FicWad

“She’s sick . . .” Duff said, shaking his head.
“No, she’s sick, jealous and mental,” Izzy correct one of his best friends as he shook his head.
“Thanks guys,” She said quietly, smiling a little at Izzy and Duff who smiled a little back.
“We'll take care of her. I’m literally going to force Axl not to book another tour until she’s locked away, safe and sound. You have my word on that Vanessa,” Izzy reassured her and Vanessa smiled weakly.
“Thanks Iz,” She said and smiled weakly at him again.
“It’s nothing. I never really liked Stephanie that much anyway,” He said, waving his hand. “A little too airheaded to me,”
“When I’m fucking through with her, she’ll wish she never saw me rear my ugly head again,” Axl growled from the window.
“Axl quit it! Your fiancé is in the hospital and your already plotting your revenge on Stephanie! Just relax man,” Slash told him, laughing a little. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his arm around Vanessa’s shoulders.
“I just can’t wait to get my hands on her,” He vowed darkly, his hands shaking.
“Dude, we’ll worry about that later. Right now, we’re worrying about Vanessa in case you haven’t noticed,” Steven said, holding his hand out to Vanessa.
“Don’t be such a fucking smart ass,” Axl said coldly as he turned around and walked over to Vanessa. “The doctor says she’s healing physically, but it’ll take a while for her mental status to heal completely,”
Tell me about it, She snorted inwardly.
“You lost the baby and got your ass beat into the ground by goody-two shoes, all in one day too,” Slash joked, a grin on his face.
“Shut up, I can still beat shit out of you,” Vanessa and Axl said at the same time.
“We better go. Give Vanessa some resting time,” Duff said and they all said bye to Vanessa and Axl before leaving them.
“Axl . . .”
“Yeah babe?”
“When I get out of here, we are going to kill Stephanie, in or out of court,” She said and he snorted.
“Now your speaking my language babe,” he said with an evil grin.
*
“Shit . . .” Duff muttered as he took his cell phone away from his ear. He turned a corner while looking at his phone. It read, ‘Dead battery’.
“Shit . . .” he muttered again. “I knew I should have recharged that fucking battery before I left the house! Note to self, next time, listen to Alicia,”
He then felt a swift blow to his head and he crumpled to the alleyway’s road. He felt someone then flip him over onto his back and he gasped in shock at who it was.
“Your fucking mental . . .” he gasped and the person smirked as its grip tightened on the lead pipe it was carrying.
“I’m a person wanting revenge, and your just the person to start with,”
*
“What?!” Izzy, Vanessa, Axl, and Slash at the same time. Steven nodded grimly.
“Yeah, Duff’s in the hospital,” He said. “Heard it from Doc yesterday,”
“Why?” Vanessa asked him as she swallowed a lump steadily growing in her throat.
“He got hit upside the head with a lead pipe, just like in Clue!” He told them.
“That’s bullshit! You have to kidding me!” Axl said. “What am I going to do without a bass player?” Vanessa gave him a dirty look and elbowed him in the ribs painfully.
“I wish to Hell I was. He’s been given something for shock but he isn’t talking to anyone, not even to Alicia.”
“D-did he say anything yet?” Vanessa asked and Steven nodded.
“Yeah. He said to whoever that did that to him, ‘Your fucking mental’,”
“Anything else?” Izzy asked him and Steven shook his head.
“Absolutely nothing,” He replied and Vanessa thought for a moment. “Let me go see him,”
They looked at her. “What?” Axl said, looking at her in shock.
“Let me go see him. I bet I can get him to talk. You said yourself Slash, that I’m the only one that can keep a leash on him,” She said and Slash nodded.
“You know, she may be right. I bet you almost anything that it was Stephanie. If we get him to talk, and it turns out that it is Stephanie, talk about the time she’ll do,” He agreed. They all nodded in agreement except for Axl. He instead glared at her.
“I don’t know . . .” he said uneasily.
“Axl, even if we wanted to do something, me and Duff couldn’t do anything while he’s in a hospital bed with nurses and doctors surrounding his room,” She said as she walked over to him and kissed him. She smiled weakly at him and left the room.

She walked quietly into Duff’s hospital room and he looked at her. “Hey . . .” he said quietly and she smiled a small, comforting smile.
“Hey Duff, h-how you doing?” She asked him and he nodded and looked down before looking back at her.
“I’m doing okay I guess. Got my ass kicked by a girl but other than that, I’m perfectly fine,” He replied quietly as he looked back at her. It was like he didn’t even have the strength to speak any louder.
They then entered an awkward silence and she wiped away a tear off her cheek before she went over and hugged him. He hugged her as tightly as he could without hurting himself any further. “I-I love you so much Vanessa.”
“Oh, you don’t know that for sure Duff.”
