Chapter 5
Previously Steffy and Liam were forced to grieve for their little girl, together, bringing up the emotions and guilt they both felt from of losing Aspen.
Steffy and Liam had had few quiet days at home, resting and recovering, today was the first day that Liam was heading back into work, even if he was only going in to pick up a few files and arrange a 'meeting' with his father at home, he was nervous to leave Steffy alone.
"Are you sure you are going to be alright here on your own for a few hours? I, I could ask Katie to find my Spencer files and I am sure Pam has already organised our things at Forrester so maybe she could drop them over here..."
"Don't you dare! I am supposed to be resting and staying calm not dealing my Aunt Pam and all her fussing. I will be fine, you are only going to be gone for a few hours, I have lots I need to do like call my mum, she keeps texting me to call her so knowing my luck I will still be on the phone to her when you get back. Plus, if you pop out it also means you can go by that bakery on Sunset Boulevard and pick me up one of their chocolate éclairs, the twins would really, really like one please Daddy."
"As long as you promise to call me if you need me or anything else, I hate leaving you here alone!"
"Hey I am a big girl I can handle it. You never know I might even manage to get a nap in this morning."
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in! Okay well if you are sure that you are going to be fine here on your own I am going to head out. I love you, take it easy and please try to get that nap after all you are growing the next generation of Spencers in there!" While leaning down towards Steffy's belly Liam whispers "Daddy loves you!" to the twins.
Shortly after Liam leaves the house, Steffy decides it is time to give her mother a call.
"Hey mum"
"Don't you hey mum me young lady! I have been trying to get a hold of you ever since your father called me from the hospital! You really know how to make your mother worry!"
"I am sorry mum, it has just been a really full on few days and Liam and I needed some time to just be us. You know I think we made a lot of progress these past few days, this accident scared the pair of us, I think we have finally started to grieve the loss of our daughter, together. It has been an emotional time. So I am sorry that I didn't get back to you sooner. But I was his priority and he was mine."
"Oh sweetheart, that can't have been easy for either of you, but we both know it was something that you needed to do as a couple to be able to move forwards with your lives."
"I know Mum, but it doesn't make it hurt any less, in fact it's made everything so raw again. I just wish I had my Mum here with me, no matter how old I get, or how fiercely independent I am, I am always going to need my Mum. No one knows how to hug me quite like you do Mumma, not Dad, not Thomas, heck not even Liam!"
"Oh darling girl, you know all you need to do is call me and I will be on the first flight back to LA! It may no longer be where I live but where ever my children are in the world that will always be my home; you and Thomas are my world. You just have to ask and I will be there!"
"Hey Ma, do you think you come home for a while. There is a lot going on here at the moment and I just, I am scared and I do not fully know how to deal with it all, especially all these emotions and the guilt surrounding Aspen. I just need my Mum."
"Oh baby girl, it is going to be okay, you and Liam are going to be okay. You both needed to go back to that dark day in order to move forwards. My darling, are you sure that you want me to come... This time is important for you and Liam; you need to process all these emotions and grief together. You know I will be there in a heartbeat if you and Liam want that, if you need me with you."
"Please Mum, come home... I need you, Liam needs you, we need you here. When I fell, I, I, had the most bizarre experience while unconscious. When I told Liam about it, he shared something with me. I can't explain it over the phone mum, I just need to show it to you. But I can't do that if you're not here now can I!"
"Okay, okay I get it! My big, strong, tough girl needs her mumma. I will be there as soon as I can."
"Why does everyone always think I am so strong? Why can't people see that I'm not unbreakable? That my tough girl routine is just that, an act!"
"Oh Steffy, I know all of these things but as your mumn I have also learnt that with you it is better to wait for you to ask for me, rather than you having me hover and force my love, comfort and support onto you. As a mum, this was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn, it was even harder for me to let go of you. For so long I felt I had to give you double the love and support, your share and Phoebe's share. My precious baby girl is a strong, beautiful, independent, talented young woman who no longer needs her mumma around all the time. You my darling have found your own daily support system, Liam, and that is a part of growing up."
"No matter how old I get or how solid Liam and my relationship is mum, I will ALWAYS need you."
