The invitation had come as a surprise to everyone. John McVie? Throwing a Christmas party? That might not have been such a shock if the year was, say, 1978. In 2017 though, "Johnny Mac" was mostly secluded away in his sailboat, avoiding the turmoil that surrounded his second family, known as the band Fleetwood Mac.

However, John McVie had recently upgraded houses in the California suburb of Brentwood, and seemingly wanted to show the new digs off. Perhaps the rarity of him initiating any social endeavor is what led to a surprisingly large turnout. The gathering even seemed to accomplish what was for the moment, deemed to be impossible, have all five Mac members willingly be in the same room together.

Truthfully, there were really only two culprits of the current tensions within the rock group. Buckingham Nicks, the former duo, and the American counterpart to the 3 Brits, were once again on shaky grounds. While they had shared a tentative hug and cursory greetings of "Merry Christmas", they had been avoiding each other throughout the entire evening.

Dinner had been served early on in the evening, and now guests were milling about, while the soft strains of Christmas music could be heard throughout the house. Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks were using this time to catch up in the corner. While they were going over their various holiday plans before rehearsals started in January for the Grammy MusicCares performance, a tapping on Christine's shoulder interrupted them.

Lindsey Buckingham cleared his throat softly, "Chris, there's someone over there who wants to talk with u- you." Looking at Stevie he gave a slight nod, "Stevie."

As Christine got up to follow Lindsey, Stevie nodded her head silently in Lindsey's direction, while averting her gaze elsewhere. As she watched them walk off together, the gnawing feeling her stomach, which had admittedly been there since the title of their duo album, Buckingham McVie, had been announced, showed itself in full force. Shaking her head, she went off to mingle and try to forget about it.

Fifteen minutes later, as she was making her way through the living room, she spotted, from the corner of her eye, Lindsey and Chris talking to Rick, a Warner executive she knew.

You shouldn't eavesdrop Stevie. It will just end up bothering you and secondly it's really none of your business. It took about a half second for Stevie to decide not to listen to her (usually right) intuition, and go eavesdrop anyways.

Giving a quick glance to the area where they were speaking, Stevie noticed a particularly large painting that she could pretend to be captivated by, and still be within hearing distance of their conversation. As she nonchalantly made her way over there, Stevie smiled at various people she knew, while taking small sips of her champagne. Once staking out her spot at the painting, she heard Lindsey speaking.

"Yes we were super nervous before we started this you know? I mean it was really unexpected, but it ended up being the greatest thing. I know we are both definitely thinking about doing this again."

"Like a sequel, Buckingham McVie part 2 I guess you would call it", Christine chimed in.

Stevie's head whipped around. She knew she was blatantly staring but she didn't care. A second Buckingham McVie album? God, I hate that name. Wasn't one enough?? Her mind was reeling so fast, she felt dizzy. She shook her head and looked up, only to see Lindsey stare questioningly back at her. I have to get out of here.

Stevie quickly maneuvered her way through the party, really not wanting to stop and talk to anyone. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the stairs, deciding to go sit down in one of the guest rooms until she could calm herself.

Picking a room that was relatively secluded; she took a few seconds to observe the décor. It was subtle, yet classic, no doubt Julie's doing. She smiled to herself. She noticed that one wall was covered in picture frames; most of them seemed to be of the McVie family through the years. However, there was one photo that stuck out. It was Fleetwood Mac, circa 1979, the Tusk era. It was a rarity in that all of them had smiles on their faces. John's head was thrown back laughing, Christine was teasing the camera; Mick was looking fondly at Lindsey, and as for her and Lindsey? Lindsey was wearing a smug smirk, holding Stevie's hand. Of which their joined hands were rather close to her bottom. Stevie was turned away from Lindsey but had a "cat ate the canary" on her face.

She heard the door open, and that unmistakable sound of throat clearing that could only come from one person.

"You always were trying to cop a feel." She mumbled.

Lindsey sighed and walked towards her. Taking a quick glance at the photo, he rolled his eyes a bit and said, "You don't look like you mind that much." Stevie chuckles a bit. "So. Why'd you run away?"

Stevie shoots him a pointed look, "Lindsey...not now."

Lindsey rocks back and forth on his toes, crossing his arms, "Well, why not?"

