Chapter 24

"Are you sure you do not want to come with us?" asked Jack as Adrienne huddled on the sofa.

She shook her head. "I – I do not think that is a great idea. I want to have a quiet fourth. But you're going to have a great day with your girls."

Jack grimaced. Yes – he knew he would. And he did relish the thought of having an entire day with his girls, but the idea of doing it by the lake with a load of other people did not inspire him…

But when it came to family days he would take what he could get. He had missed too much to turn down any chance he got.

Still, he would feel a lot better if Adrienne as with them.

"How you doing? Really?"

"With my baby bomb shell?" she asked as she put a hand over her stomach. "Better. I am getting used to the idea."

When she had been told she was going to have another baby, she was sure she was never going to get used to the thought but that was the thing about kids…

They had their own way of making themselves known.

For the first time in a long time, she felt as if the news had let her stand still in a way that nothing else had. She had been so upset about Justin and then she had been infatuated with Lucas and then she had to deal with Kayla and Steve and Jack and the kids.

And now that had all stopped. For the first time in a long time, something was about her.

And she found she was able to listen to her body and she did not feel selfish for doing so. She had to do it for the sake of her little one.

Her little one…

She felt a smile appear on her face. She was the first to say the timing of this could be a whole lot better. As in, twenty years before hand. Part of her said she was too old to be doing all of this and she did not think she was ever going to be able to entirely silence that voice.

But this was happening none the less. And when the baby came she knew she was going to love it with all of her heart and soul.

"Really, I am. You go and have a good day. All I am going to do is sit on the couch and catch up on some trashy day time TV," she explained.

And do a little math while she was at it…

X x x

"You guys do not do any further than we can see ok?" said Hope as she watched Ciara and Chase rush off together to play.

As soon as they had got up that day, Ciara had been desperate to get down to the lake and an early call from Aiden had told her his son doing much the same. And so to save both of their sanities they had got up with the kids and made their way down to the lake.

And now Hope was glad they had had the early start. It really was turning in to the most beautiful day and it would be a crime to miss any of it she decided.

It was as she watched the two kids run off together that she felt a pair of arms snake round her from behind and a pair of lips were soon on her cheek.

She could not help but smile as she twisted in Aiden's arms.

It had been so rare of late that they had a chance to able like this. To be loving and open.

But now it was the fourth of July. It was a day to set their troubles aside.

"Do you have any idea how much I missed your smile?"

"Just about as much as I missed you holding me this way," she responded.

Their life on late had not been easy. It had not even felt as if it was theirs. Just so much had got so complicated.

"I do not want to lose track of you like I have been doing lately. Let's not lose each other in the midst of everything else."

He nodded. "I do not want to that."

"Me neither."

And then he not only7 had his arms about her but he was kissing her the way he used to kiss her before there life had got so busy with the kids and work and Bo.

Bo Brady.

Hope ended the kiss a little short, gave Aiden a too wide smile, and he had been about to ask why – she was sure of it, when a voice called out to her.

"Hope!"

"Hey!" She said as she turned to see the Donovan contingent of the family had come down almost as early as they had.

Shane and Kim were not on their own though. Shane was pushing the pram which Hope assumed had Tate in and Paige was too hanging off her grandpas arm as Kim rushed forward to greet her.

"Are you guys meting the others here?" Hope questioned.

"We are. The Brady camp is going to take over the lake I swear, we have Steve, Kayla with the kids and Marcus and Bo will be down and I think Roman wants to pop in…" she said as she tailed off on seeing Hope was not alone.

The police officer knew this was as good a time as any to introduce them all.

"Oh, Kim, Shane I do not think you've… you've met my partner, Aiden."

"No." Shane said as he put his hands on Kim's shoulders. "I do not think we have."

"Kim and Shane are two of my oldest friends. I've… known them forever," Hope explained.

"It is nice to meet you," Aiden said as he shook their hands.

This was one situation which Kim did not think she was ever going to be in. When they had been young, Hope and Bo had not always been that solid but they had always loved one another fiercely.

Kim had thought they were always going to want to fight to be together.

She nodded politely.

"We had better set up the pop up tent so Tate has some where to sit."

Their grandson was far too young to be out in the sun all day.

They moved a little way from the Jennings camp and begun setting up their own.

"This is going to be one odd Fourth of July isn't it?"

Hope nodded. She had a feeling that was very much going to be.

X x x

It was eleven before the Johnsons turned up.

Steve and Kayla were walking down to the lake close together, Hope noted that first of all. She had seen them together a couple of times since he had been back but for the first time she felt as if she was seeing them together.

