A week later, to the surprise of neither of them, Steve and Kayla were still there. They’d learned by now that there was no telling if a jump was going to be brief or not, so while they were fully prepared to do it, when they didn’t they weren’t shocked.
As planned, they quietly layed low, but it was a little harder to go through the motions than they usually did, because they remembered this time in their lives so well, and this change was so utterly profound that they weren’t even sure what those motions should be now. All of this was a little easier on Kayla than it was on Steve, because she had the Emergency Center. That didn’t change. It was comfortable and easy and gave her something to focus on that she didn’t’ have to guess at. She followed her schedule and did the job she knew so well: medical care. The difference for her, and a welcome one at that, was no longer being at Jack’s beck and call. There was no longer any harping from the nurses’s station outside of his room every time there was a shift change that Jack was asking for her. After the rumble with Angelica, she didn’t go near Kayla and, instead, kept constant vigil over Jack; as far as she was concerned, once you slept with dogs you might bring the next one fleas, so she was fine to be rid of Kayla Brady. That meant her phone wasn’t ringing off the hook from the woman that a new crisis would be averted if only she made sure to come immediately. And, of coruse, the angst of just what went wrong with Steve that night didn’t consume her this time. She had to admit, she missed having him there to help with the patients and be his very Steve self with them. But she did very much enjoy Dr. Curtis and Dr. Windsor; she was much more careful this time to be just a nurse … mostly. Steve was utterly jealous when she told him that she got to work with his favorite punching bag and vowed that he’d show up to harass Dr. Brad that week. Which he did. It amazed her that the young doctor had no idea that he’d matched wits with Steve once before, yet he reacted pretty much the same way. And it wasn’t just fun for Kayla, it was Adrienne who got the biggest kick out of it. And it was a very special thing for Kayla to spend this time with her sister-in-law at this time in her life, too. Overall, it was a very low stress week of doing her job, coming home, and basking in being with her husband.
As for Steve, he had to invent a little bit more. Pushing Kayla toward his brother was a full time job back then, and now that he wasn’t doing that, he had a lot more time on his hands. That also meant that he was no longer sneaking around the hospital trying to get snatches of time with Jack when he was in-and-out-of-lucidness, and he didn’t even want to. He couldn’t help his concern, because he remembered how sick Jack really was at this moment, but he was so far removed from the new reverence for having found his baby brother – and there was so much history between them – that there was no impetus to be near him in that way, plus there was no question that Jack was going to pull through. There was also the added bit of new road to travel in that he wasn’t working undercover for the ISA anymore. That left Steve with a lot of time on his hands.
The first thing Steve did was visit his mother at the Curtis house. When he saw her his heart leapt. It was a bittersweet novelty, just like all the other times he’d seen her since they’d started jumping, though it had been months since the last time when she and Adrienne were fussing over him at the hospital after the lab explosion. She had her bright, blonde hair up in the French twist she’d worn for years and wore the black and white maid’s uniform that always bothered him. He hated seeing her put in subservient positions, but he remembered very quickly that she loved working for Neil Curtis and that he was good to her for a long time.
She was an absolute wreck over just having realized that the young man that had been living in the Curtis house, that she’d liked so much and had been maternally drawn to, was her actual son she’d given up for adoption. And that he was dying. So, when she saw Steve she grabbed on to him like a life preserver. Steve had to get past the happiness of seeing her quickly so that he could calm her down. Only that shot up her red flags real fast. Her neck suddenly snapped up to his fast and did a double take in the middle of what would have been a never-ending string of verbal panic. “Steven Earl,” she said with wide, scrutinizing eyes, “what’s gotten into you?”
“Mama,” he said mildly, “I want you to put the feather duster down and let me take you to lunch. We’re gonna have a nice talk.” Calling her “Mama” always got her attention, and he had very little problem getting her to listen. Her couldn’t manage to avoid her shock, however, when he explained that he knew all about this, backstory and all. When she demanded to know how he’d come by it, he didn’t have a great explanation and gave her a song and dance that somehow managed to appease her. Which was a miracle, because Jo was almost as good at seeing through his double talk and artful evasion as Kayla was. He assured her that Jack was going to be just fine and encouraged her to go visit and be his friend. Get him very used to having her around so that she could tell him later, and maybe it would go better this time than it did last time, especially since Jack would be able to process it without all the other very difficult things that came with the first timeline to contend with at the same time. Jo thought that was nuts. After all these years? With a father like Senator Deveraux?
“Trust me, Mama, Senator Deveraux is the worst kind of scum. Pretty soon Jack’s gonna need a mama, and I’m not talkin’ about Angelica.”
“Steven, what the hell are you talking about? If you’ve got something you’re trying to say, then just say it!”
Steve huffed out a laugh. “The women in my life are all alike, you know that? Fiery.” Jo crossed her arms and pursed her lips in direct proportion to the flaring of her eyes with that remark, so Steve backed off and gave his mother a hug. “Wouldja just listen to me, Jo,” he used his mother’s first name to try to fit more with the Steve she was expecting. He continued to be sufficiently vague, much as his mother kept at him to fess up, and eventually he just said, “Mama, I’m done talkin’ about this, here, you’re just gonna have to trust me. I know what I’m talkin’ about.” It took quite some time to get his mother to let herself believe that it could possibly work out, but eventually she started getting there.
Steve’s heart broke a little whenever she reacted to being called “Mama” instead of “Jo,” and it was in those moments, sitting in the Park Café where he’d taken her to lunch, that he felt most just how much he’d missed her.
