In the moments that followed, Kayla was an island in the center of a raging sea. Waves of fear stormed upon her shores with gale force winds, eroding the beauty of her sands and whipping them into painful chaos that burned as they scraped against her soul. But the anger was actually stronger. Anger at Stefano, at Rolf, at this hypnoscientist freak … and at Steve. For leaving her. He promised he’d never leave her again. Now not a month after that final vow he’d made to her up in the loft of the home they were secretly sharing, he’d gone back on his word, and her anchor was gone.
And she was not going to stand for it. This is not how it’s going to be.
Steve and Kayla had been through hell for more than three years. Some of the hell was heaven, but it was hell, just the same, and she would be damned if she was going to let them take her husband away from her without a fight. It didn’t matter if they jumped tomorrow or in two years, they were not taking him. If Steve wasn’t going to fight, she would.
It hadn’t been a full minute since his handler had led Steve away from her, so they couldn’t have gone far. On pure instinct and dangerous adrenaline, Kayla made a beeline in the direction they’d left. Her visual search came up with plenty of people she knew; none of them, however, were Steve, his handler, or the meter readers. The crowd that was eating, drinking, partying, or dancing en masse to Prince’s “1999” was mostly too hopped up on their own exhiliration to notice her. She turned to every voice that called her name, but none of them were Steve and were, therefore, nothing more than noise. She wanted to scream for him, but the music was too loud for that to be effective. Kayla finally got on a chair to get a true bird’s eye view of the room. She turned around and around, but he wasn’t there. It wasn’t that she didn’t see him, because she’d know him from obscure silhouette to vague movement; her husband was simply not in that room. Kayla finally gave up and screamed his name, anyway. Now people noticed the lone woman standing on the chair, but they couldn’t know how deep the anger was that burned within her. They couldn’t know how terrified she was. The ones that were looking could see the trouble on her face, but only Kayla could feel just how afraid she was for what was this going to mean for Steve’s continued existence in the slipstream. This fury and fear wreaked havoc on Kayla, and she couldn’t control her body’s physical reactions. Her heightened state overtook her ability to think rationally, and her heart pounded so hard and fast that she could hear the blood rushing through her ears. Kayla knew these signs of artifice now, but the real feelings driving them were too genuine and intense to process it, so all she felt were the the genuine physiological reactions. Near tachichardia, Kayla felt herself sway, her blood pressure too high for her body to take. Still standing on the chair, she got too dizzy to remain upright and began to collapse.
“Where are you taking me?”
Steve’s handler said nothing, but continued walking him forcefully toward the kitchen doors. Stall, he told himself, I have to find a way to stall. “It’s a simple question.” The shorter but stronger of the two goons grabbed Steve’s upper arm and squeezed hard. “Nice grip, pencil dick,” Steve spat over his shoulder, “but my dance card is all full.” No reaction other than his continued insistence that Steve put one foot in front of the other.
Steve had already surveyed his surroundings in detail, so now all he could do was wait until an opportunity to gain the upperhand availed itself. But he also knew that it might not. He had no intention of just giving up without looking for a way out. But he also knew that in no timeline, no matter how temporary, was he going to allow a fatal alternative to befall either Kayla or Stephanie. So, when he walked away from Kayla, he meant it; he was absolutely prepared to make that sacrifice for the remainder of the jump. Right now, though, there was still a glimmer of hope that he wouldn’t have to.
“Fellas, anyone ever tell you you’re not very good conversationalists,” Steve said as they crossed into the kitchen.
“Shut up,” the other man, whom Kayla had long ago identified as her meter reader, said.
“Dude, come on, don’t you have some meters to read?”
The two goons both gave him a hard shove, so Steve used the momentum to let himself stumble to the floor, further delaying his exit from the building.
An employee from the kichen staff came toward them with concern on his face in an attempt to help Steve up, but what Steve witnessed next gave him a renewed understanding of what his handler was capable of.
“There’s nothing to see here,” the white haired man said.
“Real original, dude,” Steve almost laughed, which got him a hard kick in the side from Pencil Dick.
“Hey!” the employee yelled, “I’m going to call—!”
“No one,” the handler said as he clasped his hand onto the employee’s shoulder. And Steve watched with sick fascination as the man responded with absolute attention. The hypnotist had this latest quarry locked in his gaze, and focused entirely on the command of his voice. “You’re going to call no one. You have seen nothing. Do you understand?”
“I …”
“You love your mother.”
“I love my mother.”
“She is going to die in one minute.” The man began to cry. “You can save her only if you go back to your station and never remember any of this again. Or you can kill her by doing otherwise.” The man sobbed into his hand.
“Stop it!” Pencil Dick kicked Steve much harder this time, and now he didn’t have to pretend as he gasped for breath.
“Stop crying,” the hypnotist commanded. The employee stopped on a dime, tears still wet on his face. “You’re going to call no one. You have seen nothing. Do you understand.”
“Yes.” And there was no question in Steve’s mind that it was true.
“Go.”
Now Steve’s handler squatted down in front of Steve as the innocent bystander that had just been mentally violated turned back to his station, all of them now invisible to him. “What is your name?” Steve didn’t answer immediately, so the handler made a subtle gesture, resulting in Meter Reader pulling Steve’s head up by whatever short hair he could could gather. “What.Is.Your.Name?” he tried again.
“Kunta Kinte,” Steve spat.
“Back to that are we?”
Steve laughged. He couldn’t help but marvel at how even this inorganic history repeated itself.
“Bet you think we’ve only done that once before, but there’s a whole ‘nother week you don’t know about, motherf*cker.”
This got the first ruffled look out of the handler this jump. Not because Steve was clearly no longer reacting to the conditioning, but because of the conviction with wich he spoke. With a steeled look directly into Steve’s green eye that was supposed to be a lot deader than he was currently exhibiting, the handler grabbed Steve painfully by the chin. Then he produced a Tarot card out of nowhere and held it right up to Steve’s contorted face. “Your name,” he commanded with his chilling demeanor.
“You don’t need that thing, Doc!” he argued through the pain. “I came willingly!”
The fact that the tarot card did not elicit the hypnotic, conditioned response it had been painstakingly designed to unnerved the doctor. “I think we both know better, Toby,” he said. He was inflicting quite a bit of pain on Steve, but that was fine, the more time they spent not out there in the ether the better his odds of getting out of this with both of his girls alive.
“I’m here aren’t I?!” Steve all but gasped. “I’m here to be whoever you want me to be. You want me to be Stockton, that’s just fine!”
“Get him up.” Pencil Dick complied and roughly lifted Steve into a standing position. Meter Reader then punched him hard in the same side he’d been kicked in, and Steve doubled right back over.
Stall … stall … stall … or jump …
When Steve straightened back up his handler was standing in that insufferable, foreboding stance with his legs apart, hands clasped in front of him, eyes searching for whatever soul he’d failed to rip out of him so they could finish the job.
“Where exactly did your conditioning go?” the handler asked rhetorically but with true curiosity. “Name.”
“Nick Stockton,” Steve said evenly.
“Not good enough.”
“Why?!” Steve was honestly perplexed. “I’m here, dammit. I gave you the name you want, now take me back to my cage!”
What Steve didn’t know was that pretending was not good enough for his handler. They didn’t need Steve to simply obey; they need him to break.
“Whoa, whoa, steady, now,” Sam said as he caught Kayla from hitting the floor. He held her securely in his arms while the room spun. Kayla knew what was happening to her, but she just couldn’t help her body’s reaction to what had just transpired. They’d taken her husband away. Right in front of her. She proceeded to argue with herself as Sam caressed her face.
They didn’t take him, he willingly went to them. How could he do that?!
To save you from Plan B!
But he didn’t even fight! He promised he’d never leave, that he’d be my anchor!
Can’t be your anchor if your body’s in shreds somewhere.
