Meanwhile, back at the Auditorium . . .
The last of the models leave the runway, they are all laughing and smiling, they're surprised and exhilarated at what they've both done and achieved.
Steffy steps in front of them with Zende, Thomas, and Marius.
"Now comes the hard part," she says with a smile.
Everyone looks at her in surprise, "this" wasn't the hard part?
"Now we have to meet the buyers, and of course, the press may still be waiting for you outside, either way, the game has just been upped another level. Now, because we have such amazing group of women here, and quite frankly, I couldn't decide," she says with a rueful smile. "I've decided to share the spokesmodel duties between all of you."
There's a gasp from some of the woman as Anna, the Down syndrome girl says "But we thought that you'd be the spokesperson."
"Oh no," says Steffy with a slight smile, "I'm only here for dramatic effect, and honestly, I have far too much work on my plate as it is. Besides, I have full confidence in you girls."
Zende then speaks up as he looks at the girls, "The clothes you're wearing are yours to do with as you wish." A delighted murmur erupts from the woman as he continues, "But, we will require you to wear them over to the reception with the buyers, which is about to start about now. We want you to circulate amongst them, you don't have to tell them anything personal, all we want is for you to be polite and interested in what they have to say. Answer questions about the clothes, tell them how you feel wearing them, and how you think others will feel, oh," he glances at Steffy. "No information is to be given about the boss if they ask, that's why you all signed a non-disclosure agreement, besides which, they've been told she's off limits so let's keep it that way."
Everyone nods and the three designers divide them into groups to advise them on materials used as well as design features that have been added for each of them, in the meantime Steffy smiles at everyone and tells them she's going to get changed. At their surprised looks, she says.
"I know I would normally be with all of you, but given what's just occurred, I'm afraid I'd be more of a distraction than a help, and this is way too important! I want nothing to get in the way of the message you're sending, and that includes me! Everyone should be fixated on all of you and the clothes you're wearing, not me and my problems."
"It's okay Steffy, we've got this," pipes up Crystal the pretty young Dwarf woman.
Nods and murmurs of agreement come from the others.
Andie, the woman in the wheelchair smiles and leans forward to grab her hand. "Go, relax, take off, like Crystal said, we've got this covered, we won't let you down."
Steffy smiles in gratitude, after everything that's just happened, she feels like she's clinging on by a thread. She knows that there's no way she'd ever make it through the buyer's reception, and just thanks god for Thomas, Zende, and Marius, she knows they'll make sure everything runs smoothly.
As the designers start to usher the models out and over to where the reception is being held Marius happens to glance back. Steffy is walking swiftly to the dressing room, but for a moment her face is highlighted in a large mirror. He stumbles to a halt at the distress he see's there, the pain of what has just happened seems to be crashing down on her all at once, he turns to get Thomas but he's way up ahead of him and he doesn't want to alert anyone else to what's happening, so he simply touches the arm of Andie who has been moving along just behind him.
"Andie, could you tell the others something important has come up, and I'll make it to the reception later, if I can."
Andie nods as she looks up at him "No problem. I'll tell Zende as soon as we get to the reception."
"Grazie," he says distractedly as he turns and hurries back the way he's come.
Steffy makes it to her dressing room and hurriedly slips of her dress as tears keep threatening to fall, she puts the dress neatly on a hanger and hangs it up, it's then it fully catches her gaze – the shifting colours are so like the Phoenix she'd chosen for the new brands name. At that one look she can't hold the memories and pain back no longer as the entire day, and what's happened comes crashing in on her fully. She unwittingly sinks to the floor and starts to sob.
As she continues to cry she vaguely hears a voice calling her name and the sound of the door opening. She looks up with pain filled eyes to see Marius standing there
"Ahh, Mia Bella Steffy, he says as he quickly moves forward and goes to his knee's beside her before swiftly gathering her in his arms.
Steffy can't help it, this simple act of kindness on top of what's happened brings on even more tears, she leans her head onto his chest and continues to sob as he holds her protectively, murmuring soothing words in Italian and stroking her back.
After several minutes of crying brokenly her sobs eventually begin to subside and she starts to realise where she is, her cheeks start to burn with embarrassment, she's laying in Marius' arms bawling and worse, snotting all over his shirt.
