Sorry, I'm in Japan!

Sorry for not updating. I'm Japan visiting friends and relatives for two weeks. I'll update when I return.

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You don't know how great it feels to know that there are people who enjoy my fictions!

See you in a few weeks!

Chapter 20

"Richie?"

"Huh? Sorry, Dot. I was just thinking about Romeo. He just seemed so excited about going with me, but when we got there, all he wanted to do was eat chocolate cake." Richie wanted to steer the conversation away from the strange happenings of the past week.

"Well, he seems to okay for now. I don't know what's going on in his head, Richie. I guess it's just some childhood thing."

"Yeah," Richie hoped she was right and that things will be back to normal soon. He knew, though, that he, Jon and Romeo were somehow the key to all this and could not just sit back and wait for it to happen.

He also knew that he and Jon would need more time alone with Romeo if they were going to solve this mystery. An idea hit him then.

"Hey, Dot. Maybe Romeo just wants some special time just for him. He can't go out with his friends or anything and he sees Steph and his brothers doing it. If you want, I could take him out with me. You know, just him and his uncle."

"Richie, that's sweet of you to offer but I can't..."

"It's not imposing on me. He's a great kid and we have a lot of fun. Maybe that's what he needs to feel he's special."

"Well..." Dot couldn't deny his reasoning. With the other kids' busy schedules, Romeo was usually brought along 'just for the ride'. She couldn't very well leave him at home unless Grace was there and he was just too young to go over to a friend's by himself. Maybe Richie's idea was not so bad.

Jon's preoccupation with his new project was taking him away from the family's activities more than to her liking. If he would only slow down a bit to give some of his time to their youngest.

"I guess an outing or two wouldn't hurt and maybe even be good for him."

"Of course it will. I'll be in Jersey for a while. Just let me know."

"Thanks. And actually, there is a favor I want ask," Dot said, refilling their cups with fresh coffee. "I have to take Steph to her friend's and Jesse to soccer practice. I was wondering if you could keep an eye on the younger two for a few hours. Grace has the afternoon off."

Richie saw this as an opportunity to 'talk' to Romeo and get more information. "Sure, no problem." Now, if he could only do that without Jake getting suspicious.

*****

"Now, Mr. Bongiovi, I thought rather than give you all the boring technicalities of how nanotechnology works, we could just give you a live demonstration."

Elijah walked over to a stand that held something covered with a white sheet. "It took many years and many failures, not to mention millions of dollars, to perfect this," he tried to gauge Jon's expression at the mention of money. "But I'm happy to announce that we have finally succeeded. This is our prototype, our 'baby' if you will," he continued. And with an overly dramatic flair, he unveiled the contraption. "I give you The Duplicator."

Jon stared at the machine. "It looks like a coffee maker."

"Ah, so it does, Mr. Bongioivi. But let me tell you that it makes more than coffee. Let me demonstrate."

With that, Elijah pushed a few buttons and adjusted several knobs. The machine blinked and whizzed, then something seemed to be forming.

Jon stared. It was coffee. Not just coffee pouring from a spout, but a cup and saucer filled with the aromatic liquid. It had formed right before his eyes out of thin air.

"How did you...?"

"How did we do that? Well, of course I could get a physicist to explain it to you, but in plain simple language, it is the manipulation of molecules." Elijah rounded the table and pulled out a chair across from Jon. "You see, everything in the entire universe is made up of atoms and molecules. Everything. From the things you use daily to the air you breath. There is even the theory that thoughts are made up of the same atoms."

He stood again and walked over to the machine. "What we have managed to accomplish, Mr. Bongiovi, is molecular manufacturing."

"This is not a new concept, mind you. Scientist have been experimenting with the idea for many years, but the time and technology involved was enough to discourage even the most dedicated of them."

"But you have managed to succeed where other have failed?" Jon was beginning to become a little skeptical.

"Well, yes..." Elijah sensed the change in attitude. "Of course, it has its limitations and it will take many, many more years until it's perfected to be of any benefit to mankind," he proceeded cautiously.

"But, please understand, Mr. Bongiovi, that we are dedicated to this project. It is our life's dream. For all of us. I have personally seen the devastation that the drought has brought to the people of Ethiopia, the starving in South America and even right here in the richest country on earth."