Steve was truly so glad to see her that he really didn’t care that it was during one of the biggest Johnson crises of the post-Duke era. He could see that Jo noticed him enjoying her presence and that she was confused by that, but he just couldn’t muster the effort to hide it; he was just happy to see his mother, it was that simple. She was so much older in 2009, and being with her when she was so vibrant was something he didn’t want to give up to being in this destination Steve’s character. He’d already done that sort of thing, it was exhausting, and he just watned to live whatever life he needed to live here while they were here.
Steve also replaced a lot of the time he’d originally spent sneaking in to see his brother with now going to see his sister. Adrienne had adored him her entire life, including before she’d ever met him, and today was no different. When she saw him appear at the Emergency Center, she flew herself into his arms like the world was about to come to an end. He smiled, because she stll did that sometimes, though it had been a while since she and Justin had left for Dubai, and even before that the intensity of her worship had ebbed to the less obvious in her 2009 mid-40’s. But today? In 1987? Her adoration was worn like a medal of honor, pinned to her for everyone to see. And Steve was happy to have it, because he loved her, too. Kayla watched Steve eat it up as he smiled at her over his sister’s shoulder. Kayla’s heart filled at the love that flowed between them. She’d had so much opportunity with her family, but he’d had little to none, so this was a big deal. It brought tears of happiness to her eyes.
Steve was right, Adrienne was upset about some kind of nonsense from Victor, and as usual, Angelica was taunting her at every opportunity, so Steve gave her a pep talk and infused her with the self-worth he knew she had in her. Today Adrienne was a very stable woman, but here just months after their father had taken everything from her, it was still slow going. What a difference this was. The starry eyes when she looked at him wouldn’t ever change, but this girl who was afraid of her own shadow and of letting anyone near her because she thought she’d never be normal, she sure had.
Kayla threw them out at lunchtime and insisted they go spend time together without patients coming in and out. Steve didn’t want Kayla to be alone for lunch, but she said she sees him every night at home and that they could just bring her something back; besides there were a lot of patients, so it’s not like she’d be bored. The siblings both hugged her in appreciation, and Steve swatted her behind, then they headed off for more time with Adrienne.
The most profound change, of course was that they were engaged now, and it was exhilarating. From the moment they shared the memory of Steve’s proposal on the roof, their world felt so in alignment that it was euphoric. Calling Kayla his fiancé for the first time was so exciting for Steve that he wanted to bay at the moon. They had been engaged before, and they’d had two weddings; long, hard roads both times. This wasn’t exactly their first time at the rodeo on engagements. But there was magic in this one that they couldn’t deny. There was a sense of their lives shifting into a rightness that was unmistakeable. There were no obstacles, real or imagined, blocking their way, they could just go ahead and get married without anything hanging over their heads. No one was chasing them, there was no sh*t hitting any fans anywhere, no one was sick, injured, or being beaten up, and no one was trying to break them up, including themselves. Wearing her ring felt comfortable and familiar to Kayla, but it also felt new and exciting. It didn’t make a lot of sense to either of them, but they felt hopeful, like the world was new.
Wanting to get married wasn’t a question, they most definitely did. Willingness to actually invest, however, was something else entirely, because they really did seem to jump each time they’d planned on getting married. But being careful about taking any real actions didn’t diminish their excitement in the least. Setting things right in this timeline felt so very true and just, and the contentment was like a warmth that spread over them both.
The first thing Kayla said when they woke up Thursday morning was, “We’re still here. Now can I call my mom?” Steve was still groggy, so he pulled her against him and nuzzled the back of her neck as he enjoyed the last vestiges of sleep. When he didn’t answer her, she elbowed him in the ribs.
“Aw, come on, baby,” he groaned, “I wanna sleep.”
“That’s not what you usually want to do in the morning,” she teased. Steve smiled and let his hand drift over her naked abdomen to knead her breast.
“Mm, I wanna do that, too, baby.” He felt his cock stir, but before he could feel the sweet pressure of her body against it Kayla turned in his arms.
“When?”
“After I sleep some more.”
“When can we start planning?” She kissed his tattoo, and Steve inhaled the scent of her hair. It was curly and wild from sleep.
“Your bedhead is cute, Sweetness. I used to love that bedhead.” Then Kayla bit his nipple, and Steve let out a little yelp. “Hey, baby!” he playfully protested.
“Don’t change the subject. Now when? When do we get to tell people and start planning?”
“As soon as you wanna jump, baby, make the call to Caroline.” They both laughed, and then without warning, Steve rolled on top of her and began sucking at her neck. Kayla sighed, then wrapped her arms around him, holding his head against her. His lips and tongue weren’t so sleepy anymore, and they were driving Kayla wild.
“I want to give my fiancée something to scream about this morning,” Steve said with a low growl.
“You made me scream last night, I don’t want to fill up my quota.”
That’s when Steve thrust into her hard, taking her breath. “Oh there’s no quota, baby. There’s no limit to how many times I’m gonna make you scream.”
“Promise?” she huffed.
In answer Steve filled his palms with her ass and pounded into her, his steeled cock stoking her hard nub with every thrust. It didn’t take long for her to start crying out in rhythmic moans, evidence that her orgasm was just over the next rise.
“You like that, baby? Does my fiancée like how my cock feels?”
“Yes!” Kayla hissed. “Yes, yes!”
“Don’t come yet! Not yet!” Kayla moaned her protest. “Tell me how my cock feels!”
“So good!” she huffed. “Your cock is so hard! Feels so good, Steve!” She cried out in coital need, and Steve finally couldn’t hold himself back any more than he could hold her.
