Chapter 27 - Take My Hand

Jon is blind sided by her choice of places to do an interview.  He could imagine it at their house, in the backyard with the river in the footage; or maybe even in the studio's of NBC.  "The cemetery, really?"  he can't hide his shock.

"Yeah, I gave this a lot of thought and the way I see it is this, he came into our lives; well, I brought him into our lives and since that day he has caused us nothing but grief.  He has the upper hand right now by making me the victim of the rape, I think the best thing to do is to show the world the real carnage that he caused.  Raping me was a power play, being involved in the death of our child, that's a whole other level of evil.  I'm going to turn it around on him and put the focus where it needs to be; on him and his evil.  Not on me and my rape."

"But the cemetery?  Our babies are there."

"Exactly! Let's diffuse this in a swift manner.  If we share with the world the terrible things that he did, other than what he did to me, it will take the focus off that video, don't you think?"

Jon thinks about it for a minute, "We can have Savannah mention the attack, ask about it's impact on the family, but make the bulk of the interview about everything else."  he rubs his forehead.  "I like it.  We will talk to her and you can give her what's off limits to ask and speak about, but I think that might work.  Put the focus on the monster, not his victim."

"So, can you see the impact the cemetery will have on the piece?  I, in no way, am showing disrespect to our babies, but the loss of them had a far greater impact on me than the rape."

"It all killed me.  McKenna, the assault, the twins.......life has been hell with you."  he tries to joke and Beth laughs, "I want the man dead, but if we can pull this off, maybe we can finally put it all behind us."

"Let's hope."  he leans over and kisses her cheek and he starts to stand.  She stops him.  He looks at her and can see there is a little bit of emotion in her eyes.  "What?"   he stops half stand and sits back down.  

"You have to say the word rape." she hooks her arm in his.  "you have to say the word."

"No, I don't."  Beth gives him her look, "remember what Dr Fishman told us.  We have to call it what it is to take it's power away."

"It's not a word I want to use."

"Then you're giving it the power."  she squeezes his arm.  "We have to acknowledge and call it what it was.  It was a rape."

"He assaulted you." 

"Assault down plays what happened. He raped me." her eyes locked in with his and she can see the emotion filling his eyes.  "Say it."

His leg starts to bounce and he crunches his toes, his flip flops making a clapping sound as they hit the bottom of his foot, "He raped you."  he whispers to her, never breaking her gaze, "he raped you and I want to kill him."

Beth leans in and kisses him, tenderly on the lips, "Look at that, you survived saying that big bad word and survived it happening to me.  The only way is up."  She gives him a wink and then stands up, "This isn't what Pete had in mind for us, let's go eat, I'm starving."  

She stands over Jon for a moment, her thoughts racing to the interview.  She knows what she's going to say.  She can picture it like she's doing it.  "Do you want me there?"  he asks, holding her hand while he stands.  

"I hadn't thought about that." she admits as they continue walking toward the restaurant.  "But yes, I would love you there if you want to be there, you know that.  But, if you'd rather not, that's okay too, Jon."  They start to walk in the direction that they were originally heading, Beth adding, "I'm sure your girl Savannah would like you there."  Beth laughs at him.

"She's hardly my type." he jokes with her

"You have a type?"

He smiles the million dollar smile at her, "I do, and she's in my hand right now."

Jon and Beth enjoyed a wonderful evening in town.  Over their light dinner they made small talk knowing that they have the important stuff out of the way.  They laughed, they talked and they were able to forget about the mess back home.  

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In the morning, they headed out to board the boat that would take them to bigger island, so they could get on the Jovi jet and fly home.  Much to Jon's surprise, the paparazzi was in full force on the big island, they hadn't prepared for that.  

"Pete, you know what to do?"  Jon asks, knowing the answer.  He can see the paparazzi getting closer to the dock as the Bongiovi family does.  "Beth, I'll take little man, you grab baby girl, Jake and Romeo stay close to me and don't stop."  Beth can hear anger in his voice.  

"I have Brianna."  Beth assures him.

"Come on boys."  Pete says, ushering them over the plank, up the dock and to the waiting car.  She gets Jake and Romeo to the car.  

As soon as Beth crosses the plank with Brianna on her hip, she's bum rushed by the paparazzi.  She loses her footing and with her daughter in her arms, together they fall into the water.  The paparazzi go crazy, snapping pictures of the fall and of her treading water with her startled daughter clutched around her neck.  Beth is furious.  She can see Jon on the boat still, in total shock.

"A little help please."  Beth yells to Jon, over Brianna's freaked out cry.