"You see, Jon, may I call you that?" When Jon shrugged, he continued, "you see, I was one of them. My family was dirt poor growing up. My father grew up on a farm that lost everything in the Great Depression. Never really recovered. I promised myself that my own children will not suffer the way I did. I worked hard to make sure that they did not want for anything."

Elijah needed to make him understand. "Jon, when I found out about this project, I knew this could be the answer. To be able to produce things that people needed. To be able to produce food for the hungry. This was my way of giving back, of sharing my good fortune."

It had the effect that Elijah was hoping for. It hit close to home. This was Jon's ideal as well; to give back.

"Look, Elijah, I don't mean to be disbelieving. It's just that...well my wife and kids don't..."

"I know, Jon, I do understand. But let me tell you that it does work. Better yet, let our scientists tell you how it works. Bring your family here tomorrow and we will give them all a demonstration."

Jon was surprised at this. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Of course, Jon. This is a huge endeavor. The support of your family behind such a project should be first and foremost. Now, what do you say we continue this talk over some lunch?"

Going back the way they came, Elijah led Jon to the executive dining room As they passed, Jon looked into the room where he had seen Levinshon.

The office was empty.

Chapter 19

Jon headed downstairs to see his brood gathered in the family room, each engrossed in their own activity. Jesse was busy battling some aliens on the big screen, while Jake was running his dump trucks over some action figures.

"You better watch what you're doing, Jake. If Romeo comes home and finds that you'd messed up his Spiderman, he's gonna have a hissy fit," Stephanie warned, looking up from her fashion magazine.

"Don't worry, Steph, Spiderman's super strong."

"He's plastic," she said with another warning glance.

"Jake, listen to your sister."

"Awww, dad. You're always taking her side."

"Only when she is right and in this case, she is. Be more respectful of other people's things."

"Okay, fine," he groused.

Walking into the kitchen he found Dot helping Grace get ready to start lunch. He kissed her lightly and waved to Grace.

"Well, I'm off, wish me luck."

"Jon, I'm not so sure about this project of yours. It sounds like a pie-in-the-sky theory or something."

"It will be a breakthrough in technology, you'll see."

They had discussed his involvement in the project and though Dot could not fathom the idea, she had relented seeing how enthusiastic Jon was about it.

"If it works as well as I hope it will, then it could be the answer that we are all looking for, Dot."

"I know," she sighed, "but it just seems so.....I don't know.....so science fiction. Do you really think such a thing is possible?"

"Honey, where would we be today if everybody thought that way, hmmm? There would be no cars, airplanes or even computers."

"I guess you're right. But still....."

Jon smiled at her. He understood her trepidation. In fact, he was hard to convince at first when they had approached him with the idea. But listening to their explanations and theories, he began to see all the possibilities this new invention could bring about.

"Don't worry, babe. Today I'm just going to listen to their presentation. I promise not to make any commitments until I discuss them with you, okay?"

"Okay, honey. Good luck."

"Thanks. I'll see you at dinner."

*****

"Romeo, we need to start heading for home or your mom will have my head."

"Mommy will look silly with your head, Uncle Mookie."

"Very funny," Richie rolled his eyes,"now, let's get going."

**Can my dad come with us?**

"No, of course not! How are we going to explain that? Besides, I don't think it's good idea to have both of your dads in the same place."

**Why, Uncle Richie?**

"Because they'll spontaneously combust if they are."

**Has anyone told you that you watch too many movies?**

Richie looked up to just in time to see Jon snickering and nearly forgot himself by starting give him the finger salute. He caught himself when he saw Romeo staring at him and could have sworn there was a smirk on his face.

"Look, Romeo, that just can't happen, okay?"

**Fine. But I don't see what difference it makes. They've been in the same house, you know.**

Failing to come up with a reasonable answer, he simply patted Romeo on the head and picked up the toddler and his backpack and headed out the door. He stopped short, remembering to admonish Jon to stay put.

*****

"Mr. Bongiovi, thank you for taking the time to listen to our presentation. We are almost ready to begin. Let me introduce you to the rest of the board."

Elijah Greensberg was the perfect stereotype of a chairman of the board. Well into his sixties, his immaculately cut Armani suit served well to disguise a belly that had been spoiled with good, rich food and expensive wine. With tufts of silvery white hair encircling a shiny dome, he was almost a caricature of himself.

Leading him down a long hallway lined with doors, Elijah stopped periodically to greet the workers that they passed. One door was open and when Jon looked in, a man in a lab coat came bursting out towards them.

