Warning

With a deep breath, Billie Joe placed the thick package into the out of town slot at the post office. It was done. His long worked on opus was complete and ready to be sent off to publishers to meet its fate.

He stood there for a moment and started at the metal slot. If he bent his knees just a bit, he could still see his package resting on top of the others. His heart pounded in excitement and nerves. His story about St. Jimmy, Jesus of Suburbia and Whatsername dubbed, American Idiot, was about to leave his protection.

Someone coughed behind him and he quickly stepped out of his pensive thoughts so he could move. The person behind him had been waiting patiently for him to move. "Sorry," Billie Joe muttered as he walked briskly out of the post office, and walked back down the street to the Herald.

He went back to his desk, sighed, and ran a hand down his face. He couldn't believe he had just sent it off. "Here we go," He muttered to himself as he took a deep breath to calm down and get back to work. He didn't have any interviews today, but he did have a mountain of stories to finish since he had been gone to California.

"This St. Jimmy character is insane!" Mark shouted from his office down the hall from Billie Joe's. "He can't say that about the President!"

Billie Joe tried his best to sustain his laughter and succeeded in snorting one good time before he composed his face as Mark came rampaging down the hall, still raging about St. Jimmy.

"I need a new job. I need one bad," He sang softly to himself as he typed with is computer. His mind was still reeling with the news Adrienne had given him two nights before. Although his fingers were moving over the keyboard, he had no idea what he was writing.

Katrina was his.

He had another child he didn't know about and didn't realize when he met her.

As Billie Joe had thought more about it, he could start to see it more clearly. Katrina had Armstrong feet, his grandmother's laugh that he remembered from his childhood, and a pristine love and connection to California, their homeland. She also had a red birthmark on her hip, just like he did.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts, he didn't even notice somebody knocking on his office door. "Uh, Billie?"

Billie Joe finally looked up to find Mark, out of breathe, holding a printed, crumpled sheet of paper. "Billie," He panted, "Are you sure you don't know who this St. Jimmy character is?"

Billie Joe, in his best attempt of looking innocent and serious, shook his head. "No, I can't say I do. Why do you ask?"

Mark looked down at the paper and back at Billie Joe, his expression peculiar. "Because one of the janitors found this in a trash bin. Your trash bin Billie. Shall I read it to you to refresh your memory?"

Billie Joe's eyes widened, he knew what that was.

Mark cleared his throat.

"St. Jimmy's comin' down across the alleyway up on the boulevard like a zip gun on parade. Light on the silhouette, he's insubordinate. Coming at you on account of 1,2.. 1,2,3,4! My name is Jimmy and you better not wear it out. Suicide commando that your momma talked about. King of the forty thieves, I'm here to represent. I'm the needle in the vein of the establishment. I'm the patron saint of the denial with an angel face and a taste for suicidal. Cigarettes and ramen in a little bag of dope. I am the son of a bitch and Edgar Allen Poe. Raised in the city under a halo of lights, the product of war and fear that we've been victimized. I'm the patron saint of the denial with an angel face and a taste for suicidal. My name is St. Jimmy, I'm a son of a gun. I'm the one that's from the way outside now. I'm a teenage assassin executing some fun in the cult of the life of crime. I really hate to say it but I told you so, so shut your mouth before I shoot you down old boy. Welcome to the club and give me some blood. Im the resident leader of at the lost and found. It's comedy and tragedy. It's St. Jimmy and that's my name...and don't wear it out."

Mark met Billie Joe's eyes. "Care to explain?"

Billie Joe, felt like cringing when Mark read the poem that Billie Joe had made up for a chapter in American Idiot. It was so proper sounding and not like it was meant to be read. However, knowing there was no way out of this gracefully, Billie Joe shrugged his shoulders. "I'm St. Jimmy. That's my name and don't you fuckin' wear it out!"
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"Hey Billie Joe!" Katrina shrieked when she opened the door to find Billie Joe standing on the stoop to her grandparents' home. She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a tight hug. "Everyone is so jealous that I got to go to California. Thank you so much again!"

Katrina pulled his hand and drug him into the living room. "Mom's upstairs. I'll go get her." With that, she dashed up the stairs.

Billie Joe sat stone shocked still on the couch. He had just received a hug from his daughter. He was starting to get a migraine from everything that had happened today.

"Hey!" Adrienne bounded down the stairs and leaped on the couch next to him, "Guess what?" Her eyes were alive with the smile on her face. She was clearly very excited about something.

"What?" Billie Joe's migraine made a sharp pain.

"The Head of the Social Science Department announced today that he was retiring after the year's over, and guess who is one of the nominees to take his place? Me!" Adrienne squealed as she hugged him in her excitement.

"That's great baby. Really, it is," Billie Joe said around a weak smile that he tried his best to make genuine.

"What's wrong?" Adrienne's excitement fizzled away the more she looked at Billie Joe, who seemed nervous and sad about something.

"Nothing, nothing." Billie Joe tried to assure her as he patted her leg and looked in the opposite direction.

"Tell me," Adrienne growled, she recognized these signs.

"Um," Billie Joe looked down at his feet, not wanting to look Adrienne in the eyes. "A lot happened today. Most of it I've been waiting on for a long time and some was. . . pleasantly unexpected."

Adrienne wasn't completely following him. "So, it's good news?"

Billie Joe scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, maybe for me, but maybe not for you and me."

Adrienne's face fell. "Oh God, what?"

"I. . . I. . . um," Billie Joe really didn't want to tell her. "I lost my job today."

"Why?"

"St. Jimmy's cocky ass," Billie Joe muttered quickly. "But there's more."

Adrienne's brown eyes shined with deep worry. "Okay."

"I sent off American Idiot to publishers today."

Adrienne's eyes brightened up at that. "Really? That's great Billie!" She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "You're going to get calls soon on that, I know you are."

Billie Joe laughed nervously. "There's more."

"What?"

"Warning went under today." Billie Joe took a deep breath. This was the news he did not want to tell her. "It went under this afternoon and it hasn't been officially said yet, but Warning is gone. I put down an offer and with my name and credibility they accepted it. I now have to move back to California."

"What?" Adrienne pulled away from Billie Joe. "You're leaving? Just like that."

"Adie," Billie Joe tried.

"No, no. . . No!" Adrienne shouted. She shot up off of the couch and began to pace. "After everything we've been through. How far we've come, you're leaving. You're just picking up, saying goodbye and going back to your precious California and leaving us again." Adrienne's voice dropped to a vicious hiss. "And after what I told you about Katrina. You're going to abandon her again?"

"What the fuck?" Billie Joe got up off the couch and crossed to her. "I never abandoned her. You never told me about her, so therefore when I left it wasn't abandonment. That was your own fucking fault. No, I don't want to leave you again. I want you and the kids to come with me."

Adrienne smirked at him. "And why should we do that? I know how you are when you get a little project Billie. You get so focused on it that you forget about everything else. Nothing is more important than making a record. Nothing is more important than playing a show. Nothing is more important than rebuilding up damn Warning. Well guess what Billie, there are more important things but you'll never know what they are because you'll never stop to see them. I see why your son acts the way he does."

Billie Joe's temper was at a boiling point and his green eyes were practically red. Her words stung, but they had a sense of truth to them. "You know what, fine. Fine. Be like that Adrienne. I'll always be around and you know that. It'll be hard not to when you have my daughter." With that, Billie Joe turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him.

Adrienne took in a shaky breath and turned around to find Katrina and Jakob, who overheard everything.