Miss Fantasy

Chapter 29: The Good Old Days

September 25, 2013, London

Stevie was notoriously not a morning person. But this morning she found herself up and out of bed before noon due to the sheer excitement over what was to come. For the first time in 15 years, Christine was joining them all on stage at tonight's concert in London. After hearing John's shocking news this past week, the five of them reuniting couldn't have come at a more perfect time - they all needed it.

"Stevie, I can't believe it but you're actually going to be on time for lunch," Karen marveled as Stevie emerged from her room fully dressed and ready to go.

"See?" Stevie gave herself a twirl and pat on the back, "I can be good when I want to be."

Karen rolled her eyes with a laugh, "Okay, so lunch is at 1 followed by soundcheck at 4. Chris wanted to run through Don't Stop too, so it will probably go a little over today to get everyone on the same page, which means you won't get a break before hair and makeup."

"Check, check, and check," Stevie chirped happily, Karen raising a brow at her boss' optimism.

"You really are excited to see Christine again, huh?"

"You have no idea."

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

Lindsey wasn't prepared for the overwhelming emotions and nostalgia he felt while watching Stevie and Christine run into each other's arms giddily. He, Mick, and John stood on the sidelines while the two of them squealed and hugged onto each other, nearly topping one another over in the process.

"You look so beautiful," Stevie squealed, "We missed you soooo much ugh I'm so excited to have another girl back you have no idea."

"You look hot! You're glowing!" Christine laughed as she pulled back to look Stevie over again, "I missed you my little one."

"Come here, you," Mick interjected himself in-between the two women to pull Christine in a hug while the rest of them watched on with huge smiles on their face.

It had been years since they'd all been in the same room together, and there was no way to describe the feeling of the five of them reuniting. Especially as they got older. After what felt like another hour of hugging, they finally made their way to the corner table of the restaurant they chose for lunch - a champagne toast arriving immediately to celebrate. Stevie found herself seated in-between Lindsey and Christine, squeezing onto both of their legs happily under the table as she looked around at everyone.

While the Brits fell into a whirlwind of conversation, Lindsey's hand met Stevie's on his thigh, lacing his fingers through hers until she looked over at him with a smile. For a second, they simply gazed into each other's eyes, no words needed to be said, the look said it all as they held onto each other's fingers tightly. Lindsey nodded at her, a wink to let her know he too felt exactly the same things she was feeling in that moment, and she had to stop herself from bursting into tears on the spot. From the corner of her eye, Christine caught the entire exchange, looking at her two bandmates curiously as she took a sip of her drink.

"You're going to do both shows with us, right?" Stevie prodded Christine.

"Let's just get through tonight's and see if I've still got it in me, shall we?"

"Christineeee, you promised!"

"Okay, Okay Steves!" Christine relented, causing them all to laugh.

The magical thing about the "Rumours five" was that no matter how much they had drifted, no matter how much time had passed by, no matter who took a hiatus from the band, whenever they all got back together, it was like nothing at all had changed. That sentiment was clear as they all reminisced over their several-hours long lunch, telling crazy stories from the past and laughing hysterically over all the ridiculous encounters they had—all while expertly avoiding the elephant in the room, which was John's recent diagnosis.