"I know you're not sleeping." Lindsey let out a soft chuckle as he sank into the edge of their bed.
Stevie was facing the other direction, quiet as a mouse with her eyes closed to block out the bedroom light.
She had slipped upstairs almost as soon as their son left, without saying a single word to her husband. But she hadn't really said too much after Levy brought up the trip anyway- the one Lindsey hadn't mentioned to her yet.
"If there's one thing that I've learned about you in the last fifty years it's that you don't sleep on your side." He added, a little grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as he slid under the comforter.
Sighing heavily, Stevie turned over on her back. "Fifty years..." she lingered, raising a brow as she stared up at their bedroom ceiling. "Are you ready for a new one?" She looked over at him, watching as he searched for the remote on his night stand... if the man ever cleaned it, maybe he'd find what he was looking for.
"A new what?" He wrinkled an eyebrow. "A new wife?" The way Lindsey's eyes widened caused her to giggle softly.
Biting down on her lower lip, she nodded her head softly.
With a little smirk, his deep blue storms melted into her brown eyes. "Well, that would be pretty hard, considering I'm still madly in love with the wife I have now." He joked, even though it was all very true. "And besides, we already know each other too well." Lindsey added.
He knew she was upset with him- he could tell by the little quiet game she had started, but he was determined to fix that before they went to bed.
"Madly in love?" Stevie couldn't help but laugh as she playfully rolled her eyes. "That sounds really far fetched, honey." She mentioned as she shifted her hips under the blankets to get a little more comfortable.
Staring down at her, he started to lightly twist her long blonde hair between two fingers. "You know that it's true, baby." Lindsey whispered, running his index finger around the curve of her face softly.
"Why didn't you tell me about your little golfing trip?" She arched a brow, even though her eyes had grown incredibly heavy from his touch.
He was going to put her to sleep, they both knew that.
"Because I'm not going to go." He shrugged, smiling softly as he watched her eyes flutter.
"Why wouldn't you go?" Her voice had grown gentle as she slowly slid in closer to lay her head in his lap. "You really think our sons can handle a weekend in Santa Cruz without a chaperone?"
Letting out a dry laugh, Lindsey allowed the tips of his fingers to dance towards her collar bone. "So you want me to leave?" A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth, purposefully twisting her words.
"Of course not," she let out a very content sigh when she felt him push her blonde hair to one side to get it out of the way.
Lindsey leaned down slowly, leaving a couple of very soft kisses on the side of her face as the tips of his fingers trailed up and down the curve of her neck. "It kind of sounds like you might." He whispered against her ear.
With little giggle, Stevie turned over to look up at him. "Shut up and kiss me." She grinned, another sweet laugh filling the air around them as he leaned in closer.
"Now, that..." he lingered, kissing her lips a couple of times before he continued. "That I can do."
~
It was early the next morning when Stevie found herself sitting out in the sunroom with a cup of coffee and her journal.
She had already been up for awhile, after having had an incredibly hard time falling asleep the night before.
"I'm gonna go downstairs for a little while." Lindsey was lingering in between the French doors that separated the sunroom from the dining room. "Are you going to be okay up here?" He knew she'd tossed and turned for hours- he was almost certain her back was bothering her again.
"I'm fine, honey." Turning her head back softly, she gave him a gentle thumbs up. "Maybe I'll come bother you in a bit." She added, wiggling her fingers as she watched him trail backwards out of the room.
"I can't wait." He gave her a soft wink before he turned on his heel to head downstairs. "Good morning, trouble and troubles friends." Lindsey teased as he passed by the three teens, who were headed into the kitchen.
"Good morning." The all said it in unison, even though it was really groggy and disorganized.
"I made waffles, they're on the counter." He added as he hit the top of the stairs, but they had already disappeared to the kitchen by then.
Closing the door behind him, he descended the stairs and he flipped on the light once he'd made it to the studio. He had a lot of work to do, but before he got to it, he decided to pick the house phone up off the cradle and dial her number.
As he listened to it ring, he set his cup of coffee down on the stand and took a seat on the leather sofa.
"Hello?" Kara answered on the third or fourth ring, thrilled to finally hear from Lindsey.
"How's it going?" He leaned back, eyes roaming around the room as he tried to listen for Stevie... He wasn't ready to tell her, even though he knew keeping secrets never got him very far.
"I can't do this." She admitted, a very deep sigh escaping her a moment later. "He won't listen to me, Lindsey. I've tried everything." Kara really felt that way- she felt like she had run out of options.
He grew quiet for a second, not actually sure what he was supposed to do either. "Is it really that bad?" Lindsey wasn't being a jerk- he was just trying to figure out the best route to take... Usually his wife had those sort of answers, but the last thing he wanted to do was stress her out.
"It's the worst it's ever been." Kara wasn't over exaggerating when she said those words and he could tell, even through the phone. "Can he come stay with you guys for a while? He really needs help." She wouldn't have asked that if it wasn't serious...
Lindsey rubbed his forehead as he slowly fell back to lay down. "I'll have to talk to Stevie." He mentioned, not at all enthused to have that conversation with her... It was always something with those kids- always.
~
"Left." He reminded her, a small smile spreading across his face as he watched her feet move back and forth. "You're doing so well." Alex slowly pushed her out, watching as she did a little twirl before she spun right back into his arms.
"I have a good teacher, that's why." Stevie grinned, brown eyes melting into his a moment later.
"Have we made a decision, yet?" He chuckled lightly, rubbing the small of her back as he watched the older woman giggle quietly.
Nodding softly, she patted his shoulder. "I think we should do it."
