A man with a shock of very controlled white hair stood in a very controlled manner in the backyard of Kayla’s house, staring up the dedicated back stairs to the window that Steve had worked hard to control view into. No one noticed him, his hands clasped in front of him and his eyes fixed markedly on that window. As if he could see into the house through the motionlessness of that blackout shade. He stood there for quite some time in the early morning hours of this last day of the year 2000, his movements limited to the minor shifting of his head or setting of his jaw. Steve Johnson wasn’t just any soldier of the Phoenix. He was a critical piece on the chessboard, and losing him to his former life was not an option. The hypnoscientist had no proof that the man had fled here. But Steve Johnson was the hardest man to break of any subject he’d ever worked on. He knew him. He knew what drove him. He’d escaped too long ago for the conditioning to continue to hold, and he was now convinced, given his sudden departure from Ava Vitali, that Nick Stockton had remembered his old identity. That was unacceptable. No one stopped being a soldier of the Phoenix unless the Phoenix, himself, instructed them to.
“You think you’re a man,” he said quietly. “But you are only a soldier, Mr. Stockton. You will report back to your general.”
The man then slithered almost invisibly from the Johnson family’s backyard as the sun rose on Los Angeles.
The tide had turned in the Johnson household, and the Christmas high they’d been enjoying all week was over. Getting ready for her New Year’s Eve date with Sam gave Kayla no joy. She tried to focus on applying her makeup, but the swish of the liner and sweep of brushes across her fine skin went on automatic as her attention drifted to Sam’s call last night. To Steve’s credit, he’d stopped reacting and now considered Sam just one more symptom of this whole jump’s ill. That cure would only come when Steve came out from hiding and let the world know he was alive. Kayla, however, was not reacting quite as well. It was clear that she was having a harder time maintaining the ruse. Steve watched the brief call as he leaned against the arched doorway and felt himself anger. Not at Kayla or even Sam, but at Rolf. For the ridiculousness they’d found themselves in. And a little bit at himself, for liking it. At the moment, however, he wasn’t liking it at all, because his wife was pouting. He understood why she was pouting, and it made him pout, too.
“Does he call his other residents every night, too? No,” Kayla had muttered to herself after they’d hung up last night. Even though most of the calls revolved around the hospital, she was the only one who had their boss’s nightly attention, and it was driven by an inauthenticity that made her feel like the bad guy. “I’m sorry,” Kayla apologized.
Steve let out a long breath. Nothing could have sounded more wrong than Kayla apologizing for this. “No, baby, don’t do that. Nothin’s you’re fault, here. Don’t apologize.” That fact that there was nothing he could do about this infuriated him.
It had been a quiet but unpleasant argument within themselves where Kayla fought with her guilt and Steve fought with his helplessness. Neither wanted the other to feel the way they did, but neither could they help it, either.
A day later, neither one of them felt any better. Kayla finished her makeup with last night’s recollection keeping her mood dour. The way she looked, however, was anything but. Her grey dress had a bright, silvery sheen and slight A-line that fell in beautiful ripples from the horizontal fabric wrapped around her middle to a modest spot an inch above her knees. The square neckline accentuated her bosom in scalloped lace that adorned the upper bodice and very short sleeves. The tasteful detailing over her decolletage reminded her very much of her wedding dress in 1987. This was one of the few dresses she still had in her closet in 2009, because she loved it. It didn’t fit her anymore, but today it hugged her body in truly classy and festive elegance.
When Steve saw her he lost control of his filter. “Are you trying to make me crazy, Kayla?” It wasn’t a good-natured tease, it was a moment of weakness.
Angry heat rose up Kayla’s spine. “It’s a cocktail party, what did you expect me to wear, a potato sack?”
“No, you just … look good enough to eat.” They stared at each other for a moment, then Kayla couldn’t help it when she started to smile.
“I do, huh?”
“Yeah,” he smiled back at her. “Little bit. Come here.” Steve pulled her to him, but she wanted to keep pouting and was slow to react.