"Okay Steffy, I get it! Let me arrange a few things here first and I will call you back with some travel details. I have probably missed the next flight back to LA so I will have to work it all out. I will make sure I am there as soon as I can be!"
"Mum you are talking to the President of Forrester Creations and your future son in law is the Vice President of both Forrester Creations and Spencer Publications. We have several private jets that you can use. Hell the Forrester International jet is currently in Paris. Call the International office and get them to organise the plane, and if they have any issues tell them to call the darn President of the Company." Steffy states while getting worked up.
A sudden wave of nausea hits Steffy, leaving her feeling hot and clammy and trying to breathe through the urge to vomit.
"Look Ma, can I call you back in a little bit, something has just come up and I need to deal with it."
"Honey I will call you once I have my travel details sorted. Take care of yourself; remember you were just in a major accident, so take it easy! Love you baby girl, I will see you soon!"
"Love you too Mum, use the darn jet!" Steffy states as she quickly walks towards the bathroom, abruptly ending the call with her mother.
Half an hour later Liam arrives home to find Steffy leaning against the cold tiles of their bathroom, hoodie removed, sweatpants off, with tears streaming down her face.
"Steffy, baby, what's wrong? What hurts, do you need me to call Dr Caspery?"
At that very moment Steffy gets a whiff of Liam's aftershave which causes her to promptly place her head back into the toilet, vomiting up the last of the contents of her stomach.
"Agh! You need to go shower and get that stench off you... you are not allowed to wear that aftershave anymore unless you never want to get laid again!"
"Baby, you love this aftershave, you complain when I don't wear it!"
"Yeah well things change... apparently the stench of it has the opposite reaction on my body, it now makes my stomach turn and not in a good way! In case you have forgotten I recently fell down a flight of stairs and vomiting really kind of hurts so if you love me at all you will strip off, shower, remove that stench and throw these clothes into the wash. Once you have done all that you can help me up off the nice cold floor!"
"Yes Ma'am!"
While Liam is in the shower, Steffy continues to talk to him about the pregnancy.
"You know I don't remember ever feeling like this last time... with Aspen... I don't remember smells making my stomach roll or my boobs being so big and I certainly don't think your aftershave had that affect on me!"
"Oh trust me... Your boobs were that big! I remember them fondly!"
"Liam! God help you when the twins arrive and my milk comes in!"
"I look forward to the day... but not for the reasons you are thinking! The day all of that happens will be one of the best days of my life, because WE will be a family, you, me and our two precious babes!"
"Oh yeah, and tell me Mr Spencer, what would be the best day of your life?"
"The day I met the most fiercely independent, maddeningly complicated, sexy as hell woman... that just so happens to be my fiancé!"
"Good answer!"
"I knew in that very instant my would was about the be turned upside down in the best way possible! You were a force to be reckoned with then and not much has changed... Although you do get more and more beautiful every single day. It's funny because just when I think I can't possibly love you anymore than I already do... you do something totally crazy and I fall in love with you even more! You are my beginning, my ending, my weakness, my strength. You are my entire world, you are it for me and I never want to experience life without you again!"
Liam looks over towards Steffy as he steps out of the shower and sees a torrent of tears pouring down her cheeks.
"You can't say things like that to this pregnant lady...You made me ugly cry... in the best way possible, for all the right reasons! Now get your sexy as hell ass over here and let me see if you pass the smell test!"
After a long drawn-out interrogation of the sniffing variety Liam queries Steffy.
"Well how did I do? DO I pass the test... can I kiss you now my Queen?"
After careful deliberation, Steffy responds.
"Yeah you'll pass! Unlucky for you I am far too sore from that fall because you, right now, in just a towel, oh the things I would like to do to you!"
"Oh really, tell me more!"
"You'd like that wouldn't you, for me to tell you about all think wild and wicked things I want to do with you, if you help me up of this floor, I may just have to reward you in some small way!"
"Oh my love, for you safety maybe you shouldn't tell me anymore, I don't know if I would be able to control myself and you my dear are not in any condition for what I have in mind..."
"Tease!"