She wasn't sure what had changed but it was clear that something had.

When she and Steve had had a catch up the week before hand, she had questioned him about Kayla and he had played it very cool. There had bene no hint of anything between them.

But now there was.

She watched the kids. Joey looked happier than she had seen her nephew look in a long time. In fact, he seemed to have a confidence she had not seen in him for too long.

Stephanie too looked happy if a little more apprehensive than her brother.

She was deep in conversation with Marcus who had turned up with them.

"So you really think mom is going to be ok?"

"Yes, Steph I am going to make sure that she is," he said. "But, come on, today us not a day for all this, this is a day to just enjoy being together."

"I think mom and dad might be enjoying one another's company a little too much." Stephanie said as Joey ran off to join Ciara and Chase and her parents begun to set their chairs for the day.

Marcus' silence said more than a verbal response.

"You think they should get back together?"

"I think they should do what makes them happy and in my experience they always managed to be happy together."

Steph sighed. She was not sure if she would agree with that.

"You know I swore if this was where it went then I was going to give my dad hell. But mum looks so happy and I don't want to take that away from her – from them."

"Then you had better just have a little faith in them."

By the time that Jen turned up with the kids and Bo arrived on his own, Steve and Kayla had settled down together and were signing quietly with contented smiles on their face.

They looked clam. And steady.

"At least it looks as if those two may be able to work things out." Kim sighed to Shane as she held Tate in her arms, from across the way.

It was clear from the moment that Hope had introduced Aiden to her she had felt awful for Bo.

Shane held her hand and smiled sadly for there was not a lot else which he could do. Aiden may not have done anything wrong, but Kim was loyal to her brother. That was something he understood.

Bo himself seemed to be trying to deal with it head on.

As soon as he had got to the lake he had gone straight over to Aiden and Hope for he did not want things to be any more awkward than they strictly had to be.

"It is good to put a face to the name," Aiden said as the two men shook hands...

And try as he might Bo could not help but mark his card. There was something about him which he did not like and deep down he knew that due to something other than the fact he had Hope's love.

The silence was just drawing out too long when Ciara came over to them.

"Daddy!"

"There is my little one," said Bo as he put an arm about her. "Happy fourth, my beautiful."

"Happy fourth." She said in reply. "We are playing water polo down un the lake, you going to come play?"

"Sure," he smiled as he let her lead him off by the hand.

"Well, I have to say that went a lot better than I thought it was going too."

Hope had been pleasantly surprised by the way that Bo had managed to keep his head.

Aiden nodded as he went back to his chair. Hope realised that for him he did not think it had gone so well, for some reason.

Putting it down to the long history which she and Bo had she took her own seat back in the sun and watched as Bo joined the kids in their game.

It was a good thing he had come home. They had needed him, she thought to herself before she mentally corrected herself.

She had needed him, Ciara had. Not them…

X x x

"Stop it…" Kim said gently to Shane.

"Stop what?"

"Looking at young JJ as if you want to kill him."

Shane gave her a look to say so what if he did, but a family day out was hardly the right setting to get into the young man over what he had done to Paige and Eve.

And Shane Donovan could be a patient man.

X x x

"JJ!"

JJ had not had a lot of cause to smile of late but he did when he heard the voice of his little cousin.

To his shame he had got so caught up with what was going on with him that he had hardly spent any time with Joey. Even in the early days after his aunt's crash he had not gotten over to the mansion as much as he should to spend a little time with him, especially after he knew Stephanie was there.

But that was the thing about him and Joey. As much as he knew his kid cousin felt things deeply, no matter what he did to him he just forgave him. No matter if he had let him down in the past.

And so when the two of them shared a one armed hug he did have a big smile on his face.

"How you doing dude?"

"Doing good. Do you want to come play water polo for a bit?"

"Yeah – yeah I do," he said with a nod.

It'd be nice to hang out with him for a while.

"So how you doing? I know I haven't seen you a lot lately… I am sorry about that Joe."

"It's ok. I have been at home a lot hanging out with dad, so it's been cool…"

"Hanging out with your dad, hey?"

Joey nodded.

"It's been good," he repeated as he looked at his cousin. Joey knew even before the two of them got in to it that they were heading towards sensitive territory but he felt as if they had to go there.

"You haven't seen a lot of your dad since he has been back have you?"

JJ shook his head. "No – no, I haven't."

"And he hasn't moved back home with you guys even though Aunt Jen loves him?"

JJ shook his head again. He did not want to be having this conversation on a day when the two of them should just be kicking back and having a little fun together.

"Why are you mad at him?" There was going to be no throwing Joey off the scent then JJ thought to himself.