“Come, Kayla!”
Kayla’s high-pitched cries of badly needed release made Steve arrogant as her orgasm ripped through her. He wore a look of prideful virility as his hot cum poured into her with uninhibited grunts, the carnality splayed across his face. “Mmm!” Steve moaned with each of his final thrusts into her, making sure she took every last bit from him.
They were both panting to catch their breaths entangled in each other when Kayla said, “My fiancé is always horny in the mornings.”
“Kayla, you keep calling me your fiancé, and I’m gonna stay hard and have to keep going at you.”
“That sounds good to me,” she said as she burrowed into him.
“Oh, baby, you’re killin’ me. I need to be inside you again.”
Kayla looked up at him with a sweet smile. “You really like that word, don’t you?” Steve knew what she was referring to and smiled back. “Fiancé.” Steve’s face was tender as he nodded. Indeed, that word meant more than just the excitement they were feeling. It was powerful in this jump. It represented the way things were supposed to be. Before he’d ruined it all. Nearly ruined them forever. It represented the marriage they were supposed to have together instead of the terrible mistake of one Kayla had with Jack.
“I’m your husband, Sweetness, that won’t change.” Then Steve lowered his voice and ran his knuckle down Kayla’s cheek. “But being your fiancé on this jump is everything to me. It means so much more than just being engaged. I don’t want it to end yet.”
“Steve …” she uttered his name tenderly and kissed him with such sweet, loving lips.
“I want to marry you right away, Kayla. I don’t want to wait.”
Kayla smiled. “I do, too,” she replied.
“Do you wanna do what we planned on before we jumped? Your folks’ church? Or do you want something else?”
“I want to do whatever it takes, I don’t need fancy. I will cherish our two weddings until the day I die, we don’t need to live up to those. I’d be happy at the courthouse like we were going to do that first time we talked about it.”
Steve thought about that, but this time he shook his head. “Let’s do it right. It doesn’t have to be big, but we should do it somewhere beautiful. Not the courthouse.”
“I wish we could do it in our house. That’s a memory I don’t mind replacing.” Steve gave her a sad look, then kissed her. “Actually, forget where for now, when?”
They quickly ran down all the conflicts, including the hearing next week, and Adrienne’s wedding in November, which they assumed would still be happening, neither one of them were sure if this timeline was on track for that or not, so they just assumed it was.
“Yeah, but November? I’m not waiting ‘til November, we’re not going to be here that long,” Kayla said. Then she added quickly before Steve could say anything, “And don’t say, ‘then why bother,’ ‘cause I want to bother!”
“Ok, baby, calm down, now, I wasn’t gonna say that. He pulled her in to snuggle against him, and she kissed his nipple. “Stop that, now, we’ll never get this figured out before you’ve gotta go to work.”
“Do I have to?”
“Yeahp.” Kayla made a noise in disappointment. “Ok, I’ve got it, baby. September 5th. It’s a Saturday, and the weather is going to be perfect, we can do it outside somewhere. The park, the beach …”
“The weather’s going to be perfect, huh?” Kayla smiled. “Hell of a memory on you Mr. Johnson.”
Steve was silent for a moment. When he spoke, Kayla was stunned. “I remember that day, Sweetness, because it’s the day you came to my apartment to tell me that Jack had proposed. It was the worst day of my life. At the time. Had a lot more worse days to come, like when I watched you give your vows away to him. The worst day before that was when I’d left you my bed after telling you that we were over. The hurt I was causing you was so bad, baby, I wanted to die. But it was worse that day you came to my door and told me another man wanted to marry you.” Kayla stayed silent this whole time, tears forming in her eyes. “You were beggin’ me to give you a reason not to. You didn’t hear me say I love you as you walked away from me, but—”
Kayla leaned up on her elbow fast, her eyes wide. “You did say it!” Steve matched her stance, so now they were facing each other. “I knew I heard you say you loved me! I—I—I just kept telling myself I wanted to hear it so bad that I was only hearing things, but you said it? You really did?!”
Steve looked down, shame spreading through him. Then he nodded. “Yeah, Sweetness. I said it.”
Hot tears poured down her face as if the pain was fresh and new. Why was she doing this? Why did this time in her life still hurt her so badly? Why? She did forgive him. She was over this. But hearing this detail that she’d not known before ripped her heart open. The moments of heightened emotions that they still didn’t quite realize were a side effect of the jumps were wreaking havoc on her.
“Baby, please don’t cry.”
“Damn you!” She pushed against his chest, pushing him away, but Steve wouln’t let her.
“I’m sorry, Sweetness,” he beseeched her, pulling her against him against her will and laying back down with her. “You know I never stopped loving you. Baby stop, it’s over. We’re fixing it now, you fixed it! It’s ok.”
Kayla quickly stopped fighting and melted into him. “Why does it still hurt?”
“’Cause I’m good at hurting you,” his voice broke. Kayla pressed her body against him and held him fiercely.
“I hurt you back, didn’t I?”
Steve nodded. “I’d never been in more pain the day I watched you say those words to him.”
“I didn’t mean them,” she said softly.
“I know. I knew it then. It’s what made it worse.”
They layed like that through the second hit of the snooze button. Finally Steve took a deep breath. “September 5th. Marry me on September 5th, Sweetness. We’ll erase that day.”
“I don’t want to erase anything.”
“That day we can erase. The whole mistake.”
“Don’t you ever let me marry him again. You crash the wedding if it’s you, and if it’s me I’ll back out of it.”
