Chapter 48

Sarah looked up when her husband walked into the bedroom, she smiled at him, hoping everything was alright.

Richie was surprised she had started packing for him. Daniel was playing on the bed, it didn't seem like he had been very helpful. He sat down on the bed and pulled Daniel into his lap.

"Everything okay?" Sarah asked him, putting the shirts down that she had just grabbed from the closet.
"Yeah."
"Why was she having a panic attack?"
Richie shrugged. "I think she was overwhelmed with emotions. She wants me to go and do what makes me happy but also wants me to stay home."
Sarah nodded. "I know that feeling."
"I just tried to explain to her that we sometimes have to let go of the ones we love so they and ourselves can grow."
"Yeah." She agreed to that. "Like Caleb going to university."
"Exactly." Richie said. "You started packing for me?"
"I figured I'd help out." Sarah said, showing what she had all packed. The basics, underwear and socks so far. She had just grabbed some tshirts from the closet to add to his suitcases before she would go back for more.
"Thanks." He smiled at her. "That's really helpful."
She shrugged. "You were a little busy with Ava anyway and then you have to drive her to Heather's so thought I would save you some time as well."

Richie got up from the bed again, letting Daniel sit on the bed alone as he walked over to his wife, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close and nuzzling her neck.

"I appreciate you so much." He said, brushing her long blonde hair aside to cup her cheeks with his hands and holding her to kiss.
"I know that." She smiled at him again but let him go. "Are these tshirts good or do you want other ones?"
"Doesn't really matter." He said. "Did you add the new ones you got? I didn't get to wear those yet."
"Got those right here." Sarah went through the tshirts and pulled it out to show him. "Do you want them all or maybe just the red one?" She suggested, holding it for him.
He frowned, questioning it.
Sarah chuckled. "What?"
"It's brown."
She chuckled again. "It's red sweetie." She confirmed.
"Must be a pretty dark red."
"I guess it's burgundy but I assure you it is red." She tried to convince him. "You would look really good in it."
"Okay."
"Besides, you'd look good in brown as well." Sarah added the stack of tshirt to his suitcase.
"I thought I just looked good in everything?"
"Or nothing?" She suggestively raised an eyebrow at him, only for him to repeat the gesture.

Richie helped her finish his packing by picking out the rest of his clothes and letting Sarah add them to his suitcases. She made sure to roll all his clothes up so more would fit inside. Beside his clothes, he made sure he got all of his toiletries as well. He'd leave his electronics until tomorrow so he could still use them if he needed to.

Once finished packing, he walked over to Ava's room, ready to drive her to her other home.

Sarah was left alone with her two sons and did their usual Saturday evening routine, until Richie was able to join them. SNL had become a regular in the household. A trustworthy show for all of them to enjoy during the weekend.

During the second commercial break Richie walked back into the living room to join his family.

"Hey, where's my popcorn?" He complained when he noticed both Sarah and Noah with a bag of it.
Sarah looked over her shoulder, up at him. "Pantry." She said.
He stuck his tongue out at her and missed her retaliating as he left for the kitchen.

Only a few minutes later he sat down next to her and Sarah snuggled up against him with Daniel in her lap.

As he watched the comedy show, he admired his family, his wife close to him, his sons nearby. It might not be a complete family picture in this moment but that didn't change how he felt about leaving them tomorrow.

Chapter 47

Before he knew it, the week was over. Whenever there was limited time, life always went too fast but he spent his week with his family as he wanted to.

He drove his children to school and picked them up every day. The drive was short but he enjoyed the time he got with them and to hear them talk about their day.

His own days were spent at home with Sarah and Daniel. Together they had tried to interest their baby boy in walking again but Daniel refused to do so. He was perfectly content with standing at the coffee table or couch with his toys within hands reach to play or be carried wherever he needed to go if he couldn't crawl there.

In all, Richie had enjoyed his week spending extra family time with everyone. It's where he loved to be.

Saturday evening, after dinner he would drive over to Heather's house again. As Richie wasn't home, Ava would stay at her mother's house. For Sarah it was convenient as well, she would only have to worry about her sons.

Noah had already left the dinner table while Ava had stayed behind.

Sarah and Richie started cleaning up the table and putting away dishes. Daniel waited patiently in his high chair, watching what everyone else was doing.

