"How are you doing this morning?" Barbara was behind her daughter, staring at her through the mirror as she continued to twist her long blonde hair into two braids.
Letting out a gentle sigh, Stevie's eyes met hers as she stayed sitting at the vanity, where she'd been trying to get ready for their drive home for the last hour. "I'm tired, mom." She whispered, slouching her shoulders as she reached out to pick up her cup of coffee.
Nash had only been out of the hospital a few days and it was incredibly difficult to find a happy medium for all of them while they were out in Arizona... It felt like there was so much happening and Stevie really didn't know where to even start.
Talking to her son was like trying to get through to a brick wall and the thought of doing it without Laurel, without her mother and father, and especially without Lindsey was incredibly intimidating.
"I know you are." She nodded softly, leaning down to press a soft kiss to the back of her head before she carefully began to tie off one of the braids with a pony tail holder. "But you are such a good mommy and a strong girl." Barbara assured in a gentle tone of voice, really trying her best to be as sympathetic as she could... After all, she'd been there too.
She knew what it was like to watch the person she brought into the world go through some of the worst pain out there... She'd held Stevie's hand while she was going through it and she knew, if anyone could face the challenge with Nash, it was her.
Stevie was the toughest woman in the world in the eyes of her mother... She always had been, even though she'd had her fair share of problems along the way.
Biting down on her lower lip, Stevie wrinkled her brow as the tears began to fill her eyes... She'd been doing an awful lot of crying lately. "Mick hasn't even called to check in on him." She whispered, voice cracking as her gaze dropped back to the makeup she had sprawled out on the wooden vanity top in front of her.
Pursing her lips to the side, Barbara arched a brow, not at all surprised to hear that. "Oh, TeeDee..." she whispered, not exactly sure what she was supposed to say.
Mick had always been in and out... He had his hands full too, even though Stevie seemed to look past that at times.
"And of course, I don't expect you to come home with us." Stevie continued, shaking her head lightly. "Lindsey has to go back to his wife and baby, and Laurel can't stay with me forever." She added, heart actually feeling a little bit heavier that morning... How that was even possible was beyond her. "It'll just be Nash and I..." she lingered, kind of embarrassed to admit that she was actually quite terrified of that.
It felt like she was 30 years old again, bringing home a new born baby all by herself, without a single clue how to raise him... She always felt a little extra alone back then and she had a feeling, once they arrived back to Santa Monica, that would return.
"Daddy and I will always be wherever you need us." Barbara reminded her as her hands fell on the younger woman's shoulders. "Now look at me for a second." She bent down a little, chin resting on Stevie's head as she stared into those big brown eyes through the glass. "You have done it alone before, Stephanie." She rarely ever called her that, not unless it was incredibly serious and that moment was. "You juggled a full time career and two kids as single mother..." she had tears in her eyes as well, so proud of the woman in the reflection. "You have the power to get through this and you will."
~~~
Like usual, dressed and ready to go- Jess, Karen, Lindsey and Laurel were all waiting around in the kitchen for the last of the crew to make it downstairs for the morning.
It was just shortly before six and they were each ready to get on the road to start their drive back West, even though none of them were in any kind of hurry to rush Stevie... She didn't like that very much, so they all decided to just sit around the island, having coffee, watching the morning news and quietly chatting.
It was never easy, not when they were getting ready to leave behind Jess and Barbara.
"Do you want some more?" Laurel held up the coffee pot, giving her dad a small smile as her sleepy eyes continued to adjust to the bright light from the chandelier hanging above them.
He was sitting on one of the barstools, having just spent a couple of minutes looking over the newspaper... something to maybe wake him up a little. "Thanks, kiddo." Lindsey held out his cup, returning that smile as his eyes began to scan over her face.
He knew that going home to Cassie and Megan was inevitable- they needed him there too, but being away from Stevie and Laurel always seemed a little more unbearable to him.
Of course, Stevie and Lindsey didn't have a good relationship for the better half of Laurels childhood, not when life was so hectic and they couldn't agree on anything, especially not on how they wanted to raise their child.
They fought over everything and anything at that time... They could hardly be in the same work. It was so intense, for a long time, Sharon had to do the court ordered drop offs and pick ups, being that they couldn't even be civil long enough to do that...
The older they got, the easier it became and by the time Laurel was in junior high, her parents were on much better terms. They could have dinner together, work together, go to school events together and unbeknownst to anyone else at that time, they had even started dating each other....
It had never been simple and this situation was no exception to that.
"I'm really gonna miss you." Lindsey told her as he carefully added a little sugar to his cup.
Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she nodded her head lightly as she sank forward into the counter. "Yeah, I'll miss you too." She admitted with a faint shrug of her shoulders, not wanting to make it sound like she was all that serious about.
It was what it was by then.
Sighing softly, Lindsey's blue eyes met her brown ones for a moment before he replied. "You know that you're always welcome to come over to the house any time you want, right?" He felt obligated to remind her, even though he had never made her feel like she didn't belong...
Laurel came first in his life from the moment Stevie had announced that she was pregnant and truthfully, even if Lindsey went on to have ten more kids, Laurel would still come before anything... He wouldn't have admitted it aloud, but it would have held strong.
She bit down on her bottom lip, bringing her cup up to her mouth as her eyes traveled to the doorway, where Nash was wandering in. "There's donuts on the counter." She ignored Lindsey, turning her full attention to her older brother, who looked so disheveled. "What the fuck is the matter with you?" Her words caught her grandpa and Karen's attention, both of them turning in their chairs at the table immediately.
"Laurel..." Karen creased a brow, shaking her head lightly as she silently told her that her use of language might have been a bit excessive.
"Up all night drinking or what?" The young blonde's eyes literally burned into Nash as she watched him take a seat next to Lindsey.
His hair was in messy curls, he had bags under his eyes, still in his sweat pants and hoodie with what seemed to be not a thought in his mind.
He chuckled lightly, reaching out to take her cup right out of her hands. "I'm not fucking driving all the way home with your mother today when my head hurts this bad." Nash was hungover, obviously. "So we gotta figure something else out."
