When Steve came to, he immediately went to find her. He slipped into her bedroom and tried to speak, "La–" She covered his mouth and pointed to the crib by her bed. He took her hand and pulled her down to the living room. He sat her down on the couch and said, "What happened?"
"It was a long time ago, Steve. I've never told anyone, and I don't want to now. I just wanted you to know why this could never work. I never want to get married again. It changes people."
"You need to tell me, Laura, especially if you've never told anyone before."
"It's none of your business, Steve."
"It damn well is," he insisted.
"No, Steve. It's not. You don't get to walk out on me and come back as the knight in shining armor. It doesn't work like that. If you hadn't left me, none of this ever would have happened. You have no right to ask anything of me."
"You're right. It's my fault, which is exactly why I have a right to know. I need to know what happened, so I know what to apologize for."
She started to cry again. "Please, Steve, just leave this alone."
He moved closer and took her into his arms as she cried. "No, my love, I can't. I need to know, and you need to get it off your chest. Please, tell me. It's time."
She continued to cry, and she buried her face in his chest, but she began the story, "It was just after Elijah was born. He was about two months old, and we hadn't started having sex again. Stefan was getting frustrated with me and with a lack of modeling work available in Chicago. He wanted to move to Italy, but since we had the kids, I needed to be near my family. We fought about that and the sex thing constantly. One night, we were getting ready for bed, and we started to fight again."
I was in the bathroom, brushing my teeth, and he came up behind me. He wrapped his arms around me and started to kiss my neck. I leaned into him because he never just touched me like that anymore. "Mmm… Hi, Baby," I whispered.
"Hey, Princess."
I rinsed my mouth and set the toothbrush down. I turned around and kissed him softly. He looked down at me, and he got that look in his eye. I used to love that look, but after Eli, it just meant that we were going to fight because I didn't feel ready, and he did. He kissed me again, deeper, and slipped my tank top down to expose my breasts.
He broke the kiss to leer at them. "Your tits are so huge right now, Baby."
I moved to cover up, but he grabbed my arms and forced them back down. "Stefan, stop," I said firmly.
He reached out and started to grope me.
"No," I said, again.
He ignored me and kept touching me, so I slapped him. "I said, 'No', Stefan," I shouted.
He placed a hand on his cheek and yelled back, "C'mon, Laura. You haven't fucked me in months. Just let me do it. I'll be quick." He moved closer to me again, and I moved away. Unfortunately, I went the wrong way and cornered myself. "Get away from me. I told you I wasn't ready."
"The doctor said you were fine a month ago," he insisted. "I'm your husband. You need to take care of me. I always take care of you when you need it."
"Not when you're in Milan or Rome or Paris."
"I'm sorry I work so hard to provide for you while you do nothing all day."
"Leave me alone," I said as I tried to push past him.
He pinned me up against the bathroom wall and stuck his hand in my pajama pants. He tried to finger me, but I was completely dry. He licked his finger and started to play with my clit.
"Stop, Stefan," I insisted.
"No, Laura. I have needs. You do, too. You probably just get them satisfied by someone else when I'm gone, don't you? You've always been a slut. I don't know why I thought a ring would change that."
I started to cry and continued to try to push him away, but he was too strong. Eventually, he was frustrated that I wasn't getting wet, and he moved on. He slipped off his pajama pants and told me to go down on him.
"Get on your knees."
I refused, praying he wouldn't force me to, and he didn't. Instead, he just hit me. He slapped my face, but not like I had slapped him. It wasn't the kind that just stung a bit. It was the kind that left bruises. Then he hit my back and knocked me on the hard tile floor. I curled into a ball to protect myself, and he got dressed and stormed out. Once I was sure he was gone, I packed up the boys, and we went to my parents' house. I told them that things just weren't working out, and they never asked about the bruise on my face, but I think they knew.
As Laura finished her story, she felt a calm wash over her. Steve was right. She did need to tell someone. Steve, on the other hand, was a sobbing mess. Laura lifted her head to look at him, and he just sobbed harder. She tried to think of something to say that might comfort him a little, since telling him had made her feel so much better, but she couldn't think of anything. She moved so that she could put her arm around him. His head landed in the curve of her neck, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. She rubbed his back while he cried.
Eventually, however, Michael woke from his nap and went downstairs. He walked into the living room and said, "What's wrong, Uncle Steve?"