“No matter what, Kayla. I promise you, it’s not happening again.”
Finally Kayla nodded. “Ok. September 5th.”
“Sweetness, I love you.”
“I love you, too.
So, that night Kayla called up her mom and asked if they could all go out for dinner and that Steve was going to bring Jo and Adrienne along. Caroline had very little opportunity to get to know this man that had her daughter’s heart, so she jumped at this chance. Only instead of going out, she insisted that they all come over to the house for a big dinner.
“A big dinner at the house?” Kayla said into the phone, and Steve’s ears perked up. A Brady family dinner? They both felt a stab of giddiness at the prospect of dinner around that dining room table. Steve very much wanted that and smiled his approval.
“I want chowder,” he whispered. Kayla nodded and asked her mom if there would be chowder, to which Caroline huffed out an “of course.” That’s just about when Steve started distracting her with wet kisses down her neck from beside her on the couch, and she smacked at him to stop.
“Ah … sure, yeah, that would be …” Oh, that felt good … and she stopped smacking at him. “… that would be great, Mom, thaaa … No! No, nothing, I’m fine. I’m just a little distracted, a lot going on at the, uhh,” she reacted to his tongue snaking around her ear, “ummmm, the Emergency Center.” Stop it! Kayla mouthed to her very horny husband. Steve shook his head and licked his lips. “You just got some this morning,” she mouthed with over-enunciation as she covered the phone’s mouthpiece. Only her smile was naughty.
“That was 12 hours ago,” he said like a year had gone by. Then he pushed her gently down from where she’d been sitting, ducked under the cord as he pushed up her nightgown, and began lathing her belly with kisses.
“Kayla, are you alright, dear?” Steve heard Caroline say though the phone, and he smiled as he squeeed her breast.
“Yes! But you know I have to go and call Adrienne, I left something important at the Emergency Center. Thanks for having us for dinner, we’ll see,” Oh my God! “you tomorrow, ok?” Steve’s head had moved north so that his tongue could skim the nipple his fingers had just been sqeezing.
“Alright, be sure Adrienne and Jo come hungry.” Steve stifled a laugh when he heard the word hungry, because he was very hungry right about now. Then he lifted her breast out of her bra and sucked it deep into his mouth. Kayla fought not to gasp.
“Great, Mom, thanks … yeah see you tomorrow ok bye!” She handed the phone to Steve, who released her breast with a hard suck, then placed it on the receiver. When he looked back at his wife her eyes were smoldering with need. “You’re a bad boy, Steve.”
“I dunno, baby, that seemed pretty good to me.”
“I was on with my mother, and you’re there licking me.”
“I like it when you talk about licking.”
“Very bad boy,” she said seductively.
“Oh, that wasn’t bad. Do you wanna see bad?” Kayla nodded as she lifted the nightgown over her head. “How bad do you wanna see bad?”
Kayla removed her underwear, then turned to lay back against the couch. Steve’s pulse quickened to a maddening pace as he watched her lift her left leg, bending it at the knee so that her calf rested againt the back of the couch. Her right leg was still resting on the floor, naturally spreading for him as she let her left arm lay languidly over the top of her head. “Pretty bad,” she moaned. The seductive tone of his 2009 Kayla coming out of the vision of her 1987 mouth made him leak. “Take off that shirt,” Kayla commanded. He stood up, lifted the sleeveless green shirt over his head, and chucked it onto the floor. “Mr. Johnson, what would your mother say about how you throw your clothes around?” Then she let her right hand fondle her own breast. The sweet torture in her husband’s eyes made her wet.
She looked so provocative, Steve couldn’t take it. “You’re not playing fair, Sweetness.” When he unbuttoned his jeans and started to push them down Kayla stopped him.
“I didn’t say you could take those off yet,” she said with a slow burn, then licked her lips as she ran her thumb over her erect nipple. Now Steve’s mouth really began to water.
“Are you trying to play hardball, baby?”
Kayla arched her back, closed her eyes, and moaned as she threw her head to the side. “Mm, you said hard and ball in the same word.” Steve’s mouth opened. This was a very bold Sweetness he had here. He loved it.
Steve advanced on his wife, his thumbs in his waistband, waiting for her to give him the word. “Baby,” he said with the smoothest tone that made Kayla melt, “I need to slide this hard cock inside you or my balls will be screaming pretty soon.”
“Now you can take those off.”
In seconds Steve was naked on top of her. Their lovemaking was hot with lustful words and erotic expressions on their faces. The room filled with their loud cries of physical ecstasy while their souls merged in deeply loving connection.
Steve thrust himself into her, but this position didn’t give him enough penetration. So, he quickly repositioned himself, lifted her right leg off the floor so that it was straight over his shoulder, and entered her again. This time he filled her up. Steve turned his wet lips to the crease of her knee, and it drove Kayla wild.
“Fast! Steve, faster!”
“Faster, baby? You want it faster?”
“Yes!” she whimpered as she met each of his thrusts with her own.
Steve pumped hard, his thrusts missing her clitoris but stroking her g-spot. Suddenly Kayla tensed, her vaginal muscles clenching her husband’s cock. She moaned her release in carnal pleasure, and the sound of her voice made Steve explode. He grunted as each stream shot into her, and he realized not for the first time just how addictive making love to her was, because he knew they would make love again in the morning, too. The aftershocks continued inside of Kayla for several moments after Steve had laid himself down on top of her and let her arms surround him. Their bodies slick with sweat, Steve nuzzled his wife’s breasts, moving his face enough to kiss one in coital fulfillment.
