Warning

Billie Joe stepped into a brightly lit mechanics shop. The smell of grease and cars greeted his nostrils shrilly. It had been a few weeks since he had last talked to Adrienne. Whenever he called her, he always got her voice mail and his calls went un-returned. It puzzled him that Adrienne didn't want to talk to him. He wasn't sure why.

"Can I help you?" A lady asked from behind a desk in the waiting area.

"Yes. My name is Billie Armstrong and I'm with the Sun Herald. I have an appointment with the owner, David Wilkerson, today." Billie Joe took the moment that the secretary used to call to the back to see if his subject was in to look around.

Billie Joe was now a reporter for the Sun Herald, a small, local paper. It helped to bring in a steady cash-flow to keep him afloat and financially sound. However, he was back to writing about potholes, weddings and everyday blahs. "You can go on back. His office is the last door on the right," the secretary told him as she picked up the ringing phone.

Billie Joe followed her instructions and walked down the narrow hallway until he got to a closed door. He knocked on the door and waited for the invitation to come in. When he heard a muffled "Come in," Billie Joe opened the door.

"David Wilkerson, I'm Billie Armstrong with the Sun Herald." He held out his hand in practiced reporter fashion, tape recorder, pen and notebook ready. David shook Billie Joe's hand and offered him a seat across from the desk.

Billie Joe set up the recorder and made himself comfortable enough to report. After the pleasantries, the interview began. "Mr. Wilkerson, you are the third generation owner of Wilkerson's Body and Repair, how does it feel?"

After a few questions and answers, Billie Joe asked David about his family. "I have two kids, Katrina, 11, and Jakob, 5. My wife's name is Adrienne," David told Billie Joe as he leaned back in his leather chair. Billie Joe's pen paused mid-write.

"Adrienne Wilkerson? As in the former Adrienne Nesser?"

"Yeah." David's tone held a hint of suspicion. "You know her?"

"Uh, yeah. I knew Adrienne from a long time ago and when I moved here a little over a month ago, I ran into her. I didn't know you were her husband. I mean, I knew she was married, but I didn't know to who." Billie Joe twirled the pen in his fingers nervously. There was something about David's demeanor that unnerved him.

"Huh." David shoved his tongue in the empty cavity of where his bottom lip met his gums. "That's interesting. Billie, was it? Billie Armstrong." David thought for a moment as little pieces of an intricate puzzle began to form together in his mind. "Billie Joe Armstrong?"

"Yeah." Billie Joe's eyebrows furrowed together. "Uh, have we met at some point?"

"Oh no," David said softly. "But I heard a lot about you when you first came here with your band. You and Adrienne dated, correct."

"Yeah," Billie Joe answered again, not catching on. "We lost touch when I went back to California." He withheld the details of the situation for privacy issues. David simply nodded his head and stood to meet Billie Joe.

"You'll have to come by for dinner sometime. How's tonight?"

"Um, okay." Billie Joe felt thoroughly confused at this turn of events. David clapped him on the back in a friendly fashion.

"Great. Seven, then."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~

"Mom, whose this plate for?" Katrina Wilkerson asked her mother as she held the extra plate loosely in her hand.

"Your father has someone coming over for dinner," Adrienne answered her blandly. "Did you turn in your poster today?"

"Yeah. Mine was easily the prettiest," Katrina stated proudly as she set out silverware as her mom fixed a salad.

"You had enough glitter on it so it should have been," Adrienne remarked teasingly. Jakob came sulking into the room, his lip poked out and his movements sluggish.

"Whats the matter baby?" Adrienne put her hand on the back of his head as he hugged her legs.

"Dad," Jakob said softly into the air. Katrina dropped a fork on the table and Adrienne became stiff as she squatted down to Jakob's level.

"What happened?" she asked him quietly as she listened for David's movements upstairs. Jakob just shook his head.

"He just calls me names and throws things at me." His lip quivered a bit as his eyes became red with heldback tears. Adrienne brought him to her and made a soothing sound as she sat on the ground, pulled him into her lap and rocked him back and forth.

"Shhh. Don't listen to him. You are not anything he says you are. You are bright, intelligent and special."

"And cute?" he asked into her shoulder.

"Cute and gorgeous," Adrienne said around a small laugh. "I love you."

"I love you too." Jakob sniffed as Katrina, who was standing behind them, cleared her throat. She heard David coming close to the stairs as the doorbell rang.

