Chapter 102 - We Made A Memory

Jon sits on the bed and takes her hand.  "I want a big family, Monica.  Lots of  kids.  So many, they give me the gray hair."

"We'll have babies, Jon.  When the time is right."

"I know. I know, it's just that sometimes I think about the whole accident and the time that you were in a coma - that baby should have been growing while you were sleeping."

"The impact was too much for my body, God knew that we weren't ready, he knew it wasn't time."

She sits next to him on the bed, both are naked.  With his hand in hers, she kisses his fingers one at a time and tells him, "We will be mommy and daddy one day, just wait.  They will come when it's time and then we'll wish we could come right back here to this place and this time."  

He smiles at her, "I don't mean to be a downer, but this place - without the storm, would be great to be with kids.  Running in the sand, swimming with the dolphins."

"One day." she leans on him, with her head on his shoulder, "One day daddy, one day."

Jon lays back, taking Monica with him, "What do you want to do?  I talked myself out of the mood."

Monica elbows him and laughs, "Why don't we take a nap or we can lay here and read."

Jon rolls his head to look at her, "I guess I could write."

"In that kind of mood, huh?" she smiles, knowing how intense he can get while he writes - especially if he's alone.  When he writes with Richie, they get too distracted.

"Do you mind?" he asks her, stretching to kiss her.

She rolls her head back and forth and feels the need to tell him, "I love watching you write."

"I feel inspiration." he says, sitting back up.  "I feel something I've not felt before."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Monica asks him, not picking up that he was still in a sad mood.

He shakes his head no, "I think I'd rather write about it."

She sits up, rubbing his back she kisses it several times and adds, "I'll be right here, babe."

Jon looks over his shoulder a her and winks, "You always are."

Jon gets up and grabs a pair of running pants and slides them on.  Once he's covered, he reaches into his bag and pulls out his pad and a marker.  He always writes with a marker.  He grabs his cigarettes and a can of beer and sits on the couch.  Cigarette lit, hanging from his mouth he pops off the cap to the marker and writes the words:  Born To Be My Baby

Monica grabs a nighty and slips it on, with her book and camera she climbs in between the covers and gets comfortable.  She looks over at Jon and can't help but feel such love and devotion.  He stuck by her side through her recovery, putting everything on hold, waiting - just waiting for her to wake up.  He was at her bedside and was her rock through her long recuperation and the trials that came with that. 

She raises her camera to her eye, focuses the lenses and snaps a few pictures.  Jon hears the shutter and looks up at her,  "Pay no attention to me.  Go back to what you're doing."  Monica chirps at him, "You are so beautiful when you're writing."

He smiles, tapping the marker on the notebook, "Well, you're beautiful all the time."

She flips him the bird and sticks out her tongue, "I need pics for the concert footage that we're doing."

"Did you forget this was family time?" he asks her, writing in his notebook, not looking at her, "You know these times are off limits for professional purposes."

"It's a picture of you writing, Jon." Monica quickly snaps at him, "Part of your job."

The pen starts to tap again, "I know, but some things we need to keep private."

Monica places her camera on the nightstand, "Alright, I'll stop."

"Thank you."

She reads, he writes and before they knew it, it was time to meet the gang for dinner.  The storm had died down, making the weather in paradise even more perfect than it was when they arrived on the island. 

Both are dressed,kind of, Jon in jean shorts and flip flops and Monica in a cotton sundress with flip flops.  Together they walk to the cabana where dinner is prepared for them and the family.  They aren't the first to arrive nor were they the last, Dave and Alec were already at the table and they could see an empty wine bottle.  The guys were laughing as they approached and when Alec seen them coming their way, he taps David with the back of his hand, "The Royals have arrived." 

Dave turns around and looks at them, "Hey you two, we didn't think we would see you until morning."

"Oh yeah?"  Monica asks, as she bends over and kisses them both on the cheek, "what did you think we were going to do?"

"We thought you might be making babies." Alec chimes in, laughing at the dumb comment that he had just made, "Getting busy in the bedroom."

"Really, Alec?"  Jon replies, giving him the look.