“That was good, baby. That was so good.” Steve sighed and let himself relax.
“Just good,” she said with feigned disappointment.
“Nothing with you is ever just good, Sweetness. You know that.”
Kayla chuckled. “I love you, Steve. So much.”
“I love you, baby.”
The next day Steve had a hell of a day hustling pool at the Cheatin’ Heart, then treaded very familiar ground toward the Emergency Center to hang around and talk with Adrienne while Kayla cleared the place out for the night. Jo arrived, and they all walked to the Brady’s house. Kayla had successfully hidden her ring from Jo on the walk over, so she would be surprised, even if Adrienne wasn’t. She’d already spotted it earlier in the week and about had kittens she was so excited for them. They swore her to secrecy and promised they’d tell everyone very soon.
“Control yourself, baby,” Steve whispered to his sister when she was obviously boiling over with excitement on the walk over. “You need to breathe. Remember how to do that? In and out.”
“OK!” she growled through her toothy smile, her eyes sparkling with adoration for her brother, whose arm she held on to like it was a teddy bear while Kayla walked with Jo. This adoration would live on without waning for their entire lives. He loved his sister as much as she loved him. He realized just how much when she’d risked her own state of mind to bust him out of the mental hospital. It was a time Steve hoped never to jump back into.
When they walked into the house, the intensity of 1979 sense memory washed over them with intense warmth. They both felt it, looked to each other, and smiled as they reached for each other with the private rememberance. It was a bittersweet happiness knowing that even though they were taken out of 1979, much of 1979 could not be so easily taken out of them. They knew they were never going back, and they didn’t pretend that this was an extension of that timeline, but the sense of rightness and belonging was still powerful. When Shawn walked into the room, Kayla’s eyes lit up. “Hi Pop,” she smiled, and Shawn’s clear blue eyes were just as delighted to see her as she was him.
“It’s a wonder to see ye, that Emergency Center keepin’ ye busy all the time! Ye work too hard, that’s what I think.” Kayla chuckled as her mother had her turn for a hug. Then Shawn welcomed Jo and Adrienne, and they were both so very appreciative to be there. Adrienne knew what this night was about, but this was the frist time they’d been invited to Kayla’s family’s home, and her gratitude was written all over her face. She wore a pink bow in her hair like a headband, the perfect picture of innocence.
Steve warmed when he saw Shawn, and his heart went out to him as if he were his own father. The last time he’d seen him Shawn had called him son. But this was not that timeline, and this Shawn cast not fatherly eyes on Steve, but reticent ones. And the lightness in Steve’s heart faltered with disappointment he couldn’t help.
“Steve!” came a big little voice from a spikey-headed kid who came running out of his old bedroom.
“Maxwell!” Steve greeted him with an enthusiasm that wasn’t the least bit forced. He was genuinely overjoyed to see this guy. He’d grown into quite a young man, whom he was very happy to see dating his daughter. But now, looking at him in this very young 7-year-old form with the coolest haircut on the planet, Steve couldn’t help how transported he felt. It was almost as good as holding one of his own children. Not the same by any stretch … but it was close enough to give that paternal feeling inside of him that had been snuffed out for so many months a chance to burn a bit. “Look at you, man, you’re too cool for school in that porcupine hair, when did you go and get that, now?”
“It’s just like Frankie’s!”
Steve guffawed, “Well, of course, it is, little dude!”
The reunion with this little boy that had stolen Steve’s heart made him forget for the moment that Shawn had been looking at him with cold reservation rather than warm admiration. It only got pushed farther away when Max insisted on dragging Steve to his room to show him his toys. “Ladies, if you’ll excuse me, we’ll be playing Rock’em Sock’em Robots.”
“And Ninja Turtles!” Max added.
Kayla was so happy; she felt so alive. Was this what it was supposed to be like? Watching Steve go off to play brought so much warmth to her heart that it threatened to steal her breath. This utter sense of the world being back on its axis brought such peace to her that she didn’t know which way was up. She wanted to kiss the moon. There were a couple times, however, that a red flush ran up her cheeks when she heard Max talking about Leonardo and Donatello, and Steve proudly claiming to be a hero on the halfshell, because she knew they weren’t speaking with raised voices. Yet, everyone in the livingroom could hear them. Not that there was much to pay attention to, but their voices carried. And for the first time she realized that she and Steve may not have been quite as stealthy in 1979 as she thought.
Just before Caroline shouted that dinner would be in five minutes, Max ran off to the bathroom that Steve knew so well, leaving him in his old room by himself. All the posters were gone except for Ernie Banks on the ceiling, and Steve smiled at that. He was leaning against the closet door with his forearms resting on his knees, looked up at the iconic ballplayer, and smiled. “Nice to see ya again, man,” Steve said quietly. He allowed himself to steal a quick glance toward the desk and felt a brief stab of need for his son, but he didn’t let himself dwell on it. Then before he knew what he was doing he’d scooted away slightly from the closet door, opened it, and looked at the currently bare hardwood floor. He wanted to see his beloved mementos. He knew they weren’t there, but he placed his hand flat against the smooth wood and imagined they were. He saw the photo of he and Kayla from his birthday, looking upon each other with pure love in their eyes, and the muted colors of that time’s photography came to life behind his eye.
“Lookin’ for somethin’ are ya?” Shawn said from the doorway. His tone wasn’t unkind, but it wasn’t warm, either.
Steve startled. “Mr. Brady,” he blurted, completely unprepared for his unfamiliar tone. Then he realized that he looked really odd half inside the closet like that. “No, I thought I heard skittering, thought maybe there was a mouse.”
