Always There

Billie Joe was pacing around the penthouse the afternoon after he, Adi and the boys arrived to New York. Joey had been to New York at New Years, so he was well aware of how the penthouse looked, especially his room. But Adi and Jakob were in the dark. Billie Joe had explained everything as best as he could but it didn't do the same justice as actually being there to see it for themselves.

And just as Joey was in love with his room, so was Jakob. He loved the fire engine red walls and the golden curtains to go along with the Harry Potter 'Gryffindor' theme. Adi thought it was too adorable, smacking Billie Joe playfully on the chest at how he thought of it all. He smiled, letting her believe that; not telling her that the majority of everything in the penthouse was planned out by Maria. He had simply thrown out what the boys liked.

Catching Adrienne's eye before she disappeared into their bedroom, he stepped into the living room where he perched himself on the arm rest of the couch, waiting for his wife and sons to finish getting ready when his cell phone went off.

"Hello?" he spoke with a bit of a lilt to his voice as he answered the phone.

"Hola, Billie Boy. What's it gonna take to get an extra two tickets to your daughter's musical?"

It was Tre.

"What--why?"

"'Cause I'm kinda sorta in the vicinity of your penthouse with Ramona," Tre informed. "Say hi, Ramona."

"Hi, Uncle Billie!" he heard Tre's daughter call out.

Billie Joe smirked. "Hey to you too, Ramona," he said, doubting the girl heard him. "I don't know about the tickets. I gave Maria the money and she bought four for me. Try calling her. But it's really last minute. I mean, the first show's tonight?"

"What, like they don't sell any at the door?"

"They might. Don't ask me."

"Fine. What's Maria's number?"

Billie Joe rambled off the phone number and then ended up hanging up just as Adrienne stepped into living room.

"Who was that?"

"Tre. He's in the city and has Ramona tagging along. He wants to go to the musical as well, so I told him to call up Maria about extra tickets."

"Ah," Adrienne nodded. She turned her head toward the hallway. "Joey! Jakob! C'mon. We need to get going now." She turned back to her husband and closed the gap between their bodies as she grabbed the lapels of his black blazer that he wore over his red, shirt that said 'THE ROCK' on it with white letters. "I'm gonna admit, I'm really nervous."

"What do you have to be nervous about?"

"Meeting Maria."

"You're nervous? Heh. Imagine how I'm feeling right now. Or, hell, Maria's feeling. We're the culprits. You're, like, the detective who's about to book us."

She grinned at that. "Damn straight, I am."

As they were heading out to leave, taking the limo Billie Joe had rented for the evening, Tre just so happened to be running up the sidewalk with Ramona trailing slowly behind him. They caught them before they left, with Tre joking that they could never escape him.

The drive out of the city and to Long Island wasn't all that bad. The bridges were the pain in the ass. By the time the stretch limo reached the Conner residence, it's was a little after four in the afternoon. Olivia was the first one from inside the house to burst out the front door and grin like a crazy person over the sight of the sleek, black limo. Billie Joe opened the door and stepped out, throwing his arms around his daughter and giving her a hug just as Maria's parents walked out of the house.

"Hey Lynn. Enrique," Billie Joe nodded. Shit, he hadn't seen Lynn in about six years and Enrique in thirteen. They were both either sixty or around there, and it showed.

Joey and Jakob hopped out after their father, looking up at the Long Island home and nudging their half sister as a way of saying hello. The front door of the house opened again and Mitch and Maria walked out together with Ben and Nate stepping out with them. Slowly, Maria made her way down the driveway, over to the limo just as Adrienne stepped out with the aide of Tre.

Maria had gone speechless. She didn't know what to say. Oh, shit, what was she gonna say. For fuck's sake, someone say something!

"So, Billie, this is your lovely wife," Lynn finally broke the silence.

Oh, Bless you, mom, Maria thought.

"Uh, yeah. This is Adrienne and my sons Joey and Jakob. Um, Adi, this is Maria's mom and dad, Lynn and Enrique Cevallos. You know Olivia, and those are her brothers Ben and Nathan," he pointed out with Adrienne smiling and nodding to all. "And this is Maria and her husband, Mitch Conner."

He swallowed back a lump in his throat after the introductions while Lynn subtlely tapped her daughter's elbow, signalling for her to take the initiative in saying the first thing to Billie Joe's wife.

Taking a shaky breath, Maria stepped forward and held out her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Hesitating for a brief second, Adi returned the gesture, grasping the other woman's hand in a firm shake. "Same here. It's nice to have a face to go with a name."

"I'm Tre, by the way," Tre piped up. "Billie's friend and, uh, bandmate extraordinaire. And this is my daughter Ramona. She lives in Manhattan with her mom so we thought we'd tag along to see the musical as well. Hope no one minds."

"No, no," Mitch insisted. "The more, the merrier."

"Hey, that's, like, one of my many mottos."

"Well, um..." Billie Joe began shyly. "I got us all a limo to take us to dinner before Olivia has to be to her school to get ready for the show, so we should probably head out now."

Mitch nodded and turned to Maria, placing a hand on the small of her back, something that slightly pained Billie Joe to see.

"You got everything you need, honey?" Mitch asked.

"I have to get my purse. Mom? Do you need yours too?"

"Uh, yeah. I left mine beside the couch," Lynn replied to her daughter.

With a nod, Maria headed into the house while everyone migrated closer to the limo to take a peek inside before actually getting in. As soon as she had the front door shut, she took a huge breath and fought back the urge to cry. Oh, hell. Billie Joe and Adrienne looked so adorable together. How could she have ever gotten in between them?

Placing a hand to her head she walked into the living room and found her purse as well as her mother's while stopping to remove her hand from her head and moved it over her stomach. She was almost twelve weeks pregnant now; almost out of the first trimester, which meant in half a year, she'd have a baby in her arms.

