Raven woke up suddenly, the sun shone brightly through the window and particles of dust swirled through the rays of light. She sat up slowly, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She was 21 weeks pregnant now, and her belly was massive. She looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table, which read 10:54, and fell back onto her bed tiredly. The noise of chatter drifted through the wood of her door from downstairs, making her wonder who was here and wether or not it was one of the boys.

There was the sudden sound of a loud shatter like glass breaking, a shout of "ah, fuck!" In a voice that could only be Izzy Stradlin's, and then the sound of at least two other people laughing. Raven rolled her eyes, imagining the scene in her head. She could vividly picture the look on Izzy's face when he broke it. Her black cat mewled and crawled from the end of her bed towards her, headbutting her hand gently as she held it out to stroke his smooth black fur.

"Hey Lupus!" She yawned, Lupus meowed and rubbed his head against her arm, she ran her fingers down his back, and discovered a leaf and a thorn caught in it. "Aww, Lupus, you need a brush." She giggled.

Lupus climbed up on top of her belly, his light weight pressing down gently. The twin babies kicked at him wildly and Lupus' big green eyes became very wide and he arched his back. Raven cracked up laughing, grabbing the animal and lifting him gently down to the carpeted floor. Still smiling, Raven sat up in bed again, yawning and then got up. As soon as her feet touched the floor she knew something was wrong. Maybe it was something in the air, or perhaps the shag rug beneath her feet felt wrong for one reason or another, all she knew was that something was very wrong. The feeling lived deep in her gut, lurking stubbornly there and making her feel nervous.

She got dressed quickly, worry tugging at her heart, and she made her way downstairs. Izzy, Slash, Axl and her father were in the kitchen, Slash was seated on the table, shirt unbuttoned and showing his bare chest, Izzy was sweeping the last of the glass into a dustpan for the bin and Seymour Cassel was leaning against the kitchen counter, smiling.

Slash was the first to notice her.

"Well good morning sunshine." He greeted.

"What's so good about it?" She frowned, crossing her arms,

"Somebody's grouchy!" Izzy smirked from near the bin.

"Shutup Izzy." She responded, a gentle smile spreading irresistibly across her face. Izzy always did have that effect.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Her father asked.

"Um, I dunno... something's just off today." She told him.

"What are on about, woman?!" Slash smiled, teasing her.

"Well, Mr. Saul Hudson- something tells me that today is gonna bring some real bad news." She replied,

"Oh really? Like what?" He asked,

"I have no idea, I guess we'll just have to wait and find out, huh?" She told him.

"I guess so." Slash smiled. Suddenly the phone hung on the wall began to ring, and Axl turned to pick it up.

"Hello?" He said, there was a few moments of silence, and then he said,

"Hold on, Steven- what did she do?" He sounded concerned, even a bit panicky. "Wait a second- she- the police?" He sounded both outraged and fearful, and was twirling the spiral cord between the phone and wall cradle nervously. "But I didn't!- What?- No, Slash never layed a finger on her!" He exclaimed. "Okay, I'll work it out- no- okay, thanks Stevie." Axl hung the phone back on the wall.

"What was that?" Slash asked, sounding concerned because he had been mentioned in Axl and Steven's conversation.

"Remember that girl at the party that I had sex with?" Axl said, and everyone except Raven's dad nodded or said 'yeah'. "Well- she went to the police- Slash... she's tryin' to get me and you done for rape." Axl fidgeted with the hem of his 'malburo' cigarettes t shirt.

"But I didn't even touch her!" Slash exclaimed, also sounding upset and a little angry,

"I know... what do we do?" He asked,

"You both need to go and get a lawyer and attend the court hearing. You didn't do anything wrong and you shouldn't run from it. Just go and deal with it in the right way and you'll do fine." Raven told them, hand resting on her stomach.

Axl looked at her for a moment, blinking slowly, then reached forward and pulled her into a hug. The twins kicked at him madly, making him chuckle and step back slightly, placing a hand on her stomach. They kicked at it too, and then one of them moved away, back towards Raven's body, followed by the second twin.

