Buckingham Nicks-Part II of Fritz Series

I'll Be Home For Christmas

***A/N mild sexual content. Author's note at end***

"Stevie! Stevie! Stevie!" it's out twentieth show we've just left Atlanta, and we're closing out with Miami before we head back to L.A. to play the Forum. That's the big one. The Grand Daddy of all venues, if you make it there you've made it. Which we have apparently. A girl with glasses in the front row hands me some flowers pointing to Stevie smiling I hand them to her and she bends down touching hands with people in the front row. Smiling and nodding as they tell her their names and how much they loved the show.

It's been like this since Boston.

The crowd loves us, I mean the go nuts whenever we play any of our songs. But when Stevie starts in on Rhiannon we sometimes have to play extra loud to be heard over the noise of their cheering and screaming Stevie's name. Again, she doesn't invite it. And she tends to brush it off pretty easily. But it's pretty jarring to know how much in love with her so many people are. So many people have sent flowers and gifts to her dressing room we have to give most of it away at the end of the night.

The celebrities are the worst. We have to hold court for each of them when they come to hear us play, so far my favorite was Ike and Tina...well Tina. Ike was a bit, cold. In fact he gave all of us the creeps. Tina on the other hand was warm and very kind she even brought tears to Stevie's eyes when she compared her to Janis. The two women exchanged addresses so they could keep in touch.

My least favorite had to be Mick Jagger, he's not at all what I thought he would be. Sort of a jerk actually. We actually had to line up like he was a carnival attraction and we were forced to stand while he stayed seated. To fuck with him I coped a squat on the arm of his chair and just stared at him the whole time. He didn't know what to think, and Stevie finally had to drag me away her face burning with embarrassment.

Keith Richards was way cooler anyway.

We get along well as a group the only real points of contention being my compulsion to stage manage everything. Stevie keeps reminding me I'm not in charge anymore, and I keep telling her I know I'm not. But I end up back where I started, giving Chris pointers on how far away to lean from the mic. The worst fight we've had was between Mick and me. During rehearsal I got angry and smacked his symbols, he flipped and I nearly had a fight on my hands. Stevie once again came to my rescue, a bump and a beer later and he was all smiles. Mick doesn't stay angry long.

Stevie and Christine are like long lost sisters. Just like her and Robin, the two of them spend all their time together off stage while the three of us boys get drunk and act stupid. She comforts Chris more than once during one of John's alcohol fueled rampages. I no longer wonder where the tension in their marriage comes from. John is a functioning alcoholic, and when he's drunk. He's drunk. He's angry and aggressive, never physical. But he can be downright nasty to Chris and anyone else. He's a kitten when he's dried out though, and he always looks disappointed and angry with himself when he sobers up the next day. His apologies sometimes reducing him to tears.

I feel for the guy. I really do.

Stevie and I aren't immune to arguments and we have a real blow out in Dallas over her mic stand. Its too far to the left and it throws me off. Everyone else waves it off as trivial, but once again I have to have things my way and I finally throw the whole thing into the empty chairs in the front row. She screams at me I scream at her. Mic steps between us and we both scream at him to keep out of it. Chris calms us down taking Stevie's side...as usual. And I storm off to my dressing room until the show starts two hours later.

I stand as far away from Stevie as possible for the first part of the night. Until we play landslide, and she dedicates it to me, telling audience that I'm a pain in the ass. But I'm her pain in the ass. I appreciate the sentiment and just like that we're good again. We of course dedicate Sara to our son and daughter, and just like the first show of the tour we both share Stevie's mic while I play. My head resting on her shoulder when she's singing the main verses.