Decades

Perception Modification

Stevie and Lindsey hadn't discussed how to handle this whole debacle with the media. They were too busy focusing on where things went wrong in their personal lives. Instead of going to the reporters' designated locations for the next phase of this junket, Mick arranged a suite at their current hotel. If they needed a break, they could slip down to their rooms.

They had their PR people flown in and established a bit of a war room to manage the crisis. It would be helpful if there would only be an elevator ride to get there, so there would be far fewer chances for the paparazzi to catch them misbehaving.

—------------------

Stevie helped Lindsey clean his hands up. They were bruised and bloodied. Stevie used some makeup to conceal the worst of it so it wouldn't show up in any photos or videos. Sitting on the bathroom counter while she cleaned him up and tried to cover his injuries felt good to him. He hadn't been sure she'd ever show him any tenderness again. He'd always loved when she took care of him.

Stevie had always been a sucker for taking care of Lindsey. He could be such an ass, but her first instinct was always to want to do what she could for him. Her hands were shaking, and she steadied them with a couple of toots of coke before going to work on Lindsey's injuries. She liked touching him and took her time getting his hands just right, sensing he wasn't in a hurry for her to stop tending to him either.

When she finished sponging on the finishing touches of concealer, she held his hands in hers for inspection. "They look good, Stevie," he complimented.

Without thinking, he wrapped his hands around hers and pulled her closer for a hug. She stood between his legs and leaned into him. His hands, as they always had, found themselves wrapped in her hair. She knew she'd have to touch up the makeup again, but she would have never stopped him. It felt too good to have his hands on her again.

In the last two days, something had changed between them. She was relieved to have unburdened herself about what she'd been through. She had agonized about why he had dumped her so suddenly, and she was relieved to know it wasn't because he didn't care about her. She hated he'd been hurt, thinking she'd just led him on while Don wasn't around.

She wished they could communicate better. But, with Don and Carol Ann not delivering their messages and gatekeeping them from each other, neither of them was totally to blame for the miscommunication.

Playing the guitar for their appearance tomorrow was going to be tough. Lindsey's hands were sore and swollen. They were always doing closeups of his hands because of his unique playing style. So, the timing of all of this couldn't be worse. He'd pick up a guitar later and see how it went.

The rage Lindsey had felt in the recent hours had taken its toll on him. But, he was happy to have bridged some of the distance between them. He had hated being estranged from Stevie.

He still had questions for her, but he didn't know if he had it in him to hear the answers just yet, so he didn't ask. They'd been happy to have sex in the shower earlier. And if Lindsey had anything to do with it, he'd spend the night with Stevie again tonight. But, beyond that, he didn't know if they could pick up where they'd left off or if she'd even want to.

Truly, they both hated to set foot out of the suite. Exiting the closet had been hard enough. The world with all of its other people had never been easy for the two of them to navigate. They should have stuck to those two-part harmonies in music and in their real lives, and they both knew it deep down.

—--------------

Fleetwood Mac employed the skills of some talented spin doctors to help dig their way out of the current scandal. The first order of business for the fixers to handle was the charges Lindsey could potentially face. Trashing the hotel room was bad, but they'd thrown enough money at that problem that it wasn't actually a problem anymore.