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jamdoughnutmagician · 3 days

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A Slice of Life (Waitress AU) part 7-Final Chapter.

Doctor!Steve Harrington x Waitress!Reader

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Word Count:4,279 (sorry it's a long one.)

Authour's Note: Thank you so much to everyone and anyone who read and enjoyed this silly little series 💖 Big love to all of you who supported me as I was writing this! You guys are the absolute best.

*dividers by @saradika-graphics

Masterlist // Steve Harrington Masterlist

Dear Baby, somewhere in the space in-between the pie baking, and Billy eating it later that night began the most open and honest conversation I’d ever had with anyone over the phone. I’d spend whatever little time I could squirrel away from Billy talking to Steve. Talking to him about my mom and how much she loved me, about how sad she would have been to see my life turn out the way that it has, about Billy and how much he’d changed after we got married, how he became someone I feared. About how lonely it can be to be a woman so poor and afraid all the time. Talking to Steve so openly and honestly gave me the breathing space I needed. To clear my head and lift the burden from my chest, to say things to someone and have them matter for once.

You sat comfortably in Steve’s lap, your bump rounding out between your bodies as he reclined back in his office’s chair, it was the one place you two could be together, a quiet safe haven from the rest of the world.

His large hand runs a gentle, caressing touch on your exposed thigh, the skirt of your dress having shifted the moment you sat down in his lap.

You tangle your fingers in the lengths of shaggy hairs that curl around his neck, absent-mindedly twirling the soft strands between your fingers.

“I’ve never met anyone like you, Steve Harrington.” you smile.

And it was true, you’d been with Billy for longer than you’d been without him, and in that time he’d never been as gentle to you as how Steve treated you. With Billy you often felt as though he walked around with you slung under his arm as if you were some kind of trophy to be shown off, as if you were the prize, and he was the winner.

“I have a little something for you. A present.” Steve says, almost a little shyly.

“I love ‘little somethings’. What did you get me?” you beam excitedly. “Wait, I hope this isn’t some kind of thing where you say it’s a present for me, but really it’s a present for the baby.”

“No, no, this is just for you, I promise.” he says with a reassuring smile as he hands you over your present. “I’m sorry I didn’t really have time to wrap it any better than this.”

It’s a beautifully decorative ceramic pie dish. It’s soft yellow, with a white inside and small hand-painted wild flowers. Affectionately tacked onto the dish is a pink gift-wrap bow and a gift tag, and as you turn over the gift tag, there in scrawly doctor’s handwriting is a little message, ‘for my favourite baker.’

He watches you as you turn the dish over in your hands, unable to stop the wide spread of your smile from taking over your face.

“I saw it in the market downtown and it made me think of you, thought you’d like it.”

“Steve, I love it. It’s the most beautiful pie dish I’ve ever seen.” You smile, but your smile falters for a quick second, your eyes suddenly looking sad.. “Steve, I can’t accept this, I can’t buy you anything back.”

“I don’t want you to buy me anything, it’s a gift. From me to you.”

“Why did you get this for me, Steve?”

“Because I find myself absolutely falling head over heels for you..” he says with every ounce of sincerity in his voice.

If he was about to say anything else you’d never hear it because you immediately press your lips against his in a desperately feverish kiss. Holding his face in your hands as you lean in close

You’re cleaning up the tables as the last few straggling customers push their way out of the diner’s door, collecting glasses and empty plates on a tray.

As you round your way across the diner’s floor you come over to the one table that still has someone sitting there, although it is Joyce’s diner, so she’s more than welcome to sit at her table for as long as she so wishes.

“Been another busy day today, huh?” she smiles as she downs the last few sips of coffee from her mug.

“Yeah, but we can’t complain now can we? Being busy is good for business, that’s what you always say, isn’t it Joyce.”

“That’s right my dear.” she smiles warmly at you. “Seems like only yesterday that I was buying this old, run-down shack of a diner. I’d been young and stupid, a single mom with two young kids, but I had big dreams of turning this place into something good. Something that people from all over the world would come to visit.”

You offer her a kind nod of your head as you listen to her.

