159 - Never Say Goodbye

"Stay!" 

She caught his wrist as one last ditch effort in stopping him, yet again. She didn't want him to go. Who would be her rock? Who would be there if something went wrong? It was him. Always him. If she held on to him a few minutes longer, maybe she would open her eyes and this whole thing would be a dream. 

 

It had taken a few tries, but they were able to get her contractions under control and forty-eight hours after arriving at the hospital, they sent her home with new meds and strict orders. One of which — no flying. At least not in the foreseeable future. To say that restriction put more than a few kinks into their life was the understatement of the year. The first leg of the US/Canadian Stadium shows started on the nineteenth with a show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and ended with the three New Meadowland shows. Not to mention his other commitments. He hated to leave her. He spent countless hours talking with the doctors here, as well as Dr. Barnes, Dr. Laurent and Dr. Cummings, and they all agreed on one thing; Ari should not, could not, and would not travel. Neither of them was exactly happy, but Ariana was having more of a hard time with it. 

 

"Crash. I gotta go. The car is waiting."

 

"I can't do this."

 

"Yes, you can. And you will." His hands flanked their child growing inside her. "Lily needs you too, and if there is anything I know and love about you, it's your infinite love and protectiveness to those you love."

 

"I'm so scared."

 

With the back of his knuckle, he nudged her chin up. Iridescent pools of green looked back at him. Killing him. With every blink, he watched her tears break from the corner of her eyes. One lone, scared tear at a time. Given what happened to her mother, he often thought about something arising, but never something such as this. Him having to leave her and as much as he was scared too; he had to be the stronger one. 

 

"Trust me, I get it. She's my mother, and she still scares the bejeezus out of me." he tried to make light of the mood, maybe get her to smile, but it wasn't working.  

 

After the first round of meds didn't help, he immediately called his mother. One, even though he was this big rock star persona, he was still just a kid from New Jersey, and he was scared. Two, she was the only person besides Ari he could talk to about it. It took less than a heartbeat for Carol to tell him she was on her way and would be on the first plane he could get chartered for her. Carol may not have liked how things transpired between her son- and daughter-in-law, but that didn't stop her from liking Ariana. She was one of them now and when one of them needed something, the Bongiovi's came together. 

 

Smiling, he wiggled four fingers at her. "Listen, four shows. That's it." 

 

Ariana pried up his pinky up and held up her two hands. "Fifteen days. Do you know how much could go wrong in fifteen days?"

 

"Nothing is going to go wrong. Not as long as you do what you're supposed to do. Ma is here and I'm just a plane ride away."

 

"Eight hours isn't close."

 

"No, but that's why Mom's here and if you want, fly Cara here, too. Whatever you want. It's yours."

 

"I want you..."

 

He hushed her with his lips. They could go back and forth over this a zillion times, and the results would still be the same. Him leaving her. Pulling away from the kiss, he fell to one knee and kissed her belly. 

 

"Baby girl, don't you be giving your mama a hard time. Ya hear me. We need you to hang out inside a little bit longer. Can you do that for daddy?" Three little kicks caught his lips. "That's my girl. Daddy loves you."

 

Ariana let out a soft laugh at the sound of him smooching her belly and again at his puckered duck lips he presented to her when he rose. Doing the same, she met his lips with hers and pressed their foreheads together. "Love you."

 

"Back at you, Crash. It's gonna be alright."

 

 

♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱

 

Two hours had passed since Jon left and Ariana still hadn't left their bedroom. She couldn't bear to walk him to the door, so they said their see you later's, not goodbyes. She hated that word, then watched from the window as the car drove down the cobblestone street. The minute she couldn't see it anymore, she climbed into bed with one of his shirts wrapped around her forearms and hands. She had just pulled the covers over her head when her phone chimed. If not for the familiar tone, she would have let it be. 

 

Now she felt the smile grow as she reread their conversation from earlier and Jon's sad attempts at emojis. The first text had come as soon as she had climbed into bed earlier and continued till Vicky gave him the shutdown warning, made him turn off his phone. 

 

[6:22] Jon: lucky I have more than one black tee. 

 

[6:23] Ari: lol. Not wearing it. It doesn't fit. 

 

[6:25] Jon: Doubtful. Bet it fits just riiiiight.😋

 

She was in the middle of typing a response when he sent another warning her not to even go where he knew she would; he said this conversation would not be full of sadness, but instead it was going to be F. U. N..... just like the one they had had while he was in that long boring meeting when he sold the Philadelphia Soul. That made her laugh even more. She was drunk, horny and happy in love with him. Now she would kill for the first two. 

 

[6:36] Jon: Sooo show me your titties?

 

[6:38] Ari: Show me yours

 

[6:41] Jon: you can google mine. I'll beg...

 

[6:43] Ari: will you get down on your knees

 

[6:44] Jon: you like when I'm on my knees

 

[6:46] Ari: Well... You are mighty talented when you're on them 

 

[6:48] Jon: it's all in the 👅😜

[6:50] Ari: OMG, did you just google yourself?

[6:51] Jon: fuck no. Going through my emails. I’m a multitasker baby. Now where are my titties?

[6:52] Ari: you first ❤

 

6:53] Jon: I gave it to you. T-n-T. Tongue and titties.

 

[6:55] Ari: not even close. You don’t see mine till I see yours.😉

 

[7:05] Jon: 

Ari caught herself laughing out loud once again as she looked at his choice of pictures. She had wondered what had taken him so long to send a photo, but when it finally came through, she knew why. He had googled himself. At first, she thought she would call him out on that, but decided a good teasing would be more fun. She untangled herself from the sheets, adjusted her shirt, snapped a photo.

 

[7:10] Ari: Hey. That’s my shirt.

There was a soft knock at the door before it opened slowly. "Ariana, dear. Dinner is here." Carol's blonde hair peered around the door first, followed by the rest of her. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?"

 

"No. No. I was just reading something." Ari clicked off her phone and placed it on the nightstand. 

 

"Did you hear from Jon?"

 

"Yes. He took off about," Ari glanced at the grandfather clock on the wall. "Two hours ago. Have I really been in here that long?"

 

"I didn't want to disturb you. I figured you needed some time after he left, but it's late and you really should eat something."

 

"We were texting till the plane took off. Then I got distracted reading some of what we talked about." Ariana bowed her head. 

 

"He loves you. You know that?"

 

"With all my heart. It's just..."

 

Carol crossed the room and took a seat on the bed. "You're scared and I'm not him."

 

"That has nothing to do with it. I'm very grateful you are here. None of this was supposed to happen this way. Maybe if I had just listened to him in the first place and not pushed to work or even planned this stupid trip. None of this would have happened."

 

"Nonsense. You did nothing wrong." Carol stretched her hand out to touch Ariana’s stomach. "May I?" She nodded. "My granddaughter is a Bongiovi and a Moretti. If she wanted to make an early appearance, she would have done it whether you were here or Timbuktu. She’s just like her daddy and wanted a little attention. Now that she's got it, she knows what she needs to do. And as long as you continue to do what the doctors want you to do, everything will be alright."

 

Ariana sighed, "How do you do that?"

 

"Do what?"

 

"Know just what to say. My grandmother used to do that too."

 

"You will learn, too. Now what do you say we eat? Carmela sent a delightful meal."