He slammed into his room, a muttered curse on his lips. It had started well enough, Richie was in rare form, but god dammit he always was thanks to Lil miss sunshine. God she got on his nerves these days, from her sweet little smiles to the goddamned sounds he had to listen to all night. Made him want Kate more, made him wanna stick Elena in a fucking box and mail her home. Everything was just off. Richie wasn't hanging with the guys, especially Alec, what the fuck was up with that? All he had eyes for was that 5 foot nothing bit of fluff he'd married. He threw his bag at the wall and flopped on the bed.
Fuck if everything wasn't getting on his damned nerves and it just had to culminate on stage tonight. He'd felt the scratchiness as they hit the stupid stadium, the stadium that was either too hot or too cold depending on where you stood, and it just went south from there. Midway through Id Die for you is when he really felt it, the muscles in his throat nearly fucking seized over. Barely had finished the fucking song and dashed off stage for a quick hard drink to lubricate his throat. On the way back to the stage there came Lil Miss Sunshine her eyes all aglow as she took her spot to watch Richie. God damn her to hell, he wanted Kate there, wanted Kate to be watching him.
He reached out for the phone his fingers blindly dialing her number. Fucking bad night, only thing to make it better would be her sweet voice. His fingers tapped on the bed as he growled at the constant ringing, his throat beginning to feel a bit more like sandpaper and less like gravel. "FUCK, answer the goddamned phone babe."
Kate fumbled for the phone and dragged it under the comforter. Friggin' cold ass rainy day. She hated, April. " 'lo," came the muffled reply.
He took a deep breath and croaked out, "Well hello gorgeous. How's my favorite doctor?"
"Heeey," she flipped back the cream colored comforter and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "I miss you," Kate said with a sigh and settled into her pillows.
He closed his eyes and settled back into his pillows. "I miss you too babe." He glanced over at the wall as his nightly stereo rendition of the newlywed game started. Reaching up he pounded the wall hard. "Fucking noisy people. Did I wake ya?"
Kate frowned. He sounded awful. More and more calls seemed to show his voice being battered to hell. "No, I was in bed but not asleep yet."
He groaned as the thump of what had to be a pillow hit the wall. "Can I mail Miss Sunshine back to you? Preferably in pieces in a very small box."
Kate slid from her bed and wrapped her blanket around herself as she padded to the kitchen. "Uh oh, that doesn't sound good. Are you two getting at each other?"
He coughed to clear his throat and sighed, "No, she’s a peach, everyone loves her, and I mean everyone, well maybe except for Alec, damn if he don’t just give her a width berth. I just.. fuck it all Kate just lemme mail her home."
He held the phone to the wall for a moment, wondering if she could hear what he got to hear nightly and after the count of thirty pulled it back to his ear. "Did you HEAR that, I mean did you HEAR it?"
Kate tried to hear what he was talking about, but all she could hear was thumping. "Is that construction in the hotel? What the heck does that have to do with Elena?"
"Our rooms adjoin Katy.. baby I hear that shit every night, GET IT NOW? Fuck I miss you bad enough as it fucking is, and that every night? Can I mail her home? I promise to be gentle when I stuff her in that box."
Laughing, Kate twisted the cord around her finger. "Sounds like the honeymoon hasn't ended. Awww Jonny, got a case of blue balls?"
"Blue everything Goddammit." He growled softly at the wall which caused a fit of coughs. "I need my doctor dammit."
Frowning, she grabbed a half gallon of milk out of the fridge and poured cereal. "Sugar, what is goin' on with that throat? Did you let the tour doc look at it?"
He almost growled but shoved the need down. "OH sure, gargle with salt Jonny, its just a fucking cold Jonny. I'll mail him to you in pieces too, fucking quack."
Chewing around Cheerios she made a hmm sound. "Are you doing your warm ups? Or is it just that you don't have enough down time between shows?"
"What the fucking hell is downtime babe? We get no downtime.. well I don’t, sleep eat sing, talk away a few interviews, sleep sing eat.. Not sure how King gets enough time to fuck, but god damn he finds a way. Yes I do warm ups.. it doesn’t help." he growled softly and glanced at the lamp tempted to send it towards the offending wall next. "You could make it better Katy. You’re a better doctor."
"Sugar if it was up to me, you'd be off tour for two weeks resting that voice before you fuck it up completely. But you and Doc don't want to hear what I have to say." She sighed, "You work and play too hard, Jon. I know it and I'm not even out there."
