FicWad

After Laurie ran out of Axl's life for the second time, the lead vocalist just sat on his sofa for a while, partially stunned, partially furious. He rubbed his stinging cheek and wondered fleetingly why the hell he hadn't hit her back.

How had that conversation gone wrong? Axl had planned the whole thing out earlier; he'd even sort of dreamed about it on the flight. He'd thought Laurie would agree with him--after all, they ran just short of sharing a brain stem--and that she'd leave peacefully, so that he could have a relationship with Erin and she (Laurie) could just be his background singer and they could maybe occasionally say "hey" to each other or something; they could be acquaintances.

Oh, how fucking wrong you were, he thought angrily to himself, pressing his palm to his forehead. Sitting here now, post-argument, Axl realized that Laurie had been right once again; they could never be "just friends", not in a million years. Not after everything they'd been through together in the past. Just staring at her still made him hard occasionally; kissing her in the hotel room earlier had, of course, been pure bliss.

I should have just told her I'd drop Erin and marry her or something. I shouldn't have told her that I didn't think we could work it out. We could, if we really tried. Look at how long we stayed together the first time. We're both older now; and at least Laurie is more mature than before. What kind of potential does this relationship have? A whole fucking lot more than I'm willing to give it credit for.

Axl lifted his head from his hand and was surprised to find that he was crying, hard, his cheeks wet like the earth after Noah's flood.

Fuck, he thought, getting up with effort and walking to his phone, if she has this strong of a hold on me, maybe it is better that I stopped what we had going before it could get too deep. Then he lifted the phone off the hook and dialed the hotel where he knew Erin was staying now.

When they'd connected him to her room, he cleared his throat; then, with almost no guilty qualms in his chest over what he was doing, Axl said, "Hey, Erin, you wanna stay over tonight?"

~~~

When Laurie arrived at the hotel where she wanted to stay to hide from Axl, she curled up in one of the large chairs in the hotel lobby, still sobbing. A concerned desk clerk walked over to her and asked if she was okay; she shook her head no and buried her face in the crook of her arm.

How can he expect me to let this just boil over peacefully? Laurie wondered. How can he expect for us to be able to coexist without either fighting constantly or holding each other, safe with the knowledge that we'll be making love almost every night? I may be a good actress, but I'm not that good. I can't pretend to never have known him better than anyone else; I can't live a false life like that. And I definitely can't watch Erin take him over like the fucking parasite that she is.

She wondered if Axl would be able to find her here and concluded that she no longer cared. She doubted he'd go looking for her anyway; clearly he didn't give a shit about her or her personal well-being. In fact, Laurie realized, Axl Rose probably would not care one iota if she just up and left the tour right now.

Laurie was about to get up and go ask the desk clerk for a room when the hotel doors opened again and a familiar voice called out, "Hey, Laurie!"

She turned in surprise to see Izzy Stradlin walking towards her, arms outstretched in anticipation of a hug. His old-fashioned bowler's hat was hanging crooked over one dark eye; his hair stuck out in soft tufts below it. He was wearing his usual get-up: a black vest and white shirt; black pants; black dressy shoes. Laurie got up and hugged the rhythm guitarist with a strength that surprised both of them. It wasn't until she pressed her face to his chest that Izzy noticed she had been crying.

"Hey, Laur," he said softly, tilting her face up to his with his fingers, "what's wrong?"

She stared into his eyes, so deep, so trusting, and burst into fresh tears all over again.

"Oh no," said Izzy. "C'mere, honey." He led her to a chair and sat down with her in his lap, completely ignoring the fans that were starting to gather around at the edges of the lobby. "What happened?"

Between sobs, Laurie managed to squeak out the whole story to Izzy--minus a few details, of course. When she was done, he was silent for a few seconds, then he said softly:

"That bastard. He had no right to say that to you. You and Axl have always been perfect for each other. He's doing that on purpose; he has no idea that in trying to avoid hurting you, he's actually wounding you way more than he ever would have otherwise."

Laurie was surprised; usually Izzy, Axl's oldest friend, had nothing but good things to say about the vocalist. If he ever thought anything negative about the frontman, he kept it to himself.

"But Izzy...what if he's right?"

The guitarist locked eyes with Laurie, looking fiercely protective. "No," he said. "Axl may be right about a lot of things, but this is one mistake he's making that will only hurt him in the long run." Then, without warning, he enclosed his mouth over hers: full, strong, and slightly softer than Laurie had been expecting.

After a while, they broke apart and stared hard into each other's eyes.

"Damn," Izzy whispered, "I did not mean for that to happen. Laur...I'm sorry."

"Don't be," said Laurie. "Consider it your way of helping me get revenge on Axl."

"But Laurie..."

She shook her head and kissed him again, trying as hard as she could to ignore the swirling feeling in her gut that something was seriously wrong with kissing Izzy Stradlin. After all, he was practically her brother; he was like Axl in many ways, but at the same time he was nothing like the lead vocalist...which basically meant he was nothing like Laurie Stevens either.

"C'mon," she said when they'd parted the second time. "Just take me back to your house, okay?"

The rhythm guitarist sighed, but got up and, pressing his hand into Laurie's, walked out with her, back to the waiting taxicab he'd taken to get there. He knew perfectly well that what he was doing was wrong, both morally and friendship-wise, but at the same time...he'd been sexually attracted to Laurie ever since he'd first met her in 1985. Then he'd squelched it because he could see that Axl wanted her, and what Axl Rose wanted, he usually got. He'd never thought about her, and generally found it easier that way. But seeing her crying in the hotel room had been too much; Izzy hadn't been able to help himself.

It doesn't count, Izzy thought as he climbed into the taxi after Laurie. Now that Axl has officially declared her "off-limits" to himself, I'm free to take her if I want her. Right?

Still, he couldn't ignore the strange sensation in his stomach that there was something wrong with doing this, something that went beyond the boundaries of just the fact that he was Axl's best friend. Kissing Laurie didn't feel like he'd always imagined it would; it felt strange, wrong. Not that she was a bad kisser, just...

Ignore it, he thought as the taxi sped out onto the Los Angeles freeway. You've finally gotten what you wanted. You finally have something Axl will never have again. You aren't running in his shadow anymore. You got Laurie; this is what you've always wanted, now be happy.

But was it what he wanted? And what, he wondered nervously, would happen when Axl found out?

Because, as Izzy knew all too well, W. Axl Rose never gave up anything without a fight.