Chapter 27 - If It Took All Of My Life

As fast as he turned around and headed into the nursery, you would think that he was being chased by a gaggle of women after a show.  His heart was in his feet, and fear was in his soul.  “Not my babies.”  


He rounds the corner and sees the extra large baby bed that his son and daughter were in and makes his way to it as fast as he can.  

As he looks over the edge, he feels a tingling sensation come over his whole body.  It was what Beth always described as fear relief.  He didn't care what it was; he was looking into the bed with a smile on his face.  Everyone around him was in a panic, rushing around to close and lock doors, but he was pretty oblivious to that now. 

Cleaning his hands with sanitizer, as soon as it’s dried, his hands are in the holes and he’s talking to his babies.  “Your daddy just had a bit of a scare.” He tells them, they are sound asleep; close to one another as they can be.  “Are you ready to go see your mommy?  She’s been dying to meet you.”  His finger caresses each of their cheeks, causing them to stir a little bit. 

He’s in a trance, he is mesmerized by what he’s looking at.  He’s in awe, he’s in love and he’s certain that they are his.  The baby girl has his mole and he can see that the baby boy has his mothers birthmark.  Beth has a birthmark on the back of her neck; she calls it a stork bite, now baby boy Bongiovi has one too.  She usually tries to cover it, but Jon knows it’s there.  He knows every inch of her body.   Every freckle, every flaw….and those were very few.

He’s startled when he hears a loud man’s voice come over the intercom, “Cancel Code Adam.”  And it was over.  Jon briefly wondered what it was all about; he hopes that it wasn't anything serious. 

Having had babies in the past, he knows the drill.  He slowly pushes the incubator and everything that’s connected to it out of the nursery and down the hall to Beth’s room.  When he enters, he sees that she’s in with a doctor, so he pushes the babies into the corner and waits.  He no sooner has the brakes on the wheels and she’s half way out of bed.  

Standing proved to be a little harder than she anticipated, but her IV cart caught her balance.  Once she’s steady, she walks over to look at her son and daughter for the first time.  Her doctor is talking to her, but she really isn't paying attention.  “Miss Adams, would you rather I come back?”

“Could you?”  Jon asks.  “She isn't going to be much help to you right now.”  And that makes him smile. 

“Miss Adams, how is your pain?” he asks one last question.

She had just got her hands dry and they were going into the holes, she was touching her babies for the first time, she doesn’t have time to talk to the doctor.  Without looking at him she tells him, “It’s defiantly a 10, but I don’t want anything.  They will want to eat soon.”

“There are medicines that we can give you.” He states, concerned about her pain. 

“I’m good for now doctor, thank you though.” She responds, again not even looking in his direction.  He takes the hint and gets out of dodge.  Her attention, 150% of it is, affixed on the two little ones laying in the bed, being caressed by now both their mom and their ‘dad’.  As she looks down at them, the tears flow like a gentle stream and their little faces take her breath away.  

The mole on baby girls face is exactly where Jon’s is, and that makes her cry even harder.  She now knows that the babies are his.  But she’s not sure if her tears are sadness that they aren't Brian’s or happiness that they are Jon’s?  Does she really know whose they are.  He decides that she doesn't care about that right now.  “Can we take them out?” She looks up at Jon.  “Are they okay?”

He reaches across the babies and takes her hand, smiling he says, “Yeah, we can take them out and they are perfect.”

She smiles back.  Her heart is racing; she wants to hold her babies.  “If I sit on the bed, will you bring them to me?”

“Of course I will.  Sit down.” He nods in the direction of the bed, “Which one do you want first?”

“BOTH!” she makes her way to the bed and gets in and positions a pillow over her belly.  She’s been here, she’s done this before.  Jon opens the bed and turns the heat lamp off.  He reaches in and scoops up the baby boy, handing him to his mother. 

