Title: Someone Really Cares

All Disclaimers Apply

"Steve really hasn’t been around much since he’s been assigned to protect that girl, has he Mark?" Dr. Amanda Bentley asked as she and her colleagues Dr. Mark Sloan and Dr. Jesse Travis sat around in the Doctor’s Lounge at Community General Hospital. They, along with Lieutenant Steve Sloan were not only colleagues at the hospital, but were the best of friends outside of it.

"Yeah, he has been spending a lot of extra time on this case that he said that he didn’t need to," Mark replied. Then Jesse interjected.

"You know that he isn’t doing this to protect her. Yet again, Romeo, a.k.a. Steve, has fallen in love."

Amanda gave him a weird look. "Jesse, how would you know so much about Steve and him falling in love with the lady he is supposed to be protecting?"

"Well, Amanda," Jesse started to act very intellectual when started talking, "seeing that I am Steve’s business partner, and I have been doing everything lately, I should know. Also, I am of the male sex meaning that I am a man, so I can recognize when a man does fall in love."

Mark sat laughing at Jesse’s comments on males falling in love. Amanda sat and shook her head at him, "Jesse, where on earth did you get the idea that you are a man?"

"Ha, ha, Amanda," Jesse replied before the door opened to the lounge. Steve strutted in with his new lady by his side.

"Hey, everyone," Lieutenant Sloan greeted, "How are you today?"

"We’re terrific, Steve," Mark answered, "Who is that lovely young lady you’re escorting?"

"That’s right, none of you have met her yet. Andrea, this is my dad, Dr. Mark Sloan, my friend and business partner Dr. Jesse Travis, and my other friend Dr. Amanda Bentley. Everyone, this is Andrea Holmes." Everyone approached Andrea to shake her hand.

"So, you’re the girl who has made my son a stranger to his friends and family," Mark looked over at Steve while Steve rolled his eyes at the remark.

"I guess I am," Andrea said shyly, "I didn’t meant to steal him from you!"

"Don’t worry, you didn’t steal me from them. I’m glad that the three of you like to embarrass me and make spectacles of yourselves. Anyway, the only reason I stopped by here was to ask dad when he is getting off this evening?"

"I’m supposed to get off at ten, why?"

"That’s going to be too late. I was going to ask you to get the autopsy report from Amanda on the Higgin’s case and place it in my truck. Andrea and I are going to go on a walk as soon as we leave the hospital, and my truck is parked in the garage across from your car. I guess I’ll just wait and get it tomorrow since we should be gone before you get off."

"Steve, what if I take it back to the house. You can hang out there until I get off and then we can all have a late meal at the house so everyone can spend a little more time with each other, and we all can become acquainted with Andrea. You up for that Steve?"

"I guess I could get the report from you at home. What do you think about the meal Andrea?"

"I like the idea, Steve, that is if it’s alright with you?"

Jesse jumped in, "Yeah, we can tell you some really funny stories about Steve. Hey, Steve, you remember the time your swim trunks fell off?"

"Jesse!" Steve exclaimed. Jesse laughed at him. "I guess since Andrea wants to be around all of you, I can handle it. See you guys tonight. Bye!"

"Bye, Andrea, it was nice meeting you," Dr. Sloan said.

"Bye everyone. See you tonight." Steve and Andrea exited.

"She seems like a very nice girl," Amanda said to Mark and Jesse.

"Yeah," Jesse replied, "but we’ll find out the truth later. You know that she has to be some psycho nut serial killer for Steve to be dating her. Come on, look at his track record with women!"

"Jesse!" Amanda and Mark said in unison.

"Well, everyone, look at the time. I guess our break is over. Remember, we’re all meeting at my house after we get off."

"Thanks, Mark," Amanda said gratefully.

"See ya then, buddy," Jesse replied and Amanda pulled him out of the lounge.

* * *

Around 9:00 p.m. Steve and Andrea began to head back into the garage to get Steve’s truck. He had parked on one of the high levels, so they had a very long walk once they reached the entrance to the garage.

"When we eat and visit with the three of them, just ignore everything they say, because most of it will not be true."

"Steve, everything will be fine tonight. You get so jumpy and tense at times," Steve glared at Andrea’s comment, "but you are so cute when you act like that."

While walking up the levels of the garage Steve took off his jacket and put it around Andrea’s shoulders. He then left his arm around her. Suddenly they heard something fall over.

"What was that, Steve?"

"I’m sure it wasn’t anything sweetheart. Probably a security guard here in the garage was in a hurry and knocked something down. Don’t worry about it."

She smiled at him, "If you say so."

