Start Again

Part 13

September, 1997

~

Lindsey's breathing still heavy, he walked down a long corridor backstage, wiping sweat off his face with a towel. Stevie had rushed off the stage a minute earlier, which he thought was a bit unusual. She did stumble over her lyrics a few times during the show and was likely upset because of that. On the other hand, she'd been acting weird all day. Lindsey decided to stop by her dressing room first before going into his to make sure she was okay.

"It's open." Stevie said after Lindsey had knocked.

"Hey." He entered the room, smiling softly at her. "You disappeared so fast. Everything alright?"

"Uh, yeah." Stevie nodded, removing rings off her fingers. "I'm fine. Just fine."

Hm... With his eyebrow raised, Lindsey approached her from behind and placed his hand over hers, stopping her from fidgeting. "You don't sound fine to me. What's going on? Is it because you messed up earlier or-"

"No." Stevie shook her head, taking a step away from him, she crossed her arms over her chest. "I forget lyrics all the time."

"Then what is it?" Lindsey grew more concerned.

"Do you want a drink?" Stevie asked, walking over to a selection of bottles, which looked like it came from Fleetwood Mac's rider from the 80's.

"Stevie?" Lindsey approached her again and reached for her hands, he lifted them up and kissed each knuckle. "What's the matter?"

"I think, you should sit down." She pulled back again, he sighed, but did as was told. "Okay, you're sitting." She nodded to herself and let out a shaky breath. 

"You better start talking, you're scaring me." Lindsey's eyes on her, waiting for her to say something.

"Okay. Alright." Stevie breathed in deeply a couple of times then slowly walked to the couch and sat down beside him. "You're gonna think that it's a joke, but it's not."

"Stevie-" Lindsey was beginning to sound impatient, but she cut him off.

"I'm pregnant." She said at last, not a word came out of him after that for a moment. Too long. "Did you-"

"I heard you." Lindsey gulped, nodding his head. "What- I mean- You're..."

"Mhm." She nodded again, turning to face him. "It's shocking, I know. I kinda assumed that I was starting menopause, but..."

"Does... does anyone else know?" Lindsey's mouth had gone completely dry and he wished, he had asked for that drink. "Am I the first to know?" He finally looked at her and when she said, yes, his eyes glazed over with tears. "Not even Chris?"

"I'm not having a baby with Christine McVie, Lindsey." Stevie joked, wondering why that was the only important question out of all the others he must have had. "But I'm hoping I'm having a baby with you." She said, suddenly feelings nervous. "Okay, that's a lie. The doctor was the first to know." She added, when he remained quiet. 

"You've already been to see a doctor?" Lindsey felt a little lightheaded, his mouth agape and eyes wide. 

"Yeah, this morning. I wouldn't have said anything after a home pregnancy test, Linds." Stevie said, shaking her head. "One too many false alarms in the past. I wanted to be absolutely sure."

"How far along are you?" Lindsey continued with his questions, he hadn't shown a single sign of excitement so far.

"Well, if my math is correct, then it happened sometime during rehearsals for the tour." Stevie replied, wishing that she would know how to pull him out of his current state. "So a little over a month."

"I, uh..." He paused to clear his throat. "I-" He stopped again to hide his face in his hands. "I had no idea that this was still possible for us."

"I know. Everything's looking good by the way." Stevie said, since he hadn't had much of a reaction to her telling him that she had already seen a doctor. "I get that this is unexpected, but I need to know, how you feel about this, Lindsey."

He snapped out of it hearing those words coming from her. "How I feel? How I feel about having you back in my life? How I feel about us having a baby? Becoming a family?" A smile crossed his lips and he took her hand in his, kissing it again. "This is a lot to take in, but I couldn't possibly put it into words how happy I am."