"Is he going to be mad?" Lindsey was sitting right next to her at the circle table in the cafeteria, holding one of her hands as he stared down at her.
After they spent a good couple of minutes holding one another right in the center of the room, Stevie had to pull away... She couldn't do that. She knew better than to cause a scene like that with all of those people, but for a split second, things felt normal.
When he was holding her, everything seemed like it was going to work out and that didn't happen much anymore, not with them.
"Who knows..." she was looking down at the table, picking apart a blueberry muffin that he insisted she try to eat.
She hadn't even acknowledged anyone else in the room and not because she wasn't thankful for their presence, but she was so overwhelmed and the only person that seemed to make her feel even slightly better was the one that shouldn't have the ability to.
"Thank you for coming." She had already told him that a couple of times on their walk through the hospital, but she just had to mention it again.
Lindsey didn't have any obligation to be there, but he was... He always had been. He'd been showing up to their ballet recitals, school musicals, graduations, big birthday parties and he even sent flowers the first time Becks had her heartbroken in college.
He didn't have to show up, but always managed to and she couldn't have loved him more for that if she wanted to.
He kept his fingers tangled in hers as he brought her hand up to his lips to kiss the back of it. "You and those girls are the strongest group of ladies I know." Lindsey had always told the twins how tough they were- they had seen more and experienced more in the first twenty years of life than most people do in two lifetimes. "And she's going to wake up, get some help and start living again." He added. "She can do it." Lindsey was looking at her side profile, watching as those tears began to travel down her red, puffy cheeks. "Just like someone else I know..." he added, squeezing her hand as a faint smile traveled across his face.
She nodded her head, finally looking back over at him with those sad eyes. "You know who could have handled this?" Stevie whispered as she ran the pad of her thumb across his knuckles.
He smiled softly, letting go of her hand and wrapping his arm around her shoulder to pull her in closer. "Barbara..." Lindsey said in a soft tone of voice as he left a gentle kiss to the side of her head.
"Barbara..." she repeated, heart breaking at just the thought of the woman that kept the world circling for her. "She would know exactly what to do." Stevie slipped her hand around his waist, head still plastered to his chest. "I need her." She did... more than ever.
Barbara had been through it before and she would have had all the advice, all the wisdom, all the reassurance and all the strength it took to get them all through it. Stevie wouldn't have felt nearly as alone if her mother was just there, pushing each of them through the most challenging obstacle she'd encountered so far...
Her issues were one thing, but for Constance to go through it was a different kind of heartache that she had never been prepared for as a parent.
"You are just as wonderful, Steph." Sometimes his voice could be so soothing, and when it was, it made her weak in the knees.
She paused for a second, biting down on her lower lip before she slowly looked back up. "I love you..." Stevie told him in such a low tone, he could barely hear it.
Nodding softly, he leaned in to press his lips to hers. "I love you, baby." He whispered against her mouth, the softest grin on his face when she pushed herself up to kiss him a couple more times.
Carol didn't clear her throat until she had grown incredibly uncomfortable in the doorway, having seen far more than she would have liked.
When Stevie looked up and her eyes met the other woman's from across the room, she pulled away so fast, she nearly fell out of her chair. "I am-" she was getting ready to apologize, but when Carol shook her head, she knew she didn't want to hear it.
"Constance is awake..." she announced, eyes traveling from the blondes towards her husband, who appeared to have no intention of looking up at her.
Without a single word, Stevie slipped off the chair, wrapped her sweater around her arms and trailed through the room. "I'm sorry, Carol." She whispered when she passed her by, knowing that would never be enough but wanting to put it out into the universe anyway.
With her arms crossed over her chest, she glanced back over at Lindsey, who was still focused on the cup of coffee in his hand... anything to stare at, besides her. "You two are unbelievable." She mumbled, shaking her head in disbelief.
~~~
Stevie and Kim were the only two allowed in the room once Constance was awake and even their presence was almost unbearable for her.
They had started in on each other out in the hallway, after Kim had run into Carol, who was crying in the elevator for reasons that didn't need to be shared.
It was always obvious with Stevie and Lindsey, even when they thought it wasn't.
So Kim, like always, told her what he thought of her actions and she didn't like that... Same game they had played for over thirty years with one another.
And if anyone could read the subtle eye rolls and hint of annoyance bouncing from one another, it was one of the two girls that had tried to escape it her entire life.
"My angel girl." Stevie was sitting right next to her, eyes scanning over her young face as she tried her best not to even acknowledge at her ex husband.
Sighing softly, she creased a brow. "Just go home." She told them both.
A/N:
Not my favorite story ever, so going to try to wrap it up shortly and then take a break after!
Thank you for reading
