It was after 9 pm when a cab from the airport stopped by Lindsey's house. The driver got out to take the luggage from the trunk, that Lindsey took over, Aria and Mabel holding each of Stevie's hands, as they followed Lindsey up the driveway.

He was searching for the keys, when Aria said. "I'm sorry I called you a mean man."

Lindsey looked over at the girl. "When was that? I can't recall it."

"It happened when you weren't around." Stevie explained, slightly embarrassed because of her daughter's honesty.

"So, what am I now? A good man?" Lindsey let his guests through the door in to the hallway of his house.

"Yes." Aria nodded, smiling, as she showed Lindsey with her finger to bend down and then she kissed his cheek. "Thank you for making our Mommy happy."

He looked at Stevie, who didn't know what to set her eyes on, as she stood blushing and he just smiled. "Come on you two, I'll show you to the room where you can stay for as long as you like." Not directly, but it was more meant for Stevie to know. "Feel at home." He glanced at her before walking up the stairs, the twins following behind.

"You have a very beautiful house, Mr Lindsey." Mabel said and Lindsey looked at her, because she was mostly silent.

"Thank you, Mabel." He could only tell which one was which, because Aria had her hair in pigtails and Mabel's was loose. "You don't have to call me Mr Lindsey though." He laughed softly. "Lindsey will be just fine."

"Okay."

He pushed the door open at the end of the hallway, across from his own bedroom. "Well, what do you think? Is this bed big enough for you both?"

"If I can get on it, I think so!" Aria chuckled and Lindsey helped her up on the bed. "Can I jump? Mommy doesn't let me."

"Have fun, sweetie." He nodded and left after adding. "Just be careful."

Lindsey almost bumped into Stevie, who was watching him and her girls interact.

"Oh, Jesus! You scared me!"

"Sorry. It just warms my heart how good you are with them."

"I've wanted kids for some time, but there wasn't any woman that I wanted to have them with." Lindsey replied honestly. "Besides you, but that never worked out for us, so..."

"What about your girlfriend?"

"Yeah, that ship has sailed I think. Pretty sure I can consider myself single again."

"I feel responsible for that." Stevie felt guilty. For about a second, until he wrapped his arm around her waist and walked them downstairs.

"And I think I should thank you for that favor."

"You don't love her?"

"No." He admitted and quickly changed the subject. "Can I offer you anything? Are you hungry?"

"You know, I was wondering if we could maybe put the girls to bed and then have a glass of wine or something?"

Oh boy, I love where this is going!, but he tried to contain his excitement. "Absolutely. Let's take the bags upstairs and I'll show you where you can sleep."

Lindsey managed to take almost everything, leaving Stevie a smaller suitcase that belonged to her daughters. She brought it to the girls and unzipped it, taking out their folded clothes, looking for their nightwear.

"Here." She handed them their little pink nightgowns. "Go to the bathroom and brush your teeth, then change into these. I'll come to kiss you goodnight." Obediently the girls did as they were told and Stevie returned to Lindsey, who was scratching the back of his head, looking into another room from the hallway. "What?" She asked, approaching him.

"Well... I kind of forgot that this has been my storage of sorts lately..."

"I can sleep with the twins, the bed will surely fit us three. I'm not much bigger than them." Stevie joked in attempt to make Lindsey laugh, because he was clearly nervous because of this little mishap.

"You know what we'll do? You'll sleep in my bedroom and I'll sleep on the couch."

"Are you crazy? No way, Lindsey! We're already invading your home as it is, I can't possibly take up your bed as well!"

"Yes, you can if I insist." She pressed her lips together, staring him down, but he wasn't her six year old, so it wasn't really working. "This is my bedroom, by the way."

Stevie rolled her eyes, shaking her head, as she sighed and gave in.

Once Aria and Mabel were settled for the night, Lindsey told Stevie to go take a seat in the living room and he would join her shortly, with a bottle of wine and some snacks to go with it. Creating the more Stevie-like atmosphere, he also lit up scented candles and turned the lights off.

"This is lovely." She thanked him, taking a glass in her hand. "Very cozy. I do this all the time."

"I know."

"Oh, I forgot how you know me a lot better than I do."

"I didn't offend you, did I?"

"God, no! No it's okay." She smiled, crossing her legs, her eyes sparkling in the candlelight. Lindsey gulped. She swallowed a gulp of wine, savoring the expensive drink at first, as she closed her eyes for a moment. He had to start talking about something very very random and now.

"Like I said, you can stay here for however long you'd like. The house won't feel as empty with you three here."

"Thank you. For everything." She placed her palm on his thigh for barely a second and he still wished she hadn't done that. "But I would really love to go to... Phoenix, right? I want to see my parents. Well, meet them really."

"Okay, sure. When do you want to go? Do you want me to go along?"

"Absolutely. I feel like a little kid, needing your help every step of the way, but I do, Lindsey. I hope I'm not a pain."

"Don't be silly. I want you here. I mean... you know..."

"How about you show me some of those photo albums you mentioned before?" She helped him out of another difficult situation.

"Oh, that's right!" Lindsey upped and went to bring them to Stevie. "This is of us young, they're mostly your pictures that you've taken or I've taken of you for you."

They went through each photograph, Lindsey having to say something about every single one; a story, a memory they triggered, why was it taken and where, what year and so on. Stevie of course complimented his big hair in every photo they looked at and he couldn't stop repeating himself about how beautiful and careless she was when younger.