He huffed out a breath and growled, "It's what I fucking do babe, Doc wouldn't have us do anything we couldn't take. "
Dumping her spoon into her bowl she made her way to the couch. "I won't tell you your business, Jon. If you think you're okay, I believe you," she placated. "I can hear the frustration in your voice is all."
He flopped back down on his bed and groaned, "Yeah I'm frustrated, I'm tired as hell, I miss you, I wanna kill a couple of newlyweds for daring to be so happy around me. What the hell is wrong with me dammit?"
"Well you can't blame them. They are stupid happy. And stupid happy equals one whole lotta screwing," she laughed. "Not like you wouldn't have me on my back every night if you could."
"Damn right," he growled softly and smiled, "So you wanna come out now right? We'll show them loud goddammit."
"Ha! Well there's a thought. Not that I wouldn't love one of those low growls in my ear and that firm butt under my fingers," she teased.
He closed his eyes and grinned, "I’ll fire the tour doc, you can come work for us. You know you wanna."
She snorted. "And baby sit you morons? I don't think so, Rockstar."
"Dammit Kate I need you, dontcha get it? You wouldn't have to babysit them, Fuck ‘em all. I just want ya."
Jon sat up and thought seriously of moving to another room. "Stupid hospital more important than me?"
She pulled the phone away from her ear, looked at it, then pulled it back. "Whoa, what is up tonight, Sugar? You are grouchy with a capital G tonight. You better not have meant that."
Ignoring her question for a moment he lowered his voice and poured all of his little lost boy appeal into the next words, his voice growing soft and like a little boy, "But I want you here Kate, I need you."
"That's not fair," she said with a sigh. "I'd be there in a heartbeat if I could. This job is important, Jon. I thought you understood that."
He frowned as her words came over the line, more important than him? Everything was more important than him, Money, fame, more important to Doc than him, hospitals, jobs more important than him, Elena and her smile, more important than him. "When do I get to be important Katy?"
"I--" Kate was at a loss. Did he really feel like that? And how the friggin' hell did she tell him he was without sounding like a complete ass? She took a deep breath. "You knew going into this that we were both career orientated. I used up all of my vacation time for when you were home. Interns get jack shit for downtime."
He sighed and dialed it back a notch. He admired that she was so intent on her career, so independent but fuck it all he needed her. "So shoot me for trying to get you here babe. I miss ya, you know? Love ain’t easy when your miles apart, and all I want is to feel ya next to me. Otherwise I’m gonna end up short one guitar player cuz I’m gonna," His voice raised to yelling level, "Kill his fucking wife."
Thankful that he'd let the subject drop she avoided the L word neatly. "You can't kill Elena. You saw Richie before...imagine if she was dead? You'd have to put him in a padded room." When she heard the laugh she wanted out of Jon she went on. "I miss you too, Sugar. I'm going to try like hell to get to one of the shows you have in the tri-state area."
"Damn straight you are, I'm arranging special transport for you that day, Limo all the way to make sure you get here."
"Well, when..." she trailed off and went back to the fridge. She had two schedules taped up, one his and one hers. "Lemme see. Where the hell are you tonight?"
Sliding her finger down the schedule, "What you had Troy? Damn...you were near Albany?"
He sighed, "Yeah just a day or so ago babe. Dammit I wanna see you Kate."
Looking up to her schedule and then down to his. "What about, Philly? You're coming back to Philly in less than a week. And that's two nights." Doing a quick mental calculation. "I can switch with Brody at the hospital for his night and that gives me three days off!" She'd have to work two 36hr shifts in a row, but who needed sleep?
A smile finally flitted onto his lips. "It’s a date. I'll have a limo at your front door on the 15th."
She opened her mouth to disagree then shut it. She didn't want to piss him off again. "Alright, limo it is, Sugar. Have them pick me up in the morning and we can get all the time in that's possible."
"You have yourself a date Kate. Hey I rhymed!" The first bit of tightness eased in his chest for the first time that day. "I can't wait to see you baby."
"You are such a dork," she giggled. "All right, sweet dreams, Sugar. I'm excited to see you too."
He grinned and kissed the phone, making the smoochie sound loud enough for her to hear. "Excited? Ecstatic is more like it. Love you Katy, see you on the 15th."
"The 15th it is...look at that only five days! Not even," she rushed hoping he didn't catch the no reply. Dammit, it unnerved her when he kept throwing that L-word around. "I cannot wait to get my hands on you."