“I hate pretending.” Her voice was soft now, muffled into his shoulder.
“You think I don’t know how hard this is on you?” Kayla pulled back and saw just how much he knew it. “I get it, Kayla. He’s a good guy. He’s got nothing to do with any of this. I don’t like him callin’ all the time, but I get it.”
“He thinks he has a shot with me. I’ve been leading him on for a month, Stacy’s right about that.”
And just like that Steve’s blood ran hot. “I don’t wanna hear that, Kayla!” he flared.
“There’s a reason you don’t want to hear it,” she said so softly, “and that’s because it’s true. I’ve put yet another man in the position of thinking he can have me when it’s not true. I did that, no one made me. It’s so wrong.”
No one made me. Kayla’s words were like a kick in the gut. What Jack had done to her shouldn’t be so close to the surface after all these years, and what Ray had done shouldn’t be there at all. But they were there, both of them only weeks old. And Steve’s culpability left a bitter taste in his mouth. His expression mirrored the guilt roiling inside him that had now overruled the frustration and anger. When he next looked into his wife’s face the regret settled upon him. He didn’t want her to go.
“Call it off.”
“What?”
“Call it off. I don’t want you to do this.”
“But what about …”
Steve grabbed the cordless phone out of its charger that sat on the kitchen counter just past the kitchen archway and pressed it into his wife’s hand. “Call it off, Kayla,” he said a little more desperately as he closed her fingers around the handset, “just do it!” Kayla saw the look in Steve’s eye and knew what was happening. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any time to make him feel better. She calmly brushed past him letting her hand linger on his upper arm and placed the phone back in its charger. Her hand slid down his arm until her fingers hooked into his. Steve sighed a helpless breath.
“If we knew where they were now, maybe I would.” Steve looked away, antsy. Kayla held his face in her hands and turned him toward her. “You know, I thought we’d jump by now.” Kayla spoke in a soft, calming tone with a hint of something poignant. “I didn’t actually think we’d get to this point where we’d still be here. It’s like it’s all make-believe—”
“No it isn’t.”
Kayla nodded “You’re right. It isn’t. But … I didn’t really think we were going to still be here.”
“I didn’t even think we’d get to Christmas.”
“Yet, we’re here. I know it all resets, and none of it will be remembered by anyone, so it doesn’t matter what we do. We’re pointless to this place. But she’s our daughter, and we don’t reset, we are going to remember, and I can’t have them taking you again. Not you …” A tear burned a track down Kayla’s freshly powdered face. “And not anyone else, either.” Steve wiped the tear away with his thumb and was struck by how real it all was. “We take it all with us, and were going to feel it when we get to the next place.” Steve knew this all too well. She wasn’t willing to let something happen to their daughter. “It was too much to hope for after everything we lost, wasn’t it?” Now Steve’s eye misted, too. “That we could spend this kind of time with Stephanie. We’ve been waiting to jump. I’m still waiting. I’ve been ready for it to end. But, it’s New Years Eve, and we’re still here. And you can’t live like this, Steve.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to go on this date.”
“You know that it does.”
“Why? The timeline’s already blown, we’re probably gonna wake up in the womb.” Kayla chuckled, because her husband had a way with words. “So, what’s the damned difference?”
“You are. You are the damned difference. I am not letting them take you again. I cannot live through another rescue.” Steve started to reply to that, but she stopped him. “And don’t even think about telling me to leave you there. We spent three years on one jump, I’m not gambling with your captivity.” Steve put his hands on his hips and looked away from her. He knew she was right. She and Steve had felt the tension from Stefano’s enforcers all week. Their arrest on Christmas Eve seemed to have caused a brand new strategy out of Tuscany; it was a Ford Taurus now, it changed spots each day, sometimes they didn’t see it at all, and that inconsistency was unnerving. Thank God the team was going in soon, because it was getting so much harder for her to pretend not to notice the surveillance. Shane was finally in Italy right now planning with the ISA team. So assuming the raid was successful, this sequester was almost over. But a lot could happen, including failure, so they remained vigilant. An agent was undercover at Stephanie’s school, and Kayla had spotted Dimera’s men at the hospital twice since Christmas, so it was abundantly clear that they weren’t giving up. That they believed Steve was here or eventually would be.
