FLA 13

Chapter 37

"Yeah Stephy remember your manners." Jake replied sticking his tongue out at his sister.

"Jacob Hurley Bongiovi." Dot warned.

"I didn't do nuffin!"

Jon got out of the vehicle and opened up the back door for his daughter.

"Thanks Daddy." She got out of the car while Dot got out on the other side and got Jake and Romeo out of thier car seats. "Jake go hold daddy's hand." She then got Romeo on the ground. "Will you hold my hand little man?" Dot asked.

"I guessed" he replied kicking the rocks around with his feet.

"Thanks." Dot took his hand and walked over to the door luckily no one was inside.

Jon walked in behind Dot with Jake and walked over to the counter holding him up. "What do ya want bud?"

"Chocolate and strawberry."

Jon scrunched up his nose. "Sounds good minus the chocolate. You wanna cone or in a cup?"

"A cup I slow eater." Jake told his dad wrapping his arms and legs around him.

"Me to." he smiled looking over at Dot who was looking over the ice cream. She was pretty standing there but damn if she didn't piss him off sometimes. "What are you gettin'?"

"Chocolate and vanilla in a dish. What about you buddy?" She asked Romeo.

Romeo looked around his mom's shoulder at Jon. "What's daddy eatin'?"

"I think I'm gettin' cake batter with strawberry." Jon replied looking at his younges son who smiled back at him.

"Mommy I want cake and berry."

"Ok you can have that too. Steph what did you want sweetie?"

"Cookie dough."

Jon sat Jake down and walked over toward Dot who was still a little mad. "Should we get Jesse something?"

"No."

Jon shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the cashier giving him the order for everyone and within a few minutes everyone had what they had wanted. "Everybody good before we leave?"

"Yes daddy." All of the kids said before they walked back out to the navigator.

Before the got back in Jon pulled Stephanie to the side and had no idea why he was even doing this but it one step closer for him to let her grow up. "Have you ever driven the Navigator before?"

"No." She looked at him with shock.

"What have you driven?"

"A car in drivers ed, none of our cars.

"Okay, well tomorrow......maybe tomorrow If I'm alive I'll come out and teach you how to drive this."

"Really?" She asked. "You'll let me drive one of your cars?" Steph asked.

"Yes....but not the chevelle." he smiled

"I won't even let your mom drive that one."

"Whos car is the new one?" Steph asked.
"That's moms." he told her as they walked back toward the car. "You'll have to fight her on that."

"I dont' fight mommy she's the best." Steph smiled.

The boys quickly handed Dot their ice cream and jumped into the car into their seats and Steph buckled them. Then Dot handed them back their treats while getting in the car herself.

Jon got into the drivers seat and put the vehicle into drive so that they could get back to their home which was just a short 5 minute trip. "Do you think Jesse is there yet?"

Dot looked at her watch. "I doubt it. Probably about 10 min."

Jon continued driving and talking to his wife not wanting the kids to know that they were arguing. "So why didnt' you tell me about this Melissa girl?"

"Because he's only been hanging out with her for about 2 weeks. I figured you'd find out when you got home if she lasted long enough." Dot told him doing them same thing as him, not letting on to the kids.

"2 weeks huh? That's pretty serious in the teenage world."

"yeah now he won't see her again until he's 90."

Jon laughed looking back in the rearview mirror at he daughter who as usual had the earphones in her ears listening to her ipod. "I told Steph I'd teach her how to drive tomorrow."

"I heard."

"Did you also hear her ask about your car?"

"Yes." Dot said coldly putting more ice cream in her mouth.

"Can you hand me my ice cream?" he asked fumbling around unable to find it near the console.

"Sure." She handed him the container of ice cream near the console.

"Can you take the wrapper off the spoon please?" he asked as nicely as possible knowing she was still pissed.

Dot put her ice cream in her lap and undid his spoon and put it in the ice cream. Then handed both to him.
"Thanks baby."

Dot sat quietly in her seat fuming at the idea that Jon had pretty much fathered children with her and came to visit them from time to time over the last 15 yrs but had the nerve today to contradict how she had been raising them. How dare he, its not like he's been here to help, when he's home he's never the diciplinarian he's always left that for her, and now how she's been teaching them right from wrong is being questioned.

He placed the cup in the hand that was steering with and eating with the other one. "I forgot how good this was. You want some?" he offered switching hands and reaching the cup to her.

"No thanks I have mine." She answered.

