"I'm not sure this is a wise idea," Kate whispered a little later.
They had been in each other's arms as soon as Steve had informed the rehab centre he wouldn't be returning that night. They were now on the sofa, Kate on her back with Steve on top of her. He was currently reacquainting himself with how her neck felt against his lips.
"Why not?" Steve replied. It seemed like a very good idea to him.
"Your back for starters," Kate pointed out.
"It's fine. Not even a twinge," Steve replied confidently before reattaching his lips to Kate's neck.
"Oh god," Kate moaned as she felt her resistance weaken. He was very good at what he was doing. "And what about in six weeks when you leave the centre for good?" she challenged. Steve stopped what he was doing and looked Kate in the eye. "I'm going to have to put Josh's and my heart back together when you've gone,".
"I've been thinking about that," Steve said. "How about another name change?".
"I can't do it again, Steve," Kate protested. "Going in to Witness Protection is so hard. I've made friends here-,".
"I was thinking about Kate Arnott?" Steve interrupted.
"It's not fair on Josh either," Kate continued in full flow. "He's too young to understand ……," she tailed off as she finally processed what Steve had said. "What did you just say?".
"I said how about changing your name to Kate Arnott?".
"Are you……..proposing?".
Steve smiled. "I think I might be," he admitted.
"Would that work though?" Kate enquired. "I have to think about Josh's safety,".
"Dot was the only one concerned about you," Steve repeated. "He's dead now. Everyone else you worked with is also dead or no longer in the force. No one is going to care that a Kate Rankin became Kate Arnott,".
"I hope you would care," Kate teased.
"Of course I would," Steve replied.
"Would we work?" Kate challenged. "We've hardly been together for a long time,".
"I've thought about you every day since you've been gone," Steve admitted. "I love you, Kate. And now there's Josh. I've totally fallen in love with him. I wanna make him all over again with you,".
"Do you now?" Kate teased, but pleased to see how Steve's mind was working.
"It would be great," Steve enthused. "Josh would make a wonderful big brother,".
"It sounds wonderful," Kate admitted. "I need time to think about it,".
"Of course," Steve replied before he started kissing her neck again.
"I know what you're doing," she informed Steve. She knew he was trying to influence her decision.
"Want me to stop?" he asked.
"No," she admitted truthfully. She hadn't been with anyone since that night in the hotel before she went in to Witness Protection. "We've got to be quiet though," she told Steve, recalling the previous times they had had sex. "We can't wake Josh,".
"You're the one who makes all the noise, Kate," Steve teased before kissing her.
"Mummy!" Josh cried out a little later from his bed.
Kate was downstairs on the sofa with Steve. They'd fallen asleep after having sex and had yet to make it upstairs, but her son's cries were loud enough to wake her and him.
"I better go see what's wrong," Kate said as she disentangled her from Steve's arms.
"Is he ok?" Steve asked sleepily, not used to his sleep being disturbed and worried about his son.
"Sounds like a nightmare," Kate said.
"Mummy!" Josh cried again.
"I'm coming Josh," Kate shouted back as she tried to find her clothes.
"Put my t-shirt on if you like," Steve suggested as he picked it up off the floor and handed it to Kate.
"Cheers," replied Kate as she slipped the shirt on over her head. Before she went upstairs to see what was wrong with her son she crouched down to Steve's level. "Up the stairs. First door on the right," she told him where her bedroom was. "I'll see you there in a bit," she said before giving him a kiss and leaving to see her son. It would be far more comfortable to spend the rest of the night in bed than on the sofa.
The nightlight was on and Josh was wide awake when she entered his bedroom and she could see he had been crying.
"What's wrong little man?" Kate said as she peeled back his Spiderman duvet and got in to bed with her son. He immediately went in to his mother's arms and she started stroking his hair to soothe him. "Did you have a bad dream?".
Josh nodded. "The bad men came to get me,". It was a frequent theme to Josh's bad dreams and Kate wondered if it was due to what she had told him about his dad.
"I'm not going to let them do anything to you," she promised Josh before kissing the top of his head. She hoped that was true if she decided to accept Steve's proposal.
"You smell like 'teve," Josh informed his mother.
Kate paused. Was Josh smelling Steve on her after they'd had sex she wondered before realising it was probably due to her wearing his T-shirt.
"Steve is staying the night," Kate told Josh. "So the bad men will have to get past him as well before they hurt you," she continued, hoping that would help calm Josh as well.
It did seem to help and soon Josh was fast asleep in his mother. Gently getting out of bed, she kissed her son and wished him sweet dreams before heading to her own bedroom.
"Is he ok?" Steve asked. He'd made it to the bedroom successfully whilst Kate was tending to Josh.
"Yeah," Kate said as she quickly pulled Steve's shirt off and crawled under the bedsheets beside Steve and in to his arms. "He had a bad dream but he's fast asleep again,".
"Will he sleep through now?" Steve asked.
"Yes," Kate said. "Why?".
"No reason," Steve said before kissing Kate.
"How's your back?" Kate checked.
"Perfect," Steve replied. "I can tell Abi I've found some exercise that really helps strengthen it,".
"I'm sure she will be thrilled," Kate teased before letting Steve resume his kisses. They soon progressed to some foreplay before Kate's bed was finally christened.