Status: Completed
Always There
Lovercall
Under the pressure of the divorce proceedings and commuting between three different metropolitan areas in order to record new material with the guys, and not to mention taking turns with Maria when Hazel woke up in the middle of the night, Billie Joe was so goddamn tired when his 35th birthday rolled around. A few days later was Nate's 6th birthday so the punk rocker's focus wasn't even on his own, so to say he was surprised to find everyone downstairs in the Cevallos' kitchen holding a homemade cake and several little gifts, would be an understatement.
All smiles, Billie Joe wiped the sleep from his eyes, awaiting the end of the Birthday song everyone was singing to him before leaning forward to blow out the candles.
It was a Saturday morning, so right after the cake was cut into pieces and dished out, Ben and Nate ran back into the living room to pick up with the Saturday morning cartoons that were on ABC. Billie Joe took a seat beside Enrique who was nursing a lukewarm cup of coffee and attempting the New York Times' crossword puzzle, and grumbling as he did so, claiming they were making them harder than they used to be.
"D'you like the surprise?" Maria asked with a small smile while carting Hazel around the kitchen on her right hip.
Billie Joe just watched her puttering about with green eyes that were accompanied by dark circles. "Yeah. And thankful you didn't stick 35 little candles on the cake," he commented with a smirk. "Woulda burned the house down."
"No, it wouldn't," came Enrique's two cents, garnering Billie Joe's attention. "My birthday was in early November, right before all of you moved in. "It was my 60th and there were 60 candles on my cake. I expect there will be 61 this year."
Billie Joe raised his brow and laughed a little as he shook his head. "Well, uh...without meaning any offense, I don't want to even begin to fathom 60. I'm not sure I can fathom 35 right now," remarked the guitarist, scratching idly at his bare chest. "I mean, I feel like I just turned 20. Now it's 15 years later. It's just that..."
"Time flies," Enrique suggested, noting how Billie Joe was still watching Maria and 3-month-old Hazel.
Olivia had been sitting at the opposite end of the kitchen table the entire time, eating her cake at 10 in the morning when she stood up and put her dirty dishes in the sink. Catching her father off guard, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Happy birthday, Dad."
"Oh...thanks, honey."
When she pulled back, she walked over to Maria and offered to take Hazel for a bit, which Maria was more than grateful for. And watching all this, made Billie Joe's heart constrict.
Here was the three most important women in his life right now. His fiancee and his two daughters. All beautiful, all wonderful.
He couldn't help but smile.
* * *
The rest of the day, Billie Joe had wondered where his soon-to-be mother-in-law had disappeared to. She wasn't home during the morning when he blew out the candles on his birthday cake, and she wasn't home when the lunch hour rolled around either. And then Maria asked if they could watch Hazel for a bit while she went to store to pick up things.
What those things were, she didn't say.
And she was gone longer than a bit.
When the dinner hour arrived, Billie Joe was laying on the living room floor with his arms hooked under Hazel's arms as she sat on his chest, bouncing her up and down while making her make baby giggles. Enrique was sitting in his favorite recliner, watching 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' repeats on the ABC Family channel while the boys were upstairs playing with the XBOX Billie Joe had bought them for Christmas. As for Olivia, she was more than likely on her laptop talking with her friends, Crystal and Giselle, from back east.
Lifting Hazel up like she was flying above him, he lowered her down so that she partially laying on his chest while giving her little kisses on her cheek along with placing giving her little tummy a raspberry, causing her to giggle and smile as she looked around the room.
However, at the sound of two vehicles pulling up into the driveway, the punk rocker's attention shifted somewhat.
Enrique stood up and poked his head out the front picture window and looked back anxiously at Billie Joe. "Billie, could you do me a favor and go upstairs and get the kids. I think they should come downstairs now."
"What for? I mean, I could just call for them."
"No. No, go upstairs and send them down. And, uh, maybe put Hazel in that little yellow dress Lynn got her."
Billie Joe narrowed his eyes. "Why? What's going on?"
