Chapter 36

Jon looked over at Colleen, ‘she’s in shock’.

“Babe, have you had anything to eat,” Jon asked?

“What,” Colleen asked, as she blinked her eyes.  “No, not since I stopped and got coffee,” she said softly.

“I can get you settled, and make us a couple of omelets,” Jon said as he finally pulled in front of his high rise apartment.

“I have to make some calls, I’m not hungry,” Colleen looked over at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

“Well, I’ll still make them, in case you get hungry later,” Jon said reaching out his hand to take her hand. Giving it a squeeze, he dropped it and gets out of the car, going around to open her door. 

Taking her suitcase and computer case out of the backseat, he sees the doorman rush over to help.

“Hal, watch the car, I’ll send Jake down to move it to the garage,”  Jon said over his shoulder as he escorts Colleen into the building.  It’s a quick elevator ride to his floor.

Once they got out of the elevator, Jon used his key to get in the apartment.

“Jake, Jake I want you to go move Colleen’s car to the garage and park it,” Jon called out to his son who came running.  Catching the keys as Jon tossed them he heads out the apartment. “Make sure you lock it,” Jon yelled out to his son as the elevator door shut.

Romeo came down with downstairs to grab her two cases, taking them back upstairs.  Coming back down, he found them in the kitchen.

“Miss O, I put your suitcase in the closet and your laptop bag on the bed,” Romeo said as he got up on one of the bar stools.

“Thanks, Ro,” Colleen tried to smile.  “Your dad’s making omelets, do you want one,” Colleen asked?

“Can I help dad,” Romeo asked?  “I can chop the vegetables and the ham.”  

“Sure Ro,” Jon said, as he walked Colleen into the family room.  “Babe, you can make your calls after you eat.  You can use my office,” Jon led her to one of the barstools at the kitchen bar.

“Thanks, Jon,” Colleen said as she looked for her purse.  “Jon, have you seen my purse,” Colleen asked.

Jon and Romeo were working together, cutting onions, peppers, and ham.

“I thought we brought everything in, I’ll ask Jake he’s parking your bug in the garage,” Jon dried his hands off and took his phone out to text Jake.  Just as Jake came in the front door.

“Miss O, I found this on the floorboard, thought you might need it,” Jake said as he entered the kitchen, carrying Colleen purse.

“Oh, Jake, thank you so much,” Colleen took the bag he held out to her.  “I thought I might have left it at the house,” She shuddered.

Taking her purse she pulled out her phone and the charger cord.

“I need to charge it,” Colleen looked at the blank screen.

“I’ll take it into my office, and after you eat,” Jon took the phone and charger and started to head out of the kitchen.  “You can go in there and have privacy for your calls.”

Romeo took over cooking the omelet.  Jake got the plates down, as Romeo got the first huge omelet out of the pan and on the plate.  Cutting it in half, siding half onto the other plate, putting one in front of Colleen.  Jake had toast in the toaster, putting the butter on the bar.

Jon came back into the quiet kitchen, he watched Romeo and Jake watching Colleen.  She did look fragile, sitting there, nibbling on a slice of toast.

“That’s taken care of,” Jon said as he came back into the kitchen.  “The boys taking care of you.” Jon asked as he sat down beside her.  “Romeo, this looks great,” Jon added salt and pepper to his omelet. Reaching for a piece of toast.

“Thanks, Dad,” Romeo said taking the last omelet out of the pan and turning off the stove.  He divided the omelet with Jake and they joined them at the bar for a late breakfast.

Colleen ate half of her omelet and a piece of toast and drank her juice.  Pushing her plate away.

“Where is your office, I really need to make those calls,” Colleen got up and took her plate, and glass to the sink.  Turning to look at the three Jovi men watching her, still clutching her purse in her left hand.

“I’ll show her dad,” Romeo offered finishing his plate.  No one saw Jake kick his brother in the leg, to get him to offer his services.

“I’ll take care of your plate, Ro,” Jake smiled at his brother.

Colleen followed Romeo to Jon’s office, showing her where her phone was plugged in.  He left her to her calls and pulled the door to, leaving a crack, so if she needed anyone they’d hear her.

Jake took his and Romeo’s plate to the sink and started loading the dishwasher with pans, bowls, plates, and silverware.

“Dad, Ro and I were talking on the way home, and we agreed that Miss O’ needs a lot of help,” Jake told his father.  Romeo came back into the kitchen.

“Yeah, I put Miss O’s stuff in your bedroom, we don’t think she should be alone,” Romeo said, with Jake nodding in agreement.

“So, you two okay with me and Colleen staying together in the same room,” Jon asked his sons.

