Law of Love

8

Sliding into March, they had a system, it was almost always Stevie who dropped the kids off at school, and they would alternate who picked them up depending on court situations and scheduling conflicts. Stevie was slightly getting her hopes up. It had been about a month since the psychic case ended and she has had absolutely no sign of a pregnancy pop up. It's stupid to get her hopes up, she knows she's not the youngest woman in the world but she does ache for a baby. She knows she has Lindsey's three and she loves them to death and would do anything for them, but there's just a longing for her own little baby to raise from infancy and coddle and love on. And that's when it hits her that she had gratefully decided to give up children when she was younger for her job but now that's all she wants in life. Maybe it has to do with the man she wants to have a child with. 

Stevie was in her office going through some paperwork when her phone rang.

"Assistant District Attorney, Stephanie Buckingham how can I help you?" She answers. 

"Stevie, it's Robin." The woman says.

"Robin, what's the matter you never call me at the office, you always call me at home." Stevie sits up abruptly.

"Oh no, nothing of interest I just couldn't wait to talk to you and I kept getting your answering machine at home. Kim and I are celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary and you were my maid of honor. Come on, we miss you here in Phoenix." Robin sighs.

"Oh my gosh, it's March 13th, that reminds me I have to make an appointment with my accountant...tax day is coming up, anyway. You were married on March 25th. I do have some time off and I'm not scheduled for anything next week yet. But I'll have to put in the time fairly quickly if I want to keep that open." Stevie sighs.

"Well it falls on a Wednesday this year, we're celebrating it on the 28th, you could come on the 26 and leave on the 30th, it would be just a weekend trip, you'd really only miss about three days of work," Robin explains.

"Yes, that'll work perfectly. I don't have to worry about plane tickets, I'll just drive it, and bunk at your place." Stevie laughs.

"Yes, and please bring Lindsey, Kim and I would love to meet him." Robing explains.

"Well, he's just as busy if not even more than I am but I'll see what he's got going on." Stevie smiles.

"Alright, I'll see you then." Robin hangs up. 

As soon as Robin hangs up, she looks at her calendar. She's gotten into the habit of getting Lindsey's cases out of him and court times. It shows he's in his office, so she quickly dials the number.

"This is Defense Attorney Lindsey Buckingham, how can I help you." He answers.

"Don't you have caller ID?" Stevie questions leaning back in her seat.

"Yes but all it says is DA office," Lindsey replies.

"Well, it's me. What do you have going on March 26th through the 30th?" Stevie asks.

"Uh, nothing as of yet. A couple of court dates but if it's important I can have Christine take over. It's Buckingham McVie law for a reason you know." Lindsey chuckles.

"Well, would you like to take a trip out to Phoenix with me?" Stevie questions.

"Phoenix what's going on in Phoenix?" Lindsey questions.

"Well, my best friend Robin and her husband Kim are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary and they are just dying to meet you. I was her maid of honor so she really wants me to be there." Stevie sighs.

"Yeah I'll let Christine know and fill her in on everything," Lindsey replies. He'd do anything to get a moment alone with her. 

"Great, I'll arrange for the kids to go stay with their friends for a few days." Stevie smiles.

"Alright, see you at home. What's for dinner?" Lindsey asks.

"Um, well I have to go pick the kids up in about an hour, I'm not coming back to work because I don't have any court dates, and I can do my paperwork from home so I was going to cook up some fried chicken." Stevie grins. 

Lindsey cheers and Stevie laughs, her fried chicken was relatively famous among her family and friends in Phoenix as well as Lindsey's kids. "I'll see you later honey."

"Bye baby." Lindsey hangs up. 

***

As the 26th was fast approaching, Stevie came home from work and Lindsey was sitting at the kitchen table, the kids up in their room hopefully doing homework.

"Linds, Linds...Hi." She says coming into the kitchen and giving him a kiss. 

"Thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars I'm going to owe the government this year. Just thousands and thousands and thousands." Lindsey whines. 

They had decided not to pool their finances when they got married, they only have one joint account and that's a checking account where half of Stevie's weekly pay gets put in and half of Lindsey's weekly pay. They both get paid by the state of California, but Lindsey still has separate fees for his clients. Which, goes into a private account for Lindsey. It's not that they don't trust each other it's just that after both going through messy divorces they thought it would be safer.

"Why don't you let your accountant sort that out?" Stevie asks.

"With the new tax laws you can't write off anything...why aren't you worried?" Lindsey asks as she sits at the kitchen table.

"I'm in a slightly lower tax bracket." Stevie chuckles.

"You'd think I could deduct something." He sighs going through the papers. 

"Is this your way of telling me you aren't coming to Phoenix with me tomorrow?"

"Phoenix?" Lindsey asks.

"Lindsey we had this conversation two weeks ago. I set the kids up to stay at their friend's houses and we...well I, I guess, we're supposed to be going to Phoenix for my best friend's wedding anniversary." 

"Oh," 

"Aren't you coming?" She questions.

"It's thousands and thousands of dollars I wouldn't be any fun." Lindsey shakes his head.

"Lindsey, you're my husband and Robin is dying to meet you." 

"Oh, now you're going to make me feel bad. But it's thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars." Lindsey shakes his head. 

"Come on Lindsey." She pouts. 

"Oh, Alright. I guess I did take the weekend off." He sighs.

"Yay!" Stevie cheers launching herself from her seat into his chest.