I Think I'm in Trouble {Reimagined}

LXX.

A little after Shannon left, everybody continued as they were, leaving out any drama and it turned out to be a nice Christmas Eve, a nice evening.

Stevie was a little taxed out considering she was pregnant and just to the point of exhaustion as far as having toured, dealing with her daughter and just trying to be socialable for the sake of all her guests even if they were family.

While Stevie was in the kitchen grabbing some water, everybody pretty much remained where they were, talking amongst each other; Jeffrey and Kristen being the center of attention considering their news.

Meantime, Robert was beginning to grow quiet only because he was still thinking about his daughter, her behavior and what her plans might have been, but then he took a glance into the kitchen to see that his wife was washing some dishes discreetly since she knew if somebody caught her, they'd scold her.

"Hey, Lindsey?" Robert said quietly, though loud enough to get his attention.

The guitarist looked over and he acknowledged him.

"Can I have a minute?" he wondered.

He allowed for his head to incline softly and he glanced over at the blonde, seeing that she had no part of whatever he was about to say. Looking back over at the man, he nodded and excused himself from his mother and brother, but they were pretty occupied with the Nicks.

Robert led the way by wheeling himself directly to the guest bedroom.

Lindsey followed behind without a word, managing to bypass the singer.

Once the men were alone, the guitarist shut the door and he put his attention on the man in the wheelchair.

"I don't mean to come off any particular way, but since this whole thing started, we haven't really had the opportunity to talk about things," Robert began, gesturing for him to have a seat on the accent chair.

He nodded in return, sitting down in relief at how calm the man was.

"As you could imagine, I'm going through my own thing..."

"I understand. I was telling Stevie not long ago that I wanted to have the opportunity to apologize to you for everything."

Robert cocked his brow.

"The affair really just came out of nowhere," he explained. "It wasn't something either of us expected considering that she is married and it started out as a healthy reconvening of a friendship, but apparently, we needed more."

He nodded.

"I'm sorry for that, we never thought it would become what it is and I'm even more sorry Shannon got involved. Stevie told me she knew very early on that she was even having an affair and then I want to apologize for having kind of picked her up that night we met. If I'd have known who she was, that never would have happened. With all of our baggage, I would have never disrespected either of you in that way."

"I know," he nodded. "You're a good man, Lindsey. I've known that about you since day one. I'm not gonna lie, I was always jealous of you and that's why I decided to stay away from you."

Lindsey nodded, recalling when the blonde had explained that to him: he wanted to be friends so bad, but his envy got the better of him.

"I kept my kids from your guys' lifestyle because I didn't want to have to watch. When Stevie and I met, I knew there was something between you guys even if neither of you would ever admit it and I was jealous..." he trailed. "With drugs, even more so. I was paranoid that she was cheating when she wasn't and when I got clean, anybody I may have made a fool of myself in front of, I kept my distance. You being one of them."