Beauty and the Beast

18

Lindsey made his way up to Stevie's room and she's sleeping peacefully in the bed. She's showered and changed since that morning and she was wearing a light pink tank top paired with a dark pink skirt that had light flowers on it with a white shawl tied around her shoulders and in the outfit and the way she was laying, on her left side he could clearly see the bump where their baby was growing. 

"Hey peanut, its daddy again. You can't hear me or anything but I just wanted to tell you that I've not even met you yet but I already love you so much." He whispers and presses a sweet kiss to her stomach. 

It was then that Stevie raked her fingers through his curls. And he peers up at her. 

"Are those lilies for me?" She motions to the pillow where the little vase is leaning. 

"Yeah, do you like them? I remember you said that lilies were your favorites." He grins handing them to her as she smells them and smiles. 

"Yes, Lilies and roses are my favorite flowers. Speaking up roses, do you want to tell me why I can't touch that gorgeous rose in your bedroom?" She questions.

"That rose has been blooming for twenty years. It's enchanted. When it dies everyone in this castle will be locked up forever. No one comes in, no one goes out. I was cursed when I was 18. I'll be 36 on October 3rd, and at 11:59 on October 3rd, if I can't prove myself that rose will die." Lindsey doesn't tell her the whole truth because he doesn't want to make her feel guilty or pressured into saying that she loved him.

"Is that why you screamed at me when I tried to touch it?" She questions. 

"Yeah." He nods.

"Well, you could've told me earlier you know. Maybe I wouldn't have tried. I would've understood." Stevie sighs. 

"I didn't even want to tell you now, but since you decided to come back, I felt like you needed to know.  If I would've told you then I would've just scared you." He shrugs.

"What do you have to do to prove yourself?" Stevie inquires.

"I don't know. The woman that cursed me, when I was 18, never said." He tells her.

"Well, that's not fair. Why did she curse you?" Stevie prods. 

"It was Christmas, and it was cold and storming but I was selfish and didn't want her ruining it. So I didn't let her come in." Lindsey explains. 

"Oh, so that's why you hate Christmas. Well, I don't know if you've proven yourself enough to lift the curse but you've proven yourself to me." Stevie wraps her arms around his neck and slowly connects their lips.

Sex between them was evident at that point, as the hormones coursing through Stevie's body was causing her to get worked up. But what made it so much sweeter was that Lindsey's hands never left her up and the one time that they did he kept kissing her lower stomach right where their baby was sitting.

***

May 26

Stevie felt eyes on her, a lot of eyes. So she opened hers and when she stared at the wall she slowly rolled to a sitting up position where the whole entire castle it seemed was in her room. 

"What is all of this?" Stevie questions.

"Happy Birthday Angel." Lindsey crawls into the bed with her and hands her a small box. 

"Another one of your mother's jewelry pieces?" She asks.

"No, I actually sent the Castle runner, the only one that wasn't in the castle at the time of the curse down to the town. This is a special piece for you." Lindsey explains. 

"Well, I'm flattered." She smiles kissing him before she opened the bracelet.

It was a silver bracelet with red roses on it. 

"Oh, Lindsey it's gorgeous." She grins. 

"Now, you don't have to wear this all of the time though." He tells her thumbing at the necklace that's placed around her neck.

"And momma and I made you some cinnamon rolls." Chip jumps in the bed with them and hugs her.

"My favorite sweet breakfast." She ruffles his hair.

"I have your maternity clothes all done." Margi places a pile of clothes on the foot of the bed. 

"Thank you, Margi." She grins cutting into the cinnamon roll. 

"So what are you going to do today?" Chip asks.

"Oh I don't know, maybe I'll go for a walk. I'm going to try to get Lindsey to take me on a picnic." She gives him a look.

"I know the perfect spot." Lindsey winks. 

***

"Where are we going?" Stevie asks as Lindsey leads them in a completely different way than she normally traveled. 

"A few more minutes." He rubs her back steering her forward. 

They eventually come to a crystal clear pond with rocks and flowers around it. 

"Lindsey, what is this?" Stevie inquires sitting down on one of the rocks. 

"It started out as a Spring, then my father had his landscaper do this. Now it's an inground swimming pool/pond thing of sorts. That doesn't make sense at all, but just know that it's safe to swim in and drink, and it's where I learned how to swim and it's where I'm going to teach peanut how to swim." Lindsey rubs her stomach.

"She's rolling around in there." Stevie lays her head on his shoulder.

"You gave in...You said She." He grins.

"They're rolling around in there." Stevie gives a playful glare.

"I wish I could feel her," Lindsey says after a moment.

"Soon dear, soon you'll be able to feel the baby moving." Stevie places her hand over his on her stomach.

After they had finished eating their lunch, Lindsey grabbed his guitar and started playing. Stevie had leaned back against a rock and had closed her eyes but they shot open when he started to sing. 

Well, it's a long, long time
From May to December
But the days grow short,
When you reach September.
And the autumn weather
Turns the leaves to gray
And I haven't got time
For the waiting game.

And the days dwindle down
To a precious few . . .
September, November . . .
And these few precious days
I spend with you.
These precious days
I spend with you.

"That's Beautiful Lindsey," Stevie whispers.

"I've always liked to sing and write, but for so many years I was so dark and lonely that I had absolutely no inspiration but then this beautiful blonde woman with big brown eyes demanded that I let her father go and she'd stay in his place. I kept my distance for a while and watched her and that light started coming back and then the words and the music flowed again." He explains.

"You're going to make me cry." She pouts placing her hands on her stomach.

All he does is kiss her.