Chapter One

For the past three and a half years Jon Bon Jovi had been constantly working. He was hardly ever at home, he'd take any work that was given to him, or make work for himself. He was both physically and mentally exhausted but kept going. His band members would drop out of the band for months at a time but Jon would carry on without them. As long as he was working he didn't have to think about the harsh reality. He was terrified of reality.

As he got ready to go on stage to preform at the Grammys, Jon's phone rang. He checked the caller ID before answering. "Hello?" he answered, "Jon, how are you?" his mother asked. He could hear his son crying in the backround. "Same as usual, mom, you?" he was hoping that he wouldn't have to ask why his son was crying. "I'm well.. want to talk to daddy sweetie?" Carol asked her grandson. His son, Romeo, cried down the phone. "Romeo, why you cryin' buddy?" he asked, "Jon, I have to go, Jake just fell. Bye." Then she hung up on him. "Bye," he said down the phone to no one.

"Jon, come on let's go!" someone called to him. He turned his cell phone off and put it in the inside pocket of his jacket. He picked up his guitar and walked on stage, and the crowd cheered, cheered like they always did. He began to play My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms, a song he realised he had been playing alot lately. He wondered why? - maybe because it described his life so well at that point. He had never sang the song so well, the emotions were all true. A wave of numbness came apon him when he finished. The five of them bowed and then left the stage.

"Man, we rocked!" Richie said to Jon putting a hand up for a high five but Jon didn't hear him, he was too lost in thoughts to hear anything, and walked straight past him. Jon changed back into his suit and walked out to take his seat in the audience again. "We have a special award tonight, it's called a Grammy Hall Of Fame Award which was selected by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of the recording arts and this award is going to a great band who has been making great great music for all of us for the past twenty - six years, they are great friends of mine and they comes from New Jersey, just like me...and I am so honoured that I got to be the one to present this award to them... their names are Mr. Richie Sambora, Mr. Tico Torres, Mr. David Bryan and Mr. Jon Bon Jovi!" Bruce Springsteen said. When Jon heard his name being called out he was shocked, he looked at his band whom all looked equally shocked. Then they all burst out laughing, they could not believe they had won another Grammy, they thought they were lucky enough to get two that night... but three was a miracle!

The four of them walked up on stage together and Bruce presented them with the Grammy. Jon looked at Richie and nodded slightly, indicating for him to make his speech first.

"None of us were expecting this award, so none of us have a speech made out. We weren't expecting any award tonight, but we got three. I'd like to thank everyone, espically the band and all the fans, thank you.. thank you thank you thank you!" Richie said and then Jon walked slowly up to the micraphone, he thought carefully about what he was going to say, "Like Richie said, none of us were expecting this award, I'd like to thank my family, my mother, father, brothers, my beautiful children and my.. wife, I'd like to thank the band, Dave, Tico, Richie and Hugh, I'd like to thank Obie O'Brien and the list goes on and on, but most importantly, I'd like to thank our fans, we have the best, most loyal fans in the world that have stuck by us through good and bad times, so thank you." Jon said faking a smile. David and Tico also made speeches.

Back in his hotel room, Jon placed his grammies on the dressing table, he looked down at his gold Rolex and smiled softly. Dorothea had given him that for his birthday three years ago. He took off his jacket and sat on the bed, he took out a picture of his wife, Dorothea and himself. She was so beautiful - Jon always thought her beauty was too much for the earth to deal with and he was the man lucky enough to marry her. "I finally did it darling, just like you said... I won three grammies in one night.." Jon kissed the photo and put it on the table next to him, then stood up and went over to the mini bar - he took out a few bottles of wine.

"Jon.. Jon...Jon...Jooooonnnn!" Matt said shaking him to wake up, finally Jon stirred. "Mmmhmm?" he said with his face in the pillow, he was still wearing his suit from last night, "Come on we're going back to Jersey today." he said picking up Jon's bag and started packing his things. "I can do that myself.." Jon said taking the bag off of his younger brother, but there was only one thing left out, that was his watch. Jon reached for it and put it on. Matt laughed looking at his hair, it was quite messy. Jon looked in the mirror and tried to fix it. It was still very messy but somehow he made it look like he styled it that way. He picked up his bag and left the room.

Jon and Matt boarded the plane that was to take them back to New Jersey. He carefully placed his luggage overhead and took his seat. He felt many people watching him but he didn't care anymore. "Man I know we've been doing this for twenty something years but I still get a kick out of being in first class!" Matt said laughing. Once again Jon wasn't listening. He stared out the window for the whole flight, watching the world go by. He was looking forward to seeing his children, he hadn't seen them in a long time. Six weeks to be exact. His daughter, Stephanie, would probably give out to him for staying away from home for so long, she was like her mother that way, but would always forgive him.

They landed in the JFK airport, there were alot of paparazzi inside and outside the airport taking Jon's picture, there were also TV cameras. Jon stopped with Matt for some pictures, he always let the paparazzi get one or two shots of him and he did an interview or two. But that was all he would do, his car was waiting to take him home, somewhere he hadn't been in over a month.

Jon asked his driver, Ed, to turn on the radio. "Your listening to New Jersey 101.5 FM, this is Keith, if you have any requests e-mail them to me at Keith@NewJersey101.5fm.com" Jon wasn't paying attention to Matt rambling on about meetings and stuff, he was thinking about something he could do to make up for his absence. Little by little it hit him. Jon got out his cell and started to e-mail someone, then he dialled his daughter's number in. "Hello?" Stephanie answered, "Hey Stephy, put on New Jersey 101.5.." he said with a smile. "Uh.. sure, why? are you on the radio again?" she asked him, sounding a bit confused, "No..no..no, just put it on and make sure Jess, Jakey and Munchkin are listening too..quick!" he said trying to hurry her up. "Okay, okay I got it on!" Jon looked over at Matt, he was on the phone. "I got to go sweetheart, I love you" he said. "You too.." she replied. Then hung up.

"No! No! Jon is taking a few months off, he cannot play a show next month... I don't care how much money you offer.." Matt said down the phone to someone. Jon rolled his eyes at him, "Okay we just got an e-mail in, It's from Kidd, 'Hey Keith, could you play Michael Buble Home, for Stephanie, Jesse, Jake and Romeo love daddy,' well Kidd it just so happens I love that song so here's Michael Buble Home"

When Stephanie was young and Jon was away working he would call the radio station and ask to play a song for her and say his name was Kidd.