“..And with Jonathan living three states away in New York and Will getting accepted at a college in Manhattan there’s very little that’s keeping me here these days. I’m leaving town at the end of the month. You’re actually the first person outside of my family that I’ve told.”

“Joyce, you can’t just up and leave this place! You’ve worked so hard to see it flourish, you can’t go now!”

She smiles, looking down at the discarded napkin on her table, before turning back to look at you.

“You remind me a lot of my younger self,” Joyce begins, totally ignoring your previous concerns about her leaving the diner. “Totally afraid of what’s about to come, but ready to tackle things head-on, whatever they may be. You don’t even know what you’re capable of, sweetheart, you’re not just some little waitress, you’re a lot stronger and wiser than you give yourself credit for, you understand me?”

“Uh, I think so, Joyce.” you fumble quietly.

“In my lifetime I've made so many mistakes, turned the wrong corner, followed the wrong signs, but this life is giving you the chance to make the right choice, don’t let this opportunity pass you by. It’s never too late to start fresh.”

“I don’t have enough money, Joyce. Starting fresh is a luxury that I could only dream of. I’m about to have a baby, that’s certainly going to make starting fresh a whole lot harder.”

“I know, sweetheart, I know you are. I was just dreaming a little for you, that’s all.”

You smile at Joyce and her kind words, as a comfortable silence falls between the both of you. Until the easy quietness is broken by the sound of a car’s revving engine screeching to a stop outside the diner and the quick pounding footsteps of heavy boots crunching on the gravel outside. The diner’s door flings open and in storms Billy, and as if his thundering presence wasn’t enough he snatches an empty glass off a nearby table before throwing it to the ground, the glass shattering with a tense crash.

“Y/n, I’m very upset with you. I’ll be waiting for you in the car, and I don’t like to be kept waiting, you understand?” he shouts, his gruff voice rumbling with anger. He makes his point by slamming the door behind him with a loud smack.

“You weren’t kidding. Your husband really is terrible.” Joyce scoffs, breaking the uncomfortable tension in the air.

You hug your arms around Joyce.

“Thank you, Joyce. I have to go.” you sigh, clinging to her a little tighter wishing you didn’t have to go. “I’m fine. I’ll be okay, I promise.” You reassure her, although there was a beat of silence between both of you where you weren’t quite sure if she really believed your words. You weren’t even wholly convinced you believed them yourself.

You nervously slip into the passenger seat of Billy’s camaro, gently closing the door beside you.

“Billy..” you start.

“-No! You don’t say anything. You don’t say one word to me. Not a single word, you just sit there and I’ll deal with you when we get home.” he cuts you off with a stern edge to his gruff voice.

You shrink in on yourself, wringing your hands in your lap as Billy looks over his shoulder to reverse out of the parking lot and begins speeding his way down the road.

His rough hands grip your arm as he hauls you through the front door, dragging you towards the kitchen.

“Billy stop it! You’re hurting me!!”

“Quit your whining.”

In the kitchen he cages you between his body and the countertops, reaching above you to fling open the cabinet doors where you keep all your baking supplies.

As he does the money that you had been stashing away, hiding from him, for months flutters out from behind the plates and dishes.

“What the fuck is that, huh?!” He shouts, glaring at you as he invades your space.

“M-money.” you mumble quietly, tears beginning to bubble in your lash line.

“Yeah, and it’s hidden all over the fuckin’ house too!” he fumes. “Hidden away in cabinets, in drawers, in closets. Money hidden all over MY house!

“I’m sorry.” you snivel, the tense fear burning in your chest. Months of secretly stashing away little bits here and there, saving up enough money to finally get the chance to get away from Billy, and suddenly it’s all but ripped from underneath you in a matter of moments.

“You’re hiding all this money from me? After everything I’ve done for you.”

Billy’s anger turns to almost frustrated sobs as he falls to his knees in front of you, pressing his face into your pregnant belly as he clings to your dress. It shocks you that this is the moment he lays his lips against the curve of your belly, kissing your bump over the scratchy material of your waitressing dress. For months Billy never as much as looked in your direction when you started showing, never once displaying an ounce of interest or love towards the life growing inside you.

