Always There

Again, another month in 2007 came to an end, followed by March coming and going rather quickly which had seen Billie Joe's son Joey turn twelve years old. One more year and he, like Olivia, would be a teenager. Something that was just as hard to fathom as him turning 35 the month before.

But now it was April and it was Mike's turn in having a child celebrating a birthday. Estelle turned ten; a whole two digits.

It seemed like the Green Day boys were finally growing up. Well, growing older. Not necessarily growing up. They still had their own childish antics that never ceased to exist. Especially when they were in the recording studio and jamming.

Like now.

"I have a hostage and I'm not afraid to force her to play the drums...horribly!" Tre warned, playfully wrapping his arm around Olivia's neck and holding her against his chest, while holding the others back with a drumstick.

It was a Sunday afternoon in San Diego and Billie Joe had his and Maria's kids with him, showing them how he worked in the studio, but not much work was getting done.

Olivia was giggling but also struggling in Tre's grip while Mike crouched down and lifted Nate up like a batting ram, pretending to use the six-year-old's right arm like he was cocking back a gun.

"Let her go, Tre. So help me God, I will make this kid spit at you," Mike threatened with a grin. It was just impossible to keep a straight face. Leaninig down a bit, he whispered to Nate, "Get some really nasty loogies ready."

"Okay," Nate replied, not seeming to mind being used as a weapon, while grunting and literally getting some spit ready.

"Ew," Olivia whined. Seeing as she was the only girl at the studio, there was more of a ratio against her to gross her out.

Stepping out of the recording studio with a laugh, Billie Joe looked over at Rob Cavallo for a moment to find the record producer shaking his head with a smile.

"What?" asked the punk rocker, and leaned into his guitar case for his cell phone he'd left out of the recording room, checking for messages.

"Who are you and what have you done with Billie Joe?"

"Not sure I follow."

"You're different," Rob remarked. "You smile more and have this annoyingly infectuous energy. So, again, I ask: what have you done with the Billie Joe I knew?"

Billie Joe grinned and shrugged as he put his cell phone to his ear to listen to the lone message he got. "I killed him," he responded, looking through the window into the recording room and watching his two best friends and play with the kids.

* * *

As April rolled along, Billie Joe could still be found in the recording studio. Only this time they were in Los Angeles because they had agreed to take part in some First Annual Punk Rock Festival hosted by LA's KROQ radio station. So they figured why not kill two birds with one stone.

When they took the stage, they were prepared to only play for an hour seeing as they were one of the bigger bands there. There were two stages set up so that when one band finished, they didn't have to worry about taking down their set in a hurry. The roadies could take their time while the second stage was being occupied by the band in question rocking the crowd.

Tre leaped up to the platform where his drum set was, well, set before either Billie Joe or Mike had reached their microphone stands with their guitar and bass draped around them, respectively. Jason wasn't there to join them, it was simply the three guys playing old school. Which, pretty much, meant it was just the three of them and no one else.

Reaching for the microphone before him, Billie Joe smirked out at the crowd. "How the fuck ya doin' tonight, Los Angeles?" he asked in a raspy, agreesive voice. When everyone cheered, he smiled. "That's what I wanted to hear. You enjoying the festival so far?" More cheering resounded. "Good, good. Well, we're closing the night out with some oldies that I hold dear to my heart and we're gonna debut a new song that will be coming out with our new album this summer...so...I want each and every one of you to rock your angsty bodies and if I don't see your hips gyrating in a sexual manner I will come down into that crowd and gyrate against each and every one of you!"

Mike laughed and looked down at his bass as he plucked at it, tuning up a bit; mouthing 'Fuck, yeah!' when he looked up at the crowd of screaming bodies.

Billie Joe backed away from the mic to situate himself with his guitar - good ol' Blue - as Mike who took center stage to pluck the familiar chords to 'Longview' which immediately got the crowd going. When Billie Joe went into the first verse, it only got them more revved up.

The setlist that followed consisted of 'She', 'Scattered', 'When I Come Around', 'Whatsername', 'Time Of Your Life', 'American Idiot', 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams', 'Minority' and 'Maria'.

Most of the songs had a similar theme. Maria. Which is why Billie Joe mentioned the songs being dear to him. And when he stepped to the microphone and began to strum the intro to the song he'd been writing at 880 Studios back during August and September.

"This is a new song," he mumbled into the mic, smiling slightly as he looked up. "It's called 'Haunt Me' and it may be a little different than the A-typical Green Day song, but I'm a different man now. So...here it is..."

Mike joined in with the bass, followed by Tre skipping around with the drum beats. It was almost hypnotizing. And the Billie Joe opened his mouth, drawing everyone in as they listened; hanging on to his every word.

"You left me for dead / A corpse in your head / But you kissed me eternally / I was brought down to my knees / All the songs that I know / Couldn't help me let go / You became a ghost in my mind / But I was the one you left behind..."

