Chapter 16
It was morning after the night before and Steve found the last thing he wanted to do was send his son into school.
After they had had their chat, it had not taken Joey long to calm down but it had taken him a while to go back to sleep, of that, Steve was sure. His son did not want him to stay with him but Steve found he too was lying awake after. He had heard through the walls Joey getting up and down and moving around and not for the first time he wished Joey was a little one again.
Babies were so much easier than teens. No one ever told you that when you got into this parenthood thing… sure babies couldn't tell you what was wrong… but the worst thing was that teens just plain wouldn't…
Steve had good cause to remember that as he sat across from his son eating breakfast with big bags under his eyes.
"You know, if you want a chill day – that would be ok with me, baby boy. You don't have to go to school."
Joey shook his head. "I have to go in, there is this big science project we are meant to be doing and I have not really been pulling my weight with it." he admitted.
He had had so much going on asides…
Steve smiled. That sense of responsibilities when it came to his studies did not come from him. That was the one thing he did know.
"You are so like…. Like your mom," he said, the words slipping out before he could stop them.
Joey smiled. That was the highest compliment his dad could give.
"Are you going to go and see her this morning?" Stephanie asked as she came into the room.
"Yes. I am going to go in and then I am going to go over the hall and see how your Uncle Jack is settling in."
"It is a shame he could not go back with Aunt Jen and Abby," Steph commented as she poured herself a coffee.
"But if JJ isn't ready for that then he should not have to – you know…." Joey defended his cousin.
"Live with his dad? Yeah, I get that," Steph shrugged. "But what I don't get is why. Do you know?" she asked her little brother.
He shook his head. He wished he did. "He hasn't told me." Which was weird because the two of them were close.
He mussed over the conversations the two of them had had over the last few months. But there was nothing he could pull out.
He was about to respond, when Steve's phone rang.
"Johnson," he said as he picked it up.
"Hello Mr Johnson, this is Maxine at University Hospital. Just to let you know that Ms Brady has an appointment with Doctor Jonas at ten o'clock today. She has asked that you be there."
"I'll be there." he said with a nod.
"Ok, see you later."
"Bye."
"What was that?" sked Steph.
"It was the hospital, your mama has a check-up this morning. I am going to go and see what is going on."
"I'll come," his daughter said as she picked up her coffee and went to get changed out of her pyjamas.
"Me too!"
"No, little dude, you have already said you have to go to school and work on that science project. We will fill you in on what happens."
X x x
"Have you got many meetings today?" asked Adrienne as she went into the living room to see Justin sitting on the sofa.
"Only one at ten," he said as he looked up. "Where's Jack?"
"Steve gave him the keys last night so he has gone to get set up at the apartment," she said as she sat down.
Justin smiled sadly. "Do you know, you had the same look on your face when the last of the boys moved out?"
She nodded. "It has been so lovely having a full house again. Not the reason, of course, but it was so good having someone to fuss over."
"As far as I am concerned the sooner we can start getting Ari over for sleepovers the better."
He had known from very early on that she had been born to be a mother. She wasn't any good when she had no one to dote on.
"I am going to love those days," she said as she planned in her head what they were going to do. She had always wanted a daughter…. But they had never had the chance. Ari was the next best thing.
"So will I….but until those days are here we can – well, spend the days together – or at least the nights. You have done so much for everyone else lately. How about I take you out for dinner?"
To his shame, he did not know when he had last said something like that too her.
"Tonight?" she asked. There was so much surprised in her voice.
It broke his heart.
"Tonight. I'll picked you up at eight, Mrs Kiriakis," he said with a teasing smile before kissing her forehead.
After everything they had been through, it was time to set them back on the right path.
Looking at his wife, Justin shook all thoughts of Lucas Horton out his mind. That night, would be for them.
X x x
'Morning sweetness,' signed Steve as he went into Kayla's hospital room.
Stephanie followed close behind him, signing good morning to her mother. As soon as the two of them saw one another, mother and daughter embraced. Steve felt his heart fill. It was the same way he had felt when he had seen Stephanie in her mother's arms as a baby.
As if something was very right with the world.
And it was not just the two of them being together that made him feel that way.
It was the way that Kayla looked that morning.
She was on the mend. That was clear that day – for the first time, she looked better.
She was no longer in her pyjamas but had a pair of jogging pants and a T Shirt on. She was not looking like her self – if she looked like herself, she was going to be in a dress and a pair of heals – but she did not look so small any more. She looked like the women he had fallen in love with – she had that glint in her eye again.
'How you feeling?" Steph signed.
It was only too obvious that Kayla was delighted by her daughter's efforts.
Being able to talk to the kids always made things better.
And it always would.
'I am doing better, baby girl. How's things at home?"
