FicWad

In the morning, Axl woke up and was surprised but pleased to find that Laurie was still with him, her head pressed into the hollow space of his body. He kissed her hair and lay his chin on the top of her head, breathing in the sweet combination of Dove soap and rainwater shampoo and wondering how he could have possibly gotten so lucky.

A few minutes later, Laurie woke up also, her cheeks flushed with sleep. Her eyes brightened with happiness at the sight of Axl lying so close to her; a slow smile stole its way across her face and she reached out and ran her fingers through his red-gold hair.

"You're still here," Axl whispered, touching her side.

"You sound surprised," murmured Laurie, laughing softly. For a while they lay still, flush against each other, feeling the hard planes of Axl's body mold with Laurie's soft curves, then the lead singer asked, "What time is it?"

Laurie rolled over and looked at the clock. "Eleven-thirty."

Axl nodded and opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could, there was a knock on the door.

"Who the fuck--?" Axl disentangled himself from Laurie and swung his legs over the side of the bed, reaching down as he did so and pulling on his boxer shorts. As Laurie pulled the bedsheets over her shoulders, he walked to the door and opened it.

Standing there, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, was Slash.

"Hey, man," said Axl. "What's up?"

"Lemme in," said Slash, and the lead singer did so. Slash dropped his bag and acknowledged Laurie with a nod.

"So, uh...that riot you caused last night--"

"I didn't do that, they did!" Axl looked at Laurie for support, but she just arched one eyebrow and turned up one corner of her mouth in a half-smile. The vocalist let out an exasperated sigh and folded his arms across his chest. "Well, whatever."

Slash exchanged a secret we-just-got-Axl look with Laurie before continuing:

"That riot you caused last night has put us into a huge heap of shit. They wanna sue you for property damage and injury to human beings. We need to get out of the States."

"Evading arrest," said Laurie excitedly. Slash laughed.

"Not really, more like 'getting the fuck out before the authorities catch us'."

"Like I said, evading arrest," repeated Laurie, and Slash laughed again.

"You and Laurie get dressed and pack; I'm gonna go tell Matt and Dizzy and Duff and Izzy. We'll meet in the lobby and go to Europe or wherever we're scheduled to hit next."

Axl nodded and walked Slash to the door. As he was leaving, the guitarist paused and leaned against the frame.

"You and Laurie," he said in a low voice. "Did you two--you know--hook up last night?"

Axl chuckled softly. "Yeah. And it was fantastic--"

"Spare me the details; she's my sister and I don't want to know!" Both men laughed for a bit, then Slash said, very seriously:

"So you're back together? Permanently?"

"I hope so, man."

"No more drama and fighting, like last time?"

"Well...this is Laurie and I we're talking about here; I can't make any promises. But yeah, I think that, for now, everything is nice and smoothed out between us again."

"Good. I--I just don't want to see you hurt each other anymore. I know how much you love her 'cause she's just as crazy about you. Just--be gentle with her."

"Emotionally, or--"

"Emotionally and physically, yeah."

"I have never hit Laurie in my life! And if you're talking about us making love--"

"You know she's been sick, man. That's all I'm saying."

Axl sighed. "Yeah. I know. All right, I'll take care of her."

"Good." Slash nodded and, picking up his bag, left the room. Axl shut the door after him and crawled back into bed with Laurie.

"Jesus, Laur...d'you know how happy I am to be with you again?"

She smiled at him, resting her head on his shoulder, intertwining their fingers together. "I know. This is wonderful."

After a while, Axl straightened up and, kissing Laurie on the side of her neck, headed into the bathroom. "C'mon, baby, let's start packing."

Laurie got out of bed and picked up her clothes from the previous night off the floor. As she snapped the hooks on her bra and slipped on her underwear, her fingers ran across her stomach. There was a faint curve there now, a small bulge at her waistline. She traced it with her long nails, then stepped into her jeans, slipped her shirt over her head. She knew she should take everything Axl had to offer while it was still available, because, she figured, it wasn't too long before he realized that her stomach wasn't just getting rounder from food.

And once he figured that out...well, Laurie knew, she might as well leave the tour forever, because there would be no way in hell that Axl would ever take her back again.