"You've got me right here with you, and we're both gonna get through all of it."

Still tensed up and leaning against his chest, Kayla swallowed hard as Steve stroked her hair, hearing the pain in his voice that she'd put there by not pulling herself together better. Determined not to put her husband through anything else tonight, she sniffled and wiped her eyes with her shirt sleeve before stepping back.

"Kayla-"

"I'm sorry, I... I'm sorry."

"Sweetness, you don't-"

"I'll be fine, Steve. I'm just tired, alright?" Kayla cut in.

"I know I said before that I wasn't, but I lied, and I swear in about two seconds, I'm gonna be curled up and passed out on the floor of this wine cellar," she said as Steve frowned skeptically but slowly nodded.

"Well, I'll be curled up and passed out next to you, baby," he said after a beat. "Just give me two seconds to straighten up for us here."

Sweeping some cobwebs and dust away with a broom he'd found in the corner, Steve cleared a spot for them on the floor in front of some wine barrels. Taking a seat on the rock-hard tile, he bit back a groan of discomfort and some colorful curse words, keeping in mind he'd slept in significantly worse locations than this over the course of his life and that tonight, for the first time in far too many months he'd be sleeping beside his wife.

His wife, currently leaning back against the table with her arms crossed and a lost look in her eyes. The sight was enough to make his eye well up.

"Kayla?" he called, making her jump.

"Sorry, what?"

"Got a spot for us right over here, Sweetness. C'mon," he coaxed. Sliding his jacket off as she sat beside him, he draped it around her shoulders.

"Steve, I'm-"

"Just wanna get the shivering to stop, baby," he said.

"If Beauregard shows his face again tonight I'm making him crank on the heat for us."

Shaking her head, knowing full well she wasn't shaking from the cold in a stuffy cellar that was anything but, and sure Steve knew it, too, Kayla bit her lip and curled closer to the left side of his chest. She hoped the sound of his heart in her ear would settle her down, but hearing firsthand how unsettled he was shot that plan straight to hell.

"Steve…"

"Shhh, just try and take it easy, baby," he said as Kayla shook her head.

"You first," she sighed, sitting up enough to look him in the eye.

"Sweetness-"

"Look, just because I've been on an involuntary sabbatical for months doesn't mean I quit being able to tell when an RHR's too high. Especially yours," Kayla said firmly, getting a soft smile that made her eyes narrow.

"What's with the look?"

"I just like looking at you, baby. I missed looking at you. Hearing you."

"Hearing me lecture you about your resting heart rate?"

"Hearing anything you have to say," Steve said, reaching to hold her face as his smile went sad.

"I need you to keep talking to me, Sweetness. The only way we're getting through this thing is if we keep talking to each other."

"Haven't we already gotten through it? Through enough of it anyway?"

"Kayla…"

Hearing the panicked edge in his voice, Kayla sighed, then placed her hand over the back of his that was still cupping her cheek.

"Steve, I'm exhausted but I'm not delusional, alright? I know we're being held captive in Victor Kiriakis' wine cellar by my brainwashed, back from the dead baby brother. I know it's still gonna be a bit of a battle to get back to Salem and back to our lives, but-"

"A bit of one? Sweetness, you've been battling uphill for your life for months now, and I'm worried-"

"About what?" Kayla interrupted, even though she had her answer, given the grief, guilt, and clear fear in her husband's eye.

She knew she'd given him reason to worry. Same as she knew that he'd sit up watching her all night if she didn't try to walk some of those reasons back. Try to convince him and herself by extension that she was free, and they were free to be together, even if her brain was trying to keep her trapped back in that lab and in that uphill battle.

"Kayla...

Shushing him, then turning her head, she brushed her lips on his palm and softly smiled.

"I survived, my love. I'm here with you. And once we get let out of or tunnel our way out of here, we're gonna find Hope and help Bo, and we'll go back to Salem and see our kids. We'll go back to work, we'll get back to our lives, and everything will be back to normal, Steve. Everything will be fine."

"I know it will be, baby. In time, everything's gonna be-"

"In time?" Kayla scoffed as Steve lowered his hand.

"Haven't we lost enough of that already?"

"You don't need to talk to me about losing, Sweetness. You know, your one-eyed tomcat's down to eight lives now," he said roughly as Kayla glared.

"How could you even...that's not funny. That's not even close to being funny!"

"That's 'cause it wasn't a joke, baby," Steve shrugged as tears sprang to his wife's eyes.

"You remember telling me when you thought I'd died, that a part of you died, too?"

"Of course I do."

"Those words weren't trite, baby. Figured out how true they were right over there," he said, nodding to the cellar door.

"When I came to and saw you, it wouldn't have mattered if Bo had pistol-whipped me to within an inch of my life. You gave it back to me, Sweetness. You brought me back. And if you think I'm letting anything keep us apart again. That either of us would get through being kept apart again-"

"Shh, stop, okay? Just stop," Kayla interrupted. "We won't have to get through it because it's not going to happen," she insisted.

"I mean, I don't know about Kristen...or Orpheus, if they've been handled or not but...but back at the lab..."

Hearing her stammer, seeing her pull his jacket tighter around her, Steve slipped his arm around her shaking shoulders.

"Sweetness..."

"No, if you and John were able to get to Marlena, that means you must've dealt with Rolf and...and Megan, and-"

"Shh, we're not gonna talk about them, Kayla," he interrupted in a too-calm tone that made her bite her lip.

"We're not gonna waste our time or energy worrying about whatever crap those maniacs think about pulling next. They'll get theirs, and they'll know they're damn lucky if it comes from the justice system and not from me."

"Because you told them that?"

"I didn't have to, baby. That band of idiots put me through my worst fear," Steve scoffed. "Not the best move to make on a dude who already wasn't afraid of much."

"Especially when their best move didn't even stick."

"I'm not worried about them, Sweetness. The last thing I'm worried about is them. But anything they might've fucking tried to do to you...baby?"

Looking down and away, he lightly laughed before shaking his head, choking back a sob.

"You wanna talk about damn scared..."