“It’s not getting better, Kayla. It’s getting worse”
Kayla nodded. “And that’s why I have to go out with Sam tonight. Nothing is going to happen.”
Steve bristled. “You think I don’t trust you?”
Kayla folded her arms and gave her husband a good-natured smirk. “I think you don’t trust Sam.”
“It’s not jealousy, Kayla!” Steve was really upset. “That’s not what this is about!” Steve hated that she’d experienced violations. He hated that he hadn’t been there to stop them. No matter how much they faded, the regret for his role (or lack thereof) would live in him in some measure until the day he died. “It’s not about me, it’s about you taking that risk again when I can’t protect you!”
She got it. Kayla saw his face change and instinctively knew that images of election day and that night in Chicago were rising up in him like a punishment. He looked away, but she turned him to face her.
“I might have led him on, but Sam is not Jack. And he’s not Ray. No one is going to hurt me.”
Steve sighed and gave it one more defeated try. “I don’t want you to do this.” Kayla wrapped her arms around his neck and enjoyed the feel of his arms taking her to him.
“I know.” She snuggled her face into his neck, and it calmed him like she knew it would.
After several moments Steve said, “You look … so beautiful.”
“Mmm.” Kayla shifted her head slightly so she could place a sweet kiss on his neck.
“It’s almost over.” And it was; Shane’s last update was from his plane on the way to the safehouse in Tuscany, so it was just a matter of days now unless something went very wrong. Steve stroked his hand gently up and down her back.
She kissed him again, her hand reaching into his short hair and inhaling his scent. She felt it when Steve reacted.
“You know what? I think you should wait up for me.”
“You trying to distract me?”
Now Kayla melted into him just a little bit more, her kisses upon his neck making him stir. “Yep.”
Steve held Kayla’s head gently to his neck by the back of her head while his other hand gripped her rear and pulled her into him. Kayla sighed, then she switched sides of his neck and sucked his flesh between her wet lips, making Steve gasp. “I think you want a little piece of me.”
“I want a great big piece of you,” she grinned.
Steve smiled as he palmed her breast through her dress and continued to pull her into him while he rubbed hard against her. Then he pulled back to look his wife in the eye, and he couldn’t help but smile at her, their pouting replaced with a playfulness that warmed both of them lovingly. They were kissing in equal parts hot and sweet when the doorbell rang. They both sighed, disappointment bringing them back into the moment. They accepted the reality of the night and were ready to move forward.
“Look what you did to me, Sweetness,” Steve smiled playfully.
“Yes, well, like I said,” she cooed, “I think you’d better wait up.”
They knew Sam was at the door, but they took one more moment to feel the love between them. Steve ran his fingertips over Kayla’s softly pulled back hair. Several piecey layers framed her face. It was not a look he’d seen on her much at all. “You’re so pretty tonight, Sweetness.”
“Hmmp. You already said that.”
“I said you looked beautiful. So, yeah, that, too. I love you.”
Kayla smiled. “I love you, too.” The doorbell rang again, and Kayla yelled, “Coming!”
“Time for the world to see my beautiful wife.” And he made sure to smile, because he didn’t want to bring her any more stress.
“It’s not the world, just Cedars Sinai.”
Steve angled his head toward the front door resignedly. “Go on now. It’s ok.”
Kayla nodded.
