FicWad

Once they were back at the Ritz Carlton, Axl immediately stormed up to he and Erin's room without waiting for anyone. The supermodel followed him a moment later, looking mad. She caught up to him just as he was preparing to slam their door shut and squeezed in after him.

"W. Axl Rose," she said, "you are behaving like a child."

Axl shut the door. "I didn't ask for your input, okay? Leave me alone."

She folded her arms across her chest. "All he was doing was taking a picture. God, do you overreact like that to everything?"

His eyes clouded over. "There are rules at concerts, Erin. Like no cameras, for example."

"You could have called security!"

"I did. But in case you didn't notice, they never bothered to come to the front."

"So you felt like you had to take matters into your own hands."

"Exactly."

"Jesus Christ, Axl, the world doesn't revolve around you and you alone, you know. What you did tonight was unprofessional and--"

"So you're suggesting that every time I see someone at my concert breaking the rules, I should just go ahead and let them? No. I'm not like that, Erin. My concert, my rules. If the security in there isn't gonna come when I call, then yeah, I'm gonna do something."

"You shouldn't have launched yourself into the crowd, though!"

"Don't chastise me, Everly. I'm not your son."

"Axl, sometimes I wonder if you ever think before you act."

His fist came swinging out and collided, hard, with her left cheek. "Bet you wish I did, bitch."

"At least I can control my actions," she shot back.

"I'm not the one with no emotions," said Axl. "At least I have feelings; I can recognize them and act on them--"

"I have feelings! Unlike you, however, I can control mine."

He slapped her, and she wondered if he knew that his eyes, already naturally dark, were now almost completely black. "Shut the fuck up, Erin."

"You just can't bear to hear anyone say bad stuff about you. When are you gonna learn how to take back what you dish out?"

Axl's fist clenched again, so tightly that his veins stood out, blue and taut, beneath his pale skin. He shut his eyes and sucked in a breath as tight as his arm muscles.

"Get out of my room, Erin. I am sick of your bullshit and your whining and everything about you that I have had to put up with since April. This has been a long time in coming. Get the fuck out, and don't let me catch you near me again."

"And all over a camera." She smirked, his fist flew, and she ducked just in time.

"I'll send you your shit later." Axl glared at her until she'd reached the door. She twisted the handle, now crying a little, and said, "If you can ever coax Laurie back to your bed, you'll make the perfect couple. You're both two of the most self-centered assholes on the planet." And Erin left the room before Axl could hit her once more.

Less than a minute later, there was a knock on the door. Axl jumped up and, storming over to the door, yelled:

"Fuck you, bitch! If you think that I'm gonna take you back like that, you are--"

"Axl. Shut up and open the door."

The lead singer was startled; only one person he knew had that hoarse, light, slightly sardonic voice. He twisted the knob and let Laurie Stevens in. She'd changed out of her dress into some Converse, ripped jeans, a studded belt, and a black Appetite for Destruction shirt that hung over one shoulder, revealing a lavender bra strap. Axl's eyes traveled over her body and he found himself growing hard. Hoping Laurie wouldn't notice, he let her in and shut the door behind her.

"So," said Laurie, sitting on the edge of Axl's bed, "I was on my way to see Slash when I passed Erin in the hall. She's got one new bruise and a hand-shaped red mark on her face. Oh, and she's crying pretty hard. Care to explain this, Mr. Rose?"

Axl's face flushed; Laurie could always make him feel ashamed of whatever he did.

"We--we had a fight."

"I inferred as much."

"She criticized what I did at the concert tonight." Axl walked over and sat next to Laurie. "And she kept antagonizing me, so I hit her."

"That was pretty ridiculous, Axl, launching yourself at him just for breaking the rules. I know the security was a bit lax, but did you really have to beat him up for that?"

And that, Lauren Elaine, is why I love you so much: you know exactly why I did it, without me even having to tell you anything.

"I--"

"Wait, Axl. Let me just ask you a question. We had arguments--we have arguments, correct?"

He nodded.

"In all our fights, have you ever once felt the need to hit me?"

He slid his gaze away. "I--you--"

"Axl, look at me." She folded her fingers into his, like two puzzle pieces; placed her other hand on his shoulder. "Have you ever hit me?"

"No," he whispered, staring into her eyes, like brown pools. "I've never wanted to."

"Exa--wait. What?" Clearly this wasn't the answer she needed to continue. He swallowed hard.

"Have you forgotten, Laur, that you and I are the same person, trapped in different bodies? If I hit you, I'd basically be hurting both of us." He reached out and stroked her cheek. "Never felt the need to, never wanted to...dammit, Laurie, I couldn't hit you if I tried." He paused. "I love you."

Her eyes flooded with tears. He brushed them away with his thumb and whispered it again:

"I love you. I've never loved Erin, you know. The best moments of my life have always been with you. When I made you leave me back in April, it was--it was like tearing out a part of my soul. I never really told you how great being with you for those two days was--"

"Yeah," interrupted Laurie, "you did." And then suddenly they were kissing, hard, passionately, with no reservations. He encircled her waist with his arms and forced her back on the bed, tracing pathways from her mouth to her collarbone and back with his lips and tongue. They undressed each other, fingers fumbling at zippers, buttons, and hooks. He moved her legs apart with his knees and set himself at her entrance.

"Ready?" She nodded, and he slipped himself into the violet heat of her, grunting and thrusting in time with the rhythm of her steady moans. They moved together, heartbeats pulsing in tandem at their cores, removing all the pain they'd inflicted on each other, fixing wounds that they hadn't been able to heal alone.

Later, Laurie lay still in Axl's arms, feeling his heart beating with hers. Their bodies were generating enough heat to supply a small third-world country; their limbs entangled like threads in a quilt.

She snuggled her head into the hollow place in his neck and fell asleep wondering how she could have ever thought that Izzy could have possibly made her as happy as she was now.