Axl grinned and took his hand away and Raven smiled back at him.

Week 25 (four weeks later)...

Raven layed the table with one last plate of biscuits and stepped into the loungeroom to check it over one more time. Today she would be holding a baby shower for the twins with all five of the boys, their girlfriends and Slash's mother and grandmother as her guests. They would arrive any minute now and Raven was very pleased with the set up. First, everyone would come into the loungeroom, where she had tea and coffee set out on the coffee table for them. They could have a talk about baby names and motherhood and other mundane subjects, then Raven would bring out more snack stuff for them to eat and a few more drinks as the afternoon progressed. Knowing the Guns N' Roses boys, it was going to be alot more fun then it first sounded.

There was an in ground pool out the back that her father had built after his acting career had really taken off, and he had even offered a barbecue, so Raven decided that she would serve nibblies and then everyone could go outside to have the barbecue. She had told everyone to bring along their swim wear too, so that they could swim.

There was a knock at the front door and the sounds of voices drifting in to where Raven stood. She moved towards the door, one hand gently on her baby bump, the other by her side. Upon opening the door, she discovered Slash behind it alongside his mother and grandmother.

"Hello!" His grandmother stepped forth first. "My name is Ola, Ola Senior." She introduced herself, holding out an age withered hand.

"And I'm also Ola." Slash's mum added. Slash grinned out from under his mass of curly hair and held out a gift wrapped box.

"I'm Slash. What's your name you fine thing?" He winked. Raven scoffed and ruffled his mass of hair as if he was a child.

"Love you, Slash." She smirked,

"Love you too Rae Rae!" Slash exclaimed, while his two relatives stared at them.

"Oh, don't mind us, we have have a- special- sort of relationship." Raven smirked and winked.

"Don't tell me you're the one who knocked 'er up?!" Ola Senior exclaimed, leather handbag dangling from one of her arms.

"No grandma, Raven has never been touched by any of the band." He said,

"Oh. Well- where's the father?" She asked, looking around as though she expected a man to come bounding around the corner and reveal himself as the father. Raven bit her lip hard.

"Um- no, grandma- it was one of those- ugh- drunk mistakes." Slash's voice got quieter as he spoke, as though he was speaking some sort of secret, or profanity. Ola senior looked very embarrassed,

"Oh. Oh no, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, eyes wide.

"It's okay, you didn't know." Raven smiled gently,

"Okay, so- let's go inside!" Slash suggested cheerily, and Raven stepped aside so that they could get past her. She noticed the bottle of jack daniels in Slash's hand as he stepped over the threshold, and rolled her eyes, having expected as much from Slash.

Raven led them through to the couch, where they sat down and began to make tea and coffee. Just as Raven had put the gifts on the end table next to the couch and taken a seat next to Ola, there was another knock at the door. She rose to answer it.

"Hey, Raven." It was Axl, and beside him was the fragile figure of a little woman with dark, wavy hair. Raven smiled at them, and accepted the gift that Axl was holding out to her,

"This is Erin." Axl introduced the woman beside him. She was holding his hand and smiled at Raven,

"Nice to meet you. I've heard heaps about you, Raven." She said,

"Really? Like what?" Raven responded,

"Oh- only good things, of course!" She smiled, Raven laughed and beckoned them inside. Right at that moment, Duff pulled up. His girlfriend had to work today, so he was alone in that respect, but as Raven waited by the door, she could see Izzy climbing out of the car too. They had a gift each, and Izzy looked tiny beside Duff's tall frame. Raven greeted them at the door, thanking them both and directing them to the lounge. Both Izzy and Duff had alcohol with them. Raven placed these gifts upon the end table and took a seat in one of the armchairs placed in a circle around the coffee table. Steven was due any second, and everyone else was sitting around drinking coffee or tea or alcohol and having a really nice time. Everyone was laughing and cracking jokes and Raven had sat down near Ola, whom she began to talk to about being a mother.

"Oh, it's hard work but it's worth the effort. There'll be times when you wish that you never had kids, but in the end it all works out and all the hard work pays off." She smiled, and dunked a chocolate chip cookie in her coffee.

