AN:
I have absolutely nothing to say except that I don't own a single thing!
Things happen
Chapter six
October 16th 2013
Steffy´s loft.
At the twenty minute mark, Katie realizes that Steffy hasn't come out yet, missing that Steffy checked on them just ten minutes before and she goes and checks on Steffy, finding her with her head on the desk snoozing away, so she sends a text off to Michala to let her know that Steffy is sleeping and that Katie was there, but needed to leave pretty soon. Michala responded that Katie could just place the baby in her crib if she was sleeping and then wondered if Katie could maybe coax Steffy into bed and that she was about to end her day anyway and should be home within an hour and a half and that by that time Steffy should have woken up.
So, Katie takes one last sniff from Kelleigh´s head, lays her down in the crib and then manages to coax Steffy into bed.
When Michala comes home an hour later, Steffy is still sleeping and the baby is just waking up and coos as Michala picks her up to change her diaper and start on dinner.
She looks down into the baby blue eyes of the little girl in her arms. "It's a good thing Katie came by to see you today don't you think? Gives momma a break and lets her sleep. You are such a good baby!" As a response to this the baby just gives Michala one big smile.
~Things happen~
One week later, the Spencer house.
Bill Spencer came home to a surprise that evening. Katie had spent over a week trying to figure out how she was going to try and ask if he'd be interested in extending their family with one more child. When the week had passed, she felt like she just had to ask.
He made it through the door and into the kitchen where he saw his wife staring into space.
"Hi!" He gives her a kiss on her forehead. "What are you doing?"
Katie is a little bit startled, then she calms down and exhales a big sigh.
"I've been thinking about something and it's been making making me worried that you might not want the same thing I want." Katie looks down on the table.
"Okej, what might that be?" Bill walks over to the fridge and takes out the waterjug and pours himself a glass of water before walking over to the table and sitting down.
"I went to see Steffy about a week ago and I got to spend some alone time with Kelleigh." Silent tears starts softly falling down Katie´s cheek.
"I think I know where you're going with this." Bill reaches his hand out to take Katie´s. "You want one more baby don't you?"
Katie snaps her head up and looks at Bill surprised.
"Did you really think I haven't thought about it myself? Kelleigh is addictive and Will seems to be infatuated with her already. I think it would be good for him to have a younger sibling."
"She was laying on my chest gently snoozing and her scent just overwhelmed me and it got me thinking about Will´s scent when he was one month old and that made me wish that we could have a new baby."
"I think we should check and see if it would be safe for you to carry another pregnancy, because if it's going to be like with Will then I don't think we should risk it."
"I'll make an appointment with my OB as soon as possible and we'll see." She sends him a small smile and then sighs with relief as she falls back into the chair.
"I love you and want to keep you safe!" Bill gets up from the chair and walks over to her and gives her a kiss.
"I love you too!"
~Things happen~
October 25th 2013
Steffy and Kelleigh had gotten into such a good routine now over the last week that Michala had moved into her own apartment now that the baby was almost eight weeks old and with Kelleigh being such a good baby life was pretty easy. The funny thing was that the apartment opposite Steffy´s had just become vacant and so Michala had decided to let the lease of her apartment run out and move in next door to Steffy and Kelleigh, that way she could be there if Steffy needed her during times out of business hours.
Kelleigh had actually started sleeping almost through the night about a week ago, with just a feed and diaper change at 3:30 am and Steffy was so surprised that Kelleigh was doing so good sleeping. She had three scheduled naps as well as some bonus naps during the day if she needed them. She could fall asleep almost anywhere if she was tired enough.
Steffy had learned Kelleigh´s signals within the first two weeks of them being back home and Kelleigh had probably only cried five times since those first two weeks were over. The baby had a tendency to just lay in her crib and entertain herself by looking at the mural on the wall on the other side of the room and she was perfectly content to wait for her mother to come get her. Kelleigh had even taken to the bottle easier then Steffy would've thought. Kelleigh was still mainly breastfed, but the times where she needed to feed when Steffy weren't around the bottle was an acceptable option and Steffy was grateful for that as it gave her a chance to take mommy time without the baby going hungry and needing formula, pumping had even worked out better then she thought it would.
