Life As It Is

"Remember that black dress you wore to the Grammy's?" Billie Joe asked Ella softly.

Two months later, Ella was eight months pregnant. In just one more month she'd be giving birth to her daughter. Her stomach had gradually grown bigger and she felt like an even bigger balloon.

"Yeah...are your hands where people can see them?" She giggled.

"Mmm...maybe. I was just thinking how beautiful you looked that night regardless that you were at five months."

"You really know how to make a pregnant woman feel good about herself."

"Damn straight."

Grammy night, February 2005

Billie Joe, Mike, Tre, Ella, and Holly sat in the limo awaiting it to get to its destination. The limo came to a stop and one by one, they got out.

Ella reached out her hand to her boyfriend and he gladly took it. Everyone else got out after her and took a look around. Typical scene for famous people. Photographers, journalists, camera crews...it was so crowded you couldn't even see the people coming in.

She smoothed out her black dress that had been stretched out a little to be a somewhat of a fancy maternity dress, and made her way with the band and Holly. She looked over to Billie Joe who squeezed her hand tightly.

"You look amazing. Just wanted to tell you that again," He whispered in her ear before going off for an interview with MTV.

They posed in front of cameras, his arm around her as he didn't answer any of the questions journalists were shouting at him. He purposely put his lips to her cheek making her blush in front of everyone. This wasn't a publicity stunt; it was public display of affection.

She and Holly watched the band perform and then Billie Joe sing. When they finally won a Grammy that night, she grabbed him, pulled him down and gave him a quick kiss, making him grin ten times more.

On that chilly night, the two headed home after an after party, both in a happy mood. The two headed upstairs and when they got there, the thirty-two year old man slowly undressed his girlfriend from her black dress. She, in return undressed him as well from his fancy suit.

They kissed there for a while until Ella led him near the bed, a smug grin drawn on his face as he walked with her only to end up in bed for the rest of the night.

The night after yet another interesting phone call with Billie Joe, Ella had come home from randomly shopping outside to find Holly and a bunch of her old co-workers yelling, "SURPRISE!"

She stood there with her jaw dropped open. The thirty-four year old pregnant woman didn't expect to even have a baby shower. But now she was.

A six month pregnant Holly came over to her, grinning and led her into the living room.

"How'd you fly out here?" She asked all of them.

"Billie flew them all here from New York," Holly responded as she took a seat on one of the couches.

"He...what?"

"Isn't he sweet?"

Still unsure of what to say to anything going on she nodded slowly, her eyes clearly showing she was confused.

"You guys really didn't have to do this for me...I bought a crib and other things about a month ago," She said before she opened any gifts.

"Well we're making sure you're extra prepared!" One of her old co-workers said with a grin on her face.

She nodded and started opening gifts as the women cooed over the cuteness of them all.

When the baby shower was over, Holly noticed some weirdness in Ella's face expression.

"What's wrong?" She asked her, sitting down next to her on the couch.

"Nothing, just thinking how scary it's going to be next month when I'll be giving birth to a little girl. It's actually going to happen."

"Were you expecting it to not?"

Ella shook her head, giving somewhat of a smile. "I don't mean it literally. I don't know—it just feels so surreal. Like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant."

"Time flies when you're having fun." Holly wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

"So very true." She shook her head, smiling once again and straightened herself up a little bit.

Her pregnant best friend slowly made her way up and towards the kitchen. "I told you we'd both be sharing the major food cravings," She said as she rummaged through the refrigerator.

"Never doubted that for a second," The eight month pregnant woman chuckled. "I'm off to take a nap, I feel sort of icky for some reason. Don't eat all the food."

"I can't promise you that," Holly called out. "Everything but the cottage cheese looks delicious."

* * *
Ella woke up three hours later slightly feeling the drool on her face. Feeling disgusted, she wiped it off and slowly made her way up, staring at her stomach.

She looked over at the night stand and reached for her cell phone. She had three missed calls from Billie Joe. Had she really slept through the calls? She usually awoke when she heard her phone ringing.

The woman didn't bother checking her voicemail because he knew if she didn't pick up on him it meant she was probably sleeping.

She stood up in bed and called him, waiting for him to pick up. She had missed him so many times that day it got her mad because she desperately wanted to talk to him.

"Finally," He said, startling her when he finally decided to pick up his cell phone. "You must've slept like a baby to miss calls from me."

"Pretty much."

"Do you remember your dream at all?"

She chuckled. "Why?"

"Just making conversation..."

"If you must know, I dreamt about you and me."

"Ahh you had a nice sex dream, eh?"

She shook her head, desperately trying not to laugh at what he had just said. "Weell...it took place with us fooling around back in the old days."

