Lindsey awoke the next morning, he hadn't slept that well since David was born. David. He hadn't woken at all last night. Lindsey panicked and jumped out of bed, finding the baby gone.

"David?!" He he said worriedly running out of the bedroom, finally spotting him in Stevie's arms at the kitchen table

"Linds what's wrong?" She asked as she was feeding the baby

"I thought he was gone," he wiped the tears from his eyes, "I don't remember him waking up last night and I went to check on him and he wasn't there."

"Lindsey, you knew I was here, why would he be gone? Who would take him if not me?" She got up and walked over to him

"I'm just paranoid," he shook his head

"I wouldn't let anyone take him baby!" She informed him

"I know, I trust you," Lindsey kissed her good morning

"Good!" She kissed him once more before sitting down at the table again

"Good morning, sweetheart," he kissed Evie's curls as she ate her breakfast

"Morning daddy" she smiled up at him

"Did you sleep well?" He sat beside her

"You snore loud!"

"You like complaining about my snoring don't you?" He started to tickle her sides

She broke out into a fit of giggles, trying to push away from him

"Daddy no! It ticklessss" he finally stopped and pulled her into a hug

"That'll teach you," he kissed her cheek

"I love you daddy" she rubbed her face on his chest

"I love you too, baby," he kissed the top of her head, resting his chin there

Sitting like that he simply cuddled her and enjoyed the love he had for her

"Don't forget I'm going home today" Stevie said once she'd burped David

"I'm going to look for a job as well, but I will help you first."

"No its fine, I will go by myself, I want you to stay here with the kids" she told him

"I can do that," he nodded

"Thank you!" She rubbed the top of his hand

"No problem," he picked up her hand and kissed it. Stevie handed David to Lindsey and went to have a shower, to get ready

"Hey bud," he cradled David, "Can you believe how amazing Mommy Stevie is?"

David stared up and Lindsey giggled, kicking his little legs around.

"I love all three of you very much."

Stevie returned a short while later all fresh and ready to go back home

"Hurry back. I'll miss you," he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively

"You are so terrible!" She swatted his arm and kissed him goodbye

"Honestly though, please be careful!" He turned serious

"I will be. Jimmy isn't there and I don't have a ton of stuff, I'll be quick," she waved and walked out the door

Lindsey turned to Evie

"Hey?" He whispered

"Yes daddy?"

"It's still early, want to go back to sleep?"

She grinned and nodded, hoping off of the chair and trotting into the bedroom

Lindsey carried a sleeping David in and placed him back in his cot

Evie was already in bed so Lindsey got in to and she snuggled up to him

"You always sleep a lot?" He asked her quietly

"I take after mommy" she giggled

"Definitely." Lindsey snuggled down and soon had fallen asleep once more

When Stevie returned the apartment was extremely quiet. She walked into the bedroom limping slightly, she had been a lot longer than she said she would have; Lindsey, Evie, and David were all passed out.

Stevie sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked Lindsey's hair, he mumbled slightly

"Mm just five more minuets Jen" Stevie shot her hand away and that was the final straw, she broke down in tears, being careful of her hurting face

"Stevie?!" He sat up quickly, reaching for her, She flinched away from him quickly

"Stevie? Did someone hit you?" Lindsey asked quietly

"You just called me Jen!"

"I'm sorry, I was half asleep." Lindsey explained

"It doesn't matter..." she cried harder

"Stevie did something happen?" He rubbed her back

She once again flinched and he turned the light on next to him

"Don't do that!" She quickly switched it off and got up, walking from the bedroom, Lindsey noticing how she was walking

"What the fuck happened to you?!"

"Nothing..." she wouldn't turn round and face him

"Stephanie," he rubbed her shoulder. She turned around finally and his eyes filled with tears

"Oh baby..." he gasped

"He wasn't supposed to be there..."

"I'll murder him," Lindsey gritted

"Someone must have told him I was there, and he found me packing stuff..." she cried

"Did he....?" Lindsey trailed off

"No, not this time, but he threatened it if I left him for good"

"You are going to leave him and I'm going to protect you," Lindsey said seriously

"He told me I had to come back here only to get Evie and say goodbye"

"And if you didn't?"

"Then he would make you immobile so you had to sit and watch every time he...without being able to do anything"

"But you might be pregnant, that's a good thing!"

"I don't think I am now..."

"Don't say that...." Lindsey shook his head

"Lindsey he beat me!"

"And I'll beat him if he even lays eyes on you!"

Stevie lifted her shirt to show Lindsey a huge dark bruise covering her middle

"They wouldn't of survived that Lindsey..."

"They haven't even formed yet, it's gonna take some time still, maybe we'll be okay," He began to get distraught

"Lindsey he kicked me in the stomach for five minuets...!"

He flinched, hearing what happened to her, "Stay here," Lindsey said, walking towards the door

"Lindsey! No don't go over there!" Stevie cried

"Watch Evie and David," he refused to listen to her, walking out the door. Stevie grabbed her hair

"Lindsey!" She screamed but doubled over in pain

He never heard her, but Evie came running in the room to her mother, "Mommy! Mommy why are you bleeding?" She pointed to her

"I just fell."

