CHRISSY: It was maybe.. Two months later? Maybe a little longer. I don't know. Lewis left and I'd call but I never got further than his mom.

WARREN: Those times weren't actually that bad. Campbell was finally gone, Christine was.. Letting loose. The band was doing.. Okay.. It wasn't actually the best. We were nearing the end of recording Aurora. Fun times, a little hazy, good music, good drugs, decent parties, hot chicks.. Not to mention, there was nothing in between me and Chris. Except, y'know, a 40 year old rockstar.

EDDIE: Things sort of cranked up a level in that next period of time. We were almost done with the album, there was a ton of press that only cared about Daisy and Billy, there were tons of fans crowding everywhere we went, who also only cared about Daisy and Billy, and we had one groupie. Who was only interested in Warren. But, we were going on tour soon!.. So hopefully that'd liven things up, right?..

It was about 6am. Christine sluggishly wandered out onto the porch. She was holding a cup of black coffee and used it to wash down some pills. She had a thin white tank top on, with some little pajama shorts. Her hair was knotted and her makeup from the night before was smudged on her face. "Buenos días mi hermosa.." Warren jokingly greeted her. He was already sitting out there smoking a blunt, on a little swinging bench. He was wearing a hoodie on top of his pajamas, which were just his sweatpants. "I have the worst headache." She sat down beside him, putting her legs up on the bench and leaning on him. "You're hungover. You need water." He handed her the blunt. "Are you not cold?" He put his arm around her. "No, but I need a beer." She took a hit then handed the joint back to him.

There was a moment of comfortable silence. It had been a while since either of them were up early enough to enjoy the morning. The cool breeze on their faces, the birds chirping. The gentle rumble of cars down in the city as people went to work in their little office cubicles. The smell of grass floating through the air.. It was so peaceful.

"How have you been, Chris?" Warren broke the flow of dead air. "Why do you ask?" She replied. It isn't that she was trying to avoid the question or anything like that, it just seemed out of the blue, and she was curious. He shrugged, with a slight mumble of a 'no'. "We haven't talked in a while." He took a pull. "We talked just yesterday." She sort of snorted. "Well, yeah. But.. not really.. You were a total space cadet then, We haven't gotten a chance to talk while you're clear headed." He smiled softly, trying to keep the conversation from turning into an argument. "Don't get your hopes up.." she sighed, reaching for the joint. Warren never placed it back in her hand, but instead took more for himself. "Black beauties?" "Mhm."

WARREN: I wasn't trying to control her, the way Campbell had been. But I'd seen how substances affected people. How they'd affected Billy, how they were affecting Daisy, how it affected y'know, other celebrities we'd grown up with. Parsons, Morrison, Joplin, Hendrix, hell, even Judy Garland. We didn't know a lot about addiction given the time period, but it was obvious that Chris was starting to spiral. I didn't want to lose her over something that to me seemed so controllable. Obviously, I was using a ton too. But it wasn't at all on her level. We were all on something. But she was on everything.

"Well, I've been.. Good." Chris smiled, pulling out a little mini bottle of who knows what liquor and adding it to her coffee. "Don't you think it's a little too early for day drinking?" Warren played the comment off as a joke. "It's 5 o'clock somewhere." She shrugged, tucking the bottle back into her waistband. "Yeah, in Moscow. Does it look like we are in Moscow?" He reached around and grabbed the mug out of her hand with a small chuckle. "Hey!" She groaned as she sat up to grab the mug back. Warren had already set it on the little table about a foot away from the edge of the bench where he sat, so it was just barely out of reach of Chrissy. "You need water." He repeated with a smile on his face. "You're no fun." Christine sighed as she laid back down. "You think that's healthy?" "Fun things aren't supposed to be healthy." She cleared her throat and laid back down. Warren handed her the joint and they sat in comfortable high silence for the next at least 20 minutes.