Steffy was getting restless though, having gone from going to the office every day while still in Paris to not going at all after she left Paris to come back to LA and being comfined to the apartment and caring for a baby she was feeling the work-a-holic in her start coming through and the folders that Michala brought by every once in a while just weren't enough. So, as a remedy for this, she had started a routine for when Kelleigh was with Liam. This last week had caused some minor problems though in Steffy´s plan to not spend so much time with Liam, but she had figured out a solution. Ten minutes before Liam was to come and spend time with his daughter, Steffy started packing things to take with her to work and then she went downstairs with Kelleigh in her arms and her key with her, waited for Liam and when Liam came she handed her over with some instructions and the key. Then she raced off to work.
The couple of hours that she could get in during Liam´s visitations with the baby satisfied her cravings for work, but the times she dropped Kelleigh off at Spencer Publications were still spent pampering herself.
At this particular moment she was on her way up the elevator to go to Liam´s office and drop Kelleigh off for a few hours of Daddy/Daughter-time. The ding that signals that the elevator is at the right floor brought her out of memories of the last few weeks.
Bill´s assitant looks up from her desk at to see the elevator door open revealing a stroller and Steffy behind it.
"Oh! Kelleigh!" She squeals and then rushes over to see the baby. "I know she was here just yesterday, but I missed her so much!"
Steffy just chuckles. "Can you tell Liam we're here?"
"Yeah! I'll do that!"
"Bill will do just fine if Liam can't come right now!"
A couple of minutes later, Allison has hung up the phone.
"Liam is in a meeting at the moment, but his phone was connected to his father´s so Bill should be here any minute!" She drags out the word any because she knows Bill does not waste time when it comes to being with his sons or granddaughter and by the time she stops talking a door is opened and closed and then footsteps are heard.
Steffy looks into the hallway and sees Katie coming down it.
"Hey! I didn't think I'd see you here today!"
"Well, I heard from a very reliable source that my step-granddaughter would be here for a while today."
Steffy gives her a smile.
"I take it you've been sent out to collect?"
Katie nods her head.
"Good, she was fed just before we left home and she's been sleeping for about half an hour, so she should wake up in fifteen minutes or so ready for a small feed, bottle is almost ready in the bag, just warm it up a bit. She'll be in need of a diaper change after she's eaten. Keep her awake for the most part after that. A small nap in about two hours will be fine." She hands all the bags over to Katie and then leans into the stroller and gives her daughter a very light kiss on her forhead. "I'll be back in three hours or so!"
"We'll see you then!" Katie sends off a smile as Steffy walks back into the elevator going to the hairdresser to get a haircut and color in before picking Kelleigh up.
"I'll see you later!"
Katie takes the stroller and walks back to her husbands office. When she gets there she pulls the bottle warmer out of the diaper bag as well as the bottle itself to start warming it up for when Kelleigh wakes up, then she takes a seat by her husbands desk.
"This might not be something one talks about at the office, but I wanted to talk to you as soon as I could." Katie sends off a small smile towards her husband and he nods in reply. "As you know I went and saw my OB today. She said she wanted to do a few more tests just to check on my heart and a few other things, but I should have no problem getting pregnant. It's the carrying the pregnancy to term that's the issue. So I've been scheduled for an ultrasound and a EKG next week and we'll then go from there."
"I'm glad she takes this seriously and has the same concerns as we do, makes me feel safe." Bill looks her in the eye and gives her a reassuring smile. Small coos from the stroller catch their attention and a ding from the bottle warmer alerts them that it's feeding time. "You get Kelleigh and I'll get the bottle and the blanket to change her as well as the diapers and wipes for when we need them."
A sparkle sparks in Katie´s eyes when Bill says to get the baby and so she walks over to the stroller to get the baby.
"Hello little one!" She coos to the baby who instantly opens her eyes to look at the person the voice comes from. "Are you hungry little one?"
Katie reaches down into the stroller and gently picks her up. "Look, grandpa has food!"
"Yeah, she totally needs a diaper change. Can you believe how well behaved this little girl is?"
"Well, Steffy has her signs down and because she has such a observant mother, she doesn't need to demand attention and she doesn't end up on the wrong side of the cry-scale."
Bill walks over to Katie and hands her the bottle and watches her with longing in his eyes.
Five minutes later and Bill is now tackling changing Kelleigh´s diaper and just as he places the last piece of tape on it, Liam walks through the door.
"Hi dad!" Liam gives a bright smile. "Hi Katie!" He walks over and gives her a hug, meanwhile Bill has managed to dress the little girl after changing her diaper.