When they were almost to Steve’s truck, Andrea was yanked out from Steve’s arm. Steve turned to see a man dressed up in a suit holding a knife to her throat. "Don’t try anything or I’ll kill her." Tears began to stream down Andrea’s face.

"What do you want?" Steve asked. He wanted to make his way to the truck where he had left his gun off before they went for their walk.

"Andrea, why don’t you tell him? You know why I’m here you slut! Tell your new love about the affair. Tell him that you stole all of my money when you ran off. Tell him how you lied in court about things that I did. You know I never beat you like you testified. You’ve always had a problem with lying and I tried to help you, and that is how you repaid me. Andrea, tell him the truth-NOW!"

"Let her go!" Steve demanded.

"No! Tell him the truth before I slit your throat. Andrea tell him!"

"I didn’t do any of that stuff, I didn’t! You are lying." At that the man took the knife and slashed Andrea’s throat. Steve attacked the man, but had nothing for his defense. They wrestled on the ground. Steve was stabbed several times during the struggle, but finally knocked the knife far away from the two. Steve was beginning to feel weak, so he ran to his truck, after letting go of the man, and grabbed his gun. He looked over to where the two had fought and the suited man was already gone. Steve stabled himself against the truck as he staggered to see if the man had grabbed the knife off of the ground. As he turned around to head back to the opened door of the truck, the attacker stabbed Steve in the chest. In slow motion Steve fell to the ground once he hit the gun fell out of his hand and everything went black.

* * *

"Hey, Jess, did Mark already leave? I can’t find him anywhere," Amanda walked quickly next to her friend.

"Yeah, he got off early and decided to go home and get a few things ready for all of us. Why?"

"Apparently in his old age he’s forgetting a lot of important things, including the autopsy report about the Higgin’s case. Steve will be so mad if Mark doesn’t bring that home."

"Amanda, he just left so you probably can catch him."

"Thanks, Jess," Amanda ran off.

"Don’t mention it," he shouted at her.

* * *

Mark whistled as he got off of the elevator. "It feels so good to get off half an hour early," he said as he approached his car. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Steve’s truck still parked in the garage. "Hmmm…I guess that he and Andrea didn’t finish as early as expected." Once he got to his car and began to unlock it, he got a better glimpse of the truck. The driver’s side door was open.

"Steve, you over there?" he walked closer before discovering the grisly sight of Andrea’s lifeless body. Mark bent down to check if there was any sign of a heartbeat, but there wasn’t. Quickly he started looking around for Steve. "Steve! Steve! Where are you? Answer me!" Mark stood up from Andrea’s body and squeezed his way past the open door as to not disturb the crime scene. That’s when he found Steve’s body face down on the ground. He dropped down quickly to his son. Carefully he flipped Steve over to where his face was up.

"Steve! Answer me!" Mark begged. At that time he heard the elevator door open.

"Help! Someone help me, please! Help!" Mark screamed.

"Mark, where are you? It’s Amanda."

"I’m over here, hurry," he cried out.

"Mark, what’s…" Amanda found him and stopped mid-sentence as she fell to the floor.

"Amanda, Andrea is dead and Steve has a faint pulse. Go call the police and get help out here now!" Amanda ran off for help.

"Come on Steve, you need to wake up just until we get help here. Son, you have to do this," Mark beckoned. He then became quiet and just began crying. Steve’s head shifted a little. "Steve?"

"Andrea?" he asked softly, only a slit of his eyeballs showing. Sirens were heard in the background and the chime of the elevator opening on the floor broke any silence there was, and Mark being tongue-tied couldn’t say anything before Steve drifted off again.

* * *

Mark sat in the hospital wide awake with his head buried in his hands. Jesse stood checking all of the machines that were whirring in the room. Amanda sat with CJ in her lap, both asleep covered by a blanket Mark had lay over them.

"Mark," Jesse whispered, "are you alright? Steve is going to be just fine. None of the wounds were very severe. He’s tough-he can handle a few knife wounds."

"I’m not worried about how he’s going to physically recover. I’m worried about how he is going to react to finding out about Andrea. He really did love her.

"Of course, being the nosy father I am, last night when I went home to get a few things to bring up here I found a notebook on Steve’s night stand. I started reading through it, and it was full of things about him and Andrea. Everything they had done was practically recorded in it. I also found out that Andrea had a seventeen year old daughter that Steve had also grown close to. In it Steve wrote about how he was waiting to make sure everything was perfect with Andrea and her family before introducing all of us so no one would be in harm’s way."

"Poor Steve," Amanda said as she opened her eyes and yawned. Both Jesse and Mark looked at her. "Sorry guys, but I’ve been awake during the whole conversation. I can’t sleep during all of this." Carefully she got up and lay down CJ to sit over with the guys. She caught a glimpse of Steve as she walked over. "Steve!"

