Good Man

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
- Epictetus



Joey was twirling around in a chair at the soundboard in Studio A's control room, putting out a cigarette he had just finished smoking into a horrible looking ashtray that looked like a five-year-old crafted it out of clay and painted it deep red.

His face was deep-set with a frown and his free hand was playing with the cap of a bottle of Mountain Dew he had found in the fridge from the studio's kitchen. Whatever was bothering him, he was stewing in it, in a way so very similar to that of his father, and he was doing it alone for there was no one else in the studio at that moment.

"Do your parents know you smoke?" came a voice that caused Joey to jump. Turning his face up toward the doorway to the control room, he offered a very lame smile when Caroline appeared with a raised eyebrow meant for him.

Joey looked to the cigarette butt in the ashtray and shrugged. "Probably. Either way, it don't matter, I'm nineteen. They can't exactly ground me."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him and stepped further into the room, inspecting him; taking in his posture, tone of voice, all-around attitude. "Something wrong, hon?" she brought a hand to his head and ran a few fingers through his thick, dark hair.

It was so weird to think Joey was a man of nineteen, when she had first met him eight and a half years ago at the childhood age of eleven. She had watched him grow up from mischievous preteen who still thought girls were pretty retarded to a handsome, grown adult who was working full time at Adeline Records and had a steady girlfriend. She was not his aunt by blood or marriage, but since Mike had been like an uncle to the eldest Armstrong child and Caroline was his wife, she had become like an aunt to him, especially since Billie Joe was Mikey's godfather and Adrienne was Chloe's godmother.

Joey jerked his head away out of instinct. It was something he tended to do with his mother when she tried to play with the ends of his hair. Caroline dropped her hand, sensing the boy's mood.

And yes, she still mostly thought of him as just a boy.

"When Uncle Mike was alive, did the two of you ever have a fight that you just couldn't seem to get past and weeks went by without so much as a hug?" Slowly, Joey's brown eyes found their way to meet Caroline's halfway.

Unable to help herself, Caroline smiled a little, but it was out of sympathy and also because she thought Joey was just so adorable, sitting there with his little romance woes.

"Of course we did," she confirmed, pulling up the swiveling chair beside Joey and sitting down in it. She leaned forward, clasping her hands between her knees. "Remember that one night about six years ago where I spent the night at your house and had breakfast with you guys the following morning until your Uncle Mike showed up and I was talking with him on the front porch?"

Joey thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I think so." Then the memory became a little clearer. "Didn't you have a big ol' bruise on your nose?" he asked with a ghost of a smile.

Caroline nodded with a smirk. "Yeah. Well, see Mike and your Uncle Tre got into a fight, basically over me, because, well, Mike had walked in on Tre kissing me. Something I didn't warrant, just so you know. Tre and I had already been broken up over a year at that point and was still holding a torch for the idea of getting me back and Mike was furious about it. He went after Tre and started beating him to a pulp, more or less, and when I tried to break them up, Mike's elbow pulled back and hit me in the nose on accident, but it knocked me on my ass in the process..."

"Oh, shit," Joey smirked at the story. "Then what happened?"

"Your dad showed up not a minute later and found me on the floor and picked me up. I ran out of the room but I heard your dad laying into them. Then he caught up with me and insisted I come home with him and stay over. And I did," Caroline began to laugh at the memory. "Don't tell your dad I told you the next part because he'll kill me, okay?"

"Sure thing. I'll pinky swear on it and everything."

Caroline shook her head. "Yeah, that's what your father said, too, I think." Leaning back in the chair, she crossed her legs and rested on one of the arm rests. "Well, that night after you kids went to sleep, us adults broke out the booze. Your mom, dad and I all got pretty drunk and at some point we had persuaded your dad to dress in drag and walk around in heels and everything. We did his make-up and were laughing late into the night."

"You know," Joey began a little seriously. "I'm really not surprised by this."