Liam then walks over to Bill and his daughter and picks her up.
"Hello baby girl! How are you doing?" To her fathers question, Kelleigh sends her father his first smile. "Yeah, I think you're happy aren't you?"
The baby coos as a response.
~Things happen~
Across town, Taylor and Ridge are having a meeting with the florist to decide on the flowers for the wedding.
"You know what?" Taylor blurts out all of a sudden and she turns to Ridge, who shakes his head. "We've done this three times already, do we really need to do this again?"
"What do you mean? Don't you want to marry me again?" Ridge is pretty shocked.
"Yes, I do want to marry you, but can't we just have close family there and skip all the big stuff? Like just make it official at the courthouse and then have a celebration? We really don't need the big ceremony again. The first time was enough for that. I mean we were just going to get married in your parents livingroom anyway, why not just cut to the chase and skip directly to the festivities?" Taylor looks at Ridge with her eyes pleading with him.
"Yeah, I see your point, but you know that mom is going to feel cheated of the ceremony."
"Yeah, but you know what? Having Eric there for the party is more important to me then having your mother happy at the ceremony."
They had all noticed that Eric was looking worse then when they arrived back in LA and so Taylor and Ridge getting married was probably the last wedding he'd ever get to go to, but they wanted him to be able to stay for as long as he could and having the entire ceremony wasn't needed.
"Yeah, let's skip the ceremony, go to the courthouse and just get it done. I'm sorry for waisting your time!" Ridge turns to look at the florist as he gets up out of the chair.
"Well, a bouquet for the bride is needed either way isn't it?" The woman sends off a smile. "Hey! We're here if you need us! For anything!"
"Thank you!" Ridge sends a smile her way as he pulls out the chair Taylor was sitting on and gives her a hand out of it. "Shall we go there now and see what we need?"
"Yes, let's go!" Taylor glows with the smile that's on her face.
Four hours later, Taylor has become Mrs. Ridge Forrester again and they were onto planning the marriage celebrations. As they walk out of the court house, the ring that sparkles on her finger is the same Ridge gave her when they first got married. He didn't know why, but it felt like it was the best thing to do saving that particular ring. It was important to both of them.
~Things happen~
Steffy had gotten a text from her mother just as she stepped out of the elevator of Spencer Publications on her way to collect her daughter and the news made her very happy. She waves to the girl sitting at the front desk and lets her know that she's picking her daughter up from her father and then she walks towards Bill´s office. She can hear her daughter cooing to her father or grandfather, maybe even her step-grandmother.
She knocks on the door and walks through it when she hears Bill calling out to her to come in.
"Hey Steffy! Have you had a good time?" Katie looks up as Steffy walks through the door.
"I'm sorry I didn't come when I said I would, but I felt a little light headed so I got something to eat and there I met some girls I went to High School with and we started talking and I got caught in that for an hour. But that just gave Liam extra time to spend with his daughter, so I don't think it's that bad. I came here when I started feeling like I was going to explode because I need to feed my baby." Steffy gives a smile. "Oh, mom and dad has cancelled the wedding."
Katie draws a big breath in in surprise. "Why?"
"Well, mom felt like having the celebration was more important then the ceremony and Granddad be able to celebrate with us was more important then everything. So they got married an hour or so ago and the celebration will be this weekend. I was told to invite the two of you. I think you can understand why Brooke and Donna aren't welcome?" Steffy sends a smile.
Katie is actually the one who understands the most.
"Yeah, I understand completely. I'm pretty sure Brooke will misunderstand though and come crash it to make sure Ridge doesn't marry your mother."
"Yeah, just like she's always done it. Except with Whip, I think that's the only wedding that Brooke hasn't tried to get the groom to leave my mother at the altar. It never worked."
"But, didn't your parents wedding after Phoebe died get cancelled after Brooke came to talk to Ridge?"
"Yeah, but he still wanted to marry mom after that interruption, mom's the one who decided to cancel the wedding."
"Yeah, right." Katie just nods her head as she remembers.
"Now, I came to tell you the news that the wedding is cancelled. Now I need to see my baby and feed her before I explode." Steffy sends a smile both their ways. "I'll see you at grandma and granddads house tomorrow at 1 pm!"
"We'll see you then!" Katie waves her off as she watches her leave, then she turns to her husband. "Do you think we need to give them a present?"