“You’re the only thing I ever loved, Baby. You’re the only person to ever belong to me.” he cries as he hangs onto you, his deep voice wavering with emotions. You wished that you could say that you believe his performative upset, but you knew that it was nothing more than that, a performance. A sweeping display of his masculinity and insecurities.

“I hate that you were keeping secrets from me. Why were you hiding money all over the house?” he bubbles out from where he’s still on his knees, clinging to you pathetically. “Tell me you were going to surprise me and buy me a present or something. That’s why you were hiding money from me.”

The tears flow down your cheeks, leaving the dark smudge of mascara to gather in your lashes. It takes every last ounce of energy you have to just lie to him about the money.

“Yeah, I-I was gonna use it to buy you a present.”

He cries against your body, still holding on to you.

“Just hold me.” he snivels

You oblige him, rounding your arms around Billy’s shuddering frame, because what else could you do? You knew that this whole display of emotions from him was just a way for him to make you feel guilty about wanting a better life for yourself, for wanting something more than this.

You shudder out a shaky breath of your own, steadying your voice before speaking once more.

“Truth is Billy, I was saving that money for the baby.” you tell him, and at that his face comes out from being buried against your belly, his tear-rimmed, piercing blue eyes looking at you as you continue to speak. “I was going to use it to buy a crib, toys, cute little baby clothes and blankets. It’s all the money I saved up for the baby.”

You watch your husband's shoulders physically slump down with relief, that seemed to calm him down enough.

Finally he rises from his knees, and holds your face in his rough hands, kissing you like he needs it for reassurance.

“I want us to be happy together darlin’"

Dear Baby, if you want to know how we afforded your crib, I’ll tell you. Your crib was bought with the money that was supposed to buy me a new life. Every time I’m going to lay you down in that crib at night I’m going to look at you lying there and think about how close I was to getting free of this life, about how I'm stuck like a damn pin in this damn life.

You stand in your front yard, watching on as the delivery men shift the crib in its box into your house.

Billy saunters his way over to you, thumbing through the handful of notes he had in his hands.

“Guess we got a good deal on this crib, Sugar. I’ve got enough money left that I can buy us a video camera, could get a couple of shots of you looking all big and pregnant, film the birth and the baby.” Then his voice drops to a husky whisper as he leans in close to your ear “and maybe once you’ve got your figure back and all, we could make a few naughty home videos,if you know what I mean.” he winks at you salaciously and you nod your head as if it’s all you can do to stop the shudder that thought sends down your spine.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, Billy” you grimace with a fake smile.

Steve, slides the blood-press cuff up your arm and begins to squeeze the pump, tightening the material around your arm, and as you sit against the rough paper-lined bed in the doctor’s room, you desperately wish away the gnawing pit of sadness sitting deep within you.

“I wish that we could have met under different circumstances.” you tell him.

“Me too.” Steve says softly. “I would go anywhere with you. I’d drop everything in a heartbeat if it meant I could spend my time with you.”

“I just want something in my life to go the way I want it to for once.”

Steve sees you out the door to his doctor’s surgery, his hand placed comfortably on your lower back as he ushers you down the small few steps outside the door. The things you used to take for granted, things you used to find easy; like walking, became extremely tiring as you neared your due date. Your belly was rounding out in front of you quite considerably, enough to make your gait resemble that of a waddling penguin.

You stop for a moment on the final step to catch your breath and that’s when you feel it. The wet gush that soaks your underwear and slowly drips down your legs from underneath the skirt of your dress.

“Y/n, are you okay?” Steve asks you, his eyebrows knitting together in concern as you stand stock-still next to him.

“Dr. Harrington, I do believe my water just broke.”

You’re sitting back in the hospital bed, droplets of sweat beading on your furrowed brows as another contraction works its way through your body. Your breaths come out as uneven shudders as the dull pain in your back throbs uncomfortably.

Steve was beside you, holding your hand through it, helping you through the pain but he quickly lets your hand fall from his when a tall, curly-haired blonde man comes sauntering into your birthing room.

