Status: Completed
Always There
Happy Together
Just as quickly as January began, it seemed to end. The kids were back in school, the guys were recording between San Diego, Los Angeles and Oakland; depending on where they needed to be when they're families needed them as well. There was also Maria's 35th birthday that seemed to show up like an uninvited party guest. It depressed her a little, making her realize that she'd be 40 years old in five years time. And that was seriously frightening.
There was also the first phone call Mitch had made from prison to see how the kids were doing, but he called when the kids were still in school, so he could only talk to Maria. He was given ten minutes and they covered the basics. She informed him that she had given birth to a daughter named Hazel Baby Armstrong the day before Thanksgiving, which he said his mother had mentioned to him when she talked to him on the phone around Christmas. Then Maria also informed him about Billie Joe going through a divorce with Adrienne and how the two of them had become engaged on New Years.
Surprisingly, Mitch took it well, but not without the haughty tone in his voice. However, there was regret in his voice, which she did feel sympathy for. But before they could get any further into a conversation, he had to hang up, wishing Maria well before he did so.
If only Adrienne could take this all as easily as Mitch was.
* * *
"We're not even divorced yet and you're already fucking engaged?!" Adrienne shouted.
"Oh, come off it, Adie. Like you didn't see it coming," Billie Joe scoffed, narrowing his eyes.
The two Armstrongs were in the midst of another heated argument, which Billie Joe loathed getting into. It always ended with him agreeing to give her something extra in the divorce settlement that she wouldn't normally ask for if she weren't so rustled up.
"Don't you even think of patronizing me," she warned.
"Why not? For fuck's sake Adie, no matter how much I loved you or you loved me, or how much we still might love each other, tell me you didn't see divorce happening sooner or later for one reason or another." The punk rocker crossed the office they shared at Adeline Records with his arms folded over his chest as he looked at her with demanding green eyes. "You were the one I wanted, but how long have we been bickering behind closed doors? How long have I been unhappy and restless? How long have you been tired of the same old shit? You're a home-body. I'm a get-up-and-go type of person."
He felt a pang of guilt spewing all this at her, but it was the truth.
"And Maria's another get-up-and-go type? Just like you?" She looked down at the top of the desk that was covered in press releases for the independent bands signed to their label as well as random invoices and yellow post-its about calling one person or another. "How quaint," she muttered sarcastically, looking back up at her still-husband. "I hope the two of you will be very happy together."
"We will," he snipped a little harsher than he'd meant. Biting his tongue, he sighed.
"Just so you know," Adrienne began, her eyes hard. "I will be requesting alimony payment. We didn't talk it over with the lawyer yet, but I thought you'd wanna know first."
"Of course you want alimony. It's to be expected when a husband and wife divorce and the kids live with her."
"You keep it up and I'll fight you for this record label."
Billie Joe's face soured. When did Adrienne become such a hardass? A wave of anxiety washed through him, feeling as if his heart was pounding in his neck instead of his chest. His lips pursed in a firm line as he stepped closer to the desk.
"You want the label?" he asked, his voice unwavering. Grasping at the printer on the desk, he shoved it off, sending it crashing to the floor and then chucking a stapler at the wall. "You go ahead and fight me for it."
Backing up he moved to head out the office door when he stopped in his tracks. Turning around he looked at her surprised face.
"What the fuck?" she exclaimed.
"You can ask for a new printer in the divorce settlement if you want," he quipped.
Storming out of the office, Billie Joe left the building the label was located at, passing one of the girls that worked for them. Erica, was her name. He heard her call out to him to see if he was okay, but he ignored her as he got into his Ford Fairlane and drove off, wondering where he'd head to. He wasn't in the mood for recording with the guys and his sons were in school.
Then an idea hit him.
* * *
"Hi Mom," Billie Joe muttered sheepishly as he stepped inside his mother's front door.
She moved over to the side to let him in, surprised to see her baby boy at her doorstep. "Hey honey. To what do I owe this visit?"
"I just needed to do something...go somewhere to clear my mind and...maybe get one of your famous 'everything will be alright' hugs?" he wondered, biting his lip like a little boy caught playing in the mud after just getting out of the bath.
Giving a slight huff and a knowing smirk, Billie Joe's mother, Ollie, gathered him up in a hug and he rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Am I a bad guy?"
"What? Of course not. Why would you think that?" she asked, gesturing for her youngest to join her in the living room where they sat beside each other on the couch.
"Things between Adi and me aren't that great right now, and I think Joey hates me. But I don't think I really feel guilty about it. I mean, okay. I feel guilty about it but not in the sense that I regret leaving Adi for Maria, and having another kid with her. I love Maria so goddamn much, Mom."