"Suit yourself." he replied turning into the driveway and parking the vehicle.

Dot got out of the car and let the boys out of their car seats.

Jon had their daughter take the boys in while he stayed outside with his
wife. It was obvious that they needed to talk but it was something they didn't want the kids to see or hear.

"Since you think you know best on how to parent out children I'm going to go on a vacation to the Keys with my sisters and you can parent all four of them by yourself for the next 2 weeks." She told him.

"What?" Jon asked a litle shocked.

"You heard me." She said finishing her ice cream and walking over to throw the container in the garbage.

"No I heard you perfectly clear but what about us?"

"What about us?"

"I thought we were taking the kids to the shore next week?"

"You can take them, you can handle everything." She said sarcastically.

He leaned back on the side of the car looking straight ahead. "No I can't."

"Sure you can, you know best, you know how they should be raised with your stop bys a year, don't forget all their clothes, and games and schedules, and I'm sure you know what they all eat and what each kids favorite food is. I'll have my phone on but well I might not answer it depending if I'm busy or not." She said wondering if he caught her meanings all the way through it.

"What do you mean if you're busy? You leave me with our kids and wouldn't answer if I called? What if they were hurt Dot?" He threw all these questions at her but quickly realized that she probably thought the same thing when he was never available to take a call from her.

"Yeah what if Jon? Do you think I decided how to raise them on my own on purpose? What if I called you cos Stephanie kept turning on the stove and I didn't know how to handle it, I told her no, I told her bad, and then I called her daddy but you see he was too busy doing a photo shoot to answer his fucking phone so I decided, since I was alone in making these decisions, I'd do what my mom would have done to me. The next time she touched the stove I spanked her and she never touched it again."

He stood there thinking of all the times she had called and he was to busy or just wasn't able to call her back. What if there kids were really hurt and he did that? "I'm sorry baby."

"Don't give me your fucking I'm sorry Jon. I don't want that I want you to follow what I have set forth with our kids since I was the only parent available for them at that time."

"I guess I just never realized until now what you went through not being able to get a hold of me for whatever reason."

"I mean what if something was really wrong and I never answered?"

"That's right Jon you never realized, cos its what you do. You don't realize, you think the world revolves around you. I love you but life went on here. I had to make choices with our kids and because you weren't available I made those choices alone. Do you have any idea how insulting it is for you to question that 15 yrs later? Especially when you don't even realize why I chose what I did. How fucking insulting and cruel can you be?" She said while looking at him with tears streaming down her face.

"Honey." he turned wanting nothing more to hold her but figured she would push him away if he tried. "I'm sorry, I should have talked to you before I even said anything. You're right though I mean you had to do what you thought was best."

"How fucking dare you question me."

"I was just kind of surprised when you told me you actually spanked them, I mean I never saw you as the type to do that."

"You have four kids running around the house at all different ages of development and tell me how great time out works for you. I don't spank them often but Jesse is going to have a red ass either by me or you because my son will NOT lie to me EVER."

"I know." Jon took in a deep breath then looked directly into her eyes.

"He shouldn't have done that and to be honest when I did it when I was younger I would have gotten the same thing."

"Good are you gonna be man enough to be his father then and discipline him or are you going to continue to be just the good time parent." Dot says with resentment laced in her voice.

Jon stood there for a moment looking in every direction but her and moved his hand over his face. "I'll do it."

"Well good cos I'm tired of being the hard ass. There's your son." She pointed to Jesse coming in on his bike down the driveway while she walked into the house to be with the other kids.

"Hey Jess."

"Hey dad." Jesse jumped off his bike hugging his dad. "How was Hawaii?"
Jon hugged him back not sure if he could do this. "Good son. How was nana's?"

"Oh it was great but glad to be home, so where are we going for dinner?"

"We're not."

Jon paused looking his son directly in the eye. "Where were you at today?"

"Um..Out."

"Out where?" Jon asked leading him over to the small pub that's on the property.

"With friends."

Jon opened up the door letting him go in first and motioned for him to have a seat at the table. "Would you care to elaborate on that?"

"I told mom I was with Tommy but I wasn't. I was with Melissa." He admitted. Somehow he couldn't lie face to face.

"who's Melissa?"

"A girl I kind of like."

Jon walked over grabbing both of them a water from the back of the bar.
"A girl huh? WHy did you lie to your mom for?"

