Chapter 119

The boys and Jon were hiding out in the den with soda, popcorn and movies, while the girls were going through boxes and the truck.  They had set up three separate areas in the alleyway, one section to sell, one to donate and one to keep. Lexie had brought out a cooler with water, juice and soda’s for the girls.

Stephanie had called a lot of her high school friends, she had even invited Sarah, but she was informed that she could not come because of the lawsuit.

Lexie came out with several pizza’s, checked the cooler, then looked at some of the things they had put in the donate pile. Picking up the books she shook each one of them out. Slips of paper, receipts and other things fell out.

“Girls, shake out the books before you put them in either of in the piles.  I just came across some money used as bookmarks.”  She held up to folded dollar bills up.  One of the things she didn’t show them were the packs of rolling papers she also found.  “Oh yeah, check all purses, wallets and pants pockets too.”  She headed for the door.

“You got a smart mom.”  Missy, one of Stephanie school friends.

“Yeah I do.”  Stephanie said just as Lexie went in the door.

She paused for a couple of seconds, but continued on into the townhouse.

The ride to Seaforth was shorter than Stephanie expected.  The boys stayed home with rules not to leave the townhouse.  They had left through the alleyway, the driver never questioned the pickup location.  

“It doesn’t look like a rehab.”  Stephanie said as the pulled up to the facility.

“What did you think it would like like Steph” Lexie asked her.

“A hospital maybe, this just looks like a big house.” Stephanie sat back on the seat by Lexie.

The driver had dropped them off at the door, with no reporters in sight. By leaving through the alleyway they managed to avoid the media outside the townhouse.

They were seated in an office by a young lady, who was all but drooling over Jon.  Nothing about the place reminded Jon of a rehab, like the last place he had visited Richie in. That place smelled like a last ditch effort to get sober.

They did the walk through and were soon on the road back.  The place wasn’t as bad as Stephanie thought it was going to be.  Besides counseling, she had to go through drug testing, classes, and then usual twelve step program. “Thirteen weeks should go by quick” she thought when she looked at the schedule in the packet that they were given. Between lectures, classes and studying to finish her classes at Hamilton, she had very little down time.

They were halfway home when Jon’s cell phone went off.  Looking at the caller ID he rolled his eyes.

“Let me guess, it’s Dorothea?”  Lexie asked as she leaned over and looking at his caller ID to make sure.  “You better answer it, she’ll only call over and over till you give in.”

“Alright Dotty what do you want?” Jon asked with a sigh.

“I just got to Seaforth and they said you had already left. We were supposed to meet the director and the staff together.”  Dorothea said in an acid tone.

“No we weren’t, your lawyer should’ve told you, and that until the hearing on custody, you signed you have no rights as a parent, and you sold them.” Jon informed his ex. He was really getting tired of telling her this, over and over again.

“I would never have signed away my kids.”  Dorothea whined.

“But you did Dotty for five and a quarter of a million dollars.”  Jon finally said what he had paid Dorothea when she signed the papers.  Jon saw the shock on Stephanie face. That sick feeling came back to his stomach.  He hung up and tossed the phone on the seat beside Stephanie.

“So that’s how much we were worth to her?” Stephanie asked her dad.

“You and your brothers weren’t supposed to know that.”  Jon told her.  “It was the second payment I made to her.” 

Lexie knew this was a long time in coming, her presence wasn’t needed for this discussion, why weren’t they home yet.

“Jon, can this wait till we get home?”  Lexie asked him, looking between father and daughter.

“Lexie do you know anything about this?” Stephanie asked Lexie.

“No, I don’t know a thing about this.”  Lexie reassured Stephanie.

“She doesn’t know anything about this. Martin and I took care of all this.”  Jon told Stephanie.

“But this concerns the boys too, you and Martin have been taking care of this and they’re the most important part of this” She searched for the right word. “Lawsuit.” Mess would have been a better word but she didn’t want to upset Stephanie.

Jon looked between the two ladies in the car and knew what was coming.

“I think this should be taken care of in a family meeting.”  Lexie told them.

“I agree daddy, this should be a family meeting.”  Stephanie nodded in agreement with Lexie.

“And they need to be told from the start.”  Lexie said.

“From the start?” Jon asked looking between the two.

“The start.”  Lexie nodded along with Stephanie.

They all sat around the table looking at Jon, waiting on him to let them know what was going on.

“Well, your all going to have to know before the hearing anyway.”  Jon got up and walked around the table to stand behind Lexie.  “It all started when Jesse got arrested.  When we, Martin and I got back from the juvenile detention, there was a letter from Grahams parents blackmailing me for a quarter of a million not to take this to the press.  I knew it wasn’t from Grahams parents it was from your mom.”