“You sayin’ my house has mice?” Shawn didn’t appreciate that.
“What? No! No, I …” He got up quickly and shut the closet. “Nevermind, I think I’m hearing things.”
“Is there somethin’ we’re gonna be hearin’ tonight?”
Steve swallowed. Blunt as ever, definitely. Even so, this was not the Shawn he’d most recently known, and it was knocking the wind out of his sails.
“Steve, will you play with me more after dinner?” Max said as he appeared back in the room.
“Flush, young man,” Shawn told his youngest son.
“Sorry, Pop,” then he ran back in, flushed, and ran real fast back out.
“Yeah, little dude, wouldn’t miss it. This time I get to be Donatello.”
“Ok,” Max conceded grudgingly.
“Max, run along to your ma, now. I wanna talk to Steve for a minute.” Max did as he was told, leaving Shawn alone with Steve. “I ask ye again, Steven …”
Steven …
“… did ya come here to tell us somethin’ tonight?” Steve stammered for a moment, then Shawn put him out of his misery and got on with it. “I seen that ring on my little girl’s finger that she’s tryin’ to hide. Women just wanna jabber on at the mouth, but I seen it even if they didn’t. Did you put that ring there?”
Steve straightened himself and spoke evenly to his father-in-law, even as the loss of that affection stabbed through him. “Yes sir, I did.” Shawn folded his arms and stared a hole into Steve. “I love your daughter. I asked her to marry me, and she’s said yes.”
“And ye came here tonight to announce it.”
Steve nodded. “Yes sir, we did.”
“Ya know, I never pretended to like you.” Steve sighed. “’Cause you and I, we come from the same side of the tracks, I know what guys like you are all about.”
Now Steve was starting to get angry. “I don’t think that’s very fair of you, Mr. Brady.”
“Oh, ye don’t do ye? Well, I figured once that you were never gonna be able to do anybody any good, but I was wrong.”
Steve was about to retort, but then Shawn’s last words sunk in. “You were?”
“I said I was.” The fight Steve was expecting died on the vine. “I never seen my girl so happy. Not a single day in her whole life.”
Steve swallowed and cast his eye to the floor for a moment to process his relief. Then he met his father-in-law’s eyes. “Not half as happy as she makes me. Not by half.”
“Oh, I believe it, lad, I do believe it.” They both laughed, and Steve’s evening suddenly started brightening again. “Don’t suppose you’re a vet, now are ya?”
“A vet? No, never fought in a war, just served with Bo in the merchant marines.”
“No, a veterinarian.”
Steve huffed out a laugh. “Not that I know of, Mr. Brady, why?”
“Kayla always said she was gonna marry a veterinarian.” Steve relaxed his stance and put his hands on his hips. “Maybe a nice elephant doctor on that reserve in Kenya she wanted to open?”
Now Shawn got almost serious. “Now don’t ya go and get any ideas, I got three out of four of my kids back on US soil, don’t encourage her!” Steve assured him that Kayla would remain the doctor in the family, quickly corrected himself with the word “nurse,” and that she’d stick to humans. “Don’t hurt my little girl.” Now Shawn was serious as a heart attack.
“Never,” Steve said with the same tone.
Satisfied, Shawn stuck out his hand. “Welcome to the family, Steve.” He took it, and the feeling from Shawn was … not the same. But it would do.
When Kayla finally held up her hand for everyone around the diningroom table, the high-pitched squeals threatened to shatter all the glasses sitting on it. Jo, who didn’t have a quiet bone in her body, cried with joy, Caroline dropped her face into her hands just like she’d done when Steve told Kayla he loved her in front of everyone on his birthday. Adrienne threw herself square into his chest, and Max jumped up and down before running to give Kayla a hug.
It was at that moment that Frankie had walked in, as he’d told everyone he had something at school (which wasn’t entirely true), and asked what the hubbub was all about. He had a feeling he knew, though, because this destination’s Steve had told him he was going to propose to Kayla.
“Frankie! Steve’s gonna be my uncle now!” Max exclaimed.
“No, he’ll be your brother-in-law,” Kayla corrected with a giggle. “Hi Frankie,” Kayla said warmly. It was the first time she’d seen him in quite some time. Frankie hugged her and congratulated her with genuine affection for both her and Steve.
“Steve’s gonna be my brother?! I get another brother, and it’s Steve?! Max thought it might be Christmas.
Now Kayla leaned over to Steve and whispered, “This is making me feel very weird about letting Stephanie date him now.” Steve snapped his head toward her, the look on his face unreadable. Now she was sorry she brought it up. “Forget I said it.”
“Yeah,” Steve said.
By the time the next week arrived they were knee-deep in wedding planning, sure they were about to jump at any minute. The closer they got to September 5th the more surprised they really were, all kidding aside, that they hadn’t jumped yet. Were they really going to get married here? Another wedding?
“How many does this make, baby, five?”
“Five?! Three!”
Naw, you’re math is fuzzy, baby. You married me in the snow, that was the first time.” Kayla smiled. “Then we had the boat. Then we tried the day you got arrested.”
“Let’s forget that one.”
“No way, we keep every moment that involves you, me, and the words I do.”
“Well, then that’s just about every one of our jumps,” Kayla protested mirthfully.
“Come on now, baby. So, that’s three. Then there was the one that finally got us legal, that’s four, and then there’s the one comin’, and that’s five.”
Kayla wasn’t smiling anymore. Steve rolled his eyes. “Ok, what did I say?”
