hang out in your heart

who's gonna end up holdin' your hand

A/N: Work has really been kicking my ass lately, so I decided I needed a nice lighthearted little chapter. Will be back to our regularly scheduled angst soon! Thank you for reading!

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"Fuck!" Lindsey shakes out his hands and hits stop on the recorder he keeps in his hotel room. He's been working on a guitar part for this demo for days, and he just isn't getting it. For the umpteenth time, he rewinds and sets it up again, working through some chords. He's basically set up a traveling studio to bring with him from city to city, and he's happy he has, because there's certainly been no lack of inspiration from the tour so far.

He's interrupted by a knock on the door of his hotel suite. He takes off his headphones; he knows who he wants it to be, though the odds of that are low. Stevie has made it clear that she's not interested in spending off time together. Still, he rises and runs his hands through his hair in an attempt to control the mess of curls that now rest upon his head as a result of his struggle to record. He glances in the mirror as he heads to the door; he looks okay, he supposes. Maybe he should have shaved today, he thinks, ruefully rubbing his hand over his jaw and chin. Well, nothing Stevie hasn't seen anyway.

He opens the door, speaking as it swings open. "Well, I knew you'd come around eventually," he says, feeling a smug grin spread his lips.

"Um...what?" He nearly jumps at the sight of his niece on the other side of the door, looking confused.

"Cory! Oh, hey, I didn't know it was...I was expecting...you know what, just come in." Lindsey feels his face redden as the young girl steps over the threshold with a knowing grin on her face. He suddenly feels the need to explain himself. "Not that you're not...I'm glad to see you, I just didn't expect you to..."

"Lindsey. Calm down, I'm not offended. I know who you expected it to be."

"We're just friends," he throws out quickly.

"...I know." She is trying to hold back her laughter, and Lindsey feels his face flush even further.

He offers her a seat, trying to come back from the disastrous start. "Anyway, what's up Cor? You want to sit down?"

She declines, waving a hand absently. "Actually, I'm here to get you."

"For what? Do we have some sort of press thing I didn't know about? I thought we were free until tomorrow's sound check."

"You are, but I have decided that you have been holed up in all of these hotel rooms for far too long." She has a reprimanding look on her face, almost going so far as to shake a finger in his face. "All you do in all of these beautiful cities we've come to is fuck around with your guitar. You need to get out, live a little."

"I went for a walk today," he protests weakly.

She gives him a look of such admonishment that he couldn't feel less like a rock star if he tried. "Yeah, that's not what I'd call living, old man. Anyway, a bunch of us are going to dinner, Stevie insisted. I thought it would be nice if you'd join us."

He hesitates, tempted to just stay in and continue working on his demo until he finally gets that damn guitar part right; he knows he's close to figuring it out. But on the other hand, this will at least give him a chance to see Stevie somewhere other than during a show. She senses his hesitation, perhaps, because she adds, "I really think you should come, it would do you good to get out of your own head for a bit, and you also-"

He decides quickly, lightly dropping a hand on his niece's shoulder. "Sure, I'll come."

She stops in the middle of what was surely shaping up to be a recitation of a prepared speech. "Oh. Well that was a million times easier than I thought it would be. I can't wait to rub it in Stevie's face, she laughed at me when I said I was going to get you to come." She smiles gleefully, rubbing her hands together in delight.