"Maybe just a bowl or something? Nothing big, I think they've gotten the best thing they've could've gotten already this year!" Bill sends a smile over to his wife that he gets right back.
Katie walks over to Bill and gives him a kiss.
"I'll go check the stores close by and see if I can find something!"
~Things happen~
Steffy walked out into the hallway and then up a few doors before she gently knocked on the door of Liam's office. He calls out for her to enter and so she does.
"Hi! Have you had a good time?" She whispers when she notices that her daughter is sleeping in her stroller.
Liam nods his head.
"Good! I was wondering if you could maybe spend the day with her tomorrow?" Steffy smiles at her ex-husband.
"Sure! Can I ask why?"
"We're celebrating mom and dad tomorrow. They got married earlier today at the court house and now they wanted to celebrate tomorrow. We've all seen that Granddad isn't getting any better, infact he's getting worse and they felt like having Granddad there for the celebration was more important then having Grandma happy at the ceremony. I guess they'll do this whole ceremony-thing some other time. Your dad and Katie are coming and I wanted to be able to celebrate with my family and to do that I can't have her with me and instead of getting a sitter I thought you'd want to do it. It's starting at 1 pm, but I should probably be there a little earlier so If you could come at just before noon it would be good."
"Sure! I'll be there!"
"You might want to tell your wife that she won't be seeing you until you come home on Sunday. You know, let her prepare herself. Maybe she could spend some time with her mother." Steffy sees Liam nodding his head. "I'll see you tomorrow then. Good bye!"
Liam says good bye and watches her leave, then picks his phone up and calls his wife to tell her that he'll be spending time with Kelleigh tomorrow and he probably won't be back until Sunday.
Ten minutes later he gets a phone call from Hope.
"Why are you spending so much time with Steffy and Kelleigh?"
"I'm not going to be spending time with Steffy. She won't be there."
"But why can't she care for her own baby? Why do you have to do it?" Hope is getting angry.
"Because this is my baby too. She's going to be celebrating with her parents tomorrow from 1 pm and she didn't want to bring the baby with her and instead of finding a baby sitter, she asked me. This was decided just an hour or so ago."
"Why can't she bring the baby with her then?"
"Because she doesn't want to have to worry about the environment being bad for the baby and since I wasn't invited to this celebration and I am the baby´s father, I was the logical choice!"
"But what about our plans?"
"We'll just have to postpone them. My daughter needs me tomorrow and I will not say no to spending time with my daughter."
Hope starts to argue with him.
"No Hope! I will not say no to spending time with my daughter. I thought we had been through this before! My daughter is my first priority, if Steffy needs me to care for our daughter, I will do it with no reservations, all other plans have to be postponed." He listens to her talking some more. "No, you will not be coming with me. I think you should go see your mother tomorrow because she'll more then likely need the company."
"Why?"
"Because of the reason this celebration is happening. Ridge and Taylor got married today." He can hear Hope gasp for air.
"What do you mean they got married today?"
"Well, that is what normally happens when one gets engaged."
"No, there are weeks left to the wedding, why did they get married today?" Hope starts to feel her chest close in on her because she knew her mother would be devastated.
"Because having Eric there for the celebration was more important then having a happy Stephanie at the ceremony."
"Yeah, I can understand that. I want you home the moment she comes home though!" He can hear the deflated sigh come out of Hope´s mouth, before she almost starts ranting again.
"Hey, I will not get up out of the bed in Kelleigh´s room in the middle of the night because you want me home. I'll go home when I wake up. I don't know when Steffy will be home. You just make sure that your mother stayes away from the celebration, they don't want her there."
"They can't tell my mother what to do!"
"Well, this is an invitation only and your mother will never get an invitation to Ridge and Taylor´s celebration, especially since it's for their marriage!" He listens to Hope go on and on about how her mother should be able to go to this celebration if it's for family.
"Ridge and Taylor, who are the people the celebration is for does not want your mother there, so she should just stay away. She's not getting Ridge back and she should just accept that. You know, like you're saying Steffy should when it comes to me."
It's a blow below the belt, but at this point he seriously do not care about any of that.
"I'll be going to Steffy´s around noon, I'll bring food and drinks with me as well as my pyjamas and stuff to use for a shower on Sunday. You can expect me to come home between ten and twelve. I'll see you later and I do not want to talk to you about this anymore!"