But it wasn’t ok. Sam arrived, Kayla greeted him genially, and Steve heard the doctor’s admiring flattery from his hiding place in the loft. Her would-be suitor’s words were sweet and so enamored. Respectful. Wishing only to be with her. Despite her words just moments ago, Steve could feel Kayla’s reluctance in the air around him, and Kayla felt his love and support from above her as if his hand was right there holding hers. But none of it was ok. As soon as the door closed Steve went to the front window and watched as Sam opened the passenger door of his hunter green Jaguar for her like the gentleman he was, close it behind her, then drive away. Before he could process that Kayla was really gone now and finally on this date, he saw the headlights. They appeared out of nowhere piercing the blackness of the evening. And then he saw something else. Something that made his skin crawl. A man so traumatic for Steve that his response to the mere mention of him would be automatic and severe for the rest of his life. The shock of white hair glared in the moonlight as he stood stock still looking in the direction Kayla had just driven away.
Steve’s heart stopped in his chest.
In the next moment, the hypnotist got into the black sedan and drove away into the night toward Kayla. Anxious worry gripped him. And now it really wasn’t ok.
Steve dialed Shane’s number even as he ran out the backdoor and up the driveway to get a better look down the street. He wasted no time and was already halfway down the block when he dialed him again. And again. “Pick up, Donovan, we’ve got a serious problem!” But for the first time since they’d had these phones, Shane didn’t pick up, because Shane was not in the country. He’d delivered his brother-in-law a rock tumbler and muscovado sugar, but now there was more at stake than food. Steve could feel it in his bones. Kayla was in trouble, and he was on his own.
The Stellar Cellar was one of the trendiest, most upscale restaurants in Los Angeles. The basement walls a full flight below ground level were such a scarcity in Los Angeles due to the incredibly unconducive soil of the area. This place, however, had reinforced concrete walls that extended the foundation to make it earthquake-proof – essential for the vintages the elite restaurant boasted. It also kept the place very chilly. Sam offered her his suit jacket, but she politely declined. Kayla kept her wine to a single glass at the wine bar and nursed it slowly. She had every intention of keeping her wits about her and no intention of letting anything happen beyond a hug and maybe a kind peck on the cheek or two. But she also had decided that faking it was only going to take her so far before Sam, who was very perceptive, would figure out that she was merely humoring him, and she didn’t want that. She’d already been through a brief couple of dates with him in her proper timeline, so she knew his motives were honest, and she didn’t want to hurt his genuine feelings while actually on the date. Sam was her boss, then a man she briefly dated, then simply her friend. To this day he was a colleague she’d connect with now and again. So, she called upon that frame of mind for the evening. Once she did, the anxiety subsided. They conversed like the friends Kayla remembered them to be, stayed away from cases for a change and enjoyed a bit of hospital gossip as they drank their wine and ate their fruit and cheese.
On their way out of the restaurant Kayla felt a chill and looked over her shoulder.
“Something wrong?” Sam asked.
“No! No, nothing.” She laughed off her behavior with a mirthful smile. “Just still a little cold.”
Once again, he opened Kayla’s door, then closed it behind her. Something did feel off, but she was already on high alert and didn’t want to invent things that weren’t there, so she let it go.
It was a short drive to the party, but Sam was feeling bold and took her hand in his. It was the first time she felt like a road to betrayal had been laid out for her, so she pulled her hand back. “Sam, I think—” But he held fast to it while they sat at the red light, and he examined it with a curious admiration.
“You know, you have beautiful hands. They’re delicate. Surgeon’s hands.”
Seeing as how she’d become a surgeon with her final rotation and never go to another, she said, “Good thing I’m planning on that, then.”
“Maybe you’ll take that off when you operate.” Sam was fiddling with her wedding ring, and now she understood what he was doing. Testing the waters to see just how married she still was in her own mind.
“You know … I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Kayla shifted her hand so that she could get a grasp of his, then squeezed it with a message commensurate with her statement. Then she let it go and folded her hands in her lap.
Sam raised an eyebrow at her, and it was the first time his expression was remotely suggestive. “We’ll see about that.” His tone was, too. There was no horny teenager here. It was sophisticated, grown up, and very clear.
“You sure are persistent,” she said non-committally.