Beth takes him and kisses him instantly, “Hello gorgeous, I’ve been waiting to see you.”  More kisses, while Jon gets baby girl ready.  Beth inhales the scent that is ever so intoxicating, ever so loved.  Newborn baby smell is the best in the world, and she has the scent of Jon to compare that to.  His smell could melt her in an instant; she was so hypnotized by that.  Always has been, always will be.  Jon is at the side of the bed, baby girl cradled in his arms.  He can’t stop looking at her and kissing her face.  He knows that she is his baby, he knows it.  He’s their dad, whether Brian was their father or not.  Beth cradles baby boy in one arm and reaches out to take baby girl, but daddy isn’t ready to let her go.  

“Can we sit with you?” he asks, not wanting to give up the baby yet.  Beth smiles and slides over, making room for Jon and her daughter.  The four of them are sitting in her hospital bed, in their own bubble, in their own heaven and on their own cloud.  “We make beautiful babies, don’t we?”

“We do.” She leans her head on his shoulder, “They are perfect.”

“He has your birthmark.” Jon tells Beth, and that makes her smile.  Jon turns the baby over and pulls the blanket down so she can see.  Sure enough, his birthmark is just like Beth’s.  “He has your stork bite.”

They play with and fuss over the babies for so long, baby boy wants to eat.  They switch babies and just sit there and enjoy where they are in life right now.  There isn't anything else that Beth could ask for.  She has two beautiful children and a man at her side that loves her.  Everything about her.

Baby boy suckles for a few minutes, and then they switch again.  Beth feeds baby girl and after a while, all four of them fall asleep in Beth’s bed.  The emotional rollercoaster proved to be too much for Jon, he went from an interview in Las Vegas to a new dad in less than a day. But he didn't care.  There is no where that he would rather be than in this bed, in this hospital, with this woman and these children.  He’s a rock star, a philanthropist, a humanitarian and right now, he’s a daddy again and he’d give it all up to be where he’s at. 

It wasn’t too long before they were woken up.  Beth was startled awake because someone touched her face.  Springing awake, she says “What the hell!” and sees that it’s Gloria. 

“Hi hon, how are you?” she whispers to not wake the babies.

“Hey there!” Jon says, when he sees the woman that saved Beth’s life, “Thank you for everything Gloria, I am forever in your debt.” He gives her a wink.

“I’m glad I was there to help.  How is everyone?”  She leans over and looks at the babies, “Oh my god, they are gorgeous.”

Beth smiles at her.  Beth over the last few months has looked up to Gloria like a mother figure.  She is Beth’s right hand, and as the pregnancy ‘grew’, so did Gloria’s responsibilities at the vineyard.  She loves Beth and has always said that if she had a daughter, she would want her to be just like Beth.  “Thanks for helping me this morning.” Beth takes her hand, “I don’t know where I would be if you weren't home.”

“You’d be right here, with these beautiful babies, and that guy.”  Gloria loves Jon, and she has always wanted them to work everything out.  Right now she’s just going to pick on him.  “Nice of you to make it, dad.”

“I would have moved mountains, you know that.” He slides out of bed, with baby boy in his arms.  “Do you want to hold him?”

“I do, but I’ll wait until after your mom and dad have.  They are outside, waiting.  I just wanted to come in see them, say hello.  I haven’t heard anything so I wanted to check in before I left.”

“Have you been here the whole time?” Beth asks her.

Gloria nods her head, “Yeah, I followed the ambulance here and have been in the waiting room.”

“Gloria, that’s been hours.  I’m sorry; I didn't even think that you’d be here.”  Jon admits, “I feel like an ass.”

“That you should be used too, but it’s okay.  I kept checking on you and once they told me you were in your room, I waited a little longer so you guys could be together.”  She kisses Beth on the forehead, “I told your parents that I just wanted to say Hi and I would be on my way.”    She walks around the bed and kisses Jon, being careful to not touch the baby.  She looks at him, “They’re beautiful.  You guys did good.”

