The Dance (Original Series Part 2)

You Make It Easy In The Still Of The Night

*Be sure to read to the end for surprise cliffhanger!! (Hint: Let the angst begin...)

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May 26, 1997

Stevie was drunk again.

Lindsey had been watching her all night as she'd tossed back champagne like it was water and she was trapped in the desert, but it was her birthday, so he didn't say a word. Since her klonopin addiction she barely touched alcohol unless it was a special occasion, worried it was a slippery slope, but that was the reason why after about two drinks, she was definitely a different Stevie already. She was a fun Stevie, a giddy one, one who danced and twirled and giggled and couldn't stop touching him when he was around, not caring who was watching.

This was the case tonight, in her living room, as everyone closest to her had gathered together to shout "Surprise!" at eight o'clock when she'd gotten home from birthday dinner with Lindsey, a ruse to get her out of her house so that Karen, Lori and Sharon could set up for the party. She'd burst into tears when she'd seen Lori, who had come in from Arizona with Chris, Barbara, Jess and even little Jessi, who'd walked up to her in a pink party dress and hugged her immediately, saying, "I missed you, Aunt Stevie." Lindsey had stood on the sidelines, watching Stevie hug everyone and cry before hugging him too and asking if he was responsible for all of this.

"With help from Karen and Lori," he said, but she was already hugging him and thanking him and wishing she could just kiss him in front of everyone and announce that yes, she loved him and she didn't care who knew it. Instead, the cocktails started going around, someone put on "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang, and Stevie's surprise birthday party was on.

It was around eleven o'clock when Barbara pulled her daughter aside and announced that Jess was tired and they were going back to the hotel. They had already sung "Happy Birthday" to Stevie over a huge, seven-layer carrot cake, Lindsey making sure she got her favorite cake for her birthday, and Stevie hugged her mother and told her, just stumbling over her words a little because of the champagne, that she understood. Her father was seventy-two years old now and not cut out for the loud disco and techno music that had been playing as Stevie and all the women in her life had been dancing.

"He really loves you, Teedee." Barbara's words seemed to come out of left field, and Stevie gave her mother a look of surprise. Barbara said, "Don't try to tell me this is friendship or a band thing, honey. I know you. And I've known Lindsey for over twenty years. I know what I know." She moved closer to Stevie, lowering her voice. "How is it going? Are you happy?"

Stevie looked at the floor sheepishly, then back up at her mother. Barbara could see the silly grin on her face as she said, "I'm so happy it's sickening." They shared a giggle not unlike the ones they used to share late at night in her bedroom when she was a little girl and she'd tell her mother all of her made-up silly stories. "Mom...seriously...I really love him...like it's frightening. We are so close these days and I don't know what's going on but I never want it to end."

"Stevie, when I saw the look on that man's face tonight as you heard us all yell surprise and you hugged him because he did all of this for you..." Barbara sighed. "This is it, honey. I can feel it."

"It better be, because I barely survived last time," said Stevie. Jess came up to them then and asked Barbara if she was ready to leave. Stevie hugged and kissed her parents goodbye, and watched as they got into a car to go back to the hotel. She stood at the door for a minute after the car drove off, thinking about how much she missed Arizona when she wasn't there, missed her mother's conversation and her chocolate chip cookies, missed her dad yelling out "Now that's precision!" whenever he watched a baseball game on TV, missed hanging out in the backyard with Lori in the sun with tiny umbrellas in their drinks as Jessi splashed around in the pool, missed fighting over politics and what constitutes good stand-up comedy with Christopher. Life had been simpler there, and now she had committed to a big Fleetwood Mac tour and, somehow, a relationship with Lindsey.