The sound of the door closing echoed through the house. She dropped her bags by the foot of the stairs and listened for a moment. Silence.
"Karen?"
No response. Good. She'd suspected Karen had picked up her message about wanting to be alone when she found the front door was locked, but Karen had also become security conscious and taken to locking the door even when she was at the house.
She left it unlocked now - Sheryl did have a key but she didn't want to take any chances...she frowned as she stared at nothing in particular. Chances of what? Sheryl finding the door locked and what, just leaving? Should she call her, let her know she was home? She'd sent a message when she landed, and Sheryl had replied, was that enough?
Sighing and shaking her head, she walked to the kitchen. She was exhausted and her thoughts were a jumbled mess. Not jet lag; she had somehow gotten used to the forever changing clocks over the years. Time wasn't linear to Stevie. It was something else. Nerves? It felt like the familiar stage fright - the butterflies, the racing pulse. It seemed ridiculous to get so worked up over one person.
As she reached to fill her glass with water, she heard the door close again and froze, clutching the counter.
"Stevie?"
She couldn't get to Sheryl fast enough. As she flew into the hallway she had to fight her every instinct not to hold her. She knotted her hands together to resist touching her and bit down on the lip desperate to kiss her.
All she could do was look. Sheryl was wearing an oversized jacket and her face was in shadow under a baseball cap. It was still clear that she'd lost weight, her cheeks hollow and pale. She removed her cap and sunglasses to show eyes which were dark and bloodshot. She looked worse than Stevie had ever seen her and tears immediately sprang to her own eyes at the sight.
"Oh, god...what happened?" She gestured through to the living room and as Sheryl dropped into the nearest couch, she sank to her knees at her feet. She hesitantly reached out, her hand hovering in mid air for a moment before lightly squeezing Sheryl's knee.
"I messed up, Stevie." Her voice was muffled as her face was buried in her hands. "I made a whole mess of everything."
"Whatever it is, we can fix it. I promise. Tell me." The comforting warmth in her voice bolstered Sheryl and she took a deep breath, grasped the hand still clutching her leg and fixed her eyes on Stevie's.
"I...met someone." There was barely perceptible flicker of reaction across Stevie's face. "It happened real quick. I was hurting so much after what happened, Stevie. You can understand that. And I met this guy and it felt so familiar and so safe and he was great, you know? Really great. And he - I really thought I liked him. Maybe I was just trying to convince myself so I'd get over you, I don't know..."
Her voice trailed off. Stevie let the silence hang in the air as she processed what she was hearing. Sheryl was nervous and when she spoke again, her words came out in a rush. It was jarring for Stevie, used to seeing her so calm and collected.
"So I - I was pretty much living with him, you know. Anyway we got talking one night and your name came up and I don't know, it just all happened, it all came out. Oh god Stevie, I'm so sorry."
As she dissolved into tears, Stevie moved to sit on the couch and held her.
"Hey, it's ok! I told someone too! Is that what you're so upset about?"
Sheryl shook her head and caught a glimpse of Stevie's confusion before covering her face with her hands once again, rocking slightly as she sobbed. Eventually, she gathered herself and cleared her throat before speaking again.
"It got bad. It started with little things, telling me what I should wear, what to eat. He started having opinions on everything and if I didn't agree with him he got mad."
Another silence. This time Stevie broke it. Her voice was shaking slightly.
"Did he hurt you?"
"No, well - not physically. The thing is, he's got this over me now, this secret and he says he's going to tell everyone. He's going to tell everyone about us and I don't know what will happen then and I'm scared. I can't breathe Stevie, I can't say a thing wrong, I want to leave and I can't. He doesn't know I'm here now. I don't know what to do. I'm so sorry."
Stevie lifted Sheryl's face and wiped her tears, the way Christine had done for her only yesterday. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Sheryl's forehead before standing and leaving the room.
Sheryl sat in quiet confusion for a moment, before she heard Stevie's voice, clear and calm.
"Liz? Stevie. Listen, I need you to put together a press release. Can you come over?"
~
Sheryl was still in disbelief as she stood in the living room, listening to Stevie ushering the last of her entourage out the door. The past few hours had been some strange balance between a circus and a summit meeting. Team Stevie Nicks had rallied, Sheryl had given a statement to the police, they'd both showered - separately - someone at some point had ordered take out, and by the time it was all over they had a public statement they were both happy with. It had been a blur of various people, some Sheryl knew, some she'd never seen.
She couldn't help but grin broadly as Stevie walked back into the room, arms outstretched. She hugged her tightly and thanked her once again. A weight had been lifted, she had her power back. The world would know about their relationship. On their terms. After a while, they broke apart, their hands instinctively find each other's and their fingers linking together.
"I still can't quite believe you just did that."
"Why? I'd do anything for you. Surely you know that?"
"I know, but...your career, what if -"
"Sheryl, it's the 21st century. If people have a problem with who I wanna sleep with, that's their problem, not mine. I don't want the support of people like that."
"Glad you caught up," Sheryl winked.
Stevie rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Now what? I guess we need to figure out -"
Her words were lost as her mouth was covered in a gentle, lingering kiss.