"Mr. Bongiovi, may I speak to you for a minute?"

"Levinshon! I've warned you about this. Now, get back in your office and stay put." Elijah practically shoved the man through the door. As he did, Jon looked inside to see a small boy sitting on the carpeted floor with some books. He had looked up from his reading in time to see his father being pushed in.

"Hey, Elijah, there's no need for that," Jon said. He bristled at anyone being treated that way, especially in front of their children.

"Is that your son?"

"Yes," Levinshon replied, "this is Samuel."

"Hey, Samuel, whatchya reading?"

"I'm reading about atoms," the boy beamed.

Jon looked at the man. "Smart boy you've got there. I guess he takes after his old man, huh?"

"Well, yes, we talk about science all the time. Right, son?" The boy nodded and went back to his reading.

"Mr. Bongiovi, I really must speak to you before you go into that..."

"That will be all, Levinshon." And with that Elijah slammed his door shut and hurried Jon off to the boardroom.

"Why wouldn't you let him talk?"

"Oh, pay no attention to him, Mr. Bongiovi. He always has some wild theories about every single experiment we do here. I don't know why even hired him the first place. He's just not a team player, if you know what I mean. And just so you'd know, his wife is a die hard fan of your band. I'm betting he's trying to get an autograph or some concert tickets. I'm so sorry about that."

Before Jon could ask another question, they had reached the boardroom. Guiding him inside, Elijah proceeded to introduce him to the board members and a team of scientists and physicists.

"Have a seat, Mr. Bongiovi, we are about to begin the presentation."

*****

"Hi, Richie. Thanks for taking Romeo for the night. So, how did everything turn out?" Dot was hopeful that they were able to solve whatever was the problem. She knew, though, that these things were not so easily dismissed.

"Well, we had a good man to man talk, ate some chocolate cake and then we went to bed. Yep, we had a pretty full night."

Dot snorted at this. "And what did you discuss in your 'man to man' talk?"

"Oh, that's a secret, right Romeo? Although I should tell you that it was about a cute little redheaded girl."

"No! That's yucky, Uncle Mookie!" Romeo groaned.

Richie laughed as he put the toddler down and Romeo ran off to the family room to show off his new action toy.

"Richie, you didn't have to buy him another toy. You're going to spoil him."

"Nah, he's a good kid, Dot. Besides, that's what uncles are for. Where's Jon?"

They had moved into the kitchen where lunch was being set out. Richie helped himself to a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. Dot joined him and Richie noticed a concerned look on her face.

"Dot?"

"Hmmm? Sorry, it's just that I've been thinking about this project that Jon is so into right now. I don't know, Richie. It just seems so....."

"Like it's out of Star Wars?"

"Exactly."

Wait till you get a load of what's happening.

Richie considered what she said for a moment before he spoke again. He had heard a little about this project from Jon and understood where Dot was going with this. "Dot, I bet cell phones and computers sounded unrealistic before they became commonplace. Who knows? In the near future, whatever he's working on could be something in every household."

"You sound just like Jon."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't worry about him too much. He's not stupid."

"I know, it's just......" Dot changed the subject then. "Did Romeo ask for his 'daddy' during the time he was with you?"

"Uh, not really. Although he did talk about Jon working a lot."

"I was starting to wonder if Romeo is inventing an imaginary 'daddy' because Jon is spending so much time on this project of his that he hardly has time to play with him."

"Dot, what's really worrying you?"

She held her coffee cup tightly as she tried to think of the right words.

"I just feel that there's something..." she stopped.

"What?"

"Just that something strange is going on here."

Chapter 18

"You need my help? What do you mean? I'm not even your dad--not yet, anyway."

**I can't talk to my dad**

"Why not?"

**Because he is too closed minded for this.**

Jon walked over to the table where Romeo was enjoying his chocolate cake. "I'm the same person, you know. Only younger."

**Physically, yes.**

"Listen, Romeo, I don't know how you're talking to us but these one sentence answers are not helping."

**I can only hold on for short time spans.**

Richie stood up from where he was sitting and witnessing the exchange and walked over to the table. Pulling out a chair he sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee. He loaded it with a bit too much sugar, rationalizing that he would need the boost to stay up all night.

"Romeo, you said that you needed your dad's--Jon's--help. What kind of help?"

**I'm not sure yet, Uncle Richie, but something is going to happen.**

"What Romeo? What's going to happen?"