Mark ran over to his son’s side. He took Steve’s left hand into his and began to brush back the hair in his face with his right hand. "Hey, son," he said softly, "how are you feeling?"

Steve stared with a sort of blank look before it registered with him. "I guess my body is alright. How’s Andrea?"

Mark closed his eyes and looked up towards the ceiling. Amanda walked over to CJ since he was beginning to stir and Jesse looked straight at Steve.

"Steve, I’m sorry but," Jesse began but was quickly cut off by Steve.

"No, she can’t. This is all my fault. I should have gotten my gun faster or something. I can’t believe this. It’s all my fault!"

"Steve, it’s not your fault," Mark said, "you couldn’t help it."

"Everyone please leave the room," Steve requested.

"But, Steve," Jesse said.

Quickly Steve turned angry, "Leave the room-NOW!"

All three of the friends exited with Amanda carrying CJ out. As they exited, some officers entered the room to question Steve, which would lead to Steve’s downfall from there on.

* * *

"Lieutenant Sloan, I need to talk to you immediately," Chief Masters ordered.

"Yes, sir, what do you need?"

"You are suspended for the time being."

"What do you mean that I’m suspended? This is my first day back on the job!"

"Lieutenant, please hand in your badge and hand over your gun. This isn’t a permanent suspension, hopefully, but right now you are a suspect in a murder investigation and it will look bad for the department if we still have you working out on the streets."

"Do you really think that I would murder the girl that I love?"

"That has nothing to do with anything and I would appreciate if you would turn in your badge and gun and clean out your desk."

Steve pulled his gun out of his holster and lay it down on the Chief’s desk. As he began to exit Chief Masters’ office, he tossed his badge onto his desk. "Don’t worry, I’ll be out of the way soon and you don’t ever have to worry about having me around this place again. Amazing how one day someone will act as if you are one of the best, and then the next act as if you’re one of the sleazy people on the street," Steve slammed the door on his way out.

* * *

"Jesse, have you heard anything from Steve today?" Mark asked in a concerned voice.

"No, why?"

"I’ve been trying to reach him on his cell phone, but there is no answer. That isn’t like Steve to have his phone turned off."

"Maybe you should call the station and see if they know anything about where he is."

"You know something, Jess, that isn’t a bad idea." The two managed to exchange small grins as Mark dialed the number to the department.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end answered.

"Yes, may I please speak to Lieutenant Steve Sloan?"

"I’m sorry he’s not here."

"Do you know where he is?" Mark asked.

"I don’t know sir. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Would you please connect me to Chief Masters?"

"I’m sorry, but you need to have special permission to speak with him."

"Excuse me, but this is an emergency."

"Could you speak to someone else in the department? What is your problem exactly?"

"I need to find out where my son is! Please put Chief Masters on the phone. Tell him that it is an urgent phone call from Dr. Mark Sloan, consultant for the LAPD."

"Please hold for a second," the officer put down the phone and went to Masters’ office to tell him about the call. The chief accepted it.

"Dr. Sloan, what a nice surprise."

"Chief Masters, this is sort of a personal call for me. Do you know where Steve went? I’ve been trying to call him all day on his cell phone and can’t get through to him, which is highly unusual for my son, as you know."

"You mean that Steve never called and told you what happened?"

"No, is something wrong?"

"Dr. Sloan, I’m sorry to tell you this, but Steve has been suspended from all of his duties due to the fact he is a suspect in a murder investigation."

"Oh, no. Did he say anything before he left?"

"He just said he was never coming back and slammed my door."

"Well, thank you Chief."

"Hope you can find him, doctor." The two hung up.

"Jesse, we have a big problem," Mark looked at his friend talking in a terrified voice.

"What’s wrong, Mark?"

"They suspended Steve, and no one has a clue as to where he could have gone to." Mark’s eyes were wide open as he spoke.

"I’m going to get someone to cover for us. Don’t worry Mark, we’ll find him. I’ll drop you off at your house. He can’t be out too much longer because nightfall has already begun. Go ahead and get ready to go." Jesse ran off to find someone to cover then immediately came back, got Mark and left.

* * *

Jesse walked into BBQ Bob’s hoping to find Steve there. It had already been an hour since he had dropped Mark off at the beach house and this was the fifth place for Jesse to stop looking for Steve. Mark meanwhile was supposed to not only watch the house but comb the beach.

"Excuse me, sir," a young girl approached, "you were at my mother’s funeral the other day with Steve Sloan, right?"