“And I just might wear you down.” The car behind them got very close, their piercing lights bathing the inside of the Jaguar with impatience. “Nice brights, fella,” Sam grumbled before putting the car in gear and continuing on their way. Kayla was grateful for the manual transmission that would be keeping his right hand busy, as he’d clearly stepped up the chase.
Sam took Kayla’s arm and placed it over his as the valet drove away, and the image she knew they were blew her away. She was walking into this party of their peers on Sam’s arm, and his face was so full of pride and admiration to have her there. The heat of guilt swept through her, and Sam felt her tense up.
“Please don’t be nervous, Kayla.”
“I—I’m not,” she smiled amiably.
“Ok, well tell that to your grip here.” Kayla eased up and apologized quickly. “It’s ok,” he laughed. “I know I’m your first date in, what did you say, ten years?”
“Something like that.”
“Well I think you’re entitled to some nerves.”
It wasn’t nerves, but she chose not to correct him.
The minute they walked into the Weatherly Gardens at the Four Seasons Hotel, the opulence hit Kayla with a bit of a shock. The economy was booming right now, but back home, there were good people out of work. Doctors with enormous student loan debt and nowhere to go after residency. No nurse in her right mind would be complaining about third shift, because there were plenty of replacements lined up to ask how high if only a hiring manager said jump. CNAs and orderlies were begging for any kind of hours at all. So, this kind of a party would never have flown in 2009. Not at University Hospital, not at Cedars Sinai, not anywhere. Today, however, the gorgeous space was decorated with every manner of flower and greenery, and the open bar flowed with wine and spirits. Half the hospital’s upper level staff could be heard imbibing and nibbling with enjoyment, and nearly every one of them were adorned in festive party wear. Feather boas, plastic hats, “Happy New Year” headbands, and silly sunglasses in the shape of a 2001 with zeros for lenses in every color of the rainbow made everyone look like a Party City had exploded inside a botanical garden.
Raj and his girlfriend, Rekha, found them quickly and happily began a spirited conversation. Kayla didn’t have to try to remember Rekha, because she still knew her today and had always liked her. She would be marrying Raj soon and have three daughters by the time 2009 rolled around, all with names beginning with the letter R. Rohita, Reeti, and Rajni were all two years apart, and Rekha signed every Christmas card from them, “The R Squad.” Rekha was one of the most well-read and put together people she’d ever met. Right now the woman was every bit the undergrad party girl she appeared to be and wore one of the boas around her wrist like a feathery bracelet. Raj wore a pair of the sunglasses in a matching color, and the two of them were adorable together. It was extremely easy conversation with Rekha and Raj, and Kayla was grateful for it. She smiled while they talked and was relieved that there was a bit of safety in these numbers. Safety and … enjoyment. These people weren’t fiction. They wouldn’t live into the next timeline, but they weren’t as meaningless as she’d spent the last three weeks trying to make them. Her body clock had experienced a lot of time since she’d seen them, but they remained fresh in her mind, anyway. She liked them; they were her friends. She very much wanted to share this festive celebration with her husband, but she couldn’t, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about that at the moment. So, rather than pretend to enjoy herself, she actually did enjoy herself.
The head of the surgical rotation approached them amidst the laughter and clapped Sam on the back. Dr. Everett Bond was black, funny, and very talented. He was a youthful 50-something, and had the reputation of being a bit of a player. Kayla had worked with him for several years before coming back to Salem, but she’d never experienced an advance of her own. The two men began a pleasant banter where Sam pretended to be very angry that his three current residents would be moving on, and Everett pretended that his evil overlordship had won the day. And so it went, quite enjoyably and without incident.
It was when they were dancing that Sam had begun to get bolder. Kayla had initially declined when he asked her to dance, but he was very charming, very insistent, and very tipsy. But he was a good-natured tipsy, and her mind started going down a werid road where she tried to remember if she’d danced with him the first time around or not. She quickly shook her head of it all, because if ever a timeline was blown, this was it. Rekha bumped Kayla’s hip with her own and gave her a wicked smile in encouragement.