“Hey, Sweetcheeks.”

“Dr. Harrington, this is my husband, Billy.” you manage to huff out as the tail end of your contraction eases off.

“Oh, hello, Mr. Hargrove.” Steve stands up to shake Billy’s hand, as the two exchange pleasantries.

“Excuse me Doc, but could you get up out of that seat so I can sit next to my wife?” he grumbles out.

Steve is immediately muttering out his apologies, as Billy takes his seat and immediately leans in close to kiss you. As he leans in, there’s a faint smell of alcohol on him, not that he was drunk, you’ve seen Billy when he was drunk, this wasn’t that. He’d probably had a few sly drinks at that bar just around the block from the car dealership where he works.

“I would’ve bought you a bunch of flowers or something, but I got held up at work. You know what the boss is like, always bustin’ my ass for something or other.” He lies. You know where he’s been, and it’s not the fact that he’s drinking when he should be working, it’s just how easy the lie falls from his lips.

“Oh, that’s fine Billy, I don’t need anything.” you brush him off, wincing as another contraction pulses through you.

Steve interrupts your less-than-happy moment with Billy to offer some doctorly advice.

“Y/n, I’m going to need you to get as much rest as you can, you’ve got a big moment coming up soon, I’ll leave you two to your privacy.” as he turns his back to give you space. In another world Steve would be the one to hold your hand and support you through your birth, to wipe your brow and kiss your cheeks, telling you that everything is going to be fine. But with Billy here, already glaring at him from your bedside, he’s in no position to want any of these things, no matter how desperately his heart wishes.

“Oh, Dr. Harrington..” you call out to him just as he’s about to leave.

“Yes?”

“I just want to make sure we’re clear on one thing.” he gives you a nod of his head for you to continue. “I want drugs. I want massive amounts of drugs. I want the maximum legal limit of drugs.”

Steve smiles that adorably cheeky smile of his.

“Absolutely, don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get the good stuff.” he chuckles before turning towards the door. As he opens the door for himself, in walks Joyce, with a kind smile on her face as she makes her way to you.

“Joyce! I thought you were going to be leaving for New York?”

“I wasn’t about to leave without saying goodbye to my favourite waitress, now was I? Nancy told me you were having your baby, so I thought I’d drop by and give you this card.” she says, handing you over a small white envelope. “It’s just a silly card from me, you should probably open it later, when all the fuss is over.” she says, wrapping her arms around you in a warm hug.

“Thank you, Joyce, for everything, I mean.” you mutter in her ear, holding on a little tighter before she pulls away.

“You’re going to do great things, Y/n. I know you will.” and with that she leaves you with Billy by your side to grit your teeth through another sharp-shooting contraction.

Your breathing gets harder as your contractions get shorter and sharper, and you try your best to ignore Billy pushing the video camera in your face in his best attempts to capture ‘the wonders of childbirth’ as he had called it.

The sweet older nurse who had administered your epidural pulls Steve aside.

“She’s fully dilated, it’s time for her to start pushing.” she tells him.

Steve looks over to you kindly, laying a hand on your shoulder.

“Okay, Y/n, you heard her. Now’s your time to shine.”

“Keep going Y/n! You’re almost there!” Steve encourages as he helps to deliver your baby.

“You’re squeezing my hand a bit tight there, Darlin’” Billy winces from beside you, as you grit your teeth through the labour.

You can’t help but glare at him at this moment, the droplets of sweat beading on your furrowed brow.

“Keep pushing! One more big push and baby's going to be here!”

You bear down in your hospital bed as much as you can squeezing as hard you can, clenching muscles you never even knew you had.

“One! Two! Three!” Steve cheers and the room is suddenly filled with the tiny cries of your baby. “It’s a girl!”

“Well how about that, a baby girl.” Billy says with a gentle scoff.

“Would you like to cut the cord, Mr. Hargrove?”

“Sure, why not?” he nods, as though he couldn’t be less interested if he tried. Fucker.

“Mrs. Hargrove, would you like to hold your daughter?” asks the nurse from beside you, where she’s holding your softly crying baby girl.

