Holding the phone between her shoulder and her ear, Stevie stood in the kitchen, shortening the steams of a dozen red roses. "You, my dear, are the absolute sweetest." She told him as soon as the line stopped ringing.
"I thought you'd like those." On the end of the phone, Lindsey was sitting in the living room, surrounded by his clothes, trying to decide what to pack and what not to... usually Stevie helped him with that.
"I love them, honey." She corrected, setting him down for a second to fill the vase up with water.
"How was your appointment?" He had been waiting all morning to hear about her visit at the doctors, especially since she'd finally hit twenty- four weeks... they were almost in the clear.
Bringing the phone back up to her ear, she let out a soft sigh. "It was good. The baby is the size of a piece of corn, or something like that." Stevie didn't quite understand that desire to depict the baby as a vegetable- they didn't do that in the 70's and their babies came out just fine. "And they still don't want to know if it's a boy, or a girl." She added as she fixed her flowers one last time before leaving them alone.
"How about the swelling? Did they say anything about that?" He hadn't seen her in almost a month, but from the way it sounded, she was still retaining quite a bit of water.
Shaking her head, she sank into the into a kitchen chair. "They said it isn't that bad- I just need to keep taking the vitamins and try to eat very little salt." There was a lot more, but the last thing she wanted to do was worry him.
She just needed to take it easy, eat healthy and get enough rest, which were all things she had neglected to do in the weeks leading up.
Things hadn't gotten any better in Chicago... In fact, it might have gotten worse. Lucy and Crosby were bickering about everything, and since Stevie still felt so out of place, she went into all of her doctors appointments alone. She knew it was weird, but when Lucy hardly said two words to her throughout the entire day, she didn't feel obligated to do anything for her in return.
She had tried and tried to make things right, but it felt like Lucy didn't want a real relationship.
"Anyway," she let out another deep sigh as she tried to reposition herself in the chair to get comfortable. "Are you all packed for tomorrow?" She winced softly, pressing on her lower stomach to get the baby out of her ribs.
The baby moved all the time- it was like a little karate kid in there, using her stomach as a punching bag all day and all night, making it almost impossible to get any rest. But she loved it, she really did... She had fallen in love, actually.
"I don't know what I should bring." He mumbled, staring around the room at all of his things. "I think I'll just make myself a drink and worry about it in the morning." He added, which caused her to giggle on the end.
"Oh, I can't wait to share a drink with you, mister B." She couldn't wait to be back home, but suddenly, she feared leaving behind the baby she was carrying... It was going to be much harder than she had originally thought, yet she knew she couldn't admit that to anyone, not even Lindsey.
He smirked, biting down on the inside of his cheek. "I can't wait to share a bed with you." He was trying to make her blush, but he was also being pretty serious... he missed her, a lot.
"Oh, gosh." She tossed her head back, allowing a deep laugh to fill the empty kitchen. "You're funny." She grinned, glancing down at her stomach, where the baby was kicking softly.
"I almost forgot to tell you," he pushed himself off the couch, trailing towards the den to pour himself a glass of scotch.
"Hmm?" She hummed, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Elise made dinner tonight, and Levy brought Janie." He knew that would make her happy- it made everyone happy to know that Levy could get along with someone long enough to go out with them.
"That's great." She had started twisting her hair in between two of her fingers as she leaned back against the kitchen fall in the chair. "Did you take my spot in cards tonight?" She thought it was hilarious that all of her friends were dealing him in into their games each week, even though he assured her that he still couldn't stand any of them... he just liked to see their faces when he won every round. It made him laugh.
"No, I need some real competition... like you." He teased, taking a quick drink to calm his nerves some.
"You must really miss me." She knew, when they played any type of game together- it got intense.
When their kids were small and they would play Go Fish, Stevie and Lindsey would end up ripping the cards out of each other's hands as they accused one another of cheating... It was scary when they played together, so for him to say that, she knew he really did want her to come back home.
"I miss you more than anything." Lindsey felt like it had been forever since they'd been together, and in reality, it had been.
They hadn't been away from each for that long in many years... it felt odd.
"I'll see you in a couple of weeks, okay?" Stevie had promised him that she'd be at his Chicago show, even if she waited in the dressing room- she'd be there.
"I love you, baby."
"I love you more, and I'll talk to you in the morning before you leave." She knew that he needed her to run through the check list with him, like she did every morning before he left for tour... the had a routine and even though she wasn't there in person, she'd make sure things were running smooth from afar.
"I'll talk to you in the morning." He didn't want to be the first one to hang up- he never was, so he waited until the other end had gone completely silent before he set the phone down on the bar.
He stood there for a minute, finishing off his second drink before he decided to finally get back to packing, even though he couldn't find any matching socks to save his life. He didn't know what he would have done if he was all alone, all the time. He needed his wife, bad.
But as soon as he sat back down on the living room floor, the door bell rang. "Alright, then." He mumbled, hurrying back through the house to pull open the front door. "Are you lost?" He was unenthused when his eyes met Donna's... She was a walking nightmare, literally.
"I need to talk to you." She slipped right into the house, a heavy sigh escaping her as she slipped out of her jacket and heels.
Raising a brow, he half heartedly shut the door behind her. "What can-" his words were cut off the moment her lips met his.
It took him a second; maybe a long second, but then he lightly pulled away from her, holding out his hand to keep some space between them.
"Donna, what are you doing?" His eyes fell to the floor, heart pounding at an unhealthy rate... He had never felt like that.
Instead of replying, she pushed herself into him again, both hands meeting his cheeks as she deepened their kiss.