"You think you'll ever quit?" Christine cleared her throat. "Like.. everything?" Warren said slowly. "Yeah." "Hell no.. This is life, man." They both chuckled a little bit. It felt like everything was in slow motion.

WARREN: I don't remember how it came up. We were high. That's probably why I forgot. ... Man, I miss drugs.

"How's stoney poney?" Warren joked, trying to lighten his own mood. "He's fine."

"You think he's the one?"

CHRISSY: I think.. I think I was starting to feel a little bit lost.

"I mean, he's a good guy and all.. But give it like 10 years.. I'll be in my 30s, he'll be like. 50.. And then, 40 and 60??" Christine thought about it. "Also, what'll he think on holidays? He'd want to visit my family in greenwich.."
"You have family in greenwich?"
"No."
"Then why would he want to go there?"
"Because I told him I was from the village!" Christine sat up. "I'm not from greenwich. He's bound to find out I lied, Isn't he..?" She pulled one knee to her chest, reaching over and grabbing the joint from between Warren's lips, placing it between her own. "God I'm gonna be 50, alone with my cats.." She took in more than usual, feeling a little bit of a burn as the warm smoke from the end got caught in her throat.

"Why are you so ashamed of Wisconsin?" Warren's face stayed blank as he stepped into uncharted territory. He had an idea of her unhappy childhood, but never understood to what extent it had gone to. They sat for what was really about 6 seconds, but felt like 50. Christine held in the smoke she had taken, then exhaled through her nose. She paused hallway though, and blew the rest quickly out her mouth. "Why shouldn't I be?" She shrugged, resting her chin on her knee. "Why would you be? I mean, it's your hometown. I love Pittsburgh." Warren chuckled slightly. Christine didn't say anything. She didn't want to start a fight, let alone talk about her upbringing. Warren got the hint, luckily, and changed the topic.

"You're not going to be 50 alone with cats." Warren tapped her shoulder. "How would you know?" Christine scoffed as she took another drag, then handed the blunt back to Warren. "You're gorgeous. Not even that, but you've got a great mind too. Hell, I'd be surprised if you aren't hitched by 35." He tried to reassure her. "Oh, no, hell no. I wouldn't want to get married. No. Because then I'd have to be a housewife. Right now it's a whole scene, it's hot, it's rock, it's great, I could do this forever with the right person, but marriage? I don't ever want to do that.. Ever. I want to live, and if I were to ever 'settle' I'd want to work. I want to get paid, earn a living.. Then maybe have a kid, but even then, I'd have to hire a babysitter or something, because lord knows the husbands don't take care of kids.. And I cannot do that, I don't know how Camila is able to do it. It's a hard thing to balance. I don't want to give up my life for a man, and I don't want to give up my child's happiness because my husband doesn't want to love them, and it takes too much out of me to pay attention every moment they need attention..." Christine sighed, really wanting a drink. "Not every man wants a housewife." Warren threw in. "And not every man hates children."

Christine just didn't say anything.

CHRISSY: In the 70s.. We were all being fed this idea of a nuclear family still. I mean, I was born in early '56.. The war wasn't good on the previously enforced gender roles and such, with women going to work and playing sports in place of the men who were off at war, so this repopularized and rebranded nuclear family was seen as a way to live 'normally' and happily again. It's what our parents were made to believe as great, so it's what we were raised on. I didn't want to be dependent, I wanted to make money, I didn't want to live based on how well or unwell my husband was doing. I didn't want to rely on a man that way. Marriage then wasn't the same as marriage now. And marriage then.. was not for me.

"Sure they don't.. I bet the same amount of men don't want a wife at all." Christine joked to herself. Warren just stared at her with the slightest smile on his face. There was no reason for his smile, he just enjoyed looking at her, and he was high off his balls.

WARREN: What I do remember, though, was we made one of those stupid pacts you see in the movies all the time now. Shit, it was original back then. Sounds stupid as hell now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the proudest of this. It's a little embarrassing but.. . I told her that if she really was scared of growing old alone, if we were still single and miserable by 40, I'd marry her. Then it'd be me, her, and her elderly cats she got when she was single and miserable at 30.

