Patience

7

When Lori returned to the table, she was wiping away some tears.

"Lori?" Stevie pleads.

"She...she left, I told her though. I told her everything. I tried to get contact information from her but she wouldn't budge. I did get a hug out of her though." Lori shrugs.

"Well, at least you got that." Stevie starts crying again her head falling to her hands. 

"I don't understand what the big deal is. She's some crazy fan." Karen shakes her head.

"No, she's not, she's my daughter." Stevie sniffles. 

"Stevie you don't..." Karen stars.

"Yes, I do. my baby." She digs into her purse for the just given birth picture which she had taken out of the frame for the specific reason of telling Tori that she was her daughter. She slapped it in front of Karen and the assistant took it and looked at it. 

"Well, she did kind of look like a Nicks." Karen shrugs.

"My baby. And you called her a Psychopath and now I'll never see her again. I want my baby." Stevie cries. 

"You don't know that." Karen sighs slumping back into her chair.

"Yes, I do." Stevie spits. 

"This is my fault. I'm sorry I shouldn't have blurted it, I should've just let her say it. Tori underscore Paige underscore 16 that's her Instagram." Mallory jumps in. 

Jessie immediately pulled out her phone and typed it in. "I'm going to follow her." 

"Jessie, can you pull it up for me?" Stevie sniffles shoving her own iPhone towards her niece. 

***

Lori debriefed Karen on the whole situation in the car as she was still in the dark about everything, but as soon as they got back to the Pacific Palisades home, Stevie still crying blew past her brother and Alec who were coming down the stairs, and ran into her bedroom. 

"What happened?" Chris asks.

"We had dinner with Mallory and Tori. We started talking about her and asked her about her life and she told us about being in Foster Care and why she and her husband divorced and then she told us that she had moved back here to find her birth parents. So we asked her if she found anything. Long story short, because there's no last name on her birth certificate they can't legally tell her anything about anyone even if it is her parents." Lori starts.

"Because they can't prove it." Alec nods.

"Right, and then Mallory told us that on a drunken night Tori expressed how she thought Aunt Stevie was her mom." Jessie jumps in. 

"It was then that Lady Big Mouth over here asked her to leave and then called her a psychopath right to her face. So she ran out of the restaurant." Lori points to Karen. 

"I found out though that she follows me on Instagram so once she accepts my follow request I'll get to see her posts." Jessie shrugs. 

***

Mallory brought Tori's meal to her and though Tori took it gratefully she quickly shut Mallory out of her apartment. 

About twenty minutes away, Stevie was in her master bedroom, she was holding the onesie close to her, tears pouring out of her face. She felt around her bed for her phone and immediately typed in a number that she hadn't typed in, in over a year. 

She sniffles as she waits for the ringing to stop. She was fully expecting to get his answering machine, but instead, she heard a gruff voice.

"Stevie?" 

"Lindsey?" She questions.

"Yeah...what's up?" He questions.

"I found her." She lets out a sob.

"Found her...found who?" Lindsey questions. She could hear him flip into high alert. 

"T-Tori." She sniffles. 

"Where?" He asks.

"C-Come over?" She asks.

"I'll be there in half an hour." He hangs up. 

***

He wasn't going to answer her call. Especially after he called her 150 times after his firing to no avail, but something told him he needed to answer it so he put his guitar off to the side and answered it. Once he hung up he headed for his shoes. Being separated from his wife has its perks, he can bolt out of his condo without having to explain it to anyone. And when he's pulling into her driveway he can see her light on in the window. He knocks on the front door and Chris opens it and they share a look.

"She's in her bedroom. Has been all night." Chris points.

"Thank you." Lindsey nods. 

He gently pushes open her bedroom door and sees her curled up around something and she immediately sits up and when he approaches the bed she latches onto him and cries into his shoulder. 

"What happened?" He asks.

"So, Jessie's getting married right and she wants to get her first dance choreographed by Mallory Briggs. We met with her last night and she took us to her best friend's apartment. There was a fighting couple and this girl came out of one of the rooms, her best friend. She put some music on for us to drown out the fighting couple upstairs. I knew as soon as I saw her Lindsey. She has my eyes, your hair. Alec's parents started asking her questions and I found out that her name is Tori Paige and she was born on September 16th. Her Birth certificate has Stephanie on it and Lin was all she could make out of her father's signature. She, she has the necklace and the blanket that I made her." Stevie explains after she's calmed down. 

"Well, that's good, what happened to make you so upset though?" Lindsey asks.

"Karen, Lori, Jessie, and I talked Mallory into having dinner with us at Cantina tonight and inviting Tori. We got to know her a little bit more and how because neither of our last names are on her birth certificate, they can't give her any information about us to her because they can't prove that she's ours. Mallory told us that when Tori was drunk one night that she said that she thought I was her mom and then Karen told her to leave and call her a psychopath and she did and I don't know how to contact her. All I got is her stupid Instagram." Stevie holds up her phone to him. 

"Well, why aren't you following it then?" He asks.

"Because I don't know...I can't get myself to press the button." Stevie shakes her head. 

"Steph, I can't help you until you actually contact her though." Lindsey sighs leaning back against the headboard.

Stevie spies his left hand and she gently picks it up and examines his fingers. They're still calloused from the guitar but it's missing an important piece of silver.

"You're?" She asks.

"Separated yes." He nods. 

"Stay with me tonight please?" She begs.

"Stevie I..." 

"Please," She begs as he notices the small piece of linen scrunched up in her hand.  

"Alright." Lindsey bends down and takes his shoes off as he takes his rightful place on the left side of the bed. 

He only stays until she's fast asleep but then he sneaks out.