Because She Loved Him

Disintegration Part I

They got to the studio in good time that morning. Everyone was in a great mood. Linda was so excited to be there and Christian was just happy to be where ever his mum was. There was a lot of noise and chaos as they sorted themselves out and Stig came downstairs to see what all the noise was about. "Morning All " he boomed. "Come on. We need to get on. We have a lot to get through today. What are the kids doing here?" Bjorn jumped in before Agnetha got upset and said "we just felt like it. You wanted us all here and we wanted the kids here" Stig harrumphed and went up the stairs. " Hurry up" he called. Benny and Bjorn looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Frida put an arm around Agnetha and smiled at her saying "come on, let's get this over with, afterwards we can sing for a while" that made Agnetha smile.
They got themselves settled in the meeting room, Stig was at the head of the table sorting through papers. Bjorn and Benny sat opposite each other with the two girls sitting next to their respective spouses.
"Right" said Stig. "First things first Gorel is unwell today so Lena will be in to take notes when she has finished what she is doing, we need to talk about the Olivia Newton John show in May. The set list for that. The album that is going nowhere. The world tour. " Wait, who said anything about a world tour?" interjected Agnetha. Frida frowned and said "I'd like to know as well" "we'll discuss it later" said Stig. "No!" Benny said annoyed "we'll discuss it now, I didn't agree to a world tour. I agreed in principle to a tour of America" he was interrupted by the door flying open. Lena came walking in like she belonged there. She put her papers down next to Bjorn and made to sit down. Stig barked at her and said "coffee for everyone" "as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted" Benny commented pointedly glaring at Lena ( Anna and Frida looked at each other and hid a smile) " I agreed in principle to a tour of America and Japan. At no point did I agree to a world tour and I'm certain the girls did not" he turned to Bjorn with a questioning look. Bjorn said "to be honest Stig and I had discussed an expanded tour specifically the UK but I certainly didn't agree to anything!"He turned to look at Stig who at least had the grace to look uncomfortable. They were once again distracted by Lena putting coffee in front of each of them. Loudly. Benny, normally the most mild mannered of men became exasperated and said "please Lena if you are going to stay with us sit down and stop being a distraction! Do the job you were asked to do" she tossed him a look of dislike and sat down next to Bjorn. Bjorn wasn't paying any attention at this moment though. His attention was wholly focused on Stig. Benny sat forward in his chair and eyeballed Stig, " I said I agreed to a tour in North America. We need to be more present in that country it's true. We also need to tour to be seen as a "real band"! but we don't need a "world tour" to do that. Stig said " the tour will include Europe, America and Japan. With a total of 52 dates." Even Bjorn looked shocked. " 52?? he said. There's no way on earth any of us would agree to that! That's more than '77 and we worked our arses off then! Do you have a slightest idea how much work that would entail??" Benny sat back in his chair "why are you doing this Stig? We just needed to increase our exposure? Not kill ourselves. Anna and Bjorn have young children. It won't work" "the amount of money you would earn is tremendous, especially from Japan" said Stig. Bjorn interjected "yes, but the amount of money we would have to spend to get this tour off the ground, to the standard we would wish is also massive"
Agnetha said " I had no idea that even a thought of a tour this size was an idea. You all know how I feel about it, why did no one say anything last night before I promised I would do it?" She felt a bit betrayed. " Because it wasn't an idea in anyone's head" Benny growled. He looked at Bjorn "or was it?" Bjorn had the grace to look embarrassed. "We were supposed to be discussing it today" he defended." not be presented with a fait accompli, I never said anything about Europe, ever. Just the UK. That's our biggest market" Stig said "exactly! If you're doing the UK Europe is no big jump" the four members of ABBA sat back in their chairs. Stig continued " Agnetha, you cant hold ABBA back because of the kids" " I'm not!" she argued "well Bjorn says you are, he tells me all you are interested in is the kids and you won't go on tour." Agnetha looked at Bjorn with hurt eyes and said "did you say that?" Bjorn couldn't meet her eyes but said" I can't deny that I did tell Stig that, but it was before we had our discussion last night". Benny had a very bad feeling about this. Frida came to Agnetha's defence. " To be honest the thought of this tour does not fill me with joy either, it isn't just Agnetha. I don't mind the being on stage bit, the travelling is appalling, Agnetha is terrified of planes. She only does it for us. We never get chance to see or do anything and half the time we don't even know what city we're in, I understand America, I think you could say that both Anna and I are looking forward to it. Don't keep painting Agnetha as the bad guy here!! Why do we have to extend the tour?" Agnetha looked at Frida gratefully and stood up to walk Christian around the room as he had started to grizzle.
Bjorn kept his head down, he knew it should have been him that defended his wife, not Frida.
Benny took a gulp of his coffee to give him time to regroup. He choked a bit then swallowed with difficulty. " What on earth is wrong with this coffee? It's awful!" Lena, who had been busy writing looked up " I made that" she retorted indignantly. "That doesn't surprise me" grumbled Benny. Frida took a sip and grimaced. " You still haven't answered my question Stig. Why do we need to extend the tour? We've done Europe. We want to do things differently after the Japanese leg." Stig was starting to look angry. " The tour must be done, we need to bring in some money and break America. America is a huge market for us." Benny interjected " you are still not answering Frida's question. No one is querying America, not even Anna" he smiled encouragingly at Agnetha " the issue is we don't want to do and never agreed to a 'world tour' we've done that. It kills creativity in a way we don't like. You are not the one who has to do all the work" He got up out of the chair and stretched. Christian started full on crying despite Agnetha's continued attempts to soothe him. " Anna!!" snapped Bjorn, " can't you keep him quiet?? We are trying to concentrate! I knew it was a bad idea to bring the kids" Agnetha started to get angry " I'm trying my best Bjorn, you agreed they could come. He'll settle soon." Bjorn was feeling cross because things weren't going the way he wanted. He had thought that it would just be Agnetha that they needed to win over. He hadn't been expecting opposition from Benny and Frida.