Ollie tilted her head a little and patted her son's hand with her wrinkly one. She was, after all, like, seventy-five years old. A rueful smile crossed her lips as she watched Billie Joe dip his head in thought.
"I will be honest with you. I thought your actions were poorly executed and inconsiderate. I wasn't sure if you knew which head you were thinking with," Ollie began. "When you're father died, I thought I would be alone for the rest of my years. But then your stepdad came into my life and I realized that relationships end for all sorts of reasons. And we're absolutely lucky if we get a second chance. We're given our first loves and our true loves. Your father was my first love and my true love. Your stepfather is my second love. I love him unconditionally. But the point is that generally we meet our first love, then our true love. Yet sometimes it doesn't necessarily work in that order."
Billie Joe looked up at his mother and sighed. "Tell me about it."
"Now, I remember meeting Maria at Christmas all those years ago, and as much as I love and adore Adrienne, I knew then and there who was your first love and who was your true love," she commented like a wise old woman, which, in some ways, she was. "You married your first love because your true love got away. And you let it happen. And that's not saying it was a mistake. Everything happens for a reason. You were meant to marry Adrienne and have your sons. But the way fate works, is that it leads us along our path until one day we reach our final destination. On your path, I believe you and Adrienne may be taking separate paths now, but they're side by side, running together because of Joey and Jakob, but also because you both still care for each other. And now your path has crossed and merged with Maria's while hers has branched away from her husband's."
"What a tangled web we weave," Billie Joe recited.
"Exactly," Ollie agreed. "Does this help clarify anything for you? Did I make any sense?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "But how do I get Joey to not hate me?"
His mother snickered and gave his hand a squeeze. "He's almost twelve. He's bound to be moody and distant to you during this transition in all of your lives. You were the same way toward me when I remarried. You hated me."
"No I didn't. Did I?"
Nodding, Ollie smirked. "Yes, you did," she insisted. "Well, maybe 'hate' is too harsh of a word, but you didn't like me that much. I think you thought I was betraying your father by finding another, just like how Joey's feeling now. You betrayed his mom and found another. But he'll grow out of it as soon as he gets used to it. If you could do it, so can he. Joey's your flesh and blood after all. Yours in every way possible."
Billie Joe smiled a little as he bobbed his head. "Thanks, Mom. For talking to me and not berating me for being such a schmuck."
"No, that's another talk for another time," she teased.
"Boy, I can't wait." Looking at his mom, he leaned over to give her a hug. "But, still...thanks."
"You're welcome."
"I love you."
"I love you, too, honey."
* * *
It was really late at night, in the wee hours of the morning on February 1st, when Billie Joe returned to San Diego after his latest jaunt to Oakland that left him utterly drained.
Quietly as possible, he parked his Ford Fairlane out front, and practically dragged his feet up the driveway and up to the front porch, holding his suitcase in one hand while carefully lugging his guitar case in the other. As soon as he walked into the dead silent house, he dropped his belongings on the ground by the stairwell, making a mental note to put everything away when he woke up later in the morning, or afternoon.
With a tired sigh, Billie Joe padded up the stairs and rounded the corner, stopping at Olivia's bedroom door where he poked his head into to see her sprawled out on top of her bed with her sheets hanging off the mattress. Shit, she even slept like him.
He smirked at that as he stepped into her room to move her legs more onto the bed so that she didn't fall off anytime while she slept and then he covered her back up with her blanket, leaning down to kiss her cheek.
Ducking back out of the room, he checked in on Ben and Nate and they seemed to be fine, so the punk rocker finally made his way to the bedroom he shared with Maria, closing the door behind him as softly as humanly possible. Because the last thing he needed was Hazel to wake up now when he was dog-tired as she slept in her bassinet.
Muting his movements as best as he could, Billie Joe took off his shoes and jacket, hanging the latter on the desk chair, then stripping down to his boxers. Before making his way into bed, he walked up to Hazel's bassinet and smiled sleepily down at her, thinking of all the things she was able to do know and how she was such a little bundle of life already.
She smiled now and cooed quite a lot; and in different pitches, as if she were singing. She loved hearing the sound of his and Maria's voices, and followed it around the room with real concentration. Not to mention she could roll over in one direction and hold her head and chest up slightly when lying on her stomach. But the thing that got to him most was how she would actually laugh out low, sometimes even squeal; which only further proved she was his daughter.
Content that his baby girl was peacefully asleep, Billie Joe slid into bed as slyly as a snake sliding through the grass and preparing to go in for the kill. Without missing a beat, he was under the covers with one arm under his pillow as he laid on his side, and the other arm drapped over Maria's waist, and then pulling her back up against his chest.