Both Steve and Laura jumped and moved away from each other. Steve wiped his eyes and sniffled. Laura put on a big, fake smile and said, "Oh, nothing, Baby. Uncle Steve was just throwing a temper tantrum." She pulled Michael into her lap.
"Oh. Why?"
Laura thought for a moment and then winked at Steve. "Because he wanted us to come over and swim in his pool, but I said, 'No' again."
"Aww, man. Can't we go, Mommy?"
"Oh, no. You wanna go, too, now?" she asked, faking frustration. "Darn, I never should have mentioned it."
"Please, Mom, can we go? Please. Please. Please," Michael begged.
Steve, beginning to recover from his tantrum, joined in. "Please! Please! Please!"
Laura rolled her eyes at him. "All right," she agreed, "we can go for a little while."
"Yay!" Michael said, jumping from her lap and breaking into a sprint toward the stairs. "I'll go put on my swimsuit!"
"Put a shirt on, too, please." Laura called after him. She turned to Steve. "I have to go get Elijah, then."
"No, wait. We still need to talk," he insisted, grabbing her hand to prevent her from leaving.
"No, we don't, Steve. Telling you did make me feel better, but it really is over now and I don't like to dwell on it."
Steve nodded. "Ok, Laura, but um, thank you for telling me."
"Thank you for listening," she said, kissing him slowly and softly on the cheek as she stood. She turned quickly and went to the stairs.
When Laura came back down, having packed up both boys and herself for the day, she found Steve on the phone.
"Uh-huh. Yup," he said as he turned and saw her. "Oh, I gotta go. You know what to do." He hung up the receiver. "All set, my pet?"
"Yeah, who was on the phone?"
Steve glanced at the phone sideways. "OH! The phone. Oh, no one. I just had to call one of the European offices about something."
Laura narrowed her eyes at him. Having him back in her life for several weeks now had tuned her back into his signals. She knew he was lying but wasn't sure why. "Uh-huh," she said, her suspicion presenting clearly on her face.
Steve moved toward her to take the bags from her hands. Hoping to change the subject, he continued, "So, anyway, I actually drove myself here today, so we're going to have to cram into my car." He started to walk toward the front door.
"Oh, God. Please, tell me you've replaced the Isetta."
He laughed and snorted. "I did," he confirmed.
They stepped outside and into the driveway where he gestured wildly at his much newer BMW. Laura breathed an audible sigh of relief when she saw it looked nothing like the clown car he used to drive. They piled the kids into the back easily because Steve had already had car seats installed. Laura cringed at his forwardness, but he brushed it off like the most normal thing in the world. They both climbed in, and Steve pulled out of the driveway.
Steve lived just over a half-hour away. When he turned into the circular driveway of his mansion, Laura's jaw dropped. She knew he had money, and he warned her that his house was extravagant, but she couldn't believe they built houses like this at all in the state of Illinois. Steve got out of the car and opened her door. She took his hand as she stepped out, and she was glad she did because her knees buckled immediately.
"Woops!" he said as he grabbed her waist to help her regain her footing. "Remind me not to take you on the boat. You can't even find your land legs, let alone sea legs," he snorted.
She didn't hear a word. "Steve? W-why do you own… a… a hou-… Why do you own… this?" She gestured to the house.
"Real estate's a good investment, Sweetheart. I certainly don't need all the space, and I tend to prefer simpler things, but I gotta put the money somewhere."
"Like a bank?" she suggested.
He laughed. "C'mon, Laura, you know that's not how it works at this level. Some of it's in the bank. Some of it's in the market. Some of it's in houses. Tons of it gets donated, I promise."
She relaxed a little, certain he was telling the truth. "Donate more this year," she insisted.
"Yes, Ma'am," he agreed.
They pulled the stuff and the kids out of the car. Michael was over the moon. "I've never seen a house this big, Mama!"
"Neither have I, Mikey."
Steve led them inside, and he watched Laura's face as she gawked at the entryway. "How about a tour before we swim?"
"No!" Laura insisted. "I'd rather not see all of it right now."
"Ok," Steve nodded. "Then the pool is this way," he said, placing a hand on her back to walk her to the back of the house.
"I need to change first," she said.
"There's a restroom by the pool!"
She nodded and suddenly had no idea why she was surprised by that. "How many bathrooms does this house have, Steve?"