CHRISSY: He told me that he'd make sure I was never ever a housewife. He said he'd cook for me every day, and he aced home ec in high school. It was a sweet bit. He really was a funny guy, still is.

"By 40? You don't think that's too late in life to get married?" Christine chortled. "No!! We're rockstars. We can do whatever the hell we want.." Warren put his hand on her knee. "You're the rockstar." Christine put her hand on top of his, and he flipped his over in order to hold hers. "Right, because no one knows Chrissy Berry." Warren's voice rang with sarcasm, as he dropped his head back and exhaled some smoke, feeling the canyon on a molecular level, as per usual.

~~

GRAHAM: After we officially finished the recording sessions for Aurora, the same day we "wrapped", we went down to the rainbow. I think... No! We went to Filthy McNastys. I guess it's 'The Viper Room' now or whatever, but it's where we first played in LA, it was only fitting that we went again. Also, it had a no photography policy, so it was great. It was all of us, minus Billy obviously, plus a Rolling Stone. It was insane. We had met other celebrities, but I mean.. Bill Wyman. That's only one person away from Jagger and Richards!

BILLY: They went to the whisky, and I stayed home and celebrated with Cami and Julia. It was fun. We had a cake, and Julia did my hair and makeup.. I think Cam took pictures of those pigtails.

DAISY: I think we went to the Roxy.. It was all a haze back then. It was some bar that was packed full with people. I hadn't gotten a chance to see or talk to Chrissy in a while, and we had a blast together for a minute.

EDDIE: We went to the Troubadour. Mila and I had been dating for a month, but she broke up with me.. She wanted something more.. Stable, I guess. I was upset or whatever so I drank a lot at that bar.

CHRISSY: We did a lot of coke that night. Bill was able to come along, mainly because Graham and Eddie.. Well no, mainly Graham, wanted to meet him. He was at the bar all night talking to Graham, and I went off to the dressing rooms. Zeppelin was there that day. They weren't playing until 9, it was around.. Maybe 7. Don't know why I remember that, but they were there. We didn't expect to see them at all.

"So.. what's Keith like?" Eddie asked Bill as he leaned over Graham's shoulder. Graham and Bill were both sitting on stools, but Eddie was standing, holding a beer in his hand. Karen was next to Graham on the opposite side, drinking a martini that she didn't order. Chrissy and Daisy were off together, dancing somewhere with strangers. It was fun.

"Hey John, the usual please.."

"Sure thing Daisy.." the man behind the bar turned around to make the drink as Daisy caught her breath before sitting down at the stool beside Warren, who was drinking an old fashioned. "How come Chrissy wasn't at the studio today?" She asked him, as he shifted his weight so he faced her. "Oh, I don't know. She's been gone for a while. Probably with her .. stone." Warren finished off his drink as the bartender came back with Daisy's unrecognizable beverage. He ordered another old fashioned and Daisy asked for a round of shots. "Oh that's why he's here.." Daisy shrugged as she put some pill in her mouth, washing it down with a shot the bartender had just poured. "You didn't know?" Warren eyed her drink as he was trying to find out what was in it, and if it was good. "Mm-mm" She shook her head no. "Are you okay?" Daisy leaned in and scooted her stool a little closer to Warren, and further from Wyman. He was a few stools down, but just for the extra secrecy. Her voice wasn't slurring yet, but it was on the road to it.

"Me? Yeah.. why?" Warren was a little confused but answered anyway. He took a shot. "Why? You've been like.. yearning over her for like a year and a half.." she took another drink of her mystery hooch. He scoffed, "I have not." he was quick to defend himself. "Yes you have. This is the second time I've been sitting at a bar with you talking about her and the first time was a year ago." She tilted her head and stared at him with a look that made him give up the act, because they both knew damn well. Warren dropped his head back to center as he stared at the toothpick he was spinning between his fingers.

