I am the worst, I know. I am so sorry. Three months of absence is just unacceptable.

My life has been hectic people. I hope yours have been better.

I will do my best to update every couple of week in the future. Pinky swear.

bbgold: Yep, now you know the song! Steffy seems like she is starting to realize that Liam really does want to marry her. Those two have a lot to work on, but let's hope they'll make it through. I'm glad some people saw the fun in the Statt dream/nightmare. I'm not planning on include Ivy, no. I can't really stand her.

Moonie: Sorry you didn't enjoy the Statt goodness. Thanks for the review.

othfangirl: You are AMAZING. Thank you so much for the kind words and your constructive reviews. They do help me improve. I really appreciate the time you take to let me know what you really think of this story in details. I love chatting with you as well, I hope we do more of that in the future. Also, you were right about Wivy! Although, it seems like Thomas could intrude on that? I like him better with Caroline though. Anyhow, xoxo.

Alulutho225: I'm carrying on, dear. I'm so sorry for the wait. Thank you for still wanting to see what I have planned.

Anna: I updated! *throws hands in the air and smiles widely*

"Hi." Steffy said as she walked into Liam's office.

"Hi!" Liam replied, surprise dripping from his voice. He got up and walked towards Steffy. "What are you doing here?" he asked her.

She closed the door. "Do I need a reason to come and see me my fiancée?" Steffy asked back.

"No. no, of course not. I'm just… surprised, that's all." Liam said. "Pleasantly so." He quickly added.

There was a brief moment of silence during which neither of them knew what to say. Liam never would have thought Steffy would find herself short of words in front of him. This unease between them was more than Liam could bear. He hated so much that his actions were what had brought them to this point.

Finally, Liam put an end to the uncomfortable silence by asking Steffy to sit down and leading her to his chair.

"I'm not made of sugar, you know? I can still stand on my feet." Steffy protested, although she secretly loved how Liam grew more and more thoughtful as she progressed through her pregnancy.

"I like it better when you're sitting." Liam replied.

A light smile tugged at the corner of Steffy's lips. "How did your meeting go? What did the board decide?" she inquired.

"Oh, it went well." Liam shortly answered.

"Really? I was expecting to hear from you."

"Sorry, I figured I'd tell you tonight."

Steffy nodded. "So what did they say?" She pressed since he wasn't giving her any details.

"Uh, they think it's risky… but they also think it could be worth it. Television is one of the most profitable businesses, so they're willing to give it a try." Liam explained.

"That's awesome, Liam!" she smiled brightly at him.

Liam pushed a few papers away and sat on his desk. "Yeah, it is." He nodded.

Steffy raised an eyebrow at Liam. "Is it? Do you maybe want to try that with a little more conviction?"

Liam merely stared at her.

"Liam, what's the problem?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are you hiding from me?"

Liam narrowed his eyes. "Nothing. Why would you ask me that?"

Steffy creased her brow. "Liam, you came up with this brilliant idea for Spencer Publications, which the board approved. This is great, Liam. Why don't you seem happy?" Steffy asked Liam, not understanding his lack of excitement over what she considered to be really great news.

"I am." Liam countered.

"Are you?" She raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "I'm not getting that feeling."

Liam sighed and shook his head. It was barely believable sometimes how much this woman knew him. "It's just…" Liam started.

"What?"

"It's difficult enjoying this great news the way that I should with where things stand between us. No victory means anything if I don't get to celebrate it with you."

Steffy held Liam's gaze. "I am here to celebrate it with you."

"You know what I mean." He continued. "Things aren't good between us. You're not happy with me, and because of that, I can't be happy with myself."

Steffy slightly tilted her head to the side and gave Liam a tender look. "You know, that might be the one of the sweetest things you've ever said to me."

"I mean it." He said, hoping she believed him.

