Chapter 124 - Songs Have To End

Jon leans over and whispers in her ear, "Who said you could use this?"  He's a little taken back, "Wait a minute, who recorded this?"

Monica whispers back to him, "I did."  Jon is still a little miffed.  The band hasn't even had a chance to talk about it, much less record it and she added it to a film.

"You should have asked me first." he responds, "you should have gotten the okay from me."

Monica looks him in the eye.  She can see the frustration on his face, but she doesn't understand it.  I'll Be There For You continues to play in the back ground.  "Just watch the film.  We can talk about this later."  She pats Jon's leg, trying to assure him that everything will be okay.

Jon is rendered speechless.  He directs his attention back to the screen and tries to watch what's on the screen.  The footage goes to Tico backstage.  Rat a tat tatting his drumsticks on a road case, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.  There is a familiar voice, "Tico, what's the meaning of life?"

Tico winks into the camera with his cigarette hanging, dangerously close to ash falling and says, "Sex, drugs and rock -n- roll, right?"  

"Is that the meaning to your life?"  Monica asks.  

"Some days.  What's the meaning to your life, Miss Monica?" 

Her laughter is captured on film followed with her saying, "All of you and all of them are the meaning of my life, T."

"Good meaning."

"Tell me, T - how are you liking this road life?"

Tico finally stops tapping on the road case and extinguishes his cigarette on the floor with his foot.  "This isn't really that bad.  Here we are in Germany, last night we had one of the best crew parties that we could ever have and today we got to see Berlin.  If I wasn't in this band and on this ride with these guys I never would have made it here."

"You don't think you would have traveled?"  Monica questions him.  

Tico shakes his head no as he hoists himself up to sit on the road case, "No, I don't think I would have traveled this far. But this ride has been amazing and I hope there is no end in sight."

The screen goes black and the theater goes quiet.  Monica knows what's coming up next, but no one else does.  

Fade in, fireworks appear on the screen and the shot pans back from the top of a stadium.  At first sight, no one can tell which stadium it is, but they all are mesmerized by the shot.  Monica is impressed at how good it all looks on the screen.  She's feeling a moment of self pride with a big smile on her face.  Words appear on the screen; MOSCOW.  The fans in the audience go crazy.   The Peace Festival was only aired on MTV.

Richie leans over, almost laying on Jon's lap, "How in the hell did you get that?"

Monica just smiles at him and points to the screen.  The images flash to Jon entering the stadium and the pandemonium that follows.  It also flashes to the guys playing Runaway and with a smooth into into Love Lies.  More images flash and as they all sit there and watch themselves on screen, they can't believe the beauty - the bond that they all share.  And she captured much of it in it's purest, it's rawest form.  Images of crying girls in the audience, shots of concession booths and merchandise booth, selling T-shirts, albums and posters.

The next footage is of Monica, sitting in a restaurant booth with a glass of orange juice.  The camera man is none to steady and that makes Monica giggle.  The interviewer clears his throat and asks her, "Mrs. Bongiovi, where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

On screen Monica smiles.  In the theater she rests her hand on Jon's leg.  He slides his hand up and squeezes hers, remembering the day that he shot this footage.  They were in the Sayreville Diner one night after recording.  It was just the two of them, tucked away in a corner.  

On the screen, Monica tells Jon, "Well, hopefully by then, I'll BE Mrs. Bongiovi with two children.  Where do you see yourself, Mr. Bongiovi?  Jon and Monica were not married at this point, legally. Plus, they had just announced that they were pregnant.  

Monica can feel many eyes on her as she tries not to look away from the screen.  She can also feel her eyes burn as they slowly fill with tears.  Jon's grip goes tighter on her hand, it's then that she looks at him.  He has tears in his eyes too, remembering the interview that he gave her.  As they look at one another, the next thing they hear is, "When she's born, she is going to be a daddy's girl."  Jon laugh follow the statement that he just made.  "That's where I see myself in 5 years.  A daddy with his baby and his baby girl at his side."