Life As It Is

The next morning, Billie Joe got up before his girlfriend did and made his way to the room where all the newborns were in. He looked through the glass, searching for his green-eyed daughter until he found her. He smiled back at the little infant girl who had just closed her eyes. She looked mostly like her beautiful mother except when it came to those eyes.

He made his way back into Ella's room where she was already awake.

"Hey," He said, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Well rested," She gave a smile.

"Glad to hear that."

Billie Joe looked at her more closely and noticed that her face expression had quickly changed, turning into a serious expression.

"What's wrong, babe?"

She sighed, closed her eyes and touched the bridge of her nose with her right index finger and right thumb.

"I don't know it's—it's just that I feel like I didn't prepare enough for this... being a mother and all."

The thirty-three year old father reached his arm out and made Ella let go of her two fingers to look at him.

"El, you're more than prepared. This is what all moms go through. Not everything is going to come easy. Take it from someone who's gone through this two times already," He smirked.

"Are you sure I'm doing the right thing by bringing Phoebe here for her shots?" Ella asked her baby's doctor two months later.

"Yes. It's better to do this now than never."

"Sorry, I'm just a little nervous about flying her out so soon but her father, my boyfriend is sick and you know... "

"I completely understand."

The doctor gave the baby girl her first shot, making her cry in pain. He reassured her and did the rest as Ella nervously bit her lip.

"All done," He said as the new mother picked Phoebe up and put her into the carriage.

A smile drew back on her face as she nodded and reached over to kiss him. Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door only to see Adrienne, Joey and Jakob walking in.

"Hey you guys," Billie Joe said.

"The boys really want to see their new sister," Adrienne gave a smile.

"Good," The rock star stood up. "Let's go you two."

Joey, Jakob, and Billie Joe left the room narrowing the room down to Ella and Adrienne.

"Don't you want to see her?" Ella asked the older woman.

"I did when I was passing by the morning after you had her but you were asleep. She's beautiful."

The younger woman chuckled. "She is. All the nurses are fussing over her. The one so far to keep beating them to all the nurse calls is Dale Jr.'s girlfriend."

Adrienne chuckled too and smiled. "That's interesting. I can't wait to see how they'll react to my future daughter," She pointed towards her pregnant stomach.

"You're having a girl!" Ella smiled.

The minute she got off of the plane with Phoebe to Ohio, Ella knocked on the door of a freshly white painted house, only to find her old friend from college answer the door.

"Hey El!" She said as she hugged her.

"It's been so long, Karen," She returned the hug.

"Is this little Phoebe?" The thirty-four year old woman bent down and cooed at the little baby girl who was looking back at her in her carriage.

"Yep. That's her."

"She's so adorable."

Karen led the way into the suburban home.

"You have a great house here, Kare."

"Thanks. I know... it took a lot of work to make it look this great."

"I bet. So uhh—I'm going to head over to the hospital right now in the car I rented while I'm here."

"Okay. I'll be here."

"Great, thank you so much."

"Anytime."

"What's wrong again?" Billie Joe pulled a strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear.

"You just got back two days ago and now you're leaving."

He sighed. "I know. This is harder now that we have Phoebe around."

She nodded and put her head on his chest.

"At least we have the VMA's to look forward too..."

"In more ways than one," Ella could hear him grinning like a complete idiot without having to look up at him.

For the first time in months, Ella started up her rented car and made her way to the Ohio hospital. When she got to the right floor, she immediately saw Mike, Tre, and Laura in the waiting room.

"Hey you guys," She said as they each looked up at her with somewhat of a smile on each of their faces.

"Whoa, hot stuff... you look really hot again without the pregnant stomach," Tre drooled as Laura whacked him on the head.

The thirty-four year old woman stared at him oddly and turned to Mike.

"Tre, you don't hit on your best friend's girlfriends," Laura said, grumbling.

"Pfft. Can and will," He said, sounding extremely cocky.

This earned the thirty-two year old drummer another whack in the head from his girlfriend.

Ella gave Tre and Laura a weird look and headed inside Billie Joe's room where he laid bored, staring up at the wall.

Finally putting Phoebe to sleep, Ella relaxed for only a second before she could feel her cell phone vibrating in the front pocket of her jeans.

"Hello?" She asked, picking it up. It was from an unknown number.