"You know why! It's going to turn into a big thing. We're at a party, Lindsey."

Lindsey crossed his arms, "So? Why don't we ever talk about it?"

She looked at her nails nonchalantly while asking, "talk about what?"

Lindsey threw his hands up in the air and rolled his eyes. He glanced at her for a moment. "Fine. If you want it to be this way..." He made his way for the door, pausing when he hears her call out.

"So a Buckingham McVie part 2, huh? We didn't get a part 2."

We didn't get a part 2? God, Stevie that could mean so many things.

Removing his hand from the door handle, Lindsey takes a deep breath before turning around to face her. The tone of her comment was snarky, he realized that; the second he turned around to face her though, he could see the hurt behind it. He could see it on her face, and in her eyes.

And although he felt a slight pang of sympathy for her, it didn't stop him from making a snarky comment of his own, "There wouldn't have been a Buckingham McVie part 1 if a certain someone hadn't made certain decisions."

Exasperated, Stevie rolled her eyes and stomped her foot. "Not this again, Lindsey!!"

Shaking his head, Lindsey said. "Oh yes go ahead and leave. You're really good at that."

Gripping the door handle so hard her knuckles were turning white, she whipped around to face him. "Fuck you." She left. Making sure to slam the door shut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Watching them is like watching a tennis match, Christine mused to herself while shaking her head. While waiting in line to get another glass of champagne, she had been covertly people watching fellow party goers when she noticed that Stevie and Lindsey were currently engaged in a game of "I'm gonna try to be stealth as I stare at you and then look away before you can catch me." It was ridiculous.

I swear they don't know that this is 2017 and not 1977. I swear these two will be the death of me. Sometimes I wonder why I ever came back to this godforsaken band when these two idiots still haven't resolved any of their problems, Christine sighed.

"May I refill your glass of champagne, Ms.?" She was interrupted from her thoughts by the bartender, having finally made it to the front of the line.

"I'll take five", she responded dryly.

Looking a little stunned, the bartender nonetheless nodded his head and said "yes ma'am" before grabbing five champagne glasses to fill.

Christine's eyes widened and she quickly put her hand on the bartender's arm to stop him from his task. "No, no, no. That won't be necessary. Just a joke"

Having had her, single, glass of champagne refilled, she set off to go mingle with some folks she hadn't talked to yet, when she was intercepted by a someone squeezing her arm.

"Chris, let's go somewhere private and talk", she heard her blonde band mate whisper.

Rolling her eyes, she looked squarely at Stevie. "Look, I just had my champagne glass refilled, I am enjoying myself. I am really not in the mood to deal with the Stevie and Lindsey fiasco show right now"

At this, Stevie scoffed. "Well, how do you know it has to do with Lindsey and I? It could be something completely different."

"Stevie, you realize that anyone who has known the both of you for longer than two seconds is aware that you just had a fight. You do know how obvious you both are right?"

Looking around nonchalantly, Stevie responded, "no."

"Well then", pausing to clank her glass with Stevie's Chris said, "I cannot and will not help you."

"Wait! Chris, please." Stevie's tone had become slightly more desperate.

Taking a deep breath and turning to look at the younger woman, Christine beckoned for Stevie to follow her. "Alright, come on. You better get your jeweler to make me something nice because I am doing this, Nicks."

Stevie smirked as she followed Christine to the softly lit pool area, where they sat in two lounge chairs that were secluded from any party guests. As soon as they sat down, Chris got straight to the point.

"So. What happened tonight?"

Taking a deep breath Stevie sighed. "He won't stop bringing up the album thing Chris! It's the topic that never dies; it goes on and on and on. He brought it up again tonight, and I am sick of it."

Puzzled, Chris then asked, "Stevie, if you don't mind my asking, how did you and Lindsey start talking in the first place? It seems you two were avoiding each other like the plague for the entire night."

Stevie stared fidgeting, looking around uncomfortably. If I don't answer this question truthfully she will see right through me. You cannot BS anything with Chris. "I eavesdropped." Stevie piped out.

"You eavesdrop- what are you talking about?"

