Kate Hopper thought she'd finally had everything taken from her.
With her father gone and her sister all the way across the country, she truly didn't have anything left. Since her father's death eight months before, she'd broken up with her boyfrien...
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STEVE HAD ALMOST forgotten about Kate whenever he'd woken up the next morning.
She had almost scared him at first. Whenever he'd checked his surroundings, making sure the kids were all still okay, that Kate hadn't been killed in the middle of the night, he'd done a double take whenever he saw the flash of light-colored hair. He frowned slightly whenever he saw her sitting on the floor and leaning against the couch, using her jacket as a blanket—she had to have fallen asleep at some point.
He carefully navigated his way around the kids, Robin, and the furniture, not wanting to make any loud sudden noises. He grabbed one of the blankets from the other side of the room that Nancy had pointed them toward the night before, carefully putting it over her as a layer other than the jacket.
Steve remembered when she'd changed so much.
He didn't have a problem with it, especially not at the time. He was just worried about her, even now. He remembered that night when her father had died and he'd taken her and her sister back to his place, trying his best to take care of them even when he'd received a monster concussion. On the car ride home, there had only been the occasional sob, sigh, maybe a tear, but never a word.
Once they'd gotten inside his house, El had immediately passed out on his couch, and Steve had put a blanket over her, carrying her to the guest bedroom. He'd tucked her in, taking off her shoes before pulling blankets over top of her and turning out the light, closing the door behind him.