“I saw that,” Raj said in a tone of sweet admonishment. “C’mon, Rekha, don’t push Dr. Johnson, let her get liquored up first.”
Kayla couldn’t help but laugh, the young woman’s raised eyebrow over her ruby red cosmo reminded her of Hope’s identical devilishness. And Raj’s use of her formal name was just killing her.
“Raj,” she chuckled, “I know I’m old enough to be your mother, but how about Kayla?”
“His mother?” Sam piped in. “That’s a stretch, Doctor Johnson.”
“You, too, huh?”
“Dance with me, and I’ll go back to Kayla.”
Raj straightened up in front of his boss, but Rekha winked at her, and Kayla went back to debating if dancing with him was good for the timeline. “I don’t know …” then more softly to herself she said, “when did we dance the first time?”
“First time?”
“Sorry! I’m talking to myself,” she said.
“Well, you’re talking to yourself pretty hard at me,” he winked. This did not escape the notice of several colleagues standing nearby, and Raj and Rekha decided now was a good time to go dance. Kayla looked at them beseechingly, but Raj only shrugged apologetically as his future wife dragged him into a Shiny, Happy REM song. Sam’s cheeks were red, and his manner was looser than Kayla remembered from the first time around. Realizing that Sam had now crossed into that territory where you’re not plastered but you’re intoxicated enough to begin embarrassing yourself, she knew she didn’t want that for him. Since the song was upbeat, and her buffer had just disappeared onto the dance floor, she relented and let him have a dance.
Now two songs later, however, her boss had taken advantage of the ballad, and held her much closer than she’d wanted. A line had been crossed, and she didn’t like it.
“Sam, ah – I thought you were going to take this slow.”
“And I thought you were gonna gimme a chance.”
“A chance is a date, not a slow dance right out of the gate.”
Sam kept his cheek to hers. “It’s three songs past the gate.” Then he placed a feathery kiss behind her ear.
“Sam.”
“I can feel you’re nervous,” he said in her ear.
“I’m not nervous. How many drinks have you had this time?”
“This time? Wait, am I too drunk to remember that there was a last time?” He was so genuine in this statement, and his eagerness was actually sweet. Before she could reply, however, Dr. Bond had sidled up next to them with the last person Kayla wanted to see tonight.
“Sam, I’ve just been hailed, and this one’s only had eyes for you all night.”
“Just keeping an eye on my boss,” Stacy said with a fair amount of saccharine.
“Likely story, Dr. Tompkins,” he winked. Stacy winked back, and it was clear that what Sam wasn’t interested in, Everett Bond would be more than happy to indulge in if only there wasn’t an OR waiting for him. Which wasn’t surprising, because from head to toe, Stacy looked incredible. Easily the most desireable woman in the room, and from her confident carriage, she absolutely knew it. “I think you should give her one last bit of attention before I steal her and all your residents away from you next week.
Sam clearly didn’t want to give up his current dance partner. “I’m quite sure Dr. Tompkins doesn’t need a babysitter—”
“Actually,” Kayla interrupted, “I need to check on my daughter, so … by all means, go right ahead.” She stepped back, and was amused by the surprised look on Stacy’s face, but saddened by the disappointed one on Sam’s. This is so unfair to you, she thought. Even so, she needed an excuse to diffuse him and went ahead and let him be disappointed. As the couples switched out, a very sober Dr. Bond headed quickly for the door, and the crowded dance floor swam a path around her. That’s when Kayla was grabbed from behind. It was hard and fast, and her reaction was near panic.
“Sweetness, it’s me!” Steve spun Kayla around into a very tight dance hold and saw that his wife’s breath was caught in her throat. “Calm down, baby, just look at me. Are you ok?!”