“So that is how you all came to live with me.  Yes I paid only if she gave me full custody.”  Jon told them.

“Then there was more money paid for Lexie to be our mom?”  Stephanie asked him.

“Yes, Graham lost his job and they were going to lose the house and so for five million dollars and more, she signed the papers.”  Jon started to walk back to his seat at the table.

“So she was under duress, when she signed the papers.”  Jesse said.

“When I found out she was offering to sign her parental rights, I offered the money, not beforehand.”  Jon told the kids.  “I offered, she took.”

Jesse looked over at Stephanie, whose eyes were shocked.  She looked at her father and then down to Lexie.

“So she took the money after you found out they were in trouble?” Stephanie asked, when her father nodded she then turned to Lexie. “Why is she going after you? You’re the one who made visiting mom and Graham’s okay, you even took the boys over when they wanted to visit.”

“I think it was after the overdose, when the police called the house and I went up there and I didn’t call her to let her know.”  Lexie reached out her hand to Stephanie. “Your uncle Tony heard her threatening to get your four back, so she’s going after the both of us.”

“I hate that, why is she doing this?”  Stephanie shook her head.

“To hurt dad and mamma Lexie.”  Jesse said.

“We don’t want daddy and mamma Lexie hurt.”  Jakey and Romeo said together.

“Don’t worry, we are prepared to deal with this.   Stephanie and Jesse are old enough to decide who they want to live with, but the two of you, they may ask you who you want to live with.”  Jon told his younger two.

Jake looked over at Romeo, then back at their dad.

“We want to live with you and Mamma Lexie.” Jake told his father, Romeo nodded in agreement.

“I’m glad Romey, you too Jakey.”  Lexie told the boys.  She looked down the table at Jon and smiled.

“Okay, let’s go get some food and then it’s homework time.”  That got Lexie a lot of groans.  It was a short walk to Whole Foods. This was what a family does, Lexie thought, listening to the banter between father and kids, damn Dorothea, for trying to separate him from his kids.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Chapter 118

The packing up and moving all of Stephanie’s belongings from her college dorm room was a family event.  Lexie and Stephanie were wrapping her glass items in newspaper, while Jesse and Jon were moving her computer, media center and television. Jake and Romeo, were loading her shoe boxes into the trailer.  Her clothes would be the last to be packed.  Stephanie had left some stuff for her roommate Ali and they hauled a large amount to the dumpster.  Finally they were on the road again, Lexie was driving Stephanie and half of the stuff going home, Jon had the boys in the truck they rented with rest of Stephanie’s belongings. They were due for the first visit to Seaforth in two days, Stephanie wasn’t too excited about that.

They stopped along the way home for lunch, and to see if they could lose the few paparazzi that were following them, putting them home late. Pulling in the alley way they started to unload the car first and then the truck. Dinner that night was sandwiches and chips then homework session followed.

Jon and Lexie headed to the office, they still had mail to go through.  Martin had called Jon on the way back and told him he had gotten a letter from Dorothea’s lawyer and he had faxed it to him. 

Lexie took her stack of mail and went through it. She had promo illustrations to review and approve for her new book.  She also had some writer’s group convention invitations. Lexie consulted the calendar to see the ones she wanted to attend. Any events during the allotted time Stephanie would be in the rehab were declined. She sent them back to her Editor to forward her apologies or she could use Sally to write the letters. Of course she would pay her for extra time.

“Hey Rockstar, what are we going to do with Stephanie things she won’t need for Seaforth?”  Lexie put her mail away and went to the sideboard bar to get wine for Jon and soda for hersef.  She went around the desk and sat on the edge.

“We can donate it to Habitat, or mom could sale at one of her yard sales.  And the money for Stephanie’s extra expenses  at Seaforth. I didn’t look to see if they had a snack shop, you know for candy and anything they need.”  He watched he perched on his desk. His mind began to wander, he thought about their upcoming second honeymoon. Now moved a week due to Stephanie and rehab family meetings.

“When we go on Monday, we can check it out.  There is a list up on the website of what she needs to bring with her, but you know they don’t list everything.”  He sipped his wine and watched her sipping her soda.  “I’m sorry we had to postpone our anniversary, I know I was looking forward to being alone with you in London.”

“I was looking forward to it too, but family always comes first.”  She leaned down and gave him a kiss.

“Last night, in the kitchen, did you see anything different in Stephanie?” Jon asked Lexie.

“I hope I did, but since she had sort of shut me out for so long, I’m no longer sure.”  Lexie got off the corner of the desk and st on his lap. “To be honest I just don’t know.”