But at the same time there was no way in hell he was going to give him the truth.

"There is just some – grown up stuff going on, Joe, you don't have to worry about it," he fobbed him off.

"Don't say that to me – I am not that much younger than you are!" Joey said before her rushed ahead so he was able to hang out with Theo and Chase.

Suddenly JJ had the feeling his cousin wished he had not asked him to come and hang out with them.

Just another reason to be pissed at his dad as far as he was concerned.

X x x

February 12th. That had been the day Sonny had been stabbed.

Adrienne was not surprised to feel a shiver go through her body as she thought about it. She never liked to spend any time thinking about that truly awful day. But she knew she had too.

She had to work out when the baby was conceived.

It had been just a few nights after that that she and Justin had been together. The two of them had simply been so over whelmed with relief that their boy was going to be ok that they had - they had gone to bed together. There had been so much going on between them right then but at that moment none of it had mattered.

Sonny was the only thing that mattered.

And after that she had not been with Lucas for a while, but not for a good two weeks after…

And now it was Fourth of July.

The chances were it was Justin's. She knew that. And in many ways she hoped it was going to be his. She wanted the baby to be Sonny's baby sibling in every way. She wanted the baby to share a father with all four of her pr his big brothers.

For just a moment she stopped worrying about the father of the baby as she pondered its gender. Without a doubt this was going to be her last baby and in spite of herself, she could not but hope it was going to be a little girl. She adored all four of her boys and if they had another baby brother then so be it.

But she had always wanted a daughter. Ever since she had held tiny Stephanie Kay the first time. She had wondered then at what a blessing it was to have a baby and when she had become a mother herself, she had known she was right to wonder at that because it was a miracle.

Each and every tiny life in her opinion…

And so more than anything she wanted the baby to be healthy. But a healthy girl would be the icing on the case.

She thought about the way Lucas was with Allie. And with Will. He was such a good dad and she knew there was nothing more important on this earth to him than his babies, which was just the way it should be. But then she thought about Justin. And the way that he had the same longing for a daughter that she had had. When she had been carrying Sonny they had already had Alex and the twins and they had used to talk at night about their plans for this child and the amount of times Justin had referred to the bump as 'she'… Adrienne had lost count.

Of course, at the time, it had been such a miracle that they had conceived at all that Sonny was by no means a disappointment when he had come out. He had been such a beautiful, strong boy and as soon as his father had held he had won him over.

And there was no way that this baby would disappoint.

But the secret corners of her heart told her what her heart desired.

For this baby to be a daughter. To be Justin's daughter, which confused her no end.

She felt as if she could be sick when she remembered what had been there last night together.

For just a while she had been so happy to think the two of them were going to make it. She had felt safe and happy in his arms the way she used to do when she had been a young women… She had thought they were on the right path. The path that was going to lead them home to one another but it turned out she had been very wrong.

Elsa's arrival of that had been more symbolic than anything else.

She didn't care about the fact Elsa had seen them together now. Not really – it was embarrassing, of course, but at least she now knew there had been a time when her husband had been in to her. That was not so much of an old dragon after all. That was no doubt the way he had painted her. She wondered bitterly if he had said she just didn't understand him.

And she hated him for that.

But as much as she hated him – she still loved him more.

For which she hated herself.

X x x

If she shut her eyes and tried hard enough, Kayla was sure she could hear the birds singing that day. Or at least, if she tried hard enough she could hear them from memory which was close enough.

She could not remember a day since everything had happened that she felt so good.

When she had been in the shower that morning she had noted the last of her bruises fading away. When she had got out the shower she had had her favourite pancakes made by her daughter waiting for her. She was so glad Stephanie was home for good, and not just because of the great food. She had walked in to the living room to see the man she loved and their son mucking around together, laughing their heads off. It was just the way it should be, the four of them at home together.

She just wished this waking dream was not also a silent movie.

Still, she knew she had to focus on the positives and just then that was very easy to do.

As the sun had got higher in the sky she had got off her chair and curled up on the picnic blanket. It was one of those days made to lull around in the sun, so that was just what she wanted to do.

Steve, for a while, had headed down to the lake to play with the kids and during that time she had been, she guessed, 'checked on' by the various relations of hers who were spending their Fourth of July just as she was spending hers. They came over, signed to see if she was ok and then left her to her thoughts, which was fine with her.

When she had not been trying to communicate with people she had been watching the game. They were meant to be playing water polo but by the end of it just seemed as if the kids were using the adult as objects to climb all over and that went especially for Joe and Steve, who seemed to think the way to win the game was to splash each other as many times as they could.