"You’re Andrea’s daughter, aren’t you? I’m Dr. Jesse Travis a friend and co-worker of Steve’s."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Beth. Steve told my mother and me a lot about you, his father, and a lady named Amanda."

"I’m sorry to say, but he never mentioned you to us."

"Oh, I know. I overheard him once talking to my mom about how he wanted to wait for the right time so nothing like the past would happen. Anyway, I came here to see him. Do you know where he is?"

"Actually, I’ve been looking for him a while myself. Do you know of anywhere that he could be? He sort of disappeared today and we have no clue where he went to."

"Did something happen?" Beth asked nervously.

"He’s been suspended from the force for a while because he’s a suspect in your mother’s murder and just went off without telling anyone."

"Steve wouldn’t kill her! What on earth could they be thinking at the department."

"Beth, do you have any clue where he could have gone?"

"I don’t know where he’d go, but I’ve already been to visit her grave several times since she was buried if that helps any."

"Beth, thanks so much. I never thought of trying there. I’ll see you later." Jesse started out the door.

"Tell Steve that I really need to talk to him sometime," Beth spoke out at Jess as he left the restaurant.

* * *

When Jesse got to the cemetery it was pouring down rain. He could hear Steve’s voice in the distance. Jesse stayed out of sight and listened to what he was saying.

"Andrea, Andrea, Andrea. Maybe all of them are right maybe I did kill you. I certainly didn’t protect you. I really screwed up this time. If only I could be like my perfect father that never does anything wrong. I hate myself!" At that he threw the bottle in his hand against a tree shattering it. Steve picked up another glass bottle and started downing whatever was in it.

Jesse stood in awe at the sight he was seeing and couldn’t believe it at all. "Steve is drunk. I never thought I’d see that." Jesse started listening again.

"Oh, God, Andrea, I wish they hadn’t have taken that dang gun away from me. It would be a lot easier to get this over with right now. There’s no way I can go on," he took another big gulp of the liquor he had then bent to the ground to pick up a piece of glass from one of the shattered bottles. Just as he was about to put it against his skin, Jesse stepped out from his hiding place.

"Steve, don’t do it!"
"Well, look who it is, the Boy Scout himself. God knows your life is perfect. Everyone that meets you likes you, no one is accusing you of killing," Steve stumbled around as he talked, "your patients, and you have Susan, the one and only love of your life. You can see her all of the time."

"Steve, you’re not making any sense!"

"Oh, yeah, I’m not. The only woman on earth to ever love me is dead. She was perfect in every way possible and she loved me and wasn’t taking advantage of me."

"Life goes on, Steve. You still have people around that care about you. Steve, you have me, Amanda, Mark, and even Beth, Andrea’s daughter. Why are you doing this? You’re our friend and we don’t want anything to happen to you."

"I’ll tell you something," Steve pointed his finger at Jesse while wobbling, "I’d fight you right now, but…but…"

Jesse approached him and grabbed the bottle out of his hand and held his arm to steady him, "But, you’re too drunk to do anything." Jesse guided him to the car where he passed out. "I won’t tell your dad anything about this," he whispered.

* * *

"Jesse you’re soaked," Mark said as his young doctor friend emerged from Steve’s room, "What happened and where’s Steve?"

"I found him at the cemetery. He’s resting right now, and he’ll be alright."

"Well, Jess, we had better get you out of those wet clothes before you catch a cold. We can probably find some old clothes to wear."

"Thanks, Mark. Hey, is it alright if I crash here tonight? I’m really tired and don’t think I should risk going home you know."

"Jesse, you should know that you are more than welcome to stay here. Oh, here’s something to wear," Mark said as he pulled a shirt and some shorts out of the closet.

"Thanks, Mark."

"No problem, Jesse. See you in the morning." With that all the lights were turned out and everyone crashed.

* * *

"Steve, you awake yet?" Jesse asked as he went down the stairs early the next morning.

"Ugh," Steve said as he tossed and turned in his bed.

"Man, you look like crap, Steve," Steve shot Jesse a look of death, "Would you get up because the two of us need to have a very serious discussion."

"Look, Jesse, I don’t need you to act like you’re my keeper. I can take care of myself however I want. Why did you have to show up last night and ruin everything for me?"

"What do you mean by ‘ruin everything’ for you? Oh, I’m sorry, I should have just stood there as you took a piece of glass and killed yourself just because you’re too stubborn to realize what on earth is going on! Steve, you’re like the brother I never had, so I definitely didn’t want you to do something stupid."

"Jesse, this is my life and I can run it however and do whatever I want to," Steve said sternly, "Now get out of my room."