"She's going steady with a stone." Warren smiled a forced smile. "Y'know, you keep saying that, but I don't think it really matters.. Sure he's famous but there's no substance in that, she'll figure that out sooner or later and drop it.. They have nothing in common. He was born in the 30s! Trust me, I've known a 'Stone'.. And I've known a lot of guys with huge egos.. It won't work out. She's too smart and confident for him. He's too fragile and .. old." She smiled to herself as she took another shot, followed by a sip of her drink. Warren just stared at her. She rolled her eyes, again having to dumb down her words for another man. "Hes twice her age. I don't think it's going to last." She smiled. "I don't know why she even likes him in the first place.. He's old and rude.." "He cares. He's old and rude, and acts like he cares."

Warren looked over his shoulder to see Chrissy, dancing with a random man about half a foot taller than her. Maybe just a little more. He had long, curly blonde hair, and that's kinda all Warren could see. He looked at Christine. She looked so different than she had just a year ago. Her hair was shaggy and slightly knotted, she was wearing a low cut yellow halter top, with grayish brownish denim shorts, with a couple necklaces and bangles and bracelets. The same platform strappy heels as the other day. She was high on at least 4 different hallucinogens. He turned back around and drank the rest of his whiskey.

WARREN: Robert fucking Plant..

CHRISSY: Robert fucking Plant!

"How'd you like to head back to the dressing room and meet the rest of the guys?"

"Okay, that's Pagey, Bonzo, and Jonesy... the girls are Lightning and Starr." Plant walked to a little fridge in the corner and pulled out two beers. He tossed one to Chrissy.

CHRISSY: Y'know.. I actually remember it pretty well. I walked into the dressing room and met everyone. Lori Mattix, who must've been what, like.. 15? She was there. Sable Starr was there. It's crazy to look back on, I didn't even really know who they were at the time. (..) I had this low hanging necklace that had a bottle opener tab on it. I used it to pop open bottles with it all the time. Sometimes to open cans because my nails would get in the way. It was like a party trick, that wasn't really a trick. Those guys really liked that.. Jimmy Page shared his acid with me, it was great. At first.

"Who's this, Percy?" Jimmy asked. Christine was unsure as to who Percy was but whatever. She was too stunned to ask. I mean, Jimmy Page was sitting in front of her, sharing his squares with her. "Y'know, I never got her name.." Robert replied. "Chrissy." She smiled and sat on the vanity table that was against the wall. "Chrissy what?" Plant questioned her as he lit a cigarette and placed it between his lips. "Berry." She leaned against the back of the vanity and crossed her legs. "Hot." Bonham smiled. He was a little off-putting, but Chrissy tried to not judge him by his looks. Robert pulled a few vials off of a shelf and stuck them in his pocket. He walked towards the door and tilted his head for Chrissy to follow.

He walked into the neighboring but smaller dressing room, which was empty other than a mirrored vanity table, a sofa, and a phone. Chrissy walked all the way in and turned around. Robert shut the door behind him and walked up to her. He got real close as he took the cigarette out of his mouth and stepped it out. She could practically smell the conditioner radiating off his borderline gorgeous hair. He stared at her and she stared back up at him. He looked her up and down, as far as he could for being so close, as a smirk grew on his face. She leaned in slightly, sort of testing the waters, but he didn't. She paused, a little confused.

He pulled out one of the little vials and poured out a little bit of coke onto his fingertip. He put it in front of her. She snorted it, and licked whatever she missed off his fingers. He let his finger hang on her lip for a little bit, before reaching down and grabbing her hand. He poured out some more onto the back of the bottom part of her thumb, snorting it and then kissing his way up her forearm, then jumping to her collar bone.

He pushed her back against the desk as he kissed down her chest and unbuttoned the only button on her top. He came back up as he held the little spoon attached to the top of the vial to Chrissy's nose, then back into the vial, then to his own nose.