"Hey, it's Mike. Billie's in the hospital."

She stood frozen in the hallway of the upstairs rooms.

"What?" She asked frantically. "What happened?"

"He has strep throat and he can't perform tonight."

The thirty-four year old woman sighed a little. It was better than something more severe.

"That sucks."

"For some reason, he's been asking for you all day. He thinks he's going to die." He chuckled.

"He'll be fine..." Ella looked towards her room to the bassinet where Phoebe was still sleeping.

"I know. But he obviously misses you."

"So do I."

"Hey," She said, quietly closing the doors. "How are you feeling?"

Billie Joe noticed her girlfriend's presence and managed to give her a small smile.

"Like complete shit," He said quietly. "My throat is killing me and I'm dying to sing."

She chuckled and sat near the edge of his bed as she looked directly at him, a small smile drawn on her face.

"You'll be fine soon and able to sing as powerfully as...I don't know, the lead singer of Metallica."

"That's what everyone is telling me—besides the Metallica part," He tried to laugh but couldn't since he was in so much pain when it came to his throat.

"I wish I could do something. Like, give you a sponge bath. But I don't know if that has anything to do with your condition."

He grinned at her. "I'd like one, regardless."

She grinned back, sighing.

"Maybe I should go check up if Phoebe is okay."

"Oh no. Your motherness is kicking in."

"What?"

"Well you miss her right now and are about to make twenty pointless phone calls to your friend, checking up on the daughter who you have been mothering for so long."

"Smartass," She muttered.

"I'm a smartass but I'm playing dumb," He said, referring to the line in one of his songs. "I really need to sing."

She chuckled at his remark, placing her hand over his and looked out the window.

"Okay," His voice softened a little more, grabbing her attention to look back at him. "You said something happened but you couldn't explain over the phone and had to tell me in person."

"Yeah. It's a long story."

Ella had decided to drive by her old neighborhood after running to the store for more diapers. With Phoebe in her baby car seat, she gripped the steering wheel tightly as she stopped at her house.

It hadn't changed one bit since she had last seen it. It was still the old, suburban home she had grown up in with some good but mostly bad, memories. As she got out of the car with her infant, she took a look at the mailbox of the house.

Was the woman she had once met still living there?

She was shocked to find out that it wasn't. It clearly read out to say Montgomery. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw it. She couldn't believe it.

She walked her way up to the doorstep and knocked. The thirty-four year old woman couldn't believe she was doing this. She wasn't even sure it was her parents.

The door slowly opened and there stood an older woman who clearly had wrinkly lines across her face. The woman looked closely at her, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

Ella gulped. It was obviously her mother. She could've recognized that voice anywhere.

"Mom," She breathed.

The older woman's eyes widened. "Eleanor?"

She nodded as the infant she was holding stirred a little.

Her mother had no other choice but to let her inside. "Come on in."

The younger mother made her way inside, noticing how much the house had changed once again.

"We bought the house back after we got out of jail," Her mom said quietly as she nodded.

They made their way into the kitchen where they both sat as Ella held Phoebe.

"Is this your daughter?" She asked her as the thirty-four year old woman nodded.

"Who's the father?"

This hurt the younger woman for some reason, but she had to fight it.

"Billie Joe. You know the successful rock star that you and dad apparently disliked so much."

"Yes. I'm aware."

"So where is dad anyway? Did you finally leave him after you should've so long ago?"

Ella was being mean, but she had every right to. But for some reason, she felt like she had suddenly taken a step back from when she had made peace with them so long ago. Maybe because of how they never seemed to have wanted to contact her again. She was feeling confused, yet again.

"No... we eventually worked things out after we left the jail. He's in bed, resting."

"As usual."

"It's not like that this time."

"Really?"

She looked directly into her mother's gray eyes, who for some reason looked saddened.

"What's going on?" She asked, immediately knowing something was up.

The older mother sighed and looked back up from where she had kept her head down. "Your father is diagnosed with cancer."

Billie Joe suddenly stirred up from the hospital bed. "He has cancer?"

She nodded, biting her lip.

"I don't believe it," He breathed.

"I know."

His eyes immediately looked to Ella's chocolate brown ones that had drooped down to the hospital floor.

"Does he do chemo?"