"Where's daddy?" She cried and David started to, Stevie walked to him but she couldn't pick him up with the amount of pain she was in. She knew that he was hungry and probably needed a diaper change

"Lindsey, why can't you listen to me!" She cried, trying again to pick David up but she didn't have enough of a grip, She was terrified of dropping him and hurting him

"Baby, stop crying! I can't lift you sweetheart" he just screamed louder

"David, please!"

Evie came in and screamed

"Mommy! Noisy!"

Stevie was beside herself. "I'm sorry sweetheart," Stevie sat down on the bed and stuck her pinky in David's mouth to give him something to nurse on

It settled him for a minuet before he realised that no food was being given to him

Stevie carefully got off of the bed and walked into the kitchen, struggling to make him a bottle. Opening the cupboard to reach for his formula on the top shelf she screamed in pain

"Mommy!" Evie came running out

"Baby I'm fine..." she couldn't breath well

"David won't stop screaming!" Evie said

"I'm getting him taken care of, why don't you go watch some TV?" Stevie whimpered

"Where's daddy! I want daddy!" Evie stomped her little foot

"I don't know, baby," Stevie told her

"But I want daddy!"

"Daddy isn't here Evie!" Stevie shouted at her daughter. Stevie's heart broke as Evie's lip trembled, "Honey I'm sorry for yelling," She sighed

"Go away!" Evie yelled and ran into the bedroom

"Lindsey, where the fuck are you?" She cried

Stevie realised she wasn't going to be able to make David's formula, she just couldn't reach up. Stevie sat down on the couch at her wits end, the children crying in the other room. Holding her head, she was going to go crazy, everything ached and she felt like the walls were beginning to close in on her. She felt like she was going to pass out any minuet! She heard the door unlatch and creak open, Lindsey walking in as if nothing happened

"Where the fuck have you been?!" She yelled at him.

"I went to see Jimmy. Why are the kids crying?!" He jogged into the bedroom

She couldn't believe him! He came back out with an angry expression on his face

"David is starving! Evie is beside herself! What the hell?!"

"Lindsey I can't move!" She fought back

"Yeah, well I took care of Jimmy."

"What do you mean you took care of Jimmy?"

"I took care of him. That's all you need to know."

"What did you do...? Lindsey what the hell did you do?!"

"I didn't kill him. I just made it clear that you weren't to be messed with."

"You stupid, stupid man! He's going to make my life hell now! I told you to leave it alone!" Stevie was angry

"He's not going to do anything."

"He is! I know he will! And if it's not him he'll send someone else!" Stevie started to cry

"Calm down. I paid him a lot of money to make sure that he never messes with you again. Plus, I found him a new girl."

"You think he's going to just leave me alone because you paid him some money?"

"If it helps I beat the shit out of him," Lindsey shrugged

"No that does not help! For once in your life why didn't you do as I asked?"

"And let you go back to him?!"

"I'd be safer than I am now! You've made me a time bomb!"

"Then leave! Go back to him! But let me tell you, Evie stays here!"

"No! She comes with me!" Stevie argued

"I won't let him touch her!" He got in her face

"She's my daughter, she comes with me!" She got in his face back

"He raped you! I'm not letting him do the same to her."

"You think I would let that happen?" She asked disgusted

"Maybe you won't be able to stop it. You're not always going to be around her."

"I'll always be around her!"

"What if one night he leaves your bed, you're dead asleep and he goes in her room? Huh? She's not going with you."

"Are you saying I can't protect my own daughter?" She came up to him

"Not when it's fighting against a grown man. He will kill you and then what good would you be to her?"

"I told you I would die for her! She's coming with me!"

"No she isn't!"

"You can't keep her against my will, that's illegal Lindsey!"

"Stephanie, I can't let her live with him. I would prefer that you didn't live with him, but I see you've made up your mind."

"I have, because I want to keep you safe! And I shall be taking my daughter with me" Stevie turned to walk away

"The hell you will," he gritted

"You can't stop me!"

"Stevie why are you bringing her back to him?!"

"Because I need my child!" She told him

"You think that makes you a good mother taking her with you?"

"I'll keep her safe! He won't touch her?"

"And he didn't touch her when he raped you while you were pregnant?"

"I tried to protect her! You know I did!" She told him

"But couldn't! And you might not be able to now!"

"That's different! She was inside me!"

"You don't get it! SHE ISN'T LIVING WITH HIM"

"SHE IS!" She pushed him a little

"If you leave here with her I will never speak to you again."

"Lindsey I'm trying to protect you and our son!"

"I can protect all of us!"

"You can't! You got knocked out the first time!"

"That won't happen this time! I will protect you!"

"I have to do this..." she wanted him to understand

"No you don't," he took her face into his hands. She flinched from the pain of her face and she looked down

"Please Lindsey..."

"You can't let Evie go back there."