All kinds of nerves and emotions and emotions bubble up inside you, and despite it all you nod your head.

“Yes please.”

The nurse hands over the pink bundle of blankets and suddenly you're looking face to face with the most beautiful little baby girl. Her soft cries quieten immediately as soon as she’s in your arms. Her beautiful eyes are wide and curious, sparkling with life, as she looks back at you.

“Hi baby,” you smile down at her lovingly.

Suddenly with her in your arms it all clicks into place. It all just felt right to finally have your little girl softly snuggled against your chest. Everything else around fades into the background and it’s just you and her in this world together.

“Remember what I said now, don’t you?” Billy comes into your view, leaning close to your side. “You promised me that you weren’t going to love this baby more than you loved me, you remember that?” he chuckles with a light but sneering, callous undertone.

“I don’t love you, Billy.” You tell him honestly. “I haven’t loved you for years. I want a divorce.”

Billy laughs uncomfortably.

“I want you the hell out of my life, I never want you to lay so much as a finger on me ever again, I am done with you.”

“What the fuck did you just say to me? Huh, you think you’re so brave all of a sudden, is that what this is, huh?” but all of Billy’s confrontational shouting falls on deaf ears with you as Steve grabs him by the shoulders, tussling with him slightly before marching him out the delivery room.

You smile down at the little bundle softly sleeping in your arms, proudly.

“Hazel. That’s your name, Little baby Hazel.”

“Honey, you gotta wake up.” Robin nudges your shoulder, gently rousing you from your sleep. “We’ve got to get you and your little girl up and out of here.”

“Billy’s refusing to pay, so they’re kicking you out.” Nancy says with a sorry face.

“But I can’t go home, not when Billy is still there..” you worry

“So that’s why you’re going to come live with me for a little while.” Nancy interrupts you before you can worry any further. “Take all the time you need to get back on your feet, me and Robin will be here for you and little Hazel every step of the way.”

“Speaking of which, where is she? I need to meet my new baby niece.” Robin says already rushing over to where Hazel lay in her hospital cot in your room. “Oh darling, she is so beautiful.”

“Well, she definitely got her good looks from her mother, that’s for sure.” Nancy joins in with a laugh, cooing over Hazel who had been fast asleep through all the commotion.

You leave the two girls to bubble over who’s going to be Hazel’s new favourite aunt, and all the things that they’re going to teach her, as you reach for the white envelope on your side table. The one that Joyce had left for you.

‘To, Y/N, my favourite waitress, the best baker and a kind friend. For a fresh start. Love, Joyce.’

Upon opening the card, a small piece of folded up paper flutters out. You unfold it and it’s what’s written on the piece of paper that has you choking back a shocked gasp.

It’s a check for $2000,000 addressed to you, along with a message written inside the card.

“You’re a smart girl, I know you’ll look after this place better than anyone. The diner is yours, now go do wonderful things, Darling.”

It’s a few years down the line, and Hazel is bouncing happily in her high-chair seat in the colourful diner, gurgling with a smile around a soft mouthful of mashed banana, as you lay out the array of pies for the day’s customers.

Your award for winning first place at the county fair’s bake off proudly displayed on the wall behind you.

The diner is bustling with life, with more customers than ever before.

Laying down the final dish of Coconut Clouds Pie a familiar mess of shaggy hair and soft brown eyes comes up and wraps his strong arms around you, kissing your cheek and picking you up and twirling you around before setting you back down on your feet.

“I love you, Y/n. I truly do, and I’m so proud of everything you achieved. I count myself as lucky to have someone as wonderful as you in my life. There’s not a day that I'm with you that I take for granted.” Steve mutters as he kisses your lips, gently cupping your face in his hands. “I want you in my life always, you and Hazel, I mean it.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way, Doctor Harrington.” you smile teasingly leaning in to kiss him once more.

And you meant it. Life with Steve and little Hazel was everything that you had ever wanted. You had never felt more safe, secure and loved than in the arms of Steve Harrington. Your own perfectly happy little slice of life.