Letting out a chuckle, Caroline added, "I figured you wouldn't but still don't tell your dad. He was embarrassed when Tre found out about that particular escapade." Licking her bottom lip, she let her mind trail with the memories of that evening but then they moved straight toward the following morning. "But Mike came over the next day, and he was so incredibly sorry for causing me pain, physically and emotionally. But because I loved him more than life, and still do even though he's gone, I forgave him in a heartbeat."

"You two were great together," the nineteen-year-old commented.

"Thanks. I thought so, too." Caroline looked out toward the window before them, across the soundboard, that looked out into the studio's live room. "It was probably a few months later, though, when he had the same type of fight you mentioned. We were engaged and I was starting to think more on how I desperately wanted to find my birth parents and not knowing where I was coming from was really bothering me. But I didn't know how to open up to Mike about it because he was in my same situation, having been adopted, but he had claimed he didn't care about where he came from, only where he was going, and...yada, yada, yada. Because I was holding all that in and not telling Mike what I was thinking or feeling, my frustrations boiled up under the surface and Mike's frustrations about being left out of the loop, on top of the whole thing with Tre not being over me at that time, it just added to a lot of stress and heartache."

"How long were you guys in that fight?"

"Well, I think it was almost a month where we avoided talking to each other if we could help it. We still slept in the same bed, but we didn't have sex, we didn't really hug or kiss, if at all, which was difficult and there was a lot of stomping and slamming of inanimate objects going on, as well."

"How did you get over it?"

"Because I came to my senses. And it actually was because of a talk I had with Tre, mentioning to him what I was thinking and feeling, and he told me to basically shit or get off the pot, which I took offense to because him and I were still on outs as it were, so I went home and just decided, I should be telling Mike these things. He loves me, and wants to be with me for the rest of our lives. He deserves to know all this and more. And I was afraid that if we kept on like that, silently at war, that I would lose him and I didn't want that. So, I talked to him, rationally, and we had a heart to heart and things fell back into place. We were stronger than before, and we never kept any secrets or secret feelings or doubts from each other again. Till the end, of course."

Caroline stared off for a moment, her throat drying up and her eyes getting that feeling like they were gonna start to sting from the need to cry at a moment's notice. But she swallowed and licked her lips as she emitted a slow sigh.

"Are you and Nicole having troubles?"

Joey nodded. "Yeah, I was keeping something really important from her, and she found out on her own and she wasn't mad at first, she was kinda in denial that I had wronged her in any way, but then it sunk in more and she was furious. We had this huge fight and I half expected her to break up with me, but she didn't for whatever reason. But..." Joey sighed this time. "I've told her sorry, that I wanna be with her. We still, you know, sleep together, but once in a blue moon, where we used to be like jackrab---"

Caroline raised a hand to him. "You don't have to finish that thought process. Really."

Joey snickered and leaned back in his chair, uncapping the Mountain Dew bottle and bringing it to his lips to take a swig. Recapping it afterward, he shrugged. "I don't know what to do to make it back into her good graces, though."

"Well, I'm sorry you two have hit a rough patch, but if she's still sticking with you despite whatever your indiscretion was, I'd say she's gonna forgive you. Just give her time."

Joey nodded his head and looked at his 'aunt' as he studied her profile when she looked away and seemed to be fiddling with the controls on the soundboard. As they sat there in silence together, he found himself studying her a bit more and didn't feel too bad in checking her out because, after all, she wasn't really his aunt. It was just a term of endearment. And he never actually called her Aunt Caroline, either.

He couldn't deny Caroline was hot and that both Uncle Tre and Uncle Mike had been very lucky sons of bitches to have both been with her.

Of course, unbeknownst to Joey, so had his father.

And he was thankful he could open up to her and not feel awkward about it like he would've if he'd brought it up to his parents or any other blood relative. She was an outside party and yet not.

Not to mention she had cheated on Uncle Tre with Uncle Mike once upon a time ago, so even if he had opened up fully about what he had done, she couldn't really be one to judge, 'cause she'd end up being a hypocrite.