Jon shifted in his chair to make sure he could hold her better.

“I guess we’ll see how it goes at Seaforth.”  He handed her the lawsuit paperwork, “I’m amazed how in the whole wide world, Graham and Dorothea found a lawyer to take their case.”

“Under duress, they’re going with that plan?  They were going to lose their house and she had to go out and get a job instead of sitting home.”  Lexie read over the legalese and rolled her eyes.  “Did you see both our names are on here? Why is she coming after me?  Has this got anything to do with that she wasn’t called to the hospital?”  Lexie remember how upset she was with her about not being called first, and how she had berated Stephanie and herself when she flew out of the hospital parking lot.

“I think it might have something to do with it.  Hell I have no idea. I guess we need to go to the source and see what the hell is going on.”  He gave her a hard kiss on the neck and stood her up.  “Call Martian and have him set up a little meetings of the generals, I’m gonna go talk to Steph.”  He walked out of the office and Lexie sat in his chair and called Martian.

Jon headed upstairs to his daughters room, knocking he waited, no answer.  He opened the door and walked in, the room was empty. Shaking his head he checked the other rooms, all the other kids were accountable.  Heading down to the kitchen he noticed the puppy box was empty, he went out the kitchen door, down the steps to the alley way and spotted her with the puppies and Snowball. They had brought an old play gaited area to use when the puppies and Snowball needed to go outside.  She was sitting on a box watching the puppies playing chase momma around the pen.

“We used to do that with you kids when you were little, take you out by the river and let you run off your energy before bed.  It worked.”  He looked over her shoulder.

“They’re about ready to go to the forever homes.”  Stephanie said softly, as if Snowball would be unhappy her puppies were going to leave her soon.

“Yeah, when you get through with rehab, just Snowball and Charcoal will be left.”  Jon squatted down and patted Snowball on the head, as she danced around for his attention.

“Dad, about rehab.”  Stephanie started. “I’m not looking forward to going to Seaforth.”  She finally got out.

“I know, but Steph, it’s where the college and Martian think you should go.”  Jon pulled up another crate and sat down beside her.  “It’s where I think you should go.”  Jon watched as the words sunk in.

“But why Seaforth, why not the one uncle Mookie went to in Utah or California?”  Stephanie brushed a tear from her eyes.

“Baby girl, I saw what those did to Mookie, they weren’t that good, he’s still having problems.  I don’t want you to ever go back to the hospital because of drugs. I don’t want you to smoke pot, pop pills or sample other people’s drink in case they put something in it.”  Jon pulled her close in his arms and rocked her as she cried.

“I’m so sorry Dad, I’m so sorry.”  She cried as her Jon rocked her.

That is where Jesse found them.

“Dad, Mom said to come on in, Hank the doorman said there are paps hanging out in the front.” Jesse said as he looked up and down the alley way.

“Okay Jess.”  Jon let Stephanie go as she wiped the tears off her cheeks.  “Let’s get Snow and her pups in.”  They worked together to pick up the puppies and Snow. Heading up the stairs Lexie met them at the door.

“We’re safe, don’t think we were seen, but thanks for the heads up.” Jon handed her Snowball as he carried Charcoal and one of the other puppies.

“Martin said to call him.  I think he might have some news.”  Lexie cuddled the Snowball close as they put the puppies in their pen then turned to look at father and daughter.  “Steph, do you want to help me tomorrow, go through some of these boxes to see what you want to keep, and what you want Grandmother B to sell in her yard sale?”  Lexie asked as she leaned her hip on the counter after she added Snowball to the pen.

“Sure, but I don’t think anyone would want anything of mine.”  Stephanie squatted down by the puppies and watched them settle down and snuggled to Snowball.

“You have books, hardback and paperback. You’re like your dad, you take great care of them.”  Lexie squatted down beside her.

“So, I take care of my books, why would anyone want them.”  Stephanie looked over at Lexie.  She never noticed that Lexie had hazel eyes, it never even entered her mine what Lexie really looked like.  If she let her hair go back natural, she would have the same color hair as her mother and Lexie, but Lexie had more red in her hair than brown.

“Books that have unbroken spines or turned down corners, no water damage, are worth more in resale.”  Lexie looked up noticing that Stephanie was looking at her, sort of like a scientist looked at a bug under a microscope.  “First editions are worth more than other editions.  I leaned this in college when I tried to get a refund on a history book.  I used to study in the bathtub and wet fingers ruin pages.” 

Jon watched his two ladies talking, baby steps, must be working.

