Beauty and the Beast

27

Christopher had shown up to the palace late on the twenty-fourth and after the Christmas festivities of the 25th, Stevie and Lindsey were laying in bed together. She had painted him a picture and he had made her a jewel-encrusted jewelry case, he physically handmade it for her and chose to line it with diamonds and the October birthstones, tourmaline and opal. He had laid in it a little gold heart-shaped locket and placed a picture of Bella in it. But as they were laying in bed, that wasn't what Stevie OR Lindsey was thinking about. 

"What job did you give my dad to do?" She asks.

"I'm glad you asked, see your dad is the Towns Baker he knows most if not ALL of the people down in Evercrest so I had him take a census of sorts, to see how many women and young girls were in each of the houses. Then I took some of my mom's jewelry and divided it up, What I'm going to eventually give to you..." Lindsey starts.

"I took a lot of your mother's jewelry already." She states.

"I know, but there's more that I want to give you, so I took some of that and set it aside, I took what I eventually want to give Bella and if we ever have any more little girls out. Then I let the servants and your sister-in-law choose somethings and the rest was packaged up and sent down and on Christmas morning there was a box of Jewelry and a note from the King and Queen of Evercrest." Lindsey replies.

"But there is no queen of Evercrest." Stevie shakes her head.

"Not yet, there isn't...Stephanie Nicks, will you marry me." He digs in the nightstand and pulls out his mother's wedding ring, the one that Stevie looked so longingly at when he brought her to the Jewelry room. 

"This is your mother's wedding ring." She looks at it.

"And I want you to wear it and stand next to me as the Queen of Evercrest," Lindsey tells her. 

"I'd be honored." Stevie smiles as Lindsey slips it on her finger. 

"It's the perfect fit." She beams.

"Yeah, it is. And I hate to be the one to tell you this, but our wedding is scheduled for October 24th." 

"Oh, is it?" Stevie inquires.

"It is. It was in the note that I sent down to Evercrest. I worked with Christine on it, it read A gift to the women of the house to wear on October 24th as they attend the wedding of King Lindsey Buckingham and Stephanie Nicks of Evercrest. Everyone is invited." Lindsey resites for her.

"Oh well, I'll just have to make sure we're already on October 24th then." She smiles. 

"I think we will be." He nods wrapping his arm around Stevie and kissing her sweetly. They didn't take it any further simply because their baby was right next to them, but the kiss was passionate and filled with love none the less, and Stevie curled up against Lindsey and nuzzled into him falling asleep, her new jewelry statement on her left hand.

***

December 29th

It was a weird morning, they were making the trek back to Evercrest for Robin's wedding so standing in the foyer of the palace was Chip, Stevie, Christine, Christopher, Sharon, Lori, Jess, Jessie, Lindsey, and Bella. 

"Alright Stevie, you better take care of my baby," Christine warns pushing Chip towards the other blonde. Chip had his little bag in his hand and he was dressed in a pair of brown pants a blue and white striped shirt, and a pair of red suspenders because he wanted to look good for his first trip to Evercrest. 

"Like he's my own." Stevie nods taking his little hand. 

It had been a long conversation on whether or not they'd let Chip go or not, the little boy really wanted to but at the same time, he was scared because he was physically born behind palace walls and it's all that he had known. Christine didn't want him to go but John wanted the boy to get some experience. What got Christine to give in was Stevie saying that she'd not let Chip out of her sight until she went to the wedding leaving him in the capable care of Sharon Celani. 

"Alright, Chip...when we get down there you don't call us Master and Stevie. It'll sound really weird to the people down in the town." Stevie replies. 

"So what do I call you?" Chip asks as Lindsey places his hands on his shoulders. 

"Uncle Lindsey and Aunt Stevie."  Lindsey smiles. 

"Alright!" Chip beams taking Stevie's hand.

"Shall we get going then?" Lindsey questions.

Mumbles of agreement flow throughout the Foyer and Stevie motions Chip along with Lindsey before situating Bella in the little wrap on her chest and then turns to Christine when they're the only two left in the area. 

"Now, we'll have your son for three days so you better start getting to work on that second baby." Stevie scolds.

"Thanks, Stevie, I'm going to try and get him to try with me while you guys are gone. Beware though, Chip may crawl in bed with you and Lindsey at night." Christine smiles.

"Got it." Stevie smiles hugging Christine before heading out of the palace. 

***

As Robin's wedding comes to an end, Robin who finally gets a moment of peace pulls her maid of honor, Stevie, aside. 

"Is it true, that letter we got on Christmas is it true?" 

"It is true. Lindsey and I are getting married. And I know that the invite says the wedding is on October 24th, but you better be up there a week in advance to help me." Stevie warns.

"But you have all of the servants." She trails off.

"I do, and while they are my friends you're my best friend. We've gone through life together and that's why I want you to be a giant part of my wedding." Stevie explains.

"Alright, I'll be there early. Can I bring Kim?" 

"I wouldn't expect anything less."