Then again, she didn't cheat on Uncle Tre and get knocked up by Uncle Mike while with Uncle Tre and then hide the child from everyone, so, yeah.

"Thanks for talking to me, Aunt Care," Joey smiled, catching Caroline off guard with the term.

She looked at him and smiled, reaching her hand out and gripping his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "Anytime, kid." She then added, almost ruefully, "Just take things one day at a time and don't be in any rush to get older, 'kay? Heed my words."



The following day, was Mikey's fifth birthday and Caroline had everyone over to her house for a party a couple hours after he had gotten out of school.

It was a Monday night, after all.

He got his first bicycle with training wheels from his Uncle Billie and Aunt Adie along with a five thousand dollar savings bond, which he got every year from his godfather and his godfather's wife; the same as Chloe did on her birthdays from the Armstrong couple. Uncle Tre gave his nephew a miniature size version of his custom Leedy drum set. He knew the boy was being taught guitar from his godfather as well as bass from his mother, so the drummer only thought it right his nephew should be well-rounded, musically.

And he couldn't be one-upped by Billie Joe, so Tre matched the older man, by giving the five-year-old a savings bond as well. However, his amount was a bit smaller, because he wasn't aware of the amount Billie Joe was going with, so his nephew only got two-thousand from him.

The rest of the child's gifts were more generic, like video games right for his age range, movies, remote controlled cars and trucks, clothes, and a new pair of Chucks because he was growing out of his current pair.

The cake was in the shape of a guitar and the ice cream flavor of choice was Neapolitan. And while cleanup was going on in the kitchen by the womenfolk, the menfolk were busy helping Mikey play with his new toys.

Like little boys, themselves.

At the end of the night however, when Caroline was finally able to shoo ninety-nine percent of her guests away, and Mikey was in bed for school, as well as Chloe and the twins just being in bed for the night, she sank down happily onto her couch and was flipping through the channels in her TV with Tre sitting a few spots away to her right on the overstuffed, wrap-around couch.

Caroline settled on a movie on Cinemax and she vaguely heard Tre make a joke about 'skinemax' or something to that order.

"If you want, you can leave Avrie here overnight so you don't have to risk waking her up to take her home with you," Caroline offered, in regard to her niece who was asleep upstairs in Estelle's bed; Estelle having gone home to her mother's house.

Tre shrugged. "You sure you wanna risk juggling five kids, ages five and under, and that's including six-month-old twins, first thing in the morning while you're trying to get Mikey up and ready for school?"

Caroline frowned. "Oh, yeah." Looking down in thought, she then looked back at Tre with a smirk. "Go wake your kid up."

The 41-year-old drummer just chuckled. "Don't worry, she's a heavy sleeper. Just like daddy."

At that moment, a thought came to Caroline's head. "Hey, you know, you could just stay here tonight," she suggested. "This couch is very comfy or there is a sixth bedroom downstairs, too. Or, share Estelle's bed with your daughter."

Tre flashed her a disheartened look. "You mean I can't snuggle with you?" he asked her with mock horror in his eyes. "What if I have a nightmare?"

Laughing, Caroline shook her head. "Well, then I guess your screwed, now, aren't ya?"

"Meanie."

"I'm serious, though. You can stay, Tre."

Tre held Caroline's gaze and smiled appreciatively. "Thanks," he replied. "I think I'll take you up on your offer and then I can even help you out in the morning if you need it."

"Sounds like a plan, my man," Caroline quipped as they both turned their attentions to the movie on the TV.



About a week later, was another birthday.

Adrienne turned forty-five and a big party was thrown at her and Billie Joe's house, despite her not wanting a big party. The kids were clogging up the pool, Billie Joe was on grill duty and the booze, as well as soda for those under age, overflowed.

It was a good time for all, and the Armstrong woman, who had long ago been dubbed the First Lady of Green Day, received some nice presents.

The one present she was not expecting, however, came a week after that, on the 14th of October.

