Chapter 98 - In An Empty Room

"Beth, you know that this isn't your fault, how can you think that way?"  Jon asks her, seeing what she's feeling without her even saying a word.  "We never could have predicted any of this madness."

"Well, look at it from my point of view."

"Which is?"

"Had you never met me backstage all of those years ago, none of this would have ever happened.  We never would have buried the twins and McKenna."

"And we wouldn't have the two that we do, Beth."

"Jon...."

"I'm serious." he starts to tell her, "You have to stop doing this, babe.  It's not your fault."

"Jon, I provoked it all."

"No you didn't."

"Ok, Brian went wacko and stole money.  I guess THAT isn't my fault, but everything after that was a direct result of me."

"Was not.  You never could have known that Dalton would be a nut job and we had no way of knowing that Melissa would do what she did.  No way of knowing."   He can see that she's struggling, he can see that she is blaming herself for everything. With his mind on pause, he gets up and has to go to her. He has to show her that regardless of what she thinks, regardless of what she feels that he is there for her and together they will get though another road block in their life.  "Beth, you have to stop blaming yourself, it isn't going to do any good."

"Jon, it's hard."

He leans over and kisses the lobe of her ear, "I know baby, I know. But if you keep thinking this way, then they win all over again."  Beth leans into him and chuckles.  "what's so funny?" he asks her.  "Why are you laughing?"

Beth turns her head and looks at Jon, smiling.  "I remember the first time you kissed me, all those years ago and look at what we have been through since then."

"We've been through hell."

"For lack of a better word." she winks at her husband as she starts to walk away, "I can't do this again, Jon.  I really can't."  She exhales loudly, stopping to look at the picture on the wall.  It was the picture of her and Romeo, when Romeo was about Brianna and Jon Spencer's age.  With slightly shaking hands, she takes the picture off the wall.  With the index finger of her right hand, she traces the outline of her and Romeo, "I remember the day that you took this.  It was so long ago."

"I know." Jon replies walking toward her again.  "That was taken when life wasn't in total chaos."

"Yeah, ages ago."

"We have had many happy times since then Beth."  He slides into her, working his hand around her waist, "And we'll have many more."

"How can you be so sure?" she looks up ay him, "How can you say that?  We have 4 lunatics after us and our happiness now."

"They aren't going to get to us Beth."

"Jon."

"Will you stop this please?"

"No."

"You have to trust me on this."

"You have all of my trust.  It's those assholes that I don't trust."  she hands Jon the picture and walks to the french doors that open onto the patio.  She can see that the air is damp, the grass has a light dew on it.  In her mind she can feel that fall is approaching and she knows that there is a finality in the season change.  "Jesse and Rose are leaving to go back to school.  Those poor kids now need security with them 24/7.  We need to hire security for Pete, the boys when they are at school and for your parents.  THIS is crazy Jon."

"Beth, it comes with being famous."

"THIS has nothing to do with your fame and you know it."

"Actually it does." he starts to tell her as he hangs the photo back on the wall.  

"How so?" she snaps at him, not meaning too.

"Had you never accepted my invitation to meet me, Dalton never would have known who you were."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you met him after you were with me.  So, the way I see it - had you shunned him in the park and then he never see you again, then you would be just fine.  But since I insisted that you meet me and made you fall in love with me, you were thrown into the spotlight and made public.  That's how he found you after the park incident."

"No!" she responds, running his thought process through her mind.

"Think about it.' he continues as he takes the few steps in her direction, "You were thrust into the public eye when you were spotted with me.  He had to have seen you and became enraged, enraged to the point that he had to get into your life."

"I don't think that's what happened."

"Do you have a better explanation?" he asks her, hoping that she sees that she really isn't to blame for any of it.  He works his way in behind her and pulls her close, kissing the back of her head.  "It's the only thing that makes sense."

Beth leans back into him, taking a deep breathe she says, "I don't think that Dalton is smart enough to come up with a plan like that."

"Well, that's what I think happened.  It's the only plausible scenario that I can come up with."  he kisses the back of her head again, "but it really doesn't matter.  The only thing that matters now is that we don't let our guard down and please, I beg you, don't fight me about your security detail."

