Chapter 37

Jon picked her up carefully and carried her to the bedroom. She was holding so tightly too him he wasn’t sure he could get her on the bed without a serious mishap. “Baby, you need to turn loose. I’m not going anywhere but I need to get you situated on the bed.”

She shook her head vehemently, “Nuhhuh, if I let go you’ll vanish and them damned birds will come back. I hate those chirpy blue things.”

Jon laughed softly before replying. “I won’t leave you so the birds will stay away, trust me ok?”

With a sigh Amelia took her arms from around his neck and he settled her onto the pillows. He reached over and slowly slid the satin comforter up over her body then lay down beside her and snuggled her close. “See I told you it would be ok.”

She smiled and snuggled closer to him. “Yeah I prefer sexy dwarves to birds any day of the week. Sexy dwarves are nice.” She sighed softly and dozed off, content with the fact that he was there.

A few minutes later a light knock came from the door and Jon called out a soft “come in.” Adam entered carrying a tray that held a bowl of broth and a sandwich.
He walked over and settled the tray on the nightstand before looking at the man holding his student. “She’s going to need to eat too. It will help her recoup her strength and she’s going to need that more than ever the next few days.”

Amelia’s eyes cracked opened to a slit, “Do you ever shut up Adam?” She slowly pushed herself to a seated position on the bed as Adam grinned.

“Not if I can aggravate my favorite female student,” he said as he winked at her.

“I’m the only female student you have old man.” She grinned as Jon settled the tray on her lap with the whispered order to eat.

Adam laughed, “Bloody hell it’s good to see you still have that wonderful sense of humor.”

She began to eat, her eyes traveling from Jon to Adam and back again. “So how did you manage to find me? What was in that stuff she was giving me? Is Richie ok? She was really after him.”

Adam held up his hand. “Well, Jon and Richie found you. They were in town and saw someone wearing a shawl that turns out was yours. They called Duncan and me and they followed the woman. That stuff that has you seeing dwarves and Disney was liquid peyote. Richie is fine and that woman is in jail and will stay there for a very long while.”

Jon muttered under his breath about wanting to kill the woman only to be thwarted by Richie and Adam. Amelia smiled, her soft green gaze washing over him, “You wouldn’t have though. I know nothing messes what belongs to Bongiovi, but you’re a decent man Jon, and that woman was mentally ill. Reason would have won out before you did irreparable damage.”

He groaned as he realized she knew him that well. “You might be right babe, but that doesn’t take away the want to hurt those that hurt me and mine.”

She reached over to hug him tightly as a flicker of pain surfed along her nervous system. She blinked and forced the ache back, wanting to talk more. It had been no telling how long that she’d done without the simple comfort of conversation. She slowly slid the tray back to the night stand and leaned back pulling the covers up to her chin. She was starting to feel cold and to shiver; which added to the aches she was forcing back had her going from a sunny personality to grumpy in under 3 seconds. “So how’d you figure out it was that liquid pootie stuff?”

Adam wanted to laugh, but the miserable look in her eyes stopped him. “Peyote Ammie, Peyote, and we know that because Duncan found the bottle the psycho was using.”

She filed that item away in her brain and snuggled deeper into the bed. “I want to sleep now.” She wasn’t going to admit to the misery she felt, she was just going to push them away until it was gone. Closing her eyes she feigned sleep.

Jon looked up at Adam as an understanding look crossed between them. The rough times were starting and with a woman like Amelia they would have to be on their toes. Adam nodded once then left the room as Jon lay back beside the shivering woman and gathered her into his arms. He kissed the top of her head lightly and began to croon a song that he had written years before; a song that had him thinking he must have had a psychic flash all those years ago. It was their song he knew that now, more than any other.


