Enough Is Enough

XIII

Stevie seemed happy and Lindsey believed her to be off the prescription pills. One reason for that was trust and the other, well, there was no need for her to be taking any kind of drug. They'd been back together for several weeks now and things were, just like he promised, very good. Like Stevie wanted, they were starting all over again. They were dating, neither had stayed over for the night yet and besides a couple of heated make out sessions, nothing was going on. 

Lindsey wasn't going to admit it, but at first, he thought it would be a lot of work to go all the way back to the beginning, but he found himself enjoying it. When they were young, he couldn't treat Stevie like he wanted to; he couldn't take her out to a fancy restaurant, he couldn't buy her gifts, most of the time, he couldn't even buy her flowers. 

Most importantly, this time, the two of them were talking to each other. They didn't just assume or think, they talked it out. Although, there weren't many occasions that they had to do so either. They were happy, however, from past experience, they were afraid it was only temporary.

"Lindsey's here." Karen announced, while Stevie was finishing getting dressed.

"Tell him to come up here." Stevie said, pulling down her blouse over her head. 

"Do you honestly believe he hasn't followed me?" Karen gave her a pointed look, then Stevie looked past her assistant, seeing a smiling Lindsey, waving at her. 

"Good morning." He said, walking over to Stevie, greeting her with a kiss. 

"Hey." She locked her hands behind his neck, as his palms settled on the small of her back. "Missed you."

"Missed you more."

Karen rolled her eyes at the exchange and left the bedroom without saying anything, knowing that most likely she would be ignored anyway.

"Everyone's really excited to see you." Lindsey referred to the rest of Fleetwood Mac.

"Well, they shouldn't get their hopes up too high. I'm coming with you, only to see what you guys have so far."

"Maybe you'll change your mind when you do."

"Don't push it, Buckingham." Stevie gave him a look, before freeing herself from his embrace. 

They were soon in Lindsey's car and on the way to the studio. Lindsey was relieved to know that Stevie scolding him was just teasing, since she was chatting his ear off while they drove. He smiled to himself, as he kept glancing at her, having to remind himself that this wasn't just a dream, he and Stevie really were a couple again. 

"Look who I've got with me." Lindsey said, entering the studio, getting everyone's attention. Stevie followed after him, clutching his hand tightly in hers as she greeted their bandmates with a hello. 

"It's so good to see you." Mick was the first one, as usual, to pull Stevie into a warm friendly hug, holding onto her for a moment. "You should come by more often." He smirked, yet attempted to sound as if he meant nothing by it.

"You should be glad I'm here at all." Stevie said, without sounding too serious, before she moved on to greet John and Christine. "You'll just have to accept that this time I'm only a fan of your work and not a part of it."

Mick shook his head, hearing that. "But that's not true. Lindsey, well, you're his muse, you will always live in his songs, his songs will always be about you. And Christine, after four decades of being together in this band, while not obvious things, but don't you think she picked up something of yours? You're always with us, Stephanie. Sometimes, just in spirit, but you are."

"I- I'm not sure what to say." Stevie felt tears stinging her eyes. "You have no idea how much that means to me. I thought if anything, you'd be bitter about the fact I'm not recording with you."

"Never. You've done for this band everything you could, we couldn't possibly ask more of you."

Mouthing a thank you to Christine for a tissue, Stevie took a moment to collect herself. It was true, after so many years together, those people were her family and it would be silly to think they would be anything but happy for her, whatever she chose to do with her career.

"Play me some songs already." Stevie told Lindsey, smiling at him. 

What she heard, were mostly rough demos, but it was obvious which direction they were going to. It was strange not hearing her own voice on any of the songs, because this time, Stevie knew it wasn't going to be there at all. She listened to the lyrics, she listened to the words exchanged between Lindsey and Christine and she had an odd feeling. It wasn't that Stevie believed there was something between the two, but it... it just didn't seem right.

The band wasn't going to waste a whole day. Lindsey recorded some of Christine's vocals and he added a bit of guitar work. He didn't want Stevie to feel uncomfortable however, so he suggested to cut the session short. 

Lindsey was going to take Stevie somewhere once they parted with the others, but she asked him to take her home. 

"Is everything okay with you?" Lindsey asked, stopping at the red light. 

"No." She was usuallynever that straight forward with her answers. "It's weird."

"What is?" 

"You and Chris, a duet album." 

"It's not a duet album, we have Mick and John as well."

"Right, how many songs have they written? Which one will be singing on which song?" Stevie asked, staring out the window. "Those are love songs. I just... you're sharing them with someone else, who isn't me."

"Because you didn't want to be a part of the album?" Lindsey frowned, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. 

"I guess, it reminds me of Buckingham Nicks. The way I see it, you're doing the same thing with Chris and..."

"Hold on a minute. Don't even try to compare these two things. Stevie, Buckingham Nicks was something so very special and yes, I'm recording a duet album with Christine now, but it's a completely different thing. One of those albums is with my lover, for my lover and the other is with a very good friend, simply another project. It's not like I'm singing to Christine, by now you should know that it's you, whom I have on my mind."

"So, now it's a duet album?" 

"That is what stood out for you from everything I just said?" Lindsey scoffed, shaking his head. "Why do you have a problem with it all of a sudden?"

"Because I've heard it, now I know what it is."

"What, do you think that I'll leave you and run off with Chris? That's stupid. It's just a fucking album, which wouldn't be a duet if you had joined us."

"What happened to you telling me that it's fine? That I don't have to do it if I don't want to?"

Sighing, Lindsey clenched his jaw instead of letting some remark slip out of his mouth. "This conversation is useless."

"The way I feel is useless to you?" 

"That's not what I said!"

"Right, it sure sounded like it..." Stevie mumbled, crying silently with her head leaned up against the window. 

So much for being happy...