"Trust me," Enrique sighed. "If I told you both my wife and my daughter will cut off the family jewels and string them up to a flag pole high enough for the world to see."
Quirking an eyebrow, the guitarist hesitated and then gave in, plodding up the stairs with Hazel in his arms who was cooing all the way. Poking his head into the boys' room he told them their grandpa wanted them downstairs. He did the same to Olivia, whose eyes widened somewhat as she signed off AOL and shy slipped past her father.
Very confused but aware something was going on, Billie Joe just gave a small huff as he took Hazel into his and Maria's room, laying her on the bed for a moment as he pulled open the extra dresser drawer, shuffling around for the infamous yellow dress in question. He threw his baby daughter a glance every few seconds to make sure she didn't roll off the bed while straining to hear the muffled voices coming from downstairs.
After a few minutes, Hazel was wearing the yellow dress. Technically there had been two of them so he was unsure which one Enrique had been talking about, so he took a guess. Holding Hazel up, Billie Joe grinned. "And who's the pwitty wittle girl wearin' the pwitty wittle yellow dress?" he asked in a baby voice. "Yes, you, you pwitty wittle thing. Can Daddy have a kiss?" He leaned Hazel forward as she watched him with curious eyes and then she leaned in more on her own and just about slobbered on his upper lip, leaving a string of drool between them. Billie Joe grimaced, yet smirked. "Close enough," he joked, wiping away the baby drool with the back of his hand.
"Billie!" came Maria's voice from the bottom of the stairs.
He turned his head toward the open bedroom door and stepped out into hall with Hazel now resting on his narrow, left hip. "Yeah?"
"Can you come downstairs, please?"
"Yeah," he replied. As he did so, he wondered what in the hell was going on more so. He even asked Hazel on the way down the staircase as if she could possibly know and tell him.
Rounding the corner, he headed toward the kitchen when he didn't notice anyone in the living room or dining room. But the lights were off. And because it was past 5 in the evening and during daylight savings, it was dark outside as well, which made seeing anything inside an unlit room nothing short of impossible.
"What's going on, Maria?" he asked as soon as he flicked on the light swtich on the kitchen wall. "Holy shit!"
Standing clumped together before him, all around the kitchen table, were some of his friends and family.
There was of course Maria's parents, Maria and the boys along with Olivia, but there was also Mike with Estelle, Tre with Claudia and Frankito, Jason and his wife, and...
...and his mom with his sons, Joey and Jakob.
"Surprise!"
Billie Joe was sure he looked stupid just standing there with his mouth open, but he was seriously surprised. "H-how in the hell did you--?"
Maria stepped up to him and beamed. "Happy Birthday," she said, placing a kiss on his cheek.
He turned his head to look at her. "Did you do all of this?"
She nodded. "Well, with my mom's help," Maria answered. "Tre, Claudia, Frankito along with your mom and your boys got on an earlier flight, but I picked up the other four because they caught a later flight and I wanted everyone to get here at the same time to surprise you," she explained. "So...are you surprised?"
Billie Joe didn't even nod or make any sort of gesture to acknowledge he heard her question, even though he did reply with a, "Yes."
Taking his friends and family into individual hugs, they exchanged hellos and Happy Birthday's. His sons both seemed to be in generally good moods. Even Joey, which was a relief. They all then sat him down at the head of the table as Lynn and Maria disappeared, only to reappear with another cake. But this one literally had 35 little candles, much to his dismay.
However, he blew out the candles with a smile on his face after everyone sang him 'Happy Birthday' for the second time that day.
It was such a great way to spend his birthday, in the company of those he cared about and opening the gifts they all got him with eager little fingers as if he were 5 instead of 35. But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.
Lynn took Mike, Jason and Jason's wife along with Tre, Claudia and Frankito to a nearby hotel while Estelle stayed behind to sleep-over in Olivia's room and the boys slept over in Ben and Nate's room.
Lynn had tucked Hazel in for the night on her and Enrique's way up to bed while Billie Joe and Maria stayed downstairs, sitting on the couch, talking.
