Chapter 30

He took a deep breath as he walked towards the dining room. He was so angry about what just happened, hell he was just angry. His entire life was a joke, a lot of it his doing and some of it not, but he couldn’t take it out on people. True Dot had done something pretty bad but over the years had he not done just as badly? He didn’t know about the immortal thing and he had let her think he had moved on. He had then cheated on their marriage a time here or there, hell to be honest a few more than just a time or two. She had forgiven him time and time again. She had taken his life and made the best of it, Although she had went about it the wrong way, she had given him years of love from four beautiful kids that he may not have had. It was time to suck it up, be a true man and let it go.

Turning he walked back into the living room a determined look on his face. If you dance to the music you gotta pay the band and now was his turn to pay. “Dottie,” his voice was soft as he addressed the woman standing in front of him, “I shouldn’t have blown up at you. I know you want to know how I figured everything else out, but honestly it doesn’t matter. You gave me those kids, you called them mine and well genetics be damned they ARE mine. I helped raise them and I love them just as much as if they had come from my own body.”

He held up a hand stalling any words that would start. “Let me finish here Dot. Our live has been a joke from the start. I married you under false pretenses, I’ll admit to that now, and I can’t be angry at you for doing at least as much as I did to strain things. Hopefully we can work this all out peacefully, amicably. We can figure things out as we go along. Even the best family man in the world can one day find himself in a place where the catch all phrase irreconcilable differences lives. I’ll move out, the kids shouldn’t be uprooted. I’ll go to the New York apartment. It’s still close enough for me to see the kids and take care of what I need to take care of.”

Dot looked at him curiously, surprise coloring her eyes. “What changed Jonny? Why was it all a joke?”

He sighed softly, a faraway look in his eyes. “Twenty years ago, when we left for Vancouver, I met someone. I was crazy in love and then I lost her. I was devastated, it nearly destroyed me. When the tour was over and we returned to Sayerville, you were there and you were steady, balanced and all the things my hectic life wasn’t. I made it a point to reconnect to you, swept you back off your feet. I had my life planned out even then. You were the two car garage and kids aspect of my future. I cared about you Dot, I really did, but I’m sorry I never loved you like I should have, and now? Well I found her again and I can’t lose her again Dot. Make me out to be the bad guy, I’d deserve it, but in honor of OUR kids let’s try to make this easy ok? Just deal with things for tonight, we’ll move out by tomorrow.”

Dot nodded, you couldn’t fight with reason and logic like that. It surprised her that he admitted to not loving her; she had felt that for years. Heck if he could play it nice so could she. She’d get to keep the home and the kids would be taken care of. That was a lot more than she had expected just a few minutes before. “I can handle that Jon; I don’t want to destroy your image or the kids. We will make this work somehow.” She took a deep breath, “I’d say it’s been fun, but truthfully it was too lonely and it never actually worked, so I won’t say it’s been fun, but it was nice once upon a time.”

She reached over and hugged him lightly. “We’ll still be friends right?”

