Disclaimer: not mine, comprende?
A/N: I just found this in my story book and decided to pull it out of the obscurity it has been resting in the past month. I hope you like it and please review.

Mirror Image

Alex looked at Stevie with concern as she stared after her disappearing daughter and sister. 'You alright, mate?' he asked after she'd spun back to him.

Her gaze shifted unfocussed for a few moments before she directed her eyes to meet his, looking more lost than he'd ever seen her. 'No, not really,' she breathed out defeated. Suddenly she seemed to get her bearings, realizing where her daughter was and that she wasn't there. She gave Alex a desperate 'thank you' before rushing back to the house. He took her cue and got in his car to leave, but once seated remembered the full extent of his anger towards his own mum when he'd first found out about Bryce. Realizing the damage that sort of anger could do, especially coupled with a teenager's impulsiveness and self-centeredness, he decided he couldn't leave Stevie to deal with it alone. He'd said all he could to Rose and it was now up to them, but at least he could be there to help Stevie pick up the pieces if this really blew up. Getting out of his jute, he calmly made his way to the house.

When he walked into the hall, he was just in time to see Stevie run down the stairs and to the kitchen and he heard the outside door slam. She was so distressed she hadn't even seen him. He quietly followed her path, finding her just outside, standing dejectedly by the wall. 'Stevie,' he said gently, trying to gauge her distress. He could read it in her face when she turned around, showing him a devastated and red-eyed face.

'She… she hates me,' she managed to choke out with a shaking voice and shaking hands and he saw how she was trying to keep in her tears. At the sight of his best mate so distressed, Alex did the only proper thing he knew to do around crying women: he pulled her against his chest, feeling her begin to sob into his shirt, and gently rubbed her back with one of his big hands as her body convulsed. Once her sobs slowed, he manoeuvred her towards the white bench where he sat them both down.

'Shh,' he said, feeling another shiver run down her spine, 'it's going to be okay, Stevie.'

'No,' she gasped, still leaning against his chest, more from exhaustion and comfort now than tears and shaking her head vehemently, 'it'll never be alright again. She hates me.'

'No she doesn't. She's just hurt and confused right now, but she'll come around.'

'I don't deserve to be her mother.'

At this, he firmly gripped her upper arms and hoisted her away from him so he could look her in the eyes. 'Listen to me, Stevie! She will come around and when she does she'll realize that all of this, this whole life you build here on Drovers, was for her, so you could reclaim your daughter. That you may have given her away but that you never stopped loving her.' She looked at him with tear-stained eyes and he saw how much she wanted to believe him. He looked back fiercely, willing her to accept his words. Suddenly he saw her eyes shift and looked behind him to see what had caught her attention. There, just outside the doorway, was Rose, staring at the two of them with large, frenzied eyes. He looked back at Stevie and saw she was gazing at Rose transfixed, as if petrified. Carefully disentangling himself from Stevie's grip, he got off the bench and left mother and daughter to – hopefully – talk some things out. Looking back once he'd passed the wall to catch one last glimpse, he saw Rose taking a hesitant step towards Stevie, who had straightened herself from the crumpled heap of despair she'd been just a minute before but was still gazing at Rose as if rooted to her spot on the bench. Alex grinned softly; he had a feeling this would turn out alright.

Fine