"I'm not going to answer that, Sweetums, for your own safety."
After a long walk through the large house, they came to the indoor half of the pool. "When it's warmer," Steve said, "those glass panels lift, and you can swim from the inside to the outside, but it's still too chilly for my taste. Now, the bathroom is right there. I have to run upstairs to change, but you guys can just make yourselves at home. Mi casa es su casa."
"So, if you have to go all the way upstairs, you'll be back in like six hours or so?" Laura joked.
Steve grinned goofily. "Just about." As he left, he heard Michael ask several questions, confused by Laura's sarcasm.
When Steve returned, he saw Michael was already in the pool. Laura was propped up on a recliner by the edge, watching him carefully. Eli was happily cooing in her lap. Steve was disappointed to see that she wasn't sporting a bikini. She had on a tankini that fully covered her stomach. It was a solid red with a deep neckline, which exposed her cleavage. Though Steve could see little of the back, he could tell that more of her back was exposed than her stomach. She had a floor-length black skirt covering the bottoms.
He climbed into the recliner beside hers wearing his swim trunks, a Hawaiian shirt, and sandals. Unbeknownst to anyone else, underneath his trunks, he wore a Speedo to keep everything… in place while he spent the day with Laura. He wasn't sure it would help, but it seemed like it was worth a shot.
She smiled at him as he sat down. His shirt and suit combination looked ridiculous and she was glad to see another hint of the old Steve.
"Sweetheart, I notice you're not wearing a bikini," he began,
"That's how you begin a conversation?" she laughed. "I notice you're not wearing a Speedo."
He blushed, feeling like she had caught on to his plan, but he hid his embarrassment, knowing she hadn't. He raised his eyebrows at her. "I'd be happy to go put one on, if you'd prefer."
She shook her head. "Not in front of the kids, Steve," she scolded softly.
He nodded. "Really, Sweetums, why aren't you wearing a bikini? That used to be your suit of choice."
She rolled her eyes. "I just didn't bring one, Steve."
"So, it's not because you don't think you can pull one off anymore?"
She kept her eyes locked on Michael, a little embarrassed that he could read her so well.
"Because you absolutely can," he continued. "You are still gorgeous, Laura. You've always had a tendency to miss what everyone else in the world can see, but it's true."
"You haven't seen me naked since before I had kids," she whispered. "You don't know what I look like now."
"Then show me," he whispered back, glad to have an extra barrier between his member and the open air as he felt it start to harden.
"Steve, please, just leave this alone, ok? You can't flirt with me like that so close to Michael."
He nodded, feeling a little ashamed. "You're right. I'm sorry. This is Family Day. Best behavior from now on."
"Thank you."
He stood and unbuttoned his shirt. Laura's eyes widened involuntarily as his muscular back appeared before her. He turned back to her, and her eyes locked on his defined abs and muscular arms. She started to breathe a little more heavily and completely lost sight of their recent agreement to keep things G-rated for the day.
He raised his eyebrows as he noticed the shocked, but lustful, gaze that trailed his chest. He even saw her start to nibble on her lip, so he remained silent while she devoured him with her eyes, not wanting to cut her fantasy time short.
Eventually, she snapped out of it. "Oh, um. So you're getting in the pool?" she asked, attempting to sound casual.
"Yes," he said.
He was smiling just a little too proudly, tipping her off to the fact that he had caught her staring. She blushed and looked out at Lake Michigan out the windows.
"You're coming in, too, right?"
"I really wasn't planning on it."
"Please," he said, "I insist."
Michael swam to the edge. "Are you coming in, Mom?"
Sometimes, she couldn't turn him down. "Ok, Baby. Just a second."
Steve helped her setup a portable playpen for Elijah, and she got him in there with plenty of toys. Steve watched, entranced, as she slipped off her skirt, revealing her shapely legs to his hungry eyes.
This time she caught him staring, and she smiled at him, teasingly. She passed him as she approached the edge of the pool, whispering, "Best behavior, remember?" as she slinked by.
Best behavior or not, he still stared at her butt in that tiny swimsuit bottom as she passed him. She dove into the pool and swam after Michael, pretending to chase him. Snapping out of his trance, Steve cannonballed in after her, grateful Carl and Laura had taught him how to swim years ago.
The three played energetically in the water for hours, even bringing Eli in for a while in his flotation suit. When afternoon started to turn to evening, however, Laura realized she hadn't left a note for her parents. They packed everything up, got dressed, and headed home.
