you," he said as he got up, respecting her wishes.

He had actually already got more than he had deserved that day.

Getting up, he made his way to the door.

"Brady," she heard him call him back just as he was about to leave.

He turned not sure what to expect but she smiled sadly.

"She's good. She's ok."

Bo Brady nodded. He guessed he had seen that that morning… but it was still good to hear.

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