The punk rocker was tired out from the impromptu party but he was never so turned on by Maria in his whole life than in that moment, studying her profile as she spoke. But in a house full of kids and 60-year olds, it was hard to do anything about the obvious, uh...arousal...in his pants.
But there is always a solution to every problem.
Standing up, Billie Joe took Maria by the hand and helped her up as well, pulling her up against his body, groaning against each other's lips when Billie Joe's arousal was felt by both. Leading her from the living room, the green eyed birthday boy quietly took them outside and shut the back door behind them as he instantly began to peel off her shirt.
"What are you--?" she began to ask when he muffle her words with his mouth against hers.
"Shh..." he whispered as he slipped off his own shirt and then stepped out of his pants, pulling her over to the hot tub which he turned on without breaking the liplock he had going on with Maria.
By this point it had to be well past midnight. And Billie Joe was also well past naked as he stepped into the pleasantly warm water, beckoning for Maria to join him.
Smirking playfully, she shrugged. "What the hell." She slipped off her jeans and her underwear and as she stepped into the hot tub, she unsnapped her bra and threw it to the ground, immediately, falling into Billie Joe's arms. "So, Birthday Boy," she began devilishly, reviving that wild look in her eyes from when they were twenty. "What do you want? I mean *really* want."
Mischief flashing in his eyes, Billie Joe wasted no time in making love to the love of his life. And afterward, his heartbeat was in serious need of a come down while they still sloshed around in the hot tub a bit.
Kissing her lips so hungrily, she grinned against her mouth. "Thanks for that," he mumbled. "But I desperately want to return to favor. Correction. I *need* to return the favor."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. But the real question is 'where.'"
"Okay," Maria giggled in a hushed voice. "Where?"
His green eyes looked over past her shoulders to the grassy area beside the pool a few feet away and then looked back to Maria. "You think it's too cold to do it in the grass?"
She studied his face for a moment and laughed quietly. "You forget this is San Diego. It's never too cold," she replied slipping out of the hot tub and beckoning for him to follow her.
"Happy Birthday to me," he said to himself. Grinning like a fool, Billie Joe hopped out eagerly, scurrying up to Maria and more or less tackling her to the ground, pressing his weight down on her. "I'm gonna make you wake up the neighbors," he remarked, dipping his head to kiss the hollow of her neck.
"You need to have birthdays more often."
"I completely agree."
All smiles, Billie Joe wiped the sleep from his eyes, awaiting the end of the Birthday song everyone was singing to him before leaning forward to blow out the candles.
It was a Saturday morning, so right after the cake was cut into pieces and dished out, Ben and Nate ran back into the living room to pick up with the Saturday morning cartoons that were on ABC. Billie Joe took a seat beside Enrique who was nursing a lukewarm cup of coffee and attempting the New York Times' crossword puzzle, and grumbling as he did so, claiming they were making them harder than they used to be.
"D'you like the surprise?" Maria asked with a small smile while carting Hazel around the kitchen on her right hip.
Billie Joe just watched her puttering about with green eyes that were accompanied by dark circles. "Yeah. And thankful you didn't stick 35 little candles on the cake," he commented with a smirk. "Woulda burned the house down."
"No, it wouldn't," came Enrique's two cents, garnering Billie Joe's attention. "My birthday was in early November, right before all of you moved in. "It was my 60th and there were 60 candles on my cake. I expect there will be 61 this year."
Billie Joe raised his brow and laughed a little as he shook his head. "Well, uh...without meaning any offense, I don't want to even begin to fathom 60. I'm not sure I can fathom 35 right now," remarked the guitarist, scratching idly at his bare chest. "I mean, I feel like I just turned 20. Now it's 15 years later. It's just that..."
"Time flies," Enrique suggested, noting how Billie Joe was still watching Maria and 3-month-old Hazel.
Olivia had been sitting at the opposite end of the kitchen table the entire time, eating her cake at 10 in the morning when she stood up and put her dirty dishes in the sink. Catching her father off guard, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Happy birthday, Dad."
"Oh...thanks, honey."
When she pulled back, she walked over to Maria and offered to take Hazel for a bit, which Maria was more than grateful for. And watching all this, made Billie Joe's heart constrict.