"Spiderman is gonna come and zap the bad guys!" Romeo beamed, "Uncle Mookie, did you pack my Spiderman?"

Heaving a big sigh, Richie grinned at the toddler. "No, kiddo, you packed your own bags, remember?"

When Romeo's bottom lip began to quiver, Richie quickly added, "but hey, if you can't find it, we'll go tomorrow and get another one, okay?"

"And we gonna get the bad guys, right Uncle Mookie?"

"Yep, we're going to get the bad guys."

"Good. Cause they need to be rested."

"Rested?"

"Yeah, by the policeman."

Richie and Jon wasn't so sure which Romeo was talking, now.

*****

This game of cat and mouse lasted throughout the night with Romeo finally falling asleep and Jon and Richie getting no closer to the answer.

They understood that somehow Romeo was communicating his knowledge in bits and pieces because it was too exhausting to concentrate for longer than a few minutes at a time.

They also understood that sometimes when that Romeo retreated, a part of him was still present in the child before them.

What they didn't know was what part of the toddler's speeches were the other Romeo trying to get through.

They spent the rest of the night trying to piece together what they had remembered him saying.

That is, until the phone rang at about 2:15 in the morning.

*****

"It's a girl who wants to speak to the guy who looks like Jon Bon Jovi." Richie glared at Jon while covering the mouthpiece with his hand. "What the fuck did you do?"

"Just the room service waitress, Rich. We were just talking. Don't worry, I told her I was an actor," Jon mumbled as he took the phone from him. Turning his back to Richie to get a bit more privacy, his face broke into a huge smile as he answered the call.

Richie pretended not to get the hint and stood right where he was with his arms crossed, making it nearly impossible for Jon to have a private conversation. "Kristen, listen I'm sorry but I can't make it tonight. My roommate just came back with a........problem. Hey, why don't you give me your number and I'll call you tomorrow?" Jon scrambled for some paper and a pen, quickly jotting down the number she was rattling off and saying their goodbyes, hung up.

"Happy?"

"Yes. And I'd be happier if you didn't call her."

"Why? She doesn't know anything. We were just going out for a bite to eat."

"Jon, you're not here to go on a fucking date. And I don't have a problem. You do."

*****

As predicted, Romeo slept in until almost ten the following day. Rousing him gently from his slumber, Richie reminded him that they needed to get a move on if he wanted to go and get the Spiderman doll.

"I have one at home, Uncle Mookie. I want to get Venom. Please?"

"Okay, but I promised your mom that I'd have you home by lunch time, so you'd better get up and go wash up, all right?" he said, ruffling the little boy's hair.

**What is Venom, Uncle Richie?**

"He's one of Spiderman's enemies. And Romeo, I'd appreciate it if you could at least warn us when you're here?" Even though Richie was quickly beginning to get used to to these sudden appearances, it still unnerved him a little.

**How, Uncle Richie? Would you like me to announce my arrival with a bit of Reveille on my bugle?**

Smartass. "You really take after your old man, you know that?"

**So I've been told. I wouldn't really know**

"Why not?"

Romeo suddenly went silent. Without a word he slid off the bed and went towards the bathroom. "I go brush my teeth now, Uncle Mookie."

Richie stared after him. Something wasn't right. He could just feel it in his gut that the toddler understood what was just said, but he would just have to wait until the other Romeo returned.

*****

Back at the Jersey house, Jon was getting dressed for a meeting with the board of directors for one of his newest pet projects.

Being involved in the environment and human welfare, he took great interest in the recent developments that this group had managed to accomplish. He was sure that this would be a solution that most of the civilized world was looking for to meet the growing need for conservation of our natural resources, while providing food to the hungry at the same time.

The group had worked tirelessly on this for several years and would be able to for many more thanks to the funding that someone of Jon's stature was able to provide.

He was pretty excited and rightfully so, for today would be the day that he would witness the first of many experimental projects:

Nanotechnology.

*****

"Whatya got there, Romeo?" Richie was watching him fiddling with a piece of well worn paper.

"Nothing."

"Let me see that." Jon held out his hand. The folding of the paper somehow jarred something in him and he looked at it closely when Romeo handed it to him.

"It looks just like how Mrs. Ferguson folded her blanket. Who taught you how to fold it like this, Romeo?"

When the toddler just shrugged, Jon unfolded the paper and gaped at what was written on it.