She was looking at him. And, boy, was there a lot to see. His attire was far too casual, but the black Happy New Year top hat, black boa hanging around his neck like an undone bow tie, and the huge 2001 glasses, which did a decent job hiding his eyepatch, made him no more conspicuous than anyone else. Talk about hiding in plain sight. So, Kayla was looking at him. Right at him. With wide eyes and serious confusion. She knew this was her husband, but she was having a hard time making sense of it all. “S-Steve?”
“Answer me, Kayla!” The sight of him would have been funny any other time, but his voice was almost as panicked as hers was, and no one was laughing. “Did they hurt you?!”
“Wh-Who? What are you – how did you get here?”
“I drove. Now answer me, goddammit, did they hurt you?”
“Sam?”
“Dimeras men!”
Now Kayla sobered from the shock and noticed that Steve had her in a dance hold, but they weren’t moving to the music. “They’re here?!” She looked over her shoulder, but Steve turned her chin back to him.
“I’ll take that as a no, then?”
“No! No, I—I haven’t seen any of them. That I know of.” Steve let out a breath. “I’m ok,” she assured him. Now Steve gathered her close to him and swayed her.
“I’ve been out of my mind, baby,” he whispered in her ear. “I saw them begin following you the minute you drove away.”
“Stefano’s men followed me?!”
“Not just the goons, baby. My handler.”
“Oh my God.” Kayla wanted to disappear her husband right into her arms. Hide him away so that they couldn’t get to him. But all they could do as they got their wits about them was continue dancing into the next song, and the one after that as he explained how he got there.
“I don’t understand why you didn’t just call me.”
“I did, Kayla! Over and over and over. You never picked up!”
“It never rang! I was just about to call you, actually, then Kimberly to check on Stephanie.”
“Yeah, well it’s dead now. Went right to voicemail when you were dancin’ with Sam.”
“You—saw me dancing with Sam?”
“Yeah. I saw you dancing with Sam.”
“Steve, listen, I—”
“Was never so happy to see you in another man’s arms. Safe.”
Kayla looked up at him in his ridiculous black sunglasses. “Really?”
“God yes. I’m serious, Kayla, I about collapsed I was so relieved.” Kayla placed her hand on Steve’s heart and closed her eyes. His relief was so genuine, she could feel it peeling off of him. “I watched you a long time and scanned the room. I was just gonna keep my distance all night, but then he went and danced with that other chick and left you alone.”
“Stacy.”
“That’s Stacy?”
“In the flesh.”
“Yeah, well I’m positive they’re here. I had to get to you.”
Kayla smiled. “You know what?” Steve shook his head. “Now I get to spend New Year’s Eve with my husband.”
Steve got a wicked look in his eye. “Ooh. A threesome.” Kayla let out a snort. “Come on, baby, isn’t it every woman’s lifelong dream to have two men at the same time?”
“Um, no. That’s men,” she said poking him in the chest.
“I don’t want two men at the same time.”
“Women, Steve.”
“Not them, either. You’re all the woman I need.”
“I love you,” Kayla said too softly to be heard.
“I love you more.”
They quickly figured out that Steve had gone to the wrong restaurant to find her. By the time he’d found the right one they were already gone. “I tried you from there, too, but there wasn’t a signal inside the place. You know why?” Kayla was surprised and shook her head. “Basement.” Finally it all fell into place. The restaurant’s concrete walls. “Your phone kept lookin’ for a signal it was never gonna find, and the whole thing drained in minutes.” Kayla closed her eyes in self-admonishment. She should have checked in with Steve the moment they left the restaurant. She was just so focused on making the night go as fast as possible. “I was insane, Kayla. When I couldn’t find you I lost it.” That’s when Kayla remembered something.
“Steve, there was a car. Behind Sam and me. It had its brights on us for a long stretch. Sam noticed it.” A beat. “Could be nothing.”
“Could be something.”
“We need to go home.”
“No, that’s the last place we need to go. We have to get through to Shane. Until then we hide in plain sight.” They continued to dance while Steve eyed his phone carefully. “One bar in here, and I’m down to 7%. It was 60 when I walked in here. Damned old technology. Come on, we need a land line.”