Then he hangs up and puts his phone on silent to be able to work for the next two hours. As he's leaving to go home he looks at his phone and he has twenty missed calls and sixteen different messages. One in particular intrigues him and it's from Steffy.
"I changed my mind, I want Kelleigh there for part of it, so if you could come to Granddads and Grandmas house at around three PM tomorrow I would love that, I have made a extra key for you to use as I want to have my keys with me."
He sends her a reply saying he'll come to the Forrester Mansion tomorrow at three to collect his daughter. When he's collected her, he has about half an hour to get to Steffy´s condo for Kelleigh´s second nap of the day, because of the fact that she will probably be kept up for a little longer then usual that afternoon..
He makes his way home and find that dinner is cooking away in the crockpot and glorious smells creeps into every corner of the cliffhouse.
~Things happen~
October 26th 2013
The next morning, Stephanie and Eric wake up because of noices seeping through the openings of the doors to their bedroom. They look at each other confused and then Stephanie gets out of bed to investigate while Eric gets out of bed. She picks up her dressing gown and walks out the room.
She comes to the staircase and notice that there are flowers everywhere that weren't there when she went to bed so as curiosity takes over, she walks down the stairs and finds Taylor instructing the party planners employes where everything needs to be.
Hearing someone walking down the stairs, when she knows that there isn't supposed to be someone walking down the stairs just yet, Taylor looks up towards the stairs and her smile reaches her eyes.
"Hi Stephanie! Good morning! Did we wake you up? I know it's early."
"Well, it's eight am, we were going to wake up soon anyway. But what's going on?"
Taylor lifts her hand up and shows off her beautiful set of rings that adornes her ringfinger as she pushes a strand of hair from her face.
"Oh! Are you getting married today?" Stephanie looks at her and is thoroughly confused when Taylor shakes her head.
"No, we got married yesterday, but we wanted to celebrate with everyone before Eric´s illness takes him away from us. We both know that he's getting worse and we wanted him here while we celebrate and I hope you'll excuse us for doing it this way. I know you wanted to see us get married."
Stephanie walks down the rest of the stairs and over to Taylor, where she gives Taylor a big hug.
"Oh, honey! I just wanted the two of you to get married and that Brooke didn't get a chance to throw her two cents into it." The smile on Stephanie´s lips reaches her eyes.
"Well, since we're already married, there's nothing she can do about it!" Taylor looks Stephanie deep into her eyes with a glow to her. "I am so happy right now. Ridge and I finding our way back to each other couldn't have happened at a better time. We've both done the whole family thing twice over and neither of the times it worked but now the kids are almost grown up all of them and we both know what we want from life. We're in a really good place and the one thing that was missing was each other."
"Good on you for figuring that out before Brooke put her hooks in him again."
"Oh trust me. Ridge has no intention of ever getting involved with Brooke again and the fact that she still think he does is making me feel sorry for her."
Someone walks through the door.
"Well, well. If it isn't Mrs Forrester." Both of the older women turn around to see their granddaughter/daughter walk through the door with her daughter in the stroller and Michala following closely behind carrying a few bags.
"It sure is! And for the rest of our lives this time!" Taylor gives all three women a big smile. Steffy walks up to her and gives her a side hug while leaning her head on Taylor´s shoulder.
"How is Granddad doing?" Steffy asks gently with a small smile.
"He seemed to be doing okej when I came down here, but at that point he was just waking up, I don't think he was totally aware of me leaving when I left." Stephanie´s facial features goes from joyfull to sad. "Maybe you should take that little girl with you and go see him?"
Steffy is happy that her daughter chose that moment to wake up from her morning food coma slumber after breakfast so that she would be awake when they walked up to see Kelleigh´s great granddad.
"Yeah, now that she's awake she can wrap him around her finger more effectively." She says with a chuckle.
"Just like her momma!" Taylor releases her daughter so that she can leave. Both Taylor and Stephanie watch Steffy pick up the baby, place her comfortably against her chest and then walk up the stairs.
"So, do you need help with anything?" Michala asks when Steffy has walked out of sight and this causes Taylor to put Michala to work.
~Things happen~
In the master bedroom of the Forrester Mansion, Eric has managed to get himself almost out of bed. He can sense that today is going to be more of a good day then bad and when there's a knock on the door, he gets a little bit confused. He is pretty sure that the only ones in the house are him and his wife, the woman who comes and cooks for them isn't due to come in at least an hour according to the clock on his bedside table and he doesn't understand why Stephanie would knock on the door.