The next set of pictures came from the later years, some of them were quite recent, considering, from recording the last Fleetwood Mac album and various parties, a lot less of personal moments, especially between them. The lack of that was due to their constant bickering, Lindsey explained and he noticed that sad expression on Stevie's face, every time he brought up their fighting, she hated that, because even though she practically just met him, they were getting along so well, she had no idea how their relationship could have ever been any different.

"What do you say we listen to some of what we have recorded over the years?"

"Oh, yes please!" Stevie nodded eagerly, following Lindsey to sit on the floor, where he pulled out a stack of old records.

"Okay, so this was what made us freaking huge." He showed her the Rumours LP and handed it to her, before he put it on. "This is Mick as you may have already guessed, from seeing him in the pictures. This is you." He pointed and she stared at her younger self for a long moment.

"I was so tiny."

"You are tiny." Lindsey corrected and took the vinyl back, letting it play.

Second Hand News started and Lindsey chuckled to himself, making Stevie frown. "What is it?"

"Listen to the song and tell me what you think it is about."

So she did, which left her raising an eyebrow. "It's sounds a lot like you're telling someone they can make a booty call whenever they feel like it."

Lindsey nodded, laughing. "That's exactly right and that someone is you."

"You're joking..."

"No. We've always written about each other, always."

Stevie sat cross-legged, with the wine glass in hand, eyeing him. "I'm not sure how I feel about this."

"Well, there's not much you can do about it now. It came out in 1977, sold millions and millions of copies and it ain't stopping selling any time soon!"

They listened to a couple more songs, including Dreams, Never Going Back Again, which Lindsey said was a massive lie, and Don't Stop. Then he began scanning his collection again, when Stevie's eyes caught the familiar title he had mentioned to her.

"Is this..."

"Yes." He answered before she get to finish her sentence.

"Jesus! Please, tell me this wasn't my idea?" She showed the record to him, which she was very naked on as well as Lindsey was.

He couldn't stifle a laugh. "Actually, no. You didn't like it, I didn't like it either, but the photographer and the producer insisted. We had clothes on at first, but they said it wasn't working, so..."

"Can we... listen to it?"

"Of course." Lindsey took the vinyl from her and returned to the record player.

Stevie was nervous and excited, she had no idea what they had created. He did say they got dropped soon, so she wasn't expecting much. Lindsey turned the volume up only to be audible, because Aria and Mabel were definitely sleeping by now. The music filled the room and they sat together, closely side by side, listening. She heard herself singing and it felt strange, because of how truly raw the album was, just the two of them. The second one started and it was only a melody.

"What's this called?"

"Stephanie." Lindsey said and she didn't ask anything else.

They kept listening in silence. Besides the hideous cover, that's what Stevie thought, she was enjoying it, the candles adding to the lovely surroundings and she suddenly became aware of the heat radiating from his body.

"This is the last one." Lindsey said and as soon as it started she listened more carefully. It was like... like she had heard it before, as if she knew the next words, they were somewhere in her head.

And if you go forward, I'll meet you there

And if you climb up through the cold freezing air

Look down below you, search out above

"And cry out to life for a frozen love..." Lindsey and Stevie immediately looked at each other in shock and surprise. "I..."

"You... those are the lyrics..."

"It seemed so familiar."

"Oh my God..." Lindsey whispered and just kept staring at her.

She started crying, not upset, but happy. Something, even if it was a fragment of a song, she remembered it, it came back to her and it might be just one tiny step, but it happened and it all felt so promising to her at this moment.

He put his arm around her shoulders as she snuggled into him more, once she calmed down and asked him to put the Buckingham Nicks album on again. Crystal was playing, when Stevie tilted her chin up and Lindsey looked down at her. They smiled at each other and then her eyes wandered over to his lips. There was not a chance he would take the first step, so she reached up a little, softly, almost carefully, shyly, she pressed her lips against his, her eyes now shut as he still couldn't quite believe what was happening. And she didn't pull away immediately, so bravely, he took her bottom lip in between his, closing his eyes as well, as he caressed the side of her face with his palm. She parted her lips just as timidly, welcoming his tongue into her mouth, as it touched hers. Her heart was nearly jumping out of her chest, feeling their tongues brush against each other again and again, while their lips moved almost lazily. They definitely had skipped at least three songs, lost in their passionate embrace, before they mutually drew back, opening their eyes to look at the other.

"That was..."

"Yeah." Stevie agreed, without really needing him to finish. "I don't think any word fits to describe how that felt."

Lindsey shook his head. "No, no you're right about that."

They spent about another hour talking, although not once mentioning the kiss, when Stevie felt tired and Lindsey helped her to her feet. "The bed's set, you can go to sleep." He said, as she tried to stifle a yawn. "I just... I'll crash here."

"But it's..."

"Stevie, it's okay. Yes, I'm not a complete stranger to you, but neither am I your... well... It's fine, honestly."

"You are a wonderful man, Lindsey."

He smiled at her, risking pecking her on the lips. "Goodnight, Stevie."

"Goodnight." She replied and went to his bedroom.

Hardly any other man could face this challenge but him. He loved her enough to bring her back to the Stevie she used to be, to the woman he fell in love with. No matter how hard it would be or how long it would take.

~