January 1998
"Lindsey! Please don't go! We can figure this out. This doesn't mean that you have to leave me," she was crying as she watched him pack up his bag.
He couldn't bear to look at her, "I have to, baby. This is the right thing to do and we both know it."
Stevie fell to her knees and started sobbing, "please don't do this. We had plans. We were going to get married and try to have a child of our own."
He takes a deep breath and helps her up off the ground, "Steph, I have to step up and take responsibility. This is my baby. It should have a family."
"That doesn't mean you have to leave me," she pushes him away.
"You know I didn't mean for this to happen," He says, moving close to her again and hugging her tightly. She doesn't resist this time, but she doesn't wrap her arms around him, either.
"You can still help raise this baby and take care of it. You don't have to be with her."
"It's the right thing to do."
All Stevie could do was watch him as he packed a few of his things. He was going to go be with her tonight. He was going to go be with her forever, actually. This was it. They were breaking up again. She felt like an idiot thinking they could actually work out this time. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked around the room. All of his things were scattered all over the place. He'd moved in as soon as they got back from The Dance tour.
"Do you not love me anymore?" She asked, her lip quivering.
Lindsey paused what he was doing and moved over to her. He placed a kiss on her lips and she desperately kissed him back, knowing it would be their last kiss, "I will always love you, Steph. I just need to do the right thing and that's to step up and be a man and a father and help Kristen raise this baby."
All she could do was nod a little. She couldn't stay in this room a second longer. She couldn't watch him leave. She walked downstairs and slipped her shoes on and grabbed her sunglasses. She headed outside and walked down her driveway and she didn't stop. She walked and walked until the sun had gone down. She looked up and she wasn't even sure where she was and she wasn't even sure she cared. She turned around and headed back the way she thought she came from, but she didn't want to go home. That was the last place she wanted to be. If he could just pack up and leave, then what was stopping her?
She finally arrived back at her place, not realizing how far she had actually gone. She packed a couple of bags and called a cab to take her to LAX. Staying in this city would surely kill her, as she was already so broken. She would go stay where it was safe. She would go stay in a place that didn't remind her of him every time she looked around. She would go home.
It was the middle of the night when she arrived in Arizona. She looked up at the house she spent a good portion of her childhood in and took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell. She waited for her mother to answer.
When Barbara came to the door, she didn't ask any questions. She took her daughter into her arms as Stevie began to cry again.
"Come inside, my sweet girl. Whatever's wrong, we'll figure it out and it'll be okay."
All Stevie could do is nod her head as the sobs wracked her small frame. She made her way into the house with her bags. Her mother took one look at her, "you need to sleep, little one. We can talk about this in the morning."
Barbara helped Stevie carry her bags up to her room. Stevie slipped her shoes off and collapsed onto the bed. She was so grateful her mother didn't ask any questions tonight. She wasn't ready to talk about it. Her mother tucked her in and kissed her forehead before going back to her own room. Stevie fell into a fitful sleep until morning.