Her eyes were slightly droopy as she let everything run around her head for a moment, biting her bottom lip and frowning at the reflection of herself in the front hall. Then, taking another deep breath, she left the house, locking it behind her.

* * *

Dinner was rather normal, to say the least. Maria was glad there was no conversation drawn to Maria's pregnancy. Everyone at the table knew about it, even the kids, but it just seemed to be one of those things that went unmentioned. Instead, they all talked about boring things like politics, which wasn't so boring considering Mitch was the only Republican at the table. Well, Maria was too, but only as of 2000 when George W. Bush was first elected. Even though she'd voted for 'Dubya' the second time around, she didn't support his campaign. She wanted to vote for Kerry, but she would feel awkward if Mitch had somehow found out she voted against his party.

They chatted about Olivia's musical and how she had been doing in rehearsals, about her friend Crystal who was playing one of the flying monkeys and this other girl named Giselle who played Dorothy and she'd also become friends with during the course of practicing their lines after school.

Nonsense chatter like that.

There were a few times during the meal while Tre was listening to everyone's separate conversatios and how they sometimes bled into others, that he looked over at his best friend to see him smile lovingly at Adrienne, and then to Maria - who he hadn't seen in forever - give her own husband a smile of affection. And then during dessert...

...when Tre noticed Billie Joe lock eyes with Maria in the non-'We're just friend' way.

* * *

"You horrible, horrible witch!" The girl named Giselle who was playing Dorothy exclaimed.

She grabbed a pail of water and splashed out the paper flames on the Scarecrow and, in the process, splashing Olivia. The look of surprise on Maria and Billie Joe's daughter's face made them smile and laugh. It was like a mix of surprise, anger and utter fear. Real authentic. As if she were the real Wicked Witch of the West.

"Oh, no!" Olivia cried. "You stupid girl! Look what you've done!" She began to writhe in mock pain, stumbling over to the center of the stage where the stage hands cued the smoke machine to make it look like steam as she was supposed to be melting. "Oh, the pain! Oh, oh, oh...ow!"

Billie Joe hunched forward slightly with a cackle; Adrienne looking at him with her own smile and a look that said 'It wasn't that funny.' But she didn't understand. Joey or Jakob weren't this outgoing. They didn't play sports or really do anything involved in school. This was one of the first times he actually had a reason to go to a school function.

"Oh, what a cruel world!" Olivia put the back of her hand against her forehead in the 'woe is me' fashion as she sank to the floor. And literally seemed to disappear. As the smoke billowed around her and then cleared, she was gone.

As soon as the show was over, everyone who was there for Olivia, made their way out into the foyer where everyone else and their brother seemed to migrate. The only problem was Billie Joe and Tre trying to be discreet when a lot of the kids that were there were very aware of who they are.

The two punk rockers had to force smiles while they waited. They even had to sign autographs and take pictures, whiich they didn't all that mind, seeing as they were just standing around doing nothing.

But finally, Olivia came pushing through the clogged foyer, all smiles and still in costume with her green face that seemed to match her eyes.

"Oh, sweetie, you were wonderful," Lynn cooed, leaning forward and kissing her granddaughter's cheek. When she stood back up, Enrique pointed out the green face paint on her lips.

"You were great," Billie Joe and Maria said at the same time. Then laughed nervously, looking at each other for a moment.

"I'm so proud of you, honey." Maria leaned down and hugged her girl and then held her apart at arm's length distance.

"Thanks. I wish I coulda had a singing part though. But next year Mrs. Kurtz says she's thinking of doing either 'Annie' or 'Mary Poppins'. I could totally play Annie. All I need is a wig. And, oh my God, I felt like my face was melting under the lights. Is there any green make-up on the collar of my dress?" she rambled.

"You look fine," Billie Joe assured. "Very green."

Olivia just beamed as she turned to look over at Adrienne.

"You did a really nice job."

"Thanks," Olivia replied. "But I gotta go get this stuff all taken off and then I'll be right back."

But before she could step away, Billie Joe smirked and pulled out a bouquet of cheap roses that were being offered for sale during the intermission, handing them to his daughter and kissing her cheek, not minding the face paint that ended up on his lips. Olivia's eyes lit up and she grinned again, throwing her arms around her dad and then running off back through the crowd.

About twenty minutes later, the crowd in the foyer began to thin out considerably and Olivia returned all cleaned up; no longer as the Wicked Witch. But before they all hopped into the limo, she insisted on having a picture taken with her parents only. Something of which perturbed Adrienne.

On the drive back to the Conner's residence, Ramona and Olivia talked animatedly about whatever it is that preteen girls talk about, Jakob and Joey - being closer in age to Ben - talked to him, while Nathan sat on his dad's lap; the adults all talking about this and that.

The whole time, however, Adrienne stole subtle glances over at Maria who was trying to maintain her composure, knowing the wife of whose baby she was having was sitting kitty-corner to her in the limo. But it wasn't just a tense time for the women, obviously. Billie Joe felt an incredible amount of anxiety over it all, but somehow managing to appear calm and collected. How, he had no idea.

It wasn't until that night, after they dropped off Tre and Ramona when they were back in the City, that Billie Joe was finally able to exhale, so to speak. He told Adrienne he was going to take a shower, and that's exactly what he did.

Closing the door behind him, he locked it and peeled off all his clothes, he turned on the shower and stepped in, welcoming the very wamt water that pelted his skin like a thunderstorm. Hunching forward, he slid down to the shower floor and sat there as the water doused his head. Placing his head in his hands, he sighed.

And cried.

How could he continue with any of this? No matter what tried to feel or think, he was still completely torn.

He wasn't sure he'd ever know.