She smiled up at him. "Today is a great day for you. This Spencer Publications channel is not only going to work and make you a lot of money; it's going to be a huge success. The board might not be entirely convinced, but I am positive." She assured him. "I believe in you, Liam. I am proud of you." She told him. "Probably not as much as your father, but -" Liam chuckled at that, and she smiled. "But I'm a close second."

Liam smiled and got off the table to crouch in front of Steffy. He took her left hand and kissed her knuckles. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She smiled mischievously at him.

He smiled back at her, dying to kiss her, but afraid to.

Steffy looked down at their joint hands and noticed Liam moving his thumb along her engagement ring.

"I've thought about taking it off." She confessed, causing Liam to jerk her head up to her, his eyes widened in what seemed like fear. "All night and day, I've contemplated taking it off."

"Steffy…"

"But I didn't. Because I knew it would hurt you."

"It would." Liam confirmed. "It would be the biggest slap in the face you could give me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "The biggest slap in the face I could give you, huh? Well then, maybe, I should take it off." She played with her ring. "Looks like you could use one." She locked eyes with him.

He held her gaze for a brief moment before he lowered his eyes to the ground. There was no denying that statement.

She searched his eyes in vain. She brought her index and middle fingers underneath his chin and tilted his head up, making him look at her, and gave him a pointed look. "I was kidding, Liam." She raised her shoulders and playfully added, "Sort of."

Liam looked at Steffy intensely, sorrow and regret owning his look. "Please don't take your ring off."

Steffy took Liam's hand and squeezed it tight. "I won't. It's mine." She drowned her gaze into his. "You're mine." She paused and studied his face. "It took me a while to fully realize that, but I do now. I know how much you love me."

"No, you can't possibly know."

"I never questioned your love for me. That was never the issue." She only spoke the truth. As confused as she might have gotten, as unclear as the future they held seemed to be, Steffy had never doubted Liam's feelings for her. "Your dream, your fantasy of a perfect life with Hope –that is the issue. As long as that is in your head…" She gestured at the two of them. "…this is not going to work."

Liam nodded ruefully, conscious that Steffy was right. If they were to have a future together and to build a happy life, he would have to stop wondering what could have been. For that never led no man anywhere, and there was no point. He was absolutely filled with joy with Steffy.

"I can't help you get over her, Liam. We both know how much I've tried." I was true. For months, for years now, Steffy had done everything in her power to make Liam forget Hope. To no avail. Her efforts were vain. This was a decision that Liam alone had to make. "That's something you need to do on your own. I can't do anything here. I am stuck in this situation… which I more or less brought on myself, I am aware of that." Steffy acknowledged. "If I had just steered clear of you from the beginning -"

Liam vigorously shook his head. "No, Steffy, don't say that. Don't do that." He forbade her. "Don't start regretting falling in love with me!"

"I never said I was." Steffy replied defensively.

"You're only one sentence away from saying it." Liam said matter-of-factly.

She looked at him, and he looked back at her; both were wondering how the hell they had ended up in this place.

He took her hand in his. "Let me fix this. Steffy, I would do anything to fix this. Anything you want." He asked pleadingly.

"I need some time apart." She blurted out, causing Liam's face to fall. Her immediate instinct when she saw the hurt in his eyes was to take it back, pull him in her arms, and reassure him. But that wasn't the right thing to do. And she couldn't afford to be that weak anymore or so dependent of Liam. She had let her love for Liam blind her too many times. It was time to stand up for herself. "I want us to keep sleeping in separate bedrooms."

"Steffy…"

"You asked me what I want. This is what I want: time. To think, to reorient myself, to figure out what I want."

His eyes grew wider. "You don't know what you want?" He was barely managing to hide his panic. Suddenly, the room felt oppressing. The thought of losing Steffy made his heart stop.

"Do you?" She asked back pointedly.

