It's been awhile...

I know you

Arriving at work earlier than usual, Lindsey met with the sous-chef, who was getting out of his car at the same time. "Morning, boss! You're here early today."

"Yeah, I just couldn't sleep for some reason." Shaking hands with Jim. "I had this uneasy feeling. Everyone was still asleep, so I thought I'll just come here." Lindsey spoke, fishing for the keys of the back entrance. 

"I've got it." Jim jingled his keys, stepping up to the door. Unlocking it, he was about to take a step forward, but he froze, causing Lindsey to bump into him. 

"What's wrong?"

Swallowing hard, Jim said. "I think this is why you had that feeling, boss..."

Frowning, Lindsey looked inside and saw the place turned upside down. The whole interior of the restaurant completely destroyed; tables and chairs in bits and pieces, the paintings that hung on the walls just yesterday were now on the floor, flowerpots clearly had been kicked over, bottles from the bar section as well as glasses smashed into tiny shards. Carefully stepping over things on his way, Lindsey went to the kitchen, finding it ruined also. Jim was following behind him, his eyes wide.

"Who would do such a thing?"

Shaking his head in disappointment, Lindsey sighed. "I genuinely thought he was going to stay away." Running a hand through his hair. "Man..."

"You know who did this?" Jim frowned. 

"I have a pretty good idea." He then added. "It's Ryan."

"What, Harris? Your partner?"

"The one." Nodding his head, Lindsey then said. "But he's not my partner anymore. I didn't have the time yet, I have some things to deal with first. I was going to tell everyone soon."

"Well, he's clearly pissed off." Again, following Lindsey outside. He took out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one. "Did you just tell him your partnership is over or something?"

"Uh, not exactly." Jim had been with them for years, he was a friend, so Lindsey didn't keep it a secret. "I'm kind of with Stevie now."

"What the fuck?"

That made Lindsey laugh lightly. "It's a long story. A very long one. We're all in this mess we've created for ourselves. He doesn't want to get divorced, but after our latest... encounter, I honestly was a hundred percent sure he got the message. Apparently not."

"What are you going to do?"

"Call the police obviously. Even if I have a good feeling it's Ryan, I can't be certain. Plus, this place has been completely destroyed and whoever did this, is going to pay a huge price, so I need to know who did this exactly. How the hell am I going to tell Stevie... She's going to freak."

"That's only natural, isn't it? What if this was someone else, what if it had happened during the working hours? People could have gotten hurt. I'd freak out too."

"Yes, but you're not pregnant, are you."

"Oh... quite a situation you've got yourself in, boss."

"Yeah." Letting out a heavy breath. "Could you, please, call the others and tell them that clearly there's no need to come to work today? I have to deal with everything else."

"Sure, no problem."

A couple of hours later, after the police had arrived and Lindsey gave his statement as well as Jim, Lindsey was in his car, on his way back home. He hesitated a little, realizing he couldn't hide this from Stevie, but he didn't really want to tell her either. He just knew the way she was going to react and it most likely was going to involve her saying that she should just go back to Ryan. Lindsey was not about to let that happen.

Stevie was in the kitchen, cleaning up after late breakfast, Liam sat at the table, drawing. She heard the door open and she frowned, glancing at the clock. Lindsey would usually come home in the evening and it was still too early for Maria to be back from school also.

"Hey." She saw Lindsey in the doorway and she instantly knew something was wrong. "We need to talk."

"Okay." Seeing that Liam was perfectly content for the time being, Stevie walked with Lindsey to the living room, the two sitting down. 

"I'm just going to say it. I went to the restaurant and I found it... a complete mess. It's destroyed. Nothing was stolen, but the place itself is turned upside-down. I think, as I'm sure you do too, it was a warning, a threat to us from your husband."

"I told you. I know him too well. I said he wasn't going to stay away. As bad as it sounds, we should be glad it wasn't one of us he chose to come to first."

"You're right, I agree. But... this is not okay either. I called the police, they have my statement and they'll be looking into it, but do you think we should go to Ryan ourselves? God knows what he's going to do next."

That brought tears to her eyes, Lindsey wrapping one arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "I'm scared to think about it. I don't care about myself, I care about you and the kids. All of it is my fault and none of you deserve to be punished for what I've done."

"Oh no, Steph... Baby, don't say that. Obviously, he's not alright in his head and yes, it is scary, because we can't be sure what he's capable of, but it's not your fault that he's a complete asshole, Stevie. You weren't happy with him anymore, you had every right to walk out of your marriage. If he doesn't agree with your decision, that's his problem, but he can't be destroying other people's properties or making threats, or harming someone."

After a moment of silence, Stevie tilted her chin up, wanting to say... "Maybe I should-"

"No." Exactly what he thought. "You are not going back to him just to avoid this."

"How did you know I was going to say that?"

"Because I know you." Pressing a kiss to her hair, Lindsey continued. "I love you, Stevie. I care about you and I'm not letting you go, especially, I'm not letting you return to him. I know I've broken a promise about keeping you safe already, but I swear, Steph, we'll get through this. We'll deal with this situation somehow and Ryan will sign the papers to divorce."

"I wish I could be so sure about that, too." Sighing, Stevie pulled away, standing up, as she then returned to her son, leaving Lindsey by himself with the thought that he had already failed her. It had only been over a week of them being together and he had already failed her, by not keeping Ryan away.