“She still ruins books in the bathtub.” Jon laughed as Lexie actually blushed.  He stopped buying her first editions after he found a lot of them with water damage. 

“When I need to tune out the muse and get some work done, I close myself in the bathroom and fill the tub with bubbles and soak and read.”  She looked up at Jon and gave him the stink eye.  “Don’t you need to call Martin?”

Jon laughed holding up both hands and backing out of the laundry room.

Stephanie started to leave the laundry room, Lexie followed her out but stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey Steph, want to call a couple of girlfriends and see if they want to help us tomorrow after family lunch at your grandparents?”  Lexie called up to her before she got to the top landing.

“Really?  I can call and asked two of my friends to come over?”  Stephanie was shocked, she was still grounded and it would be a big bend in the rules to have a friend come over.  Should she call Sarah to come over or would she would even speak to her? She thought about it.

“Two or maybe a couple more, there is still a lot of stuff to go through.”  Lexie told her looking up at the girl, paused halfway up the stairs.  “Your cell is in my bedside table, just put it back in say about two hours.”

Another bend in the rules, if Lexie keeps this up the grounding rule will be totally broken.  Stephanie hurried back down the stairs and flung her arms around Lexie in a big huge.

“Thanks Mom.”  Stephanie whispered through her tears.

Chapter 117

Jon froze by the door. This didn’t sound like it was going to take a short answer to make her happy, Jon thought.

“Sure baby girl.”  Jon started back to the chair beside her.

“If things were different, would you have fought to stay with Mom?”  She asked him quietly.

He sat there a few seconds, letting her question sink in.  In his mind went back to the day Dorothea had told him that it was over.  Her lawyer had served the divorce papers to drive the nail in. He knew that she had been seeing Graham for months or even years while he was on tour, granted he hadn’t been celibate all that time either. He had tried to make a go of it, the family trips to St Barts, and whatever else that made her happy, it failed.

“Steph, there were times before the divorce, that I’ve tried.”  Jon started, and sifted in the chair.  “I took that year off, we did St Barts and Europe. We tried to make it work.”

“But,” Stephanie shifted in her seat. She remember the trips, but also the yelling, when they thought they weren’t being heard.  Graham had showed up in St Barts.

“No but’s we just had to end it before it destroyed you and your brothers.  I could take the blame but it was mutual. She had Graham for several years, as long as I closed my eyes, and when your mom was happy and she kept the fighting to a minimum.”  Jon explained.  “I knew it was going on, when I called her on it, even followed her to his apartment.  All she could tell me was that it was my fault for touring so much.  She said it felt like I couldn’t wait to get away from her. We just couldn’t make it work.”

Stephanie thought hard on what he said, her mother had said just about the same thing when she asked her.

“You and Lexie seem to be able to work things out.” Stephanie more made a statement than asked a question.

“Yeah, she has her writing and her book tours, and I have the band and concert touring.”  Jon thought about what he had just said to her.  They did have a good marriage, they both did something they loved to do.  Lexie’s new editor was a dream, which made it more harmonious, not like how it had been with her former editor.

There was a knock on the door and Lexie stepped in.

“I’m not in the mood to cook tonight, I was thinking about pizza and salads.”  Lexie suggested.

“Pizza would be great.”  Stephanie said getting out of the chair and going to give Lexie a hug, before heading out of the office.

“I don’t think you’ll get any arguments from the boys.”  He held out his hand to her.  When she took it, he pulled her on to his lap.  “Have I thanked you for handling everything here till I got home?” He let her cuddle in his arms.  “I do, you’re one strong woman, Lexie.”

“It’s all smoke and mirrors Jonny, I was so afraid of what I would find when I got to the hospital, or that she would not open up to me and let me take care of this.” Lexie sighed and put her head on his shoulder.

“I think she’s finally had her eyes opened and maybe grew up just a little.” Jon told her as he took her hand in his and raised it to his lips.

“I hope so, I don’t want to see her ruin her life.  She has a long way to go to get to that place she needs to be in.”  Lexie said softly as watched Jon fight to keep his eyes open.  “Why don’t you go on up to bed and rest till the boys get home, and I’ll wake you up for dinner.”  She got off his lap and drew him up from the chair.  Standing at the bottom of the stairs, she watched him slowly make his way up to bed.

She went into his office and made the calls she needed to make then went up to the nursery to spend time with the trio.

Dinner with the family was a zoo, the boys were excited that their dad was home. Everyone was talking at the same time.  Stephanie went back up to her room, while the rest of the family did homework with Lexie and Jon looking online and through flyers on Seaforth.  They made arrangements to go for a visit in a few days, giving Jon time to rest.

