Daphne Noelle La Savourée was only two years old, but luckily because her mother had been proactive with Daphne's education. So Daphne knew what most kids her age didn't. She knew seeing her mother in the kitchen crying while making dinner was a bad thing, especially because Daphne only ever saw her mother cry on Christmas and Daphne's birthday.
Daphne sat at her play table watching her mom when her aunt Donna came in the house with Carter behind her. Carter came to join Daphne at her table and Donna kissed Daphne on the forehead then went to join her mom in the kitchen.
Daphne watched them taking in whispers and hugging. She saw their furrowed eyebrows and contorted faces as they cried together. Daphne hated seeing her Mother cry, but this time was the worse. This time Daphne wanted to cry along with her.
The next day her mother woke Daphne up to get ready for the day and she had picked her out one of her nice dresses, a black one. Her mother was once again sad and Daphne still couldn't figure out why, she was just glad she wasn't crying anymore.
However, the relief was short lived because she began crying again on the way to Daphne's Aunt Donna and Uncle Eric's house.
When they arrived her mother turned to Daphne after wiping her eyes and fixing her make up and said. "Okay, baby... Today is going to be a long, hard, emotional day. I know you don't fully understand what's happening but you don't need to. All you need to know is that everything is going to be okay. We're going to say hello to everyone then you are going to join the rest of the kids in the basement with Aunt Brooke. Okay?" She asked Daphne.
"Okay." Daphne agreed.
Her mom came around and helped her out of the car and then bent down to fix Daphne's dress. Daphne placed her tiny hand on her mothers cheek and smiled. "Don't be sad, Mommy." She told her. Though her small gesture of comfort had back fired and promoted her mother to start crying again.
Her mom picked her up and carried her into the kitchen where Daphne's second favorite person was, her Uncle Hyde.
Daphne's uncle Hyde was more of a father to her than anyone else. She loved him like she loved her Mother. What worried Daphne was that he was also sad.
Daphne's mom walked up to her uncle Hyde who was leaning on the kitchen counter and placed a hand on his back. He stood up and kissed Daphne on the forehead then did the same to her mom. He leaned over and whispered in her ear then turned back to Daphne. "Hey doll." He said, half smiling. Daphne reached out to him and he grappled her pulling her to him. He then cupped her moms face and wiped her eyes with his thumb. She then squeezed his hand before dropping it and heading to the living room.
Daphne sat at the table with her Uncle Hyde eating a muffin. She looked up at him and smiled. When he just reached over and smoothed her hair she asked. "What's matter?"
He looked at her for a long minute before answering "It's complicated, but I'll always be real with you, Daph. Everyone is really sad right now."
"Why?" She asked.
"Think about it like this... Wouldn't you be sad if you never saw you Mommy again?" He asked her.
Daphne nodded.
"Well that's what it's like for us." He explained.
"You lost your, mommy?" She asked.
"No but we lost our, daddy." He choked.
She thought about it a minute the placed her hand in his. "Like if I lost you?" She asked, trying to understand.
Daphne's Uncle Hyde teared up looking at her and nodded. "Yeah, doll. Exactly."
At some point during the day Daphne had fallen asleep in her Gramma Kitty's lap and woke up as her Uncle Hyde fastened her into her car seat. He kissed her forehead like he had when she had first gotten there then whispered "sweet dreams" into her ear, before backing out of the car and shutting the door. Daphne watched half asleep as He took her mom into his arms and rubbed her back. He was steady talking but Daphne couldn't hear what he was saying. She woke up again long enough to change into her pjs and brushed her teeth. Afterward she climbed into bed with her mama and they fell asleep.
Life never stopped moving, it never stopped changing. The change was, in fact the only constant.
Steven James Hyde knew this better than anyone. He had met his fair share of heart ache, however he had decided to stop putting himself in the position go get hurt. He had figured that he had his shot at forever and he screwed it up. He believed with true love you only get one chance. So he stepped back and watched his one shot move on. He watched her become an incredible mother and he watched her love a doctor.
It wasn't easy. God knew, it killed him to see the doctor kiss his chance. It killed him to see her look at him like she had once looked at Steven.
Then there were the moments he lived for, then moments that time stood. Playing them in his head is what kept the tiny spark inside him alive. The time they were at a friends wedding and Willis had an emergency. When Steven saw her watching the bride and groom dancing, in awe so he asked her to dance with him. They danced all night. They danced like they had all those years ago, it was like muscle memory, dancing with Jackie.
The time he watched Daphne while Jackie and the Dr. were out. When she got home they put Daphne down and she asked him to stay. They watched tv and talked until they passed out on the couch. When Steven woke up Jackie's head was on his chest.
Then after the Dr. took a job in Seattle and Jackie let Steven hold her for hours.
When Red died and she returned the favor by holding him while he grieved his father.
He lived for those moments.
For Jacqueline Beulah Burkhart the past few years had been emotional. She had her ups and downs. Her daughter, she thought, grew at an unnaturally rapid rate. Her life in Point Place had picked up like the last decade hadn't happened. Except for her relationship with Steven. They had never been this close before. When the had dated he always kept a small part of himself locked away, but now it was as if her unlocked every door for her. She figured it was because of Daphne, he loved her like a father loves his daughter.
She had expected that her dating again would put some tension into their relationship so she hid it for a while. However, when she finally told him, nothing changed.
Jackie began dating Dr. Andrew Willis because he reminded her of Dash. They even had the same eyes and somehow, it made her feel like he was still there. After a while though, Andrew's differences came out. He had a mean streak, a poisonous tongue. It was Steven that comforted her when she needed it.
In all honesty, Jackie knew she shouldn't have been with Andrew. She had never loved him and when he left she didn't cry for him, just his eyes.
Truthfully, it was Steven her thoughts stayed on, it was his tender nature with Daphne.
Somewhere she knew it was hard for him because it was hard for her, but she lived for the few touches and looks they stole from one another.
Inside, her soul yearned to dance with him again, to have him look at her as if she was all there was.
When she found out about Red she jumped in her car and went to his apartment, when he wasn't there she went to Grooves, then the water tower, finally she found him in the basement.
It was scary walking down those stairs again, she had only been to the basement twice since she had been back in Point Place. However, she had not once stepped foot into the room off the basement, the room she had pour her heart out in more than once. When she opened the door she took a deep breath and walked in. Steven wasn't anywhere to be seen but his presence was there. The basement looked at first glance exactly the same but then when you looked closer everything from the posters, tv and furniture had moved up two decades. She slowly made her way to the door she once snuck into late at night, she twisted the knob and stopped short her memory of the last time coming back to her. She had snuck in one day while Steven and Samantha were at work, she had told herself she was doing it to find the locket her grandma had given her but really she just had to know, she had to know if everything was truly over, if he was actually gone. She immediately regretted it, she broke down after seeing the full size bed; that replaced to little cot and the thongs laying all over the ground, Samantha's smell was pungent and she knew he was really gone. Her Steven was no longer here.
She took another deep, unsteady breath and opened the door. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the room. It was exactly the way she loved, it was as if she had imaged the change all those years ago. Jackie stood frozen until she heard a faint sniffle. She looked over at the cot and saw Steven siting like he always had, holding the flower pillow Jackie had once slept with every night.
She stayed with him for hours and they held each other like it was 1978 again. Jackie had since been wondering what it would be like with him now. They were both adults and were closer then ever. Better yet, they respected one another. She tried hard to not think it but whenever she saw him it would pop up.
She knew he had moved on and was only interested in friendship but she wanted to try again.
