I Think I'm in Trouble {Reimagined}

LXXXV.

Suddenly waking up out of a deep sleep, Stevie's eyes popped open at six a.m. 

It was early enough that the sun hadn't come out yet, but late enough in the morning that it was light out, and although there was no reason to get up, she was wide awake.

It was as though she was filled with anxiety the moment she crossed over from her deep sleep to being awake and she just couldn't shake it.

Turning over on to her side, she could see that Lindsey was facing her, hugging his pillow as he slept soundly. She then readjusted herself and got closer, causing him to shift closer to her in his sleep.

He wrapped her in an embrace, practically soothing her anxieties in his sleep by pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

She rested her head on his chest, smoothing the fabric of his shirt as she shut her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, to simply soak up the rest before Lily cried out for something, though it was easy to think back to a conversation she'd had with her mother a few months back, on Christmas Eve.

After Lindsey, Ruth and Jeffrey left that evening, Barbara approached her daughter in the entryway.

"TeeDee, honey---can I talk to you?" she asked after waving to the family of three one last time.

"Of course, mom," she shut the front door and locked it before turning around to pick up her cup of ice again. "What's wrong?" she asked as she guided her more into the privacy of the dining room.

"Well, I was gonna ask about Jeffrey..."

"Be specific," she smirked. "Which one?" as she ate another piece of ice, readjusting her paper towel around the glass cup.

"Yours," she smiled, moving a strand of her wavy hair out of her face. "I wanted to take advantage of that fact that he left to take Kristen home."

The woman had known everything there was to know between her affair with Lindsey, how Shannon had gotten herself involved and the fact that their breakup happened because of a fight at his house when his ex-girlfriend showed up, but she also kept the fact that it was Kristen out of the story. The only people who knew anything about such things by that point were herself, Lindsey, Kristen and Jeffrey for the sake of keeping all the relationships pure. 

She was just slightly caught off guard that she'd ask anything about them.

"Well, what's wrong?" she wondered, seeing there was a definitive amount of concern in her expression, although she made it seem like curiosity.

"What do you think the next six months are gonna be like? She's pregnant and it feels like Jeff only just got back..." she claimed. "What if he gets another call for training?"

"Training" was a term her mother had been using a whole lot when they were discussing her grandson's profession since it didn't sound as harsh as deployment and they had no idea what it was he was doing other than training as an army soldier.

The idea of her son getting deployed had entered her thoughts, but not as much since he'd had so many arrangements up his sleeve for how things were going to be with Kristen and it was in that moment she believed he was making so many arrangements as far as moving her into a condo just in case he'd get deployed again.

"Y'know, it's just them..." she shrugged. "He hasn't really talked about it, but... I just wanted to bring it up, I guess. I worry about my grandson is all, I'm gonna be worried about my great-grandchild as well."

"No, I understand, mom," she leaned forward and rubbed the side of her arm. "I don't really know what will follow in the event he has to leave... And I get it. I was so in shock when he left the first time and that was because I'd forgotten he'd ever gone to boot camp. I guess..." she paused, realizing how hopped up on the Klonopin she'd been in order to not recall things all that great.