"He won't hurt her Lindsey, I'm sure of it..."

"You're crazy."

"No, I'm trying to protect my family!"

"Well mother of the year goes to you then!" He let go of her

"And you have room to speak?! You can't even feed your son!"

Lindsey looked at her for a moment, he couldn't believe she had said that

"You are a real fucking bitch! No wonder Jimmy uses you as a punch bag" He spat

"And I'd bet you'd pay to watch him rape me right now," Stevie gritted, Lindsey squinted his eyes at her in red hot rage

"You'd love that, wouldn't you?" She encouraged him

"You are fucking sick!" He told her

"And you're delusional for thinking that Jimmy will stay away!"

"You know what? Fine! Let him take you, let him beat you, I don't care!" He said

"Fine!"

"At least he won't call me by some other woman's name!" Stevie said finally

"Maybe it's because she was ten times a better person and mother than you ever will be!" He said and Stevie's breath caught

"I breastfed your son!"

"Well he needed feeding what else was I supposed to do?" He shrugged

"Be a father and buy his formula!"

"Be a mother and put your child first!"

"I'm putting you and your child first!"

"I'm sure Jen would have done exactly what you asked" Stevie told him

"You will not speak a bad word against her."

Stevie didn't say anything so he carried on, he was mad now

"Do you think if she was still alive, I'd even give you a second look?" He got in her face again.

"Well you did say something about how much more you loved me than her and how Jen was okay with that? Did Jen ever turn you inside out like I do? Hmm?"

"I can always say stuff Stevie, saying stuff is easy"

"You really are a fucking asshole, Buckingham. Evie! Come on, we're leaving."

"She's staying!" Lindsey gritted his teeth

"Jimmy won't touch her."

"Leave her here!" He grabbed her and ended up accidently grabbing her hair

"Ow!" She turned around and slapped at him.

"Don't do that!" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, she screamed in pain from her bruises

"You're hurting me!" She screamed at Lindsey

"Good! This is what it's going to feel like with him!" He screamed back

"Lindsey! Stop!"

She put her hands on his face with tears in her eyes

"You're hurting me..."

Lindsey backed away from her, "I'm so sorry...."'

Stevie dropped to the floor clutching her stomach. "Stevie," he kneeled in front of her and rubbed her baby, "Baby, please forgive me." She couldn't say anything, just laying down on the floor crying uncontrollably. "Let me help you," Lindsey tried to help her up. "Stevie, come on, I'm sorry."

"I hate you!" She cried

"I love you, you know I do!"

"Saying stuff is easy" she repeated his earlier words

"I mean it!"

"Bullshit!" She said to him, still crying

"I love you!"

"You said you wouldn't even look at me twice..." she said sadly crawling over to the couch to lay against it

"Please forgive me, I was angry."

"No...there's some things that can't be forgiven"

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't ever think that you would tell me how worthless I was..." Once again she was crying

"You are not."

"Your right, Jen was probably so much of a better person and mother that I am, or could ever be"

"Don't talk like that," he kissed her hand

"I...I want you to have Evie...she doesn't need me as a mother...look after my girl alright?" She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand

"I would prefer you not to go."

"After this I want to, you look after Evie and find her a new mommy okay? With any luck Jimmy will put me out of this pain quickly" she tried to get herself up

"Stephanie, stop."

"Let me do this Lindsey, you both need more than I am...you said it yourself" Lindsey placed his hands on her hips to stop her moving

"But what if you get pregnant?"

"By who?" She asked

"Me..." he said rubbing her belly lightly

"Or him..." he added feeling sickly

"If it's his...I wouldn't keep it. But yours....I would love to have it."

"Then let me get you pregnant..." he said seriously

"You can't afford it, you said it yourself," she shrugged

"Steph, please baby..."

"Please don't do this just to keep me here," she shook her head

"I'm not, I want you to have my baby" he told her

"Why did you change your mind?"

"Because I love you..."

"I love you too..." Lindsey pulled her to him and kissed her head, holding her tight

"Linds, I hurt," she winced at his grip

"Oh God I'm sorry..." he checked her over

"He got me pretty good," she flinched as he pulled up the sleeve on her shirt

"Baby, tell me exactly what he did" he asked softly

"He walked in when I was packing, I didn't hear him come in...he grabbed my hair and threw me on the floor-he started kicking me and punching me," she cried. Lindsey had to breath through his pain and anger before he blew up

"Please, I just want to take a bath."

"Okay honey, he definitely didn't...? In any way shape or form?"

"No, he didn't," she kissed him reassuringly. "Thank god!" he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom.

"I can walk, Lindsey," she told him

"I don't care" he leaned down and placed his forehead to hers, kissing her lips. "You're way too good to me," laying her head against his chest.

"I just love you, no matter what I said"

"Please forgive me."

"I'm so sorry about what I said!"

"I am too!"

"So...you going to let me get you pregnant?" He stopped for a second to look at her, waiting for an answer

"If you think we can handle it," Stevie nodded

"I think we can baby"

"Then let's do it."