Kayla knew this argument she was having with herself was doing nothing to help her calm down and get hold of herself.
“It’s ok,” Sam said, “I’ve got you.”
That statement only made things much worse. Steve had said those words to her so many times before. She identified them so strongly with him that they were almost tangible. Those words belonged in Steve’s mouth, and that Sam had just said them to her in the very context that she knew Steve would have finally gave her the very beginnings of some stability.
“Someone’s had one too many.” The smile in Sam’s voice and alcohol on his breath told her that that someone was most definitely him, not her. “Thought I’d better help you down before you helped yourself.
“I’m—trying—I’m—I have to—find him.”
“Just calm down, honey.”
“No, I—honey?” She was now very aware that she was being held by him and wanted that to stop being the case as soon as possible. Kayla took a deep breath while colleagues looked on. “—Sam please, I have to hurry! Listen, this is important, have you seen a man with a ton of white hair?”
“Huh?”
“White hair! Like the scientist from Back to the Future!”
Sam couldn’t help but giggle at this ridiculous string of verbosity coming out of her. “No, were you expecting a DeLorean, too?”
Kayla finally squirmed out of Sam’s arms, but she was not steady on her feet, because her body was still in a serious state. Sam held onto her by her shoulders, and she let him“What about a blonde man with a patch?!”
Now it wasn’t funny, and Sam closed his eyes in frustration. “A patch? An eyepatch?”
“Yes! Have you seen him walking around?!”
Sam swallowed. “Your husband had a patch, didn’t he?”
“Yes … have you seen him?!”
“No, Kayla. I haven’t seen your husband, because he’s not here. I am, though, and I want to show you how good things can be.”
“Dammit, Sam, I don’t have time for this!” She’d never spoken to her boss with such angry venom, and he wasn’t sure which way to go with it. A moment later, Sam knocked back the scotch he’d placed on the table when he caught Kayla, then swept her back up.
“Come on,” he said.
“What are you doing?” Sam shushed her as he walked, and Kayla was too angry at the delay to be mortified at being seen this way. At least the room wasn’t spinning anymore. “Where—where are we going? There’s no time!”
When they arrived at the women’s lounge, Sam started to go in.
“Sam,” she said very firmly, “put me down.”
“I need to make sure you’re ok.” The very doctorly words were genuine, but the alcohol had given them the tone of something quite obviously suggestive. Sam didn’t want his chivalry to end, because he needed to prove to Kayla that he wouldn’t scare off so easily. Kayla, however, wasn’t having it.
“Put me down, Sam, I f*cking mean it!” It took an enormous amount of focus for her to not think about how much time she had just wasted, because if she did, the jump effect was going to completely incapacitate her.
The alcohol was starting to really cloud Sam’s brain, and he was out of ideas to keep himself with her. “You’re not a good patient,” he said, frowning, but he did as she asked, letting her down somewhat heavily on her high heels. “I want to check you out, Kayla.”
“You’re a little altered, and I don’t have time, I have to—oh God—Steve—Stephanie!” Kayla’s heart was beating her into another dizzy spell, and she knew he was right, she had to calm down or she’d be doing no one any good. “Ok, fine, I’ll take a minute.”
“Good, let’s take care of you,” he said and pushed open the door for them to go in.
“Not you, just me.”
“You’re intoxicated, Kayla.”
“That’s you, not me!”
“But—”
“Dammit, Sam, I can manage!”
Then out of nowhere, he kissed her. His lips made perfect contact with hers to the point where she could taste the scotch on them, and he was holding her tightly against his body as his hands gripped her. Memories of similar kisses from a different lifetime rushed up to the surface like a movie being shown to her. She’d liked Sam back then. She’d enjoyed his attention, she’d enjoyed his dates, and she’d enjoyed his very good kisses. And while she’d invited his kiss then, she’d realized quickly that he was the wrong match at the wrong time. And that hadn’t changed. Immediately, Kayla broke their contact and pushed back from him so that they were in a more chaste hold. If only he’d been perverse or untoward … if only he’d tried to shove his tongue in her mouth. If only he’d groped her this time. She could feel less sorry for him. But he hadn’t. His eyes were not hungry, they were hopeful. It was clear to her that this kiss meant something to him, and Kayla couldn’t go one more moment into this ruse. Appearances didn’t mean a thing anymore, Stefano’s people had found them, and she was done with this charade.
Kayla slowly shook her head and told him no as she watched the hope drain from him. “Ya know something?” she asked him with a control that surprised her. “You’re a really good man. I’m not sure who it is that you’re going to make happy one day, but Sam … I’m bonded for life with a man that just just gave himself up out there so me and Stephanie could live.” The look on his face was unreadable. “Now I have to calm down so that I can get to him before it’s too late.” Her hands shaking Kayla pried Sam’s off of her arms and pushed him gently away from her a step. “I know that you don’t understand. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make it right and explain it to you before I jump. Do not follow me in here.”
Kayla turned and pushed through the door to the women’s lounge. She didn’t wait for Sam’s permission, he didn’t follow her in, and thankfully she was alone. She quickly she found herelf in the safety of a stall, leaned her straight arms against the door and bowed her head. The three walls ran floor to ceiling, and the door of dark cherry wood was heavy and solid. Normally, Kayla would feel like the walls were closing in, but this time she was soothed. The small space provided her a buffer of safety that quieted the demon inside of her and truly gave her the opportunity to calm down. She shut her eyes, and breathed deeply, determined to get control of herself. “Superior vena cava, aorta, cephalic vein, pulmonary vein, brachial artery, interior vena cava…” She took another deep breath, finally feeling focus for the first time since her husband had given himself up to the Phoenix. “Descending aorta, femoral vein, femoral artery.
Kayla stopped there when the door opened and someone with heavy footfalls entered. Their lack of movement toward either a stall or a sink made her feel very conspicuous. Was it Sam? When she heard them turn the lock she was pretty sure it wasn’t. Stefano’s men … they’d come back for her, after all. She was supposed to be calming down, but she was going back in the opposite direction again. Stephanie. If they’ve come for me, they’ll come for her, too! Kayla had to be sure her daughter was safe. Pulse quickening again as the man stepped toward her, Kayla backed up a step against the toilet and wanted to scream. But she was ready for them, too, almost daring the man to do something. Then they spoke.
“Get out here, you f*cking prick tease.”
And that was not a man. Kayla blinked and cocked her head slightly at the voice. Crouching down slightly, she saw through the gap in the door that whomever was facing her had on a pair of very expensive-looking, sparkly, ice-blue flats. Now she sighed deeply, on the one hand relieved, but on the other this was a whole different kind of problem.
“I know you’re in there, so don’t bother trying to hide.” Kayla opened the stall door to see Stacy Topkins loaded for bear. “It’s just us in here. And you and me, bitch? Were gonna have a conversation.” And the truth was that Kayla wasn’t exactly sure she didn’t prefer the confrontation with the bad guy.
Steve’s handler was just as brilliant in his science field as Rolf was in his. Hypnosis was something he’d been adept at from a very early age. As a child he was very cunning and realized before he’d hit double digits that people often responded to him because he unnerved them. He’d stare at them without blinking and eventually found he could immediately read them through what poker players call tells. He’d use those vocal cues and body language to his advantage, add in deception and misdirection, and found just the right vocal timbre for his manipulation. By his teens he had thrown in signposts, such as Tarot cards, to focus his subjects and direct them to his will. Before he was old enough to drive he’d become a truly gifted hypnotist, and that was true to this day. With Johnson, there was the added layer of deeply conditioned behavior he’d taken years to condition into him that nothing short of a highly skilled deprogrammer could have lifted. Which was why he was completely baffled when these proven techniques were now failing to capture Steve Johnson’s attention.