Placing a gentle kiss on her shoulder, he rested his head onto his pillow, and closed his eyes; thankful he could fall asleep with Maria in his arms.
There was also the first phone call Mitch had made from prison to see how the kids were doing, but he called when the kids were still in school, so he could only talk to Maria. He was given ten minutes and they covered the basics. She informed him that she had given birth to a daughter named Hazel Baby Armstrong the day before Thanksgiving, which he said his mother had mentioned to him when she talked to him on the phone around Christmas. Then Maria also informed him about Billie Joe going through a divorce with Adrienne and how the two of them had become engaged on New Years.
Surprisingly, Mitch took it well, but not without the haughty tone in his voice. However, there was regret in his voice, which she did feel sympathy for. But before they could get any further into a conversation, he had to hang up, wishing Maria well before he did so.
If only Adrienne could take this all as easily as Mitch was.
* * *
"We're not even divorced yet and you're already fucking engaged?!" Adrienne shouted.
"Oh, come off it, Adie. Like you didn't see it coming," Billie Joe scoffed, narrowing his eyes.
The two Armstrongs were in the midst of another heated argument, which Billie Joe loathed getting into. It always ended with him agreeing to give her something extra in the divorce settlement that she wouldn't normally ask for if she weren't so rustled up.
"Don't you even think of patronizing me," she warned.
"Why not? For fuck's sake Adie, no matter how much I loved you or you loved me, or how much we still might love each other, tell me you didn't see divorce happening sooner or later for one reason or another." The punk rocker crossed the office they shared at Adeline Records with his arms folded over his chest as he looked at her with demanding green eyes. "You were the one I wanted, but how long have we been bickering behind closed doors? How long have I been unhappy and restless? How long have you been tired of the same old shit? You're a home-body. I'm a get-up-and-go type of person."
He felt a pang of guilt spewing all this at her, but it was the truth.
"And Maria's another get-up-and-go type? Just like you?" She looked down at the top of the desk that was covered in press releases for the independent bands signed to their label as well as random invoices and yellow post-its about calling one person or another. "How quaint," she muttered sarcastically, looking back up at her still-husband. "I hope the two of you will be very happy together."
"We will," he snipped a little harsher than he'd meant. Biting his tongue, he sighed.
"Just so you know," Adrienne began, her eyes hard. "I will be requesting alimony payment. We didn't talk it over with the lawyer yet, but I thought you'd wanna know first."
"Of course you want alimony. It's to be expected when a husband and wife divorce and the kids live with her."
"You keep it up and I'll fight you for this record label."
Billie Joe's face soured. When did Adrienne become such a hardass? A wave of anxiety washed through him, feeling as if his heart was pounding in his neck instead of his chest. His lips pursed in a firm line as he stepped closer to the desk.
"You want the label?" he asked, his voice unwavering. Grasping at the printer on the desk, he shoved it off, sending it crashing to the floor and then chucking a stapler at the wall. "You go ahead and fight me for it."
Backing up he moved to head out the office door when he stopped in his tracks. Turning around he looked at her surprised face.
"What the fuck?" she exclaimed.
"You can ask for a new printer in the divorce settlement if you want," he quipped.
Storming out of the office, Billie Joe left the building the label was located at, passing one of the girls that worked for them. Erica, was her name. He heard her call out to him to see if he was okay, but he ignored her as he got into his Ford Fairlane and drove off, wondering where he'd head to. He wasn't in the mood for recording with the guys and his sons were in school.
Then an idea hit him.
* * *
"Hi Mom," Billie Joe muttered sheepishly as he stepped inside his mother's front door.
She moved over to the side to let him in, surprised to see her baby boy at her doorstep. "Hey honey. To what do I owe this visit?"
"I just needed to do something...go somewhere to clear my mind and...maybe get one of your famous 'everything will be alright' hugs?" he wondered, biting his lip like a little boy caught playing in the mud after just getting out of the bath.
Giving a slight huff and a knowing smirk, Billie Joe's mother, Ollie, gathered him up in a hug and he rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Am I a bad guy?"
"What? Of course not. Why would you think that?" she asked, gesturing for her youngest to join her in the living room where they sat beside each other on the couch.
"Things between Adi and me aren't that great right now, and I think Joey hates me. But I don't think I really feel guilty about it. I mean, okay. I feel guilty about it but not in the sense that I regret leaving Adi for Maria, and having another kid with her. I love Maria so goddamn much, Mom."
Ollie tilted her head a little and patted her son's hand with her wrinkly one. She was, after all, like, seventy-five years old. A rueful smile crossed her lips as she watched Billie Joe dip his head in thought.
