Chapter 109 - A Couple Of Drinks, The Pain Goes Away

Jon and Monica left her studio with the intention of a quiet evening at home.  Things rarely go their way.  As they drove back to New Jersey from the city, they were listening to the radio.  

WPAP was really good about playing Bon Jovi tunes and they were very supportive, raving about the homegrown band that drove their own path to success.  In and Out of Love was playing and at the end of the song, the DJ tells anyone within the listening area that after the next commercial break they will return with an exclusive interview with the nurse that took care of Monica for the weeks following their accident, in the hospital in Las Vegas.  Jon swerves as he is taken back by what they heard.  "What did he just say?"  Monica asks with her hands pressed on the car seat, holding herself in place from the swerve and from the shock.  "Did he just say that he's interviewing the nurse that took care of me?"

Jon slams on the brakes and pulls into a parking lot, "He did."  He stops the car and throws it in park, "How in the hell did they pull this off?"

"What can she possibly tell them?"  Monica looks at Jon, asking because she remembers very little of the people that took care of her.  "There isn't a story there, Jon, what the hell?"

Jon sits there with his hands on the steering wheel, looking out the windshield, fixed on nothing - but in a daze.  He starts to shake his head no, "I have no idea."

"Can we stop it?" as those words fall out of Monica's mouth, the DJ on the radio starts to talk after the commercial break.

"I'm here with Mandy Thompson, a critical care nurse from Las Vegas General Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada.  As some of you may remember, glam rocker Jon Bon Jovi and his new bride were hit by a car as they left the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas just moments after they were married.  Jon Bon Jovi's wife, Monica Bongiovi was severely injured in the accident, which led to a long coma and the loss of their baby, as Monica was expecting.  She laid in a coma for weeks, with Jon Bon Jovi holding a constant vigil at  her side." There is a short pause, "Mandy thank you for joining us here in the studio for this exclusive interview, welcome."

Mandy Thompson, a middle aged, single critical care nurse with a new career at Las Vegas General very quietly says, "Thank you for having me."

"What brings you to New York City?"  The DJ asks her, "Are you here for a vacation?"

Mandy sits there with a bag of nerves and smiles at the DJ, while shaking her head no.  "I am out here for a few interviews."

"Regarding the Bongiovi's?"

"Yes." Mandy starts to squirm in her chair.  She feels flush and a swarm of butterflies have taken flight in her stomach, "I'm here to set the record straight."

"The record?" the DJ questions as he winks at her, "What record would that be?"

"The one about Jon being at her side constantly, the one that his fans might think to be true, but it couldn't be farther from." she smirks, "He wants everyone to believe that he's a good husband and that he would do anything for her."

"Do you care to elaborate?  Fill us in.  What happened while Monica was in a coma?"

"Well, he isn't the innocent husband that he tries to portray."

"Are you saying that he wasn't at her bedside?"

"Not constantly!" she adds in, wiggling a little more in her seat.  "He was gone more than he was there."

"Where did he go?"

Jon and Monica were sitting in her car, stopped in a parking lot.  They both stare at the radio that's built into the dashboard.  Monica's stare is fixed on the dial and Jon's is on the station selector buttons.  But when Monica hears the nurse tell the DJ that Jon was gone more than he was at her side, she can't help but look over at her husband.  The husband that she would die for, the husband that she thought that she would die with.  Jon can feel her glance and he knows that he can't look at her.  He can't take his eyes off the radio.  He could hear it better if he was able to look at it.  

"Well, it depended on who was working.  He had a thing for a nurse on every shift."

"A thing?"  the DJ is getting interested, he's even more intrigued with every word that Mandy says.  "What do you mean he had a thing?"

Mandy chuckles and takes a drink from her mug of tea, with a hard gulp she begins with, "He had a woman on each shift."

"A woman?"

"Yeah, he was seeing nurses as his wife laid there almost dead.  Real stand up guy, huh?"

"Seeing nurses?  You mean he had a fling with a nurse on every shift?"

"Pretty much."

"Were you one of them?  Did you have a fling with Jon Bon Jovi?" the DJ asks and holds his breath.  He knows that if she answers the question the way that he thinks she's going to, his ratings will sky rocket as he watches an exclusive story unfold.  

Mandy leans forward in her chair, getting as close to the microphone as she can without touching it, "I did when they first arrived.  I'd say withing the first week of her being in the coma."

"Seriously?  You had a fling with Jon within a week of his wife falling into that coma?"