"I like where this is heading..."

"And the rest was a blur."

"Dammit."

Billie Joe shifted his weight from one leg to another as there was a comfortable silence.

"So I had my surprise baby shower today."

"Yeah I know."

Ella's tone softened a little. "I can't believe you flew people out for it." She was on the verge of tears and scolded herself for even wanting to cry but knew it was just the hormones.

"Well it was all really Holly's idea and I sort of gave out the idea of bringing out your co-workers since I know how much you miss them since we all dragged you out there."

"I love you for doing that, babe. And you didn't drag me out here; I wanted to come all on my own so you can get to know your child, and well, now for us to be together."

"You're lucky I like when you start your mushy love talk," He chuckled. "It's better than when you yell at me because your hormones decided to go against me for a few minutes."

"And you're lucky I had a nap so I can't bitch at you at the moment."

"God bless naps."

Suddenly, Ella heard some kind of noise in the background. It sounded like someone had opened a door and had started yelling.

"Tre get out of here, please!"

"Are you having phone sex?" The drummer exclaimed and she could hear him bouncing somewhere.

"Mind your own business!"

"Yeah you are." Ella could hear him continue bouncing and she assumed it was probably on the very bed her boyfriend was sitting on.

"Get off the fucking bed or I'm going to push you off and give you a bad concussion."

"I'm off, I'm off! Relax, buddy."

"Can you leave the room now?" Billie Joe asked and grumbled at his band mate who gave him a grin.

"Nooo...I have to go through your booze first."

Billie Joe grumbled and swore under his breath.

"You want me to handle your little dilemma?" Ella asked, startling the front man who had momentarily forgotten she had been on the phone.

"Really? You can?"

"Of course, give the phone to Tre."

The thirty-three year old man reluctantly told the drummer to take the phone into his hands.

"What's crackin', sexy lady?" He asked as soon as he had the phone in his hands.

"Tre," Ella grumbled to him. "If you don't get out of that hotel room right now, I swear I'll tell Laura to kick you so hard down there, you can't create another generation of children. Got it?"

Frightened by her tone of voice, the drummer handed Billie Joe the phone back and fleeted out of the room, calling his girlfriend's name.

"I thought your hormones were in check..." He said as he placed the phone near his ear.

"They are. But when it comes to Tre, they aren't." She chuckled.

* * *
Now at nine months pregnant, Ella felt ten times worse. Her stomach had dramatically grown once again, making her feel like complete shit for some reason.

With only a few weeks away until she could give birth, she was completely emotional. She found herself eating, yelling, and crying a lot. This of course was all normal for pregnant women to experience.

"I swear this goddamned baby thinks my bladder is a little squeeze toy she can squeeze whenever she wants," She grumbled to Holly who gave her a sympathetic look. She'd be going through that too.

She tried her best to keep her cool when Billie Joe was frantic about playing the Milton Keynes Bowl on the eighteenth and nineteenth of June. Mainly because it'd be two of the biggest shows Green Day had ever played in their entire careers, and Sam Bayer would be shooting a movie about all of that.

The first concert that they'd be playing there, Billie Joe was as nervous as ever. It was a lot of pressure for him at that point.

"Billie," Ella sighed as he had called her that morning. "If you can play for a crowd of five you can sure as hell play for a crowd of thousands."

And of course, the night of the first concert went swiftly.

"I knew you could do it," She said.

The second night of Green Day playing at Milton Keynes marked two days before it was officially Ella's due date for the baby.

She had been packing her stuff to bring to the hospital beforehand. With Holly gone for another day or so to visit her mother, she was technically all alone in packing.

Ella heard the doorbell ring and slowly waddled down the stairs only to find Adrienne waiting at her doorstep.

"Hey Adrienne," She said, leaving the door open for the six month pregnant woman.

"Hey... I just came over to drop off the blender I had borrowed from you," The older woman said. "Have you been packing for the hospital?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, so it's getting close to your due date..." Adrienne set the blender somewhere in the kitchen and headed back as soon as Ella had brought down her luggage.

"Yep, I still can't believe it."

"Me neither."

The two had grown some sort of friendship and it was fine for them to openly talk about things like their pregnancy, Billie Joe, and other sorts of things.

"Do you want to stay here for a little bit?" She asked politely.

"Sure," Adrienne said. "I'll just go make something in the kitchen."

"Great," The younger woman replied as she sat down on the couch, trying to make herself comfortable but honestly couldn't.

A few moments later, Adrienne was still in the kitchen and Ella was still struggling to make herself comfortable but just couldn't.

All of a sudden, she heard something fall onto the carpet. She looked down only to see water. Her eyes suddenly widened, knowing what had just happened.

Her water had broken.