Save Me

Will you come back?

Utterly confused, Lindsey put the phone down. He didn't understand why he all of a sudden had to get back home. If it was something with Stevie, surely Barbara would have just told him. She did sound strange and Lindsey couldn't simply ignore her plea. Maybe Christine knew something? 

Even though the band had parted for the night after another show and Lindsey doubted he'd find Chris, but he had to check anyway. Going to her suite, he still tried to figure what might have happened. Stopping by the door, Lindsey knocked a few times and Christine appeared just a moment later.

"Yeah?" She asked and he thought, she was slightly irritated by this disturbance, most likely, she had some company...

"Have you by any chance spoken to Stevie?"

"No, why?"

"Well, I called the house and Barbara picked up, sounding really off, begging me to come home."

"Huh, that's weird. She didn't say why?"

"No, that's why I came to see you, I know you and Stevie talk."

"I wish I could help you out here, Lindsey, but no, I haven't spoken to her in a few days."

"Right, I see. Well, thanks anyway." 

After saying goodbye, Lindsey was now on his way to Mick's. He knew there was a possibility of another argument, but he didn't really care.

"Lindsey!" Mick said cheerfully, already opening the door wider. "You've changed your mind about joining us for drinks?"

"No, Mick, that's not why I'm here." Lindsey shook his head, ignoring the party that was in full swing. "Listen, I just spoke to Stevie's mother and she sounded really worried, asking me to come home..."

"What do you mean, come home?" Mick frowned. "We have shows scheduled."

"I know, but I feel like something happened and that I really have to get back."

"Well, you committed to doing this tour. What are we supposed to do? Cancel the rest of the dates? I'm sure it's not that bad, whatever it is. We have a show tomorrow, the night after that and then we have a couple of days off, you can get on a plane then."

"Mick, please."

"I would love to help you, but I can't. It's only two or three more days. I'm not about to cancel or postpone, everything's planned, so..."

"Why do you insist on being an ass, whenever it's something to do with my family?"

"It's nothing personal, Lindsey, it's just business." Mick shrugged his shoulders. "Now, are you staying or are you not?"

Without replying, Lindsey turned towards the door and left with a loud slam.

It took almost a week, until Lindsey got some free time to head back, Mick finding ways how to keep him with the band. It felt to Lindsey like Mick was doing everything on purpose. Why? He did not know that.

Once the plane landed in Los Angeles, Lindsey rushed to get into a cab, giving the address, he then sat back, nervously bouncing his leg. He didn't know the exact reason, why he had to get home early. He called, hoping to get more out of Barbara, but she repeated, she couldn't say, because she didn't want Stevie to get mad, and when he got to speak to Stevie, she talked to him casually, as if everything was perfectly normal.

Finally, once he reached the house, Lindsey jumped out, nearly forgetting about his belongings. Entering the house, he thought it was oddly quiet. Barbara had already left, but he didn't know that, having expected her to be there until the baby was born or at least, until Lindsey came home to stay.

"Steph?" He called out loudly. "Stevie, where are you!"

Her heart stopped, hearing Lindsey's voice. Was that damn tour over? No, that was too big of a coincidence. She started panicking. She couldn't exactly hide the baby, nor the fact she was quite obviously smaller. 

Having just put Arielle down to sleep, Stevie really didn't want Lindsey to be yelling. Taking a deep breath, she met him at the bottom of the stairs, as he crushed her in a hug. He right away noticed her belly had shrunk and he swallowed, uneasily, thinking that Stevie had lost their baby and that was why Barbara wanted him to come home.

"Oh my God, Steph..." He whispered, looking at her, as his eyes welled up with tears. "I am so sorry I wasn't here for you."

Frowning, she made some distance between them. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Well, you... the baby... I can't believe this..."

Then they both heard a cry, coming from upstairs and Lindsey was completely lost. 

"I didn't lose our baby, I had her." Stevie said plainly, climbing up the stairs again and going to the nursery. 

It took Lindsey a moment, before he got over the initial shock and followed after her. He stood frozen in the doorway, seeing Stevie, shushing their daughter in her arms, as she rocked the girl gently. 

"You gave birth and you didn't even consider calling me?!"

"Don't shout, you're scaring her." Stevie said, as Ari started whimpering. 

Lindsey had about a hundred different emotions going through him; mostly, he was happy, yet hurt and angry. 

"Give her to me." He said, approaching and she couldn't possibly deny him that, putting their daughter into his arms. "Hey, there beautiful." He smiled, for a minute forgetting about what Stevie did. "I'm so excited to finally meet you, Arielle. We've been waiting for you a long long time." He pressed a kiss to her little furrowed forehead. "My God, you're a pretty tiny thing." His smile only got wider, while Stevie turned away, doing her best not to start crying, but it was becoming harder with each second. 

It took Lindsey only a few more minutes, before he spoke Arielle back to sleep and he walked over to the crib and lay her down, tucking a blanket around her. Then instantly, all the sweetness about him was gone, as he grabbed Stevie by the arm and dragged her out of the room. 

"How could you do that to me?!"

"You said you would be back in time!" 

"She obviously came early, Stevie! How can you be saying that?"

"You shouldn't have left me in the first place, then you wouldn't have missed our daughter being born."

"Is this some kind of sick revenge? I thought we were over this and you understood! You obviously don't realize what you have taken away from me... I dreamed about being there for you and seeing our daughter come into this world. But you deprived me of that! You acted selfish like never before, just because I was out, only thinking about providing for us!"

"You're acting as if we're poor or something."

"That is not the point." He sighed. "The point is, you were mad at me for no real reason and because of that, I've missed the birth of my firstborn."

Seeing tears freely rolling down his cheeks, hurt Stevie like she didn't think possible. Only now she realized what she had done... 

"If not your mother, you wouldn't have called me, would you?... answer me!"

"No, I don't think I would have." She admitted quietly.

Those words stung him badly, as he took one look at her, unable to understand how the woman he loved more than anything, the woman who was now the mother of his child, as well as his wife to be, could have done something like this.

Heading back downstairs, Lindsey took big strides towards the front door, Stevie running after him. "Lindsey, I'm sorry! I made a huge mistake, but I'm so sorry, please, don't leave!"

"I have to, I really do."

"Where are you going? Will you come back?" She asked, her own eyes red from crying. 

"I don't know. One thing I do know, though, is that I'm getting as far away from you as possible."