One More, Always More

She watched them evolve into what the world saw them- Guns N' Roses. And whether she was there or not, she felt each step of their victory to success along with the fouls that they battled through. To her, no matter what happened or how many covers took their place, they will always be Guns N' Roses, forever and ever.

10

Good and Bad
1987

Guns N Roses were halfway through their sixteen month tour for 'Appetite for Destruction', once again Nicole was going to spend her holidays with the band. It was great to be able to see the guys within such a short time, it only meant it would be awhile before she could have her holidays again because the timing was so close together but she thought it was worth it. After all those years, she was finally getting the chance to come along for one of the band tours. It wasn't for the whole sixteen months, only three weeks but it was better than nothing and the location….

"We're in Brazil baby!" Steven picked Kelly up, his energy filling up the bus as they drove to the city for their first concert. Nicole watched the sweetheart couple, they were acting like old times and Nicole was almost positive that Steven had gotten a hold of his using – the smiling Kelly was enough proof.

Izzy was another situation, he wasn't as wild like he used to be. He was still silent as ever and stayed watching on the side lines. She figured the guys were alright with letting Izzy do as he wished because he still went on stage each night and rocked out the tunes.

Lately, the mans attention was on their bus driver. Nicole moved from her seat next to Duff and ungracefully flopped down beside Izzy, his knee bouncing while his eyes flickered from the coke bottle in hand to the back of the driver's seat. "You should just go up front and chat to her." Yes, their bus driver happened to be female which Axl wasn't that please about when the manger had to quickly find a replacement as their original driver was ill at the moment.

"When did you start giving relationship advice?" Izzy's voice was soft, reminding her of the times they use to sit at the skate park and he would give her advice with Slash – a relationship that seemed to be doomed from the start.

"Wait, you're thinking of getting into a relationship?" It was something that the guys hardly went for, these days it seemed to be turning into a regular thing – Nicole tried to not pay attention to the chuckling from the blonde and the lead guitarist on the other side of the bus. She could positively say that Izzy had never really had a real relationship, woman on the side but nothing serious.

Izzy shrugged his shoulder at her question. "Just someone to talk too."

"You've spoken to her before?" Her answer was a shrug of his shoulders again. "And you want nothing else from her?" Nicole didn't believe that there was no sexual attraction there.

"Yes, she's attractive." He said it as if it was a secret.

"Then why not do something?" Nicole didn't understand what the problem was, the woman was beautiful in her cow girl kind of way- her hair was a very dark brown with tanned skin and hazel eyes.

Izzy checked for the lead singer's distance, satisficed to find him at the back of the bus. "I wouldn't put it past Axl to try something." At Nicole's questioning expression he continued. "It's always a game to see which one could get the girl, we always do it."

Nicole slumped against the cushions on the seat – Men and their stupid games. At the thought, she glanced across the bus to the new passenger on tour, Renee. It had been a few months since she had last seen the group and found out about the newest woman that Slash was bedding, now the woman didn't seem so new.

"Maybe you should go talk to him." Izzy threw her words back at her and she shot him a glare.

"Maybe you should shut up." Nicole tipped back the beer in her hand while a laugh escaped the man beside her, making her own smile appear on her face.

"What are you looneys smiling about?" Duff called from down the bus, his cowboy hat placed on his matted blonde head.

"You!" Was Nicole's answer to the giant.

"Me?!" Duffs voice came out high pitched as he swayed slightly in his seat as the bus went around a bend. "Are we having an earth quake?" Nicole couldn't help but laugh at Duff's question. The man got up, making his way to the mini fridge in the middle of the bus.

"You better be grabbing a coke McKagan." Nicole couldn't see his face only his back but she heard the snort. She probably sounded like an old lady, she would like to get Duff sobering up the time they reached their destination. Nicole did spot the coke bottle along with the Jim Bean in Duffs lap when he sat back down, she was glad to see only a touch of Jim Bean went into the glass.

"Hey Axl, where we headed?" Steven yelled to the red head down the bus.

"Sao Paulo." Axl said calmly as he painted his finger nails dark blue. Nicole thought it was strange for a male but over the years she had learnt that Axl had his own fashion style like no other.

"I want to go Rio." Steven said as he leaned his head back, looking at the scenery go past the bus upside down. The man sounded like a child, reminding Nicole of the one or two times that the Adler family had gone on a family holiday.

"That's the next stop." Was Izzy's response to the drummer. The trip continued with everyone talking about the things and places they wanted to do in Brazil - it was a chance of a lifetime to come over here so they figured they might as well get the best out of everything.

Unfortunately their first night in Sao Paulo didn't go quite as planned when they were walking home. Everyone was tired of been cooped up from the bus trip so they decided to go out for the night and ended at a club a few blocks away from their hotel. Nicole couldn't remember the last time she had so much alcohol, her mind felt numb emptying the thoughts of stress at the hospital and seeing Slash and Renee joined to the lips throughout the whole night.

