All In The Name Of...

Us and Them

[A/N: I seriously need to start updating faster than this, ugh... and this is such a filler chapter, I'm sorry ;-; ]

"You hadn't listened to the Supersonics at all, then?" Dj laughed as I told him, James, and Nikki about my day with Trixie yesterday. James laughed tiredly as well, doing his best to try to be his happy-go-lucky self. Nikki, who had never listened to Sonic's new band either, looked downright horrified at the way I'd described it.

Shaking my head, I made a dramatic shudder. "I'd been happily avoiding it, actually. I wanted the band together, not some new bullshit; I live in denial, Ashba." Dj patted me on the head and sighed, still chuckling quietly. "I didn't know she'd gotten that bad, though!"

Nikki glanced over at Dj, raising an eyebrow. "How do you know so much about this shit?" It came out a little more menacingly than Nikki'd probably meant it to, but Dj ignored his tone of voice.

"Listen, Sixx, I'm a die-hard for this band. When they broke up, I kept tabs. I never met any of them until I met you, Stella, but that ain't the point. It's kinda like how I keep up tabs on Mötley Crüe." At this point, I knew enough not to look at either of them. The Crüe had fired Vince back in February because apparently he valued race cars more than his music. Personally, he had begun to remind me of Axl.

Against Nikki's wishes, of course, I still talked to Vince. Every once in awhile he'd call me. He had a little girl now with his current wife, Sharise Ruddell, and her name was Skylar. When he'd asked me to go visit her for the first time, he'd already parted ways from Mötley, but that didn't really matter to me. Nikki had lost his mind, though; after that, my friendship with the singer had to be secretive.

"I'm gonna go get a drink," James mumbled, walking off into my kitchen to diffuse the obvious tension. Nikki nodded in agreement, following his friend. That left Dj and I to ourselves, since Axl was upstairs happily sleeping, despite the fact that it was almost one in the afternoon. "So, when you guys get your band back together, is it gonna be a public thing, or are you just gonna keep it in secret? Y'know, just all of a sudden, drop an album and let the world eat it up?" 

Giggling at the guitarist's excitement, I shrugged. "Who the hell knows," I admitted. "I'd never even thought about keeping it to ourselves, but that's a damn good idea, I gotta say." Dj smiled at me giddily, like a little kid who just couldn't wait for Christmas. 

Despite the fact that it was one o' clock in the afternoon, my husband finally decided to make an appearance and wake up. He looked hungover and tired as hell, even though he'd slept all through the night and the first part of the day. Immediately, I stood up to give him a morning kiss on the cheek, which he was surprisingly receptive to. He could be a grouch in the morning if he wanted to be.

"Morning there, sleepyhead," I greeted him quietly, and he laughed. He snaked an arm around me and grinned, wishing me the same. "Axl, this is Dj Ashba," I suddenly introduced. "He's the guitarist for that project I'm helping Sixx on. His singer, James, is in the kitchen with him, getting a drink." Dj stood up to shake Axl's hand, and they introduced themselves to each other. Dj looked a little starstruck, and Axl just tried to seem more lively than I knew he was.

Raising an eyebrow, Axl commented, "I'm surprised he didn't ask you to sing, actually." It was the first time he'd actually said something about the fact that I wasn't the singer, which gave me a bit of surprise. "I mean, you're really damn good at it." I blushed a bit at the compliment, but shook my head politely. 

Shrugging, I replied, "I'm actually kind of glad I'm not. I don't think my voice is quite right for it... I gotta say, if Nikki thinks James has the right voice for the job, then I trust him." Axl just watched me curiously, so I added, "But I'm sure he's not as perfect as you are, love." Axl let out a small, adorable laugh. "Well, you are the best!" I kept going, and he kissed my cheek in return.