"You have no idea how much I wish I could deliver for you tonight. But I will not put you in a situation where you could be hurt even more. I can guarantee what I have in mind does not fall under Dr Caspery's version of bed rest!"
"Hmmmph! I can tell you something else that is different with this pregnancy... I want you, like all the time! I constantly want to be having sex with you, I am always thinking about having sex with you, thinking of all the things I want to do with you, to you, my needs, my desires. I tell you baby, watch out, once I am all cleared to go and I feel able bodied again! Your baby mumma has a hell of an appetite!"
"Is that a promise, please let that be a promise!"
"Oh don't you worry that pretty little head of yours, it's a promise and I don't break my promises!"
"This sudden revelation would also explain the sudden increase in our extra curricula activities lately. It was like I couldn't sedate your needs, I swear your office door has been locked more than unlocked in the past 2 weeks!"
"Well I didn't hear you complaining at the time! In fact I am pretty sure you were doing quite the opposite of complaining... although I think the sauna may have been my favourite...!"
"Aghhhh Steffy, look what you do to me, a few words and a quick trip down memory lane and I revert to being a darn horny teenager all over again! I need another shower... a cold one this time!"
"Help me up and onto the couch before you deal with that problem would you please..."
After a brief cold shower, Liam joins Steffy on the couch, making her shuffle forwards a fraction so he can slip in behind her and wrap his arms around her.
"So I called my mum while you were at the office..."
"I am glad you managed to catch up, I know she has been texting you nonstop."
"Yeah, I was nice to talk to her... I asked her to come visit. And by asked I kind of demanded! I even instructed her to use the Forrester International Jet, I told her that it was cleared by both the President and the Vice President."
"Mmmm, let me guess she wasn't 100% sold on the idea."
"You got it in one. It was so nice to talk to her though, I told her that we had a big conversation about Aspen... but I left out the part about her visiting me while unconscious... I couldn't go there again without either you or her holding me.
"Well your mum will be here soon so you can talk to her as much as you would like and if you decide that you want we there when you tell her about Aspens visit then that's where I will be! I think talking about her like this is going to be good for us. She would have been the biggest thing in our lives, just because she isn't here doesn't mean we have forgotten her. I like talking about her."
"Me too, in some strange way it makes me feel closer to her. Hey I have a question for you and I want you to know that you can say no..."
"You know you can ask me anything..."
"When my mum gets here... is it okay... would you mind... can I please..."
"Steffy, you are never this indirect with anything!"
"Can I share Aspens room with her?"
"Yeah baby you can... I only kept it to myself because I needed you to be the second person to be in there. That day, the day we lost her, you mum she lost a lot of things too. Not only did she lose her granddaughter, but she lost a part of you, we both did, and then a little while later she lost the best son in law ever. So yes you can share that space with her." Liam continues
"I thought you were going to ask if she could move in here or something..."
"Oh hell no! I love my mother, I love her dearly but there is no way I could handle the fussing, not to mention my sex drive could not handle being suppressed. You know what I am like at the moment and it just would not work with her living here too... I will not do that while my mother is under the same roof!"
"Oh, there she is my wild woman!"
"So I asked my dad to come over for a 'meeting' later today when I was at Spencer Publications. I figured we could tell him about the twins; maybe let him know that I would be temporarily stepping down as VP at Spencer... Obviously we will have to remind him he is here as Grandpa Bill and not here to get a Statement for the Magazine"
"Well that shall be an interesting conversation... Hey what do you say we don't tell him about the twins, just to start with... maybe we tell him that you need to take a leave of absence from Spencer..."
Bill enters the cliff house catching the tail end of Steffy and Liam's conversation.
"And please tell me Steffy, what on earth could make my son step down from his position at Spencer Publications?"
"Well dad, when Steffy had the accident the other day, the doctors in the Emergency Room discovered some life changing news..."
"Steffy are you okay, don't worry whatever it is I will find the best doctors in the world to take care of you and make sure you come out the other side of whatever we are facing. We will get through it as a family!"
"Bill, Bill, BILL, GRANDPA! Calm down!"
"Don't tell me to calm down Steffy... This, this is a...a, Wait what did you just call me?"
"I called you grandpa... and you better get used to it, fast!"
