Morning Revelations

When Jon woke up the next morning, he stretched and smiled. He was so relaxed and well-rested, like he hadn't woken at all during the night, which was......

"SHIT!"

He leaped out of bed and looked for his sweat pants only to see he had them on already.

"What the hell?"

Jon tentatively went to the kitchen door and looked out into the yard. Everything was as it should be. Stepping out onto the cool grass, still damp with dew, he crossed the yard to the circle of flowers that figured prominently in his dream. There, in the center of the circle was a single footprint: a decidedly feminine, shoeless footprint. He looked up at the sky. The sun was rising over the house, and soon, the dew would dry, and all proof of his dream -- well, he supposed, it wasn't really a dream now, was it? -- would be erased.

"Fuck me," Jon said, backing toward the house. He snagged his cell phone from the counter and called his best friend. He needed a little perspective.

"What?" a deep, rumbly voice answered.

"Wake up, bro," Jon said. "I need you to come see something." He went up to his office and rummaged through the closet until he found his camera. After checking to make sure it had batteries and a memory card, he started back down the stairs.

Richie rolled over onto his side and squinted through one eye at the clock. "Dammit, Jon, it isn't even nine yet. Why do you hate me?" He flopped back onto his back and scratched lazily at his bare chest.

"Because you're ugly," Jon answered. "Now get your old ass up and over here. I mean it." Jon snapped the phone shut then went back outside and took shots of the footprint.

Richie hung up the phone still wondering what was up with his friend. Jon could be obsessive about things, not giving up until he'd accomplished whatever goal he'd set for himself. He sighed unhappily – or goals he set for others. In other words, Richie knew that if he didn't do as Jon had asked, the stubborn asshole would come get him and drag him out of bed and across town by the hair if he had to.

When he arrived at Jon's house, Richie entered the code and drove through the gate. The size of the estate no longer surprised him. Jon had bought the mansion and moved here after the divorce from Dot two years ago. Richie had asked him then why he didn't just stay in the apartment in the city. Jon had answered that the apartment was fine for when he had business in the city, but that he needed a place to 'get away from it all'. Jon had also explained that he wanted the kids to have lots of room to run and play, just like they did at home with Dot.

Richie parked his car in the circular driveway. Copper ran out to meet him wagging his tail eagerly and Richie bent to scratch his ears. Jon hadn't wanted to take the dog away from the kids, but they, along with Dot, had convinced him to take the dog with him when he'd moved out. "So that you won't be all alone, Dad," Jesse had explained. Jon hadn't been able to tell them no. Now, Mazzie, Jon's housekeeper, took care of the dog whenever Jon was away on business or on tour.

Finding the door unlocked, Richie didn't even bother to knock. This was his brother's house after all. "Where are you, asshole?" he bellowed, slamming the door loudly behind him.

"In here, fuckwad." The answer came from the direction of Jon's office.

Richie shrugged and headed for the room in question, muttering under his breath, "Might as well get this over with."

When he reached the room, Richie leaned one shoulder against the door frame and crossed his legs at the ankles. "What was so damned important that you had to drag me outta bed at the ass-crack of dawn?"

Jon had expected that question. "8:23 is hardly 'the ass-crack of dawn'."

Richie frowned at his friend. Jon sat at his desk, staring at his computer monitor. He was leaning forward slightly in his chair and hadn't even take his eyes of the screen when he'd spoken. "What are you doing?"

"Research."

Richie looked up at the ceiling, silently requesting patience from heaven. "Research on what?"

"How to summon a fairy." Jon said. Richie watched him type something else. "Huh," Jon said. "Toads?"

The guitarist didn't laugh, didn't question the absurdity of Jon’s remarks at all – but only because he was sure that Jon was either joking or that it had something to do with the kids or a song. A song. That was it! That's why Jon had demanded his presence. "Oh, I get it. Damn, asshole, you could've just said that you wanted to work. You're just damned lucky that I'm staying at Mom's this week."

"Work?" Jon shook his head. "No, this's got nothing to do with work. Google is a magnificent thing, Rich."

Richie was used to how Jon's mind worked, how he skipped from one topic to another without slowing down, only changing gears. He looked around the room. Nope. No empty liquor bottles. Jon didn't appear to be drunk. "And, why would you want to summon a fairy?" Richie's voice was soft and patiently gentle, as if talking to a frightened child. Or someone who was clinically insane.

Jon stood up behind his desk. "This is a show kind of thing not tell kind of thing. Follow me."

Jon led Richie toward the back of the house and out through the sliding patio door, all the way to the circle of flowers. "Damn it. It's gone."

"What's gone?"

As if Richie hadn't said a word, Jon continued, "Good thing I took a picture for proof." He turned and went back toward the house.

Okay. Now, Richie was getting a little worried. "Proof?" he said to Jon’s retreating back.

Richie cast a worried look over his shoulder at the circle of flowers. Whatever was going on in Jon's head, Richie wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he damn well had to find out. Shrugging his shoulders, he started following after Jon, while his mind whirled.

The way Jon's brain was always on, it was only a matter of time before it got overloaded and finally went on strike. Maybe it had finally happened. He and the other guys had talked about it often enough. They'd joked and even worried about what they'd do when it happened.

When Jon finally snapped.