Sometime around midnight, Lexie went down to the kitchen to get a snack. She and Jon finally celebrated his homecoming till they were both satisfied.  Jon was snoring when she left the room. She remembered that she had hidden a pint of Chunky Monkey in the back of the freezer, behind the Brussels sprouts bag.

After getting a spoon she sat down at the bar and took off the lid.  Ahhh! Nothing like a Gastric Orgasm to follow a few actual ones!  Taking her first spoonful she heard footsteps on the stairs.  She looked up from her ice cream just as Stephanie walked into the kitchen.

Stephanie was shocked to see Lexie down in the kitchen, she thought she’d still be in bed with her dad. The ice cream in front of her meant that she would be down there for a while.

“Grab a spoon, it’s good that the boys don’t like frozen Brussels Sprouts, or it would be gone.”  Lexie said as she ate another spoonful. “I haven’t eaten off this side.”  Pointing her spoon to the still full side of the container.

Stephanie went and pulled out a drawer and got a spoon and went over to the bar and sat down beside Lexie.  Lexie turned around so Stephanie could spoon out the untouched spot.

“Thanks, I thought you would still be in the bed with Dad being home?”  Stephanie dipped her head a little and stuck a spoon of creamy banana ice cream in her mouth.

“I left him snoring his head off.  I guess I need to get used to wearing earplugs.”  Lexie laughed and when Stephanie started to relaxe.

“Yeah he snores like that when he comes back from London, the weather does him in.”  Stephanie took another spoonful.

“Good to know,” She put the spoon down in the lid and sat back and watched her bought and paid for daughter.  She had to stop thinking like that, but Stephanie never made her feel motherly.

“I want to thank you.”  Stephanie said putting the spoon down.

“Thank me for what?”  Lexie asked shocked with this turn of events.

“For being there when I needed you.  For going to the hearing today, I know I haven’t been very nice to you lately, and I’m sorry for that.”  Stephanie looked up at her mom, and she was her mom, legally.

“I know it was a shock when I married your dad and later adopted the four of you.  And I know that, you and I never really got off on the right footing, but I would never turn my back on any of my kids.  As hard as it is to believe, I would not be the mother I am to the trio, if you four had not trained me to be a good mother.” Lexie told Stephanie noticing that what she had just said, was the truth.

Stephanie took another bite of the ice cream and thought about what Lexie had said to her. Putting the spoon back down as she reached for a napkin.

“I sort of thought mom and dad would get back together, but now I can see he really loves you, and I know you love him.” Stephanie told her.

“Yes I do, I love him very much, just as I love all seven of my children.”  Lexie wanted to reach out to Stephanie, but she was afraid she’d pull away.

Just when she was about to give into the temptation, the overhead light came on.

“That’s where you are.” Jon said as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes.

His hair was sleep rumpled and his sweatpants hung low on his hips, and Lexie couldn’t love him more than she did right now.

“You caught us Dad, Lexie hide some ice cream and we’re having a girl’s confession session, sort of like my roommate and I used to do.”  Stephanie got up and put her spoon in the sink.  “Thanks Mamma Lexie, Night Dad.”  She kissed her dads cheek and headed up the stairs.

Jon turned and watched Stephanie head back upstairs, then turned and looked at Lexie.  He started to say something but Lexie stopped him.

“Baby steps Rockstar, Baby Steps.”  Lexie said as she felt tears burn the back of her eyes.

Chapter 116

They sat outside the Dean’s office, after making their way through a mine field of reporters.  Jon has handled it like the pro he was, he kept the reporters away from Stephanie.

As they walked in, no one was smiling, and the folders in front of the Dean looked awfully thick to Stephanie. The other folder was Ryan’s, who thankfully was meeting separate from the Bongiovi’s.  The Judge from the student court was also there.

“Miss Bongiovi, we here at Hamilton College and the Student court have looked over the incident and we have suggestions.” The Judge from the Student court opened the discussion.  “We feel that since it’s your first offence, we recommend that you be suspension indefinably. We also expect you to complete a drug rehab.  At the end of the rehab you can apply to come back to Hamilton.”  The young man looked from Stephanie to Jon.  “The Dean is in agreement, the suspension would be immediate.”

Stephanie couldn’t believe this, one screw up and she was suspended from college. Hell she had never been suspended from Polly Prep, not even in school suspension.  They were making her go to drug rehab on top of the suspension. Granted she understood rehab, hadn’t uncle Mookie gone through rehab? She would get her dad to send her to Serenity like Uncle Mookie went to.

“How long will she need to be in rehab?”  Lexie asked.  Martine had given then the list of rehabs that were local, where she could take college courses while in treatment.  They, she and Jon and maybe along with Dorothea, would have to be available for family counseling, while she was in rehab.

