Epilogue - Part Two

“You are back, darling.” Richie’s voice let her snap out of her thoughts. She smiled and walked over to the couch.

“I didn’t want disturb you in your play.” Kris kissed him softly and sat down next to him.

“You can always disturb me, darling.” He said, pulling her in his arms. Kris sighed and closed her eyes. This felt just so right.

“Are you ok, darling? What did the doctor say?” she could hear the concern in his voice. She looked at him.

“I’m fine Richie.” He still looked concerned. “But…”

“BUT!” he straightened his back. “There’s a But!” Now he was really worried.

“Honey, please calm down. It’s nothing to worry about.” She assured him and Richie relaxed a bit.

“But we need to do some changes in the next couple month.” Kris said, trying hard to keep a normal face.

“Changes? What kind of changes? And why? Do you need to do some kind of therapy?” Richie fired at her.

“Darling, would you please talk to me!” He added a bit angry.

“Richard!” Kris’ voice was stern. “If you would calm down and just listen to me, you would already know what’s going on!”

Richie frowned, but leaned back and looked at her expectant. He knew her temper was close to explode when she used his full first name. It only got worse when she called him Richard Stephen Sambora. She could scare the shit out of him with that. Brrr!

“Well, I have to slow everything down a bit the doctor said, be more relaxed.” Richie had to hide his laugh; the doctor obviously never met a Bongiovi before.

“And the first big change will be that I have to stop working.” Richie nearly felt from the couch.

“WHAT?!” he couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t a problem for him though, he always told her that she didn’t need to work, but the point was that she loved her work. She studied music and was now teaching at a local school and kindergarten, even Jake and Romeo were her students.

“The doctor said working with small kids wouldn’t be such a good idea in the next couple month, because we will reach a point where I’m no longer allowed to carry things around. And you know that I do that every often at work and God forbid one of the kids get hurt and I have to carry it….so, if I tell my boss now, they’ll have enough time to find someone new till Christmas.” Richie still looked at her in shock.

“You aren’t allowed to carry things around? Is something wrong with your back, darling?” his hand wandered gently down her back as if to make sure she wasn’t wincing when he touch her.

“Rich!” Kris said. He sighed.

“And then we have to re-decorate one of the guestrooms.” She added.

“WHAT?” he jumped to his feet.

“You will not move out of our bedroom, it doesn’t matter what happened, how bad you’ll feel, I’ll stay with you and help you. I won’t leave you alone, Kristin.” He stared at her in disbelieve.

Did she really think he would let her move to the guestroom? Or he would move there leaving her alone in their bedroom in pain, suffering? In no fucking way! What ever it was, they would go through it together and she would be fine again, he would not lose her, not her…he couldn’t.

“Well, that’s really sweet of you darling, but we need the room!” Kris had problems to hide her laughter now and she knew she had to bring it to an end. If he was calling her by her full name, he was really angry.

“Why?” Richie growled.

“Because our baby needs its own room.” Kris replied with a huge smile.

Richie just stared at her, his eyes blinking a few times. What did she say? Baby? But how? When? He must have misunderstood her.

“Could you repeat that?” he barely whispered.

Kris stood up from the couch and put her arms around his neck. “We are having a baby.”

Richie let out a loud laugh and took her from her feet, spinning her around. Why didn’t he think of that? She was so damn tired and her mood was changing so often, she even ate things that taste awful together from his point of view. How could he not see that?

“Let, me down Richie….let me down, you make me sick!” she could barely breath of laughter. Richie sat her down immediately.

“I’m sorry, darling…Are you okay?” he looked at her worried, steadying her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She still couldn’t control her laughter.

“That’s great, baby. That’s so great! I love you, I love you.” Richie pulled her in his arms again and kissed her. Suddenly he stopped and looked confused.

“How did that happen?” Kris looked at him stunned for a second and then erupted in laughter again.

“NO! That’s not what I mean. Damn, Kris…” Richie had to laugh too.

When they calmed down a bit, he asked again “I thought you are taking the pill?”

Kris nodded. “Well, I do. Now I can obviously stop with it. It seems I forgot it one or two days, maybe more…probably when you were just back from the Tour. Do you remember that time?” she smirked.

He grinned. Hell yeah! They had just finished the Lost Highway Tour. Kris and he were together a little bit over a year at that point and when he came home mid July, somehow, somehow…they couldn’t get out of the bedroom for a couple days. Fortunately Ava was with his Mom that time.

“That means we are…” he started counting “…at week 8.” Kris smiled.

“Well, I am at week 8 or 9. The doctor wasn’t really sure about that. We’ll figure out later.” She reached for his hand and squeezed it.

“Don’t you dare to tour in April next year.” Kris said with a smile.

“I will talk with my boss. Something’s telling me he’s fine with it.” Richie answered. “I’m sure he wants to be here as well, when the little Sambora will be born.” Softly he caressed her still flat belly.

“Well, right now it’s still Bongiovi!” Kris corrected him softly. Jon legally adopted her a couple years ago. The only way that she could use his name. The day she dropped off her mother’s name felt like finally being free.

“What do you mean?” Richie frowned.

“Well, dear Richie, I don’t see a ring on this finger…” she wiggled her ring finger “…and as long as there is no ring, the last name will be Bongiovi!”

“Over my dead body, I would never hear the end of it from Jon.” Richie snapped. “Will you marry me?” he added.

Kris looked at him a second, her right eyebrow raised. “No.”

“NO?” he was shocked.

“What do you mean with no? You can’t say no” Kris eyes narrowed dangerously. Oh, shit!

“I mean…” Richie stuttered. “You just said that you want to, right? And now you say no!” he really looked confused and unsure.

Kris stood up and smiled at him. “Well, honey I said no, because it was probably the poorest proposal ever. I know you can do much better, be romantic Richie.” She started walking towards the door.

“Oh, and honey” he looked at her again. “I will not marry you when I look like a wale, so you better go ring shopping.” She winked at him and left for the kitchen to make cookies with Ava.

Richie shook his head. Damn, he just loved her. He actually had to admit that she already caught his eye when he met her the first time. Not many sixteen year old girls were able to make him feel that way. But she was just something special…she still is. He really needed to control himself, told her that he was married, that he couldn’t do it. His marriage was already complicated at that time, but Jon would have killed him, hell he nearly killed him when he realized that he was sleeping with his daughter last year. He shuddered lightly.

The famous Bongiovi temper showed and was completely directed at him. That moment when Jon pressed him against the wall he was sure he wouldn’t be able to use his hands for a while, but somehow he managed to assure Jon that he was serious about this relationship, that Kris’ wasn’t a quick lay for him. He sighed deeply.

So many people were telling them that this wouldn’t work out. Well, watch us now you idiots! Who cares about 24 years of age difference? Who cares about it that she’s Jon’s daughter? He certainly didn’t.

Back to the thought “romantic”, I think I can handle that…and ring shopping, darling you have no idea what’s already waiting for you upstairs in my nightstand drawer. He smiled.