"She wouldn't understand. Dad she's freak she can't handle Steph kissing boys how would she handle me kissing girls."

"I find that hard to believe Jesse. She told me about Steph and she didnt' seem that upset."

"So why did you really lie?" he questioned in his dad voice.

"Dad when you were my age did you tell nana everything?"

"Yeah because she would kick my ass if I didn't."

"Well mom wont' kick my ass she's not like that."

Jon's brow arched hearing that because that is definitely not what he had heard. "You sure about that?"

"Mom loves me. She just doesn't want to see me grow up and leave the house." Jesse knows somehow he's mom's favorite.

"I don't want you guys to grow up either but that still doesn't explain to me why you lied and told her you were at Tommys."

"Because my hand was under Melissa's shirt when she called."

Jon tried his best to hold back a smile, he had to remain focused on the task at hand and not get sidetracked. "That's a whole other issue Jesse."

Jon replied shaking his head. "Why did you lie son? All you had to tell her you were with Melissa."

A brief smile came across his face before continiuing. "Although I would leave out the hand under the shirt thing."

"Cos it didn't matter where I was, I was safe."

"Yes it does matter."

"Why?"

"Well what if you would have gotten hurt on your way home and we thought you were coming from Tommy's house when in fact you were across town. Don't you think that would have scared us if we couldnt' find you?"

"Um." He looked down he hadn't thought of that. "Well that didn't happen so we're all good."

"No we're not Jesse." Jon's face saddened.

"Why dad I'm ok, I'm home."

"I understand that son but the fact is you lied to your mom and......" he looked down at the table then back to his son.

"You need to be punished."

"So what are you gonna do take my game boy away?"

"What would your mom do?" he questioned looking at him the way only a dad could look.

"Spank me. But we know that's not gonna happen. I'll tell her you did though to keep you out of trouble."

"Your not going to have to tell her that." Jon replied standing up and moving towards him with a stern look on his face.

"Dad what are you doing?" Jesse said backing up a step.

Jon propped he's knee up in the chair thinking about what he was getting ready to do. It went against everything he stood for but deep down knew that it had to be done. It would have happened to him if he'd done it when he was younger. "Come here son." Jon replied softly.

Jesse walked over to his dad with a question on his face. "Yes daddy?"

"You know what you did today was wrong?" he asked sternly.

"Yes." He admitted.

Jon only nodded thinking about what Dot had said earlier. He needed to step up to the plate and be a dad instead of being friends with his kids. She had done all the punishment up until now but wanted him to learn what it was like to actually punish the kids. He pulled Jesse over his knee and had a tear in his eye when his hand came down on his
son's behind. "I'm sorry Jesse." he almost whispered as he spanked him four times sternly. Not enough to do any damage but enough to get his point across. After the fourth one his son stood up and Jon removed his foot from the chair.

"Dad how could you? Dont' you love me?" Jesse asked with tears in his eyes.

"I do love you son you know that." Jon replied trying to control his own emotions.

"I hate you, I'll never talk to you again." He said running into this house in tears. When Dot saw Jesse run by her like that she immediately went out to meet Jon. He was still in the Shoe Inn so she wrapped her arms around his waist silently.

Jon just stood there not moving. "I don't know how you do that baby."

"Its harder than hell, now will you answer the damn phone when I call you." She asked hoping the messages she's been giving him since this tour ended are starting to truly sink in. She is at the end of her rope. Parenting a teenage girl and boy and two toddlers was aging her more every minute. She couldn't do it alone. "I didn't make them by
myself Jon I shouldn't have to raise them by myself either."

"I know and you don't have to." he replied sadly with the words from his son still running through his brain.
Dot somehow knew what Jon was dealing with. "he doesn't hate you you know."

"Dot he meant what he said." he replied as he sat down on the chair.

"No he didn't Jonny. Trust me he said that to me when I spanked him too. He'll understand later that you did it because you love him, you needed to prove how serious you are about we need to know where he is. You know we even have another layer on top of the regular psycho world, you're famous, what if someone got him and kidnapped him
because he wasn't where we think he was. Jon spanking him was the right thing to do in this instance."

He stood up and tossed the two bottles into the trash. "That's pretty much what I told him."

Jon walked over and leaned up against the counter beside his wife and just looked at her.

"How many times have you had to do that?"

"To Jesse or any of them?

"All of them."

"Full on spankings or a swat on the ass?"

"There's a difference?"

