Always There

The conversation between the two, original Green Day members lasted a little over two hours by the time Billie Joe returned to his bungalow. As soon as he was in the door, he put his groceries into the fridge and then walked out to the backyard to sit on the patio chair.

And he cried over the phone to his best friend. Cried for his own confusion, cried for his heart that felt so torn in two, torn for his children, torn on what to do about his unborn child...

By the time the conversation ended, Billie Joe was hunched over with puffy eyes, holding his cell phone to his ear while running his free hand through his disheveled hair.

He still wasn't sure what he was going to do. He loved Adrienne, his wife, with all his heart, but he couldn't stop loving Maria either because he was slowly finding how he needed her as well. But the hard part was knowing he'd have to choose. Yet he wasn't even sure if he should go home yet. Or if he should go to New York to check on how Maria was fairing.

A phone call two days later while Billie Joe was eating some potato salad he had picked up from the store made the decision for him.

Setting his fork down and leaning back in his kitchen chair he pressed the 'TALK' button without even checking the number that was calling him first.

It was Maria; letting him know that her first visit to her gynecologist would be in a few days and they were gonna need her medical history as well as the father's. But he didn't have to come, if he couldn't make it...or didn't want to come. But before she could back him out of coming, he insisted he was there for everything he could be.

And the next day he was on a plane to New York.

* * *

When Billie Joe arrived to JFK, he didn't bother heading to his penthouse. He went straight to Maria's house. It was a little after four in the evening and Ben answered the door. The soon-to-be eight year old smiled up at the punk rocker. Despite being Mitch's son and little look alike, Ben was clearly his mother's son in personality. For one, he liked Billie Joe.

The two of them stepped into the front hall together where Billie Joe set down the suitcase he had bought in LA with the serious lack of clothes he'd had with him there.

"Where's your mom?" Billie Joe asked when he didn't see Maria in the kitchen or living room.

"She said she was tired and she was gonna lay down for a bit."

"She upstairs?"

"Yeah," Ben nodded.

"What about Olivia? Is she here?"

The boy shook his head. "No. She's still at school because she's practicing 'The Wizard of Oz' 'cause she's the Wicked Witch," Ben replied. "And Nathan's upstairs building some Lego stuff with me. But I heard the door so I came down here."

"Oh, alright." Billie Joe scratched his head. "Well, I'm gonna go see your mom and check in on how she's doing, okay?"

"Uh-huh, okay," Ben nodded, taking off up the stairs before Billie Joe even set foot on the first step.

Taking his time, the East Bay-er climbed the stairs, his right hand grazing the railing. Reaching the second floor, he turned left, smiling briefly at the sound of the boys banging pieces of Legos together in Nathan's room. Shifting his eyes to the master bedroom door, he grabbed the handle and turned it gently, pushing open the door quietly.

There on the bed, Maria was curled up much like Billie Joe had been a few days earlier on the couch of his bungalow's living room. Stepping inside, he shut the door behind him and walked over to the bed, watching how peacefully she slept. Reaching his left hand out, he pushed some hair out of her face while kneeling down to the floor to be more level with her.

She didn't stir and it made him smirk. She must've been really tired because even the sound of Nathan's bedroom door slamming shut and a pair of feet running for the second upstairs bathroom didn't wake her in the slightest.

Leaning forward, Billie Joe pressed his lips to Maria's forehead and then stood back up, lifting her duvet up to cover her more. When he left the bedroom, Nathan came scampering out of the bathroom like a bat out of hell.

"Whoa, there," Billie Joe said, catching the five-year-old in a clothes-line sort of way, wrapping his arm across the kid's chest and hooking his hand under an armpit and holding him against his legs. "Hey, your mommy's resting so you need to be quiet, okay? No more slamming doors or banging Legos really loud."

Nate tilted his head back, his head of light brown hair falling out of his brown eyes as he nodded. "Okay," he replied in a whisper.

"Good. Did you and Ben have any dinner yet?" When Nate shook his head, Billie Joe started to get the wheels in his head turning. "Alright, how about some pizza tonight?"

Nate's eyes widened and he nodded. "Okay," he repeated.

"How's plain cheese sound? That sound good?"

"I like cheese," Nate concurred.