That afternoon, Tre had been laying down some extra drum beats and Caroline was alone by herself in the control room, while the drummer did so, recording it all for him.

It's not like it was rocket science for her anymore. Caroline was now a veteran in the recording process.

This album with Billie Joe and Tre as whatever they were going to be called was her fifth album; that would be including the independent album The Sinners did back in Buffalo on the indie label that folded, the three albums she did with them under Reprise, and now this one.

And right in the middle of Tre's recording process, Billie Joe burst into Studio A like a bat out of hell, his eyes wide and a plastic bag in his hands.

He blew into the live room where Tre was and ran up to the stockier man, completely flustered, which caused Tre to stop what he was doing and for Caroline to do the same and come into the live room and join her bandmates to see what the hubbub was about.

"What's up, Billie?" she asked.

The guitarist didn't know where to begin. "Uh, well, my god. Oh. My. Fucking. God," were the first words out of his mouth as he looked back and forth between Tre and Caroline who were now standing on either side of him. "Well, this morning, Joey came to me and Adrienne before he left to go to Adeline and he asked us to sit down 'cause he had something important to tell us, right? So, we sat down and we're thinking the worst. He totaled his car, someone's dead, he got arrested last night and posted bail and needs the number to our lawyer. Something to that affect, you know?" Billie Joe began to spew without taking so much as a breath.

"Whoa, there, Bill. Slow down," Caroline urged, placing a hand on his arm.

Billie Joe blinked and shook his head with a smirk. "Sorry. Just...if you thought my mind could be chaotic before, well, you ain't seen nothing yet," he warned. "Okay, so," he continued, "I'm all, 'Okay, Joe, what did you do this time?' right? And he's all, 'Uh, well, I don't want you to be disappointed or hate me, 'cause I know I'm only nineteen and you might think I'm too young and I'm throwing away my life...' and at this point I'm thinking, 'Oh, shit! Did he sign up for the army, or something?'"

"Oh, god, did he?" Tre asked, fearing that is in fact what Joey did.

Shaking his head, Billie Joe confirmed that assumption was false. "No," he answered. "He informed Adrienne and me that him and Nicole are expecting."

"What?" Caroline and Tre blurted at the same time, to which Billie Joe just nodded at.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Caroline asked, confused.

"Well, I wasn't at first. I did get mad, a little, thinking, yeah, okay...he's right. I do think he's too young to be having a kid and he's throwing his life away and whatever. But then Adrienne and I just kinda looked at each other and we kinda silently agreed that, you know, Joey is a nineteen year old man now, he has a full time job at Adeline Records and he wants to learn more on the recording process of things, which is why he's been stopping by here more often the last couple of weeks, and he's earning a living, and Adrienne and I are gonna be there to help them if they need it, and we don't want Nicole to have to drop out of school or anything..."

"So?" Tre egged on. "What happened next?"

"We talked it all out, and Joey and Nicole had already decided to keep the baby, they're gonna raise it together and we asked if they're gonna get married and they said not yet, but probably in the near future it's in their plans," Billie Joe explained. "And we said if Nicole wanted, she could live with us, and one of our extra bedrooms could be turned into a nursery for the baby when it arrives."

Caroline and Tre just stood there in awe. Neither could think of what to say at this news as Billie Joe just looked between them for some sort of reaction.

"Well?" the guitarist wondered. "What do you two think on all this?"

"I think that," Caroline began seriously, before giving way to more of a smile, "Oh my god, Billie, you're gonna be a grandfather!"

"I know!" Billie Joe exclaimed right back, his eyes bugging as he darted his gaze downward and withdrew a bottle of champagne. "I thought we could celebrate that I am officially hitting an old man milestone by drinking some champagne and smoking a few joints. Whaddaya say?"

Tre immediately grabbed the bottle of champagne and held it up eagerly. "I say, 'Congratulations, Grandpa!"

"I'll drink to that," Caroline added.

"Let's get some cups..." Tre spoke as the threesome headed to the kitchen for their little celebration.