"OH yeah like with Romeo when he had his diaper on he'd do something stupid like touch the stove and I'd grab his hand and swat him on the butt once and tell him no. But for a real spanking I've only done that 4 times. Twice to Steph, once to Jesse and once to Jake."

"That's all?" He asked wanting to know the truth.

"Yes, I don't like doing it Jon, its a last resort but I've done it."

"It's definately not fun." He moved over and wrapped his arms aorund her waist. "Are you sure Jesse doesn't hate me?"

"I'm positive. He'll probably dislike you more for not getting him ice cream."

"But I wanted to." he smiled looking at her.

"So are you still leaving me for a week?" he asked a little sad knowing that he would actually be without her.

"I think so."

"Why?"

"Because the only reason you punished him is because I made you, not because you thought as his dad that maybe we should make him understand lieing isn't acceptable. As long as I'm here you won't step up, you dont' have to I'm the parent you're the good time guy."

"I will step it up Dot I promise you." he pleaded. "I just don't want you to go."

"How many times are you gonna make promises to me you don't keep. How am I supposed to keep believing you? Do you have any idea how hard it was on me today when you insulted my parenting the kids?"

"What I did here tonight should tell you something. That was as hard as hell for me to do but deep down I knew I had to do it. Not because you asked me to but because I started thinking about what would happen if he would have gotten hurt we wouldn't have known where to start looking."

"Jon it wasn't your first instinct though. You're first instinct was to just talk it out like a friend would."

"I know it wasn't but now I get it. I honestly get it Dot, I need to quit acting like their friend and be a parent. It's not fair to make you the bad guy all the time."

"I'm still taking a vacation." She told him.

""What if I said you can't go?"

"You think you can do that?" She asked starting to walk towards the door to the bar and out to the house.

"You know you just can't wait and decide one day to punish me and leave for a week."

"I"m not punishing you Jon." She told him.

"Yes you are, you think that leaving for a week will teach me a lesson." He continued standing there leaning up against the bar. "You've had more than enough chances to sit down and talk to me over the years."

"Jon come on, I just want a break." Dot said trying to figure out what to say.

"You had a break with me last week remember?"

"I want more, you get months at a time."

"That's not exactly a break." he replied still staring directly at her. "Now back to the reason you never talked to me about this......."

"What do you want Jon?"

"I want you to admit that this is not completely my fault."

"What that you act like their friend instead of their dad, yeah that's on you."

"Maybe but why did you wait until today tell me? You've had 15 yrs."

"I guess I kept waiting for you to grow up and take some of the responsibility. Then I guess I felt guilty for wanting it. You're responsible for everything, in all aspects of your life you're the boss the responsible one, I wanted to be a happy place for you to come to when you came off the road, instead of making this a place where you had to be responsible and perfect to."

"And I appreciate that more than you ever know but they are my kids to. As far as me being happy when I come home.....I am very happy as soon as I walk through that front door no matter what is happening."

"Ok so that part is my fault."

"Is there anything else I need to know about that you haven't told me?"

"Like what?"

He shrugged his shoulders sitting down on the bar stool. "You tell me."

"I don't know what you're getting at? Do you think you know something I did or are you talking about the kids?"

"Anything that you have been doing to make my life run smoother when I get home that you shouldn't necessarily have to do?"

"Jon I've been doing this stuff for so many years, I caught our daughter smoking, that was one of the times she got her ass spanked."

"When was that?"

"About a year ago." Dot told him.

"And you didn't tell me this because?" he asked a little annoyed.

"Because the reason she gave me for smoking was, Daddy does it." Dot got pissed again, "What the fuck was I supposed to say oh yeah by the way Jon you're stupid habit has now rubbed off on our kid."

"NO but it would have been nice if you would have told me so I could have talked to her about it!"

"And said what? Do as I say not as I do?" Dot asked him. "At least I have credibility in that regards with her, I was able to tell her to be strong and healthy you don't smoke. Then she asked me how I could be with someone for most of my life that smokes."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her I love you in spite of your faults. Then she asked me how Uncle Richie's daddy dying of lung cancer didn't make you stop smoking, didn't you love us enough to want to stay with us. Jon this is the kind of shit kids ask, what would you have said to her if she asked you that? Would you have made her a promise and if so would you have kept
it?"

Jon stood there thinking about what she had said and was really unsure of how he would have answered his daughter.

"She actually asked you if I didn't love you guys?"

"Yes cos of Richies' dad and Stand up for a Cure, remember she went to that concert with me."