Here was the three most important women in his life right now. His fiancee and his two daughters. All beautiful, all wonderful.
He couldn't help but smile.
* * *
The rest of the day, Billie Joe had wondered where his soon-to-be mother-in-law had disappeared to. She wasn't home during the morning when he blew out the candles on his birthday cake, and she wasn't home when the lunch hour rolled around either. And then Maria asked if they could watch Hazel for a bit while she went to store to pick up things.
What those things were, she didn't say.
And she was gone longer than a bit.
When the dinner hour arrived, Billie Joe was laying on the living room floor with his arms hooked under Hazel's arms as she sat on his chest, bouncing her up and down while making her make baby giggles. Enrique was sitting in his favorite recliner, watching 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' repeats on the ABC Family channel while the boys were upstairs playing with the XBOX Billie Joe had bought them for Christmas. As for Olivia, she was more than likely on her laptop talking with her friends, Crystal and Giselle, from back east.
Lifting Hazel up like she was flying above him, he lowered her down so that she partially laying on his chest while giving her little kisses on her cheek along with placing giving her little tummy a raspberry, causing her to giggle and smile as she looked around the room.
However, at the sound of two vehicles pulling up into the driveway, the punk rocker's attention shifted somewhat.
Enrique stood up and poked his head out the front picture window and looked back anxiously at Billie Joe. "Billie, could you do me a favor and go upstairs and get the kids. I think they should come downstairs now."
"What for? I mean, I could just call for them."
"No. No, go upstairs and send them down. And, uh, maybe put Hazel in that little yellow dress Lynn got her."
Billie Joe narrowed his eyes. "Why? What's going on?"
"Trust me," Enrique sighed. "If I told you both my wife and my daughter will cut off the family jewels and string them up to a flag pole high enough for the world to see."
Quirking an eyebrow, the guitarist hesitated and then gave in, plodding up the stairs with Hazel in his arms who was cooing all the way. Poking his head into the boys' room he told them their grandpa wanted them downstairs. He did the same to Olivia, whose eyes widened somewhat as she signed off AOL and shy slipped past her father.
Very confused but aware something was going on, Billie Joe just gave a small huff as he took Hazel into his and Maria's room, laying her on the bed for a moment as he pulled open the extra dresser drawer, shuffling around for the infamous yellow dress in question. He threw his baby daughter a glance every few seconds to make sure she didn't roll off the bed while straining to hear the muffled voices coming from downstairs.
After a few minutes, Hazel was wearing the yellow dress. Technically there had been two of them so he was unsure which one Enrique had been talking about, so he took a guess. Holding Hazel up, Billie Joe grinned. "And who's the pwitty wittle girl wearin' the pwitty wittle yellow dress?" he asked in a baby voice. "Yes, you, you pwitty wittle thing. Can Daddy have a kiss?" He leaned Hazel forward as she watched him with curious eyes and then she leaned in more on her own and just about slobbered on his upper lip, leaving a string of drool between them. Billie Joe grimaced, yet smirked. "Close enough," he joked, wiping away the baby drool with the back of his hand.
"Billie!" came Maria's voice from the bottom of the stairs.
He turned his head toward the open bedroom door and stepped out into hall with Hazel now resting on his narrow, left hip. "Yeah?"
"Can you come downstairs, please?"
"Yeah," he replied. As he did so, he wondered what in the hell was going on more so. He even asked Hazel on the way down the staircase as if she could possibly know and tell him.
Rounding the corner, he headed toward the kitchen when he didn't notice anyone in the living room or dining room. But the lights were off. And because it was past 5 in the evening and during daylight savings, it was dark outside as well, which made seeing anything inside an unlit room nothing short of impossible.
"What's going on, Maria?" he asked as soon as he flicked on the light swtich on the kitchen wall. "Holy shit!"
Standing clumped together before him, all around the kitchen table, were some of his friends and family.
There was of course Maria's parents, Maria and the boys along with Olivia, but there was also Mike with Estelle, Tre with Claudia and Frankito, Jason and his wife, and...