"Remember that." Adrienne told Jakob before she stood up. "I have to get the door. Go get yourself cleaned up and everything will be fine." She forced a smile to reinforce her lie.

The doorbell rang again. "I'm coming." Adrienne said loudly so the person on the other side could hear her. As she unlocked and opened the door, a surprise met her eyes on the steps. "Billie Joe? What are you doing here?" Billie Joe stood on her front stoop in a leather jacket holding a bottle of wine.

"Uh, I interviewed your husband today and we got to talking about you and he invited me over. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Come in. I just didn't know it would be you, that's all." Adrienne ushered him inside the warm house and took the wine he offered her. "Thank you."

"Why haven't you called me back?" Billie Joe asked her softly as they stood alone in the hall.
"Reasons beyond my control," Adrienne told him truthfully, noticing his confused look.

"Billie. Good to see you," David said loudly as he came down the hall and clapped a hand on both Adrienne and Billie Joe's shoulders. He steered them into the dining room. "Baby, go get the food and pour the drinks."

He let go of Adrienne and offered Billie Joe a chair at the head of the table, opposite of him. Billie Joe gave Adrienne a curious look as she headed towards the kitchen, her head bent down so she couldn't see him. He noticed two children sitting down at the table, both of whom had very strong reflections of Adrienne in their features.

"Hey," he greeted them nicely. "I'm Billie Joe. I'm a friend of your mom and dad's."

"Hi," the girl greeted him shyly. "I'm Katrina and this is my brother Jakob." She pointed to a little boy with a moptop of unruly brown hair who stared sadly at the table grains. "Um." She bit her lip nervously as her parents got food and drink from the kitchen. "How do you know our parents?"

Billie Joe leaned back in his chair more comfortably. "I knew your mom from a long time ago. We used to be very special friends. But, we kinda lost touch over the years when I moved back to California."

"You're from California?" Katrina asked in an excited tone. When Billie Joe nodded, she continued. "Have you met any celebrities." Billie Joe laughed lightly as Adrienne and David came in.

"I have, but you probably wouldn't know them or consider them celebrities." He thought for a minute for someone a young girl like her would recognize. "I've met Fall Out Boy."

"Oh my God Really? That's so ,"

"So, Billie. Tell us about yours and Adrienne's past. I don't know all the details and Adrienne won't tell me," David interrupted Katrina and smiled sickenly sweet at Billie Joe. "So why don't you do the honors?"

Billie Joe's mouth was slightly agape in shock for a moment.

"Uh." He tried to recover. "We just fell out of touch, that's all." He tried to give some sort of a convicing facial feature, but could not contort his face to do so.

"Really?" David said as food was being laden onto plates. "I was under the impression that you and Adrienne were in some sort of relationship, correct."

"Um," Billie Joe started.

"Billie Joe and I dated for a couple of years," Adrienne told David in a soft, quiet tone. The tone was foreign from her mouth to Billie Joe's ears. "But, like he said, we lost touch when he went back to Oakland."

"Yeah." Billie Joe agreed as he drank a hearty drink. He was feeling rather uncomfortable.

"Oh, why?" David's tone had a resonant curiosity and an underlying something else that seemed conniving.

"Uh, well..." Billie Joe looked to Adrienne who looked hopelessly helpless and shrugged. "I, uh, was in an accident when I got back home and I was pretty badly hurt and I couldn't move or talk for a while afterwards so I couldn't get in contact with her."

David nodded. Billie Joe noticed Jakob looking rather scared at the expression on David's face. Jakob's little eyes darted back and forth between his father and mother, panic seething close to overflowing.

"Well, surely Adrienne would have tried to get in contact with you?" David looked to his wife, who was concentrating on looking at her plate and not at the two men. "Isn't that so, dear? Or do you have a little secret?" Billie Joe felt the suppressing tension in the room and saw Adrienne shaking so slightly it was difficult to tell.

"Uh, I think I should go. Thank..."

"No," David said firmly. His tone made Billie Joe's eyebrows hike up. "Tell him why, Adrienne." He reached out to grab her. Adrienne jerked away from him. Her face was pale and she was shaking harder.

"David, don't."

"She didn't call you because she was pregnant. With my kid. While she was with you," David sneered to Billie Joe. "Now, you need to stay away from her."

"Adie," Billie Joe was in shock, but surely enough, everything began to sink into place. That was over eleven years ago and Katrina was eleven years old. "Is that true?" Adrienne was now in tears and could only nod her head in shame.