As they walked down the streets, it was close to three in the morning leaving the street bare expect for the eight people slowly making their way. She was leaning against Izzy, he seemed to be the most sober out of them. She could hear others around her, Axl was in front of them with a Brazilian woman and Duff slagging not that far behind Izzy. It wasn't until she heard Steven swearing soundly that she pin pointed where her brother and Kelly where. Steven was hunched over holding his hand, leaning against the light post. "Why'd you do that?" Kelly was kneeling beside him in laughter, the alcohol effecting her. Steven wasn't in much better shape, a large goofy smile on his face as he held his hand up.

Nicole's training kicked in, her mind slowly processing what was happening as she walked over to her brother. "You alright Steven?" She bent down to his height and took his hand into her own, feeling the muscles and bones of his hand. She suddenly stopped, her brain sending warning signals. "I think we should go to a hospital."

"Nah." Steven shook it off, he mustn't be feeling the pain with all the alcohol in his system.

"We are going." She spoke as if she was speaking to toddler. "Izzy, could you give me a hand?" Instead of the lanky rhyme guitarist, Slash came to the other side of Steven and helped Nicole get her brother onto his feet and started back for the hotel so they could find a taxi.

Nicole along with Izzy, Duff and Slash spent three hours in the emergency room. If it wasn't for their manager Alan, they would have been stuck their much longer as they got in before some of the people who had been seated there when they arrived.

They were soon stepping from the hospital with Steven's hand in a cast, he was still unsteady on his legs making Nicole realise that her brother probably didn't realise what he had just done. Not only had he broken his hand but he wouldn't be able to play the drums. Alan would have to find someone to replace him for the rest of the tour.

Nicole couldn't wait to get to Duffs room after the nights events. They made their way down the hallway, she needed to get away from the whole Slash and Renee show for a bit and Duff knew exactly how, what to do for that to work.

Duff opened his door and she followed him straight to his bedroom to the bedside table, pulling out a clear plastic bag that held white substance – cocaine. Duff spread some out on the table and pulled an empty pen from his pocket before leaning forward and taking a snort. Nicole couldn't stop the chuckle that sounded from her as Duff's head rolled back from the sudden hit. He passed the empty plastic to her and she repeated his actions a couple of times before falling back on the side of the bed with Duff.

She could feel the substance working through her body and mind as she turned on her side, watching the rise and fall of Duff's chest and his thick eyelashes. Without her thinking too, her hand reached forward and brushed some of his blonde hair out of the way. He turned to his side, their noses almost touching as his eyes took in Nicole's fair skin with few freckles spread across her nose, and her skin seemed to almost glitter. His moved forward to get a closer look, only for their noses to bump and steal his attention away to the feeling of his nose rubbing against hers. Ever so slowly without acting thinking but enjoying the effects streaming through his body he leaned down and kissed her lips for a good few seconds before pulling back abruptly. "Um…" Nicole looked just as confused as he felt in that moment. "You're a… good but let's not do that again."

"Yeah…same to you." They stared at the ceiling, her mind still cloudy as she tried to understand what just happened. Duff was nothing but a friend, a brother – she scrunched up her nose revisiting the kiss. "Never again." She saw Duff shaking his head in agreement from beside her. "I really can't be fucked getting up." Her legs felt like jelly along with her brain.

"Then don't, I don't take that much room on the bed." The queen sized bed was big enough for the both of them. "I'll stay this side, you that side." Nicole nodded her head in agreement to Duff making the room spin in circles before closing her eyes for a nap.

"Hey Duff! You ready man!" The lead guitarist said from outside his friend's door, when no response came he twisted the door handle to find it unlocked and walked into the room. He went straight for the bedroom but didn't make it any further then the doorway because of the two bodies intertwined in the sheets of the bed. Slash couldn't believe what he was seeing, surely it was some kind of a nightmare, finding his best friend and ex-girlfriend in bed together. "Are you fucking kidding me!?" His voice was loud enough to startle the two bodies in bed awake, Slash didn't dare glance in the direction of Nicole. "What the hell Duff?!"

The calmness from the cocaine had left Duff's system a while ago, his thoughts catching up with Slash looking ready to murder him while Nicole seemed frozen beside him. "Slash," The lead guitarist starting shaking his head before turning around to walk out. "Dude, it's not what it looks like!" Duff jumped up out of bed, his clothes still intact as he raced into in the room and catching Slash by the arm. "We-" His sentence was cut short as Slash swung around and punched him in the nose. Duff landed on the ground from surprise, clutching his hand to his bleeding nose as he watched Slash slam the hotel door.

"Duff?" Nicole slowly came outside of the bedroom, approaching Duff with caution as if expecting the man to start abusing her. "I'm sorry."

The woman seemed close to tears and Duff couldn't stand seeing women cry, let alone their Nicky. "No need to be sorry Nick, it's my fault as much as yours." She wasn't singly handed to blame for the mess they had somehow got themselves into.

Nicole left Duff alone for a moment, went to bathroom to grab a towel and washer. She knelt next to him, putting the towel in his lap as he hung his head down. She ran a small wet clothe across his cheeks and forehead to relax him and wipe the blood away. "We fucked up didn't we?"

Her voice was so soft that Duff almost didn't hear it. "It shouldn't be a problem if we did sleep together, Slash has Renee." Even when he said the words, Duff knew they weren't correct – Nicole was one of them. And whether Nicole realised it or not, she would always have a special part within Slash's life.

AN: Comments and Reviews are always welcomed