The goons had gotten Steve on his feet in the shadowy corner of the kitchen, but he just continued to find reasons to get back down. The scientist wasn’t stupid, he knew this was a stalling tactic. Unfortunately, it was working, because Meter Reader and Pencil Dick kept pushing him around, and that was making this soldier’s actions less and less fake with every moment. The Four Seasons commercial kitchen was huge, but even in the out-of-the-way corner away from the perishables and pantry, they were also about to draw more attention than the one sous-chef.
“Mr. Stockton, why are you resisting? No one is coming to save you. Very curious.”
That’s it, keep talkin’, asshole. “Come on, now, Doc, I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Comply.”
“Dude, how many times I gotta say it. The name’s Stockton, I’m a soldier of the Phoenix, and I’m ready to comply myself right back to my cell.” Steve would have been nauseous at the mention, yet again in his cogent self, of that bogus name; but he was too busy being extremely concerned that the doctor wasn’t, apparently, buying it. He squared his stance and held his wrists out for effect, but his handler slapped them away with sudden force.
“Respond to the conditioning, Mr. Stockton!” Then he produced the Tarot card again with a very quick sleight of hand, as if that might snap the man back into compliance. “I will invoke Plan B!”
Now Steve was the baffled one. He thought Plan B was behind him. Isn’t that why he pried himself out of his wife’s desperate arms and let them take him away? To avoid Plan B? He was definitely stalling, but he wasn’t resisting. So what the hell was going on?
The handler was now, clearly, agitated. Even Pencil Dick and Meter Reader weren’t sure what was going on with the obviously off-script situation. Steve dared not move a muscle and waited for the man to make a move. Then suddenly Steve’s handler pushed him through the double doors leading to the service corridor. “Gentlemen,” the handler said harshly, “I’ve got a little work to do before we can depart. Mr. Johnson here, needs more convincing.” Then before Steve could argue, the man dismissed the goons. “Secure this area, and get eyes on Kayla Johnson.”
Stacy Tompkins was very tall and had the build of a supermodel. Her face wasn’t as naturally beautiful as the rest of her body, and her long, wavy blonde hair came out of a bottle, but she knew how to bring out the cosmetic best in herself so that she was attractive all the time. Tonight was no different. Truly stunning, in heavy, dark eye makeup and a very short, black cocktail dress with ice blue accessories to match her sparkling blue shoes, she positively loomed over Kayla.
“I’m not doing this with you right now, Stacy, now unlock the door.”
“No.”
“Fine, I will.” Stacy got right in her way and blocked Kayla’s path out. “Move, Stacy!”
“Do you know how many people saw you fall into Sam’s arms? Saw him carry you in here then kiss you like it was some goddamn romantic comedy? Jesus, then you go and reject him like a bitch!”
“You saw that?”
“Everyone saw that!”
“Well, then ya know what, maybe you should go out there and comfort him, Stacy! Maybe you can swoop in and take what you’ve wanted all this time! Go on!”
“Are you f*cking kidding me? Too late now. He’s been humiliated in front of everyone that matters, his reputation is ruined—”
“Ruined?!”
“—and now he’ll just drag me down with him! The only way he comes out of this looking like some kind of gallant is if it’s ‘cause he got the girl. Then I’ll just end up looking like the homewrecker!
“God, Stacy, I do not have time for this!”
“Because you have to go find Christopher Lloyd, right? Or run around looking for your husband?” Kayla was stunned. “That’s right, I heard the whole thing after you swooned into Sam’s arms. You’re pathetic, Kayla. You let him wine and dine you, chase you, then you leave him with a hard on and a bleeding heart. He’s pining after a woman who’s still in love with a dead man.”
Kayla wanted to slap Stacy across the face, but she was too tall for Kayla to land it. “I haven’t killed anyone in any of my lifetimes yet. But I swear to you, Stacy, if something happens that I could have prevented if not for you delaying me in here with this garbage, then you will be my first victim. Now, I’m leaving this bathroom, and if you try to stop me, I swear to God – I swear to God, Stacy – I will kill you to do it.” It was a promise that Stacy believed. She did not, however, move. So, Kayla reached behind her very hostile colleague, unlocked the bathroom door, and opened it so hard that the wind hit Stacy in the face.
Kayla ignored the line of women that had formed outside the locked bathroom. She ignored the stares from people who did, indeed, witness the entire scene and wonder if maybe they were witnessing a real live Pretty Woman. She ignored everything but the payphones she spotted at the end of the hall.
The fight with Stacy was brief, but but rather than rile her up, it calmed her down and allowed her to finally form a real plan. The three payphones were nestled into stately, brass, filigreed stands that were recessed into the wall. These were not destined to last very far into the decade, and she was lucky they were still here. Kayla didn’t need her phone’s address book, she knew Shane’s ISA phone number off the top of her head. Steve and Stephanie did, too, it was one of the frist things they knew they had to do, memorize what to do in case of an emergency. And this could not have been more of an emergency. Her fingers were shaking when she managed to dial the operator and requested a collect call to Shane’s number. Kayla’s stomach churned into knots in the moments it took for the call to connect. When it finally did, she prayed that it wouldn’t go straight to voicemail.
Shane bolted straight up from a dead sleep when the phone on the table in front of him rang. It was the brand new satellite model, he’d just used it for the first time overseas as a modem as he and his team went over their strategy for infiltrating Stefano’s compound. He quickly came awake from having fallen asleep in his chair and looked at the display. It simply said, Los Angeles. It was 4am Tuscany time, and he knew without a doubt that something was wrong. Kimberly, his children, Kayla … someone was in trouble. He disconnected the cable from where it was still attached to his laptop computer and clicked the green button.
“Donovan,” he answered quickly.
“Shane! Shane, oh, thank God you’re there! It’s Kayla.”
The operator interrupted and announced that this was a collect call and would he accept the charges.
“Yes, lf course!” he agreed urgently, then the operator left the call. “Kay, what’s wrong?”
Wasting no time, Kayla very quickly told him everything, from being followed by Stefano’s men, to the moment his handler took Steve off the dance floor.”
“In front of people? He came out into the open?”
“Yes! That’s how much he wants Steve back, Shane, he came right out onto the dance floor with the other two men and threatened us.”
“He had a weapon?!”
“No! Shane, it wasn’t like that, it was just, I dunno, assumed! You haven’t seen what he’s like, I have! It’s frightening what he can do!”
“I don’t understand how they got past the team in the safehouse down the street, they wouldn’t have let them go without following.”
“Have they checked in?” Shane was silent. Because they hadn’t.
“Why didn’t any of you call me before now?”
“Steve did! He said you never picked up. Our cells are dead, I’m calling from a payphone.” Shane realized with dread that his modem connection had interfered with the phone’s ability to receive calls. He would not be making that mistake again. “He’s with them, Shane! We can’t let him go!” Shane pumped his jaw in anger at himself, but also at Steve. How could he actually go with them? “He’s protecting me and Stephanie,” Kayla answered his unspoken question. “I couldn’t stop him. We have to get him back, Shane! Please! Please!!”
“Alright, listen—”
“And Stephanie! She’s with Kimberly!”
“—Kay, you have to calm down, and listen to me.”
“I am!”
“You’re not! Now, Kay, you have to get to a safehouse.”
“No I don’t, I have to get to Stephanie! They’ll kill her! Kim doesn’t know about any of this! I can’t lose another baby, Shane! Please, I can’t!”
Shane didn’t understand what that meant, but he didn’t have time to figure it out. His children were there, too, and so was Kim, and these men were not out in the wind. He wasn’t going to be to be taking any chances. “Kim knows the process if there’s an emergency, so do Andrew and Phillip. Stephanie will be safe! Now you can listen to me or you can stand there and panic! I’d rather prefer you not choose the latter.”
Kayla took a deep breath and steadied herself. “Alright. I’m listening,” she said knowing he was right.
