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2 years later.....
"Slash!!" Someone yelled over the chaos of backstage after a multi-band stadium performance.
"What?!" He yelled back.
As he was handing off his guitar, the band's tour manager, Denise, came up to him holding his phone. "You got a call from Axl."
Slash smiled big and Denise did too. These calls were one of the few times Slash smiled that big.
"Thank you."
As he took the phone from her, he pressed it onto one ear and used his free hand to cover his other ear. "I'm sorry, hold on, sweetheart, it's noisy backstage. I'm gonna head to the dressing rooms."
Axl blushed on the other side of the line, still never used to the pet names. "Ok." He murmurs.
The two had been broken up, but not fully divorced, for two years now. They've fallen into steady co-parenting that allowed them to still be friends but nothing more.
They kept the same circle, but Slash has been doing his best to not be around Duff and Steven alone because he knows they're planning his murder.
He just knows it.
Izzy is a lot more tolerable, but he still hasn't forgiven Slash. None of them have.
Slash isn't looking for forgiveness anyway. He just wants to be trusted and, at the least, treated like he wasn't some fuckin' serial killer.
Slash weaves his way through the rush of sound techs, stage help, and other bands, motioning that he was on the phone to anyone who tried to stop him to talk.
When he made it to the dressing rooms, he entered one and closed the door behind him, sighing happily.
He waved at Myles and Brent, who seemed to have retreated from backstage faster than he had.
"Okay, Rosie, I'm here. Talk to me." He dropped down onto a chair next to Myles, who continued reading his magazine after giving Slash a knowing smile.
Slash had blushed, ignoring the look.
"So..." Axl starts on his side of the line, bouncing Silas on his hip as he moved around the kitchen, preparing Sydney's lunch for school the next day.
Summer was nearly here and Sydney's last day of school was a week from now.
"I wanted to talk about a few things with you, if that's alright. I don't want to take up too much time, so if you want, I can call back."
"No, no, it's alright, beautiful. We're done here anyway. At least until tonight." The name slipped out as an instinct and Slash didn't miss the looks Myles and Brent sent him. "Talk as long as you need."
Axl blushed again, looking up at Syd and River, who sat at the other side of the island doing their homework, River helping her whenever she got a bit frustrated.
"First," Axl begins. "I would like to plan some shit for the kids to do over the summer. I was thinking we could stop at a few of your shows, go to Disneyland, the beach, whatever. Duff and Izzy want to also."
River and Sydney's heads snapped up at the mention of going to Slash's concert, and big smiles take over their faces.
Axl can't help the smile he gives them back.
"Oh, fuck yeah!" Slash smiled big. "I can get you guys backstage passes and shit. It'll be great."
Axl smiles bigger.