"What did you two do with your afternoon?"  David questions the couple, "You kind of disappeared on us, is everything okay?"

"Fine."  Jon states.  "When is everyone else coming down?"  Jon and Monica take a seat across from Dave and Alec, on's arm around Monica - he pulls her close.  

"They should be down anytime.  The itinerary said 8.  It's almost 8."   When Jon planned the trip, he made sure that he scheduled time for them all to be together, as a band, they needed the down time together as much as they needed it alone.  

Monica points, "There's Richie, but who is that woman?"  Jon, Dave and Alec all look in the direction of Richie and his guest.  No one has any idea who she is.  They watch them approach and when Richie gets close enough he bellows, "Hello everyone!  Beautiful night, huh?"  His arm is around the strange woman, when they reach the table, "This is Krista.  Krista, this is" as he points to those at the table, "Jon, David and Alec."

Jon, Dave and Alec all stand and shake her hand.  They exchange hello's and then Jon says, "This is my wife Monica."

"The photographer?"  Krista asks with the excitement of a lunatic fan.  "The one that has been doing your videos?"

Monica politely smiles and nods her head yes, a little irritated by the unknown guest, "I am."

"Oh my God, I loved In and Out of Love.  Loved it."

"Thanks."  Monica replies, with a half hearted smile.

"Richie,  where did you meet Krista?" Jon asks, stern and flat.  "This is scheduled band time."

"No Jon, this is schedule dinner time.  It's not band time."  Richie corrects him, with a little bit of attitude.  "If you must know, I met her in town when I was shopping for Monica's birthday present."

"It's your birthday?"  David blurts out.

Jon's head turned to look to Monica like it was attached to a ling shot.  He forgot her birthday.  His heart is now in his stomach and he feels like a jerk.

"What did you get me?"  Monica asks, "Something gorgeous, I hope!"

Richie reaches into his shorts pocket and pulls out a locket and hands it to Monica.  Monica looks at it, opens it and in it Richie placed a picture of the two of them in it.  It was an older picture.  They were sitting next to a beach fire, Monica was between his legs, leaned back and Richie has his arms around her.  Both of them had smiles on their face.  Once she closes it, her arms go around his neck and she kisses him, "I love it Richie, thank you!"

"Baby girl, I'll give you the moon."  and he means it.  Their relationship was solid, lifelong and one that nothing could break.  She was his little sister and he was her big brother, everyone loved their relationship.  

Krista, feeling a little jealous tries to talk to Monica again, as her and Richie take their seats, "I've been following your work.  I seen some of your shots from the Springsteen tour and even some of your Versace stuff, but what you're doing with these guys in amazing."

"They're great subject matter and they follow directions pretty good."  Monica reaches under the table, with her hand on his leg she starts to rub his thigh.  he looks at her and she can see that he's lost in thought.  "Hey."  She pinches his thigh.  "What's up?"

"Nothing."

"it doesn't look like nothing." she informs him, "I can see that something is on your mind and it's new."

"Babe, nothing - okay."  He takes her hand from his thigh and fidgets with her fingers.  She can tell that he's not being truthful, but she isn't going to push the issue.

A few moments later, Mr. & Mrs. B appear with a cake, covered with lit candles.  Mrs B breaks out with the Happy Birthday song and Monica is touched.  She herself forgot that it was her birthday until Richie brought it to everyone's attention.  With the cake before her and everyone watching, Monica looks at Jon, thinks for a moment and makes her wish as she blows out the candles.  

"Thanks Ma.  I totally forgot it was my birthday."  Monica says as she hugs her mother in law, "With the storm and being exhausted, it slipped my mind.  The cake is beautiful, thank you."

"We can have cake after dinner."  Pops tells the group as he takes his place at the head of the table.  "Is everyone here?"

Everyone looks left, then right and they all nod.  "Tico should be here any minute, we seen him out front."  Richie informs them.  "He was getting a newspaper."


The vacation in paradise turned out to be one of clarification, relaxation, reacquainting, rejuvenating and rest.  Everyone boarded the plane with smiles on their faces and no schedule that they needed to adhere to.  They were going home, they were going to get back to real life and that was all that they wanted.