Until the End of Time

11

December 25, 1985

Stevie popped one eye open when she felt something climb onto her body. 

"Stella?" She asks.

"Stevie it's Christmas come on." Stella bounces on her hip.  

Kristen had gone to Acapulco for the Holidays with some of her girlfriends to 'recover from her Divorce' even though she really couldn't afford it. But Lindsey didn't mind forking over the money because it meant that he got to spend Christmas and New Year with his kids, not just New Year. 

"Stella baby, it's only five-thirty let's get some more sleep." Stevie pulls her down.

"But Santa came." She pouts.

"I know he came baby but your brother and sister aren't up yet and neither is daddy, come on. Get cozy and let's get a few more hours." Stevie pleads. 

She and Lindsey had only been sleeping for about three hours because first, they had their own little Christmas celebration. Complete with a sexy Mrs. Claus dress and then they actually put the gifts out. 

"But I'm not tired." She whines.

"Just get under the covers and get cozy please." Stevie sighs shifting a little bit to allow the little girl to crawl in next to her. 

As soon as Stella's head hit the pillows she was out like a light and Stevie let out a sigh of relief as she closed her eyes again. She had developed a relationship with the kids. Granted she had only spent two weeks with them, but Stella was her little buddy. She always had to be watching Stevie and doing what Stevie was doing. Stevie was even teaching the six-year-old how to cook because she'd watch her in the kitchen constantly. 

Much like her relationship with the kids is only two weeks old so is her residence at Lindsey's house and she quite enjoys it. It's so much different than when she first moved in with Todd because she and Lindsey actually had things in common and they talked to each other. It was also nice that he had a built-in studio out in the guesthouse in the backyard and she had started spending a lot of time out there working on a new album. 

***

Stevie was woken up again, this time with Stella and Lindsey when the two other children came jumping onto the bed at a much more decent hour of 9:30 in the morning. 

"Merry Christmas kids." Lindsey chuckles as they all make themselves comfortable in the king-sized bed 

"Daddy, Santa came can we go down and open the gifts?" LeeLee questions. 

"Yeah let's go." Lindsey laughs. 

This is what feels odd about the whole immediate family thing. The kids are sitting there opening their gifts and Stevie's just there. So after a while she goes into the kitchen and starts making breakfast. She recently discovered a recipe in Betty Crocker for Monkey Bread and she decided that she wanted to try and make it for the kiddos. 

"Stevie, Stevie." She hears Stella call out.

"I'm in the kitchen baby." Stevie sighs. 

"How come you aren't opening presents with us?" Stella asks wrapping her arms around the older woman when she gets into the kitchen. 

"Oh baby, it's nothing personal I just didn't want to intrude on your family time is all." Stevie musses with her brown curls. 

"But aren't you part of the family?" Stella looks up at her as Lindsey leans against the archway of the kitchen. 

"I...I." Stevie stutters.

"Of course she's apart of the family. Come on Steph." Lindsey motions with his head.

"Well, I'm making breakfast. I'll come back when it's done." Stevie rubs her back. 

"We have gifts for you." Stella squeezes her tightly. 

"Do you? That's exciting." Stevie smiles as the young girl pulls away and runs back to the living room. 

"Steph, you are definitely apart of this family...like I said, I'm going to marry you someday." Lindsey kisses her before following his child back into the living room. 

Stevie pulls the Monkey Bread out of the oven and once she turns everything off she heads into the living room. She takes her perch on the chaise lounge that they bought and curls up with her coffee and watches as Lindsey struggles with one of LeeLee's toys.

"Stevie. Here!" Stella cheers standing up and bringing her over a little box. 

Stevie opens it and pulls out a little Angel ornament. "Oh, Stella this is so sweet." 

"Thanks, we made them at school. I made mommy a reindeer one." Stella grins.

"Well, I really appreciate it." Stevie hugs her.

Leelee gave her a hand-drawn picture remaking the night that they decorated cookies together,  and William gave her a Rudolph frame that he had made at school.  Stevie smiled and then went into the kitchen and grabbed the picture off of the fridge. It was the kids with Santa, taken at the mall a couple of days prior and she immediately stuck it in the frame and set it on the mantle. 

"Perfect, thank you, William." She grins.

"You're welcome...Hey, Stevie, do you think we could make something out of my cookbook together?" He asks.

"We can make a lot of things out of your cookbook. Why don't you go through the book right now and mark the recipes that you really want to make and then later today we can see if we have any of the ingredients to make something and if we don't then we can go to the store tomorrow and get the ingredients." Stevie grins.

"Alright!" He smiles.

"Yeah, and can you teach me how to do this?" Leelee holds up her beginner's crochet book.

"Absolutely. But first, let's get some breakfast." Stevie smiles leading them into the kitchen. 

***

That night, after the kids had gone to bed, Stevie and Lindsey were laying in the master bedroom, and he pulled something out of his nightstand. 

"What is this?" She asks grabbing at the long wrapped small box.

"Your Christmas gift." Lindsey grins.

She just smiles and takes it into her hands. "What is it?" She asks shaking it lightly.

"Well open it and find out." He laughs. 

She rolls her eyes but rips through the gold and green paper and then opens up the velvet box. 

"Lindsey?" She asks looking between him and the silver diamond moon necklace in her hands.

"I know that you have a gold moon necklace and you wear it a lot, but I think the silver will stand out more on your neck." He takes it out of the box and clasps it around her neck.

"Well thank you....Now it's your turn for a Christmas gift." Stevie smirks going down to his hips and lightly pulling down his pajama pants. 

Stevie's never given him head-Todd yes-Lindsey no, but by the way, he's reacting she thinks that he likes it and then when she swallows, he returns the favor.