Steffy's phone rang then, not letting him the occasion to answer. She rejected the call but sent a text to the caller. She stood up and told Liam she had to return to the office. He reluctantly let her walk away, feeling like she was walking away from him in more ways than one. At the door, she turned around and took a minute to look at Liam. She hoped with everything within her they would find their way back to one another. But if they didn't, she'd have to find a way to be okay with that.

/

After she returned from Spencer's Publications, Steffy was almost startled to death when she opened her door and saw a man sitting in her office, waiting for her.

"Um, hello?" she said with hesitation. She didn't recall having agreed to a meeting and wasn't expecting anyone, although the silhouette she could see seemed vaguely familiar.

"Hi, beautiful." Steffy's blue eyes widened out of their orbits as Wyatt turned around on his chair.

"Wyatt?! What are you doing here?"

"Not stalking you, I promise."

She uttered a short, amused laugh. "That's getting hard to believe, mister. What? You're going to tell me you were in the neighborhood?" she asked.

He grinned. "Not at all."

"Well then?" she prompted as she sat at her desk.

"I was invited here."

"Oh really?" Steffy raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him, and then frowned. "By whom?" she inquired.

That is how Wyatt went on to inform Steffy that Forrester Creations' new jewelry designer, Quinn Fuller, was his mother. To say that she was shocked would have been an understatement. She wasn't present for Quinn's interview, but even if she had been, she wasn't sure she would have made the connection. She told Wyatt she had taken a look at some of his mother's designs since and thought they were really good. However, she wasn't an expert on the subject, and since Quinn would be designing exclusively for Hope for the Future, Hope was the one she really needed to accommodate.

"She may not get the Mom of the Year Award, but she's good in her department." Wyatt said, a faraway look on his face.

"Right, I remember you telling me you weren't on optimal terms at the moment, how are things standing between you two?" Steffy inquired.

Wyatt calmly explained to Steffy that there had been no progress. His mother was standing on her ground, and so was he. He was determined to find his father after two decades of not knowing him, and Quinn felt very strongly about the fact that he shouldn't. They were simply not seeing eye to eye on this. And he didn't see either of them changing their mind anytime soon.

"I'm really sorry, Wyatt." Steffy still couldn't conceive that a mother would hide something as important as his father's identity from her son. She really wanted to believe that Quinn had a good, valid reason for doing such a thing.

He put his hands in his short's pockets, and walked further into the room, closing the distance between them. "Thank you. But don't be: I'm used to my mother."

"That's sad." Steffy frowned.

"It is. But what can I do about it?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "Hey, stop trying to distract me. How long do you think you can avoid the subject?"

"Avoid what subject?" She faked ignorance. Oh, couldn't he have just pretended it never happened? Whatever happened to being a gentleman?

"Steffy, you called me two days ago at three o'clock in the morning, not sounding ok at all." He pointedly reminded her since she wanted to play the oblivious card. "And then you hung up on me before I had a chance to figure out what was wrong, and then you turned your phone off, making it impossible for me to reach you!" Clearly, she had no idea how worried he had been. He had tried to call her back about five times.

Steffy cleared her throat, embarrassed, guilt creeping in at his words. She hadn't meant to worry him and didn't think he would. "I shouldn't have called you. I don't know why I did. I'm sorry."

Wyatt frowned. "Steffy, you're apologizing for the wrong reason. I'm not mad about you calling me. Not at all." He was glad that she felt as though she could turn to him if she weren't ok. "What I am mad about is you hanging up on me without letting me help you." He explained.

"I didn't need your help."

"Your voice that night –or should I say morning –led to think otherwise."

She let out an aggravated sigh. She ended up telling him she had gotten into an argument with Liam and couldn't sleep afterwards, needed to get stuff off her chest, but didn't want to worry any family members, so she called Wyatt. It was the truth, more or less; she had only minimized the gravity of the argument.

"That's it?" Wyatt asked, rather skeptical, arching an eyebrow.

"That's it." Steffy said with confidence. "I made a big deal out of something that wasn't. I'm really sorry I worried you."