"All the time. He's getting sick of it, according to my mother."

"That's rough, El. I wish I could tell you a cancer survival story, but I can't."

She looked over to him and nodded. "I know. That's why I'm trying to make the most of my time with him... its important to me that I do."

"Make the most of your time. I would do anything to get those few months back with my father."

* * *
Not too long later into the month, MTV's Video Music Awards came around. A much better feeling Billie Joe got ready for the event as he waited for the arrival of his girlfriend and child.

While he impatiently waiting for her, not up to meeting any fans because he needed enough energy the next day, he kept his head down with his sunglasses, waiting at the gate.

Not only did he see a two month old Phoebe, but he saw a blonde Ella.

His mouth stayed open in awe as she grinned at him, walking up to him and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Y-You're blonde."

That was all he could get out in the first few minutes open seeing the mother of his daughter.

"Yep. I wanted to do something new," She smiled.

His attention turned to the little infant looking at him with her big green eyes. He grabbed her and held her, smiling at the little girl as the couple made their way to the expensive limo.

The night of the Video Music Awards, Ella had gotten ready earlier and sat on the hotel bed where Billie Joe was fussing with his formal attire.

When he made his way back from the bathroom, all he could do was stare at the thirty-four year old woman.

"You look drop-dead gorgeous for a woman who was pregnant just two months ago."

She grinned at him, pulling him in close from where he was standing and into a kiss.

"I've been exercising a lot."

"Hmm... I hope that won't be for nothing tonight. We have the hotel to ourselves."

"Good thing you went on tour before Dookie."

"For once I can be proud of myself for crashing homes with Mike and Tre," He chuckled.

The rest of the night came and as usual, it was a blur. Green Day happily won seven out of eight of the awards they had been nominated for. They had swept the award show up happily.

The new mother decided not to get drunk along with her boyfriend for the sake of breast-feeding Phoebe so the two didn't. With a smug grin on his face, Billie Joe slid the hotel room card key and successfully opened the door for him and Ella.

"I'm shoo drunk..." He said as he stumbled inside, his girlfriend laughing at him.

"Yes you are," She herded him towards the bed.

"Shoo thish means no hanky-panky?"

The thirty-four year old woman giggled at him, shaking her head at his idiotic comment.

"Only if you're not too drunk, then maybe."

"I'll goo get the mouth wassshhhh."

The thirty-three year old man made his way up again and towards the hotel bathroom. It took him three attempts not to fall down as soon as he had reached the bathroom. When he finally did, he fell down again in there.

"Billie, are you okay?" Ella called out.

"Fine ash fuck!" He yelled back, making her laugh again.

A few minutes later, Billie Joe finally got out of the hotel bathroom, his smug grin back. Ella looked at him with a grin as he tackled her onto the bed.

"Are you sure you can do this, hun? You seem to be really drunk."

"No, noooo I can do thish."

He kissed her neck and then her lips, stopping her from laughing again as she settled herself on the bed. He made an attempt to kiss her again but missed her lips for the bed sheet.

She laughed once again as she picked herself off the bed as he slowly and confusingly tried to undress her. She grinned again as she undressed him carefully while he fumbled with her black dress zipper.

By the time Ella made her way to kiss the rock star again, he had passed out on the bed with drool all over his mouth.

She struggled getting him fully on the bed but when she did she leaned in close to his ear.

"You're worse than your daughter, Bill," She said and tucked him in like a little boy.

The following morning, the thirty-three year old man woke up with a bad hangover. He groaned in pain and held his head.

"Look whose up," Ella said as she came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head and another one around her body.

Billie Joe moaned in pain. "What happened?"

"Well we were about to have sex after you insisted you weren't that drunk. But then you passed out on me."

His eyes widened. "I-I what? How did I pass out before sex? I'm not proud of myself right now."

"Yeah... I think that's the first time you've ever rejected me like that," Ella chuckled.

"I'll make it up to you—I promise—ahh!" He grabbed his head after letting it go for a second. "Do you have any aspirin?"

She reached over into her bag and pulled out some. "I always come prepared."

With saying yet another goodbye to her and his baby girl, Billie Joe had never found himself so happy. He felt so in love and so thankful that his newborn daughter was beautiful and healthy. For some reason, he was longing for something more that would make them all even happier...