"Have you finished packing?" Sarah asked as she passed the dinner plates to Richie to put into the dishwasher.
He positioned the plates as Sarah gave them to him. "Almost. I've got my stage clothes packed, just have my regular clothes left to pack." He said, then looked over to the table as he heard Ava starting to tap her fingers on the table top, he frowned.
"Do you need help packing the rest or any help at all?"
"I should be fine but you're always free to help." He finished loading the dishwasher and closed it.

He could still hear Ava rhythmically tapping her fingers tips on the wooden table. It caught his attention again. He only had to look at Ava tapping her fingers, bouncing her knee under the table and looking up at the ceiling to know what was going on.

Without saying anything to Sarah, he nodded his head towards Ava, making Sarah look over as well. She frowned at him and gave him a little smile before picking up Daniel from his high chair, she gave her husband a quick kiss on his cheek before she left the room.

Richie walked over to his daughter at the table, pulling out the chair next to her and sat down.

Ava looked at him but looked away to stare at the ceiling again, continuing her tapping.

He reached over and put his hand over hers, holding her hand. She tried to keep her eyes averted but he still noticed.

"Ava?" He asked.
She tried her best to not make eye contact and ignore his question, he knew that too.
"What's going on?" He asked her gently, knowing what was coming.
Ava shook her head and averted her eyes again.
"I can't help you through this unless you tell me what's going on in your head." Richie said calmly, making it clear to her he'd listen to anything she needed from him.

He would always have the time to listen to her and help her figure out any situation she was going through. Even if he wasn't around, Ava would always be a priority. She knew that too.

"Is it cause I'm leaving tomorrow?" He asked her, watching her making eye contact for a second before she looked away again, letting out a deep sigh. It gave him his answer. "You're allowed to be sad over that, you don't have to have panic attacks for it though." He saw the tears well up in her eyes and pulled her close against him, holding her. "It's only two months, I'll be home by thanksgiving." He reminded her carefully. "I thought you wanted me to go?"
She nodded, pulling away from him. "'Cause it'll make you happy."
"What makes me happy is you." Richie reminded her.
"But playing music makes you happy too." She pointed out. "I want you to play."
"Then why are you having a panic attack?" He watched more tears fall from her eyes.
"What if I need you?" She asked softly.
He smiled at her, feeling sad that she was so worried. "Then you call me, like you've always done. You're one of the smartest and strongest 15 year olds I've ever known and not just because I'm biased."
Ava chuckled at that, dismissing it. "Yeah, right." She said sarcastically.
"I'm not kidding." He said, giving her hand a supportive squeeze. "You're going to be fine. School's been going well so far. Your mom's doing well. You'll be fine and if you need a different space, Sarah would love having you here too."
She nodded slowly, understanding.
"You don't need to worry. I love you more than anything and if there's anything you need while I'm gone, you just call me. Okay?"
"Okay." She agreed, meaning it.
"It's going to be fine." He repeated again and pulled her into a hug. "You don't need to stress yourself out over something like this."
"But I feel bad."
"How so? Why do you feel bad?"
Ava sighed, letting go of her dad again, shaking her head as she ran a hand through her hair.
He knew how she processed and waited for her.
"Because I want you to go and do what you enjoy but I also just want to have you here and not have you go."
He smiled at her, reminded of what a beautiful girl she was inside and out. "Sweetheart," he said, "that's how I feel about you all the time. Every day."
She frowned at him, not understanding what he meant, only for a second did her bouncing knee relent but it quickly continued.
"Every day I've looked at you since you were born and I thought of how wonderful it would be if you could just stay as little as you were. If you could just stay 4 for a little while longer or 8 for a bit longer or maybe 12 but then I look at you now and I see where you are in life and I just can't wait for you to become the wonderful woman you are becoming." He smiled at her, completely in awe of her. "I wish I could keep you as small as you were but I have to let you go too so you can be who you are and do what makes you happy." He sighed. "There are many moments in life where you wish you could just grab the moment and hold on to it for as long as you want but it's when we let go that we learn the most about a person and ourselves." Richie smiled encouragingly at her. "It's one of the hardest things to do, letting someone go to do what they need while you desperately want to hold on to them because you need them but it's when you let go and release them that you can enjoy their happiness and grow yourself to be ready for your own steps ahead."
Ava wiped fresh tears from her eyes. "So I have to let you go back on tour to see for myself that I'll be fine?"
Noticing how her bouncing leg under the table had finally stopped. He took it as a good sign, Richie nodded. "And you will be."

