Bluebird

29

April 10, 2012

Lindsey lied to Stevie the night before, he knew exactly where she went, because he went there too right after their little talk. 

"Are you Sure you want to do this Belle?" He sighs as he helps her load up the cab that was waiting to take her to the airport. She would be going to Pittsburgh, everyone else was going to Louisville. 

"I do, It'll be lonely, but Ray said he got me a suite with a kitchen so I can make my own food. I'll be fine." She nods.

"You're mom's going to die when she finds out." Lindsey sighs. 

"Just, tell her that I'm not comfortable with Karen so I'm going to travel separately from now on and she can see me in Pittsburgh." Annabel shrugs.

"She was hoping to talk to you on the plane today." He tells her.

Annabel just shrugs and Lindsey nods, pulling her into his arms to hug her. "Be safe, I love you." 

"I love you to Daddy." She pulls away climbing into the cab. Lindsey waves as they drive away and then he and Ray get into their own hired car and go back to the Hotel Fleetwood Mac was staying in for a band brunch, as Mick called it. 

When he walked into the private room Mick had rented out, Stevie was sitting there with a little teddy bear, that Lindsey knew all too well. It was old, but it was still in decent shape because he knew that she'd never let it get ruined. Almost instantly though, Lindsey felt really bad. 

"Where is she?" Stevie asks when she sees him. 

"Yeah where is she?" Mick asks.

He clears his throat and scratches his neck, "Well um, she's ugh...on her way to Pittsburgh."

"Pittsburgh, but we're in Kentucky tomorrow." Mick shakes his head. 

"She...it's complicated." He sighs sitting down, he could see Stevie visibly shrinking and the teddy bear which had been sat on the table, found its way into her arms and she was hugging it tightly. 

"What's wrong with her?" John asks.

"She hasn't felt really welcomed since day one." Lindsey sighs.

"What? She loves me though..." Mick wrinkles his eyebrows. 

"Yeah, she loves you and John, but Karen...She screamed at her for having fun on stage, and then she screamed at her when she toned it down. Karen doesn't let her in the dressing room, she uses a fucking closet as a dressing room, the crew sexualizes her every chance they get on that stupid plane. Karen made it loud and clear that she thought that Annabel should be figuring out her own way to the venues, so she did...She booked a flight to Pittsburgh and got a hotel. She'll be there for the next couple weeks while we're on the road. She'll meet up with us, she'll perform in Pittsburgh, right after though, she's getting on a plane to St. Paul. Not even staying for our set...She'll perform in St. Paul and then when we go to Kansas she goes to Little Rock. She's going home when we go to Canada. She'll stay there, commute to San Jose and then back down to Los Angeles. She'll fly with us to Vegas...but she's leaving after her set and then she's done she's going back to Los Angeles and going back to her job. She's not happy Mick and I'm not going to make my daughter do something that she's uncomfortable with. I'm sorry." Lindsey shrugs. The I'm sorry, was directed to Stevie because the more he spoke the harder she started to cry.

He really did feel bad for her, because that woman had gone through so much. Especially with Annabel, but the fact of the matter is, that his kid comes first. 

"I didn't know." Karen looks down at her plate. She had gotten an earful from Stevie after each time she chewed Annabel out. But it wasn't until the night prior when Stevie told Karen everything. About the traumatic birth, the unable to reunify, everything. 

"But Karen that doesn't matter...you don't treat a person like that." Lindsey jumps to Annabel's defense.

"It's hard, Lindsey...my job is to protect Stevie, protect her image, make sure every need she has is met. I was just doing my job." Karen sighs.

"But you were doing it in a horrible way." Lindsey states. "Look at her, is her need being met?" 

"I guess not, but how am I supposed to get her back here..." 

"You can't, Annabel has to do it herself. You'll have to promise her that things are going to be different." Lindsey shrugs.

"I can't do that..." 

"Why can't you?" Lori asks out of the blue. 

"These venues barely have enough dressing rooms for the five of them...how am I supposed to magically make a dressing room appear? You girls already share Stevie's..." 

"He's her father Karen, I'm sure they can share a dressing room." Sharon pipes in. 

"Then why didn't they?" Karen looks at Lindsey. 

"I tried Karen...really I did...but she didn't want to step on anybodies toes. She wanted to stay out of the way because she wanted you guys to like her and she figured the only way to do that was to obey and play along. You have her so scared of Stevie that she doesn't even want to meet her anymore." Lindsey states.

"Scared of me?" Stevie asks in a pained voice. 

"She's worried that Karen is an extension of you. That you feel the same way that Karen does." 

"But I don't." Stevie sobs into her hands. "She won't even give me a chance?" 

"I don't know...I really don't know." Lindsey tells her. 

"I just got her back, I can't lose her again." Stevie sniffles.

"I'm not going to let that happen. You just have to give her a chance to cool off Steph...she's our kid. She's more like us than you'd think." Lindsey nods.

"She's retreating...you and Chris both do that." Lori nods. 

"Yeah, she's retreating and she's doing what she knows. I think she wrote about five songs just last night." Lindsey tells her. 

"Well, at least she'll have a good set in Pittsburgh." Mick tries to change the subject. 

Stevie just glares at him and then she goes back to pouting and sulking clutching at the teddy bear. Annabel's teddy bear.