A Ballad For Beulah

Amidst the chaos of doctors and nurses scurrying in and out of the delivery room, Billie Joe surprisingly found an amount of peace in it all.

He stood at Adrienne's side, dressed in a green gown with matching cap, holding her hand while she laid on the delivery bed, with her feet in stirrups. And he watched how the doctors went about their job, knowing what to do, how to instruct the nurses to help do this or help do that; something the guitarist had witnessed twice before when Joey and Jakob were born.

Even the sensation of Adrienne squeezing the fuck out of his hand to the point where she might shatter every bone and piece of cartilage was a familiar thing.

"How you holdin' up?" he asked her, looking down at her sweating hairline.

"I've been better," she groaned, furrowing her brow. "Unnh...isn't it coming yet?" she threw out her question, directed at the doctor who had two fingers shoved up her to see how dilated she was.

"Pretty close, Mrs. Armstrong. In a few minutes we can start the birthing process."

"Fuck a few minutes," she snipped.

The doctor met Billie Joe's eyes and both men shared a knowing smirk.

"Well, ma'am, you can either wait those few minutes until your body's ready or we can knock you unconscious with drugs and do a C-section right now."

Adrienne's brown eyes went wide. "That's not an option. I wanna be awake."

"Well, we can numb you from the waist down and you can be awake during a C-section," the doctor amended.

But Adrienne just shook her head. "No. No C-section. I'll...I'll wait..." Then she added, "But I'm not making any promises."

Billie Joe leaned forward and kissed her forehead brushing some hair out of her face as she lifted her eyes to his.

"Don't think I'm not still furious with you, Billie. You hurt my feelings probably a---unnnh...a million times over, and..." she winced with a contraction rearing its ugly head. After a few moments of coming back down from it with steady breathing, she continued. "How could you do it? Cheat, lie...any of it?"

Billie Joe shrugged. "It was moments of weakness, and I know that isn't an excuse, but--"

"You weren't thinking with the head on your shoulders."

"No, I wasn't, and I'm so sorry. I'll be sorry forever and ever, but I can't live with you hating me for the rest of eternity. I said I'd love you in good and bad, till death do we both part, and I meant it. Even if this is the end of us, I won't ever love another woman unless it's you."

Adrienne grimaced because of another contraction piercing through her. "I know," she muttered through gritted teeth. "But it's...ahhh...it's gonna take a long time before I can...mmm...I can trust you again. You're...you're off the hook for the time being because this...this baby's coming now! FUCKING GOD!"

* * *

About a minute later, Beulah was being wheeled into a delivery room, wearing the same, white hospital gown Adrienne was dressed in. Mike followed after them, dressed how Billie Joe was; complete with the green gown and green cap on his head. However, it had been forever since he'd gone through this, and it had only been once, with Anastasia giving birth to Estelle. Nine years was a long time to forget the basics of everything that goes on in a delivery room, so saying that Mike was nervous was an understatement.

He was at Beulah's side as if he were surgically attached, holding on to her hand and wrapping his free arm around her shoulder once she was helped onto the bed and her legs were placed in stirrups.

She was whimpering and tilted her head back, staring up at Mike. And he so desperately wished he could go through this for her because the look on her face made her seem like a little girl lost.

"You're gonna be fine, babe. I'm right here and this is gonna go smoothly," he assured.

"Famous last words," she muttered, trying to joke.

"Well, should anything happen, do I have your permission to find an even younger, sexier woman?"

She frowned and shrugged him off. "Is that even possible?"

"Probably not, but in theory..."

"If something happens...I give you my blessing to shack up with another single mom."

Mike smirked and kissed her forehead. "Thanks," he teased.

"You're not quite dilated yet, Miss. It's gonna be a little bit yet."

Beulah nodded then looked at Mike. "I'll be fine for a little bit. Go check on the boys in the waiting room and see if Tre's here yet to watch them..."

"Alright," Mike agreed. After one last kiss and a squeeze of her hand, he slowly backed out of the delivery room, just as he bumped into someone in the hall.

Turning around abruptly, Mike found he was face to face with Billie Joe.

"Dude, what're you doing here?" asked the shorter man.

"Beulah's water broke not long after you left the house with Adrienne. I helped her clean up and we piled the boys in my car and drove here," Mike explained. "They're sitting in the waiting room with a nurse and I was just gonna go check to see if Tre showed up yet. We called him on the way here to see if he'd watch them."

Billie Joe looked down the hall toward the direction of the waiting room and then back at his taller friend. "How's Beulah?"

"Okay. She's not completely dilated yet. And, that's probably too much information..."

Billie Joe shrugged and shook his head slightly. "Nah, to be extremely frank, Mike...I'm familiar with Beulah. And, I'm not trying to shove that in your face and I'm not trying to be an asshole, but at this point, I don't think it matters anymore, do you?"

Mike hesitated, then shook his head. "Nah. Been there, done that, right?"

Billie Joe smirked. "Yeah, sorta."

"How's Adrienne?"

"Dilated, cranky, temporarily letting me off the hook and swearing worse than I ever could. And that was just the first 30 seconds of having her in stirrups."