"Yeah I remember. And honestly I've never thought of my smoking doing that until now." It was time for the one time in his life to actually make a promise he would keep because he wanted to live life with his family. "I'm not going to smoke anymore. I have a few packs in my office right now but they will be gone."

"Thats a promise you might want to make to your daughter, maybe then you'll keep it."

He looked at her a little confused at what she meant by that. For the first time he was actually serious about doing this.

"Jon through the years you've told me you're gonna quit like 4 other times, don't tell me anymore just do it."

"I will. Believe baby......I will. I want to be here to watch our kids grow up and get married."


Chapter 38

Richie drove towards his girlfriends house eagerly. So much had happened in the month he had been in LA. What would she think he wondered. He had just dropped off his baby girl at his house with her nanny, she was asleep anyway but Richie needed to find out if Hannah was as committed to him as he was to her. He pulled up in front of her apartment building and took the dozen red roses out of the passenger seat and walked up to her door with a bounce in his step. His hand reached to ring the doorbell and he waited.

Hannah had just gotten home from the dojo just a few minutes earlier so she was still dressed in her sweats and a t shirt when she opened up the door. And as soon as she saw who it was she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I wasn't expecting you for a few more days!"

"HI baby, did you miss me?" He smiled taking her in his arms. Damn she fit so nice there.

"I did!" she laughed pulling away when she realized she was still a little sweaty. "Come on in."

"Thanks baby, these are for you beautiful." He handed her the roses and wondered why her being so casually dressed and sweaty turned him on so much.

"Thanks." she smiled walking into the living room. "Just have a seat I'm going to put these in some water. Can I get you something to drink?"

She asked walking around the corner into the kitchen

"Water please." Richie asked and looked around. Damn how was he going to bring this up to her.

While in the kitchen she grabbed to bottles of water after placing the roses in a vase and walked back into the living room. "Here ya go." She handed him the drink as she sat down beside him.

Richie placed the bottle of water between his legs and quickly turned to her, taking her head in his hands he kissed her, letting his mouth possess hers for a few moments before letting go. "Damn I've wanted to do that for a month now."

"You've missed me that much?" she asked moving her finger down his chest.

"OH yes baby I have." Richie kissed her deeply again. Pulling back he looked at her in the eye. "I need to talk with you though first."

"Oookay. I'm not quite sure I like the look on your face though."

"OH its not that talk - trust me I have no desire to end this. Quite the opposite actually."

He looked at her again and then smiled. "How serious about me are you?"

The question caught her off guard so she just sat there for a moment before answering. "Well I certainly want more than just a fling."

Richie turned and moved his leg onto the couch so he was facing her. "While I was out in LA in therApy a lot happened. Not least of which was I saw Heather, she's in a treatment facility right now for depression and stress and she realized that a lot of the reason she is there is because of the stress and bullshit that comes with living in LA. Well she signed over full custody of Ava to me, she's at my house right now with her nanny."

"Okay but what does that have to do with how serious I am about you? I already knew that you had a daughter."

"Well since she's gonna be living with me full time that changes the dynamics of our relationship a bit. Heather argued with giving her to me knowing what I'd been gowing through but finally she agreed. Now what I want more than anything is for the rest of my life to settle down." Richie took Hannah's hand. "Baby I'm gonna be 50 soon, its time I stop fucking around and get serious. I don't want to date for the rest of my life. I hate dating honestly, to me its superficial and so temporary. I want to get married again and have a real family again. Can you see yourself being involved to that extent?" Riche almost patted himself on the back with how well he worded it, he let her know where his head was without actually asking her a question that would freak her out.

She sat there stunned at what he had said, sure she liked him but could she go through another marriage? "I don't know Richie I mean this is alot to take in all at once."

"I know but I need to tell you where my head is so you know what to think about right? We've both been married baby. I don't ever want another divorce, so I've been thinking this entire month away if I could handle being married again, if I could be the type of husband you'd deserve. I know I can be the type of father Ava deserves but the way I figure it if I'm with a woman who want kids then we need to think that through too." Richie hoped he was making sense.

"I understand exactly what your saying it's just.....just let me think about it okay?" she asked hoping he would understand. The last thing she wanted him to be was upset with her.

"Oh completely baby I'd never expect to pull this on you and get an answer immediately."

She smiled softly leaning into kiss him. "I just want you to know that I really do care about you, I just need to think some things through."