CHRISSY: I really cannot emphasize enough that we did a lot of coke.

WARREN: I remember calling Camila. For advice or whatever.

CAMILA: I told him to stop drinking before he got too hammered and did something stupid. I didn't have the time to consult him so that was pretty much all I said.

WARREN: I drank roy rodgers for the rest of the night, but told everyone they were rum and coke.

Chrissy walked out of the dressing room following Plant, but a bit more disheveled looking than he. Her makeup was mostly rubbed off, and her hair was so much more ratted from being against different surfaces. They stayed in the hallway for a bit, not really wanting to see the band. "I want to see you again." He smiled. "I have a boyfriend." She started down the hall as she reached behind her head and started to put her hair in a messy ponytail to hide the sex in it. "That's not what it sounded like a couple minutes ago." he leaned against the wall and she turned back around to face him, with a smile on her face. "Well, I do." She crossed her arms. "What's his name?" "Bill." "Bill what?" "Wyman." "Are you kidding?" "Why would I be?" "He's ancient."

Christine fell silent. "We're on a North American tour right now.. Bus leaves for Arizona tomorrow.. Come with us." Robert smiled as he walked up to her. "I can't."

CHRISSY: He tried to convince me to go on tour with them. At that time, I said no.

[There's stories of Jimmy Page trying to convince you to go with them on that tour. Did that happen?]

CHRISSY: Oh, yeah. Uh, Plant went back into the dressing room when I went back out to keep dancing, and a few minutes later Page was out trying to dance with me. I did not want to. He had this weird vibe, I know why now, but I didn't then. Well not exactly. He was a good 12 years older than me, which was nothing compared to the 20 year gap between Bill and I, but still, it was a little weird. He was 32, dating a 17 year old, trying to pick up a 20 year old who was just with his 28 year old best friend.

"C'mon, you'd be great on tour.." He smiled a gross smile. "I have a boyfriend." Chrissy started to walk away, looking for Bill. "I have a girlfriend." Jimmy followed her. "I can't go on tour with you." "Why not?" "Because I don't want to." She shoved through the people, but the drugs made the room feel so much more vast, and made her feel even more like she had no way out.

"You sounded like you were having fun.." He smirked. She stopped in her tracks.

"The walls in this place are a lot thinner than you'd think.." There was silence between them as the music blasted. "Come on tour with us." He walked up to her and held her arm in order to spin her around to face him. He tightened his grip slightly as he held her close. "No." She said, her voice hitched out of anxiety. "You'll have fun." "I guarantee you I will not." Christine tried to pull away, but he got closer, "Well then I'll have to have enough fun for the both of us."

"Hey, Chris, where have you been?"

A giant wave of relief fell over her as she heard Eddie's voice. He walked up to her and stared at Jimmy, feeling like something was off with this random man who was talking to her. "Holy shit, you're Jimmy Page." He said in more of a shocked than an amazed way. Jimmy scoffed as his arm dropped and his eyes rolled. "Yeah, man." He walked away.

"What was that all about?" Eddie asked her, as he reached over and squeezed her shoulder a bit in a comforting way. She turned to him, and threw her arms around his body. He was a little confused but hugged her back nonetheless. It was the 70s, he was a man, he was very unaware of the issues women faced on a daily basis. He was ignorant, but he wasn't stupid. He knew something happened that upset her, and he was there for her.

She pulled her head back and stared at him, feeling the need to thank him, but also didn't want to be seen as overreacting. Nothing happened. In the world she was living in, she would be seen as the one in the wrong. Even if Eddie hadn't seen it that way, the rest of the world would've. The majority would've, at least. She didn't know if Eddie was in that majority or not. For the record, he wasn't.

He stared with his brows furrowed, into her eyes. They were both searching each other's looks, trying to figure out what the other was thinking. She slowly let go of him, and he did the same, letting his hands rest on the curve of her waist, as she let hers rest on his arms. It was sort of awkward, in a sense. Eddie reached up and held her face as he pulled her in and kissed her.