Smiling, Billie Joe shooed the boy back into his room and then he headed back downstairs where he headed into the kitchen and began to scour the side of the fridge for some sort of local pizza place menu. Sure enough, he spotted a menu for Domino's held down by a sunflower magnet under Olivia's last report card and then ordered a large cheese pizza and a 2-liter of Pepsi as well.

They told him it would be about half an hour so he used that time to pull out some paper plates and napkins, and cups from the cupboards; setting out five settings around the kitchen table. There were only four seats so he pulled over the stepping stool that double as a chair when the seat was put down.

All in all, that took about five minutes. So, he grabbed Olivia's report card to look it over, smiling at how well she did, though the comment's from teachers were a little discrediting. Seems Olivia needed to learn to sit still and participate a little more.

Shit, that sounded just like him when he was in seventh grade.

She was on the merit roll, which was better than he ever did in school so she obviously got that part from Maria. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but smile in pride. Placing the report card back on the fridge, he began to wander around the living room, looking at all the pictures, especially the family portrait abover the fireplace mantle. Granted Mitch was in the shot, but it still a nice one. One that made him feel guilty for disrupting Maria's life and getting her pregnant with his child.

The sound of the doorbell brought Billie Joe out of his thoughts, so he walked into the front hall and peered through the peep hole, spotting the Domino's delivery boy on the other side. Throwing the door open, he gave the guy a smile and asked how much it was gonna be. The guy who was no more than twenty years old, just nervously looked at him the entire time, fumbling to pull out the change for the punk rocker, but Billie Joe shook his head.

"Nah, keep it." Taking the pizza and the 2-liter from the kid, Billie Joe offered another smile and then shut the door, bringing everything into the kitchen, setting it all down on the counter.

Like vultures smelling a dead carcass from a mile away, Ben and Nate came trampling down the stairs as softly as they could and practically skipping into the kitchen.

"Pizza!" Ben exclaimed.

Billie Joe nodded and laughed. "You guys wanna get started or wake your mom up?"

"Let her sleep," Nate replied, so sweetly. "I want some pizza now."

"Okay," Billie Joe said with a smile.

He found the pizza cutter in one of thr drawers and gave the boys one slice each and then poured them a glass of Pepsi. He sat down with them, joining in on the meal when the soft noise of feet padded throughout the front hall.

Maria appeared in the archway to the kitchen, her eyes going instantly to Billie Joe.

"I didn't even know you were here."

"I got here about an hour ago."

Kicking a chair out for her with his foot, he gestured for her to sit. When she did so, he got up and brought her a piece of pizza but she stopped him before he sat down because she said she wanted an extra slice. They ate in virtual silence, but with the occasional small talk here and there. Billie Joe would just also throw in a glance here and there over at Maria, finding it so refreshing that despite everything that was going on, just looking at her made him smile and feel sure of himself.

Maria met his glance at one point, and the two shared a smile. Reaching her hand under the table, she took his in hers and gave it a tight squeeze.

At that moment, the front door seemed to burst open.

"Mom! I'm home!" came Olivia's voice, sounding like a mini Maria.

As soon as she set foot in the kitchen, she about squealed like a mouse. Grinning from ear to ear, she dropped her backpack on the floor and walked around the table to give her dad a hug.

"Hey, honey," Billie Joe said, kissing her cheek. "I got some pizza for everyone."

"Cool. I was just telling Crystal how I was really in the mood for pizza during rehearsal," she mentioned more so to her mom. But then she looked at Billie Joe as she pulled a slice out of the pizza box and carried over to the extra plate set out for her. "Great minds think alike."

He smirked. "Well, I wouldn't say my mind's great. Wired a little differently, maybe. Chaotic, definitely."

Olivia smiled and then took note of the only chair option being the stool. Billie Joe noticed the expression change so he gestured for her to sit on his knee, looking over his daughter's shoulder to Maria who seemed to be crying on the inside over the scene.

The two adults appeared to be on the same wavelength at that moment in time. They both knew they would need to sit down and talk sometime soon, not to mention attend the doctor's visit together and deal with all that. But there was more there in their looks. Inner chaos and emotions aside, everything did seem slightly more peaceful when they were there together.

It was as if, even if only for that moment at dinner, the five of them -- six counting the baby yet to grace the world with its presence -- were just a normal, happy family with nothing to worry about but each other.