Chapter 42

It's show day for the final show of the tour and they are all excited to get on stage, give it their all and get their butts back home.  

They are all in the hotel conference room having a band and crew breakfast, sharing their horror stories of shows passed and of plans they all have for when they park the equipment in the warehouse and head to the places they call home.  Many of the roadies are hooking onto other tours, as they don't have the luxury of time off.  Some of the production crew are moving on to other projects and some are going home.  Bon Jovi, each of it's members have made it perfectly clear that they are all going home and that they don't want to see each other for 90 days.  

"I swear to God, if any of you show up at my house or call me on the phone for the next 90 days, I'll fire your asses."  Jon jests, pointing at everyone at the table.  "And if you try to get at me through Olivia, I'm going to come to your house and break all of your windows."

The room laughs and Richie chimes in, "I call bullshit.  Jon, you'll call me in less than a week and want to start writing."

"Fuck if I will."

They messed around at breakfast and relaxed, the small group of 45.  They talked like they never do and just before they were about to end the get together, the hotel staff walked it with 40 gift backs and placed them on a table close to Jon and the band.  These were gifts that they wanted to do.  They felt they needed to show those behind the scenes, the ones that really make the magic happen know how appreciative that they truly are for their long hours, hard schedules and most of all being away from their loved ones.  With Olivia's help and Jon's assistant, they tried to give a gift specific to the employee. And they only had a few days to pull it all together.

 Jon walks over to the table, taking Olivia with him, "Now before I hand these out, I have a couple rules about them."  He reaches for the first one.  "Rew."  he looks at Mike.  "This is for you, from me and the guys for all that you do.  You do more for us than anyone here and without you, we'd be lost."  Mike makes his way to Jon and accepts his gift.  "You cannot open it until you get home AND you cannot share with anyone what's in that bag."  Jon hugs his babysitter and says, "Thank you for all that you do, man. We love you."  Jon paid off his home as well as his vacation home.

Jon went down the list and gave everyone their bags, with the exact same condition.  The gifts that were in there were expensive, costing more for some than other.  Roadies had bundles of cash, producers and sound people had gift certificates to purchase and upgrade their entire systems.  Dave Rule and Takumi had all expense paid vacations, Dawn had her land paid off, Matt was a brand new Hummer, decked out from head to toe.  The gifts were given thought and the guys wanted to alleviate any stress that they may be under while on the road with them.  

With the last bag handed out, Richie stands with his mimosa and starts to say, "For without you, we wouldn't be us and without us, you wouldn't have jobs."  The room laughs and he continues, "We can be assholes, hard to work with and show you no appreciation, but know this, we love you all for all that you do, and if you'll have us next tour - you're guaranteed a job."  The room broke out in silliness and they played around for a moment.  

David decided he needed to say something as his co-workers were all in one place, a rare thing within this band.  He stands, waving his arms and hushing his buddies, his friends and his brothers.  "I want to take a minute to say something as well."  The room hooted and hollered, a cat call or two, "On a serious note, really guys thank you for all that you do."  He looks to his techs, his eyes when he's on stage, "Bill, Kurt - thank you for another flawless tour.  You guys are amazing and you always make look better than I do."  He gives them a wink and moves on, "Tico, Richie and Jon - thank you for being the best friends a guy could ever want and thanks for not letting me run off to medical school."  He sips his mimosa and smiles at Olivia, "All I can say to you is thank you and I love you.  Had you not been back in his life," he points to Jon, "we very well may not be right here, right now eating this very unhealthy breakfast."

Olivia is pleasantly surprised, she starts to blush as the room starts to give her applause.  She's really embarrassed.  Jon leans over and kisses her.  She throws her arms around his neck and kisses him back.   "Thank you." Jon whispers into her ear.  She pulls away, smiles at him and mouths the word forever. 

In clear Richie fashion, after David gives attention to Olivia, he demands that she give a speech by banging on the table and saying SPEECH, SPEECH, SPEECH. 

Olivia stands, Jon's hand in hers.  She's nervous, being put on the spot like this but she knows that Richie did it to embarrass her.  She won't let that happen.   "I'd like to thank all of you for welcoming me in and helping me through all of this madness.  You all have been so kind to me, and that means the world to me."  Jon runs his hand up her ass, rubbing the small of her back, "I promise, I'll get this one back to health so there are no more scares on the next tour."  Olivia made sure she made eye contact with everyone there, as they all have been very nice to her - even when she was the hidden mistress.