...and his mom with his sons, Joey and Jakob.
"Surprise!"
Billie Joe was sure he looked stupid just standing there with his mouth open, but he was seriously surprised. "H-how in the hell did you--?"
Maria stepped up to him and beamed. "Happy Birthday," she said, placing a kiss on his cheek.
He turned his head to look at her. "Did you do all of this?"
She nodded. "Well, with my mom's help," Maria answered. "Tre, Claudia, Frankito along with your mom and your boys got on an earlier flight, but I picked up the other four because they caught a later flight and I wanted everyone to get here at the same time to surprise you," she explained. "So...are you surprised?"
Billie Joe didn't even nod or make any sort of gesture to acknowledge he heard her question, even though he did reply with a, "Yes."
Taking his friends and family into individual hugs, they exchanged hellos and Happy Birthday's. His sons both seemed to be in generally good moods. Even Joey, which was a relief. They all then sat him down at the head of the table as Lynn and Maria disappeared, only to reappear with another cake. But this one literally had 35 little candles, much to his dismay.
However, he blew out the candles with a smile on his face after everyone sang him 'Happy Birthday' for the second time that day.
It was such a great way to spend his birthday, in the company of those he cared about and opening the gifts they all got him with eager little fingers as if he were 5 instead of 35. But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.
Lynn took Mike, Jason and Jason's wife along with Tre, Claudia and Frankito to a nearby hotel while Estelle stayed behind to sleep-over in Olivia's room and the boys slept over in Ben and Nate's room.
Lynn had tucked Hazel in for the night on her and Enrique's way up to bed while Billie Joe and Maria stayed downstairs, sitting on the couch, talking.
The punk rocker was tired out from the impromptu party but he was never so turned on by Maria in his whole life than in that moment, studying her profile as she spoke. But in a house full of kids and 60-year olds, it was hard to do anything about the obvious, uh...arousal...in his pants.
But there is always a solution to every problem.
Standing up, Billie Joe took Maria by the hand and helped her up as well, pulling her up against his body, groaning against each other's lips when Billie Joe's arousal was felt by both. Leading her from the living room, the green eyed birthday boy quietly took them outside and shut the back door behind them as he instantly began to peel off her shirt.
"What are you--?" she began to ask when he muffle her words with his mouth against hers.
"Shh..." he whispered as he slipped off his own shirt and then stepped out of his pants, pulling her over to the hot tub which he turned on without breaking the liplock he had going on with Maria.
By this point it had to be well past midnight. And Billie Joe was also well past naked as he stepped into the pleasantly warm water, beckoning for Maria to join him.
Smirking playfully, she shrugged. "What the hell." She slipped off her jeans and her underwear and as she stepped into the hot tub, she unsnapped her bra and threw it to the ground, immediately, falling into Billie Joe's arms. "So, Birthday Boy," she began devilishly, reviving that wild look in her eyes from when they were twenty. "What do you want? I mean *really* want."
Mischief flashing in his eyes, Billie Joe wasted no time in making love to the love of his life. And afterward, his heartbeat was in serious need of a come down while they still sloshed around in the hot tub a bit.
Kissing her lips so hungrily, she grinned against her mouth. "Thanks for that," he mumbled. "But I desperately want to return to favor. Correction. I *need* to return the favor."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. But the real question is 'where.'"
"Okay," Maria giggled in a hushed voice. "Where?"
His green eyes looked over past her shoulders to the grassy area beside the pool a few feet away and then looked back to Maria. "You think it's too cold to do it in the grass?"
She studied his face for a moment and laughed quietly. "You forget this is San Diego. It's never too cold," she replied slipping out of the hot tub and beckoning for him to follow her.
"Happy Birthday to me," he said to himself. Grinning like a fool, Billie Joe hopped out eagerly, scurrying up to Maria and more or less tackling her to the ground, pressing his weight down on her. "I'm gonna make you wake up the neighbors," he remarked, dipping his head to kiss the hollow of her neck.
"You need to have birthdays more often."
"I completely agree."