“Yeah, and so do Steph and Jesse.  It’s time you lived again,” Jake said.  “We saw this week, how much more you smiled and laughed, sort of like the old days.”

“You guys don’t think it’s too soon,” Jon asked?

“Dad, after what mom put us through the last two years,” Romeo said.  “No, it’s not too soon.”

“Dad, I called some of the guys in my class, they’re going to talk to their parents.” Jake got his father’s attention. “A few of them are calling the cheerleaders and other girls who have Miss O’,” Jake smiled, “You won’t be the only parent supporting Miss O’.”

“Jon,” Colleen called from the office. 

Jon got off and jogged to his office. Pushing the door open to find Colleen sitting there in tears, handing him the phone.

“Hello,” Jon questioned?

“Mr. Bon Jovi, this is Officer Jamison,” the voice over the phone introduced himself.  “I was telling Miss O’Sullivan, we don’t think she should come back here, we’ve got the place watched, and there have been several cars case the place.”

“I’ve got her here with me,” Jon told the Officer. 

“Good, we don’t think it’s safe for her to come back,” Officer Jamison told him.  “We’d like to come by and talk to Miss O’Sullivan tomorrow, if you think she’s up to it?”

“She goes back to work,” Jon started to see when Colleen shook her head no.  “Officer Jamison, can we call you about coming by later, we need to talk over what she wants, right now.”

“Okay, I’ll wait on your call,” Officer Jamison said before he hung up.

Jon closed off the call and went over and pulled Colleen up into his arms.  He held her as she cried it out, murmuring soft words of encouragement. 

“I have nowhere to go, I don’t want to move back home,” Colleen hiccupped through her tears.

“You don’t need to move anywhere but here with me,” Jon told her.  “The family and I agreed, you’re staying right here with us.”

“No I can’t,” Colleen started to say.

“Yes you can, we’ll face this together,” Jon said as he walked her over to the sofa in the room.  Sitting down he pulled her onto his lap.  “I want you to stay.”

Colleen looked up at Jon with watery red-rimmed eyes.  She so wanted to believe him, she loved him so.

“Did you call your mom and dad,” Jon asked?

Colleen nodded her head, her lip trembled.

“Did you call the school,” Jon asked, afraid of what they had said?

Again she nodded her head, tears threatening to fall again.

“Meeting tomorrow at ten,” She told him and wiped her eyes. “I told them what had happened,” Colleen sniffed.

“Good,” Jon smiled and reached for a box of Kleenex on the table and handed her the box.  “Jake has been talking to some of his classmates, and they started a Save Miss O’s campaign, they are getting their parents to support you.”

“Oh Jon,” Colleen said as that started another barrage of tears.

“Your students don’t want to lose their favorite teacher,” Jon smiled as he could tell these were happy tears.  “I don’t want to lose you either,” Jon said as he kissed her tears away.

Jake peeked in the door.

“Everything okay,” Jake asked?

“Yeah, thanks Jake,” Colleen said.

“Dad, Ricky called, my dorm will be ready by Friday, we can move in this Friday,” Jake told his father.

“Dorm,” Colleen looked shocked?

Chapter 35

She couldn’t sleep, after tossing and turning, she flung the covers off her and stared at the ceiling.  The smell of Jon on the sheets and pillows weren’t the only thing keeping her awake.  The idea she might be let go, because after talking with Jon a few hours ago, she knew taking a seven-month break, just wasn’t in the cards as far as Jon was concerned.  Getting up, she sat on the edge of the bed, deciding she might as well hit the road, sleep was not going to come.

It didn’t take long to load her few things into the bug, she was on her way.  Popping in a cd, she filled the car with music, if she got tired it would keep her awake.  Hoping the drive would help her in her thought process, she would walk in and tell them she wasn’t going to stop seeing Jon, they could just terminate her now.  She could always go work the bar, till she found another teaching job, where she felt safe.  She would have to pack up her townhouse and put it in storage or sell it as is.  Of course, the downside of this answer, as she wouldn’t be able to see Jon as much.  The over one hundred mile difference, would surely end whatever romance they had.  Did she really want to be associated with a school that didn’t allow the teachers to date the students’ parents?  In the six months she had been there, nowhere did she read that clause in her contract.

She was about fifty miles from her house when she started looking for a place to stop, to use the facilities and get a coffee or a coke.  An all-night diner was at the next exit, she had used them before as a pit stop. The area was safe, for a lone female traveler, the coffee was strong, and the bathrooms clean.  Placing her order she went to the bathroom, it was close to five in the morning, she would make it home in time to really go over her contract with a fine-tooth comb. Paying for her order she hip bumped her way out the door and to her bug.  The sun was starting to light the sky.