Chapter 46

After Sarah had laid Daniel down in his crib for his afternoon nap, she grabbed a few towels from the linen closet upstairs next to the laundry room and stacked them in a pile to carry them downstairs.

As she descended the staircase she heard guitar music. Listening to her husband play, his music always made her happy, even if she didn't know all the songs as well as he did. Whenever she saw or heard his passion being expressed, it made her glad that he had such a creative and beautiful passion inside him.

She walked into the living room and stopped next to him, holding her towels.

Richie stopped playing and looked up at her, a little confused, he frowned somewhat. "Are you doing laundry?" He asked.

"No, I was thinking we should go for a swim."

"A swim?" He stood up and moved the cat off the couch beside him so he could lay his guitar on the cushions. "I'll go change."

He started moving but Sarah took him by his arm and pulled him closer. "I don't think so."

He raised and eyebrow again but didn't protest as Sarah pulled his arm.

He followed her onto the patio and watched her put the towels down on the glass table. She took the top one and shook it out to let it unfold, then laid it out over the lounge chair.

Unsure of what she was doing, he watched her but Sarah stood still, watching him in return.

She gave him a little smile and a wink before she pulled her tank top over her head.

That caught his interest. She was wearing a simple black bra that held her breasts perfectly.

He watched her as she pushed the button on her her shorts through the loop, pushed down the zipper and then pushed the garment down over her hips, as soon as it moved past her hips, gravity did the rest. She stepped out of the shorts and let her tank top join them on the warm tiles.

Richie swallowed, still watching her intently and did not want to interrupt her.

He watched her hand move behind her back. As soon as she had undone the claps, he noticed her breasts take up their freed space. The black bra joined the other garments.

She gave him another little smile as she pushed her panties off her hips and let them fall to the ground.

Then she turned around, whipping her long hair over her shoulder, she walked over to the pool. She paused at the edge of it to look back at him. "Coming?" She asked before jumping it.

It only took Richie a few second before all of his clothes formed their own little pile on the floor, then he hurried over to the pool, using the stairs to get into the water.

He swam over to his wife and wrapped his arms around her as he kissed her deeply.

"You're being naughty." He said as he pulled away from her soft lips.

She smiled, pulling him a little closer. "You like when I'm naughty." She reminded him with a soft bite on his ear.

He groaned slightly, claiming her lips with his again.

Seconds later, Sarah pulled away from him and swam to a more shallow part of the pool, where they could stand.

Richie followed her and pulled her to the side of the pool so he could lean against the wall as he stood with her in his arms.

Sarah pressed her hips against his, giving his dick some physical attention.

He softly grinded against her, enjoying the idea of where this would lead them soon. His hands reached up to cup each breast for him to enjoy the feel of. He burried his face in her neck as he kissed and nipped at the soft sensitive skin.

Sarah pulled away a few moments later and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close enough for her breasts to be right in front of his eyes. She made a little jump and wrapped her legs around his waist.

His hands moved to hold her up against him, enjoying how his penis was now trapped between their bodies. His right hand, he slowly moved until he found her entrance, slowly he traced it before entering two fingers ever so gently. It made Sarah moan against him, pulling him closer.

He obliged gladly, his lips finding a nipple to suck on, claiming another moan from Sarah.

His fingers kept moving in and out of her until he was sure she would be wet enough for him without resistance from the water.

Her body was almost weightless in the water as he gently lifted her a little higher so he could position himself before her. Slowly he let her slide down onto him. He basked in the feeling he was creating for himself.

The water added to the friction, making his thrusts less smooth than usual but at this angle, he could already feel Sarah was more sensitive. She tensed around him as she quickly found her first orgasm.

They started out slow but soon Sarah was asking for more and Richie was always willing to do her bidding.

He made his thrust not only faster, but deeper, making Sarah moan out load at each thrust, at complete disregard of them being in the back yard.

Richie soon could feel himself approach his own orgasm. He tilted his head up slightly, requesting her lips to join his.

They kissed as he made his final thrusts inside her before his release, feeling Sarah's wall tighten around him as she followed him suit.

She broke away from their kiss and looked down at him, meeting those gorgeous brown eyes she could always get lost in.

"I love you."

She kissed him.

Chapter 45

Tuesday morning, Richie got up along with his teenage children, serving them breakfast and then giving them a ride to school.

In a month Ava would be able to drive the both of them to school but since he would be leaving the next weekend, he'd take his opportunity to drive them until Sarah had to. If he could finally convince Noah to spend more time on practicing his driving skills, he wouldn't have to get up in the mornings but these days most of the teenagers he knew all had anxiety.