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

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

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

He smiled as he saw she was deeply asleep. “Hell baby for the next one million years, we’ll be standing strong until the world stops turning.” Closing his eyes he allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

~~~~

She awoke to a raging beast inside her belly. She hurt and only one thing could make the hurt go away. With her reasoning mind she knew she should just hunker down and let it burn itself out, but it hurt and it was worse than getting cut or even killed. She could come back from that, she didn’t know if she could bounce back from this. An especially strong cramp hit and she slid from the bed and raced to the bathroom the urge to be sick extremely strong. She stood in the cool bathroom praying for the strength to walk back out of the bathroom without waking Jon. It was then Adam’s voice floated into her memory, “Duncan found the bottle.” Those four words kept circling in her brain, urging her forward, past the bed to the dresser for a simple set of shorts and t-shirt; urging her to pick up her sword and slip out the door to pad barefoot down the hall towards Duncan’s room.

She slid the door open carefully and noted Duncan wasn’t there. Swiftly stepping in she shut the door and began to search his room. Knowing Duncan he hadn’t left the bottle behind, he was too thorough for that. It had to be here, just had to be. She’d take just a little; enough to ease the pain and that would be all. Now if she could just find it.

The next sound had her whirling towards the door. “Well now Lass, tis a pleasure tae see ye, but what are you doing in my room?”

With an uttered oath she swung out with her blade, only to have her blade met with the Highlanders katana. “Give me the bottle Duncan.”

“Nay Lass, I canna do that. You are nae thinking clearly. You dinnae want to fight me over this.”

“I want to not hurt Duncan; you have the means to stop the hurt.”

“Are you challenging me Lass?”

They stood there sword to sword, green eyes staring up at dark brown, one set of eyes angry and in pain, the other set caring and understanding. With a scream Amelia whirled and started attacking the lamp or bed, anything in the room that wasn’t Duncan. “I just want to not hurt, is that so hard to understand?”

Duncan spoke softly, keeping his tone calm, “Aye lass I can understand. I have been here before myself. It canna be easy, but you have people around you that care so much. Do you really wish to disappoint them?”

“I don’t want to hurt,” she screamed as she continued her rampage in the bedroom, slashing to ribbons anything that came into contact with her sword.

The crashing woke Jon; his first thought was the woman beside him, a woman that was no longer there. “Oh shit!” He muttered oaths as he flung himself out of bed and ran towards the sounds of an obvious battle. Two other men had had the same ideas and were rushing towards Duncan’s room. Flinging open the door and fearing the worst Jon looked into the room.

It was at this point that Amelia turned back to Duncan, their swords meeting again. Fire was in her eyes, need burning in her veins when she heard Jon call her name. “Amelia, stop.” He walked to her, his hand reaching for the sword held tightly in hers, “You don’t want to do something you’ll regret baby, no amount of pain is worth that.”

She wilted at the love in his voice, her sword arm dropping as he took the blade from her. “Jon I can’t do this. There’s too much of this stuff in my system. God Duncan I’m so sorry, so sorry, I can’t think and I’m so sorry.” She stood there, tears pouring from her eyes as she continued to mumble. “Just kill me and get it over with. Death will clear it from my system. Just kill me and get it over with.”


Jon shook his head. “Sorry babe, no one here is going to go with that request. You’re just going to have to do it the hard way.”

Tortured green eyes almost had him changing his mind, but he wasn’t gonna kill her and he wasn’t going to allow anyone else to hurt her more. Handing her sword to Duncan with a soft, “you might wanna keep that for now,” He lifted the crying woman in his arms and began to walk out the door. “You might want to move to a new room too Duncan. Just pick one. Oh and tell Helene that I’ll need trays brought up 3 times a day. Until her brain is clear we’re room bound.”


For the next week the rest of the people at casa Bon Jovi saw very little of Jon, and nothing of Amelia. They would walk by the room and see the empty trays from Helene sending food, but nothing of the two people inside the room. Occasionally they heard feminine oaths and a gentle male voice, but all in the house could only wonder what was going on in that room.

He slept bare minutes at the time as he nursed her through the rough days and nights, soothing her when she screamed, holding her when the shakes over came her or holding her hair when she needed to be sick. He bathed her when the sweats got too bad, or the cramps too severe. He was bone tired, the lack of sleep doing him in nearly, but the end goal of getting his Fire back would help him shake the weariness from his body. He catnapped only if she slept, and that wasn’t often, but he was determined to be there for her.

On the seventh day he was tired and it was a tiredness that went beyond exhaustion. She had finally dropped off to sleep and seemed to be sleeping peacefully for a change. Lying down beside her he decided to close his eyes for just a moment or two, and ended up falling into a deep sleep.

He awoke the next morning to curious green eyes studying him intently. Glorious gold flecked clear green eyes that held no pain or need. “Well hello there sleepy head, you look like hell you know that?”

He laughed for the first time in days and it was a true honest belly laugh. “Do I?”

“Yep you do darling. I hear you been playing nursemaid all week, ignoring your own good health. Now what do you suppose I should do about that?”

He grinned as he pulled her on top of him and said, “Just shut up and kiss me.”

She kissed him then, a soft gentle butterfly kiss which he tried to deepen and got a chuckle for. Pulling back she gave him a saucy grin, “did I mention you look like hell? When’s the last time you had a shower darling?”

He groaned and pulled himself from the bed. “You know I don’t remember exactly. I had this patient you see.” He began to walk to the bathroom and turned at the door. “Maybe that patient wants to join me?”

He didn’t have to ask twice.

*(The Next 100 years BonJovi 2000)*