<@>

Rolling over Jon looked at the clock, getting up he started to pack to head home.  Once done, with cell in hand, he headed down the stairs to the kitchen.  Tony was up already, he had to finish the photo cd for Colleen’s family.  He sat at the counter, sipping coffee and looking at the thumbnail picture to load.

“Pot’s fresh,” Tony told Jon as he walked in.

“You been up all night,” Jon asked pulling down his number one dad mug?  After talking to Jake and Romeo, he had made the call to Max for getting them admitted to Pennington.

“Couldn’t sleep, I wanted to get this finished before we had to head back this afternoon.”  He enlarged the picture of Colleen and Jon, with her niece, sitting watching the game on the big TV at the bar.  “Not sure if I want to add this after what Nina told me,” he leaned back and stretched.

Jon walked over sipping his coffee and looked at the picture.  He smiled at the memory this picture suggested.  They looked like a family in this picture, the one he wanted to be a part of.  ‘Too soon my ass,’ he thought.

“Send this to me, I want it,” Jon sat beside his brother at the bar.  “What did Nina tell you,” Jon asked?

“Well, while they were helping at lunch, Maggie had said something about grandkids,” Tony sent to picture file to Jon’s email.  “I guess with our kids coming for lunch,” Tony flipped through the file to add to the cd.

“Yeah, with my four and your and Matty’s two that would make eight, any mom would be grandkid crazy,” Jon moved the screen so he could see the pictures too.

“Colleen told her to wait on Jamie to get over being a new dad, before they added more kids to the family,” Tony brought up the one of Maggie making cookie turkeys with the smaller kids, with Jake and Romeo watching over their shoulders.

Jon tapped on Tony’s keyboard to save that picture for his email.

“Damn Jonny I’ll make your cd next,” Tony laughed.

“Morning you two,” Nina walked into the kitchen with Dessie and Matt.

“I was telling Jonny about what you said about Colleen, and kids,” Tony got up to pour more coffee into his cup.

“Yeah, about how she can’t have kids of her own,” Dessie said as she worked to make a second pot of coffee.  “Did you know she had cancer Jonny,” Dessie asked?

“Cancer, really,” Jon questioned?

“Yeah, must have been really hard for her.  They harvest eggs before the chemo treatments. She was lucky, Ovarian Cancer is bad juju,” Nina sat down in Tony’s seat to flip through the pictures, stopping on the one he had just sent to Jon’s mail.

“She didn’t tell me,” Jon filed that information into his memory. “Cancer, that’s bad, did she say how old she was?”

“When Maggie said that she should use them, she said the idea of sperm donors wasn’t how she wanted to tell her kids, why daddy was never around,” Dessie said as she watched Jon take that news. “She didn’t say, but since they were able to harvest eggs, it must’ve been in one.  I was looking online, want me to send it to you,” Dessie asked him?

‘That was why when we had monkey sex against the bug, she didn’t act worried. She knew she couldn’t get pregnant during intercourse,’ the thoughts were churning in his head.  Thinking back to several times they forgot protection, he had thought she was on the pill and it was no problem.

“Yeah, I’d like to read it,” Jon told her.

His phone chirped that he had a message.  Pulling up his screen he said it was Max, setting the time for his call.  Jon had people when he called, no matter the day or the time, they were always available to him. Smiling he went back to the counter to refill his cup, he planned on going by to see Colleen before she left.  They had a lot to talk about.

“I’ll be back in an hour, if my lazy son’s wake up before noon, tell them chopper leaves at one,” Jon told them as he grabbed his keys off the hook.

He pulled out of the gate and headed toward the bar, the road was starting to get busy, all the people heading back to the concert jungle.  He got closer to the bar, he noticed the empty lot.  She had already left, without telling him goodbye. Her damn plan of them cooling it for seven months, sucked.

He sat in the lot and looked up at the closed windows, glancing at his watch it was close to seven, when did she leave?

Jon: Hey, where are you?

Colleen: I just pulled up to my place. I couldn’t sleep so I left.

Jon: I could’ve come over to help you sleep.

Colleen smiled, yeah he could’ve, but the drive would’ve taken me longer.

Colleen: I know, but this was easier, I have a lot on my mind.

Jon: Can I come over tonight, we need to talk about good old PP.

Colleen:  Ok, because I want you to look over my contract, I don’t remember the clause they said I broke.

Jon:  I'll pick up dinner.  Mind if I bring the boys?

Colleen was shocked, he never brought the boys so this was not going to end up with him in her bed.