"Well...to answer your question of how Lindsey and I started talking, I just so happened to overhear yours and Lindsey's conversation with Rick. I heard that you guys might be doing a sequel and I wasn't expecting that. Well I guess that got to me somehow and I went upstairs and Lindsey came after me. He asked me what was wrong and well. I guess you can assume how that went.

"Stevie, Stevie, Stevie" Chris shook her head while looking at her friend. She was torn. She understood where's Stevie's emotions were coming from, but she agreed more with Lindsey. Maybe I should have just taken those five glasses of champagne.

Seeing the expectant look on Stevie's face, taking a deep breath before she spoke. "Stevie you weren't there. When we all found out that you had ultimately decided to not do the album, Lindsey was..." She paused, thinking carefully about her next word choice. "He was so hurt, Stevie. Your decision really hurt him."

Stevie then made a move to speak, before Christine holding her hand up, and reprimanding her, stopped her. "Let me finish talking, Stevie. You asked."

Sighing and crossing her arms, Stevie made a motion for Christine to continue talking.

"The day after we had all found out 'the news', we all went to the studio and noticed that Lindsey was incredibly despondent. He even had a hard time focusing enough to play a simple guitar part that we had been rehearsing for weeks. We cut the recording short that day. After I left, I realized I had left my phone in the studio. I went back and found Lindsey still there. He never left."

At this point in Christine's story, Stevie was looking downwards, trying to shield her teary eyes from her band mate. Christine reached for Stevie's hand and implored her to make eye contact.

"I found him with his head in his hands, slightly shaking, before he kicked the console. There was no doubt in my mind that he had been crying. There was also no doubt in my mind as to what he had been crying about." Christine finished; taking another sip, well gulp, of her champagne.

By the end of the story, it was Stevie's turn to cry. She had known her decision not to participate in the album would affect Lindsey. He's always so reactionary though, and that usually comes out as anger. Not hurt. I don't want him to be hurt. Especially when it's my fault. Ugh. Wiping a tear, Stevie asked. "Chris, why are you telling me this?"

"Darling I didn't mean to upset you, you know I love you lots. I just need you to know why Lindsey keeps bringing up 'the album thing'. I'm not saying he goes about it in the right way, but maybe this will let you understand him a bit better."

Reaching over to hug her friend, Stevie nodded gratefully. "It does. Thank you, Chris."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Making her way back inside, Stevie immediately scanned the room to look for Lindsey.

I have got to talk to him, even if it's just to apologize for earlier. I'm not seeing him though. God I hope he didn't leave early. That would be such a Lindsey thing to do. Either that or his wife called him home reminding him of his curfew time, she laughed to herself. Aha! There he is.

Catching his eye, she flashed him a shy smile, receiving a skeptical glance in response. Determined, Stevie walked over to his spot anxious to speak to him.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Just as she was about to reach him, the sound of a spoon hitting glass got her and everyone else's attention. The crowd of listeners soon prevented her from making her way to Lindsey.

The voice came from her 6'6 band mate Mick Fleetwood. Sporting a Santa hat and a jolly face that was probably the result of too many glasses of wine, Mick finally began addressing the crowd.

"Merry Christmas, everyone! It has been such a thrill to join you all this evening for a spectacular party at my best mate's house. I would first off like to thank Johnny and Julie for inviting us all into their beautiful new home."

With his particular bashfulness, John McVie nodded his head and motioned for Mick to carry on with his toast. Laughing, Mick continued.

"As you all may know, for the past two years, Fleetwood Mac has been on a bit of a hiatus as various members pursued their own projects. I am pleased to announce however, that the band will be getting back together and hitting the road in Summer 2018.

The crowd instantly erupted into enthusiastic applause. That is, save the four other members of Fleetwood Mac, who were collectively groaning and rolling their eyes.

Oh god. What the hell is he doing? No papers have even been signed yet! And I still have my solo album and tour coming up in March. Good lord, Mick, Lindsey thought.

Glancing around the room, Lindsey spotted Stevie who was still looking at Mick with an expression that was equal parts puzzled and annoyed.

Feeling someone watching her, Stevie glanced around the room, finding it to be Lindsey, who was motioning to Mick and shaking his head as if to say, "can you believe him?"