As he hugged her he gave her a small sad smile. “Yeah, still friends Dot.” He bent and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I am sorry though, I am, the last man to be blaming anyone for their behavior.” They stood there, both accepting the hug as a final goodbye, their thoughts running over eighteen years that they couldn’t take back.

~~~~

Amelia had grown worried. She knew that usually, when shouting suddenly quieted it could spell trouble somewhere or another. She pushed her chair back, the urge to check on Jon boiling inside of her. With a soft “excuse me” she walked from the dining room and back down the hall. As she stopped in the living room door she saw Jon hugging Dorothea and heard the soft friendly tone to their words. It struck at her heart and all of her fears with a vengeance. Whirling she made her way quickly back to the dining room. Her normally bubbly personality dulled by what she had seen. Adam and Richie both noted her sudden quietness and exchanged a look. Both men wondering what could have happened in thirty seconds of time to make her go from Chatty Cathy to Morose Mabel.

She had to leave, she knew that. She couldn’t stay here and help teach Jon and watch him with Dot. As an immortal you get used to a lot of things, but THAT was one thing she’d never get used too. She ate quietly, hardly speaking unless spoken to. She didn’t even brighten up when Jon and Dot entered the dining room. She’d have to leave and getting lost if Adam was talked into finding her would be impossible. He had connections to the Watcher network. She’d have to evade her watcher so reports didn’t get back to Joe. She just wondered if it would be possible to do it. Could she walk away again like she did twenty years ago? She was going to have too, her sanity demanded it.

Jon watched her from the corner of his eye. Something about her demeanor, her eyes made him feel like it was twenty years ago. She had gotten more skittish than a cat on a hot tin roof before she pulled her vanishing act that day. Something about her made him think of that day and that worried him.

As dinner ended, Dot excused herself to “go put the kids in bed,” but Jon knew she was just giving him the space they agreed upon. He was glad she was going to be reasonable. It could have been so much worse. As they all walked into the lounge Jon reached for Amelia’s hand only to have her pull away from him. His golden brow arched as she slid over closer to Adam and began to talk to him. She was probably just planning his training, he tried to reassure himself, there had to be a good reason for her sudden distance.

He walked to the bar and with a goofy grin spoke, “Bartender on duty, what’s your pleasure folks?” Within moments he had 4 men surrounding him asking for their drinks, Adam taking a beer as he always did. “Dude is that all you ever drink?” Jon looked at Adam quizzically. Adam grinned and nodded. “When you help create something Rock Star you tend to stick with it.”

The guys slowly made their way to their various chairs, leaving just Richie and Jon at the bar. Placing his elbows on the bar and leaning forward he whispered to Jon. “She got that way during dinner Kidd.” At Jon’s curious look Richie continued, “I can tell what you’re thinking bro. She left the dining room and came back a few seconds later and she was so pale and quiet. I don’t know what happened there but whatever it was has caused that look on her face.”

“Rich she looked like that when she vanished twenty years ago. That look, I won’t forget it ever. You say she left the dining room? When?”

Richie shrugged, “Kidd, it was not too long before you came into the dining room with your arm around Dot.”

It hit him then, she had seen them hugging and being a female had probably jumped to every conclusion but the right one. Well, he would take care of those wrong impressions soon, and he’d take care of it in a way to make her totally understand exactly where she stood in his world.

Within the hour everyone started excusing themselves to either go home or go to bed. David and Tico gave Jon a hug and stated again how glad they were he was home and ok. Richie just punched him in the shoulder and offered to show Adam to a room upstairs. “Rich, could ya show me too? I’m really tired.” Amelia walked over to him and gave him a tired smile. “I’m not choosy or anything, just a small corner somewhere would probably be ok.”

Jon’s brow arched a bit, but he remained silent. Let her play this out her way, he’d rewrite the scripting a bit later. “She’s in the “roses” guest room Bro.”

Richie nodded and grandly gestured for her to follow. This way milady,” he said in an affected British type accent. Adam rolled his eyes at the fractured accent and followed along. A good night’s sleep would do them all good.

As they all left the room Jon turned off all the lights and moved to the center of the room. Sitting down in the chair facing the door, he stretched his legs out and propped them on the table. He wasn’t tired and he would just sit here and wait as he had a feeling he’d be seeing someone attempting a sneak out very soon.