Jesse stared at Steve. Steve looked as if he had aged overnight. He looked like a slob and the attitude he had didn’t improve things any. Jesse then stood up and walked away. Steve sat on the side of his bed, his face buried in his hands. He took a deep breath.

"Oh, goodness, why me? I need a drink," Steve told himself. Quickly he threw on his clothes, grabbed his wallet, and left the house.

* * *

"Jesse, are you alright? You haven’t caught a cold or anything from being so wet last night, did you?

"No, Mark, I’m not sick," Jesse answered in a soft, bland voice.

Mark turned from where he was setting the table to look at Jesse. "What’s wrong, Jesse?" he asked worriedly.

"Mark, I really need to talk to you."

"Go ahead, I’m listening."

Jesse was tapping his fingers together. "Mark, I really think that it would be best if you sat down first." Mark shot Jesse a strange look. "This has to do with Steve." Immediately Mark stopped what he was doing and sat down.

"Did something happen to him? Is he alright?"

"Please hold off on the questioning until I tell you what exactly is wrong," Jesse looked Mark straight in the eyes, "I told you that I found Steve at the cemetery, but I left out the most important part hoping to avoid hurting you. Well, since Steve is going to be so stubborn, I’m going to tell you. Mark, Steve was drunk last night when I found him. He was in such a rage he was breaking liquor bottles in the graveyard. Then, he picked up a piece of glass from one of the bottles and was about ready to kill himself with it. Somehow I was able to make him mad enough at me that he got distracted and didn’t do it."

Mark’s eyes watered up, but he withheld the tears that felt as if they would fall any second. "What has gotten into him. There has to be a way to help him, but I’m not sure what yet. Why did they have to suspend him from the force? Of all things to do."

"Maybe we should let him have today to himself. Just let him be all day without bothering him while we work. Does that sound good?"

"I guess…I don’t know if that is good for him or not, though. It can’t hurt to do it one day, though."

"Mark, instead of you making breakfast, how about I take you out--my treat."

"I think I’ll have to take you up on the offer. Let me grab my jacket."

The two started out of the door with Jesse leading. Before totally getting outside of the beach house, Jesse turned around to Mark. "Mark, could I borrow the money to pay for our meals? I’ll pay you back as soon as I get my next paycheck." Mark smiled and nodded and they were off to work for the day.

* * *

Mark sat reading his book at two o’clock the next morning. He had gotten off work and six the afternoon before, and was waiting up for Steve to come home. There was no sign that Steve had even entered the house during the day. The door squeaked open and Steve stumbled in carrying a bottle in his hand. Mark stood up.

"Steve, where have you been?" he asked with concern coming through his voice.

"Well," he said as he stumbled over his own feet and slurred his speech, "I’ve…I’ve…I don’t know where I’ve been."

"What are you doing drinking, Steve? You shouldn’t be doing that and you’ve never gotten drunk before."

"I’m sorry, dad. I’m not as perfect as you are. You can handle every single piece of crap that’s thrown at you because you are "Dr. Mark Sloan." Of course, I’m always going to be the famous "Mark Sloan’s" son because I’m just a nobody."

"Steve, you know that isn’t true, son! You’ve done a lot of good things."

"Shut up! SHUT UP! You don’t know what I’m going through. I actually had someone good in my life that respected and believed in me, and now they’re dead because I couldn’t protect them."

"Steve, you did what you could. There wasn’t anything else that you could have done."

Steve stumbled over to his father and grabbed him shaking him violently as he talked. "I told you already to shut up! It’s all my fault. I am a screw up and failure. Look at my life-she’s dead and they kicked me off of my job for crap I didn’t even do! Now I’m totally useless because I’m a dirty ol’ drunk." Steve then pushed his father really hard causing him to bump and scratch his head both losing consciousness in the living room, Steve from being so drunk and Mark from hitting his head.

* * *

Steve began to stir. "Oh, my head hurts so bad. Why am I in the living room?" He sat up and started crawling around on the floor since he was too dizzy to stand. Finally he reached where his father had fallen and been left the night before. "Oh, no. Dad?" he began to shake him, "Dad? Come on dad, wake up?"

"Ouch," he said softly as he began to wake up. His eyes opened wide enough eventually to make out that it was Steve attempting to wake him up. "Steve, get away from me."

"Dad, what happened?" he said in a weak voice.

"Steve, I can’t face you! How could you turn into such a miserable drunk! This is all your doing. You are the one that wrecked this room. The reason I’m laying here is because you pushed me down and I hit my head."

Steve and his father gave each other one last look before they walked off in separate directions.

* * *

"Jesse, you have to promise me that you won’t mention any of this to anyone."

