Book 3: You Don't Want My Love (Slash FanFic)

Ch. 14: Out Ta Get Me

My sleep was restless, my dreams nonexistent. Sleeping sitting up in a hospital chair proved to be about as comfortable as you would think, and I kept waking up throughout the night with a crick in my neck and aching muscles all over.

Every time I'd wake up to shift into a more comfortable (but really not that comfortable) position, I'd peek over to see Axl snoozing like a baby, looking completely at ease despite the shitty circumstances. Then again, he'd been on tour up until now, so he was probably exhausted enough to be able to knock out just about anywhere. That didn't stop me from being annoyed that he was able to enjoy his rest better than I was, and I found myself making as much noise as possible whenever I'd get up to piss or when I moved around to find a better sleeping position. Despite my attempts, I was impressed to see that he didn't budge an inch, and instead continued to enjoy his much-needed rest.

You'd think he was the one in a coma, I mused, kicking the leg of his chair as I walked by and returned to my own chair. He didn't even flinch.

A few nurses came in throughout the night to check on Steven, but other than that, the room was still until morning. Just as the sun was beginning to rise, Steven got another visitor. It was Steven's mom, Deanna. She was a lovely little woman with poofy brown hair and a wide, Steven-esque smile. Back in the day, the entire band had pretty much accepted her as our impromptu mother. Even Axl loved her and used to obsess over the homemade eggplant parmesan that she'd whip up especially for him. She'd come over to do our laundry or to leave us with some delicious meals. She never could stick around for long though. She was a clean, tidy woman, and our place was too much for her to even look at for too long.

Deanna, despite her love for us, didn't seem all that pleased when she noticed me and Axl in the room. It wasn't necessarily a feeling of hatred that resonated off of her, but rather a feeling of utter disappointment. I think that cut worse than if she'd just flat-out hated my guts. Still, she greeted me with a warm hug and an obligatory 'how are you?'. It made me feel like a real sleaze. Luckily, Axl remained K.O.'ed, so the visit wasn't even more awkward than it needed to be.

She stuck around long enough to drop off some 'Get Well!' cards from the rest of the Adler Clan, and to sit beside Steven's bed and hold his hand for a while, reading the cards to him in the hopes that he could hear her no matter how far away his mind currently was. After a while, I felt uncomfortable, like I was intruding upon some intimate mother-son moments. I excused myself with a mumbled apology and stepped out of the room to grab a coffee.

As soon as I closed the door and turned to head down the hallway towards the elevator, I was met by a few pairs of eyes staring directly at me. Eyes I hadn't expected to see for a long time.

One set belonged to Izzy, his patient stare gleaming back at me from under a curtain of greasy black hair. I could see his roots beginning to grow out, turning his hair a soft chestnut brown at the scalp. Although his face didn't look nearly as sunken in as it used to, he still had bags under his eyes like he wasn't sleeping well.

Beside him were chocolate orbs that belonged to none other than Duff McKagan. Duff, once tall and lanky, was beginning to look more and more bloated. His skin was reverting back to when he was younger; greasy, bumpy, almost sickly. He looked out of place in his leather and denim outfit, sitting in this pristine white hallway. Then again, I suppose we all did.

"Oh," it slipped out of my mouth before I'd had time to think of something better to say. "Uh...hi, guys. Here to see Steven?"

What a dumb question. No, they're here to make sure Axl is doing okay. Of course they're here to see Steven!

"We were going to..." Duff began, growing more fidgety by the second.

"But we saw Deanna was already in there," Izzy finished for him, giving me an apologetic shrug. "We didn't want to upset her even more, so we figured we'd wait until she was finished."