“You’re still married to Marina,” Kayla said softly.
“No! We’re not going there. We won’t be here long enough to, anyway, that’s in two whole years from now.”
“Steve, I—”
“No, baby. I mean it.”
“But we’ll just have to do this again! If we nip this in the bud now, we won’t.”
“Kayla, she was declared dead, I’m not legally married, I don’t care how alive she is.”
Kayla relented, mainly because she didn’t want to really deal with it any more than he did. So, they didn’t.
There were a couple bits of unpleasantness that they did have to deal with, however. For one thing, Ed Daniels, the turned FBI man who’d framed Steve for the attempted murder of Senator Deveraux, was going on trial, and Steve and Kayla were supposed to testify at his hearing next week. Only the first time they did that Steve lied his ass off on the stand as part of his work undercover with the ISA. Now he wasn’t doing that, and that meant he had to call up details of what really happened. For another thing, Kimberly was pregnant, with a baby she’d lost in the original timeline. That didn’t have to happen now, because Kayla knew so much about Shane’s daughter, Eve, who was partly responsible for that miscarriage. No one else knew, but Kayla did and now found herself in a position of having to figure out what to say to whom about the fact that this girl who’d shown up out of nowhere was not only Shane’s daughter but would be causing all kinds of hell for the two of them, including the loss of this baby. And that didn’t even begin to cover it all.
After a week of trying to keep up and realizing that this was a quagmire, they decided that they were going to simply keep to themselves as much as possible. But they were planning a wedding. And they had irons in all kinds of fires on this jump, which seemed to be making things a lot more difficult than they were expecting.
One of those irons was Shane Donovan. He was the the elephant in the room that they hadn’t addressed by name but couldn’t ignore forever. That elephant sat there, looming very large in the corner with, literally, no way to avoid him short of running away from Salem entirely. Not only was he married to Kimberly right now, but in the original timeline he’d hounded Steve to work for the ISA with this hearing around the corner. It was only a matter of time before they’d have to interact with him, and sure enough, it didn’t take long before Shane had tracked him down to the loft. They’d been screening every call, and he’d already left three messages, so when the knock came on the loft door they both knew it was him. The look on Steve’s face was clear; he did not want to see Shane, he didn’t want to talk to Shane, he didn’t want to answer that door. But he didn’t have any real choice, so he went ahead and got it overwith.
“Steve, there you are, I’ve been looking all over for you,” Shane said in relieved greeting. A feeling of territoriality immediately sparked upon seeing Shane’s face right there in front of him. He was able to control it, but he felt it. After a moment that lasted a little too long, Steve greeted him back with a civil, even tone.
“Shane.”
Steve didn’t invite him in, and he didn’t say anything more, so the odd glare that Steve was giving him was growing the moment further and further into awkward with every passing second.
“Is this a bad time, Steve?” Steve realized what he was doing and told himself to get a grip.
“No, Shane, come in,” Kayla said as she slipped into Shane’s view next to Steve.
“Ah, hello, Kayla,” Shane said as they stepped aside for him to enter the loft. Kayla kept her arm around her husband, and she was pleasantly surprised when the tension she was expecting to feel there wasn’t quite that bad.
“I’ve been calling all week, have you gotten any of my messages?” he asked
“Yeah,” Steve said. “We’ve been, uh … very busy. Should have gotten back to you.”
“Well, that’s alright, no harm, I’m here now. I wanted to go over what to expect at the Ed Daniels hearing. I … wanted to see if we could talk more about what we discussed in Washington.” He eyed Kayla very briefly before looking more meaningfully back at Steve. His effort to be vague wasn’t lost on her.
“I’ve got nothing to say that I haven’t said already,” Steve said a little sharply. “I’m not going undercover for you.”
Shane’s mouth opened in disbelief, but he righted himself quickly in Kayla’s presence. He crossed his arms very tightly in front of him and replied just as sharply, “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Johnson,” his tone very clearly unhappy with his lack of subtlty.
“Kayla and I are married—getting married—and I’m not hiding this from her, so you can drop the act, Donovan.” In response Shane pumped his jaw. “I’m not doin’ it.”
Shane threw up his arm. “You just put her in grave danger, you know that, right?”
“Shane,” Kayla started, but Steve silenced her with a look.
“There won’t be any danger, because I won’t be getting friendly with Daniels. Now, come here, Shane. Sit down.” Or just go, that would be better.
“I’ll stand.” Shane was fit to be tied.
Steve had to force himself to not see images of Shane with his wife that angered him. Kayla saw the control he was employing and was so proud of him. “Sit your ass down, and let’s talk, dammit. You owe me that much.”
“Since when?!”
“Come on, Double-0-Donovan, just listen or you’ll miss the good part.” Shane remained standing, so Steve just plowed on. “You hear what I’m sayin’, and no one will be in any danger, not if you ISA agents do your jobs right.” Then Steve leaned forward for emphasis and said sincerely, “I know you can, because I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Ok?” Then he sat back again. “The man at the top is Kiriakis. That’s what you wanted to know, right? I dunno what’s on the goddamned disk, but if I found it I’d blow my cover laughin’ at it. You know, pretty soon there won’t be floppy drives on computers at all, so don’t bother investing too much in those, go right to CDs, that’ll be easier once the thumb drives come out.”
“Steve, what are you on about?”
“Yeah, you’ll find out.”
“Steve!” Kayla stage whispered and unmistakable plea to stop.
“So, that oughtta cover it. There’s nothin’ my goin’ undercover is gonna tell you that I haven’t just given’ ya, here.”