He shook his head, brushing off her comment. All he cared about was whether she was ok now. Once reassured that she was, they moved on to more pleasant, lighter subjects.

/

Liam had never been good with words, and honesty and full disclosure were not his strongest points. With Steffy however, he had always had a certain easiness to speak freely and to say what was on his mind and in his heart without fear of being judged. At least that was the case until recently when he started to hide things from her because he didn't want to cause her avoidable and unnecessary hurt.

But as difficult as it was for him to express his feelings, Liam was reaching a point where he didn't have a choice left. He was losing Steffy. He could sense that she was pulling away from him, slowly… but surely. She was putting some distance between them that never used to be there, and only he could put an end to this situation: by proving to Steffy that he was fully committed to her, and only her.

It was with that goal in mind that Liam took a seat in his bed, pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his nightstand, and let his heart speak to the woman who owned it.

/

Steffy was snug and warm in the guestroom bed under the covers, reading Power Play, a Danielle Steel novel. It dealt with the different impact that being in a powerful and influential position had on men and women, and took for example a fifty year-old woman, Fiona Carson, and her male equivalent, Marshall Weston, both successful CEOs determined to stay in the game.

It was a good novel from one of her all-time favorite authors, and it was her third time reading it, but tonight, Steffy just couldn't seem to get into it. Her mind kept straying to the conversation she had with Wyatt two days before.

After she managed to get him off her case, she inquired about the trail after his father. She was sorry to hear that he hadn't found out anything new and wasn't any closer to discovering who was the man responsible for bringing him into the world. Steffy could see Wyatt's disarray, even though he tried not to let it show and acted casual about it, and she hurt for him. She couldn't imagine not knowing her father. She and Ridge weren't the two closest human beings on the planet, but he was her Dad, and he was a huge part of who she was. Wyatt was necessarily missing a piece of his identity. It was completely understandable that he wanted to find out where he came from –what Steffy couldn't wrap her head around was why his mother was trying to stop him. In any case, Steffy prayed to God that Wyatt would find what he was looking for.

She thought of his sword necklace once again. It was so similar to the one Bill and Liam wore proudly. She would have sworn they were identical… But it couldn't be. According to Wyatt, his sword necklace was an original, unique design by his mother. He had come across it in her workshop, and because he liked it, Quinn had offered it to him. So Wyatt's necklace couldn't be the same as Bill's and Liam's. That was a Spencer men thing. Will would probably wear one too eventually.

A piece of paper slipped under the thin space between the door and the floor diverted Steffy's train of thoughts. Frowning, she stood up to get it.

She immediately recognized Liam's handwriting and went back to sit on the bed to read him.

My love Steffy,

I am alone in our bedroom, in our bed, and I'm finding it hard to sleep without you. I'm finding it hard to breathe without you. Do you know when my happiness became so intrinsically linked with yours? When my welfare became a direct consequence of yours? I don't. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

As I have been for the past three nights, I am lying awake in our bed, lost in my thoughts, and tonight, I've decided to share them with you. I am well aware that I am the only responsible for this situation. I hate that I am putting you through this. I hate that my actions have led you to lose trust in me.

When I think of how far we've come, of all the times you fought for me, for us, when you could have easily tossed me in the trash, and God knows I would have deserved it… I am amazed by you. I am amazed by your love for me.

I never knew it was possible. For a human being to love another so completely, so unconditionally, if not a parent's love. I am rich beyond compare, for I have you as my life partner. You never lost faith in us, I won't either. I will find my way back in your heart and in your bed. I will earn your trust again. I promise.

Yours forever, Liam

/

The next day, Liam entered his house after a tiring day at work. The weekend had finally arrived. He had two days to rest before starting a new week. He put his briefcase down on the sofa and loosened his tie when he thought he heard some noise.

"Steffy?" He called.

"In here." She answered from their bedroom, which he occupied alone for now.

He removed his tie from the collar of his shirt as he walked towards the bedroom.