Jon finally looks at Monica and he cans see the tears welling up in her eyes.  He reaches over and rests his hand on her thigh, "Babe, this isn't true."  Monica doesn't even flinch.  She doesn't blink, she doesn't breathe.  A single tear rolls down her cheek, just as her heart had taken enough.  She looks away.  She looks out the window and listens to the interview again.

"Jon and I met when we were outside smoking a cigarette." Mandy starts with the story.  The story that several magazines had paid her to come to New York and tell.  "He came out one night and asked me for a light."

"And you gave him one?" the DJ wants every detail, whether Mandy thought that it was insignificant or not.  

"I did.  We then stood there and smoked a cigarette together and talked about all that had gone on in the days leading up to our meeting."

"What specifically did you talk about?  Did he talk about the hit and run, about Monica and the fact that she miscarried?"

Mandy nods her head, "Uh huh, we talked about all of that, briefly.  Until he was paged to go back to her room.  She had a complication and they needed to take her back for an emergency procedure, but they needed his consent so he ran off to save her." again, Mandy gave him the smirk.

"Emergency procedure?  What happened?  We never heard about her needing any emergency procedure after she was admittied."

"The whole clan is good at keeping secrets.  They cover all of their tracks."

"What did she have done?"

"Well, when I made it back up to the wing, she was gone and he was in the operating waiting room, pacing."

"OK, what was the emergency?" the DJ didn't like asking questions more than once, but he could see that he needed to with Mandy.  He needs to keep her focused and on the topic at hand.  After all, they are paying her for the interview, so she needs to comply with what he wants.  

"She had pressure on her brain and they needed to drain it before it killed her."  Mandy tells him without empathy or sympathy for Monica.  "She just needed a temporary shunt in her head."

"That's pretty serious, is it not?"

"No, it's kind of routine with head injuries like hers."

"So, Jon went to be with her and left you to smoke on your own.  Then what?"

"Well, as the hours passed by, all of us girls - us nurses could see that he needed some cheering up, that he needed a distraction, so we did just that."

"Did what?"

"When Monica was out of surgery and in recovery - we took Jon to the rooftop and we all had a few drinks at shift change.  There is nothing prettier than Las Vegas at night, from up above."

"Jon left his wife and went up and had drinks with some nurses?" the DJ is a little appalled by the thought of that, "He's having drinks as his wife lay in a coma, just out of brain surgery?"  Mandy nods her head and smiles.  "Can you answer that, the listeners at home can't see you shake your head."

"Yes, that is exactly what he did.  Drank beer and Yukon Jack with 6 nurses."

"As his wife was in ICU?"

"Yes."

"And then what?  How did he manage to get around buzzed with his own casts on and his own injuries?"

Mandy leans back in her chair, holding the cord of her head phones, "We were able to keep him medicated enough so he felt no pain."

"Were his injuries more serious than reported?"

"NO.  He had a broken bone, soreness and bruising.  But when he was on that roof, he felt no pain."  

Mandy hands the DJ a photograph.  He looks at it and hands it back

"What happened between the two of you after that?"

"That's a picture of him that I took at my house one Saturday afternoon."

"At your house?" the DJ is in shock.  "your house in Vegas?"

Shaking her head yes, "He came over a few times."

"Why would he visit you at your home?  You were his wife's nurse."

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Monica can't help it, she looks over at her husband and see that he's upset.  What she can't decipher is, is he mad or embarrassed?  Was the nurse telling the truth or was she making it all up.  "What happened Jon?  Is any of this true?  What is the picture she's talking about?  Did she take your picture Jon?  WERE YOU AT HER HOUSE??"

Turning to face her, he slides his hand over and takes her hand, "Mon, the only thing that she has said that has even a hint of truth to it is what I had for injuries.  That's it.  The rest is all lies."

"Did you go on the roof and drink with all of those nurses?"  Jon just looks at her.  He can feel that her hand is sweaty and he can see that she is getting angry.  "JON?"  Still, he just looks at her.  He doesn't know if her did.  The days after their accident were a blur to him, as well.  He was heavily medicated and the time is their life was the most stressful that he has ever been through.  His silence feeds her anger, "God damn it Jon, did you go on the roof top and drink with the nurses that took care of me?  Did you go to the crazy bitch's house?"

"I DON'T REMEMBER!" he snaps back at her.  He's angry that he's even hearing the interview that they are and he's angry that he can't remember what happened back when they were in the accident.  "I don't remember the first few days after the accident."