"Come in!" He starts putting his feet in his slippers and doesn't see who it is that walks through the door. "You know Stephanie, I never thought you'd start knocking on the door to our bedroom."
"Well, it's a little rude don't you think to not let people know you're coming if you don't live in the house?" Steffy says with a chuckle as she watches Eric´s head shoot up in surprise and Kelleigh voices her agreement with a coo from her mothers chest. "Good morning Granddad!"
"Good morning Steffy! What are you doing here so early?" Steffy hands her baby over to her granddad and watches him melt and become an even bigger teddy bear while he coos and talks with the baby.
"Well, mom needed help and so we came earlier then we planned!" Steffy sits down next to Eric on the bed.
"Why would Taylor need help here?" Eric was confused and the energy he used to think about it could be used later in the day.
"Mom and dad got married yesterday and they wanted to celebrate with you so here we are. How are you doing today?"
"What? Ridge and Taylor got married yesterday? What about the wedding?" More energy was lost. "I'm having somewhat of a good day, I thinkt that a nap is needed later on."
"Well, it's a good thing your nap buddy is here isn't it?"
Eric turns his head to look at Steffy and nods his head with a big smile on his lips.
Steffy can see though that his energy is fading and if he's going to have any energy left for the celebration, he was going to need a nap right now.
"Hey, why don't I go downstairs and find you some breakfast while you spend a little time with Kelleigh?" Steffy sees her grandfather nod his head. "Maybe you should get back in bed? The celebration this afternoon is going to take a lot of your energy!"
"Yeah, that might be a good idea." He hands the baby back to Steffy and then gets off the bed to get closer to the pillows and then leans into them and Steffy lays the baby down next to him in the middle of the bed from her grandmothers side.
"I'll be right back!" She walks around the bed, gives her grandfather a hug and then she leaves to find some breakfast.
When she returned twenty minutes later, Eric was fast asleep and Kelleigh was cooing beside him looking in awe at the chandelier that provides light in the bedroom when it's dark outside.
"Awe, were you such bad company that granddad fell asleep huh?" As a response Kelleigh just smiled as she recognized her mother. "Shall we go and let him sleep then?"
Kelleigh just ooohs as a respons as her mother picks her up and walks out the bedroom door, leaving a tray with a bottle of orange juice, a plate with pancakes, a bowl of berries, and a little jar of maple sirap, a cup for coffee and a thermos with coffee in it behind.
~Things happen~
"Weren't you supposed to be leaving to go to Steffy´s flat over an hour ago?'" Hope finally snaps after watching her husband mope about the house for the last four hours.
"No, she texted me and said that she wanted Kelleigh with her until four pm and that I could come get her then, so right now I'm waiting for the clock to strike 3:20 so that I can go and collect my daughter." Liam explains.
"Oh, okej. Mom´s coming in a little bit, you might wanna leave now before she gets here!"
"Okej. I hope you have a good time!"
"Yeah, me too!" Liam sends a smile her way, but she can tell that he's distracted.
She watches him walk over to the fridge and take some food containers out and place in a bag, then he walks into the bedroom and finds the suit case he was bringing and placed the bag with the containers in the suit case and then he walks out the door while pulling the suit case behind him.
When he's clear out the door, she lets the tears that's been flooding her eyes all day finally fall and that's how her mother finds her.
"Hey, honey, what's wrong?" Brooke walks over to her daughter and pulls her into a hug.
"That baby isn't even eight weeks old and she still rules my world, I'm not able to plan anything because Steffy might need him to care for her baby."
"But honey, that's his baby too and you know how he felt about not knowing his father when he grew up. Once you have a baby with him, he'll forget all about that baby and focus on your child. I think you should get pregnant really soon to show him what he missed out on when Steffy abandoned him to hide in Paris after she found out that you were lied to."
"But mom, she already knew we were being lied to, she was there remember, she knew what happened that night. There wouldn't be any reason for her to hide in Paris when the truth came out because she already knew what the truth was and I'm not getting pregnant just because I want Liam to spend time with me. I want him to spend time with me because he wants to. I'm his wife, I shouldn't have to demand that he spends time with me."
"Well, it will work itself out when you do have his baby. Trust me. Now, where is Katie and Donna?"