Two hours later, an hour after the house had totally quieted; he heard a soft step on the stairway. Standing he moved to the doorway and watched as the woman he loved walked silently to the door, shoes in hand. He didn’t speak as she walked past he just waited to see if she’d actually open the door. As her hand hit the doorway he as silent as a cat snuck up behind her and whispered in her ear, “Going someplace?”

Amelia yelped and whirled. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting on you sweet thang. Can’t let my best girl just vanish again can I?”

“Isn’t your best girl upstairs in your bed?” Soft green eyes looked up at his, the shadows of the night casting enough shadows for her to be unable to read the look on his face.

He grabbed each of her hands in one of hers and pushed her up against the door. He slowly moved her hands up until they were crossed, holding them tight with one hand.
He ground his hardness against her as his free hand wandered down her arm to her pants and with an economy of moves had them unbuttoned and pushed down. His lips met hers in a tempestuously punishing kiss as he slipped his fingers lightly stroke her core. “You are my best girl; you’ve always been my best girl.” He slowly stroked her clit as he whispered against her ear, “You just need to understand that babe, you belong to me and I belong to you, nothing else matters.” He punctuated that statement with a soft grind against her, a grind that left her no doubts as to his desire. “This is but a promise sweet Fire. Tomorrow we move to my apartment in New York. Tomorrow our life begins.” His finger slid over her clit again making her bite back a moan as she arched against him, her face flushing with need and want.

They both heard the clumping on the stairs at the same time and Jon placed his forehead against hers offering up a soft groan. “Hey bro, you down here?” It was the King of Swing with timing that Jon could consider to only be massively impeccable. He quickly put her jeans to rights and sighed before turning to see what was wanted. “Bro you have the shittiest timing on record, did you know that asshole?”

Richie flipped the light switch with a choked laugh, “Yeah asshole, you’ve told me that once or twice before, but what the hell could I have interrupted in the hallway?” He took one look at Amelia’s flushed appearance and noted Jon’s tight expression. “Oh THAT, well hell bro get a room for God’s sake.”

Amelia tried to not laugh, but it was ridiculous to be acting like kids in the hallway. Had they learned nothing in twenty years? “Sambo, it was for the best, it’s not exactly the best place for a rendezvous I guess.”

Jon just arched a brow, his look saying it for him. “So Bro, what called you down here in the middle of the night?”

Richie grinned. “Pure inspiration bro. got a song rambling in my head.”

Jon laughed and motioned for the two of them to follow him into the living room. Grabbing a pad of paper and a couple pencils as well as the two guitars in the corner then walked back to the duo. Handing Richie the guitar, he settled himself on the couch before pulling Amelia down next to him. He began to strum the guitar and hum softly while Richie centered himself. He chose a song that he had written in 2000 but it so perfectly summed things up. He started to sing, his gaze intent upon Amelia.

Time ain't nothing but time
It's a verse with no rhyme
Man, it all comes down to you

Change ain't nothing but change
Just the faces and the names
But you know we're gonna make it through

I'll believe
When you don't believe in anything

[Chorus:]
I'm gonna hold you 'til your hurt is gone
Be the shoulder that you're leaning on
I'll be standing here
For the next 100 years
If it all should end tonight
I'll know it was worth the fight
And we'll be standing here
For the next 100 years

I, when I think that I'm losing my mind
It all comes back to you

And you, you know that it's true
After all we've been through
There's nothing that I wouldn't do

Stand by me
And I would gladly give up everything

[Chorus:]
I'm gonna hold you 'til your hurt is gone
Be the shoulder that you're leaning on
I'll be standing here
For the next 100 years
If it all should end tonight
I'll know it was worth the fight
And we'll be standing here
For the next 100 years

I'm gonna hold you 'til your hurt is gone
Be the shoulder that you're leaning on
I'll be standing here
For the next 100 years
If it all should end tonight
I'll know it was worth the fight
And we'll be standing here
For the next 100 years.*

Amelia smiled as the song came to an end. He had said it all in his song, and his songs always spoke truth. Leaning back she watched as the two worked on Richie’s new idea and remembered many nights in the past she did the same, and just like then she ended up dozing off with her head on Jon’s shoulder, the movements he made as he strummed the strings or reached to write soothing her into sleep. Richie and Jon glanced over at the sleeping lady and smiled. Jon gently shuffled her into a prone position and lay back next to her before picking up his guitar and hitting the chords Richie suggested again. They worked like that for a few hours until the song had taken the shape they wanted then Richie excused himself to head back to bed. Loathe to move the sleeping beauty, Jon twisted onto his side and throwing an arm over Amelia dozed off into a peaceful sleep.


((*The next 100 years, 2000, Bon Jovi))