Mike and Billie Joe just looked at each other, then smiled.

"Who'd have thought you and I would be having kids on the same day, huh?" Billie Joe added.

"Not me," Mike replied as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Billie Joe's shoulders, hugging his friend. "Water under the bridge from now on, okay?" he said against the shorter man's ear.

Billie Joe nodded, returning the hug with his arms wrapped around Mike's back and giving a slight pat before they broke apart. "I can totally live with that."

Mike grinned. "But let it be known, if you ever try and seduce Beulah again, I'll--"

"Cut off my dick," Billie Joe finished. "Don't worry. It's never happening again. I have too much to lose at this point."

"Glad your starting to make sense." Then, Mike added, "Good luck."

"You, too."

Billie Joe took off down the hallway toward a bathroom and Mike then headed for the waiting room, where, sure enough, there was Tre, sitting amongst the three Armstrong boys.

"Got your message," the drummer smirked. "And I'm here now, so go on and go be a daddy."

With a proud grin he couldn't control, Mike just nodded and turned back toward the delivery room.

* * *

"Ahhhh!" Adrienne screamed as she hunched forward to push, just as her husband came back into the room. "Where were you?"

"I ran into Mike," he answered, returning to his wife's side and taking one of her hands in his once again. "Beulah's water broke after we left and she's in the room across the hall going into labor, too."

Adrienne stopped pushing for a moment to look strangely at Billie Joe. "She is?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Is she okay?"

Billie Joe was actually a little surprised that Adrienne cared at all at this point, after what had transpired at their house; in their front hall.

"Yeah. Mike said she isn't dilated completely yet and went to check on the boys in the waiting room. Tre's supposed to be here to take care of them soon."

"Okay, Mrs. Armstrong, I need you to give me another push," the doctor ordered.

"I am," she snapped. Then, turning to Billie Joe, "I saw the look in your eyes when I asked if Beulah was okay, and...unnnh...I still care about her because, not matter what...I still want her to be my friend..."

Billie Joe smiled. "You don't have to explain it to me, babe. Just focus on popping our kid out of your cooch, 'kay?"

* * *

"Mr. Pritchard, good, you're back," one of the nurses muttered as Mike appeared back in the delivery room Beulah was in.

"Uh, thanks?" he muttered unsurely as he went over to Beulah's side.

She looked like death warmed over at this point. Her skin was sallow and pasty and she was sweating. Mike could tell from the look on her face that she had been trying to push even though she wasn't ready yet.

"How're doing, honey?" he asked her.

"Eh," she mumbled. "I'm...okay." Her blue eyes seemed drowsy as her eyelids began to close every so often. "I was calling for you. Why did you take so long?"

"I ran into Billie."

"Oh, is Adrienne doing okay? Did she have the baby yet?"

"No, she's still in labor."

Beulah just nodded and reached for Mike's hand. He returned to holding it as well as wrapping his free arm back around her shoulders. "I was thinking...and, I'm so sorry I...that I was...in lust with him..."

Mike shook his head. "It's okay. It doesn't matter anymore."

"It does to me," she insisted, wincing with the coming of a contraction.

"My eyes were so clouded by how I thought I felt for Billie for so long that I couldn't see you. And, it's like you're the sun. You know? No matter how many clouds are in the sky, we always know the sun still shines no matter what. Just like you're always there for me. Always have been."

Mike smiled and kissed her temple.

"I saw you first, you know?" she continued.

"What do you mean?"

"The first time we met, on my tenth birthday. Tom had me on his shoulders so I could see over the crowd of people at Gillman and the first person I saw on the stage was you. You had long hair, past your shoulders," Beulah smirked a little, then grimaced as if dealing with an ulcer or some other stomach pain instead of contractions that were building. "I saw you first. And you're all I see now."

Mike noticed how tears began to drip from her eyes, like she knew something he didn't and wasn't going to share with him. "Babe, what's the matter?"

"I love you more than any man in this world. You're the only one in my life to love me no matter what and with all your heart. Who never abandoned me and never broke my heart," she spoke sadly. Her nose was getting red from feeling so emotional and her chin quivered. And it seemed that she'd forgotten about the contractions altogether. "You came when I called, you've helped me financially, and you've been more of a father to my son in one year than Billie's been in his entire life and I couldn't be any more thankful."

"It was nothing."

"It was everything," she insisted, contradicting his reply. "And I couldn't be any more in love with you if I tried. And I need you to promise me something, okay?"

"Anything."

"Always be there for Bailey. And our baby."

"You know I will," he said. "How could I not?"

Beulah smiled. "Thank you..." she whispered, closing her eyes for a brief moment.

"Ms. Mason, you can push now."

Her eyes rolling open as if coming out of hypnosis, Beulah nodded slightly and hunched forward a little, but after only one push she had to sit back and take a deep breath. She tried again, with the doctor muttering something inaudible to the nurse beside him, and Beulah sat back a second time.

"Mike..."

The bassist kept his eyes glued on her profile as she stared ahead. "What, babe?"

"I really would've loved to be your wife someday..."

With that said, Beulah closed her eyes...

...and flatlined.