January 2018 - Musicares

The whole band was reuniting again, not for a tour, not yet at least. Everyone was so excited, well mostly everyone, everyone but Stevie. Usually Stevie would be able to handle going through a performance with Lindsey, especially since her friend Christine was going to be there, along with John and Mick. However, today, Stevie dreaded going through it. One of those reasons was because her long time friend and music partner, Tom Petty, had passed away not too long ago. Another reason was because of how irritated she already was and how every little thing seemed to piss her off. After the show was over, Stevie had just quietly walked back to her room, not saying a word to anyone. 

Soon enough there was a knock on the door, which caused Stevie to sigh and wipe a couple of tears away quickly, then open the door. 

"Oh, Chris! Come in..." Stevie said, shaking her head quickly, trying to clear her thoughts.

"What's wrong Nicks?" The slightly older female asked, using her British accent while entering the room.

"Nothing."

Stevie forced a smile on her face, trying to hide her puffy eyes from Christine. It was no use though, as the British woman could tell something was up.

"Come on Nicks, I've known you long enough to know when you're hurt." Christine said, looking directly at her.

Stevie sighed and closed the door, "it's just everything with Tom..." She began to say.

Christine nodded and sat down on the bed, listening to her friend vent out all her frustration. After a few minutes of the usual Tom vent, she heard Stevie say something that caught her completely off guard.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this Chris..."

"What do you mean?" The British woman turned to her in confusion.

"The tours, the fake smiles, the same songs over and over again..." Stevie said, sounding completely defeated.

"Well, Lindsey offered..." Christine began to speak until being cut off by Stevie.

"Don't even. I know you and Lindsey both offered for me a chance to be on the album, now called Buckingham McVie, but I couldn't spend all that time with him in the studio again. Never again Chris, not after both the 'Say You Will' and 'Extended Play' albums... It was complete and utter fucking hell." Stevie sighed, being a bit frustrated, remembering all the hellish moments they had when recording the albums.

Christine frowned a bit, trying to think of something, anything to say to her, "You have some unused demos, right?" 

Stevie shrugged, "I do, but you know that they won't be up to HIS standards. He'll find a way to change them all around..." She said, rolling her eyes slightly.

There was a moment of silence between the two females, until Christine opened her mouth, speaking again, changing the subject.

"Well, if you want, we can do one final farewell tour..." Christine spoke.

"But here's the thing... I don't want to do a farewell tour, at least not yet..." Stevie responded.

"Nicks, you're really not making any sense here. You just said you didn't know how much longer you could do it. Now, you just said that you didn't want to stop touring." Christine said, being even more confused now.

Stevie sighed, "I still want to do tours, but at the same time I don't..." 

"Well, why would you not want to stop? We're all up there in the ages Stevie, we should be retired now. Hell, I'm bloody 75 years old..." Christine said.

"What would I have to retire to Chris? No family, no husband, no kids. Just one big, empty fucking house." Stevie said, it looked like she was either about to cry at that thought or blow up in anger.

Chris didn't say anything, she just stayed quiet, not wanting to push any buttons. A few moments passed filled with silence, once again, before Stevie spoke again.

"I want to freshen the band up, but I don't know how..." She spoke, breaking the silence.

"Well, we do have a huge catalog of music, dating back to the 1960's when the Mac was first formed. Maybe if we change the setlist up a bit, it'd rejuvenate the band a bit?" Chris said, nodding her head as she thought about that.

"Yeah, that could be a start... But I was thinking even more than that..." Stevie said, looking at Chris.

Christine was unsure of what Stevie meant by that, it was shown by the puzzled look on her face.

"Remember when Billy and Rick were added to the band? That really rejuvenated the band..." Stevie said, hoping Chris would catch on.

Christine nodded, "but that means we'd have like four guitarists on the stage at once, if we brought them back, counting Lindsey and our backup player, Neale..." 

Stevie shook her head, "No, that's not what I meant... Think about why they were added to the band" She said, placing emphasis on the word 'why,' in hopes that she would understand.

Christine began piecing two and two together, her eyes widened once it was clear what Stevie meant. She was speechless, the poor British female didn't know exactly what to say but it was clear that she didn't like the idea.

"It's just a thought Chris..." Stevie began to speak, trying to clarify that it was only a mere suggestion.

"But Stevie, the fans love watching you and Lindsey up there on the stage, singing those songs, sharing those moments with each other. It really wouldn't be the same..." Chris replied, shaking her head slightly, hoping that Stevie would think about what she was saying.

Stevie shook her head again, "it's not real, none of it Chris... There's nothing there anymore... The last bits of hope that I might have had were all shattered after we did the tour for 'The Dance'." 

Christine sighed, pondering what to say, but no words came out.

"Something has to change Chris... At least for the time being..." Stevie sighed, sounding quite defeated at this point.

Christine got up from the bed, "give it some serious thought Nicks. Don't do anything rash and mean spirited." She said and then headed out the door to go to her room, after wishing Stevie a good night.

....

A/N: That's the end of the first chapter. I know it was quite short, but I wasn't exactly sure how to start it off. I also know that it's not the best start, but I promise it will (hopefully) get better. I know that this is also a little bit of a different fandom for me to be in, but I'm doing this story because I absolutely love Fleetwood Mac and was severely disappointed in what happened in the past year. Anyway, I'll see you in the next chapter! Peace out!