"Hi -" He stopped at the unexpected sight before him.

"Hey, there." Steffy smiled and took Will's hand in hers. "Say hi to your big brother. 'Hi, Liam. Hi, Liam.'" She tried to make Will say, waving his hand.

"Lam." Will said in a breath.

"Liam. Hi Liam." Steffy articulated.

"Lam." Will repeated.

She sighed, giving up. "Your brother really has a mind of his own. He's a Spencer for sure."

Liam chuckled and walked over to kiss his brother's head. "Hi Will." He looked up to Steffy. "Hey you." He murmured.

"Hey." She said back in a low voice. She was uncharacteristically shy with Liam since she moved out of their bedroom, and even more so, since his love letter. Their conversations had gotten brief and timid. A lot was not being said.

Steffy in particular was having trouble being in the same room as Liam for too long. She was clearly avoiding him. That, she couldn't deny.

"What –What's going on here? What's Will doing here?" Liam asked after he pulled away.

Steffy gave Will a set of a Lego to play with before raising her eyes to Liam. "Katie dropped him a couple hours ago."

"Because?"

"To celebrate her and Bill's wedding anniversary."

Liam nodded, and then frowned. "I thought that was tomorrow."

She glanced at him. "It is. I guess she wanted to celebrate early. You know tomorrow officially starts at midnight." She gave him a look full of innuendos.

He raised an amused eyebrow at her and burst out laughing. He shook his head. Those were not images he wanted in his mind.

He removed his shirt and threw it in the basket of dirty linen, followed by his pants. As he walked towards his drawer, a knowing smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, which Steffy noticed.

"What?"

Liam chuckled. "Let's just say Dad has plans of his own for Katie tomorrow."

"Oh. Well, I guess we'll babysit two nights in a row then."

Liam slipped on a pale blue short and a matching shirt and turned to his fiancée and his little brother. "I guess so." He smiled, leaning against the chest of drawers.

Steffy returned his smile. "How was your day?" She inquired.

"Good. Productive. And yours?"

"Pretty good. And it got even better when Katie dropped this little one." She laid a big kiss on Will's cheek.

Liam couldn't help another smile from spreading across his face. He walked over to the bed and sat next to Steffy. "And you? How are you?" He asked Will in that voice that adults like to address children with.

Will started crying. Liam made a weird horrified face, half-frowning half-widening his eyes. "What? What!" He turned to Steffy, disbelieving. "What did I do?"

Steffy couldn't help chuckling.

"This child hates me!" Liam whimpered.

Her laugh redoubled with intensity. She practically roared with laughter at poor Liam's confused face.

"Steffy!" He scolded.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you."

"Yes, you are!"

"Ok, maybe a little." She admitted. "He doesn't hate you oh my God. He's hungry. It's time to feed him." Her laughter died down. "Can you go prepare his baby bottle please?"

"Sure." Liam said and stood up.

Steffy stood up too, carrying Will in her arms. She wouldn't say he was heavy, but she would say he wasn't light. He sure was fed properly.

"His bag is on the counter in the kitchen. There are indications on the milk on how to make the proper doses."

"I'll figure it out."

Steffy went to wait for Liam in the living room. By the time he returned with Will's baby bottle, the baby boy had calmed down, but a sad look remained on his face. The moment he caught sight of his bottle, Will's face lit up as he stretched his hands to take it, and the second the milk touched his lips, a peaceful expression set across his face. Steffy was right: he just needed to be fed.

After having finished drinking his feeding-bottle up to the last drop of milk, as a blissful person, Will rested his small head on Steffy's chest. A minute later, he let out a burp to which Liam responded with a raise of eyebrow. Satiated and appeased, Will just lay there while Steffy ran her hand soothingly sometimes along his back sometimes through his hair.

Suddenly, Steffy turned to Liam and asked, "Would you like to have a brother?"