"Oh my God, do you think that you did?" she snaps right back. "This is ridiculous.  Why am I hearing about this now?"

"I have nothing to do with it." he reached up to turn the radio off and Monica, with her lightening fast reflexes hits his hand away.

"Leave it on!"

"This is bullshit Monica." he barks at her, without thinking about what he was saying, "We don' need to listen to this shit."

"Why because you don't want me to find out what happened while I laid there clinging to life?" she barks back, but adds a little bite to it, "Or did you want me to die?"  As fast as it fell,  her hand covers her mouth, she can't believe that she said something like that.

"WHAT?"  he yells at her, "What did you just say?" she can see the anger flush over his face.  "Did you just say what I think you did?"

"You heard me right, Jon."

"Do you really think that?"

"What else did you do while I was in a fucking coma?  Did you fuck those nurses?"

"Monica....."

"Answer me, Jon.  Did you fuck the nurses that were supposed to be taking care of me?"

"Stop."

"Answer the goddamn question, Jon."

"Monica, stop." he pus his hands up.  "THIS is ridiculous."

"Oh, is it?"

"Yes.  You really believe all of this?"  She glares at him and doesn't say another word.  He reaches up again, to try to turn it off and she slaps his hand away, even harder this time.  "I'm not listening to this shit."

"Then get out of the car."

He does just that.  With is Italian pride hurt, he opens the car door and steps out, slamming the door behind him.  Monica watches his temper tantrum while she listens to the interview that was ruining her life.

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

"Mandy, what happened between you and Jon Bon Jovi after that?" the DJ asks her, wanting to keep the interview alive and moving in the proper direction.  "Did the two of you become intimate?"

"Not at first."

"What do you mean?"

"At first I was his buddy.  We would smoke and have dinner together in the cafeteria."

"When did it become intimate?"

Mandy pauses and thinks for a minute.  She cocks her eye and gives the DJ a funny look, "We became intimate when her mom and dad left."

"What did they have to do with it?  It sounds like you were alone with Jon on occasion."

"I was alone with him a lot.  I was the charge nurse and at night when I would assign patients, I would assign Monica to myself."

"Why?"

"To give her the care that she needed.  No one knew her like I did."

"Like you did?  How did you know her?"

"Her husband talked about her and to her all of the time, at first."

"And then what?"

"I would pick up on information, which was easy to do.  Those rich and famous people think that people like me are invisible, the peons of society." she shifted in her chair, crossing her legs while she tapped her finger nails on the console.  "The stuff that they say and do in front of us would blow your mind.  They must think that we're deaf and dumb."

"What did Jon say?  What information did you get that you may not have otherwise?" the DJ could see that he was about to step into uncharted territory, taking him to one of the best interviews of his career to this point.  "What did you learn about Monica?"

"Oh, tons of useless crap at first.  Like her favorite color, how they met, what her parents do.  He told me all about her dads car accident."

"What else?"

"You mean like, he married her because she was pregnant." and Mandy laughed.  "I know a lot of people thought that, and it's true."

"He told you that?" the DJ confirms, "Jon told you that he married her because she was pregnant?"

"He did."

The DJ is getting excited.  He is getting THE exclusive interview of his career.  Even though he was friends with Jon and the rest of the guys in Bon Jovi, his career came first and he knows that if he can ask her the right questions, getting the juiciest of answers, the interview could open up some great opportunities for him.  "Where were you and how did he tell you?  Were you alone?  In her room?  Set the stage, where were you and how did he tell you?"

Mandy is loving all of the attention and by the look on the DJ's face, she was making him happy, giving him the information that he wanted. The information that Jon's fans wanted.  "We were in an empty patient room, watching COPS on TV.  I was on a break."

"And Jon just watched TV with you in an empty room?" the DJ questions, making sure that even the smallest of detail wasn't left out.  "How did the two of you meet up in that room?"

"We went in there every night and hung out.  Well, every night that I worked."

"And you would just watch TV?" the DJ asked in a cracking voice.  It was getting hard for him to talk with the excitement in his voice.  "Wait, don't answer that.  We need to go to commercial so the bills get paid.  Hold that answer." he gives Mandy a little laugh, "Stayed tuned ladies and gentleman, we'll be right back with the interview that's going to rock rock and roll.  Mandy Thompson, the nurse that cared for Monica Bongiovi is here breaking the silence that she has held onto for all of theses months.  Mandy Thompson, former mistress of Jon Bon Jovi will be back, right after these messages."  He motions for his producer to cut to commercial.