“Oh yes I do. I love you so much it hurts just to think about you, let alone see you. Every time we’re alone together like we were in the hotel room, it brought back memories, so many of them.” He said and she broke apart and looked at him. He wouldn’t let go of her hand.
“Duff we can’t go back to our old ways. I love Axl now. I will never walk out on him again like I did. We have a child together!”
“Yeah, a child that’s really mine! For God’s sake Vanessa, forget about Goddamn Axl for once!” He said. He had a look of pleading in his eyes as he spoke. “Dammit Vanessa, I can’t handle the pain of not having you anymore. Its so fucking unfair. He cheated on you with another woman and you take him back the moment he hands over his heart to you?
“Goddammit Vanessa, I handed over my heart to you the day you found out he was cheating on you . . . willingly too. Whether you know it or not, that’s hard for me to do to a woman,”
“Duff I cheated on him too . . .” she tried to say, and weakly at that.
“Yeah and with me. Vanessa I’m a human too. I have feelings and it’s not illegal for me to love you more than I love my own girlfriend,” He said. “I just want to cause Stephanie as much pain as I possibly can to her for hurting you and our baby. I love you that much. When you walked out on him you walked out on misery. Vanessa the days I saw you, the nights that I made love you, you were so much happier without him. You were happier just being with me. Believe it or not, you were much happier being in my arms in my big brass bed, than being in his,”
His girlfriend stepped in the doorway just as Duff pulled Vanessa to him and kissed her. “Duff, no . . .” She said weakly as she tried feebly pushed him away; but his grip was still too strong.
She didn’t know why she was fighting him, she didn’t want to fight him, not anymore at least. He looked into her eyes and moved aside a lock of her hair. “Just chain me then. Tie me to the whipping post and have someone lash my back until it’s fucking raw, I don’t care Vanessa. That won’t stop me from seeing you. I’ll still love you more than anything. I’ll still worship the ground you walk on. Not even Axl would be able to keep me away. I’ll sleep out in the rain. I’ll even fight Axl to the death, anything for me just to hold you one last time,” He whispered as he continued.
“Vanessa, I’ve been wanting to be worth something to you since the day you cut off our relationship. I thought that with you and Axl’s relationship gone down the drain that maybe we would have something together, but you ran off and married some multi-millionaire,”
“Duff . . .” she said but she couldn’t finish her sentence for his mouth covered hers again in a passionate kiss. His girlfriend choked back a sob and left the room as Vanessa returned his kiss. They broke apart; his face inches from hers.
“I love you and I always will,” He murmured.
“I love you too Duff,” she whispered back as she returned his kiss.
*
“I hear you and Duff shared a little kiss when you were seeing him at the hospital today,” Axl said stiffly as he stood in the bedroom’s doorway. She was sitting at her vanity table, brushing her hair and turned around when she heard his words.
“Where did you hear that?” She asked him quietly and he shrugged.
“His girlfriend saw you and she - you know what?” He said, getting off track. “Why do I even bother with you anymore? Your doing the same thing you did to me four years ago. When in the Hell will you fucking learn?” He asked as he turned around and left the room. She got up and ran after him.
“I’m sorry Axl, truly I am. I was confused. My mind was telling me no but my heart was screaming yes on the top of its lungs,” She told him.
“Well I can’t marry you if your going to cheat on me again! Its that fucking simple,” He yelled angrily and she nodded and sniffed. It was obvious that he was hurt badly. History was repeating itself. The history he wanted to forgot more than anything. The history he wanted to bury and forget forever.
“I know it is, but Axl, I love you and Duff both,” She sobbed. “I can’t help it. I don’t know why I love him so much,”
“Pick which one you love more then,” He said coldly. It felt like just when her wings were finally mended, he snapped them again.
“Axl, I remember thinking how much I missed you when we were having sex that one time. I remember never wanting to leave you. But I just had to go home to Brandon. All that time I was fateful to you. I never had sex with Tommy on those days. I saved myself for you every night,” She told him and he stopped walking. She felt like he was listening to her intently. “Axl, this may sound weird but when we divorced, the only way I could have sex with Tommy was to pretend he was you,”
A little white lie never hurt him.
He sighed. “Vanessa . . .”
“Axl please . . .” she begged him. “For Christ’s sake, we can work this out like we did the other kinks and problems. Axl I need you, I’m scared,”
He shook his head then and turned around to look at her. She was standing at the top of the stairs and he was standing at the bottom. To her, it was just like the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Only the topic was straying into divorce waters, she could feel it, instead of the promises to love one another for eternity.
“Vanessa, I-I just don’t think we’ll be able to work out this one,” He said quietly, his voice breaking. She swallowed and shook her head.
“Dammit, I just want to try Axl,”