"Are you okay...?" Laurel whispered through the darkness as she laid on her side with her hands clasped together between her temple and the pillow.
She had listened to the sound of her mom crying for most of the night and for whatever reason, when her sniffles stopped, she started to panic... She just needed the reassurance that she was going to be alright too, even though she knew it wasn't that easy to promise given their current circumstances.
Stevie let out a low sigh as she turned her head to the side to look over at her baby... The girl that saved her life ten times over in her short time on earth. "Close your eyes, my sweet Laurel." She told her in the softest tone of voice, wanting nothing more than for her to just stop worrying for a moment... She felt awful for everything, but she especially felt awful that Laurel was going through that, again.
They had been at the hospital with Nash for three whole days and after Karen sat her down to have a long conversation, Stevie finally caved and decided to go back to the house... Her Phoenix home was less than ten minutes from where Nash was, so there was no reason for her to be sleeping in a chair in the waiting room, making herself extra miserable.
And even though it was incredibly difficult to leave her oldest, she knew that as long as she stayed, so would her youngest and that wasn't fair for her either.
"Just tell me that you're okay first..." Laurel really didn't sound like she was a twenty year old woman, not when her voice was so shaky and her orbs were swimming in tears.
She still reminded Stevie and maybe she always would, of the brown eyed baby girl that used to sneak into her mothers room late at night, telling her that she'd had another bad dream... She always had these really terrible nightmares, where she'd wake up crying, even well into her teenage years. And the thing was, Laurel was honestly just a rather scared and overly sensitive person, which was never a bad thing, but those few days after Nash's overdose, really heightened those traits once again.
Stevie paused for a second, eyes so tired and sore from crying, it was hard to even keep them open. "I took my love and I took it down...." She was half singing, half whispering the lyrics of Laurels favorite song.. She couldn't make promises, not in times like that.
Creasing a brow, the tears started rolling down Laurels cheeks once more when she felt her mom lace her fingers with hers. "I climbed a mountain and I turned around..." she sang back, forehead meeting Stevie's shoulder as she half heartedly shut her eyes.
She also hadn't gotten much rest in the last couple of days, but unlike her mother, she wasn't able to hide it well.
Running the pad of her thumb back and forth across her daughters knuckles, Stevie continued the rest of the song alone, singing to her like she had a million times before, until she eventually heard the pattern of Laurels breathing change... A huge sigh of relief. "You're my whole world." She told her once she realized that she'd finally fallen asleep for the night.
~~~
"How are they doing?" With a cup of coffee in one hand and the other in his pants pocket, Lindsey traveled right along side Barbara as they headed down the sidewalk of the home he hadn't been welcome to in years... Typical.
But he had just gotten to Arizona a couple of hours before that and of course, since he hadn't gotten a call back from anyone in the last few days, he was a little on edge and pretty antsy to see them... He wouldn't dare admit it though, of course.
Letting out a soft sigh, the older woman frowned lightly. "Nash won't let her in his room and Laurel is so overwhelmed, she hasn't eaten since they got here." She announced, pursing her lips to the side as she felt another wave of emotion wash over her.
She had done a lot of crying and over all, she really felt like she was at a real loss, for the first time in a long time, which is one of the many reasons she was so thankful to hear that Lindsey had come to town... She knew that it really wouldn't go over all that well with a certain someone, but she felt like he would be quite helpful and reassuring.
"Oh, boy." He shook his head softly, raising a brow as he followed her up the couple of steps to the front door.
He had dropped by the hospital first and when it was just Karen there, he was pretty shocked, to say the very least. He figured Stevie would have camped out in the waiting room or even outside his door, but her assistant had given him a short run down, and her absence made a little more sense.
"I'm happy you're here for them." She said in a soft tone of voice, feeling incredibly relieved by his presence.
They had always been very close, even after everything that had happened... She loved Lindsey a lot and considered him a son, no matter what.
He cracked a soft smile, one hand falling on her upper back as he left a light kiss on her head. "I'm always here." He had made that promise many times before and the only person he ever seemed to let down with it, was Stevie...
"I know." She nodded softly, reaching out to push open the door and welcome him into the foyer of his exes house.
He hadn't been there in years, not since the night they had gotten into a huge fight in the front room... Water under the bridge though.
Anyway, one thing about Stevie was that everything always remained the exactly same around her home- all of them. She had a certain style and she liked comfort, so things never really changed... She didn't like change.
That being said, there were the same big pictures of Laurel and Nash lining the entry way, along with an old wooden accent table that had a crystal vase sitting in the center with fresh flowers and candles that probably hadn't been lit in years. And everything was put in a place, always... Even when she had little kids running around that house, nothing ever seemed like it didn't belong.
She had always been able to make a house feel like a home.
"Stevie's in the sunroom..." Barbara's voice grew much lower, almost whispering it to him as she began to move backwards to the kitchen. "Go talk to her." She added with a very soft wink before she turned around on her heel.
It was far too early for her to listen to the two of them, whether they were getting along or not... She just didn't have it in her to be in their company, in all honestly.
So, he waited there for a second, trying to silently prepare himself and then, without a second thought, he slowly moved through the doorway of the sunroom.
She was sitting in the accent chair, curled up with a blanket in her lap, a cup of coffee in her hand and her back facing him as she stared aimlessly out the window. She had been up for quite a while, watching the birds fly by, the sun rise and the wind chimes blow around... It was a beautiful day and she was trying her very best to soak it up before she found herself back at the hospital with her son.
Lindsey's hand carefully met her shoulder, giving her neck the most gentle squeeze as he stared down at the woman he had always loved the most.
Her heart sank instantly, brown eyes falling closed as she felt his lips on the top of her head. "You should have stayed home with your family."