After making his morning run to the school, he headed to a Starbucks closest to home with a drive thru so he could surprise Sarah with a snack.

At home, he parked the car and walked up to the house, unlocking the front door before he walked in and kicked off his shoes and dropped his keys on the side table.

Sarah and Daniel were waiting for him in the living room as he walked in. Daniel was standing at the coffee table, holding himself up by the edge of the table.

"He's standing." Richie said excited.
"He's been standing for a few weeks now." Sarah pointed out, gladly accepting the tea Richie passed to her.
"I know but it's so sweet. Soon he'll start letting go," He sat down on the couch next to her. "and he better not start walking while I'm gone."
Sarah frowned a little, knowing he most likely would learn to walk in the next couple of weeks. "I'm sure he won't and if he does, I'll make sure to send you lots of videos."
"I guess that'll have to do."

"He'll be walking for many years after too and there'll be many first times next year as well." Sarah pointed out, not wanting him to feel too bad about not being home for the two months. "He's going to learn to run and then you'll get to chase him down the house."
Richie smiled. "True."
"And then he's going to learn to talk." Sarah added on.
"Yeah."
"And he's going to learn to say daddy." She continued, noticing the sparkle in his eye giving away how happy that made him. "He's going to learn to throw and kick a ball around with you."
"Oh God, I'm too old for that."
"No you're not. He's going to learn to climb and jump around too and just wait for potty training, that's going to be a lot of fun."

He smiled content, he had a lot of other milestones to look forward to other than Daniel learning to walk. He looked forward to all of them, even if it meant having to watching him every single second, making sure he was safe and would not hurt himself in his little adventures.

"It's all going to go too fast." He said, watching Daniel let go of the table to get back to his toys.
"It's all going to be worth it." Sarah smiled, reaching in to kiss him. "I'm glad we get to do it together."

After a while of keeping Daniel occupied, Richie asked Sarah if she'd be fine watching Daniel til lunch so he could get some work done. He'd rather get most of it out of the way instead of postponing til the end of the week, that way he could relax and have quality family time.

Upstairs in his office he went online to search for a hotel for the few days he would be staying in New York City for rehearsals, he preferred having his own space than staying with Jon and Dorothea like he used to years ago. that way he could do what he wanted without worrying about his friends and their children. Along with his hotel, he booked a flight to New York for Sunday evening, he'd take one of the later flights, he didn't mind sleeping on the plane and he'd have a few more hours at home. While on his computer, he emailed back and forth with the band's crew, figuring out pick up for his guitars to be safely transport to their first concert location.

Lastly, he printed out sheet music to most of the newer songs off of What About Now. He had helped write some of them but this way he could start practicing them and freshen up his memory of the songs before rehearsals, not delaying everyone else as much.

Once he had everything sorted, an hour had past and soon Sarah would start on lunch. He grabbed the sheets of paper he had just printed out and headed down the hall to get one of his guitars from his guitar storage room.

He sat down in the living room with Sarah again but sat away from her so he could play his instrument without disturbing her.

Sarah smiled at him, "How about I go make lunch while you watch Daniel?"
"Sounds good." He agreed and watched her leave the room, he loved watching her walk away.

Daniel stood at the table again, his toys on the table, and looked up at his dad with his guitar. His eyes were bright as he watched.

"Are you excited?" Richie asked him, knowing Daniel was always ready to listen to him play. He smiled, not expecting much of a reaction from his little boy but he played a few notes and tweaked a couple pegs.

Once ready, he positioned his guitar on his lap and started the first song on his page, being still mostly familiar with it. As he played he watched Daniel take steps around the coffee table as he held on to the table top to get closer to him, it was cute to watch his little legs move as he walked, taking his steps slowly but surely, wobbling at times. His son was out of arm's reach so he watched him closely on his unsteady legs, making sure he was holding on tight and wouldn't lose his balance.

Richie finished his song and Daniel just stared at him, not impressed the music was over, he grunted at him.

"Yeah?" Richie asked. "Don't want the music to stop?" He strummed another cord and left it at that, making Daniel grunt again. In response, Richie chuckled, it was cute watching his son get frustrated. He played a short tune and stopped again, waiting for Daniel to grunt again but instead, the little boy took 4 steps over to his dad and slapped his tiny hand on the guitar, wanting him to play it again. He held on to his dad's knee as he looked up at him.

