I Think I'm in Trouble {Reimagined}

CXXIV.

It was evening when both Stevie and Lindsey emerged through the front door, finding themselves in utter silence.

It was odd considering they knew Shannon was staying at their house to babysit her sister, they expected Nicholas to be home unless he was with his father or girlfriend, they expected to see her parents unless they were at Chris and Lori's or even at Lindsey's with Ruth and Jeffrey. But it was off putting to be there in the evening and nobody be around.

"Well, it's awfully quiet around here..." she stated, lifting her eyebrow. "I know I have children somewhere."

He smirked, settling the bags down in the entry way.

"We're home!" she yelled, hoping for somebody to come down.

No response.

Hands falling to her sides, she shrugged. "I guess nobody's home... That's not much of a grand entrance to announce having just got married."

"Oh, but it's grand enough for us," he swooped right in, slipping an arm around her waist to pull her in for a kiss.

He completely took her breath away.

She pulled away when she could and she smiled in return, swiping the side of his face---completely entranced by him.

"What?" he wondered.

"I just love to stare at you, especially now considering the short time I lost my vision and I didn't get to. I'm making up for lost time."

He smirked, kissing her again.

Just then, the front door opened and everybody began trailing in; Shannon pushing Lily in her stroller, Nicholas, followed by their grandparents.

"You're home," Shannon was a little surprised. "We kind of expected you earlier, we all went to dinner and Damon went home."

"How was your trip?" Nicholas asked, sliding his hands into his jean pockets.

"I hope you guys had a wonderful time," Barbara winked, leaning in to pull her granddaughter out of the stroller.

Jess smirked, watching as the baby babbled on---having not settled her eyes on her mother quite yet.

"We had a great time," she assured, coming forward to greet all of her children.

"So, where'd you actually go?" Shannon wondered. "We just had dinner with Ruth and Jeffrey---I thought that's where you were going."

"That was just so nobody would spill about my surprise for your mom," Lindsey smirked, reaching back to scratch the back of his neck---growing nervous about telling the kids.

Shannon creased her brow.

Stevie came forward happily to greet her baby; "Hello, my Water Lily!" she beamed.

Lily went wild when she heard her mother's voice and caught a glimpse of her father.

"Mm, mm... Da!" she screamed, waving her little hands around.

"I missed you too," she assured. "You're never gonna believe what your daddy and I did..." She was purposely talking out loud to the baby as though it was to only engage her.

"Hi, sweetheart, look at you---" Lindsey also beamed, taking her chubby hand in his.

Shannon was waiting for them to finally say something before impatiently asking at all, but Lily only chatted away in her own language that she was stealing the spotlight.

"Your mommy and daddy got married yesterday," she claimed, shrugging her shoulders as though she could understand. But then her eyes wandered over to her older kids.