“I’ve got a team inside the hotel.”
“What? Where were they?!”
“I’ll get them to you,” he ignored the question. Shane knew with dread that something had gone very wrong with the team on Kayla’s street. If they’d known Stefano’s men were following Kayla, the team in the hotel would have been mobilized. He chose not to share this with Kayla and panic her further.
“They need to go after Steve, Shane!”
“Kayla, I’m not going to argue with you,” he said testily. “Do you trust me or not?”
“Y-Yes. I’m just … I’m so …”
“I know, Darling. Shh … I know. We’re going to get him back. Tell me where you are exactly.” She did, and he then gave her the most important instructions. “You call Kimberly. Tell her she is to invoke protocol dormitory. She’ll then take them all to a panic room I had installed in the house.” Kayla was not actually shocked to hear there was a panic room in Kimberly and Phillip’s house; she was, however, shocked that she’d never heard about it before. She tucked that away for another time. “Then I want you to stay exactly where you are until my men get there, they’ll be dressed as kitchen staff and confirm they’re with the ISA.” Kayla was far from satisfied, and part of her was afraid to let him hang up, severing her one connection to hope. But she did. Then she dialed the next number.
Kimberly smiled at her niece. She was a very sweet girl who was trying so hard not to show her disappointment that the surprise movie her uncle Philip had brought home from the studio in advance of its release was not Harry Potter. Whereas her own daughter was being a spoiled, and frankly mean, brat, Stephanie was putting on nothing but happy gratitude for whatever her uncle brought home. She appreciated her niece’s effort, but Kim was perceptive and knew better. That same perceptiveness was why she also knew something was very off about her sister. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she knew it wasn’t minor, it wasn’t random, and no matter how much she wanted it to be new love blossoming with this doctor boss of hers, it sure wasn’t him, either. Whatever it was, it had been making her uneasy for weeks. The sudden eruption of girl drama unfolding in front of her took her out of her thoughts.
“Would you stop it?” Stephanie had finally had enough of her cousin indirectly picking on her via the Barbie doll that was kicking at her stuffed dog.
“I’m not doing anything, she is,” Jeanie insisted, referring to her doll. Andrew had been sitting off to the side. He wasn’t watching the movie, either, because he was watching his mother. He had the same calm, protective nature as his father, and he knew his mom very well. She was feeling anxious, and someone had to watch out for her, so tonight that’s what he was doing.
“Jeanie, come on,” Phillip said with the annoyance-tinged patience he always had for his step-daughter, “give it a rest, and watch the movie.”
“Yeah, Pumpkin,” Kim added, “don’t you like this? Philip really thought you’d love Spy Kids.”
“Well, I don’t like it, it sucks—”
“Jeanie,” Kim interjected a warning.
“—And I’m not the one doing the kicking, Theresa is.”
“Your Barbie kicking my dog is still you kicking me!”
“You have Barbies, mine is named Theresa!”
“I do not have Barbies, and even if I did, I would not use them to pick on you, ‘cause you’re my cousin!”
Kimberly shot her husband an apologetic look, but he just sighed and kind of rolled his eyes. It’s not like he expected his step-daughter to suddenly exhibit gratitude where it rarely existed. But he didn’t want to get into yet another fight about the clearly ineffective way Kimberly dealt with her, so he just shrugged in a gesture barely this side of I-told-you-so. Kimberly knew he was right but was always afraid that being harsh with her was going to push her away. “Jeanie, honey, please just try to like the movie?”
“No!”
“I like it,” Stephanie said, her nature compelling her to compensate for her cousin by being on her very best behavior.
Kimberly and Phillip both smiled at her efforts, and that only incensed Jeanie more. Luckily, that’s when the phone rang, essentially cutting off her next retort. It was just after 9pm, and Kimberly didn’t recognize the number, and that innate perceptiveness of hers made her her gut twist with the realization that this night was going to go south fast.
“I’ll get it!” Jeannie insisted.
“You’ll sit your ass down,” Andrew piped in for the first time.
“Andrew Donovan, language!” his mother warned.
“Really, mom? I’m the one you’re yelling at?!” Stephanie had to agree with Andrew and was pretty sure this was her worst New Year’s Eve ever.
“I will get it!” Kimberly insisted as she picked up the phone and clicked the answer button on their brand new digital handset.
“And I will get a beer,” Philip said as he hit pause.
“Hel-“
“Kim?!” Kayla said before Kimberly could even finish saying hello.
“Kay?”
“Yes, it’s me!”
Once again, an operator asked if the collect call woul be accepted, and Kim did so immediately, and the operator left the call.
“What is it?” Kim asked in a serious tone. She sat up straight, and Andrew followed suit. Philip also turned around halfway out of the room and paid more attention. “Are you ok?”
“N-Not really. Where’s Stephanie?”
“Right in front of me, sis, why?” She did not fail to notice that Stephanie’s eyes were huge and tried very hard not to let on that there was a problem. Stephanie, however, knew so many more things that Kimberly didn’t, that she was actually the one with the most knowledge in the room.
“I need you to lock the doors and windows and make very sure the security system is on!”
“They are, Kayla. Now you tell me why you’re so upset.”
“Are you sure? Stephanie—you’re all safe?” Kim was very alarmed now and glanced at her husband, who’d just sat back down.
“Yes, I’m sure, Kay. And I don’t mind tellin’ you, you’re starting to give me a complex here …”
“About what?” Phillip whispered.
Kim put her hand over the mouthpiece and whispered back, “That the doors are locked and the system’s armed.” Now Phillip was alarmed, too, but it was Andrew who immediately got up and did what his Aunt Kayla had apparently asked. It was a big house, so he ran to the security keypad first and ran through the diagnostic his dad had taught him before he’d even turned ten years old.
“Aunt Kim, I wanna talk to Mama please,” Stephanie insisted. Kim nodded as appeasingly as she could with a finger up to hold on. Which didn’t appease her at all. “Please, Aunt Kim!” she said with a little more urgency.
“Kimmie, listen very carefully. You have to engage protocol dormitory.” Kimberly went white. “Kim? Kimberly!”
Kim blinked several times very lightly and said in a manic monotone that alarmed every single person in that room, “How do you know about protocol dormitory?”
“Shane told me to tell you to do it.”
“He’s on assignment.” Kimberly’s tone gave Kayla a new reason to be alarmed. She knew that tone, and it was not good.
“I know. He … I just got off the phone with him. We … I’m … we’re his assignment.”
Feelings that had laid peacefully dormant beneath the surface now awakened, and she struggled not to give in to them, because she had three children here that were relying on her. “You? Are Shane’s ISA assignment?”
Too late for secrets now. “We are. Me and Steve.”
Phillip watched as the rest of the color drained out of his wife’s face. “You’d better give me the phone, Kim,” he said.
“Please lemme talk to Mama!” Stephanie begged with her clasped hands beneath her chin.
“Shh!” She said to them all as Andrew came back into the room. It was a very rare tone out of her, and every one of them responded with the silence she demanded. Even Jeannie. Phillip turned off the TV and watched his wife, because he didn’t like where this was going. And, frankly, he was kind of sick of it.
“Kimberly, please, you just have to do it, protocol dormitory. I know you don’t understand but—”
“Damn straight, Kay, I sure don’t understand. Now, you tell me what is going on right this minute. I mean it.”
“I will, I promise. But Shane said you’d know what to do right away. It can’t wait. You have to go now! To the—”
“I know where to go.”
“First let me talk to Stephanie,” Kayla said as she darted her head left and right at the bank of payphones. Plenty of people were in the immediate vicinity, but none of them appeared to be of concern.
“Yeah, sure,” she blinked some more, “of course …” Kim let her voice trail off as she handed the phone to Stephanie, who grabbed it. Jeannie, meanwhile was less than pleased with this interruption and started nagging that she wanted to finish the movie.
