March Brings A Special Delivery
Normally, Vada knew she would be in trouble for being out of bed. She'd gotten up to sneak and get herself a snack from the lower shelf of the fridge, but something was happening and she HAD to wake her parents up.
For once, it wasn't her overactive imagination or just her insistence on listening to all the sounds of nature.
Stephan walked outside to find an infant on their porch. That infant calmed down instantly as Stephan looked down on him.
Once inside, with the baby in Siobahn's arms; Stephan's confusion turned to anger. There was a lot of stupid things his sister was doing, in the name of keeping her no-good man, but this absolutely took the cake.
Outside of video chats, Stephan hadn't seen Annalise since before the twins were born, and not once had she mentioned that she was pregnant when they did talk. She certainly hadn't mentioned that she'd been anywhere near Chestnut Ridge, not even after learning/knowing their parents had moved into Stephan's old home.
And of course, their parents didn't know either. She'd purposefully bypassed their home and dropped her 5-month-old on Stephan and Siobahn's doorstep with the wild assumption that they wouldn't figure things out or think of her first.
She claimed she had finally left her boyfriend, that he didn't know about the baby. Stephan found anything his sister said hard to believe. Beyond her actions and the choices she was making for her life, the majority of his anger was geared towards her lack of thought and consideration for the safety of his family. What about when her (ex)boyfriend finds out about his child? What's to stop him from harassing Stephan in an effort to find and torment Annalise and the baby?
Of course, Stephan is more than willing to kill and call it a day, but then what happens to his wife and children when he gets locked up.
And, as always, Annalise's concerns and thoughts never fell to Siobahn. Stephan will figure it out for me, and Siobahn will just have to accept it. This was not one of the instances where that attitude wouldn't matter or didn't upset Stephan personally. They had a life, and he'd grown to hate when others were inconsiderate of that just because Siobahn was quick to say it's okay.
They ran businesses that required their time to remain successful, were raising two toddlers with differing needs and required their attention, and had tailored a perfect system of help that didn't abuse the support they were receiving when they needed to reach out. While Stephan's parents now lived the closest, they still worked their jobs and kept the twins in their free time (which wasn't often). Siobahn's mother lived in Cuidad and her father lived in Gibbi Point with his own toddler. Her sister in Del Sol Valley with her own business, marriage, and growing toddler. Everybody communicated and were considerate of everyone else's time, resources, and when they could or couldn't do something.
Because they knew they could not have any more children, they also had not accounted for or factored in what they'd need to handle or take on a third. Much less a newborn, and while the twins were still under the age of 3. Siobahn may have been home more than Stephan, and she may have been out of her postpartum and handling things well, but that was still too much of a strain even with the help they'd have.
Annalise made this irresponsible decision without warning, and without asking first. And Stephan suspected she handled it this way because he knew their parents weren't going to take it on willingly, while still making excuses for her behavior or refusing to help her (at least) financially.
Because he had no idea how far away Annalise had gotten, and it was much too late to drive over to his parents, Stephan and Siobahn would keep the baby overnight. But the next day, there was going to be a very long, heated discussion. And whether she wanted to hear it or not, Stephan was going to tell his sister everything his parents had been begging him not to (which is A LOT, considering he never shied away from sharing his thoughts since she started dating that clown).
His unofficial middle name (as Annalise didn't give him one) and the name he responds to most, as Siobahn learned he loves the song Hey Jude. (quite possible he simply just loves the way she sounds when she sings it to him)
Unfortunately, baby boy was very starved for attention, so he's become attached to Siobahn very quickly.