"Mark, you have my word, of course. I don’t know how to help Steve, though. Is he listening to what anyone has to say?"

"He’s an alcoholic, Jesse, do you really think that he could possibly listen to anyone?"

"I don’t know, Mark. Too bad that I haven’t known of this to happen to anyone else before, or then I could help him or have some idea on how to happen."

Mark perked up. "Jesse, you are a genius. I know what I can tell him about now that I should have told him earlier. I’ll wait until I see him tonight." Dr. Sloan looked at his watch. "Look Jess, I need to go. Thanks again, because I think I can help him now!"

* * *

Steve sat in the already messed up living room of the beach house watching TV while drinking more. He figured that if he would drink more he’d drown out all that had happened the night before, or what little of it that he remembered. The phone began to ring. Steve wouldn’t answer it and let it ring until the machine picked up.

"You have reached the home of Dr. Mark and Lieutenant Steve Sloan. We are unable to take your call at the moment. Please leave your name, number, and message at the sound of the beep. <beep>"

"Steve? It’s Beth. Did Jesse tell you that I was at the BBQ Bob’s the other evening to see you? Oh, well. I’m going to drop off something that I know my mom wanted you to have. Hopefully you’ll be home by the time I get there. Oh, and in case you aren’t, on Thursday evening our band is holding our "End of Summer Concert" and I was hoping that you would come. My father isn’t coming so there’s no need to worry about seeing him. Well, see ya!"

Steve sat staring at the answering machine. Why’d Beth have to call at that particular time? He wasn’t up for this and didn’t want her to come, but knew that she would be there anytime since she didn’t live but five minutes away. Instead of prepping for her arrival he sat and drank more as he was on the verge of tears.

A light tapping came at the door. Steve didn’t say anything. The knob turned and the door was pushed ajar. "Steve? Is anyone here?" Once she fully entered into the living room, she saw Steve sitting with the bottle in his hand. "Steve Sloan! I thought you were different from my father. I thought my mother was getting involved with someone decent. You’re an alcoholic just like my father." Beth threw the wrapped gift onto the floor. "There you go. Oh, and for the record I hate you just as much as I hate my father! You probably couldn’t help my mom when she was being attacked because you were drunk," she cried. Beth then stomped out and slammed the front door.

Steve made his way to where the gift had been thrown. He then proceeded to unwrap it. Tightly he grasped what was in the paper. It was a silver picture frame that said "Happiness is in the Heart", and in the frame was a picture of Steve, Andrea, and Beth at the park one day. Steve grabbed his jacket and what he’d been drinking still holding onto the picture and ran out the door.

* * *

"Steve?" Mark asked through the small opening of the door. He looked around and saw that Steve wasn’t there. Dr. Sloan then noticed that the light on the answering machine blinking. He pressed the button and heard the message from Beth. "Oh, boy, I wonder where he ran off to," he said to himself. Quickly he notice Steve’s jacket was missing, but knew that his car was still in the driveway. Mark was sure he’d find Steve on the beach and hurried on his way to find him.

After walking for about ten minutes, Mark found his son sitting with his back against a big rock watching the ocean and looking at the picture. "Steve, is it alright if I sit here next to you?"

"Free world, isn’t it?" His gaze never left looking forward.

"Do you remember when your mother died Steve?" Mark asked his son.

"Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?

"I wasn’t around a lot during that time. I know that you and Carol never got to see me because I was off in my own little world."

"I guess you weren’t around a lot. I still don’t see where this is leading."

"Son, during that time I turned to drinking. I became an alcoholic and I am very ashamed of that fact, too. Relatives were watching you as I went and wasted money getting drunk and ruining my life. When she died I didn’t think that anything would ever be right again. I abandoned everyone I loved and ran away from the problem. As time went on you all didn’t see me because everyone made sure that you and Carol wouldn’t see what had happened. I slept outside of the house for two weeks straight." Mark looked over at his son and Steve was already looking at him.

"How did you change it all?" The fear and curiosity showed Mark all that had been bothering Steve ever since hard times had come.

"I finally started listening to my family and my friends and allowed them to help me. I attended several meetings of a local Alcoholics Anonymous group. It was the hardest thing that I ever had to overcome," Mark brushed back some stray hairs of Steve’s and looked into his eyes, "but now I can see that it was worth it. I have an incredible life, with a great job, the best friends any man could ask for, and a son that I wouldn’t trade in for anything else in the world."

"Is your head alright?" Steve changed the subject.

"Yeah, Jesse put some stitches in, but other than that everything is perfect."