“Mama, what’s wrong?!”
Kayla closed her eyes to the sound of her daughter’s voice, a little relief washing over her. She’d tried so hard to prevent this conversation from ever happening, but it was here now, and there was no way around it. “Baby Girl, listen, something has happened.”
Stephanie’s voice got very tight, and she whispered, “Is it Papa?”
Kayla swallowed hard and knew she couldn’t force this burden onto her child. It was hard enough for a ten-year-old to keep the secret in the first place, but now that her safety was threatened, it was going to be too much. Something was going to have to give. “Yes, baby. It is.” Stephanie started to cry right away, and Kayla couldn’t help but tear up at her daughter’s fear. Kimberly tried to console her niece, but Stephanie wasn’t having it and leaned out of her grasp. “But listen, shh, shh, shh. It’s going to be ok, you hear me? You just do what your Aunt Kim and Uncle Phillip say, and everything is going to be ok.”
“But Papa’s work …” Kimberly heard this and was not as perplexed as she should have been. She was an extremely intelligent and observant person, and she’d known for weeks that something was off with her sister. Now she was connecting dots and making all kinds of jumps in her head to insane conclusions. Most of them accurate.
“You don’t worry about Papa’s work, Stephanie. I promise.” Kayla had no idea if she was going to be able to keep it or not but she made it, anyway. “Now, I know this is going to be scary, but you’re with your family, they love you. You’re going to go hide in a secret room in their house.” Stephanie was sobbing now. Kimberly slid down the couch onto the floor to hold her, and this time Stephanie let her. Kayla couldn’t help it, the sound of her daughter crying made Kayla do the same. “You’re ok, Baby Girl,” she cried. “I promise, you’re ok.” Stephanie nodded. “Do what your aunt and uncle say, ok?”
“Ok,” she sobbed.
“I love you, Stephanie!”
“I love you, too!”
Kimberly was holding Stephanie, so Phillip took the phone. She told him briefly that they were in danger from Stefano Dimera and that they had to go to the panic room. Without another word, he looked up at Andrew and said, “protocol dormitory.” Andrew nodded and took his suddenly silent sister’s hand. She followed his lead without question, and then he gathered up his cousin from her spot on the floor and took them, the Barbie, and the stuffed dog to the reinforced, secret room off Phillip’s study. Phillip gave the phone back to Kim and told her to make it quick.
“Looks like you’ve got a hell of a story to tell me,” Kim said, her tone very neutral.
“I will, Kim. I promise, I’ll tell you everything. Please just stay safe.”
“We will. I know what to do.”
“Kimmie …”
“I know, Kay.” She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Phillip was nervous as hell and wanted this conversation over so they could get to the panic room. “I know,” she repeated, feeling a little more centered. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep all of us safe. What about you? And …?”
“A team is coming for me.”
“Kim! We have to go!” Her question about the man who’d died ten years ago would be left unsaid, but Kayla heard it, anyway, loud and clear.
“Keep my baby safe, Kimmie.”
“I promise.” It was the last thing she said, and the only thing she’d said with absolute conviction. Because of this there was no doubt. She loved her niece, and she wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. Then Kim hung up. Kayla kept holding on to the phone until the dead line engaged its fast busy signal, and she finally placed the black handset back onto the chrome cradle.
Kayla felt sick. She remembered what Emily sounded like the night they’d jumped away from her. Her uncontrollable sobbing. Her cries for her parents not to leave. Because she was sure that’s what they were – her little girl’s innate knowledge that she’d never see them again. Kayla felt that same panic in her older daughter. She made a promise to herself that Stephanie would be ok. And she chose to believe it. Because if she didn’t she’d go mad.
“Name!”
“Stockton!”
The doctor leaned all his weight into the forearm he had across Steve’s neck, much freer to engage his subject in the quiet corridor than in the staffed kitchen. “You don’t actually believe the words you’re saying! Why? Where is your conditioning?!” He white knuckled the Tarot card until it crushed into a contorted mess in his fingers.
“That thing’s never gonna pass muster at the poker tables!” Steve gasped. “Just let the thing go and take me away! You don’t need Plan B, I’m right here!”
“Comply! Comply!”
It was the greatest show of emotion he’d displayed as far as Steve could recollect. All he could do was stare at the doctor, and the genuine look of confusion on his face incensed the man. “Comply!”
Just then his handler’s phone beeped. He pocketed the card and answered the cell phone, then he nodded at whatever his enforcer had just said. “Where …?” Steve couldn’t hear a thing on the other end. “And the girl?”
“You don’t touch my family!” The doctor leaned more heavily into Steve’s windpipe, cutting off most of Steve’s air. Their eyes connected, and in that moment, he saw the horror of what this madman was about to say. And Steve had to go for broke, because his family’s lives hung in the balance. Steve kneed his handler in the balls, and the man fell to his knees. Grunting in pain he wasn’t prepared for, he managed to hold on to the phone. Steve kicked at his head, but he was still gasping for breath and wasn’t fast enough. The handler focused his mind away from the sharp throbbing, essentially preventing any further pain signals from reaching his brain. Then he rolled into a backward sommersault, and quickly came into a position on one knee. Steve came at him again, but he stopped short when he saw the gun his handler now pointed at him.
“You don’t want to do this,” Steve rasped with just enough venom to the plea to lace a promise beneath it.
“Oh,” he breathed heavily, the only betrayal of any effort on his part at all, “but I do.” Steve was ready to attack, his arms out at his sides with clenched fists. But then the man said the words into the phone that made Steve’s blood run cold. “Engage Plan B.”
“NO!!!” Steve brayed with every ounce of hate in his body.
The doctor rose in a fluid and controlled motion, walked up to his subject, and put the barrel of the gun right up to Steve’s forehead. “Right now.”
Kayla wrung her hands nervously as she paced by the payphones. She had to stay clear-headed and refused to yield to her anxiety, so she put all of it into working her hands and pacing it off. She looked up constantly, searching for signs of kitchen staff. Or Stefano’s staff. Maybe both. Either way, she was finally extremely focused and ready for them. What found her, however, she wasn’t ready for at all. It was, in fact, the very last thing she needed.
“Kayla.” Sam had turned Kayla around quickly by one shoulder and leaned her up against the bank of phones. It was roughly sloppy and took Kayla completely by surprise. She yelped and nearly struck him.
“Jesus, Sam!”
“I wan’choo t’know … I’m not g’ving up.” The scotch on his breath was very strong, and he was clearly very drunk now.
“Sam, leave!” She pushed back on his chest to rather easily get him to step back from her. “You cannot be here”
“You promised t’gimme a chance,” he slurred, stepping back into her, his arm up beside her head against the phone.
She pushed him back again, and his arm dropped heavily. He was so intoxicated she wasn’t sure how he was still standing. She could easily take him in a fight at this rate, and if she could, then there was no question he’d be collateral damage if Stefano’s men found them. “You don’t understand,” she insisted. She got up on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder. “I cannot babysit you right now. Now trust me, and go!” she growled.
“Babysit?” Sam was drunkenly offended. “I think’iss time I showed you that I’m not a boy. I’m not yer boss anymore, either,” he said thoughtfully holding up a finger like it was a new revelation, “… I think … I’m a man.” This time when he kissed her his lips missed the mark, wetly connecting with the corner of her mouth. He sighed her name as she tore her face away, and he finally fulfilled the very action that had ended badly at this party last time she lived it and fondled her right breast. This hit its mark quite adeptly, and Kayla had now had enough of this goddamned party in this goddamned timeline under these goddamned circumstances with Sam’s goddamned lips on her neck.
“Sam, stop!”
And out of nowhere, he reeled backwards and spun around. The next thing she knew Sam was collapsed in a heap at her feet.