"Donna is not coming and Katie was invited to the celebration, apparently Ridge and Bill have gotten quite close since Kelleigh was born. I don't know how that happened."
~Things happen~
When Liam reached the Forrester Mansion to pick his daughter up, the party was in full swing and of course Kelleigh was in the middle of it all with her mother. Steffy was sitting on the couch with Kelleigh laying on her lap laughing up a storm at the faces her uncle was making at her. Steffy was wearing a dark purple empire cut knee length dress with a sweetheart neckline, Thomas wore a pair dark grey slaks and a lighter grey dress shirt with a tie that matches Steffy´s dress to a T. He looks around the room and sees Ridge wearing the exact same outfit talking to his father and Katie about some thing or another. He looks around some more and finds Taylor talking to Eric and Stephanie as well as Kristen, Felicia and Thorne, the last three having flown in from Miami, New York and Paris for the occasion. He figures the colorscheme for the party was grey and purple as almost everyone is wearing one or both colors, some even more then one shade of the color.
"Hi Liam!" Pam walks up to him. "Here to collect the baby?"
Liam just nods his head. At that particular time he's captivated by a laugh he hadn't heard much these last few months at the same time that his little baby girl´s laugh rang out and he found himself staring at his former wife while she smiles big at their daughter and coos to her.
Steffy feels his presence the moment he walks through the door, she knows his there the whole time and then her daughter makes the funniest face and she just can't help herself. The laughter starts deep in her belly and then pours out like a waterfall and because she's laughing, Kelleigh starts laughing with her.
"Oh, Kelleigh! Look who's here!" She picks up the baby and adjusts her so she can see her father. The smile that breaks across her face makes Steffy certain that she made the right choice to come back to LA to raise her baby. Kelleigh just smacks her tongue and reaches out for her father.
All the people at the party heard Steffy announce to her baby that Liam was there and awed at her for the love shared between father and daughter as well as daughter and mother.
Liam breaks from his trance the moment Kelleigh starts getting a little bit fussy. There's two reason for that, the first is that Liam isn't reacting fast enough, the second is that she has been kept up for almost an hour more then usually because of the party.
Thomas looks over to where Liam is. "Are you losing your touch man? Or were you distracted?" Thomas sends a meaningfull glance to his sister.
She mouths back to him that it's not gonna happen, to that Thomas laughs and nods. "Yeah, I know!"
Steffy turns back to Liam. "Wait here and I'll go get her stuff." She hands Kelleigh over to her father and then walks up the stairs.
"If you grow up to look like your mother, I hope you don't end up falling for someone like me!" Liam whispers as he watches Steffy walk away.
Five minutes later, Steffy comes down the stairs with all the bags, she leaves them at the door and then she walks over to the patio doors and fetches the stroller and car seat.
Everyone says bye to the baby and then Steffy and Thomas follow Liam out to his car. Steffy hands him his keys to the apartment and gives him some instructions. Liam listens intently and then places the car seat in the car and places Kelleigh in the car seat, places all the bags around the baby and the stroller in the trunk. After that he gives Steffy a sideways hug and shakes Thomas hand and walks over to the drivers seat and wishes them a good time, then he gets in the car and drives away.
Thomas looks at his sister and sees the tears forming in her eyes. "Hey, it's just for this evening, he's not leaving with her for good."
"I know, but I've never been away from her for this long ever." She looks up at her brother. "I miss her already!"
He pulls her in and gives her a hug.
"Hey, this is mom and dad´s wedding celebration. Besides, at first you thought he should have her for four hours more." He gives her a squeeze.
"Yeah, I know. I don't know what I was thinking." She gives a small chuckle.
"Let's go celebrate our parents!" She nods her head and they walk back inside.
~Things happen~
Across town a text is read by Hope letting her know that Liam made it to Steffy´s apartment safe and sound.
For Hope, this was an indication that Liam felt a little more secure in their marriage.
"See, he thinks about you even when he's with the baby." Brooke ´purrs´in her daughters ear.
"She's probably sleeping so he saw his chance to let me know he's doing okej." Hope lays down to lay her head on her mothers lap. Brooke instantly starts caressing her head and play with her hair.
~Things happen~
AN:
Yeah. Tridge are married again. Yaaay! So, do you think that Brooke is right in her thinking that Tridge will not last?
As I was writing the part where Liam takes off in the car, a thought popped into my head, but it was just way to evil to write so I let it go.