Bluebird

22

March 16th, 2013

Fleetwood Mac was due out on the road in April and they had been doing rehearsals for a few weeks. Annabel had not accompanied her father on these rehearsals, but she was being so totally supportive from the sidelines. She had a choice to make. He told her she could join him on tour as his assistant, because it would take a load off of Ray. Ray was his assistant and his guitar tech, so it'd be more so for Ray than it would be for her. She could go and finally tell everyone that she was there as his child, or she could stay home all the same. 

Annabel was watching E news, because Fleetwood Mac was due for a small segment to talk about the tour so she had tuned in and made herself comfy on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. It was a seven minute interview. They talked about Barbara's death. Lori had been gracious enough to call her in December when it happened just to let her know. They talked about working on new songs. Annabel had gone to Salt Lake City with Garrett and Samantha, when Stevie came to the house to work on the songs. Their grandmother had died and Garrett needed her there for moral support, especially with the way things were left within the family. She knew that Stevie had come to the house but she hadn't been there to meet her so it didn't matter. But Annabel almost choked on her popcorn when this part of the interview popped up.

"So how do you balance rock star touring life with family life?" It was a question meant for Mick and Lindsey, but Stevie answered for them.

"Well, Lindsey has a gorgeous wife and three beautiful children and Mick has like 20 children so it's possible it can happen." 

"No I don't ." Lindsey answers.

"What do you mean no you don't. Yes you do." Stevie turns to look at him.

"No, I'm not married. Kristen and I divorced three years ago now, and I have four children."

Stevie's hand immediately went to his wrist and she squeezed it.

"Four children?" The interviewer asks.

"Aghhhh." Mick says in the background. 

"It is hard to balance that life. It was even harder in the eighties. An interview that MTV did with us earlier today asked us how we kept our energy up on stage. Our answer was, not like we used to. When you live a life of indulgences, like we did it was hard. I had a daughter in 1986. Her mother, who shall remain nameless, and I both failed to pass a drug test in the hospital after she was born. She had started to show symptoms of drug dependence like her mother and myself,  so the state of California took her from us. That was what did it for me. After that happened I cleaned up my act. Not long after I would take leave of Fleetwood Mac to work on my own personal healing. And when Kristen and I had William, I knew what not to do. You learn from your mistakes." Lindsey explains. 

"Yeah, In the 70s, my ex-wife took my girls back to England because she didn't like my life of excess. So this time around, I'm a much better partner and a much better father." 

"I don't have any kids I have a dog. she goes with me on tour." Stevie says trying to change the topic but the interviewer is relentless. 

"Have you met your daughter then?" 

"Um, I'm in the process of trying to find her. Yeah." Lindsey nods and Stevie looks up at him with wide eyes a shocked expression on her face.

"Well I wish you luck." 

"Thank you." Lindsey nods. 

That's where the interview cuts off and right on cue Lindsey walks in the front door. 

"Are you mad that I told the world?" He asks.

"No, not at all. What did she say to you after." 

"Lindsey you're looking for her? And then I told her yeah I was and then she said keep me in the loop. She started to cry and Karen took her home." Lindsey explains as Mick follows him into the house. 

"I knew it. I knew it." Mick points at her.

"I told him he could stay with us for a couple of days." Lindsey looks over his shoulder at the tall man.

"Yeah, Lynn's visiting her parents in Washington with Ruby and Tessa and the condo is boring by myself...It's good to see you kid." Mick holds his arms out for a hug. 

She returns the hug and then they make themselves comfy. Prince and Bowie coming to investigate the new person.

"What made you want to tell the world?" Annabel asks.

"I didn't plan on it. But she brought up my kids and I felt bad that she had only acknowledged three. I know that she has no idea that you are physically in my presence and have been for a few years, but I just felt really bad." Lindsey shrugs. 

"And what was your smug response." She looks at Mick. 

"We had been betting in Hawaii on if you were his kid or not. It clicked when he said he had four kids. Because I know Lindsey, he would've never said that, especially with Stevie right there if you had ended up not being his kid." Mick explains. 

"What clued you all in on it?" 

"The way you command the stage. It's just like Stevie's up there." Mick states.

"And, you look almost exactly like her. Especially when you wrinkle your nose in confusion, disgust, or embarrassment. Or when you bite your lip. Or that face you make subconsciously when you want to say, are you fucking kidding me. But are trying to keep your mouth shut." Lindsey tells her.

"Well fuck, I guess I'm more like her than I thought." 

"I keep saying, you're a carbon copy of your mother." Lindsey smirks kissing her head.

"You know, I am 26 years old, and I swear to God, with as huge of a fan as I am of Stevie Nicks, you would think, that I'd piece it together earlier than I did." Annabel falls back on the couch.

"Annabel, will you do me a favor?" Mick asks.

"Hmm?" 

"Open up for us on tour." 

"Are you insane? Fleetwood Mac never has an opening act." 

"No I know, I'm not asking you to do it every night but every once in a while. We can announce that we're going to have a special guest on certain nights." Mick shrugs.

" I think you should Baby Belle. Your mom would definitely figure it out if you did." Lindsey tells her. 

"I want to see what she says first." Annabel states.

"Like you want to audition?" Lindsey asks.

"Yeah, I know that you two will want me to do it. John might, because he's seen me play before. But...I love you daddy, and I hate to say this...but Mom is the bigger seller in Fleetwood Mac. She's the appeal to the band. She IS Fleetwood Mac, when she left after Behind the Mask and she was replaced with that other chick singer...people stopped listening." Annabel wrinkles her nose.

"And you don't want to piss her off." Mick smirks.

"Exactly. It'll be majority rules, but it'll at least prepare her." Annabel states.

"For never having met your mother, you sure know how to avoid being on her bad side." Mick pats her shoulder. 

"But I'll need my band from the bar, so give me a few days and eventually I'll show up with dad to rehearsals." Annabel states.

"Of course." Mick nods.