Kayla looked up, and she could barely believe it. Steve was standing in front of her. It happened so fast that she was only just now registering the hard left hook he’d connected to her boss’s jaw. “She said stop,” Steve spat down at him.
Kayla was almost too shocked to move. “Steve?” She was afraid if she breathed wrong that he’d disappear. That it wouldn’t be real.
He nodded in absurd confirmation, because obviously it was him. Then he stepped over Sam and pulled Kayla desperately into his arms. “Sweetness!” He barely held back the tears of relief stinging at his eye. “God, baby … baby!”
“Steve! You got away! Thank God!”
They held each other so tightly and never wanted to let go. They both thought the other was lost, dead, or about to be, and now they weren’t. For this moment, they had no more words and simply held each other in a bubble of immense love and relief.
“Did they hurt you?”
“Sam?”
“Anyone, baby. Did any of ‘em hurt you?”
Just you. Kayla’s heart sank as the internal dialogue flared through her. It came from deep inside where she’d pushed it when he’d left her on the dance floor. She didn’t want to leave the bubble of their reunion, so she pushed it back down so she could stay in the bubble a little longer. Then she shook her head no. “I’m ok,” she said softly. Steve thanked God. “What about you?”
“I’m ok, too,” he sighed as he rubbed his cheek against her hair. He wanted to kiss her, but he couldn’t let go of her to do it. Which was good, because Kayla was barely able to keep her footing. The incredible rush of emotions were spreading through her faster than her body could accommodate.
“I can’t believe you’re here. That you’re ok.” Her teary voice was muffled, so Steve finally pulled away from her enough to take her palm in his hand and place it up against his cheek.
“I am, baby. It’s really me. Your Patchman.” Kayla felt his cheek in her hand and curled her fingers into the side of his face. She smiled, laid her head against his solid chest, and burrowed against him with intensity as she continued to hold him tight; It felt so good he almost couldn’t take it. “I thought I was too late this time, baby. I really did.”
Kayla understood that there were things he was going to have to explain to her, but for now she took a breath and started with the basics. “How did you get away?”
“I had some help.”
“Huh?” She looked up, and a busboy had just run up to join them.
“Cavalry, baby. I believe you know Captain Mark Chase.” An ironic relief ran through Kayla, and she felt so oddly grateful to Shane for not putting him on the team in Tuscany. This time he’d live to see his daughters grow up. For as long as the timeline lasted, anyway.
“We haven’t met, ma’am, I work with Colonel Donovan.” She kept the fact that this was not, actually, their first meeting to herself and simply nodded. “I run the taskforce for this case. I’m sorry to break this up, but we need to get you and Mr. Johnson to safety.”
Kayla’s pulse began racing anew. “Your handler?!”
“He’s not the problem,” Steve said.
“Oh, God, Stephanie!”
“She’s fine, ma’am, I’m in contact with the panic room, there are agents at the home right now awaiting word from Italy.”
Kayla’s head was swimming. “Italy? Right … ok, then … then why? I—I thought Shane—and Sam needs—”
“Colonel Donovan sent orders to get you to a safehouse immediately. I’ll have my men take care of Dr. Granger. But we must go right now, I’ll explain on the way.”
Captain Chase ushered Steve and Kayla down the hall and back into kitchen Steve would just as soon forget. They then stepped into the service corridor where four members the kitchen staff greeted them. Only they weren’t staff, they were ISA agents. It wasn’t until she saw the white-haired nightmare splayed out on the floor with the back of his skull blown off that Kayla jumped out of her skin. “Oh my God!”
Steve looked down at the man in disgust. “That’s four.”
“You killed him?” Steve nodded gravely. She wasn’t surprised.
“I’m not sorry.”
Kayla held his gaze, then took his hand in both of hers and said softly, “Neither am I.”
Captain Chase and two agents escorted them very quickly to the service elevator. They entered holding hands, but by the time the doors opened on the 9th floor, they no longer were, and the air had cooled between them. Steve looked at his wife, but she was purposely not looking back. He didn’t know why the air had become so frosty between them, but it had, and it seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Kayla felt it when Steve noticed, but she couldn’t bring herself to appease him. Because the plain fact of the matter was that she was mad, and now she couldn’t get back in the bubble, much as she was desperate to stay. Steve called her name softly, but she looked away. Steve put his hands on his hips and stared up at the digital display for the remainder of the slow ride up the freight shaft.
Neither of them were happy when they exited the elevator, and Kayla was even more unhappy to crawl onto the room service cart. “Is this really necessary?” she asked.
“Yes, it is. Those men are still out there with orders to kill you. Just because that freak is dead doesn’t mean they don’t still answer to Dimera.”
“If you’ll both just get in a cart, I’ll debrief you when we get to the safehouse.”
“No, tell me now,” she insisted. “You—you went with them, and you got away?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Don’t play with me, Steve!”
“I’m not playin’! I made it real clear. Told him everything he wanted to know, but he put the hit out on you, anyway!”
This was going nowhere, and Captain Chase wanted to get them out of there. “Dr. Johnson, I was notified to get you to safety and retrieve your husband. I did that, and here we are.”
“But how did he get away?”
“Jesus, Kayla, just get in the damned cart!”
“To go where?!”
“It’s a room, ma’am.”
“They’re havin’ us hole up in style until they take down Dimera.”
“God, it just doesn’t end.” Kayla took a deep breath, smoothed out the front of her dress, and climbed under the cart. Once concealed, Steve did the same in a separate one, and the two agents dressed as staff followed their boss’s lead to the room at the end of the hallway. They went through all the regular motions of knocking on the door, identifying themselves as Room Service, and then entering. Once inside, Steve and Kayla crawled out, and they were stunned.
This wasn’t a room, it was a one-bedroom suite. It was not at all what they were expecting, and it was beautiful. The neutral carpet had a simple but elegant, inlaid, vine pattern that went strikingly with the offsetting floral line drawings adorning the warm, tan-colored walls. Sage green furniture held fluffy pillows with leafy silhouettes in a pretty lavender hue, and the wet bar was fully stocked. A large-screen television sat on the long console table opposite the couch, and a well-appointed desk sat in front of the drawn curtains over the floor-to-ceiling windows. The bedroom was just as lovely with a wide king bed, dresser and TV of its own, plus master bath, and a small terrace where the curtains were also drawn. There was also another bathroom and very small kitchenette, which the agents were now stocking with the food brought in on the carts Steve and Kayla rolled in on.
“Please sit so I can debrief you,” Captain Chase said. Steve tried to take Kayla’s hand as they settled into the cushions, but Kayla wasn’t having it. Her anger was too acute right now. Steve settled for smoothing out her dress and muddled through it with equal parts denial, frustration, and a brave face for Mark Chase.
In the next 20 minutes the ISA agent broke the news that the team assigned to the safehouse on Kayla’s block had been killed. This was news to both of them, and the shock was enough to ground them in the reality of their situation. This time when Steve went for Kayla’s hand she took it. They were terrified for Stephanie’s safety, and Mark assured them that all of them were safe in the panic room.
“How do you know?” Steve pushed. “Three ISA agents are dead, because these guys aren’t the bumbling fools they look like. If they can get to them, you think they can’t get to Donovan’s secret room?!”
“Actually, no, I don’t. The agent’s safehouse was just that – a house. The panic room of your sister’s home is a reinforced set of rooms that can house ten for a month. They have closed circuit cameras of every room in the house, plus the grounds, and there’s plenty of contact with us on the outside. No one’s getting in there.”
Steve was not convinced. Neither was Kayla, but she let Steve do the talking on that. Neither of them doubted that Shane could protect their daughter, especially when his own children were with her, but they both would have felt better if they were all together. But Mark was very convincing, explaining that if an earthquake hit, the house might go down, but that room would remain standing, and that the only thing bringing it down would be C-4 explosives. Steve and Kayla looked at each other and silently admitted that she sounded a lot safer than they did.
