Twice

IX

"Where is she..." Lindsey kept repeating to himself, as he was starting to get slightly insane. "Where in the hell is she?"

Tossing his phone aside, he sighed heavily, rubbing at his eyes. He long lost count of how many times he tried to get in contact with Stevie, not getting any answer. He realized that he may have taken a step too far, when meeting with Mick and telling him all those things, he knew that they later reached Stevie. But he definitely didn't think she would be so pissed off that she wouldn't even want to talk to him or see him.

Taking two stairs at a time, Lindsey went to Will's room, knocking before opening the door. "I'm leaving, stay with your sisters."

"Where are you going?"

"I... I have some things I need to do."

"You're going to look for Stevie again, aren't you? I wish you were that concerned about Mom..."

"Will, listen-"

"No, it's cool. Go, I'll stay with Lee and Stella." Putting his headphones back on, Will resumed playing his video game, as Lindsey let out a deep breath, shaking his head and left.

He couldn't say he wasn't concerned about Kristen, but he was mad at her too. She said she was going on vacation and it's been weeks. She only called either of the kids, not at all wanting to answer any of Lindsey's questions. At least he knew she was fine, while he had no idea about Stevie.

Grabbing the car keys on his way out the door, Lindsey was looking through the contact list on his phone at the same time, clicking on Karen's name. It didn't go to voicemail, but she either didn't hear or ignored him, which made him all the more irritated.

Arriving at Stevie's condo once again, Lindsey turned the engine off and climbed out of the car, and hurried inside. Once he reached Stevie's, he rang the bell several times, not one bit of patience left in him, having Karen open the door in a minute.

"She's not here, dammit." Karen said right away, really tired of being caught up in the Buckingham Nicks drama once again.

"Yeah, well, let me see it for myself then." Lindsey demanded and Karen stepped aside.

"Please."

Lindsey was met by Sulamith, which he thought was a sign that Stevie was somewhere around too. She was never without her beloved pet. But after looking through every corner, Lindsey had to give up, seeing Karen glaring at him.

"I told you, didn't I?"

"And you just love to be right." He snapped at her, but she was used to it, the two never got along. 

"Anything else?"

"I know you hate me and you want me as far from Stevie as possible, but I'm begging you, please, tell me where I could find her. She's angry at me and she's hurt, I know it's because I fucked up again, but I want to fix it."

"I don't know where she is." Karen shrugged, folding her arms over her chest. 

"That's bullshit. I know you're following her orders, but... Just give me something." He pleaded, looking about as defeated as he felt.

Sighing... "Okay. I know where Stevie is, but I won't tell you where that is exactly. I can assure that she's alright, too. When she's coming home, that I don't know."

"Is she with someone?"

"That I don't know either." Lindsey kept staring at her, so she added. "Honestly."

Sighing, he hung his head low, before looking up again. "Thanks."

Lindsey couldn't do anything with that small fraction of information, but Stevie was okay and that was what mattered to him most. Going back to his car, he pulled out of the parking lot and drove away.

Meanwhile, Stevie wasn't at all worried about her reality, as she was leaving a restaurant with Dean, after they enjoyed dinner together. It wasn't very far from where he lived, so they decided to walk back to his place, hand in hand. 

"I couldn't live here." Stevie said. "The food is just too good, no way could I be on a diet."

"Who says you need to be on one anyway?" 

"Come on, I'm on stage, people see me. I can't just walk out, looking a mess."

"But aren't you tired of living by someone else's standards?"

"Of course I am."

"Well, then..." Dean trailed off, although, he knew there was nothing he could say to change her mind.

"I can't say I do it just for others either, I like to look good and feel good."

"See, now you're saying the right thing. It's you're life, it's about you."

"Yeah. I like when I take a picture and don't want to tear it into pieces right away." Stevie admitted, but added instantly. "I don't want to talk about that though."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"How it's really nice being here..."

"Oh?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow, as Stevie nodded. 

"Did you ever think about moving back to the States?"

"Never." 

"Never?"

"No. This is where I belong, I love it here."

Stevie then grew quiet and Dean sensed it had something to do with his answer being so straight forward. 

"I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry about?" Stevie asked, looking up at him.

"I made you upset."

"I'm not upset, I'm just... I like being with you, that's all."

"You know we won't be more than we already are, I know that too. But it's okay, because no matter what you say, I know you couldn't be more to me even if you wanted to." Dean hoped she understood what he meant. "I'll always be here, I'll always wait to see you again. Maybe it will be tomorrow, two days, a week or a month from now, but you will return to where you belong, too." Letting go of her hand, he wrapped his arm around her back instead. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I think I do..." 

She hoped he was right, she wanted to return to where, to whom she belonged somehow...