There was yet another knock at the front door, and Raven opened it to find Steven leaning heavily against the doorframe just to stay upright. He held out his scotch and tried to take a swig from the gift wrapped object in his other hand.

"'Ere ya go-oh!!!" He slurred, hiccuping at the end of his sentence. It was pretty pathetic.

"Aww shi- it... sorry!" Steven said, holding out the present instead, realising his mistake. Raven took it, frowning,

"You're drunk." She stated.

"No I'm not!" Steven slurred, smiling. He hiccuped again.

"Steven. You are drunk and you're going upstairs right now to sleep it off." She demanded,

"Geez, girl. Cranky today or what?" He laughed,

"Yes I fucking am. You turn up to a baby shower absolutely piss drunk, I have Slash's grandmother in the loungeroom and Axl's new girlfriend Erin, and you're in this state?" She growled.

"Aw no biggie. You act like they've never seen that shit before." Steven waved his hand dismissively.

"It might not be unheard of, but I've invited you and it's embarrassing that you show up like this." She tried to keep her tone calm as she spoke.

"Fine. I'll just go." He said tightly,

"You are not driving a car like this. You'll get yourself killed. Come back inside and go to bed." She told him. He angrily walked past her, she snatched the alcohol from his hand as he did, and he stomped upstairs.

Raven walked through to the loungeroom, dropped the gift from Steven onto the pile, and then flopped onto the couch grouchily. She took a deep breath and composed herself, then turned and began talking to the others. Nobody seemed to notice that on the inside she was still pretty cranky, and she was happy with that. Half an hour passed and the sausages were ready, so she directed her guests to the outdoor chairs and table to eat the barbecue lunch her father was serving up. She sat down in one of the plastic chairs, and was soon joined by Izzy, who sat on her right and Duff on her left.

"So Raven, what's gotcha down?" Izzy asked quietly while the rowdy bunch that were her guests filled up the seats around the table.

"I'm not down. I'm fine." She told him, slicing up one of the sausages on her plate.

"Don't fuck with me, Raven, you're all tense and angry!" He murmered, she scraped up a bit of sausage and some of the salad onto her fork and put it in her mouth. She wasn't in any way shocked that he knew. He was a very observant person when he wasn't drugged or drunk, and he could read almost anybody well, Raven especially. Izzy put a hand atop one of her own, stopping her next scraping action and effectively gaining her full attention.

Raven glanced up into his knowing hazel eyes and caved in.

"It's Steven. He turned up here piss drunk, and when I told him what an embarrassment that was to me, he patronized me and scoffed." Raven muttered to him, only loud enough for him to hear. "He's upstairs sleeping it off as we speak." She added. Satisfied, Izzy turned back to his food, and after swallowing a bite, Raven heard him say out of the corner of his mouth,

"I'll have a word to the inconsiderate idiot." And, suprisingly, Raven felt quite a bit better about her situation and was able to enjoy her meal.

After everyone had changed into their swim wear and had a dunk, Raven opened her presents from them. She had recieved a wide range of things, from baby oil to blankets, and she was really happy for all of the gifts. After a little more time together, it was about time to go, and her guests said their goodbyes and left. All except for Izzy. He went upstairs, returning forty minutes later with a smile.

"I don't think you'll have any more Steven problems, thanks for the invite!" Before he bid goodbye and made his exit. Raven was sat on the couch with her feet up when she heard Steven's footsteps on the stairs.

"Raven, I'm sorry." He stood before her, "I've been a jerk and I missed the whole thing. I'll be sober at your events from now on." He said,

"It's okay Stevie, thankyou for apologising and thanks for the present!" She smiled forgivingly,

"I'm gonna go home now, so I'll see ya around." He told her,

"Yeah, bye!" Raven smiled, nodding. Steven made his way outside and she heard his car engine start and the sound of the tyres as he backed out and sped off.

Thank the devil for Izzy Stradlin.

Thanks for reading, I moved house just recently so I haven't had internet much, and school's been, in one word, overwhelming. What did you think of the chapter?