Colleen: Sure, I have plenty of sodas.  I’ll even put on a pot of coffee.

Jon: See you about six-thirty.

Colleen got out and pulled her suitcase out of her car.  She would need to dust and pick up the place before they got there.  As she got on the porch, she noticed the door was ajar, someone had been in the house.  She went back to the car, calling the police, she waited in her car.  Should she call Jon, but he was not supposed to leave till one?  She punched in his number.

Jon had just pulled into his gate when his phone played Hot for Teacher.  Rolling his eyes he answered the phone.

“Remind me to kill my brothers,” Jon answered. 

“Jon, someone broke into my home,” Colleen said in a shaky voice.

Hitting the breaks, he slammed the car in park.

“You call the police,” He asked?

“Yeah, but I’m scared that they found me,” Colleen tried to keep from crying.

“Who, Who found you,” Jon jumped out of his car. “I’ll be there as soon as I can, I have to make some calls. Is there someone you can stay with till I get there,” Jon asked?

“The thugs I saw that robbed that kid, he was one of my students and why I ended up at Polly,” She finally broke.

Jon heard the police siren in the background.

“Listen I hear the police, I’ll call you back. You just stay with the police till I get there,” Jon said.

“Okay, just hurry please,” Colleen sniffed.

“I will babe,” Jon promised as he hung up the phone.

As he burst into the kitchen he started yelling out orders.

“Jake, Ro, get dressed.  Matt’s call Max, give him this address,” Jon yelled as he grabbed a pen and jotted down Colleen address.  “Tell him to get there and stay with Colleen till I get there,” Jon headed upstairs to his son's room.  “Colleen’s house was broken into, I need you two downstairs PDQ,” He said as he shook Romeo awake, then moving onto Jake.

Matt met him at the second-floor landing.

“Max said he’d be there as soon as he could,” Matt said as he came out of the boy’s room. “You want me there,” Matt asked.

“Later, I need you to call Carl and have the chopper ready to leave in fifteen minutes, while I call Katie to get her to get my place ready for a guest,”  Jon rushed into his bedroom and grabbed his go-bag.  He had Katie, his assistant on the phone as he met the boys at the bottom of the stairs.  “Yeah, Kat, make up the guest room for me, fill the fridge, and whatever a woman needs. You know like soaps and shampoo that sort of shit,” Jon finally hung up.

“Choppers warming and do you want me and Tone to go to Maggie and Cullen’s to be there when she calls,” Matt asked?

“I don’t want to scare them, call Jamie and tell him what’s going on,” Jon said as Romeo and Jake came in the house from loading the car.  “I’ll call from the airport, give him my cell number.”

It didn’t take long for the three of them to get to the helipad.  Jon took the call from Jamie, told him what he knew, and would call him as soon as he got to the city and Colleen’s.  They were cleared and in the air.  Jake and Romeo looked as shell shocked as he felt, it was Dorothea’s suicide all over again.  The pain of not being there, when she might have needed him, ate him up inside.  Jon had the car waiting as they landed and headed to Colleen’s.

The car parked behind the police car blocking the street.  It took some swift talking to get them to let him past.

“Take the boys home, I’ll be there with Colleen, as soon as this is tied up,” Jon told the driver and gave the boys a thumbs up. He jogged up to Max and Colleen, standing with the police.  Max had his arm around Colleen for support, he passed her off to Jon when he stepped beside her.

“Thanks, Max,” Jon said over Colleen’s head.

“Don’t let her go in there alone, it’s totaled,” Max told him.

Jon nodded his head and reached out a hand to Max, the man deserved a raise after this weekend.

“Jamie’s with Maggie and Cullen, waiting on news. Do you need to get anything out of here, before we head to my place,” Jon asked?

“Why is Jamie going to mom and pops, I haven’t called him,” Colleen asked as they walked to the porch?  “Oh my God,” Colleen gasped.  Max was the only one who had been into the house, no wonder he said it was totaled.

Her books were ripped up and tossed in the floor, her briefcase was thrown onto the floor, the papers inside were wet from what looked like urine. Looking into the bedroom it was worse than the Livingroom.  She couldn’t go any further, she just stood there in shock.  Whoever trashed the place, leaving nothing untouched.  Jon walked into the bathroom, and written in lipstick on the mirror were words, that Colleen didn’t need to see.  Found you Bitch was written in blood-red lipstick.

Jon walked Colleen out to the bug and went to talk to the police.

“I’ll be back, keep the doors locked till I come back,” Jon leaned in and kissed her.

After giving the police his address and number he came back to the car and got in.  Getting the keys from Colleen’s ice-cold hands, he pulled out from the curb and headed home.