"I will be honest with you. I thought your actions were poorly executed and inconsiderate. I wasn't sure if you knew which head you were thinking with," Ollie began. "When you're father died, I thought I would be alone for the rest of my years. But then your stepdad came into my life and I realized that relationships end for all sorts of reasons. And we're absolutely lucky if we get a second chance. We're given our first loves and our true loves. Your father was my first love and my true love. Your stepfather is my second love. I love him unconditionally. But the point is that generally we meet our first love, then our true love. Yet sometimes it doesn't necessarily work in that order."
Billie Joe looked up at his mother and sighed. "Tell me about it."
"Now, I remember meeting Maria at Christmas all those years ago, and as much as I love and adore Adrienne, I knew then and there who was your first love and who was your true love," she commented like a wise old woman, which, in some ways, she was. "You married your first love because your true love got away. And you let it happen. And that's not saying it was a mistake. Everything happens for a reason. You were meant to marry Adrienne and have your sons. But the way fate works, is that it leads us along our path until one day we reach our final destination. On your path, I believe you and Adrienne may be taking separate paths now, but they're side by side, running together because of Joey and Jakob, but also because you both still care for each other. And now your path has crossed and merged with Maria's while hers has branched away from her husband's."
"What a tangled web we weave," Billie Joe recited.
"Exactly," Ollie agreed. "Does this help clarify anything for you? Did I make any sense?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "But how do I get Joey to not hate me?"
His mother snickered and gave his hand a squeeze. "He's almost twelve. He's bound to be moody and distant to you during this transition in all of your lives. You were the same way toward me when I remarried. You hated me."
"No I didn't. Did I?"
Nodding, Ollie smirked. "Yes, you did," she insisted. "Well, maybe 'hate' is too harsh of a word, but you didn't like me that much. I think you thought I was betraying your father by finding another, just like how Joey's feeling now. You betrayed his mom and found another. But he'll grow out of it as soon as he gets used to it. If you could do it, so can he. Joey's your flesh and blood after all. Yours in every way possible."
Billie Joe smiled a little as he bobbed his head. "Thanks, Mom. For talking to me and not berating me for being such a schmuck."
"No, that's another talk for another time," she teased.
"Boy, I can't wait." Looking at his mom, he leaned over to give her a hug. "But, still...thanks."
"You're welcome."
"I love you."
"I love you, too, honey."
* * *
It was really late at night, in the wee hours of the morning on February 1st, when Billie Joe returned to San Diego after his latest jaunt to Oakland that left him utterly drained.
Quietly as possible, he parked his Ford Fairlane out front, and practically dragged his feet up the driveway and up to the front porch, holding his suitcase in one hand while carefully lugging his guitar case in the other. As soon as he walked into the dead silent house, he dropped his belongings on the ground by the stairwell, making a mental note to put everything away when he woke up later in the morning, or afternoon.
With a tired sigh, Billie Joe padded up the stairs and rounded the corner, stopping at Olivia's bedroom door where he poked his head into to see her sprawled out on top of her bed with her sheets hanging off the mattress. Shit, she even slept like him.
He smirked at that as he stepped into her room to move her legs more onto the bed so that she didn't fall off anytime while she slept and then he covered her back up with her blanket, leaning down to kiss her cheek.
Ducking back out of the room, he checked in on Ben and Nate and they seemed to be fine, so the punk rocker finally made his way to the bedroom he shared with Maria, closing the door behind him as softly as humanly possible. Because the last thing he needed was Hazel to wake up now when he was dog-tired as she slept in her bassinet.
Muting his movements as best as he could, Billie Joe took off his shoes and jacket, hanging the latter on the desk chair, then stripping down to his boxers. Before making his way into bed, he walked up to Hazel's bassinet and smiled sleepily down at her, thinking of all the things she was able to do know and how she was such a little bundle of life already.
She smiled now and cooed quite a lot; and in different pitches, as if she were singing. She loved hearing the sound of his and Maria's voices, and followed it around the room with real concentration. Not to mention she could roll over in one direction and hold her head and chest up slightly when lying on her stomach. But the thing that got to him most was how she would actually laugh out low, sometimes even squeal; which only further proved she was his daughter.
Content that his baby girl was peacefully asleep, Billie Joe slid into bed as slyly as a snake sliding through the grass and preparing to go in for the kill. Without missing a beat, he was under the covers with one arm under his pillow as he laid on his side, and the other arm drapped over Maria's waist, and then pulling her back up against his chest.
Placing a gentle kiss on her shoulder, he rested his head onto his pillow, and closed his eyes; thankful he could fall asleep with Maria in his arms.