Richie looked down at him. Amazed at what he had just done. It was so unexpected, he wasn't even sure it happened. Obviously it had since Daniel was now right in front of him instead of at the coffee table.

"Did you just walk?" He asked the little boy whose brown eyes were watching the guitar as his hand touched the strings, oblivious to his accomplishment.

Richie stood up, picking up his son as he set down his guitar, then headed to the kitchen.

"He walked." He was still amazed when he told Sarah.
"What?" She asked, looking away from the food she was preparing.
"He was at the coffee table and I stopped playing so he grunted at me and he let go of the coffee table and took a couple steps, then hit my guitar." Richie told her.
"I missed his first steps?" Sarah sounded disappointed.
"I'm sorry sweetie. I'm sure he'll do it again." He stood Daniel on the floor and let him hold on to a finger. "Maybe if you call him? Or get him a snack."
Sarah grabbed a soft vegetable and held it out to Daniel. "Look what mommy has for you, come get it." She coaxed.

Richie watched but Daniel let go of his finger and sat down on the floor, looking up at him with a confused look.

"I'm sorry." He repeated to Sarah.

Chapter 44

Richie sat down in his office chair, he stared at his phone, trying to make his decision. In fact, he had made his decision, he was trying to be sure of his decision.

He spent the day before with his son, bought him a nice gift for which he was very thankful and seemed to enjoy very much. Today, he had spent his day with his lovely daughter and made sure she had all the clothes she most likely didn't really need to begin with.

He enjoyed spending time with all of them, they are the ones that make him happy, along with his beautiful wife. These were the only people he ever needed in his life to make him feel complete. Those five people are all that matter to him and their happiness is what he wants to ensure.

Would it be selfish to do what he wanted to do?

Would it be unfair to take so much time away from his family?

Stalling his decision, he found David's number in his phone and sent him the video of Noah playing the piano earlier today and bragged how Noah must be a natural at it while David tries and makes it sound as if it was hard to master.

It felt good to poke some fun at his buddy again, at least they both agreed that Noah playing the piano was impressive.

Back in his phone contacts, he found Jon's number. Why he has three numbers for one person he wasn't too sure. Did anyone even still use landlines?

He finally tapped his screen and initiated the phone call.

"Hey." Jon's voice came over the phone as Richie put him on speaker phone.
"Jonny." Richie started cheerfully, "how's it going?" Oddly, he wasn't sure how to start the conversation.
Jon chuckled in response. "Doing good, how 'bout you?"
"I'm fine. Listen, I was wondering if you've got some time later tonight."
"Yeah, sure." Jon answered quickly, not hesitating to thing about it. "Do you want to meet up?"
"Sure, want to come here after dinner?" He asked, not wanting to invest too much time either, he still wanted time with family, soon enough summer vacation would be over. He enjoyed every minute he could spend with his children and wife.
"Okay, I'll be there around 7." Jon agreed.

After his phone call, Richie headed downstairs. Soon Sarah would start dinner and he wanted to help out.

He found her in the living room, sitting on the floor, playing with Daniel. Exactly what he wanted so he sat down with her.

"Did you talk to Jon?" She asked him as she watched him get down on the floor next tp her.
"Yeah, I told him to stop by later so we could talk."
"You've decided then?" Sarah asked.
Richie nodded.
"I'm going to miss you."
"I'll miss you too." He knew he would miss her very much while he was gone. They'd never spent very much time apart. "You could come with me." He pointed out, wanting her to.
"What about the kids?" She countered.
"Daniel can come with us. Ava used to travel with me and Heather all the time."
"I know but what about Noah? We can't leave him alone for two months. That's a bit too long." Sarah explained. Sure he was 17 but being home alone for two months was a little too much.
"What about your mom? She could stay with him, stay here for a few weeks."
In all honesty, Sarah had to admit she did like that idea. That way she could be with her husband as well. At least they would be staying closer to home than last time.
"Seeing all 50 states is on your travel wish list." He reminded her, knowing she was mulling it over, he had to reel her in.
"I'll ask her." She smiled.

After dinner, he helped Sarah clean up the kitchen and put the dishes away, they talked about school starting Tuesday when they were interrupted at the door.

Richie let Jon into the house and lead him to the living room where they sat down on the couches. He could still hear Sarah putting away plates and cutlery.

