Edge of Midnight

18

May 26, 1983

It was Stevie's thirty-fifth birthday and she was in bed, sleeping. The reason being is that it was seven in the morning, and Lindsey knew she wouldn't be up for at least three more hours, dependent on how long their baby would allow momma to sleep. But Lindsey was returning home from the airport with Barbara and Jess Nicks. He hadn't met them, but he was able to get their phone number from Lori and Christopher. Lindsey was introduced to Stevie's brother over the New Year and they had hit it off right away, becoming very fast friends. With their phone number in tow, he had called them and introduced himself and they set it up so that they would be there for Stevie's birthday. She hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving but she did call them at Christmas to tell them that she was expecting. 

Stevie would've liked to have gone to Arizona herself and Lindsey knew that but the way their schedules worked out, and the doctor's restriction was no flying after 25 weeks, which in turn caused her to be miserable and missing her family at 35 weeks pregnant. 

"So how has the pregnancy been treating her?" Barbara questions when they get into the house. 

"The only problem she has is that she's five foot one. She waddles now, and if she's on her feet for too long her back starts bothering her, but she can't lay down for long periods of time because that hurts her pelvis and her hips but she doesn't complain about it. So that's why I say I guess it's been treating her well." Lindsey sighs. 

"I was the same way with both of my pregnancies." Barbara nods. 

"When'll she be rousing?" Jess questions.

"Oh probably around nine-nine-thirty. That's when the baby's been expressing her desire for food." Lindsey states.

"Now how's that working out?" Jess laughs.

"That one isn't working out because the woman doesn't eat breakfast we've been married for a year and I don't think I've seen her eat breakfast until she got pregnant," Lindsey explains. 

"If that's the case I think I'm going to take a little nap." Jess plops down on the couch. 

"Come on Lindsey, show me to the guest room." Barbara rolls her eyes. 

"Are you napping too?" Lindsey asks.

"No, I just want to know which room we're staying in." She shrugs.

"Alright." He laughs.

***

When Stevie wakes up it's to the smell of cinnamon wafting up to her nose. She yawns and rolls over not seeing Lindsey next to her, only Hope and the clock reading eight-thirty. She groans at that but then she pushes out of bed and starts getting ready for her day. When she gets downstairs the smell of cinnamon is stronger and she calls out. 

"Lindsey you don't cook." 

"I'm not cooking." Lindsey appears next to her coming in from the garage with Hope's food. The dog seeing her breakfast immediately starts jumping but Stevie being the Alpha dog of the family barks at her, "Hope Sit." 

The dog obeys and then Lindsey places the food in front of her and she starts eating.

"If you're not cooking who is?" Stevie asks.

"Come on." Lindsey motions to the general vicinity of the kitchen. To access the kitchen they have to walk through the living room, so Stevie takes the lead and she turns to Lindsey when she sees her mother at the stove and her father at the island drinking coffee and reading the morning paper. 

"Oh, Lindsey!" She gasps kissing him before bolting right over to her father and smashing right into his arms.

"Hey Teedee, I like this one." Jess soothes rubbing her back.

"Hi, momma." Stevie pulls away from her dad and goes to hug her mother.

"You are big pregnant aren't you?" Barbara asks patting Stevie's tummy gently. 

"Yeah, but I think she's going to be small." Stevie nods her hand also caressing her stomach. 

"What makes you think that?" Barbara questions.

"Well, my doctor says she's measuring a little below where she needs to be, but she's not concerned because I'm measuring right where I need to be, whatever that means." Stevie shakes her head.

"It means, that you've gained the weight that you needed to for a healthy pregnancy but your baby is going to be tiny. You were tiny. She's just taking after her momma." Barbara coos brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. 

"I guess. Can I have french toast and tea now?" She asks looking at the people around the room.

"You have to ask permission?" Barbara crosses her arms.

"Well, no. But I don't want to be rude if you guys haven't eaten yet or anything." She shakes her head.

"We haven't but to answer your question, yes you can, because it's done." Barbara nods. 

Jess and Lindsey finish first, and Lindsey turns to Stevie. "Why don't you ever make me this?" 

"I don't make it for you because you're already gone for work when I wake up and usually on Sunday's we just lay in bed until Hope decides she wants to go potty and by then it's usually lunchtime," Stevie explains.

"Well, you should make it for me." Lindsey states.

"Alright, I'll start making you French Toast for breakfast." Stevie laughs.

"So have you guys thought about any names?" Jess asks.

"It has to include Bella, Lindsey." Stevie looks at her husband.

"You never promised that, you said you'd think about it." Lindsey sighs.

"Lindsey it has to have Bella in it." She looks at him.

"Bella?" Barbara asks.

"I own a non-profit. Little Buckaroos, I know the name sounds dumb, but everyone calls me Buck, and before my dad died he was known as Buck, but I'm partnered with the make a wish foundation, A little girl, her name was Bella, wanted Stevie as her wish. She wanted to meet her. We had already been married at the time, and I figured I could pull some strings that way. The little girl had Leukemia and the cancer had spread to her heart in the form of Carcinoma's and it was on the fast track to her brain, so it wasn't a matter of pumping her up with Chemo, it was inevitable that she was going to die. It was about making her comfortable and making her every last dream come true. She died about five hours after I took Stevie to meet her. While we were there, Bella asked Stevie to name our baby after her if we were to ever have a baby. But we hadn't talked about it at that point." Lindsey shrugs. 

"Make it her middle name. It doesn't have to be her first name," Barbara suggests. 

"Yeah, it'll be her middle name. But I don't necessarily want to think about a first name for her right now, we'll know when we see her." Stevie rubs her stomach.

"You will. That's how your father picked out your name." Barbara smiles.