Liam frowned in confusion. "Uh, I have one?"

"I mean before Will. As a child, growing up, did you ever wish you had a brother? A blood-related playmate?" she rectified.

He shrugged. "Well, growing up as a single child, yes, there were moments when I wished there was someone I could share everything with, you know? Boy or girl, it didn't matter much."

"I imagine you must have felt lonely sometimes."

He nodded, confirming her intuition. "I did sometimes. But it never happened: my mom never got pregnant, so after a while, I stopped hoping and got used to the idea that it would just be her and me."

For someone who had been raised alone by a single mother, Steffy, as many others, thought it was amazing that Liam had turned out to be the wonderful man that he was. He was very kind, a good listener, sensitive to other people's problems, not one bit selfish. His mother did a good job.

"Why do you ask?" Liam wondered.

She shrugged and turned her attention back to Will, continuing to stroke his hair affectionately. She hoped she would be as good a mother to their child as Liam's mom had been to him and Taylor was to her. "I was just wondering. As you know, I grew up with a twin sister and an overprotective big brother. We were three really rowdy kids I have to admit." She said, thinking back, and Liam laughed.

She shook her head and pursued, "There was never a quiet time in our home. I do not how my parents did it. We drove them crazy, and on purpose at times."

"My goodness."

"Yeah."

A lull settled as they both remembered older and simpler days.

"What about now?" Steffy asked Liam, breaking the silence. He raised his eyebrows questioningly. "You don't have any close guy friends. Don't you wish you had a pal you could talk to? A man other than Bill who wouldn't bully you all the time and try to model you into a smaller version of himself?"

Liam frowned. It seemed that he had missed something. "I thought you loved my father."

"I do. I adore Bill." She replied before adding, "But I think he pushes you too hard sometimes, and I think it wouldn't hurt if you had a good guy friend, someone around your age. Think about it. Wouldn't it be fun having someone to watch soccer games with on Sunday nights with a pack of beer and a pizza box? Someone to vent to? Someone to belch and fart with?"

He considered that. It was true that besides his father, Liam didn't have a strong masculine presence in his life.

"What do I have you for?" he rhetorically asked.

Steffy arched an eyebrow at him as though asking him 'Really?'. She nodded once. "Charming."

"No, what I meant is you're my best friend." He tried to save himself.

"Uh-huh"

"As long as I have you… I have everything." She turned her head towards him and lost her breath at his penetrating gaze. "You're all I need." Liam added in a husky voice.

Steffy looked at him a moment longer than she intended to. "Nice save." She shook her head and leaned forward to talk to Will, "What a smooth talker your big brother is. He always knows what to say. Will you be like that too when you grow up?" She asked him, obviously not expecting an answer. "Yeah, I bet you will."

/

Liam watched his little brother and his fiancée with rapt attention, noticing Steffy's little caresses, noting her delicacy and tenderness towards Will. It all seemed so normal, and he realized he could get used to this and welcome it as a part if his everyday life.

Steffy didn't have to force it or fake it. It came naturally to her. She didn't know it, but she was going to be a great mother. Seeing them like this, Liam couldn't help but imagine his life in a few months. He pictured himself, Steffy, and their baby boy –or girl in good health, happy, and blessed.

Ah, life with a new born. It was going to be hectic. But he knew they were strong enough to handle it. They would be just fine.

A smile played across his lips at the future he could see for them.

Sensing his eyes on her for several minutes, Steffy finally turned to look at Liam and couldn't miss his happy expression. "What?" She asked, his expression bringing a small smile to her face too.

"I love you." Liam responded.

She gazed at him, his words floating from his mouth to her heart, warming her inside. Liam rose to plant a kiss on her forehead. She closed her eyes at the touch. She brought her hand to the nape of his neck holding his forehead against hers.

Eventually, he pulled away. "I'm going to take a shower. Will you be okay?" He looked at Steffy then at Will and back again.

"Yeah, we'll be fine." She stroked Will's back.

