She insisted on going home. Not before the lab ran every test and panel imaginable to confirm Steve, John, and Roman weren't infected with the mystery toxin, but immediately after.

The bloodwork for her, Kate, and Marlena would take longer to analyze, and Kayla wasn't about to occupy a room a patient could be using, all so she could wait on the lab.

No, she could work and think and treat her symptoms and devise a plan to attack them head-on at home, and she planned to do that as long as her body would allow it.

When she made this clear to Steve in the hallway, she earned surprised stares and attention from the third-floor nurse's station in the process. The real show, though, had started for her staff when she told her husband she'd be driving herself home.

After all, they had two cars here; the commute was ten minutes; she had to calm herself down; she needed to have some control over something, or she'd crack. She hadn't said this to Steve so much as she shouted it at him as she got into the elevator. But she made the mistake of peering through the doors just before they shut.

Steve was still standing right where she'd left him, and he hadn't taken his eye off her. Fatigue and fear creased his handsome face, and somehow, he was managing to look older than Kayla had ever seen him and like a lost, scared boy at the same time. Even from a distance, she could see he was in tears, and her eyes welled up right as the doors closed.

Feeling her knees start to shake along with the rest of her, Kayla steadied herself against the elevator wall, then clasped her free hand over her mouth as she choked back a sob. One that would've overtaken her whole body if she let it. She wasn't letting it, though. Not now, not yet anyway.

Taking a ragged breath, then another to force the tremor from her hands, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve and stood straight as the chime sounded and the doors opened to the lobby.

The upped security protocols, thanks to Orpheus, meant a security guard was there to walk Kayla to her car. The woman, about Stephanie's age, was a sweetheart and offered her a sturdy shoulder after she lied, blaming her unsteadiness on her feet on a too-tight pair of shoes.

The drive was a blur, but she thankfully stayed conscious during it. Turning into the lot for the apartment, though, she squinted and frowned, not sure how the Bluesmobile had managed to beat her home.

Pulling up alongside it into her reserved parking space, she tapped on the horn twice, jolting Steve from his catnap in the front seat.

"What the...oh, Sweetness. Hey, hang on! Wait right there, baby."

Watching him jump out of his car, then scramble to open the driver's side door to hers, Kayla shook her head in disbelief.

"How are you? You alright?"

"I left the hospital before you, Steve. How did you even-"

"You mean those bright red stoplights aren't just suggestions, baby?"

Before she could say his name in her exasperated higher register that he'd frankly earned with that quip, Steve reached through the rolled-down Bluesmobile window.

Grabbing a portable siren from the passenger seat, he flicked on its flashing light, then set it on the dash with a flourish.

"Are you kidding me? Where did you even get that?"

"Beauregard's glovebox," Steve smirked. "We were out on a stakeout somewhere or other. He stepped out for donuts and left me unsupervised."

"Of course he did," Kayla laughed, looking skyward. "Baby brother. You should've known better."

Steve kept a smile on for her benefit, but the grief in his eye was clear, and it tore Kayla's heart in half. Bo was tough for them to talk about on a good day, let alone one that had turned their world on its head in one of the worst ways imaginable.

"Oh, Steve.." she whispered, looking at him from the driver's seat with clouded-over eyes as he flicked off the flashing light.

"Let's just go inside, Sweetness."

Taking Steve's hand, Kayla let him help her out of the car, but when he moved to lift her, she shook her head stubbornly and planted her feet. She was still kicking herself for drawing attention to the two of them at the hospital. The last thing she needed was all eyes on them at their apartment building, too.

"Kayla-"

"No," she said firmly. "I'm not dizzy. I'm not feeling lightheaded. I swear, I don't need you to-"

"Well, what if I need to?!" Steve asked sharply before he backed up, bowing his head. "What if I need to?"

He was more upset by the rough tone in his voice than she was, avoiding Kayla's eyes even as she moved to bridge the gap between them.

"Baby..."

"I need you close, Sweetness. I-"

"I know. I need you close, too. But you don't have to...here."

Leaning against Steve's left shoulder, Kayla twined her right hand with his own.

"Just hold me like this," she said as Steve caught on, wrapping his left arm around her before pulling her tight to his left side.

"Like this, baby?" he asked, brushing his lips on the top of her head. Nodding, Kayla tucked her head in the crook of his neck as he rubbed her left upper arm.

"We having some hot cocoa too when we get inside?" Steve asked with a knowing smile, getting another nod.

"Yeah, we are. And we're gonna take care of each other. And everything's gonna be alright," Kayla vowed, keeping their hands linked as they slowly walked through the parking lot, in perfect step with each other the entire time.