"I’m sorry for what I’ve done to you over the past days. Also for what I did to Jesse. He was trying to do everything to help me and to avoid getting you hurt. I guess like he referred to me as his older brother, I think of him as my little brother."

"Steve, did Beth ever stop by today?"

"Yeah, she did. Beth saw me sitting there drinking and yelled at me that she hates me because I’m just like her real father that drinks all the time. She threw this picture on the ground. It’s the gift that is mentioned in the message."

Steve’s eyes swelled up with tears. "Dad, please help me," he cried.

Mark grabbed his son who welcomed the embrace. "I’ll help you, and so will Jesse. I love you so much Steve, and am so sorry that you’ve had to go through all of this. I wish that nothing would have happened to Andrea, but something did and that can’t be changed. Everything is going to be fine now, because we’re going to get you help, and get things back to being the way they used to be, and maybe even better."

* * *

"Yeah, Jesse…Really?…I didn’t hear anything about that," Mark spoke to his friend over the phone. "Make sure Norman doesn’t find out about that or he’ll kill both of us…Hmmm…Are you going to come over tonight?…Alright…Oh, and before you go, did you find out when the next AA meeting is?…Thursday?…Okay, I’ll tell Steve. See you tonight, bye!" Dr. Sloan hung up the phone and went searching for his son to tell him when the next Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was scheduled for.

"Steve, you down here?"

"Yeah, dad, what do you want?" Steve asked as he worked on cleaning his room up after neglecting it for the past week.

"Jesse just called and said the next meeting would be this coming Thursday."

"Thanks for telling me," Mark walked back to the kitchen and let Steve proceed with what he was doing. The phone rang and Steve walked over and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Yes, Steve, this is Chief Masters. I’m sorry to break more bad news to you, but tomorrow you need to come back in for further questioning on the murder of Andrea Holmes."

"I bet you’re sorry," Steve mumbled, "Do you honestly think I’d stab myself so that I wouldn’t look like a suspect?"

"Sloan, I’m just doing my job. I don’t have anything else to tell you, or anyway to help you out through all of this."

"I have a question-am I your main suspect in it?"

"Yes, you are."

"Well, I guess I’ll see you for questioning tomorrow," Steve slammed down the phone and stomped upstairs.

"Dad, I’m going out. I have no clue when I’ll be back," he said angrily.

"Steve, what’s wrong?"

"I’ll tell you later. I just need to go out for a while." Steve left the house, slamming the door on the way out.

Mark just stood there looking at the door. He had no clue what the call had been about but it apparently had upset Steve enough. Mark decided to let his son go off for a while and hoped that he would calm down by the time he got back.

* * *

As Steve prepared for his walk along the Beach he made a stop at his car. Inside was the last bottle of liquor that he had. The rest had been thrown away, because they were inside the house. He had made sure nothing happened to this bottle just in case he needed it, which he felt like now.

After walking for several minutes he arrived at the place where he had last had a drink. He sat down and began to open the bottle. Steve never did open it. He began to think about the conversation he and Jesse had the day after the incident at the cemetery, and how two days earlier his dad sat in this place with him and told him what was probably the darkest moment in his life. Steve Sloan stood up and went to the ocean’s edge. He took the bottle and threw it as far out as he could, then began the ten minute walk back to the beach house.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the beach house, Mark was working on preparing a special dinner for he, Steve, Amanda, and Jesse. He figured it would be nice to have everyone together after all that had happened. As he started to work on making some bread he heard banging at the door.

"Steve…Steve, open up, it’s an emergency," it was a young girl’s voice and she continued pounding waiting for an answer.

"Well, hello!" Dr. Sloan answered, "You’re Beth, Andrea’s daughter, aren’t you?"

"Yeah, that’s me. Where’s Steve at?" She asked frantically.

"He went for a walk on the beach. Is something wrong?"

"Dr. Sloan, Steve and you are in danger and you need to get out of the house now. My dad is coming over here to finish off Steve. I overheard him talking to one of his so-called "friends" and he said that he figured Steve would die from the stab wounds the other night, but since he didn’t he said he was going to come over now and finish him off. Dr. Sloan, you need to get out of here now and we need to find Steve!"

"Okay, come on, let’s go," Mark put his hand on her shoulder and began to guide her back to the front door after she had followed him when he put his shoes on.

"You two aren’t going anywhere," Mr. AJ Holmes appeared at the door with a gun in his hand. "You’re just like your mother, Beth. You are a snitch just like her! I hate you." After saying that he grabbed her away from Mark who had his hand on her shoulder. Mr. Holmes then took the butt of the gun and hit her in the head with it.

"Why’d you do that to her Mr. Holmes? She’s just a child," Mark said.