Liam nodded, smiling, and went to take his shower.

/

After he was done, Liam went back into the living room where Steffy had dozed off with Will sleeping on her chest. He admired the perfect picture for a minute before he slowly disentangled Steffy's arm from Will's waist and took the little boy. She slightly moved at the loss, but remained asleep.

Liam carried Will into the bedroom and lay him down on the bed, surrounding him with a pile of fluffy pillows from both sides to protect him. He pulled his I-pad out of his brief case and settled next to his little brother to work.

A knock on the door woke Steffy up. She went to answer.

"Yes?"

"Japanese food delivery."

She shook her head in confusion. "We didn't order any -"

"Ordered under Liam Spencer." The delivery man read the name on the receipt.

"Oh, okay. Um…" She reached for the food. "Let me get my purse." She told the delivery man, going back into the living room. She put diner on the dining table where she grabbed her purse. She took a bill of twenty dollar out of it and walked back to the door.

"Keep the remainder." She said as he looked for cash.

"Thank you, ma'am." He nodded, grateful. "Have a good evening."

"You too. Thank you." She replied and closed the door.

When she walked into the bedroom, Steffy was surprised to find Liam changing Will's diaper. She walked over to them and leaned her head forward to admire Liam's work.

"Wow, big brother, Liam changes diapers like a pro." She commented, impressed.

He chuckled. "Of course. Don't underestimate me, Miss Forrester, soon-to-be Spencer."

She blushed and briefly diverted her eyes from his heated gaze. "I wouldn't dare, Mr. Spencer." She replied, an equally fierce look in the eyes.

Liam smiled and finished attaching Will's body stocking.

"The Japanese food you ordered is on the dining table. Thank you." Japanese food was Steffy's favorite.

"For what?" Liam asked ironically. "I was hungry."

She rolled her eyes and playfully slapped him on the shoulder. She took Will into her arms and they all walked out of the bedroom into the living room. "Since when has Will been awake?" She inquired.

"Thirty minutes. Take or give."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Because as you can see, I can take care of my little brother by myself. And you looked like you could use the rest."

She slightly leaned on her toes to kiss his cheek. "I did. Thank you."

Liam smiled in response, and then went to heat up dinner.

They ate in a comfortable silence only occasionally disrupted by Will's gurgling. The baby boy was sitting in between Liam and Steffy as they ate and stared at their food with want. After just a few suppliant looks from Will, Steffy gave in and fed him some mouthfuls of what was in her plate. She couldn't help herself. How to deny him anything when he looked at her like that?

Liam shook his head and smiled. "You are going to be such a mother hen." He looked at Steffy.

She scowled. "No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are. But that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"Well, one of us has to be."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Your own brother is afraid of you. He cries when you hold him." She challenged jokingly.

"Ahaha." Liam faked laughter. "Thank you. Thank you for that."

She smiled, proud of herself. "I'm just messing with you. You know he loves you."

"I do!"

They spent the rest of the evening as a perfect little family. Steffy and Liam watched a movie together in the living room, a bowl of popcorn on Liam's lap, Steffy resting her head on his chest and enjoying most of the popcorn, all the while keeping an eye on Will who was playing on the carpet next to them.

That night, Liam had a vision of what his life would be like. He saw him, Steffy, and their baby several months from now. He imagined loud baby cries and sleepless, exhausting nights, but what he really pictured was a home full of laughter and love.

This was a completely new adventure that they were embarking on. They had no experience, no idea what they had gotten themselves into, but Liam trusted that together, they would make it through. As cliché as it sounded, he felt in his heart that as long as he and Steffy were together and united, everything would be just fine.

He couldn't wait.

So was it worth the wait?

As far as the show is concerned, I hope B&B writers do something right for once and keep Steam together.

I do not deserve it, I agree. But please leave a review?

If I get ten, I promise an update by the 14th (I know blackmail is low, sue me).