The first verse went over well, and then everything picked up to a slightly more aggressiver, yet endearing second verse.

"Your excuses formed a plot / Innocent, I know you're not / Sick and tired of open wounds / I kill the pain by breathing fumes / I know I could feel better / Just write to me a love letter / Words were never enough for me / I need you here down on your knees..."

Jumping up at the same time, Billie Joe and Mike both tore into the chorus as passionately as they ever had.

"Pick yourself out of your grave / And rejoin the world we made / Dying words you spoke to me / Get down, get down on your knees / Take me back my lonely love / You'll always be forever young / If the light's too bright, just turn away / Haunt me, haunt me, haunt me my baby..."

After a music interlude, Billie Joe leaned into the microphone as they mellowed back out for the third verse.

"Under a mound of dirt / Do you still feel the hurt? / Lost amongst forgotten rows / You always were a lonely soul / I got you back for tonight / I know the mood is all right / My heart beats where yours skips around / Dragging me with you to the ground..."

After performing the chorus two more times followed by the words dropping out and the music ending the 'story' being told in the song, the men of Green Day ended KROQ's First Annual Punk Rock Festival on a high note. The energy was high and powerfully infectuous, and it only fueled the guys' fires all the more.

They'd taken a break from the limelight for a while after the thrill ride that was 'American Idiot'...but now they were about to step things up to a new level and they couldn't be more excited about it.

* * *

The following day or so, all Billie Joe heard on the radio was the hype about 'Green Day's new, soon-to-be released single and album.' It was crazy. But it was exciting. Yet, the one person he wanted to share the excitement with, was two hours away in San Diego while him and the boys worked like dogs to bang out the finishing touches on some songs they'd been working around the clock on.

Sure, he had his two best friends with him and their longtime friend and producer, Rob Cavallo, but Billie Joe was desparately missing his family. Both of them. The one five hours up north in Oakland, and the one two hours south in San Diego.

He wanted to drive back to see them even if just for a few hours. And the more he thought about it, the more he was determined to do it, but there was just one thing he had been wanting to do...

* * *

Maria was finally able to get to bed for the night, with Hazel out cold in the crib her father had put together for her. She had outgrown the bassinet by now, amazing Maria that her baby wasn't just a newborn anymore, but a baby. A growing, living little girl of five months.

Wearing one of Billie Joe's T-shirts, Maria laid on hr side, with her back to the bedroom door, thinking about how lonely her bed felt when he wasn't in it.

But, as if on cue, the sound of a car pulling up outside caught her attention. When the ignition turned off, Maria sat up. She was so used to the sound of that vehicle by now that just hearing it brought a wave of excitement rushing through her.

Waiting patiently in bed, it was only a matter of minutes when the bedroom door creaked open and Billie Joe stepped in as quietly as possible, assuming both mother and daughter were asleep.

"Hey," Maria smiled, causing Billie Joe to just about jump out of his skin.

"Shit, you scared me," he whispered. "I didn't think you were up."

"I just laid down when I heard your car," she replied. "So, how long you back for?" she asked a little sadly.

"About a day. But then we're gonna bring everything back here for about two weeks before I head up to Oakland to take care of some things..." he answered, starting to undress. But as he did so, he winced a little, while also smiling impishly at his fiancee.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," he lied, until his was standing before her in just his boxers, revealing the cling wrap that was, well, wrapped around his upper left arm as well as two spots on his shoulder blades that were red and sore, and sporting to wing tattoos.

"What'd you do?" she asked in a hushed voice when he sat down on the bed with her. Turning his back slightly, he showed off the two tattoos on his back for Maria to study. "Oh my God, you got wings with Olivia and Hazel's names on them?"

He nodded. "Yeap. 'Cause they're my angels."

Maria about cooed like Hazel did when she was happy. "Aw, that's so sweet."

"I got one for you, too," he added, undoing the cling wrap to show off the tattoo on his left arm of Maria's name surrounded by some tribal design, mixed in with little red hearts."

"Oh...Billie," she cooed again. "When'd you do all this?"

"I got the wings last night and your name and shit this morning."

"And shit?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean," he snickered, scooting up the bed so that he was lying beside her, while chucking the cling wrap to the ground. "I missed you. All of you and I wanted to immortalize you on my body."

"I thought I had the vine and butterfly."

"You deserve more. The mother of my daughters deserves more," he amended, then paused. "Nay, the woman I love more than life...deserves more."

Maria grinned as she slid down under the bed sheet with Billie Joe, kissing the sore spots of his skin where the tattoos were. "Immortalize me so I'm always there with ya, huh?"

"Mmhmm," he nodded against his pillow, peering up at her through a sideways glance that was very devilish.

Lifting up his newly tattooed arm, Billie Joe tugged on the short sleeve of his T-shirt that Maria was wearing, letting her know he wanted her to slide down closer to him. In doing so, Maria smiled and snuggled practically under him as he wrapped said arm around her body and kissed her.

"Missed you," he murmured against her skin.