“Yeah … ok. So, I guess Double-0-Donovan did good there,” Steve relented. But Kayla still didn’t understand why if she couldn’t come to them why they couldn’t go to her.
“Because exposure is too high a risk. You will stay here in this suite until Stefano Dimera is neutralized, and she and the Collier family will have to reside in the panic room. You can talk to her anytime you want, there’s a secured, dedicated landline to the suite of rooms.” They acquiesced, but they did not like it.
“What about the doctor?” Kayla asked.
“The gun had a silencer, ma’am, the cleaners are working as we speak.”
Kayla gaped. “The cleaners? That’s a thing? An actual, real thing?”
“Yes, it is, Dr. Johnson. This is the ISA, it’s most certainly a thing.”
“No one’s going to … miss him?” She glanced at Steve, the worry for his potential need to answer for this clear on her face.
“The man doesn’t even have an identity. He’s a known associate of Stefano Dimera, but he’s got no name, no aliases, and no passport to speak of.”
“He’s a f*cking ghost.”
“Aptly put,” Mark admitted. “The local authorities will not be involved.” There was a whole lot of detail left unsaid, and Mark could tell that it was best that he wrap this up and let them say it after he was gone.
Mark assured them that Shane would be taking a team into the compound in very short order, that this incident had only increased the urgency, and that they weren’t likely to be here very long. Until that happened, however, the men dispatched by Stefano would be a threat that forced them, as well as Stephanie and the Colliers to stay in the saferooms. There was a door adjoining Steve and Kayla’s suite to a larger one next door that Mark and the agents protecting them would be occupying until it was over. This one, however, was at the very end of the hall with only one way in and out other than the terrace, which was nine floors up and positioned alone, not surrounded by other balconies.
“Prime real estate,” Steve jibed, but his heart wasn’t really in it.
“There’s a basic change of clothes for both of you for the next three days. It’s the best we could do on short notice. If you need anything else, tell us, and we’ll try to bring it to you. Just knock on the door day or night. We’ll check on you by your cellphones twice a day but will not enter unless we hear signs of a struggle. A good loud scream will do it.”
Just before Mark left, he gave them his phone to call Stephanie with. When Phillip picked up the landline, he was relieved to hear Kayla’s voice. He gave the phone to Stephanie, and she clung to it like a lifeline. She spoke to her mother again, but it was talking to her father that perked her up into unimaginable happiness. She told him how scared she was and said everyone knew he was alive now. She apologized that she’d spilled his secret, but Steve shut her down right away, saying it was ok and that pretty soon everyone would get to know.
“When can we go home?”
“Soon, Little Sweetness. Real soon. Your mama and I have to hide, too.”
“I wanna hide with you!”
“I know, but we can’t just yet.”
“What about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?”
“That nasty old snake is still gonna be there when this is all over, don’t you know that? I guess this means I’m gonna have to double up on chapters to catch up now, doesn’t it?”
“Yes it does.”
Steve laughed, and Kayla couldn’t help but light up at the exchange. She finished up the conversation and knew that there would be a bit of work to do with her sister when this was all over. Right now, though, she was just going to have to get through tonight. Made a little easier with the comforting connection to her daughter.
Before Mark left through the front door, Kayla took his shoulder lightly. “Thank you,” she said. “You can’t know … how grateful we are.”
Mark smiled. “I think I do, actually.” Then he turned to Steve and shook his hand.
“Thanks, man. It’s the second time you saved my life.”
“I think your math is a little fuzzy,” he chuckled. Steve chose not to correct him as he quietly closed the door behind him.
Now Steve and Kayla were alone for the first time since this whole thing began. It wasn’t just cold in the room, it was like the air had been charged with negative particles. So Steve went with his go-to move and joked.
“Well, you heard the man, Sweetness. Gonna have to keep those screams of pleasure to yourself or they’ll bust in here.” Kayla didn’t so much as crack a smile. She didn’t look at him, either. She did, however, cross her arms and turn away with a click of her tongue. “You gonna tell me what’s goin’ on in that head of yours, or do I keep gettin’ the silent treatment?”
Kayla knew on some level she was being unfair. But she also knew that after all the work they’d done to get over the distrust and anger of the horrible, lonely jumps before this one, that he had done exactly what he’d promised he’d never do again. He left her. Literally walked away from her and left her. Again. Now she was conflicted. All she wanted was to get him back, and now that he was standing in front of her she was so angry that she couldn’t look at him.
“Fine. I’ll just grab myself a beer from the free minibar and watch the ball drop. Should be real exciting.”
“Sure, you just go right ahead and do that.”
“Oh, so you’re talkin’ to me then?” He opened the bottle of Corona and kicked it back, then he plopped down onto the couch, lazily laid his right arm across the back of it, and took another good, long swig.
“Apparently, not, you’re having a beer and watching the year go by.”
Steve swallowed and cocked his head at her. “So now you’re mad about that, too? You’re the one who wouldn’t talk. What else am I supposed to do in this shoebox? Have beer, will drink.” He couldn’t help his attitude, he was mad at her for being mad at him.
“It’s the biggest room we’ve ever stayed in, Steve, it’s hardly a shoebox.”
“Then talk to me, goddammit.”
“Why did you have to hit Sam?!”
“Are you serious?! He was groping you right in front of me!”
“You never could control your jealousy,” she spat.
“Jealously? That’s what you think this was about, you think I’m jealous of that asshole?!”
“Don’t try to deny it, you hate him hitting on me!”
“Yeah, I do! But that there was him puttin’ his body all over you while you were sayin’ no, Kayla! And I’m real damned offended that you’d think it might be anything else! What did you want me to do, help him?!”
“I had it under control.” Steve smirked and quickly drained half the bottle of beer. “I did! I stopped him at the first party, I was just getting ready to do the same here before you went and beat him up!”
“Get real, Kayla, I laid one punch on him, and he went down!”
“Exactly!”
Steve’s face was twisted into angry confusion. “I don’t know why you’re trying so hard to pick a fight with me, I’m just happy you’re alive!”
“So, that’s what this is really all about, then? Saving my life?” she threw at him like an accusation.
Steve was incredulous. “Yes! What did you think it was about, the after-Christmas sales?!”
“Stop joking! I don’t want to hear your jokes or your one-liners!
“Who’s joking?” He stood up, abandoning his beer on the coffee table. “I’m serious as a heart attack, baby. I don’t got a clue what you wanna hear, ‘cause you sure as hell don’t wanna hear anything I’m sayin’!”
“I want to know why! Why you left me! After you promised not to!”
“To save your life! To save Stephanie’s life!
“No! No, you made a promise! A vow!”
“Keep your voice down or they’re gonna barrel in here!”
“Fine, let them!”
As luck would have it, they really were going to have to scream before these walls would allow their voices to carry.
“You calm the f*ck down! Right now!”
“You first!”
“I’m not the one who started this, baby. The higher that elevator went the lower the temperature dropped. You’ve been mad since before we even got it it.
“Yeah! Because you promised to be my anchor!
“I am!”
“But you left me again! After all that stuff we managed to get through you went and did it again! After you promised you wouldn’t!”
“You’re full of shit, Kayla!” He’d never once said anything like this to her, and it actually hurt him to hear himself say it. To feel the anger of it. To see her wounded reaction to it. Because she did react. And she was wounded.
“Oh my God.”
“I didn’t check out! I didn’t slip into some kind of denial! I was makin’ sure you lived! He wanted to kill you, and even dead, he still does!”
“Dammit, Steve, I’m tired of that argument! It’s always something. There’s always some reason you have to make a decision to leave me for my own good but doesn’t include me in the decision!”
“You were standin’ right there!”
“And I begged you not to go!”
