Chapter 20 Cross that line

... Alex, do you hear me? You have to wake up. You have to, cause I ... I love you. You're the only man I've ever really loved ...

Alex mumbled in his sleep; 'Stevie?' His face was covered with a smile and automatically he turned around thinking she would lay next to him, but he turned the wrong side. 'OUCH!' Alex had hit the floor and rubbed his head. Totally awake he quickly moved up a bit and glared to his bed, empty. He looked around confused. What was that?

Later that morning ...

It took him longer than expected and he made a note to himself to order some pump valves, when he finally found one he was on his way to Drovers before he knew it. A lovely sunray was shining down on his cheerful face when he walked upon the Drovers homestead.

He saw her standing near the fencing for the horses that were about to be trained. 'G'day!' She turned around; when behind her Riley came walking to them leading one of the horses. They've both greeted Alex, who hardly paid attention to the younger bloke. 'What brought you here?' Stevie asked. 'The pump valve, you asked for'. Stevie's face showed still a bit unawareness.

'Ohhh, yeah sorry I was about to call you for that. Riley already fixed the old one.' For a second Alex looked at the guy. 'One of my many talents', Riley smirked, seeing some annoyance appear on Alex' face. 'Ow, okay ... how did the Counsel meeting go?'

He decided to ignore the bloke and looked at Stevie. 'Ow, well you know, those old men still think we just have to settle, cause well in the end we're women, so we just should go along with their wise advice.' She raised her eyebrows, and it had irritated her, mostly cause she was late and Jodi had to do it on her own.

'Ah well, those guys will get around eventually. They're not as stubborn as they may seem.' 'Yeah, right, maybe if you're name is Ryan. Next time attend one of the meetings, so you can give us some back-up.' Alex could see she was a bit vexed and wondered if this was really cause of the meeting or it was something he did. When he looked over her shoulder, he saw Riley grinning. Nice, he thought.

'Well, maybe I will ... uhm have to go.' He hadn't expected to leave so soon, but he didn't really feel welcome and beside that, Riley's presence was bugging him. The little guy seemed pretty pleased with himself and Alex wondered what Stevie saw in him. And mostly it bugged him that he had a feeling he was replaced. Alex wasn't used to a male working on Drovers.

It was a couple of days later when the guys had diner at Killarney's cottage. Alex tried to spend as little time at the main house as possible and hanging with Rob, Marcus and Patrick helped a lot. Though there were moments he missed Dave around. The guys revealed their plans for the evening. Rob was heading for Drovers to spend the evening with Jodi. They didn't have much time together so far.

Alex nodded and wondered for a sec. He kinda wanted to visit Drovers too, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea. He never really had thought about it like this, always just stopped by like it was the most normal thing to do. Rob glared at him, sensing Alex' thoughts. 'You wanna go with me?' Alex shook up out of his thoughts and stared at his mate. 'Uhm, yeah, okay I will.'

When the guys reached the Drovers' kitchen Alex felt a bit nervous, wondering if Stevie would be there, if Riley would be with her, and mostly if she would like to see him. Jodi and Regan where sitting at the kitchen table, pretty much in silence, eavesdropping. 'Hey ladies'. 'Shhh ...' Jodi said immediately, to be sure the guys kept their silence, but she couldn't suppress a smiling glare at Rob.

Alex nodded to Regan, to ask what was up. 'Stevie's on the phone with Michelle, it's about Rose.' A moment later he could Stevie saying uhm and yes, standing in the hallway next to the kitchen. The friends shared their glances of curiosity when Stevie returned, first looking at Regan, than noticing Alex standing near. 'Hey Alex', she was pretty surprised to see him, but Regan got her attention back right away. 'And?' Stevie's smile grew wide. 'She's coming.' The girls squeezed. 'For a month!'. 'That's great', Regan added, seeing Stevie sighing deeply. She didn't know it would turn out well, but she was glad to see her daughter. It would be the first time after Rose found out Stevie was her mother.

A few minutes later Jodi and Rob decided to find their own place and Stevie glared at Alex. 'Can I talk to you in private?' Alex felt his heartbeat speed up immediately. What was this about? She pointed her head to the hallway and Regan glared at the two and their ways of communicate.

It took them only a moment when Stevie and Alex stood in the hallway, leaving Regan peeking through the doorway. Stevie wiggled a bit, seeing the man in front of her with asking eyes. 'So Rose comes ...', she started, still feeling the adrenaline of the phone call rushing through her body. 'And, well she wants to work as a jillaroo, and ... she doesn't wanna do that on Drovers ...' It took her another breathe and looked away for a sec when she focused back on Alex. 'She wants to get her practice on Killarney ...' It was not even a question but her eyes were telling him enough. 'Okay, no problem.'

Stevie's eyes lighted up. She didn't really know why she wasn't sure of her question; maybe it was the memory of asking it Harry last time that had frightened her a bit. 'Really?' Alex showed a huge grin. 'Of course.' 'That is ... that's great!' Before she knew it, she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. 'Thanks so much.' Alex looked down with a bit of a cheerful, funny surprised grin. He put his arms around her and held her. It felt different, there had been many times he had embraced her, but this felt ... he couldn't describe the feeling. He just didn't want to let go of her. She looked up, letting go of his waist, but it was in a slow and soft way, like she enjoyed touching him and he could feel it.

When they finally had let go of the other Stevie invited him for a celebration with beer on the veranda. Stevie was full with the whole Rose coming situation. She was excited, but also anxious. How would Rose respond? She was glad Alex was near, cause when it came to Rose he felt like the only one to talk to.

'I just hope she will be pleased to be here', she babbled along. She had said a lot of lines that kinda meant the same, but Alex didn't bother. He knew how much this meant to her. 'I just ... I just hope she knows I love her.' The flash stroke Alex, again. I love you. He glared in front of him, wondering, confused, remembering the dream he had a few days ago. 'Alex?' Stevie asked when she noticed his non-attendance. He looked at her. 'Oh yeah of course ... she knows.' He tried to concentrate on Stevie's story, but that dream kept bugging him, till he remember the moment he thought she had said it when he was working on the tractor. Was this really just a dream, or ...? His thought made him glare strangely at her, but Stevie was too overwhelmed with the whole situation to notice it.