"What do you think?" Jon asked, cutting straight to the case.
"I'd like to." Richie started out, not giving Jon his answer just yet. "I talked to Sarah and all the kids. Daniel didn't want to talk but I could see in his eyes that he would miss me very much."
"Yeah?" Jon asked.
"Oh yeah, he's a very good eye communicator." Richie assured him.
"As are most 10 month olds." Jon said sarcastically.
"Exactly," he agreed, "anyway, beside Daniel missing me, Noah would be happy if I stopped pushing him to learn to drive so I guess he's happy." He was only joking, he knew how Noah really felt. "Ava knows the lifestyle, you know?" He asked and Jon nodded his agreement. "Sarah and Ava encouraged it so I suppose I'll be joining you."
"Yeah?"
Richie nodded. "I'll fly to New York next weekend for rehearsals. Sarah and Daniel might join me at some point for a little while though. Maybe around his birthday."
"That'd be fun." Jon agreed. "We haven't had a kid's birthday on tour for a while now."

Richie agreed, it had been a long time since they took everyone on tour with them. The kids had grown up and were in school full time, making it much hard for them to join their dads on travels around the world. Most of them would be graduating high schools and colleges soon but they'd go on their own adventures in life.

"So it's a deal?" Jon asked.
Richie sat back. "I want things to change."
"Change?" He asked confused, not understanding what Richie needed to change about how they toured.
"Yeah, I don't want to be just an employee to you, just a part of the band to you."
"You want a raise?" Jon asked him, still confused at what exactly Richie was trying to say to him.
In response, Richie shook his head. "No, that depends on sales and a bunch of other shit, I know that too."
"What do you want then?"
"I want a promotion, if you will." He said. "Not just be an employee of yours, I want to be appreciated for my skills and input. Like an Assistant Manager." He explained, using a simple example. "Just like in any other company, you're the CEO, you have employees but you also need an Assistant Manager that helps you out when needed in certain roles. I've got all the music skills, you know that but I also have all this experience in producing and setting up tours. I've done it all before and I want you to realize that I can't just be an employee of yours anymore."
Jon nodded, thoughtful, mulling over what Richie had just suggested to him. "You want more responsibility within the corporation?" He asked. "That's what you want? As a condition to touring with us again?"

Richie frowned, he didn't mean it to be an ultimatum. For him to either get more responsibilities or not tour. That wasn't his intention but he could use that in his advantage as well.

Slowly, he nodded. "Yeah, I don't want to be on the sidelines anymore, it's been thirty years that I've followed you and I've always, mostly always, enjoyed it but I need more out of this than what it was before."
"It is my band. I started this." Jon pointed out.
"I know," Richie agreed. "I just want you to let me help you, take some of the load off of your shoulders. Give you my opinions and input and for you to hear them, not just dismiss them."
"Like what? On tour I don't even handle that much anymore."
"True," He agreed again, "But there's interviews, setlists, travel schedules, promotional stuff you do. We used to do more of those things together thirty years ago than we do now."
"You want to decide what songs we play?"
"Partially, fans like when we play songs that aren't hits and maybe I want to play some of mine."
Jon nodded, understanding what Richie wanted from him. "Okay but this is a Bon Jovi tour, not a Richie Sambora tour." He clarified in case Richie didn't understand that.
"I know that." He tried to ignore his frustration at that statement, of course he didn't want all the attention. "But you know most my personal fans are Bon Jovi fans."
"I suppose."
"So I'd like to play a song once in a while, not entire setlist, obviously, but like we used to when I sang I'll Be There For You, except maybe I'll play something of my own."
"Okay."
"I just want us to go back a little to our roots, you know, the 80s rock band that we were."
"The 80s are over and we still are a rock band." He said pointedly, frustration in his voice at the accusation.
"Our songs are softer than what they were in the 80s, they're more mellow. Which I get because our fans are in their 40s and 50s now as well so probably not rockers anymore but that's what we were and I still want to be that, somewhat. That's the music I'm passionate about."
"We still rock."  Jon said. "We still sell out every concert."
Richie raised an eyebrow at him, he knew that wasn't entirely true.
"Okay," Jon sighed. "Most of our shows."
"There you go." Richie said. "So yeah, I want to be your Robin." He concluded.
"Well, I'm Superman so you mean Lois Lane."
"Except I'm not a woman."
"You're also not a kid like Robin. Besides, Superman doesn't really have a sidekick." Jon pointed out to him. "So it's going to be Lois Lane." He joked.
"Oh fuck off." Richie shook his head. "What if Superman and Batman just worked the fuck together?"