Waking up in California was without a doubt the best part of my week; for once, we were somewhere I was more than a little familiar with, and I couldn't be more excited to be back in my beloved city- not even when I came back from Indiana the first time.

Being home meant I had a little more freedom- granted Izzy tried to be a hard-ass on tour, but generally I could do what I wanted. Now, the freedom I was getting was different; being home meant not having to live on a schedule, or living off of a bus rider, hoping someone would tell me the time of bus call- and not worrying about accidentally being left behind.

It was semi-fortunate that the guys were still oblivious to the fact that Slash and I had a relationship, but that caused one hard part: making plans to meet up on break.

Sure, it wasn't that hard- maybe a whisper here, or a note there, but the rest of the guys were nosy. Through eavesdropping and snatching things from each other's hands, there wasn't really an easy way to go.

Slash had somehow managed to slip a note into my suitcase- that much I knew because I'd seen him do it. When Izzy saw him lurking around my bunk, he blamed it on a missing lighter, brushing it off.

"We're dropping you off first," Duff informed me, winking at me, which was weird, but alright.

"Uh, okay?"

"Yeah, we know how much you miss your other Guns guys," he said with a snort.

"My other what? Oh my god," I gasped, realizing that I had once again dropped off contact with the guys in L.A. Guns. Fuck.

Tour had me busy, and I didn't really have time to call and chat- besides, they were probably bitter as hell with me for leaving in the first place. Luckily, our last conversation went well, but who knows how seeing each other in person would go.

"Tell Tracii that I said 'fuck you,' alright?" my brother joked from the other room.

"I'm going to guess that's not as much of a joke as you're letting on," I mumbled, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, not so much."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Slash glanced up, trying to hide behind his curls as he watched what was going on. I knew that he was going to be worried, after all, the guys were always at my house when I was around; the only time they weren't around was when I either kicked them out, or when they were rehearsing at their beloved 'Gut Bucket.'

I quickly shot Slash a nervous glance, wondering if the note he had slipped me had any insight as to what his plans are- or were. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought about my other friends dropping in unannounced, and that would make trouble for us, as my apartment was where we had planned on spending time together without getting caught.

"Well, great," I said, yanking my suitcase out from under my bunk, which happened to be the bottom one. "Looks like we're almost there."

"Yes, ma'am," my brother said, sitting down beside Duff with a sigh.

Looking around to make sure I wasn't leaving anything behind, I noticed Steven staring blankly out of the window, as if he was in a trance of some kind.

"Hey," I whispered, trying to get their attention. When they didn't look, I whispered it a bit louder. "Hey!"

"What?" Izzy answered with an annoyed sigh, he and Duff both staring at me.

"What's up with Adler?" I asked, coming closer to make sure that Stevie didn't hear me ask.

"Nothing," Duff said quietly, rubbing his nose as a hint.

"But it's that bad? I mean, he's like a vegetable; he doesn't even respond anymore. He used to be the smiley goofy guy, and now he's totally out of it," I mumbled, subtly pointing over my shoulder at him.

"It's gotten worse lately; now we have a little more money for him to spend."

"Well can't you guys say something?"

"We've tried. Slash is the only one that can really get through to him, but he's off doing his own thing, too. We can't either of them to snap out of it."

"Yeah, unfortunately," Izzy.

"Wait, what do you mean? What's Slash doing?" I inquired, being careful that he wouldn't hear me either.

"You really wanna know what he's doing?" Duff asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes, still under the impression that I hated him.

"I asked, didn't I? Izzy knows that I like knowing everything that's going on," I mumbled with a shrug, which my brother confirmed with a nod.

"Well, I'm not so sure on him, but he's hiding something. He disappears sometimes, like when none of us are doing anything that he needs to be around for. He'll go off somewhere and come back all sweaty 'n' shit, like he had a bad trip or something- but he's still as happy as can be."

"I think it's a chick," Izzy mumbled, picking at one of his nails.

"And why would you think that?" I asked, kneeling in front of them.

"Oh come on, he comes back happy and sweaty. Most dudes don't seem like that after a trip of any kind. He's gotta be meeting up with girls or something."

"Hm. Why don't you ask him?" I suggested with a laugh, calming down a bit; I had been worried that he was doing drugs like Steven, but they were just suspicious of him sneaking around, which, technically, he was... with me.

"He'll never kiss and tell," my brother assured, raising his eyebrows pointedly.

"Then the world may never know," I said dramatically, standing up as the bus began to slow.

"Now, get your shit and get out," Izzy teased, standing up to help me with my suitcase.

"Ew, don't touch me," I joked when he hugged me. "Bye, guys!" I said, waving to each of them as I walked off of the bus, and up to my apartment building.

Taking in a deep breath of the Los Angeles air, I sighed contentedly; I was home, and everything was going to be fine.

°°°°°°

After putting my suitcase down and relaxing for about a half an hour, I decided to dig through my suitcase to find the note from Slash.

I was about to give up seeing as I hadn't found it after looking through the entire suitcase twice, when my phone rang, the now unfamiliar sound startling me.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey," Slash's raspy semi-drunk voice came through.

"Oh, hi," I said, unknowingly smiling at the sound.

"Did you find it yet?" he asked.

"If you're referring to the note, then no. Where the hell did you hide it?"

"I- hold on," there was a muffled brush against the phone, and after a second he was back. "Sorry, Steven passed through. Anyway, I put it in your makeup bag."