"Are you telling me what I think you are telling me? Liam help your father out here..."
"Yeah dad, we're pregnant..."
Bill jumps up in pure excitement, practically jumping over the coffee table to give both Steffy and Liam a hug.
"Oh my god, I can't believe you have a little Spencer growing in there... Wait a minute, Steffy being pregnant doesn't explain why you son, need to take a leave of absence from Spencer Publications, Is everything okay, the baby wasn't hurt in the fall was it? I will fly in the best neonatal doctors in the world if we have to, I won't take any risks!"
"Dad I need to take leave from Spencer because I am going to be stepping up at Forrester..."
"Bill, Dr Caspery has recommended that I remove the stress from work out of my daily life until after the babies are born. Based on my medical history, after Aspen, she wants to do all she can to get me to 40 weeks. So for the next 24 weeks, our house is a stress free bubble! Liam and I are going to do everything in our power to make our family whole again. So I am stepping down at Forrester. I do think you should ask Wyatt to fill Liam's role at Spencer, it would be go for him to be more involved in the family business.
"Wait a second, rewind, did I hear you say babies..."
"So you were listening, you do remember Steffy is a twin right..."
"Yeah I remember, Phoebe right."
"It appears twins runs in my family... So yes you are becoming a Grandpa but you are also getting two for the price of one!"
"You know Steffy, Liam, this is like the best news ever! You know two babies means twice the spoiling though!"
"Oh gosh, so it begins, I guess we are lucky in some respects that we are already 16 weeks along, and it just means that dad you have less time to fill up our house with baby presents before they actually arrive!"
"Wait a second, Steffy you barely look like you have eaten lunch today. There is no way you can be hiding not one but two babies in that belly and be almost at the half-way mark... I am sorry son but you wife looks amazing!"
"Hey dad about that whole wife thing, we need you and Katie to keep the 5th of February free... We have decided that's when we are getting married."
"Your Mum's birthday, Liam! She would be so proud of you son!"
"You remembered, after all these years?"
"Some things, some people, you just never forget!"
"Well we have always known that any day would be special, but choosing this day also means we get to honour Kelly and make her a part of our day too. After all she is the main reason you're the man you are today, my hero, my gentleman."
"So is my leave of absence approved... because we kind of need to start organising everything now, Steffy needs to be completely off work by the end of the month... which conveniently is a week before our wedding!"
"Yes, yes, by all means yes! You two do what you have to do in order to keep the future heirs of this family out of harm's way!"
"Thanks Dad! Oh Dad one more thing... none of this is public knowledge, feel special, you are the first to know. Once we have our board meeting tomorrow at Forrester we will happily do our press release with Spencer Publications. But until then, really until we are closer to 20 weeks, we would like to keep this quiet, but we know with the shift in roles within both companies the chances of that happening are very low."
"Bill, for your grandbabies sake, can you please try to keep a lid on this for a little while...Find some other socialite and their scandal to blast in the tabloids. I don't need paparazzi hounding my every move when I am trying to stay stress free!"
"Whatever you want Steffy, you can have! Now I need to go and celebrate! I am going to be a Grandpa!"
"Dad until the board meeting tomorrow you can't say a word, not even to Katie!"
"Okay, okay I get it, I don't like it, but I understand! But know this, if Katie specifically asks I won't lie to her."
"Well if that does happen, if she does specifically say the words 'is Steffy pregnant' and only those word, we can accept that you need to tell your wife the truth. But Bill, please try and keep this under wraps."
"I've got to go... I have so much to do... there are trust funds to establish, gifts to buy, babies to spoil!" Bill states as he waltzes out the door.
"Well you dad too that way better than I expected. For some reason I had it in my head that he would be pissed about you standing down at Spencer... even if it is only temporary!"
"Baby you are pregnant, about to give him two grandchildren, you could have asked him to sign over the deeds to this house and give you 50% of Spencer Publications and he would have been straight on the phone to Justin! He was not kidding when he said that you get what you want, it's like a Bill Spencer free pass and they are rarer than Golden Tickets in Wonka Bars!"
Next time on Stairway to No-mans Land:
- A mothers worry never ends
- A change causes concern
- Plans for the future are revealed