Steve walked Laura and the kids to the door. She opened it, and Michael ran in immediately. He was polite enough to yell, "Bye, Uncle Steve," as he passed.
Steve chuckled, and Laura shook her head. Left alone again, well, except for the baby, looking at Steve became harder for Laura. When it was just them, she could never suppress the warm feelings in her gut. Instead, she tried to talk over them. "Thanks so much for having us over today, Steve. You've made Michael's month."
Steve beamed proudly. "No sweat, my pet. I had a wonderful time. I loved playing a family man."
Laura looked at the door, unsure of how she could politely end this. "Well," she said, "I would invite you in for dinner, but…"
"But what?" Steve asked.
"You know…" Steve stared at her blankly, and she realized they hadn't had that conversation yet. "Oh, umm… Well, everyone's still kind of… mad at you."
Steve's eyes widened. "They are? Be-because I left you or…?"
"No, no, I never told them that. I told them I chose Stefan. They're mad at you because you left them."
Steve continued to stare at her with a dumb look on his face.
"C'mon, Steve. You left without telling anyone goodbye. You never called. You never left an address. They understood why you left, or they thought they did because I told them I dumped you, but they expected you to at least try to maintain a relationship with them. Until you started showing up on TV, my grandmother was convinced you were dead. You kind of broke their hearts, too."
Steve was bewildered. "I-I never thought they'd care."
Laura looked at him with little sympathy. "Well, they did, Steve. A lot people care about you very much. You should start believing that." She turned toward the door and went to open it.
He placed a hand in front of her. "Invite me to dinner, Laura. Please. I need to apologize to them."
She turned back to him. "An apology won't be enough, Steve."
"There's nowhere else to start, Laura Lee, please."
She nodded and sighed, "Ok, but don't expect me to rush to your defense." She opened the door and walked in. Steve followed meekly behind her. No one was in the living room, so they walked into the kitchen and found Harriette and Carl cooking dinner. 3J was upstairs being a moody teenager.
They turned as Laura and Steve entered. Harriette widened her eyes and looked back at the pot in front of her. Carl placed the knife he was using carefully in front of him and went upstairs.
Yeah, that went about as well as Laura had expected. "Mom, I… um… invited Steve to dinner."
Harriette didn't look up. "I thought you quit."
"It was actually all a big misunderstanding," Laura mumbled, embarrassed by the drama she'd brought into the house for no reason.
"Mm-hm," Harriette replied.
Laura looked at Steve. If he was going to start mending fences, he had to actually start. Steve took a step toward Harriette. Laura sat down at the kitchen table, putting Elijah in the high chair beside her. "Harriette," Steve began softly.
She continued to stir, ignoring him completely.
"Harriette, I think I owe you an apology."
She scoffed and said nothing.
"Ok, I know I owe you an apology… and a big one." Steve stepped closer to her when she still did not respond. "When I left," he began, trying to be truthful but not out Laura's lie, "I was in a bad place. My heart was broken, and the thought of Laura or any Winslow felt like wolves were tearing me to shreds. I-I thought it would be easier for everyone if I made a clean break. I didn't think anyone would even notice I was gone."
She turned to him and released the spoon. She folded her arms across her chest. "You're pretty hard not to notice."
Steve nodded. "It was dumb, and it was selfish. After all you and Carl did for me, you deserved better than that. I am so sorry."
Harriette's eyes softened. She was hurt when Steve left and never called, but she believed he must have needed to do it. All she really wanted was for all her kids, both the ones she had and the ones she took in, to be happy. He didn't seem happy, now, though. She opened her arms, and he embraced her. "Steve Urkel, you are always welcome here, you know that."
"Thank you, Harriette."
"Don't feel too relieved," she warned him, pulling away, but still holding on to his shoulders. "Carl and 3J are going to take a lot more convincing."
"And that's just the people in this house," Laura quipped.
Harriette squeezed his arms affectionately. "You are forgiven in my book, but don't you ever do that again," she threatened.
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"I mean it, Steve. I need you to call at least once a month."
"No problemo, but I hope I'll be stopping by a little more often," he said, glancing back to Laura.
Harriette watched as Laura looked away from his hopeful eyes. She's going to break this poor boy's heart again. "Fine, just no disappearing."
"Scouts' honor," Steve promised.