“Most of the programs are thirteen weeks, Miss Bongiovi can take classes online to keep earning college credits.”  The Dean informed them.  “Seaforth is our suggested rehab, they permit supervised internet access for verified students. Stephanie can take college online here at Hamilton.”

Seaforth, where had she heard that name before?  A pamphlet was handed to her and her parents to look over. It was in the Hamptons. No that was too close to home!  She wanted California or Utah, not Seaforth and the Hamptons. Thirteen weeks, that was almost three months!  Stephanie looked over at her father and Lexie, she wanted to tell them where she wanted to go. But by the looks on their faces, she was going to Seaforth. 

They were given two weeks, one for her to clean out her dorm room. One to report back to the court with their decision.  As they waked out of the meeting, they saw Ryan and his lawyer were there in the waiting room.  His parents were with him and gave Stephanie and her dad a dirty look.  Martin told Jon that Ryan had made threats to take Stephanie down with him. But Martin had shut that down, he would get nothing from the Bongiovi family.

The road home was very quiet, no radio, no talking.  Jon had allowed Lexie to do the driving, not wanting a stranger in the car in case they did have a discussion.  Granted he trusted the drivers who did the driving when they had to use them, but you never knew who they talked to, their wife who told her friend who then would sell the juicy information to a rag magazine, like the Star and Enquirer.

Stephanie went right to her room, since as a part of her punishment from Lexie, she was home bound.  She was allowed her computer and her phone, but Lexie was monitoring her calls and computer time.

She was getting messages from Ryan, even if it was through her friends she was allowed excess too. He had been expelled, which his parents still blamed on Stephanie.  They were going to sue the Bongiovi’s, or so her message said.  She would have to tell her dad, how did this all go so wrong?

Jon headed straight to his office, Lexie followed him in and shut the door.  He put the envelope from the Dean on the desk and fired up his computer.

“It’s like they had this all planned before we got there.”  Jon told Lexie as he waited for the computer to load. 

“I was thinking the same thing, I think Martin had a lot to do with that. He was the one who handled all the Student Court and the meetings with the Dean.” Lexie went over and sat on his lap.  Jon pulled up the site that Hamilton sent to them.  Clicking on the Bongiovi, Stephanie Rose link was an eye opener.  Missed Classes and failing grade in Design class. Out of fifteen classes she had only attended seven.  Failure to turn in assignments.  Barely passing with a low C in some classes.

“This is not the child that graduated top of her class in high school.”  Jon placed his chin on her shoulder reading the screen.  This was an eye opener to what had been going on for the past three months, since they dropped her off.

There was a tap on the door, it slowly opened and Stephanie walked in.

“I wanted to let you know that Ryan was expelled and his parents are suing us.”  Stephanie held out her iPad to Lexie.  “They have this idea that it was all my fault.  Daddy you have to believe me it was the first time I ever did this drug.  I promise.” Tear formed in her eyes.  It was then the phone started to ring.  Dorothea’s name come up on the caller ID.  “I don’t want to talk to mommy, not after the mean things she said at the hospital.”

Jon took the phone.

“Dotty, we can’t talk right now, can this wait till tomorrow or next week?” Jon was so tired and talking to his ex was not on top of the list of things he wanted to do.

“She is my daughter and I want to know what happened today and why I was not there.”  Dorothea asked.  She had said she was going to look into getting the kids back, and she should have been there when they met at the college.

“Dotty, do you forget that you signed papers allowing Lexie to adopt the kid?  You took money and signed away your rights as their mothers.” Jon repeated the same thing he told her when she called while he was in London.

“I have been checking with a lawyer about reinstating my parental rights to my children.”  She told him.  Graham had gone and applied for a loan to please Dorothea, so she could fight Jon to get the kids back.

“I don’t care if you get William F Buckley to rise from the dead to take the case.  You took a large amount of money to sign your rights to your kids away. In fact it was more blackmail, and you know it.” Jon was getting mad, he was not firing on all his cylinders from lack of sleep.  “Fine you get your lawyer and we’ll meet with a judge and if you lose, you will have no contact with these kids till they are over twenty two and they can decided if they want to see you. But right now I don’t need this shit, grow up Dorothea and let me deal with this family problem right now.”

You could hear her yelling at him when he disconnected the call.

There are days when I wish I had an old desk phone so I could slam the phone down on calls like this, Jon thought as he looked at Stephanie. They really didn’t need her throwing a monkey wrench into this right now.