"Be quiet old man. I’ll wait to kill you in front of your son so he can feel even more worthless," the killer said. Little did he know that Steve had caught a glimpse of him in there with the gun already and had gone in through the door in his room.

"Drop the gun, Holmes," Steve yelled as he surprised the visitor by coming up the stairs. He had grabbed the extra gun in his room and was ready to take on the unwelcome visitor. Mr. Holmes just stood and stared, not letting go of the gun. "You heard me Holmes-drop it!"

"I’m sorry, Sloan, but I came to get rid of you, but little Beth, who is out cold right now, decided to get in the way and try to warn you, and she ran into your father instead. I can’t let go of this gun until I kill you all. I’ll start with your father-and you’ll be last, Sloan." Steve didn’t realize that Beth was lying on the floor unconscious until Holmes pointed it out. Suddenly, everything seemed to begin going fast motion. Holmes turned to Mark and lifted the gun. Just as he was beginning to pull the trigger, Steve fired his, hitting Holmes in the back. Still, the killer was able to pull the trigger of the gun that was pointing towards Mark. Mark dove to the floor, while Steve fired his gun two more times at Holmes.

First, Steve checked to make sure that Holmes was dead. The three bullets had definitely killed him.

"Steve," Mark said, "is he dead?"

"Yeah," Steve answered back and then made his way over to his father, "Are you alright?"

"I’m just fine. The bullet grazed me that’s all. You’d better go over to see how Beth is while I call the police." Mark pulled himself onto the couch behind him and reached for the phone. Steve rushed over to where Beth lay on the floor. He wiped away some of the blood on her head and lay held her up in his arms.

"Beth? You’re going to be alright. Help is going to be here any minute now," he said to her.

"I have my medical kit, Steve. Let me take a look at her head. Carefully he put on a bandage that would hold up until they got to the hospital where stitches would then be put in. "We need to try to wake her up, because I’m sure she’ll have a concussion with that hard of a hit."

"Come on Beth, you need to wake up," Steve gently shook her. Slowly her eyes began to open and looked at the two.

Mark smiled at his son once she awoke. "Beth, I’m going to make sure you’re okay while we’re waiting on the ambulance to get here." She faintly nodded at him.

"Dad, I hear the sirens coming now."

"Everything is going to be just fine now," Mark responded and smiled.

* * *

"That was a great concert for a high school band to put on. I can’t believe that the director is able to get the students to come in during the summer and rehearse," Mark said.

"I was entertained," Jesse said while laughing.

"Jesse," Amanda jumped in. "Why are you still laughing at that trombone player’s mouthpiece flying off of his instrument? It wasn’t that funny, and I’m sure if the parents were around, they didn’t appreciate it."

"But, Amanda, it was the highlight of the concert. You could even see Beth on the stage laughing when that happened.

Mark walked over to his son, who had seemed to enjoy the concert, but was being very quiet. "Are you nervous about tonight?"

"Well, yeah, of course I am. Do you remember how you felt when you were going to your first AA meeting?"

"I remember it very well, but am glad that I did it. Don’t worry, everything will go just fine."

"I hope so."

Mark then saw Beth coming over, "Well look who it is, the star of the concert!"

"Hi, everyone! I am so glad that you made it."

"We wouldn’t have missed it, sweetheart," Amanda said as she put her hand on her back.

"Well, Beth, how’s that head of yours doing," Jess asked as he lifted the bandage to take a peek at it.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed.

"Jesse, leave her head alone," Amanda barked at him.

"Sorry, I was just curious," he apologized.

"Jess, you are always ‘just curious,’" Steve added.

"Your solo sounded very good, Beth," Mark said trying to change the subject.

"Thank you," she said, sounding very grateful for the compliment. "Steve, I like seeing that badge again."

"Well, they gave it back to me today, thanks to you."

"So, are all of you ready to load up and go to the meeting," Mark asked.

"I’m about as ready as I’ll ever be," Steve replied.

Jesse walked up to his friend and started talking to him as all five of them began to exit the school. "Steve, it’s just like the talk we had about who cares about you. Look, it’s every single person that was named-me, your father, Amanda, and Beth, and we’re all going to the meeting with you. No matter what you think, you’ll always have one of us here that cares about you."

"Thanks, Jess," Steve replied.

"Hey, no problem, now let’s get going so we’re not late! Oh, and Steve?"

"What Jesse?"

"I’ve been waiting for the right time to say this, but I’m going to bust if I don’t."

"What is it, Jesse?"

"At least Andrea wasn’t a psycho serial killer like you always seem to go out with," he smiled and cringed thinking of what Steve might do. Steve just smacked him once in the head and they were on their way.