Parallel Universe

Life couldn't be any better

August 2001

She was exhausted, but right now she couldn't have been more happy. Fearing that she would fall asleep shortly, she had asked Lindsey if he wanted to finally get a hold on their daughter. What she saw made her smile.

Not matter that he had been around her one and a half year old daughter for some time by now, knowing that babies didn't break like a china doll, he handled their daughter so carefully, as if he feared that she would break.

"You won't break her, you know." Stevie laughed, the look on his face was priceless. "As long as you won't let her fall everything is perfectly fine."

The look that now came to his face was even more adorable. If she had never thought about one thing that it was that Lindsey was actually scared of a baby. Or better what he might do wrong. And Tom had told her that she had been overly careful when Allan had first been born and she had basically wrapped him cotton wool, waking him up at night so she could make sure that he was still breathing.

"Lindsey!"

"Mhmm?"

"Again, you will not break her. Just handle her like you handle Great and everything will be fine."

He mumbled something, she didn't understand. But if she had to guess she would say that it had been something along the lines of "I'm not so sure about it."

Closing her eyes, Stevie decided to not comment on it. She had needed her time to get used to having a baby a long time ago. Now she knew, while Lindsey would need time to adjust. But seeing him like this, the love in his eyes as he looked down at their daughter, she was having a hard time to believe that this was the same man who had once changed so much.

She had known him like this already, a long time ago. Before they had joined the band he had been just like this, loving and gentle. But as they had become famous, he had changed so much that she sometimes asked herself who it was possible that she had once fallen in love with him. Or worse why she still seemed to be in love with him, no matter how much they had been fighting, or whom they had dated. Being with him now was as if she had gone back in time. He was her Lindsey again.

"Stevie?"

She opened her eyes again, reluctantly. She didn't want to talk. All she wanted right now was sleeping. She had just been having a baby and to be honest, she was exhausted.

"Huh?"

"You know that we still need a na..."

"Now?" Stevie was awake again. "It may have escaped your notice, but I've just been having a baby. And it might not have seemed like that to you, but I'm fucking exhausted and  I have absolutely no intention to even think about names. Right now I just want to sleep."

"I'm sorry, Angel."

That was a sentence he had become quite accustomed to saying during the last nine months. While he might have thought that she had been unbearable in the eighties when they had been fighting, he had learned a whole new level of Stevie being unbearable.

"It's okay. We can talk later. I'm sorry I snapped." She stiffened a yawn. "But please, give me a few hours. I want to get some rest while I can."

"Then sleep."

Lindsey leaned down, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Are you sure I can leave you two alone?"

She was teasing him now.

"What did you say, as long as I don't let her drop everything's fine."

"I see you are all right." Stevie smiled and already closed her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He wasn't too sure if she had still heard him. From the way she her breathing had already evened out, Lindsey guessed that she had fallen asleep instantly.

Looking from her to the little girl in his arms, he still couldn't believe how much his life had changed, in less than a year. He hadn't thought that he would ever get back together with Stevie. Or that he would one day be a father. There might have been many women during in his life, but never had he been able to imagine settling down with any of them.

Lindsey had told her that he had only left the band because he had given up hope that they might work things out. After the brief affair they had been having during the reunion tour he had hoped that there was a chance for them. But when Stevie had gone back to her family, he had once more buried the thought of having a shot at a family. 

Little could he have known that only a few years later he had not only Stevie back in his life, but that she had given him the family he had always wanted with her. Right now, he found, life couldn't be any better.

I'm unbelievably sorry for taking so long to finish this one, but it's here, finally. Thank you everybody for sticking with this little adventure, for reading, voting and commenting. You are truly amazing. Thank you again fairydust75 for giving me the idea for this story, I really enjoyed the challange to write something way out of my comfortzone. Much love, Dani