Home was beginning to be all she thought of. It was all she wanted. And of course it was not really her baby girls home any more but with a little help from Steve they were soon talking about it as if Steph had been living there for years.
She told her mother that they had to go and do some groceries and that they had made a start on the washing and that Joey had had a good night's sleep in his own bed once more.
It was a lie – Stephanie hadn't realised till her dad faltered a little when he was translating.
She could only hope her mother had not picked up on it.
She did not need any more stress.
Still before she could question anything, there was a knock on the door and Doctor Jonas came into the room.
"Morning Kayla," he said brightly through a young medical student he had brought with him.
That was probably a good idea though Steve. If she had the medical lingo down in the sign then that was a definite plus for him. Though more and more had come back to him as he had taught the kids and chatted with Kayla lately, he had to admit to feeling a little rusty when it came to signing. Still, a sorer point of him said that they had always managed without anyone else before. He had been Mike and Marcus' translator when they had needed to tell Kayla something.
His eyes crossed to her briefly to see she was still sitting straight up in the bed.
"How do you feel? Not so bad? Good," the doctor said as he stood at the end of her bed. "You guys are going too pleased to know Kayla is on the mend. Though she is some way physically from being fully recovered, the injuries have begun to heal nicely now. Her ribs will take some time, but they can be managed now with Kayla as an outpatient and of course, though there were worries about inter cranial pressure when Kayla first arrived with us, that stopped being a concern some time ago."
"So what your saying is my mom's brain is back to normal?" Stephanie said wincing a little about how poorly she had phrased the question. Still she was sure what she and her dad needed now was not medical terminology, which only her mom would understand, but laymen's terms.
"Yes – there are no longer any worries on that score." Stephanie squeezed Kayla's hand. "What we have to focus on is your mothers hearing. Now we think that the force of the car crash was enough to once again damage the ear drum which was previously repaired."
"So you want to redo the surgery?"
Steve could recall it had been Jack who had found the specialist for them beforehand… he did not know if he was going to be practising still near thirty years later but if it was then this could still be put right. It was an option…
He sent Kayla a smile.
"Well, that is a possibility, but of course there have been advances in medicine since then." he explained. "The path which has been suggested after consultations with other doctors now would be more invasive but it would potentially allow Kayla to regain her hearing much quicker…"
Steve sat silent. If this was like last time around then he was sure he would have felt entitled to voice his opinion. In fact he knew that last time about then nothing would have stopped him doing that. But even though Kayla had asked him to come (she must have asked Maxine to get him to call him) he knew he had no right to an opinion here.
This was her health.
And he was not her husband.
Stephanie bit her tongue. The idea of her mother getting her hearing back as soon as she could filled her with joy – then all they had to wait was the return of her speech. Maybe there was a way she was going to get her voice back and –
And honestly that was what Stephanie wanted most of all.
However she knew that taking things a little slower might not be such a bad idea.
"But isn't it more important we go for what is best for mom over what's quickest?" Stephanie voiced her fathers concerned for him.
Steve held his tongue approving of what his little sweetness had asked nevertheless. somehow he felt things were – wrong.
He turned to face Kayla who was smiling kindly at the doctor who had been her friend for so many years.
But there was a silence behind the smile, and not just the obvious one.
Their eyes met briefly for she turned away before long. But it was at that moment he knew that if he sort a second opinion for her she would not argue against it.
"Of course it is but there is studies to say this would be the best way for ward – for your mother. She could get back to work –"
"But invasive surgery… there is always going to be a greater risk to invasive surgery, isn't there?" Stephanie questioned.
"Of course… but –"
"Well then, I guess we do not have to make any decisions today, do we?"
"Little sweetness, let the doctor finish," her father spoke for her first time.
He understood why she had cut him off.
He did not want to hear it either. He did not wish to as much as think about it.
But they had too… and then they would find their own way…
That was what their family did.
Once they had heard all the facts they were going to come to the best decision they could. But they would do it with the help of those they knew had their best interests at heart.
"Well, it is as Stephanie said, Kayla does not have to commit to anything today," said Doctor Jonas as they came to the end of their discussion about best day forward. "There is only one last thing to say – and that is that until the best way forward is decided upon there is very little more we can do for Kayla. We are going to want to keep her for tonight to run some final test but as soon as they are over… you can go home."
Kayla felt a smile come on to her face as she understood what he was saying.
At last – at long last, she was going to be able to go home.
Steve beamed himself at the look on her face. He remembered the time before, when Mike had come to say he could go home…
She had been so afraid. She had not wanted to go at all, and has seemed so small. Kayla had wanted to find somewhere to hide from – from everything and everyone. She had been terrified and she had been sad and it had torn at his heart. But just as so many things reminded her, this was not like before…
Not all of it…
Once more there eyes caught for just a moment… but no more…
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