Steve pumped his jaw, he was absolutely livid and didn’t know what the hell to do with all this anger for Kayla that he’d never felt before. It had never happened. This much negative feeling for her. He had to get out of there, but he couldn’t.
Steve got up and paced. He wanted to go to the window, but they were under specific instructions not to go outside or open the drapes, so it just incensed him more. Instead he went to the bar, opened a bottle of tequila, and took a swig right from the bottle.
Kayla laughed, but it was not a good sound. “You are so consistent.” Steve threw her an annoyed look. “Chicago,” she clarified.
“Oh. You mean stuff you did without me there to do them with? Decisions you made?”
“That’s not the same.” .
“Bullshit.”
Kayla’s eyes flared. Her mascara had fallen heavily beneath her lashline, and she was pretty much a mess. She made it worse when she rubbed at her eyes with the palms of her hands so she wouldn’t have to look at him or anything else for just a few moments in an effort to try to calm down. Finally, she took the tequila bottle from Steve’s hand and took a swig of it, herself. She tried not to react, but the burn hit her throat, and it showed in her face.
“Don’t you wanna know if there’s a worm in it?”
“There’s not. Those only come in the expensive stuff.” She chose not to clarify that he’s the one that told her so before the arrival of his full presence.
“And that’s why it burned when it went down. Too bad, I hear they’re an aphrodisiac.”
“Just shut up.”
“You first,” he angrily parroted back to her.
She took a deep breath. “Fine,” she snapped and sat down heavily in the chair, the fabric of her dress rustling.
“Fine,” he snapped right back. Steve really couldn’t think of a time he was this angry with her. How could she not see? How?
“So … Just … What happened after you went with them? ” Steve remained silent as he stared down at her. Nothing he said would be good enough for her, so why bother. After several beats she prompted him. “So … you got away?”
“Disappointed?”
Red hot fire scorched up Kayla’s back and lit her eyes into ice blue fire. “How dare you,” she barely breathed. Steve knew it was bad, and he regretted it the second he said it, but he couldn’t help himself, he was just as angry with her for not understanding as she was with him for going with them. Kayla stood up now and met his eye with her own “How dare you say something so horrible to me. How is it in you to even think it?”
“How is it even in you to question why I’d want to keep you alive?”
“That’s not what I’m doing!”
Kayla brushed past him to escape to the bedroom, but he didn’t let her, turning her hard by her arm back to face him. “Like hell it isn’t.”
“I was right there. But you made that decision without me! You just … left with them!”
“Goddamned right, Kayla, I did. I left with them. Because they would have killed you right there in front of me. In front of everyone at that party. And if they all got shot dead in the process, Dimera would just send hitmen after more people I love until they were dead, too. He’d pony up one pawn after another before he got his checkmate, and you f*cking know it. So, yeah, I went with them. And I stalled as much as I could to keep myself in the building. Somehow find a way to escape, and get back to you. Did you ever think maybe I was tryin’ to do that? Huh? You ever think maybe I know what the f*ck I’m doin’? After all these years? Maybe I do know best.”
“Jesus, you’re so arrogant! You know best, you always know best.”
“About what might or might not kill you? Yes, I do!”
“Stop it!”
“No!” he advanced on her. “No, ‘cause you know what else? I’m gonna do it again.”
“You stop!”
“I’m not gonna stop, Kayla! I am gonna leave you again!” Kayla slapped him with her left hand. It was hard, and Steve took it before rubbing at it with his fingers. Then he got an arrogant look on his face and boldly went on. “That’s what you think it is, right? Leaving you? Not keeping you alive, it’s leaving you? So, you just better get used to it, because I’ll do it again. Then again after that!” She slapped him again, and this time she started to cry when she saw him allow her hand to make the hard contact a second time. He was letting her hurt him, and that only made it worse.
“You stop saying that!”
“And I’m gonna do it whether you like it or not,” he ignored her. “Because I know exactly what we vowed to each other at all of our weddings, and the one you seem to have forgotten is that I would die for you!
“No!” she cried. She tried to swat at him again, but this time he dodged her.
“Walkin’ away from you is a fate a lot worse than dyin’, Kayla. So, if that’s what it takes, then that won’t be the last time! I’ll do it again and again! If that’s what it takes to keep you breathing, then that’s a promise I’ll be breaking, over and over again!” She swatted ineffectually at him and kept doing it even as he grabbed her by the shoulders, practically lifting her as he backed her up through the bedroom doorway with more promises of abandonment for her own good. Now she was backed up all the way to the narrow band of wall separating the bedroom from the master bath.
“What about me?!” she sobbed. “Why do the decisions about what’s for my own good fall to you? What about what I think about your own good, huh? What about me?!”
“God, how can you not get it?! Everything I do is for you! About you! Because I love you!”
They were both breathing heavily. Kayla was sobbing, and now Steve was crying, too. He didn’t know what to do with the anger, it was burning like fire against his soul. But he took Kayla’s hand and placed it against his right cheek; because even amidst the anger – because of it – he desperately needed her touch. He held her palm to him until she finally started stroking her thumb against his face. It was a small show of tenderness, but they were no less furious. They’d both chipped away at each other’s arguments enough to make them think, but neither of them were willing to yield. They felt so far apart from each other and were out of words to express themselves. Their souls screamed out to one another, shrouding them in an overwhelming need to forge a connection like they’d been starving for a month.
Steve crushed his lips to Kayla’s in a frantic kiss, and she clutched onto him with a grasp that was desperate. The fury burned so hot within them that they felt empty inside. They knew they loved each other but couldn’t help how insecure it left them. They couldn’t just know the love, they had to feel it.
Kayla was the first to pull roughly at Steve’s belt. He let her as he lifted her skirt and pulled down the bit of lace she was wearing beneath. Kayla whimpered with effort as Steve helped her push down his jeans enough to free his steel erection. Then he reached both arms back under the slight layer of crinoline that made the skirt flare so prettily, lifted her up by her thighs so that her ass sat in his palms, and leaned Kayla against the wall as he thrust hard into her. Kayla gasped, and Steve wasted no time as he began pumping. The wall behind her and Steve’s arms supporting her made it easy for Kayla to meet each of his thrusts just as forcefully. The angle missed her clitoris, but his penetration was deep and stroked hard against her g-spot. But this coupling wasn’t sexual, it was based in pure and crushing, emotional need.
Anger fueled them, their hips working each other fast and furiously. They both grunted, shared needy kisses, and gripped each other tightly as their climaxes built. The full length mirror on the open bathroom door reflected their actions, but they didn’t watch; it’s not what they were here for. It didn’t take long for Steve to come hard without warning. Kayla saw it in his face rather than felt it, and the deep intimacy of watching him come finally forged a connection through all that fury. Kayla’s climax wasn’t as intense, but when Steve saw her face reflect that very momentary pleasure as her body jerked against him, he realized it wasn’t enough. He still felt far too far away from her. They were fragile, and he didn’t know what to do about it.
“I love you.” Kayla’s voice was small. “It happened so fast I didn’t get to say it.”
“Sweetness.” A single tear fell down his right cheek that was now red from where Kayla had slapped it twice. She placed her lips on it tenderly. “I love you, too.”
Steve stepped back and sat them down on the padded bench that sat in a recessed nook opposite the wall. Kayla’s dress covered their joined hips. They looked at each other for what seemed like a long time. Trying to hang on to their connection and heal this terrible rift between them. But they were going to need more time.
Kayla slowly lifted up off of her husband, and Steve let her. “Are you sorry we did that?” Steve asked.
Kayla shook her head. “No.” Then she leaned back against the wall her husband had just taken her against and didn’t look him in the eye.
“Neither am I.” Then Steve crossed his arms and looked up and away from her.
Without another word, Kayla turned and went into the master bathroom, and shut the door. Steve headed back for the other bathroom and closed his door, as well. They cleaned themselves up, they cried, and they were miserable.