“We’ll give Martin the heads up on the Smith family, and let him also know about Dorothea’s latest move.” Jon sighed and looked at his oldest, his baby girl and what was covered today.  “Steph, we need to talk about this, but not today.  Not after all that has happened, I love you, you know that.”

“I know Dad, I never meant to let you down.”  Stephanie told her dad.  Lexie got up and made a quiet exit out of the office.  “If I could do it all over again, I would’ve never gone to that party.”

“Life doesn’t give us do overs, we learn from this and move on.” Jon got up and came around the desk and sat in the chair by hers.  “There are a lot things I wish I could do over, but I learned from my mistakes and I think it made me a better person.”

“What do you want to do over Dad?”  Stephanie asked her father. 

“I wish I was there more for you and your brothers. I missed a lot of school plays and chorus concerts, I missed your brother’s sports games.”  He ticked off items he wished he could do over.  “I left a lot of how you grew up to your mom, I see where I should’ve stepped in and put my foot down, like the drugs and the drinking.”

“Dad, you had a job to do, so you weren’t there at times, but we knew you were doing it for us.”  Stephanie told her dad.  “We got the best schools, the best houses and we weren’t spoiled.  You made us work for our allowance and taught us to value that money.”  She thought about what it was like growing up Bongiovi.

“Yeah, I didn’t want you to grow up like I did.  I wanted you to get an education that would take you far in this crazy world.”  Jon sat back and watched his daughter.  “Do you want to continue to do the class work while in rehab?”

“I kinda wanted to go where Uncle Mookie went to, but I was listening to the Dean, I need to finish my classes and keep my grades.  So I guess I’ll go to Seaforth for thirteen weeks.” Stephanie said after realizing just how much of a hardship it would be on the family.

“We’ll go down and look the place over, if it’s not what we want, we’ll look into Serenity.”  Jon reached across and took her hand. “Now let me call Martin and take a nap.” Jon yawned “I love you baby girl, always remember that.”  He stood up and bent down and kissed her forehead.

“Dad can I ask you one thing?”  Jon was just about out the door.

Chapter 115

“Oh daddy, I trusted him.”  She started to cry.

“But you knew he did this drug and you still went out with him Stephie?”  Jon said as he walked into his dressing room.

“Daddy we’ve been together for years, I knew him when we lived in Redbank. It was always just smoking a joint, this was all new to me.”  The tears were drying up and she started to get on the defensive.

“A joint or two, Steph this is more than a few joints, this was heroin and based on what that shits lawyer says, you got him into heroin.”  Jon repeated what the lawyer had reported.

“Daddy believe me I had one pill, and he must have put more in my beer.  I had told him I would only do one, since it was my first time.”  Stephanie told him.

“First time, Stephanie Rose, how many times have I told you that it only takes one to kill you, even Lexie has told you about drugs?”  Jon tried not to let his anger take over the call. But she doesn’t seem to understand that drugs could have killed her, and if she had any of the Bongiovi luck she wasn’t going to be kicked out of school.

“I can see that now, I’ll never do it again, I promise daddy.”  Stephanie told Jon.  Almost dying opened her eyes to how fragile life was.

“Don’t promise Steph, I’ll keep you to that promise.”  Jon told his daughter.  “I got to go to the arena, I’ll be home as soon as we can so I can be there when you go before the Dean.”

Stephanie was shocked at how her father was talking to her.  The kid gloves were off and all hell was about to break loose when he got home.

“Not to do drugs, I’ll never try them again, I promise daddy.” She tried not to anger him anymore.  “Mommy Lexie has me on lock down and I broke up with Ryan.”

They hung up with love yous, Stephanie took a deep breath, and this was an easy call. Once her dad got home she would be doing a lot of babysitting as she will be grounded to the max.

Jon had slept through most of the flight, the closer to home he got, the more worried he because of what he was walking into.  He and Lexie had talked all the way to the flight taking off.  They would make a unified front, he on the talk show circuit and her though her writers circuit.  He looked out the window at the clouds parting as they flew into Philly, his heart rate upped as the flight attendant asked them to prepare to land soon.

Matt put the papers up he had been working on, got a juice for Jon and a coffee. 

“You get some sleep?”  Matt handed him the coffee and the juice.

“Some, not enough, but once I get home and though the meeting with the Dean, I can crash and burn.”  He sipped the coffee and handed the juice back to Matt. “I was thinking about rehab in California, the second one Richie was in that helped him, I’ve looked into putting her there.”

“I read a lot of bad ones from the one in Utah.  Bad reviews, but I’m still looking. I want her clean.”  Jon put his seatbelt and pulled out his phone and showed Matt the one he found.

Matt told him he would look into it once he hit his house then call him with the news.