They hugged again, and he said, "Well, I guess I should go make nice with 3J." He headed up the stairs, and Harriette sat down with Laura for a minute to rest her feet. "So, why the dinner guest tonight?"
"He kind of invited himself."
"He's always been good at that," Harriette joked, reaching out to stroke Laura's wet hair.
Laura smirked. "We went to his house today to swim. He drove us home, and I told him why he couldn't come in, which only made him want to more."
"That does sound like him. He's not one to leave things alone."
"No, he's not," Laura agreed.
Harriette took a deep breath. "Why did you quit, Laura?"
"It's not important now, Mom."
"I think it is," she pressed.
Laura inhaled and sighed. She thought about lying. She thought about refusing to tell her. All of it seemed like way too much work for nothing. "I thought he was sleeping with someone else."
"And that bothered you?" Harriette asked, struggling to follow the ups and downs of this relationship.
"No, it destroyed me."
"Because you want to be with him or because you don't want anyone else to have him?"
"I don't know."
"Well, you better figure it out, Laura, because that boy is invested again."
"I know, Mom," Laura whined, "but I don't know what to do. I'm not in a position to date right now, so how am I supposed to figure out what these feelings mean?"
"You could date, if you wanted to."
"I don't want to be that kind of mother, Mom."
"The happy kind?" Harriette asked.
"The kind that spends her free time out, instead of at home with her kids."
"You need a balance, Laura," Harriette insisted.
"I can't risk it, Mom. I need this job."
"Apparently, you already are risking it. You do remember you quit this morning, right? And that was only because you thought he was sleeping with someone else."
Laura rested her face in her hands. "I had every reason to believe he was."
Harriette waited, expecting an explanation.
Laura looked up, embarrassed. "I overheard him in his office, and it sounded like…" she trailed off. "It turned out, he wasn't," she offered, trying to be discrete.
"What was he doing?"
Laura grimaced. "He was… he was alone, ok?"
"Alone? Well, what was he – Ohhhh…" Harriette caught the drift. "In the office?"
Laura nodded. "To be fair, he's been spending a lot of time with me, so he just… had some steam to blow off."
"Steam's an interesting word for it," Harriette retorted.
"Mom!"
Harriette started to laugh. "Oh, Honey, I'm just not sure that you and Steve can really be 'just friends' anymore. You really never were. It's just it used to be one-sided. You made a big mistake before, Laura, when you dumped him. We all know that. I'm just afraid to watch you make the same one all over again."
Laura looked down at her lap. She was really tempted to ask her mother about what was really holding her back, her trust issues, but being that she'd kept so much of that a secret, she just couldn't ask for her advice.
"Just think about it," Harriette said as she stood to resume dinner. "While you do, help me chop the vegetables your father didn't finish."
About an hour later, Harriette called upstairs, "Boys? Dinner's ready."
Michael was the first one down. He took a seat at the table as Laura finished setting it. She gave him a kiss on the forehead as she went to grab some of the food from the counter.
Carl followed quickly behind, never one to be late for dinner. He walked in, suspicious, breathing a big sigh of relief when he didn't see Steve. "Oh, thank God, he's gone."
"He's upstairs, Carl," Harriette warned as she took a seat.
"He is? Aw, man. I really wanted this spaghetti you made, Sweetheart."
"What do you mean, Carl? He's not going to eat it all."
"I'm not sharing a meal with him, Harriette."
"Carl–"
"Nope, I'll go see if Mama wants to go out to dinner tonight. She's always up for complaining about the Nerd."
"Daddy, please, don't call him that in front of Michael," Laura asked.
"Who's the Nerd?" Michael asked, brought into the conversation by his name.
"Grandpa's calling names, Mikey," Harriette answered.
"That's not nice!" Michael scolded.
"No, it's not," Laura said, glaring at the offending party.
Carl huffed, "I'll see you all later tonight." He quickly moved to the door and slammed it as he left.
Steve and 3J joined them for dinner soon. 3J had had plenty of abandonment issues before Steve left, but after lots of pleading and $400, he decided to forgive him. Steve was thrilled to have won over everyone in the house except for Carl. As he took a seat next to Laura, he asked, "So, is Big Guy still hiding from me upstairs?"
"Carl left," Harriette answered.
"He left?! Aw, man, I was going to apologize to him next."
"We warned you it wouldn't be easy," Laura reminded him.