Gloria leaves and Jon’s mom and dad were in the room as fast as they could get there.  Mrs. B was drawn to Beth.  

At her side, she kisses her head, “How are you…..”, she looks down at the baby, “oh my god, John look at her, she has Rowan and Jon’s mole.”  Her eyes tear up, she leans over and kisses baby girl on the head.  

She stirred for a second, and just as grandpa got to her side, she opened her eyes.  Grandpa smiled and as he kissed her head, grandma made her way over to Jon and baby boy.  When she sees his little face, she takes a deep breath and covers her mouth, “He looks just like you did, identical.”  The Bongiovi’s were on big happy family right now, and that included Beth. 

“When did you guys get here?”  Jon asks, having no idea that they were even coming out. 

John tells them, “We just landed and grabbed a cab up here.  That was an expensive cab ride.”

“Why didn't you call Dawn and have her get you a service?” Jon questions, they all know he has people that worry about that stuff for them.

“It was spur of the moment.  Your mother decided that you weren't going to be out here alone, you both need your family with you.” His dad explained, looking at Beth with that Bongiovi smile.

“Thank you for coming.” Beth says to them.  “Ma, would you like to hold baby girl?”

Mrs. B is grinning from ear to ear, “Can I?”  Beth pats the empty spot next to her and says, “Sit.”  When Mrs. B sits, Beth hands her the baby and gets up to use the bathroom.  Jon isn't so freely giving up his son.  He’s in a moment that he doesn't want to end.

Mr. B has his iPhone out and is snapping picture after picture, “I told the kids I’d send pictures.” He tells Jon when he looks at him funny.  Pops never takes pictures; he’s surprised that he knew how.

“Did you talk to the kids?” Jon asks his parents, “I should call them.”

“I was talking to them in the hallway; I told Stephanie that I would have you call in the morning.”

“Cool.”  Jon walks up to his dad, “Do you want to hold him?”  Mr. B didn’t need to be asked twice, he took baby boy and held him close. 

“All of your kids are just so damn perfect.” He tells his son, with great pride and immeasurable joy.  Dad sits in the chair and fusses with the baby boy, just like Ma is fussing with the baby girl.  Jon takes the opportunity to check on Beth.

Knock Knock “Babe, are you okay?” he asks her through the door.

“Yeah, I’m fine.  I’ll be out in a minute.” She responds, washing her hands.  “Is everything okay?”

He opens the door and steps in.  She’s at the sink, looking at herself in the mirror, noticing that she looks like death warmed over, she admits, “I think I need something for pain.”

Jon gets her something for the pain and after while his parents leave.  They go out to the vineyard, have dinner and just spend time together.  They both are thrilled to have new grandbabies.  Jon’s obviously staying with Beth. 

In the hospital room, once Beth’s medicine kicked in, she tells Jon, “I was woke up this morning by someone banging on the door.  Banging loud enough to wake me from a dead sleep.”

“Who was it?” he asks, sitting next to her on the bed, reaching for her hand. 

“They were yelling my name and yelling for me to get up.” 

“Who was it?” he asks again, his concern growing because of the look on her face. 

She laughs, “It was Dot and Tammy.”  She waits for ‘the’ look and his response.

“Dot and Tammy, Dorothea Dot??” he’s lost.  She has the kids.  “Tammy, your assistant?”

“I went to the door, seen it was them and didn't let them in.”

“Tammy??”  That really baffles him.  Why is she with Dorothea in California?  Why is Dorothea in California?  She’s supposed to have the kids – he’s in the middle of a world tour.  “What the fuck is going on?”

Resting her head on his shoulder again, she simply says, “I don’t even care.”

“Have you talked to either of them lately?”

She thinks for a minute, “I haven’t talked to Dot in months, Tammy, um it’s been a couple of weeks.”  Beth has baby boy laying on her chest, Jon is laying next to her, with baby girl laying between them.  “I don’t even want to talk about it, them or what they could have wanted.”