A/n: Sorry in advance, but updates will be getting slower (I'm not sure when the next update will be, but I do plan on finishing the story). Uni is a lot more important than fanfics, so that's what I need to focus on right now <3
Sharon Rose snuck down the stairs, feet sticking to the floor as she tried to walk gracefully into the kitchen to the phone attached to the wall. Her short-shorts rubbed against the inside of her thighs; she shuffled across the living room, twisting and turning around the furniture and finally into the kitchen.
The kitten print on her shirt gleamed from the refrigerator lights as Sharon opened it, gripping a plastic carton of strawberries and popping it open; careful as can be. Munching on the first one she picked up, she grabbed the phone, the ringing sounding through the receiver.
Lifting up the bottom of her shorts, Sharon read the number written into her skin, pumping it into the dial. She'd written it with a pen two days ago; it had almost rubbed off in the shower this afternoon. It rang in her ear, phone squished between her head and neck, while she continued to eat.
"Hello?" came the sound of the man on the other end. It was almost four in the morning, and it would be seven in New York, where Axl was. He left last night, the day after he, Lita, and Sharon had gone out. A quick few shows - he'd be gone a week at most, but Sharon needed to call, to get something off her chest.
"Hey Dad," she whispered into the phone. The carton of strawberries moved around in her hands, the sound irritating. "I wanna ask you something. It'll be real quick."
"What is it?" Axl asked, yawning. He'd just woken up to the sound of his phone ringing, but seeing that it was Sharon made him unbothered, unlike if it was anybody else. And so Sharon told him of the plan she'd conjured up after they all came together, after he'd hopped a plane across the country at the worst yet most opportune moment.
"I really don't know about this, Sharon. Are you sure this is what she means?" Axl reacted to the situation as she had expected he would. Though internally, he hoped it to be true, things were never in Axl's favor it seemed, so he could not bet all his cards on one option.
"I'm sure. You know what else I was thinking?" Sharon whispered into the phone. She explained wanting to set up another outing between the three of them, only disguising it as such, and really having it be a date between her parents, with Sharon off in the distance somewhere watching. Only her and Axl would know.
Ф
Axl came back on the 22nd, and, once Sharon had begged him into agreeing, they planned something for the next night. Lita thought the three of them were getting together again, more time together as a "family" like Sharon wanted. Lita would comply if it meant making her daughter happy, and that was what she thought she was getting into.
Sharon left early, saying she'd meet them two later and had to "pick something up" quickly, so as to arrive late, or not at all, and leave her two parents to themselves. Axl waited at the table, dressed nicely, having arrived early so that he could catch her. The sun had already set and he'd been there for at least one hour.
In the distance, Lita Monroe walked in. She wasn't dressed as nicely as the previous time they'd come together, but it was good enough for Axl, who thought she looked like the most beautiful woman in the room. Casually, a hostess led her over to the table.
A look of confusion came over Lita, and she looked right and left. In the corner, Sharon ducked down, hiding away from her mother's sight. Lita stuttered, asking, "Where's Sharon? She said she'd be here before me." She looked around again, eyeing the heads of the woman around her, the bathroom door, to see if Sharon would come into view.
"She'll be here eventually," he said nonchalantly. "I think she was just running late." He smiled and opened up the menu, looking through the lists of wines and cocktails, beers and hard liquor. Lita did similar, her eyes not stopping the sporadic movement. He knew that Sharon would not be coming, off in the distance, likely watching them, and he smirked internally.
They engaged in small talk: conversations here and there about what they were doing, Axl's trip over to New York, and much more. It was obvious throughout, though, that there was a tension. Both Axl and Lita felt that there was something unspoken that, if spoken, would reveal the truth that neither had the courage to speak. The tension was lustful and building up faster and faster; something had to happen soon, action or word.
"Are you with someone?" Lita mumbled, sipping on her sparkling drink and looking toward the table. Axl, as awkwardly as he could, acknowledged her question. The answer was no, of course, for either of them, but it was the confirmation they both needed.
They talked very distantly about that, going off course here and there. Lita didn't want to hear of Axl's girlfriends after her; Axl didn't want to hear about Lita's boyfriends following their end. And suddenly, like Lita had before, Axl had to interject with what was probing his mind.
"I've been meaning to ask you about Sharon - if you could, I want to know more about her childhood. What was she like? I really want to know her, you know, and I think part of that comes from understanding her when she was younger." At the mention of her daughter, Lita jumped into a ramble about Sharon after the divorce: her toddler years, first days of school, all of the big milestones.
Throughout the conversation, they both revealed the imagery, even once the dinner and dessert had come and Lita no longer cared if Sharon showed up. By the end of dinner, Lita didn't hesitate to invite Axl back to her home in Beverly Hills, where Sharon wouldn't be, where she could further explain things.
It was not sexual, no matter what the implications seemed. He followed her home and together they sorted through the same boxes of photos that Sharon had found years and years before. This time, Lita shied away from the pictures of her and Axl, Izzy and the rest of the boys, and the Use Your Illusion tour, instead showing off everything taken post-divorce.
Photos of her birthdays (five, ten, sixteen, and more), graduating highschool, and multiple pictures of Sharon with her uncle Christopher during all of these events.
"I couldn't bring myself to see you both," Axl admitted, sitting with her at the dining room table, sorting through stacks and listening to stories. "I'm the reason she's been misguided and without a father. I can't bear the thought of that, and - Lita I want you to know - I am going to spend the rest of my life making it up to her, for what I have missed due to insecurity."
Internally, Lita wanted to believe him and give in. But not just yet; it was too soon. "Well... I'm not sure I can forgive you for abandoning her, Axl. But now I understand why you did it, though that's not an excuse, and from there we'll have to work things out."
"I'm ready to do everything I can in my power," Axl said, lips quivering, "for Sharon." He and Lita could co-parent, could be friends - all for their daughter. In the moment, all Axl wanted to do was lean into Lita, hug her, and cry into her breast in thankfulness. He did not give into the temptation, but it was hard not to. Lita was similar; she could kiss him as a thank you for giving an explanation, anything was better than nothing.
They both secretly wanted to give in, but didn't. Just yet.