"My- really?" I asked, laughing as I looked at the zebra print bag that was sitting on my couch.

"Yeah," he mumbled with a soft chuckle. "I figured that would be the last place anyone would look of they were being nosey."

"Well, you figured right; I hadn't even thought of looking there."

"Then I did my job."

"And you did it well."

"Rae, I miss you already," he whispered.

"I miss you, too, Hudson... The L.A. Guns guys haven't popped up yet, otherwise, I'd boot them out and give you a call," I said with a laugh.

"We'll work it out. I was hoping that we would sooner, but- well, whatever. You'll read the note," he said.

"Okay. Hey, what happens if I try to call and someone else answers?"

"Uh, I've been thinking about that one. I still don't have any ideas. But anywho, we're having a party thing over here tomorrow, and it'd be cool if you came."

"Hm, party as in?"

"Just a few people- for starters, then we're gonna get some people recruited for a video."

"Oh, that's cool," I mumbled, feeling the burning sensation of longing grow every time I looked at my makeup case. I just wanted to know what the damn note said!

"Yeah. Izz'll probably call you and ask you to come, but it's whatever. If he does, it's the first time you're hearing of it," he reminded.

"Of course. Well, I have to go unpack, and read your note. Thanks for calling," I laughed, "I would never have found it."

"No problem, doll. See ya around."

"Yes, you will," I assured, smiling as we hung up.

Scrambling over to my makeup bag, I unzipped it, dumping its contents onto my bed, pulling out the note.

"Carolina Rae,

Well now we're home. Hopefully we can find a way to see each other- your place? I know we talked about it before, so it's probably a good move. I don't know if they told you, but we go back on the road in 6 (I'm pretty sure) days. Axl is being a pain in the ass about you, but don't worry; we'll get you back on the bus one way or another (I'll fight him if I have to). We need a plan.Hope we can meet up soon, babe.

-Hudson"

I shook my head, smiling at the note. Although it was nothing fancy, it was still nice, and his little mention of fighting Axl made me laugh.

He had even included a little doodle of he and I at the bottom of the page; his obviously looked like him; it had his curly hair, as well as having his sunglasses and top hat. Mine had my long hair in front of my eyes, and he had emphasized my lips (which held a cigarette between them) and breasts, making them 'show through' the shirt that he had drawn on me.

"I'll be saving this," I thought to myself, folding the note back up and putting it in the drawer of my nightstand.

°°°°°°

"Wakey, wakey, baby Bell!" screamed a voice, accompanied by someone pouncing on me at three in the morning.

"What the fuck?! Get off of me, you ass!" I growled, shoving Tracii off of me and to the floor, where he landed with a thud.

"We missed you," he whined, climbing back onto my bed as the rest of the guys materialized out of the darkness of my apartment.

"Guys, what the fuck?" I grumbled, rubbing my face as they all sat on my bed, crowding me. "Ugh, that's some vampire shit."

"What is?" Phil's voice rang through the blackness of the room, his accent familiar to my ears.

"How you guys just pop up out of the shadows."

"Sorry, wicked habit; works on ladies that leave their windows open at night," he joked, turning on a lamp.

"Oh, Jesus," I groaned, covering my eyes.

"So how was the tour?" Kelly asked, hovering over me.

"Great- Kell, can you please get out of my face?" I asked with a tired laugh.

"Sorry," he mumbled, backing up a bit. "We missed you like crazy."

"Yeah, we did," I heard Mick say from the end of my bed.

"I missed you guys, too. I didn't realize how much we always had going on, otherwise I would have called a lot more."

"Nah, it's all good; you're home now," Tracii said.

"Yeah, for a bit."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"It's just for a few days or so, then we're going out on the road again."

"Well that sucks... we had plans," Phil whined.

"Now I can ask, what do you mean? And where the hell is Steve?"

"He's at a lady friend's house," Tracii said with a laugh.

"Yeah, and we were planning a big party," Kelly mumble.

"Oh, great! Way to ruin the surprise, Nickels," Phil scolded.

"I did not. And Besides, now she can help us reschedule."

"Not the point, mate; it was supposed to be a surprise. Now she knows, and now-"

"Philip Lewis, shut your mouth," I whined as they continued to argue. "It's fine. Do you guys always have a knack for being over at my place in the early morning hours?" I asked after looking at the clock.

"Only when you're home," Kelly answered, winking at me as he moved his legs so that Phil couldn't sit on the bed.

"Really, Kelly?"

"Hey, bad knee," he responded with a shrug.

"Boys, please. I'm exhausted from tour; I need sleep."

"Well, sorry," Tracii said. "When did you get home?"

"Like eight hours ago. Please, just let me sleep!"

"Okay, okay. Your wish is our command," Mick said from his perch at the foot of the bed. "Let's go, guys. We'll see her later," he mumbled as they all began to stand up, Phil turning off my lamp.

"Night, Carolina," they each said as they filed out of my room, and exiting my apartment.

"Hey, Rae?" Kelly asked, stopping in my doorway, the golden glow of the hallway highlighting his silhouette.

"Yeah, Kell?"

"We're glad you're home," he said softly, a faint smile on his face. "We missed you."

"I missed you, too," I said, watching him quietly close the door behind himself, allowing me to fall back asleep.

Sorry about the slow update! I've been on vacation and without my computer, but I'm back now!