Michael wasn't following. "Why's Grandpa mad at Uncle Steve?"
"Uncle Steve?" Harriette asked. "Well, won't that just be confusing if you two…?" she gestured between them.
Laura ignored her. "Uncle Steve hurt Grandpa's feelings, but he's really sorry, so Grandpa needs to work on being a little more forgiving."
"Uncle Steve could try hurting people's feelings less," 3J mumbled.
"I thought you two were ok?" Laura asked, turning to Steve.
"We were a minute ago," Steve replied. "3J?"
3J waved at him dismissively. "I'm just sayin', Mr. W's not the problem. He can forgive Steve whenever the hell he's good and ready. We're fine, but that's because I am a mature gentleman." He popped his collar for effect.
"Watch your language," Harriette warned.
Laura smiled softly at Steve, "Give it time, Steve."
The rest of the dinner went on without disturbance. Steve was thrilled to be back in the house. He had never felt more at home. He had actually forgotten how good home could feel. He happily helped Harriette clear the table when 3J went upstairs and Laura took the boys into the other room.
When he found her again, Elijah was already down for the night, and Michael was in his bed in Steve's old room. She was in his bed, too, and she was reading him a bedtime story. He watched from the door as she read, because she still hadn't noticed him yet. He wanted to climb into bed with them. He wanted to help her do the voices. He wanted to make Michael laugh. He wanted to tuck him in. He wanted to give him a kiss good night. He wanted to hold Laura as they slipped out of the dark room. However, he couldn't do any of that, not yet, so he watched. After Laura tucked Michael in, she noticed Steve and gestured for him to follow her. They ended up in the backyard, sharing a bench, looking up at the stars. It was a long time before either of them said anything.
"My dad's still not home," Laura said.
"I guess I'll have to catch him next time."
"I guess so."
"Laura, I think I owe you an apology, too."
"You've already apologized to me, Steve," she said, not necessarily implying that all was forgiven, but at least that she had heard all she needed to hear.
"No, not for leaving or how I left, though I am sorry about all of that that. I mean, for how I've treated you lately."
She turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I realized today that I've been treating you a lot like Stefan did," he admitted softly.
"What? Have you been beating me when I wasn't looking?"
Steve shuddered slightly at the casualness of such a terrible remark. "No, I just mean that I shouldn't pressure you like I have been. You told me you weren't ready, and I've just been ignoring that because I thought I knew what was best for you. That was wrong, and I'm very sorry."
Laura nodded. "Thank you, Steve, but it's not like you weren't getting any signals from my end. I haven't exactly been clear."
"Well, maybe not, but verbally, you were clear, and I should respect that until you tell me otherwise. From here on out, I will be friendly, and I will be flirty, like I've always been, but I'm going to stop being this guy who touches you without permission or says dirty things. I'm resetting our relationship back to where it was in high school. It's my best behavior all the time now."
Laura just listened.
"I really loved being part of the family today, both with just you and the boys and with everyone else. That's where I'm going to focus my energy for now. I just hope you'll come to me when you're ready."
"I will," Laura promised for the first time. She smiled at him and reached for his hand.
He let her take it and smiled right back, happy to let her take the lead and set the boundaries again. He never wanted to hurt her the way other men had.
She stared at him for a while, but eventually, she couldn't resist. She leaned in to kiss him, and he waited until her lips had pressed against his before he leaned in a bit to kiss her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Their tongues intertwined, and she placed his hands on her back. For a while, they just kissed. They pulled back for breaths occasionally, but those breaths were short and often included a soft moan when they returned. Eventually, Carl walked by and saw them, but they didn't notice, and he didn't interrupt. He slipped inside, and Laura and Steve remained in an uninterrupted lip-lock for hours. Steve never tried to take it further, as badly as he wanted to. He just enjoyed what he was given.
When Laura broke the kiss, she smiled at him for a while. Then, she thanked him for being so understanding and went to bed. He ended up sleeping on that bench that night, completely unwilling to budge from his new favorite spot.
That same night in Italy, Stefan Urquelle returned to a dark, empty apartment. At least, he thought it was empty. When Stefan went into his bathroom, a large man stepped out of the shadows and hit him hard in the face. Then he hit him on the back, knocking him to the hard tile floor.
"Never touch Laura Winslow again," he threatened, and he walked out of the apartment at a strolling pace.