Chapter 114

The doctor informed them, that Stephanie would be discharged tomorrow. Martin would meet them at the house to bring them up to speed.    Jon on the other hand would be home four days later and he wasn’t too happy about that idea. He wanted to be there when Martin was there to let them know what was going to happen. 

Stephanie was up in her room, while Lexie and Tony were in the living room when the door opened and Jesse, Jacob and Romeo rushed in. They stopped in their tracks, shocked to see their mom and their Uncle Tony, dropping books and book bags on the hall table.

“Hey Guys, snacks are on the counter, I picked up some goodies on the way home.”  Lexie told them from her cocoon on the end of the sofa.

“Hey Uncle Tone, you gonna be here for dinner?”  Romeo asked his favorite uncle.

“I’ll be here till your dad comes in. We have to go back to the college on Monday, and your dad will be home on Tuesday.  I’ll be heading back to California for a while, but I’m always a call away, right Ro?”  Tony hugged Romeo and made sure Lexie understood that the last part was for her too.

Lexie nodded her head and watched the boys head off to the kitchen for snacks.

“Thanks Tone, you’re the best little brother I could ever ask for.”  She uncurled from the sofa and got up to hug her brother in law.

“Make sure you say that in front of Matty.” Tony chuckled.

“Will do.”  Lexie laughed.

“Is there any juice?”  Stephanie asked coming down in her pajamas.

Lexie stepped around Tony and watched her step daughter, no she’s my daughter, bought and paid for.

“We have about four kinds, there’re also snacks.  The boys just got home and they’re in there raiding the fridge.”  Lexie smiled and watched her go into the kitchen.  When she heard the boys and then her laugh, Lexie sighed.

“Everything’s gonna be fine Lex, you got to believe it.”  Tony said softly.

“Yeah, I know.” She turned to him.  “It’s got to be, we have six other kids to raise.”

Martin showed up the next day, and it didn’t look good.  Drug possession, expulsion, and rehab were a few words thrown around.  Jon didn’t like not being there, but speaker phone was the closest thing for him right now. Two more days and he would be home, and he would do what needed to be done.  Lexie and Martin would go to the college with Stephanie and be with her when she appears before the student court and when she had to go before the Dean. Martin had made sure any court dates would happen when he was home.

The press finally found someone else to harass for a while, but he knew that once he got home he would have to make the rounds of talk shows.  He would make plans to take the family to the Hamptons on fall break, then he was taking Lexie to London.

Matt stopped at the hotel bar and grabbed a beer, spreading out the itinerary for the next two days.  He got the last two seats in first class from London to Philly, then chopper to Kennedy, driver to the house.  They would drive up to the college themselves.  There they better keep that little shit of a boyfriend away from Jonny, and maybe I could get Uncle Guido to take him on a long walk off a short pier.

He ignored his cell for about an hour’s worth of calls from his big brother. Speaking about him, he just about made him pull what little was left of his hair out.  Downing the dredges of his beer, he pulled all the paperwork back into the folder and headed out the bar and to the elevator.

Jon was on his second lap of twenty around the suite when he heard the key in the lock.

“About fucking time.”  Jon mumbled as Matt came in and sat the folder down on the table.

“I just got off the phone and waited for the fax to come through. Contrary to your beliefs, things don’t just happen when you snap your fingers, it takes a little bit of time.”  Matt walked over to the mini bar and pulled out a bottle of water.

“But you got it done.”  Jon walked over and started riffling through the file on the table.

“Damn it Jonny don’t mess up the whole damn folder. Give me a fucking second to swallow some damn aspirin for this Bon Fucking Jovi headache I got.” He grabbed the folder from Jon and tried to put it all back together.

“Fuck it Matt, this is my daughter’s life and I’m in fucking London.”  Jon slammed his hand on the table, then regretted it as the pain rain up his arm to his shoulder.

“That’s it asshole, break you fucking hand before the last shows.”  Matt sat down at the table and began to put the papers back in order. “We leave right after the last number, so no multiple encores or will never make the flight.”

Jon sat down and rubbed his hand under the table.

“Okay one encore and I’m out, we can do Prayer and I can leave, quick run through the shower and out the door.”  Jon grabbed his cell and made a quick change to the set list for tonight’s show.

“Do you really need a shower? We can wipe you down with diaper wipes in the limo.”  Matt gave him a look that said no shower.

“I’m not flying home a stinking mess.” Jon gasped.

“We’ll hose you down with water once you get off the stage, then dry you off and dump you in the limo.”  Matt tried to state it with a straight face.  “I can arrange for you to shower at the airport.  We have two hours to get from here to the airport shower and board the flight.”

“Okay shower at airport and then sleep across the Atlantic to Philly, Chopper to Kennedy, finally car to home.”

Knock on the door got Matt up and to the door, it was the pre-show meeting. They all came in, hit the bar and dropped their notebooks on the table.

“Okay Kidd, what’s the news from home.”  Richie flipped to an empty page in his tour book.

“Steph’s home, the lawyer came by to take her to the student court, they send the recommendations to the Dean.”  Jon told Richie.  “The police will not prosecute since she is a first time offender and something about charges being dropped due to a local law that prohibits prosecution of people who have a drug overdose.  Now the college could suspend her or kick her out.”

“So that’s good, the not prosecuting her?”  David said as he took the top off his water bottle.

“Yeah, that’s good.  I just can’t believe we didn’t see this coming.”  Jon ran his hands through his hair.  “Pot I could understand, thought we had nipped that bud, but heroin, what was she thinking?”

“She wasn’t, you said her boyfriend gave it to her.”  Richie told him.

“He gave her more than she took herself.”  Jon told him.  “Enough about this, I’ll deal with it when I get home.”

They went over the set list for the next two nights. Jon told them he was leaving after the last show, one encore.

They left to go eat and then head to the arena, Jon called home.

“Hey Rockstar, on the way to work?”  Lexie said as she adjusted her laptop over and looked over at Stephanie who was reading on her tablet.

“Yeah, one more show, I wanted to send you the flight times.  I’ll have Matt fax it to you when we get there.”  Jon said as the streets of London rushed past.

“Good, you want to talk to Steph?  She’s right here,” She looked up at Stephanie, who had a shocked look on her face. “Steph, your dad wants to talk to you.”  Lexie got up and took the phone over to her.  Once she took it, Lexie left the room to go check on the kids.

“Hi Daddy.”  Stephanie said as she felt tears stinging the back of her eyelids.

“Hey, baby girl.”  Jon said softly.  “Are you okay?”