“And just where, might I ask, have you come by this rather incredible information?”
“I know things.”
“Yes, a font of them, apparently,” Shane said snidely.
Steve chuckled. How could he really blame him? “Shane, listen, I’m just gonna get on that stand and tell ‘em what happened to us. It was all about Hopkins and Daniels, and that’s it.
“Steve, if you do that, then you’re going to jeopardize our efforts to infiltrate the organization. Daniels is our best hope to get in and work for the boss. You’re our best hope to get in through him, and that means he has to go free.”
“Are you listening to me, Donovan? The boss is Victor Kiriakis. He doesn’t like me. He’s never liked me. He wouldn’t let me work directly for him if his life depended on it, and I can promise you, I’ll never get any closer to him than working with Daniels. So I’m not your man. You’re gonna have to find someone else to find that disk, I’ve given you every piece of information I’ll ever have gotten from him.”
This was frustrating for Kayla. Shane wasn’t backing down, because he had no idea that Steve had already been down the exact road. She and Steve already knew how this all turned out, and him not accepting this only jeapordized his own marriage with the turn of events it would cause.
Shane’s own frustration was through the roof. He just didn’t understand. Steve knew that there was no way to convince him and that his frustration was not his fault. But at the same time, he wanted Shane out of his house. He didn’t feel the need to pummel him, but he didn’t think there would ever be a time that Steve would feel able to be real friends with him again.
Kayla had been silent through most of this exchange but now chose to speak. “Shane, Steve is right. It’s best for everyone if he just tells the truth.”
Shane paced. “It’s not best for the ISA, Chief Tarrington is not going to understand this.”
“Shane, he can’t make Steve work for them!”
“Not that, I mean he won’t understand how we could drop this obvious and important line into the organization that Daniels offers. Kay, maybe you could tell a different version of the events on the stand instead.”
Steve had been doing relatively fine until Shane’s use of the name “Kay” sent him off the deep end. Kayla saw it and decided this meeting was over. Steve got his words out first, though.
“Don’t call her that,” Steve spat, standing up fast. Shane looked at Steve like he’d grown a second head. “Kayla’s not lying, she’s not doing sh*t for the ISA, and unless you’re last name is suddenly Brady, that’s not a name you call her.”
Shane had no idea what was going on, but he didn’t like where this was going. “Look, Steve, I don’t know what I just walked into, here, but the temperature in this room was below freezing when I walked in the door. You don’t want to work for us, fine.”
“Kayla’s out, too.”
“Yes, fine. Alright. I won’t bother you any longer.”
As Shane turned to go Steve felt the odd paradox hit him. This was not a Shane Donovan who had slept with his wife. Not yet. He would, this was the one that would. But he hadn’t, and the way things were going in this timeline, that wouldn’t ever happen. He and Kimberly wouldn’t need to break up over Gabrielle and the fake photos that Steve would be leveraged to take. Yes, that he remembered, because he remembered so much from this horrible time, including the details of his fake work with Ed Daniels. And he suddenly felt like he was being unfair to Shane. Whether he really cared that he was being unfair was something else, but he did acknowledge that this wasn’t an even playing field. Steve wasn’t sure where he’d really gone wrong, because he’d started this conversation civily, but somehow it went south.
Kayla put a calming hand on his arm, and Steve took a breath. “Shane, look, man. We’re getting married in two weeks. We just want to live our lives without anything hanging over our heads, like the threat of death by being made. And believe me, you’re gonna thank me.”
“Right,” Shane said with a frustrated smirk. “Because you know things.”
“He does, Shane,” Kayla confirmed still at his side. “You’d be surprised.”
Shane pumped his jaw. “Kayla,” Shane said with emphasis on her whole name as he looked meaningfully at Steve, “are you sure you won’t consider—”
“No,” she immediately replied. “Sorry, Shane. No.”
Shane hung his head for a moment, then he raised it with a deep breath. He pushed past them both and dropped himself into the chair opposite where Steve had been sitting. “Alright, let’s go over your testimony, then.” Steve stared at Shane. When the hell was he leaving?! “I’ve still got to know what you’re going to say, mate. So, come on, let’s have it. Both of you.” Steve grudgingly sat down opposite him, Kayla made coffee, and the three of them worked on what would be said.
Two days later both Steve and Kayla testified, and this time both of them told the truth. Most of the details were readily available in their memories, but some details they had to dig deep for. As a result of Kayla’s and now Steve’s truthful testimony, more immense changes befell this timeline. Ed Daniels was ordered to stand trial, Steve wasn’t ordered to kill Shane, Gabrielle wasn’t called in to pretend to have an affair with him, and Steve and Kayla were able to continue wedding plans. Rolf watched the changes impact their graph lines, then he analyzed the numbers coming through on the computer. He would never be able to anticipate their actions within their jumps, but he was finally beginning to measure the impacts they had with a little more accuracy.
As the days went on and their wedding day drew closer, they found it harder and harder to accept that they might jump. As each day passed, they both wanted this wedding even more than they did the day before. It wasn’t something they wanted more or less than their other weddings, it was the pure fact that this was the one that was supposed to happen. They knew it in their bones that this was right.
On Saturday, September 5th, Steve and Kayla woke up with sun and held each other with sweet anticipation. They didn’t make love, and they didn’t worry about superstitions. They were already husband and wife, and this was already their home. This day was about so much more than getting married; it was about meeting fate, righting wrongs, and finally travelling the road not taken. And in just ten more hours, that’s exactly what they would do.