The guys were starting to really hit it big (thank you, 'Sweet Child O' Mine' and MTV), and as a result, things were changing like crazy; more money flowed in, but so did the pressure to write the next album. There were little fights with each of the guys, but they got over all of it after a while, and then they were back to work on doing something else. Lies was in the works, but it was only an EP- that wasn't going to be enough for very long, but it was a start.

It had been a while since Izzy and I had spoken; as the time went on (probably about a month or so), he was becoming more and more distant, and it wasn't just with me. He had moved into his own place, and Axl took over the apartment- Duff and Matt lived in their own houses, and the only time everyone got together (or mostly) was when there was practice or writing going on. As far as all of them were concerned, Izzy just wasn't communicating well. We were all aware that he had a drug problem, but as far as we could tell, it wasn't taking over his life like it had with Steven... he was just antisocial.

Slash and I were still living together, and things were pretty much perfect aside from Tracii's occasional angry two A.M. phone calls. It was weird; he was hellbent on 'not being forgotten,' but the rest of the guys in L.A. Guns understood that I wanted space. I didn't mind when Phil or Kelly came over to visit, as long as they didn't try to start anything (which they didn't). They all seemed to agree that Tracii was being an ass, and we knew that he would have to get over it eventually.

Tracii wasn't one to hold grudges, although he seemed to hate Axl's guts more than he hated mine or Slash's. Even if things would never be the same again, I at least wanted us to all get along and be friends in some way, even if the better times were behind us. Without him, I would never have met Slash, so for that alone, I was grateful, even if I didn't realize it when we first hung around each other.

I sat in the kitchen, staring at the blank spot on the kitchen wall, thinking about the time that Kelly and Traci were horsing around. The two of them had knocked down my favorite picture of me and the rest of the L.A. Guns guys sitting on a rotted out couch at the 'Gut Bucket.' The frame shattered and the frame cracked, and I stood there, not knowing how to react to what just happened.

Initially, my feeling was anger, but then it was sadness. It was stupid, as I could get new frame, but I didn't know of the picture was damaged, and for some reason, it meant a lot to me.

"I'm so sorry!" they both hurried out, trying to carefully scoop the picture out of the glass.

They apologized up and down, and I easily forgave them, but they still felt bad. Phil randomly gifted me a new frame one day, and I was so happy about it, but I never put it back up on my wall; I was too busy. The spot was still empty, and it would probably stay that way until I either got a different picture or if I randomly decided to rehang it.

"Hey, baby," Slash called, closing the apartment door behind himself and breaking me from my thoughts.

"I'm in the kitchen," I replied as I blinked the fuzz from my vision.

"What are you doing in here all by yourself?" he teased.

"Waiting for you to come home from the band jam session."

"Ah, well, I am back now," he confirmed, handing me a bouquet of pink and red roses.

"Slash, they're beautiful! Thank you!"

"Only the best for you, baby."

I watched him walk around the kitchen, searching for a vase as I smelled my beautiful new flowers. There was something about the way that he was moving that made me smile; he was happy about something, and it was nice to see.

"So, what's got you in such a good mood?" I asked, smiling as he shrugged innocently. "Slash, come on," I coaxed.

"Nothin', I have a surprise for you later," he purred as he took the flowers from me and kissed my cheek.

"What's going on later?"

"You'll see," he cooed, placing the now watered flowers on the table.

"Do I have to wait?"

"Yes... I mean, I can do it all now, but I think you need to wait."

"No," I whined, grabbing his hand.

"What, you wanna know now?" I nodded and he raised an eyebrow at me. "Fiiine. Get your shoes."

°°°°°°

"Can I please open my eyes?" I begged, dying to know what was going on.

"Nope- in fact," he trailed off, tying something around my eyes. "Now you can't peek."

"Slash-"

"You're gonna love it, baby, I promise."

We drove a short way, his hand resting on my thigh the entire time as the radio softly buzzed in the background, playing the Kinks and Cream, as well as a few other songs that I didn't pay attention to.

"Wait here," he ordered as he got out of the car and came around to get my door for me. "Okay, c'mon," he mumbled, taking my hand and leading me into a building.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Hm... I guess you can take the blindfold off," he teased, helping untangle the bandana from

I blinked hard a few times, trying to adjust my eyes to the harsh light of the room. Taking in my surroundings, I realized that we were in an animal shelter.

"Oh my god," I whispered. "Really?"

He nodded and laughed when I threw my arms around him. I had been talking about getting a dog for a while, saying that we should get one while he and the guys weren't on tour.

"Pick any one you want. I would guess a puppy is most likely," he noted, seeing that most of the kennels were either empty, or had puppies rather than older dogs.

We walked up and down the rows of dogs for a while until one puppy caught my eye; it was the only one awake in the kennel, and it began jumping around when we approached. She looked like a pitbull German shepherd mix, and had a reddish brown color to her coat.

"It's gotta be this one," I said, kneeling down to put my fingers through the cage wires to let her sniff me. "Oh, yeah, this one for sure."

"That's the only dog that has made any response to us at all," Slash pointed out with a chuckle. "I'll go get someone to let her out."

Once we had signed the papers, we headed out to our car, as I carried the happy little puppy, and we sat in the parking lot as he dug through his pockets for something.

"What made you decide to finally give in to the idea of getting a dog?" I asked.

"Well, I figured we could kick off our little family," he explained, blushing slightly as he continued to rifle through his pockets. "Plus, I was never against the idea of a dog; the timing just didn't feel right, y'know?"

"No," I teased. "There is never a wrong time for puppies. Right, baby?" I cooed, scratching her ears.

"What do you want to name her?" he asked, suddenly sitting still.

I thought for a moment, looking at the color of her coat again. "Lola," I blurted.

"Lola? That's cute- why Lola?"

"She's the color of cherry cola," I said with a giggle, referring to the Kinks song that had played on the way there.

"Okay, that's actually perfect... in that case, Lola and I have a question for you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Lola and I want to know if," he took a deep breath and started over. "Lola and I want to know if you'll marry me."

I didn't know what to say- I went blank for three seconds and I could see him start to panic.

"I mean, you don't have to obviously, it was just a thought."

"Slash? Shut up," I mumbled, leaning over and kissing him as I tried not to squish Lola in my lap. "Of course I'll marry you, baby. I love you. I was just so surprised," I explained as I watched his smile grow.

"I am the luckiest fuckin' guy I know," he mumbled, pulling something out of his pocket. "I was gonna try to be all cute and hang this on her collar- that's why it's not in the box, but she doesn't have one yet, and I don't want her eating it."

He held out his palm, revealing a beautiful diamond ring.

"Slash, it's perfect," I breathed. "I love it!" My eyes teared up a bit, realizing that this was for real- this was what my life was going to become.

"Good, because it's goin' on your finger," he said with a laugh. "Told you I had a surprise for you."

"True, but you didn't tell me that you had more than one," I murmured as he slid the ring onto my finger.

"Hey, don't cry," he insisted, brushing away a stray tear with his thumb. "And I'm still gonna write you that song someday," he promised before kissing my knuckles, "but this is was more important to me- I wanted to do this first."

"Holy shit, I love you, Slash."

"I love you, too, my dirty rose."

And that's the end! I hope you all enjoyed! ♥