That’s when she saw him. He was unmistakable, and he was staring right at them as she positively froze. Steve felt it when the ice slithered up her spine but didn’t make the connection to the man standing with his hands in front of him on the edge of the dance floor. Kayla knew she should avert her eyes immediately and not make any moves that would give her away; but the fact that the man who’d tortured her husband was now standing like a living, breathing threat not 30 feet away had them at a serious disadvantage. “Oh God, Steve,” she barely breathed over the music.
“Baby?”
Just before Kayla tore her eyes away from Steve’s handler she saw him narrow his in horrifying recognition as he mouthed one word. “Gotcha.”
Steve knew before he got the visual confirmation that his handler had found them. The visions of those photos assaulted him. They were one of the few things in his life that he was never going to get completely over. He held her a little tighter as the emotional trauma Steve suffered in that cell as a result of them came back to him in a rush of fear. For Kayla’s life, and for Stephanie’s life. He knew the photos he’d been shown were fakes, but the reality that they could become – that they would become – was absolute. His time was up, and now it was all unravelling. Everything he’d done to ensure their safety, to make sure he didn’t put Stefano’s target on their backs, was gone. The hiding was over, and one way or another, this was now going to end tonight. Options raced through his head at the lightening speed that could only be forced by adrenalin, and the immediately came down to just one option. And in that instant, he knew what he had to do. “You run, baby.” He still had not turned his head. “You run and hide right now.”
“No! No, I’m not leaving you!”
Steve finally turned his head and locked eyes with the man who’d tortured him for years. The last time he’d seen him there was a bullet in his femur. Now the man shifted his eyes to Kayla and nodded his head very significantly. His message was clear. Comply or Kayla was dead. What Steve would have given for a weapon right now. Instead all he could do was protect his family. All of them. Still holding the man’s gaze, Steve held Kayla’s head to his chest and wrapped his arms protectively around her. He was out of time and had just one chance to do this right. “I was there for Plan B, Kayla. I saw what they were going to do you. I remember what it felt like to see your dead body.”
“So do I.” She began to cry, because she’d seen his threat as clearly as Steve had, and she was terrified for both of them. Thank God Stephanie is safe!
“There will be no Plan B, Sweetness. Not today. Not ever.” He could tell from the man’s glare alone that he had seconds before he’d hurt Kayla. Right here, in public, this man was going to kill her if Steve didn’t surrender himself. And it finally hit him that there was no safety until Stefano was taken out. Not in plain sight, not in hiding, not anywhere. “I’m the one he’s here for. You go hide until they have me, then you go to the police.” He began to release her, but she held on tight.
Kayla couldn’t believe it had come to this. “Please, Steve, no! Listen to me, you’re not doing this!”
“You have to live into the next timeline. He’s not the only one here, the goons are backing him up. Once I’m gone they’ll have what they want, and you’ll be ok. Go on now.” His deadly calm was almost as terrifying as the white-haired nightmare now advancing on them.
“No!”
Steve turned toward the man now nearly upon them and held up a hand to stay him as the dancers obliviously parted around his path. “Wait,” Steve growled. Kayla didn’t know if she was shocked or relieved when the man did as he said. Then her husband looked her significantly in the eye “You trust me.” His eye held hers with a piercing, desperate plea that she hear him. Then Steve kissed her deeply. She tried to connect with him, make him run with her, but her amplilfied panic was so intense she thought she might pass out. Finally he released her lips, and Kayla let out a small sob. “I will find you,” Steve said, his voice finally shaking.
“What if you die here?!”
Steve swallowed and whispered one more time, “trust me.” He held up his hand in the sign for I love you. “I’ll find you, Sweetness.” Then he turned from her as a tear ran down his eye behind his black 2001 sunglasses, and let his handler subtly push him in the direction he wanted Steve to go. Off the dance floor. Away from his wife. Back to the Phoenix.