They exited and went into Customs and right out to the driver that would take them to the heliport, he was waiting for them.  Jon climbed into the helicopter and Matt got up with the driver and soon they were winging to the Heliport at Teterboro.  One more hour and he would be home.  Jon leaned his head back and closed his eyes, home he was on the way home.

Touch down and the car was waiting on him, Jon grabbed his go bag, he and Matt jogged to the car and they were on the way to his house

“Have him take us to the back.” Jon saw photographers out front and the back would be quieter and safer.  “How do they know, the band is just now loading to come home.”

Punching the key code into the back door, he waited for Matt to drive off before going in.  Taking the steps two by two he made it to the landing and hit the pass code for the door and walked in.  The house was quiet, he went into the kitchen and checked on the four legged family members and then dropped his bag outside the Trio’s room, checking each of the beds and touching fingers and tucking them in.

“Welcome home Mr. Jon” Sally whispered. 

“Thanks Sally, didn’t mean to wake you up.”  Jon whispered.

“It’s ok, I thought I heard Lexie coming in to check. Livie has a cold and she isn’t sleeping too well.” Sally told him.  We were going to move her into the office so the other two didn’t get it.”

“Go back to sleep Sally, these three will have you up soon.”  Jon left the room and picked up his bag. Checking on his other kids, finding them all where they should be. He finally made it to his and Lexie room.  Quietly walking in and dropped his bag in the closet, skimmed out of his jeans and shirt and headed to the bed.  Slipping in he cuddled up to Lexie. Taking in a deep breath, taking in the sweetness of her lotion she used at night and the smell of her shampoo.

“Welcome home Rockstar.”  Lexie sighed. Feeling him relax behind her, she smiled. It was so good he was home, and that he would be there for the last meeting.  She felt his breath on her next and shivered a little. Knowing the alarm would be going off soon, she let him just hold her till he relaxed and fell back asleep.

Jon rolled over and noticed the bed was empty, stretching he listened to the noises in the house. Kids getting ready for school, one of the trio was not happy and his wife trying to keep them all quiet for him to sleep.  How he missed this being on the road.  Getting out of bed he scratched his chest and yawned.  Pulling on his discarded jeans and a tee shirt he went to greet his family.

The first thing that hit him was the smell of coffee, then bacon.  Walking into the kitchen, where he thought he would find his wife, instead he found his little brother frying bacon.

“I see you’ve been domesticated.”  Jon teased Tony.

“Yeah, I sort of help out when I can.  Now that you’re home I can head to mom and dads.”  He took the last of the bacon out of the pan and started cracking eggs.  “Cullen is into everything and the puppies are his main target when he’s down here.”

It dawned on Jon how much he’s missed listening to Tony.  They weren’t due to go out on tour till after the holidays, but he would have to do damage control over this over dose problem.  He could hit all the New York talk shows and he might have to go to Los Angeles to hit the late night shows. 

“Hey Dad, welcome home.”  Jesse said as he came into the kitchen.

He was followed by Jacob and Romeo, who were excited to see their dad.  He heard all about what had been going on at school and sports.  Jesse hooked up Snowball and put the puppies in a carry bag and took them out for their morning romp.

Lexie came in with Cullen and put him in the high chair.

“Good morning Rockstar.”  She got the tray clicked in and turned to look at Jon. “Look Cull there’s daddy.”

Cullen smiled at Jon and made noises that might have been daddy or momma it was still garbled.  Sally came in with Olivia and Maddie, who squealed out for their daddy, which made Jon smile.  Lexie cut up a banana and put a third on each try while Sally got sippy cups for them.  More banana was smashed on their face as got into their mouths.

“Okay boys, you got twenty minutes to get down for the bus.”  Lexie finally got her cup of coffee and some bacon.  Sipping her coffee she looked up at Jon.  “You ready for the day?”

“As I ever will be, I got Matt setting up some talk shows, I might have to go to LA for a week.  Martin coming by before we go?” Jon got up for another cup of coffee and snagged some bacon and put it between a slice of bread.

“Martin will be here at ten and we leave at twelve to head to Hamilton.”  Lexie told him and she got another cup of coffee.  She put her cup down and turned Jon to face her.  “I missed you.”  She leaned in and gave him a kiss.

Jon leaned into the kiss and put his hands on her hips and pulled her in closer. Just about then they heard the kids coming down for school.

“Take the boys out for the bus, I need to help get these three cleaned up and I need a shower.”  Lexie stayed snuggled in his arms for a little while longer.

“Save room for me in that shower.” Jon said with a smile.

“Always.”  Lexie stepped away.

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?”