Landslide (Original Series Prequel 2)

Prologue: I Built My Life Around You

Fairfax, Los Angeles, California
Thursday, May 26, 1972
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"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday, beautiful Stephanie...Happy Birthday to you..."

Stevie was asleep in bed with the dog at her side, a tiny, peaceful form on the mattress on the floor that was a beautiful tangle of white sheets and blonde hair and tanned skin and gold bracelets and rings. The sun shone through the one bedroom window in their apartment on Orange Grove Avenue, streaming down towards the already-sun-kissed skin of her breasts, partially covered by the white sheet, all the way down to her bare leg, with hung over the end of the mattress, her tiny foot with pink-painted toenails and a silver toe ring with a little moon on it being lovingly licked by Ginny the dog. The little white poodle had been fed and walked by Lindsey while Stevie slept late on her birthday, but now the dog just wanted her mom...and Lindsey wanted Stevie to wake up so he could shower her with her yearly supply of birthday attention and love.

"Steeeeeevieeeee..." Lindsey raised his voice an octave and dragged her name out several syllables to call to her, sitting down beside the breathtakingly beautiful sight of the woman he loved sleeping in the nude in the Southern California morning sunlight. He began to stroke her hair, to which she'd recently added a few layers to create a sort of long blonde shag, and he smiled down at her as he thought back to the night before, when they'd come home from the studio to feed and walk the dog and share some of their Chinese take-out dinner with her in front of McMillan And Wife and wound up cuddling under the covers before a few innocent kisses had turned into so much more, and they'd made love. They hadn't played the game they sometimes played where he called her his dirty girl and it hadn't been particularly rushed or wild or crazy - just a slow, gentle combining of two tired bodies that lazily turned into each other and rocked together with tenderness, until at last she'd curled up into her usual little ball and fallen asleep to the sound of his heart beating against her cheek, her tiny hand resting on his chest and he'd whispered down into her hair, "Sweet dreams, birthday girl...tomorrow is your big day."

Now she was stirring gently to the sensation of Ginny's little dog kisses and Lindsey's fingers in her hair and then on her cheek in a soft caress. He said, "Don't sleep away your special day, Stephanie...you have to wake up so I can look into your beautiful eyes."

"Mmmm...five more minutes," Stevie mumbled into her pillow, turning into it and mushing her face further into it. Then, "Come here, baby." She reached her arm up to invite him to lay down beside her and he did. She immediately curled up against him with a sigh, draping her arm across his chest and holding onto him by the side of his shirt. She was still half asleep as she murmured softly into him, "So warm..."

"I'll always keep you warm, birthday girl." He kissed the top of her head. "But we do have to get up now...that is, if you want your blueberry pancakes."

Stevie looked up at him with a curious smile. "Do I get to wear the Rolling Stones t-shirt?"

"You are the birthday girl," he said, and he kissed her. He'd only expected a small peck on the lips, Stevie not quite awake yet, but before he knew it, her tongue was tracing a line along his lower lip before she nibbled at it teasingly, and then he was rolling over on top of her and caressing her tongue with his own, her hands in his on either side of her head, pinning her to the mattress. He looked down at her with a playful smirk on his face and said, "So is that a no to your pancakes, angel?"

"Oh, I still want my birthday pancakes," she said, looking up into his eyes. "But not before you eat me for breakfast first."

"Like I said, you are the birthday girl," Lindsey said, and he wasted no time kissing his way down her body until he got to her inner thighs, teasing her with his tongue everywhere but where she wanted him. He heard her little whimpers of protest, and he decided she'd waited long enough. He descended upon her with his mouth and she cried out when he began to suckle, her hands gripping the pillow behind her as she arched herself off the bed to meet the swirling motions of his tongue.