Joe out lasted his father in the water though and when Steve returned, he collapsed on the blanket next to her. The next thing Kayla knew, he had an arm thrown protective over her and it felt so natural that she did not have the heart to move it.

Even if she did then she wouldn't have wanted too.

Rather, after they had lay prompted up for a while as Steve chatted with Shane who was currently feeding his little grandson a bottle, they just rolled over and had a cuddle.

It was in that moment Kayla knew that without exchanging any words or having a deep discussion about it, they had slowly got back together. Over the past month the two of them had been building towards it but after Adrienne and the nights before hand…

They couldn't fight it anymore.

Which she was so glad for. Because as she lay in the sun, her head nestled on Steve's chest she could hear the sounds within the silence.

And they were beautiful.

X x x

Jack turned up at the picnic around twelve. Jen and Abby had said they were aiming to be there at about half eleven and he wasn't sure why but he had been nervous about going. Silly really, he was sure but he hadn't spent that much time in big crowd and –

Any way he had driven around for a bit to calm himself before he had made his way down to the beach.

As he did he took in the view of people he had known for years. Some of the happy, some of them not but it felt so normal…

And he had not had a lot of normal in his life.

"Daddy!"

And then none of it mattered any way because Abby was there. And her mother was there. And he knew some where round here was their son.

The three of them were the only ones who mattered in many ways.

"Hello sweetheart," he said as he took his daughter in his arms.

"How are you?"

"Good," he said as he allowed her to take him over to where Jennifer was sitting.

"Miss Horton," he said as he bent down playfully to kiss her.

"Hey you, what took you so long?" she asked as he sat at his side.

And right then all of his reasoning for his late coming made no sense, not even to him because how and why would he be nervous about coming to spend the day with the most beautiful women in the world?

"I have no idea."

X x x

JJ sighed as he watched Joe. He knew his younger cousin was angry. And it was going to take time for him to cool off.

He remembered what head thought earlier about him forgiving him. He just had to give him that little bit of time… still there did not seem to be a lot of point in staying by the lake when he was not wanted there.

And so he begun the walk back to where the family had set up their camp for the day, thinking he could do with a glass of lemonade… or a nice cold beer.

But as he got up to camp he felt his heart sink and his stomach churn. Because there with his mother and his sister was his dad. True. his Aunt Kayla did not look as if she was very worried about Jack from where she lay in the arms of his Uncle Steve.

Still, he was not going to be able to let this pass and he was not going to be running away from it this time.

He was going to make sure that he knew he had no place there among them.

"What is he doing here?" he asked, his voice raising as he go to the blanket where Jen and Jack were sitting together.

Jennifer was on her feet before her husband and she felt Abby come to her side.

"JJ, why don't the two of take a little walk so that we can talk about this?" Jen offered, hoping against hope that there was not going to be a scene.

"I do not want to talk about it, I just want to know what he is doing here."

"He is here because he is our dad and he wants to spend the holiday with us!" Abby defended her father. In turn Jack said his daughters name softly and shook his head.

"Your brother has every right to be angry with me..."

"Yes – yes I do!" JJ said as his voice rose louder and louder attracting the attention of the Brady's.

X x x

Paige ad been cuddling her little cousin when the confrontation between Jack and his son had begun. If her grandfather had had his way, then she would had forgotten all about the boy when she had found out what he and her mother had done but life was rarely that simple.

She could not switch off the fact that she had loved him deeply and she knew him well.

So well in fact that as soon as she saw him heading for Jack, she knew he was going to fly off the handle. In the time which the two of them had known each other, she had not known him to be that angry about too many tithings but she knew better than anyone how mixed up his feelings for his father were.

She passed the baby to Kim and got to her feet.

"Paige…" but her grandfather's voice got lost in the noise.

"I mean, why the hell wouldn't I be? The man who raped the aunt who had always stood by the two of us is hanging out with the family as if nothing happened and the two of us are just meant to be ok with that?"

"HEY!" Now his Uncle Steve was on his feet. "You stop that now!"

It was clear his uncle did not want Kayla dragged into this.

"JJ - you have to understand I am so sorry about what I did. I have regretted it ever… ever since."

"I don't care how much you regret it, I hate you - I hate you for what you did."

"I hate myself."

That was when JJ saw red. How dare his father try to be so self-pitying? Through his rage, he did not and couldn't not hear the sincerity in his father's voice.

And nor did he hear Paige coming to try and help him.

He had raised his fist before any on could stop him and it was not till he felt it collide with something or someone on the back ward swing that he snapped out of his rage.

Please review!