Benny said " well it's a moot point we won't be doing a world tour. Just America and Japan" he paused to take a screaming Christian from an increasingly upset Agnetha and walked round the room with him on his shoulder. Agnetha picked up Linda who was tugging on her skirt "Mummy, don't cry. It's ok" Linda wiped a tear off Agnetha's cheek with her little fingers.
Stig was getting impatient with all this. " Look, I've given my word, the paperwork has been signed. This is what we need to do. ABBA cannot back out now. The tour is happening, Bjorn was perfectly behind it until the rest of you got involved" "Wait a minute, I never agreed to anything. It was just a discussion!" Bjorn said heatedly " Agnetha was still rocking Linda on her hip and her tears had slowed but not stopped. "Stig, what do you mean it's signed? What have you done?" The room went quiet as they waited for his answer. "I did what was best for you. I signed ABBA up for the tour" " No Stig, you did what's best for you" sighed Frida. Agnetha looked at Bjorn, she was disturbed when he wouldn't meet her eyes. She wondered how much of this he had agreed with. She noticed Lena sat beside him busily writing on her note pad and smiling. She looked at Frida and saw that Frida was looking disturbed. Her stomach started to roll and she swallowed with some difficulty. "Bjorn?" she queried. " Look Agnetha" he snapped " I never agreed to a full tour, Stig and I discussed it but that was it. But I happen to think we do need to do a full tour. We have been off of the radar for so long" He glared at Stig, in that moment hating him for putting him in such a position. Benny was still holding a now sleeping Christian. "When were the rest of us to be included in this discussion?" he asked sarcastically. He walked around the table to Bjorn and put Christian in his arms. " Right, everyone out please, except us four! Out! Out! Out!" Stig refused to start with and Lena just ignored him. Benny became angry and thundered "Everyone else OUT!! NOW!!" Even Frida jumped, she had so rarely heard Benny raise his voice. Lena and Stig left under protest and Benny slammed the door definitively behind them. Linda started to cry and Benny immediately went to her and took her from Agnetha's arms and soothed her. " Linda, it's ok. Uncle Benny isn't cross with you, not at all. I'm just not feeling well but I love you lots" Benny used the phone and dialled Gorel. " I'm sorry to disturb you when you're poorly" he stopped to listen " oh ok, that's odd. Glad to hear it, can you come in?" He put the phone down and Frida wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. He sighed and leaned back into her for a second then got up. " We need to sort this out here and now before more damage is done, Anna I hope you don't mind but there's been a misunderstanding. Gorel isn't poorly and she's coming down. If it's ok with you I'd like to ask her to take the kids for a while?" Agnetha was grateful for Benny's sensitivity. This discussion was looking like it was going to get heated and it was not something she wanted her children to see. It was difficult for her to understand why Bjorn was not the one to protect his children. He was so quiet and she was at a loss. He wouldn't even look at her.
There came a knock on the door and Frida went to open it. She greeted Gorel. Agnetha asked Gorel if she would look after the children for a bit while they had the meeting. Gorel's face broke into a big smile and she said "you don't even have to ask, I'll have them for as long as you need" Agnetha smiled and thanked her then said "their extra stuff is in the boot of Bjorn's car if you need it" she kissed and hugged Linda then went and took Christian from Bjorn's lap. She hugged and kissed him too and gave him to Gorel. Bjorn just could not respond. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He knew what he wanted, he was angry that the others didn't seem to want the same things.
"Gorel?" asked Frida gently. "how are you feeling now? Are you going to be ok with the kids for a while?" Gorel looked confused." I'm fine, never better. Why do you think I'm ill? Benny said that too" Agnetha had calmed down now and she said "Stig told us you wouldn't be coming to the meeting because you weren't well." " I don't know what to tell you Agnetha and more than that I don't know what's going on. All I know is I had a message from Stig through Lena to say I wasn't required at the meeting" she paused and then said "I was starting to look at the tour venues that Stig had suggested" Benny shook his head in total disbelief. "It just gets worse doesn't it. Thank you Gorel, can we call you when we are done?" "Yes of course, take your time" came the reply. All of them murmured their thanks as she left. Frida could see that Agnetha's nerves were shredding so she said " Come on, let's get sorted." She put an arm round Agnetha and kissed her cheek " Anna, make some decent coffee. I'll fetch clean cups. Coffee like that will put anyone in a bad temper, no wonder we are all in a foul mood" Agnetha smiled and sniffled and did as Frida asked. Benny for his part, loved his Frida a little bit more at that moment for her ability to calm a situation and make people smile.
Bjorn who had been silent and brooding since Gorel left got up from his chair and stretched a bit. He went to get more milk and sugar. He was still angry and discomfited but felt he ought to show some willing. He did not say a word though. He was not familiar with the feeling of being in the wrong or at odds with the rest of the band and it made him stubborn and defensive.