EDDIE: I was sad and drunk.

CHRISSY: I was on a lot of drugs.

They kissed.

They made their way to what ended up being a storage closet as they kissed. She pushed him gently against the shelves as she held onto his collar and he held onto her back belt loops. His knees were bent so she didn't have to try and stand even taller in her platformed heels. They gave her an added few inches, and she was already tall, so he didn't have to adjust too much. Christine pulled back suddenly. "You have a girlfriend." She realized, her brows furrowing. "You have a boyfriend." Eddie shrugged. "That's different." She was quick to reply.

He rolled his eyes and let his head drop for a moment. He looked back up at her. "We broke up." He blinked. "Oh no, are you okay?" "Chris." "Right, sorry." She went back to kissing him. She started unbuttoning his shirt, as his fingers, which were rough from playing bass, danced around her torso and slowly towards her top, unbuttoning the single button. They were pressed up against each other though, so Eddie really didn't get to see anything. She got his shirt open, and started kissing down his torso. "Let's not tell anyone about this.." He hummed as she worked her way back up towards his neck, nodding slightly, understanding he wasn't as open about his sex life as she was.

"Warren would kill me." He mentioned as she pulled away again. "What's up now?" He looked confused. He really was an idiot.

"What, does Warren own me or something?" She was sort of appalled. "No, it's just that.. It's been kind of established that you're his girl and.. I don't know, it's complicated, let's just.." he kissed her again. She pulled away quickly though. He searched her face, still confused. Her brows were furrowed. She buttoned her button before speaking, "You're a fucking jerk." She paused for a response, didn't get one, slapped him, and stormed out.

She walked back out to the dance floor as she bumped shoulders with Warren. "Hey, have you seen Eddie?" He asked. "I don't know, ask him yourself."

"Chris, no, wait, I didn't mean it like-" Eddie cut himself off when he saw Warren standing there. Chrissy was gone. "Man.... what did you do.." Warren sounded sad, in a way. He didn't really know how to feel, or why he felt upset. But he was.

Chrissy searched for a trusted person who she knew she wouldn't have drama with. Her first thought was Billy, but as she hazily remembered he was not there with them, she searched for Daisy, but was relieved when she found her way to Karen who was sitting at the bar, talking to Graham. "Have you seen Bill?" she asked her, sounding sort of panicked. "He left, I think he got annoyed of the guys and their stupid questions." Karen smiled, before actually seeing Christine. "Hey, what's wrong.." She put her drink down and turned completely towards her. Graham watched, ready to offer support if needed, but not trying to be unwanted-ly there either.

CHRISSY: Bill ended things later that week because he found out I was hanging around with Zeppelin that night. Rob had been calling me, and had sent me a package with some tickets and a shirt and a backstage pass for each of the shows they had been doing in my proximity. It was only.. I don't know. 4. 5 shows? It was still early on the tour. He really wanted to see me again. Anyways. Bill. I think he knew I had lost interest as his age became more apparent to me. He said by keeping things open, he just wanted to have sex with other people, not actually talk to them outside of that. I think he just wanted to be with other girls, and didn't want me to be with anyone but him. He was a dick anyways, he didn't care about me. I should've ended it way sooner..

"He left?" "Yeah, he did." Karen held Christine's hands. "Can you take me home? Please?" Christine blinked, feeling guilty taking Karen away from the party, but really needing to just get out of there. "Or no, can you take me to a hotel, actually?" She realized she lived with the problems. "No, no, I'll take you to the cabin we've been renting, you shouldn't have to pay for a hotel." Karen looked over to Graham, who nodded. "I'll get a ride from Ed. You go." He smiled. "No, no I couldn't. I can stay at a hotel, really, it's fine." "No, look, we have a spare room. It'll be like a free hotel, you can have some alone time without the 50 dollars a night." Karen smiled as she hopped off her stool. They left.