"I'm telling you, I don't need one."

"Beth."

"Well, don't.." she turns around and faces him, kissing the dimple in his chin, "Don't give me Dave.  You and the twins need Dave."

"Dave and I will talk when he gets here and we will decide who gets who."

Tired from the day and tired from the conversation, Beth finally agrees, "Ok.  I need to go lay down, will you join me?"

With one arm around her and his lips on her forehead, he raises his left arm and looks at the Rolex that she bought him for Christmas, "I'd love to babe, but Dave will be here at anytime."

"Will you put me to bed?" she whispers, with a wink and a smack on his ass, "I'm almost to the point of being delirious."

"Of course."  Jon takes her hand and leads her from the studio into the house.  The sun is up and it hurts their eyes as they leave Jon's home away from home.  The new and improved Shoe Inn isn't what it used to be.  Beth has told him that it's lost it's artist factor and that Jon should have moved the entire building from the house in Red Bank - but when he wanted to leave the bad memories behind, he meant it.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With Beth tucked into their custom made king size bed, he gently kisses her and tells her, "Get some sleep.  Pete and I will take care of the kids when they get up."

"Don't do that.  Send them into me when they get up."

"No.  You sleep.  They will be taken care of."

"You need sleep too babe." she grabs his hands as he stands up, "when will you get some rest?"

He winks at her, "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"Ha ha funny.  If you keep this shit up you'll be dead way sooner than you hope for."

"Ill nap when you get up."  he leans over and kisses her, "good night Mrs. Bongiovi, I love you."

With a smile on her face, "I love the way that sounds."

Jon leaves her to get some rest.  Once he's back on the main floor, he decides that he should go check on the local police that have protected him and his family through the night.  He sees the Lieutenant first as he rounds the corner of the house, heading down toward the beach, "Lt.  Jackson, how are you?"

The Lt. snaps at attention, "I'm good Mr. Bongiovi how are you, sir?"

"Drop the formalities, I'm good thanks.  Can I order you and your guys some coffee?"

"No, sir."  the Lt. blushes a little, "I mean, no thank you.  We'll be good until your men gt here."

Jon stands next to the man and looks out over the water, inhaling deeply he asks, "I assume the night was quiet?"

"Indeed, it was.  Nothing going on out here in the middle of nowhere."

Jon laughs as that was music to his ears, "You should have done guard duty at our old house."

"Oh yeah, why's that?" the unknowing hired hand asks, "Were there bad guys creeping around there?"

"Yeah, but they were mostly women that wanted to get into my house."

"Sir?" the Lt. asks, unaware of what Jon meant.

"Fans.  Just fans wanting to get in to see or they were there to see if they could get a glimpse of me or my family."

"That had to be tough."

"I kind of got used to it, living with it for years.  The Mrs. can't stand it though."

"No?"

"She doesn't understand what the fans do to try to be close to me."

"I had the pleasure of arresting that one fan that crashed your wedding."

Jon was caught off guard by that, so much in fact he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him, "You arrested Brian?"

Nodding his head, "yeah.  I came out here and took him and Mrs. Bongiovi to the station.  She was pissed."

"You were with her?"

"I was."

Jon looks at the officer, feeling slightly anxious by what he's hearing.  "How did Beth act?"  

Jon has had many questions  from their wedding day, but decided when he went to Italy without Beth on their wedding day - he would never ask.  In his mind, he felt better not knowing what happened than he knows that he would knowing what happened.  He's pictured her in the police station, in her wedding dress talking with a fiance that she thought was dead.  His heart races when he thinks about it, feeling like something happened or that some thing was said when they were together.  The Lt. could see that Jon was perplexed so he does what he would want someone to do for him in a situation like this.  "Well, I don't know the whole story, but from what I gathered, she was pissed and he was apologetic."

"Did he touch her?"

"Oh no.  He was cuffed and hooked to the table.  There is no way I was going to let him hurt her."

"What did they talk about?"

"They didn't do too much talking.  She did all the talking."

"What did she say?" Jon turns his posture to show the Lt that he was interested in what he had to say.  Jon wanted no detail left out.