She touches his damp shirt tentatively, "Oh god, I'm so sorry, I never meant for this to happen, it's just . . . she sighs and looks at her hands."
Marius smiles down at her, "It's just you grew tired of being strong, the heavy burden you've been carrying around with you finally became too much to carry and you needed to vent. This is a good thing."
Steffy looks up at him in surprise, "A good thing? How?"
He looks at her thoughtfully, "Because holding onto all this pain you feel will only make you bitter and cause you more unhappiness. I think you are a passionate woman, a woman who feels everything deeply, a woman who tries to hide her pain from others, it's part of what makes you, you. But hanging on to your pain serves no purpose, it was simply time to let it go, to let go of your bad memories, to learn from them, and as someone very wise said recently, to heal and move on."
Steffy sighs, "Great words, it's a pity the woman who said them is such a fake, she's in here sobbing on the floor and her head designer has had to save her from going totally over the edge."
Marius shakes his head, "Don't do that! Don't doubt yourself! You have great pride, great dignity," he looks down over her body and grins mischievously, "and a great many other assets that my body is starting to notice in the most inappropriate way."
Steffy frowns in confusions for a moment before realising she's still in her very skimpy lingerie being held close to him. "Oh" she says her eyes going wide at the implication, "Oh!"
Marius shrugs indifferently, "when I don't have this reaction to a beautiful half naked woman that I'm fortunate enough to be holding, then I will start to be concerned."
Steffy hops up and hurriedly throws on her clothes as Marius gets to his feet, watching her speedy attempts at dressing.
As she finally buttons up her jacket, she turns back to him.
"Thank you, Marius, honestly, I don't know how I would have been without your help."
Marius smiles gently at her, "Go home, hold your children close, and think of all your blessings, let go of your anger and start to move forward again. Remember, bella regazza, you are my phoenix."
As Steffy is about to say something else the door opens and Taylor steps in.
"Steffy, are you alright?" she says hurrying towards her daughter and taking her in her arms.
Steffy looks over Taylors shoulder at Marius and nods. "I am now, thanks to Marius."
Taylor turns to Marius who is now heading towards the door. "I will leave you and your mother alone, if you ever need to talk, you know where I am," he says with a smile as he leaves the two women to their privacy.
"Steffy?" asks Taylor frowning.
Steffy sighs softly and tells her mother everything that happened, but leaving out the flirty talk, and Marius' reaction to her at the end.
Taylor smiles and looks into her daughter's eyes. "That's good advice, Steffy, I think you've come to a crossroads in your life. Tonight, you lanced a festering boil on your emotions, one that I think has been building for a very long time. You now face a choice, you can either let your pain and anger rebuild, colouring and destroying every new relationship you may have, or you can try to let it go and move on, you can try to work past your pain."
At Steffi's disbelieving look Taylor continued. "I'm not saying it will be easy, and I'm definitely going to be recommending some therapy to help you, but you've made a tremendous, if unusual, start."
Steffy nods slowly, "You're right, I have to do this, I want to be healthy and happy for Kelly and Hayes, they need me."
She frowns as she remembers something else. "Oh my god, mum, you and Deacon, I never even thought . . . are you alright? Do you want me to talk to him?"
Taylor smiles gently, "We haven't talked yet, he's gone to see Hope and I came straight to you. If we get through it, we get through it, if not, well, it was fun while it lasted but it obviously wasn't meant to be."
"That's surprises me," says Steffy curiously. "I thought you two were starting to get all hot and heavy."
Taylor chuckles before saying, "All of this with your father taught me one thing, never take anything for granted, and never expect more than you can give. Honestly, I enjoy Deacon's company a lot, he's fun, sexy as all get out, and better yet, we can just sit on the deck with our non-alcoholic beers and just talk, like friends who've known each other for-ever. If our relationship doesn't work out, then I hope our friendship does, because as it turns out, we really are great at it."
Steffy nods thoughtfully as she unconsciously touches her arms where Marius had held her so tightly. "I better get going, the kids are waiting and I still have to run the gauntlet of the paparazzi."
"Let me come with you." Says Taylor immediately.
Steffy shakes her head. "Not this time mum, I have to do this alone. I've just made a major statement to the world, and I need to back it up."
She throws her shoulders back, "And there's no time like the present," she says as she leaves Taylor and marches out to her new life.
.