Twenty- Four

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"You totally blindsided me." Lindsey had stayed pretty quiet all of dinner and even while they were all playing board games in the den afterward, but as soon as everyone headed out for the night, he was going to let her have it.

"Oh, I did not." She was standing at the top of the staircase, leaning against the banister to watch him lock the front door.

"The other night, you sounded like you weren't planning to leave." He scoffed with an arched brow and a shitty tone lingering within his words.

"They want to be close their child, Lindsey." She huffed, not sure why he was so against her going to the Midwest for just a few weeks. "We, of all people, should understand where they're coming from." Her eyes followed him through the foyer, rolling them once he had disappeared into the living room. "Come back here and talk to me, Lindsey." She mumbled, jaw settling softly.

That's where their problems would arise- lack of communication. It was an issue that had started at the very beginning of their marriage and before they knew it, there would be arguments, silence, and then everything would just go back to normal without a single apology... It was a tale as old as time in the world of marriage.

"I don't want you to go." He half shouted, just to make sure she could hear him from the other room.

Sighing heavily, she was getting ready to trail down the stairs when he reappeared in the doorway.

He had one hand tucked into his jean pocket, while the other cradled a glass of brown liquor. "I don't want you to leave." He repeated with a shrug of his shoulders.

Stevie couldn't help but chuckle, shaking her head softly. "Why, not? I'm not going to be gone forever." She felt like he was acting like she moving out... She would be back, like always. "We've done this before." She reminded him, because they had.

He would be gone for months at a time, all around the world, nonetheless. He would try to call a couple of times a day, but most of the time, she would speak to him once in the evening, and they made it work. They were used to spending time away from each other- she didn't see much of a difference this time around.

"It's been a long time since we've been away from each other." Lindsey's eyes had grown soft and his voice was low, which made her heart slow down just a tad.

He had been on the road multiple times since their children were out of the house, but he wasn't gone for longer than three weeks at time once they were empty nesters. And she visited him on the road- all the time, actually. Once a month she was on a plane, headed out to see him in whatever city he was in. They were together, even when they weren't.

He wasn't sure how he was going to just sit in California, in their empty house all alone... He had never really been there without her- it was always the other way around.

"Honey, this is their baby..." she lingered.

"And you're my baby." He half smirked, just trying to make her blush a little... It worked- it always did.

Pushing herself away from the banister, she headed down the stairs slowly. "We're gonna be okay." She assured, lips turning up as he met her at the bottom.

"I don't know what I'm going to do without you." Sliding one arm around her waist, he pulled her into himself a little more.

Letting her hand meet his chest, she looked up into her favorite set of blue eyes. "You're going to enjoy your alone time." She giggled, laying her head on his shoulder as she felt him rock her back forth gently.

"I don't do well alone." He whispered.

"Well, good thing we had a bunch of kids and a restaurant to run. That will keep you busy." She sighed, rubbing his back softly.

She didn't want to leave- not at all. The last thing she ever wanted to do was to live with one of her children again.... they had been there and done that- it was a nightmare. But she also knew how much they wanted to be apart of the whole baby process, like all parents do. Crosby and Lucy weren't having a normal pregnancy anyway, the least she could do was make it just a little more ideal for them as best she could.

"I think this would be good for Crosby and I as well." She admitted, biting down on her lower lip.

Shaking his head, he tried hard not to sigh. "Don't let them walk all over you, Steph." He wasn't trying to sound like so negative, but he knew how those boys could be... They could feel entitled and that didn't always set easy with their father, especially when it came to Stevie.

"Why was it so easy for you and Levy to move on?" She had envied their relationship for years, especially since they had also fought like cats and dog.

Levy was just as stubborn as Lindsey, maybe even more so at times. And they bumped heads like crazy, because they were just so similar. The worst fight was right after Donna had made the rumor that Lindsey was seeing someone else and Levy was furious... and really let down in the man he had looked up to so much.

He had found out on the way to school that morning from Donna's oldest son, who had nonchalantly asked if his parents were getting a divorce.

Stevie could still remember that rush of adrenaline she had felt when Levy stormed through the house after school, popping his dad right in the face. She was close behind him, trying hard to pull him away, but he was so upset.

He had just turned eighteen and since Crosby had been evicted just weeks earlier, he knew someone had to keep things entertaining in that house... He was a good replacement for his older brother.

Lindsey chuckled a little, raising a brow. "We had too many beers and shared a real heart- to- heart." He recalled. 

Rolling her eyes playfully, she shook her head. "I'm scared that I'm going to have this baby and then I won't hear from them until they want to put us in a nursing home." She didn't know how to mend their relationship, she really didn't.

It always felt like she was with a stranger when it was just the two of them... She was nervous to go out there without Lindsey.

"Stevie, you can only do so much and then it's up to him."

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