Shrugging her shoulders and giving him a small smile, Stevie noticed that the crowd had dispersed, giving her a clear path to Lindsey. She made her way towards him. It's now or never. At least he isn't walking away from me.

Approaching him, Stevie knew she needed to be the first to say something. "Can you believe that drummer of ours?" She asked.

Lindsey smirked. "Well I guess this means we will be spending some more time together starting this spring, huh?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"It will just be one more chapter in the book of Fleetwood Mac right?" She repeated his oft-used phrase.

This time, she was given a genuine Lindsey smile. The one she adored. The one that made her heart melt. He nodded and then looked briefly at the ground. The mood grew a little awkward between them, and once again, Stevie knew she had to speak up.

"Lindsey, I know that our conversation in the guest room awhile ago was not my best moment. Here I was, lecturing you about the fact that we were at a party, and I said some really rude things." Taking a deep breath, she decided to grab his hand, "I just wanted to say that I am sorry Lindsey." Giving his hand a gentle squeeze, she looked him straight in the eye. "For everything."

Before he responded to her apology, Lindsey allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of her thumb stroking his hand. The small action was so familiar and so comforting he knew he could get lost in it: her touch, the memories, and their relationship.

Clearing his throat, Lindsey gave her hand a few squeezes before responding, gazing into those big brown eyes, "Stevie, I wasn't an angel either. Recently, there have been a lot of things I said that I shouldn't have...in that room tonight."

The clarification at the end of his apology would have made Stevie scoff and roll her eyes on any other occasion. However, she knew what he meant. Now was just not the time to get into all of that. Maybe that time will never come, she sighed aloud.

Using their still joined hands, Lindsey pulled her into a tight hug, his hands instantly tangling themselves in her hair. She snuggled into him, relishing the feel of his arms around her.

They stood like that for a few minutes, wrapped in each other's arms, some partygoers who didn't already know the pair were a little alarmed, while those that had known them for awhile just simply walked around them.

Finally, Lindsey interrupted. "Your hair is so beautiful, Stevie. My god."

Stevie giggled, pulling back slightly. "Just my hair? What about the rest of me? I must be hideous." Stevie put on a faux sad face.

Rolling his eyes playfully, Lindsey pulled her back into him and kissed her hair. "Oh, stop it right now. You know that's not true. Hey do you think we are freaking anyone out? We have been hugging for awhile."

"Probably." Stevie giggled. "But I honestly I don't care."

"Humph....well then I don't care either. Imagine if we started making out, that would really weird 'em out."

Cackling, Stevie jokingly pushed him away, "Oh stop it! You are such a dirty old man."

"What are you gonna do?" Lindsey laughingly said while walking away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the party winded down about an hour or so later, everyone was milling about saying goodbyes. Karen had just come to retrieve Stevie as their car had just arrived. Stevie had said goodbye to almost everyone but there was one person left. She found him and John chatting in the kitchen.

Walking up behind Lindsey, Stevie lightly scratched his back to get his attention.

When he turned around, she was greeted with another one of those amazing smiles. "Hi sweetie, you heading out?"

"Yep, car's here. I just wanted to say goodbye." John, having what he would probably deem too much experience with this particular dynamic, sensed that they wanted to be alone. Saying goodbyes and Merry Christmas to them both, he made his way out of the kitchen, leaving them by themselves.

Turning back to look at him, Stevie's face had a serious, somber appearance. Gently touching his arm, she spoke. "Lindsey, I just wanted to say that I am glad we had that conversation just now. With everything that's happened this year, it would break my heart to know we were starting the year off on horrible footing. Not that we are perfect but...you know?"

Giving her a sympathetic smile, Lindsey pulled her in for yet another hug. "I think we are reaching our hug quota for the year, Nicks."

"Nooo", Stevie laughed softly.

"I know what you mean though and, I love you Stevie. I do. Don't be a stranger ok?" He felt her nod against his chest.

"I love you too, Lindsey. Always."

Giving her one last squeeze and head kiss, Lindsey pulled away from the hug. "Merry Christmas, Stevie."

"Merry Christmas, Lindsey."

THE END 

A/N: I just wanted to write a one shot based on how I think things are for them at the moment. I know it's not the happiest, but I hope it ended on a little bit of hope.  Merry Christmas!