Good Man

You're more than a lover
There could never be another
To make me feel the way you do



Saturday Night Live was on the flat screen TV in Caroline's bedroom as she walked at a brisk pace on her treadmill. With her eyes glued to the TV screen, giggling at the amusing sketch being acted out, it was a miracle she didn't drop the bottle of Mountain Dew she was uncapping in her hands to take a swig of at that very moment.

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of exercising?" came Tre's inquisitive voice from where he lay on her bed; knees bent with the flats of his feet on the mattress while he held the remote in one hand and situated the other behind his head.

Caroline looked over at him, then down at the green bottle in her right hand. She shrugged, "You only live once."

"Unless reincarnation is real."

Shaking her head with a smirk, the hazel eyed woman returned her attention to SNL just as it went to commercial. Quietly, she fumed. She had missed the tail end of the last sketch because of Tre's question.

"Are you coming to the baby shower tomorrow?"

"I'm not the father to be, nor the grandfather to be, so...most likely, no. Baby showers are typically girl things."

"We're talking about Billie and Adrienne's first grandchild here," Caroline gave Tre a withering look. "I know Joey and Nicole sent you an invite and I also know Billie, more so, would most likely devour your soul if you don't come."

"I didn't realize my presence was so dire," Tre quipped. After a slight pause, he shot her a teasing smile. "Of course I'm coming."

"Good."

"Someone's gotta be the life of the party."

"It's a baby shower, Tre. Not a bachelor party."

"I know that," he replied simply, followed by a shit-eating grin. "The bachelor party is in two weeks."

Caroline could only respond by taking another swig of Mountain Dew and turning her attention to the TV once again as SNL came back from commercial.



The next day, Caroline drove to Billie Joe and Adrienne's house with Estelle and Chloe. Her parents had gladly offered to take care of her Mikey, the twins and Avarielle at Caroline's house. Tre was following behind them in his SUV, since as not to draw attention to their relationship.

Not that they were trying to hide what they were doing from anyone. After all, Billie Joe already knew, and he probably told Adrienne already, which was fine, and Estelle knew now only because she was eighteen and not stupid. When she woke up that morning and saw her Uncle Tre wearing boxers and a T-shirt in the kitchen, she knew something was going on. She didn't come right out and ask but the look she threw to him and then to Caroline as soon as she came into the kitchen was enough for them to noncommittally admit that they were more than just friends.

And Estelle was fine with it. If she had to pick someone she would love to see make Caroline happy for the rest of her days, Uncle Tre was the best option in her mind. Even if they never married, which she knew was most likely the case, since Caroline had, on more than one occasion, vehemently denied the notion of ever marrying again.

Normally that would make Estelle a little sad, but it also made her proud that her stepmother would stay forever married to her dad, legally and in her heart and mind.

It endeared Estelle to Caroline all the more.

When they all arrived to the baby shower, the frowned about the lack of parking but other than that seemed in jovial spirits as they toted their gifts into the house.

"You know this is a joint shower, right?" Estelle muttered to Tre when she took note of the baby duck wrapping paper on his gift.

"Who else is having a baby?"

"No one," she replied. "It was on the invitation, that this is a baby shower and a wedding shower."

"Oh," Tre spoke limply. Anyone could tell by one look at his face that his mind was working double time to remember what the invitation he'd been given said. "Fuck."

Caroline laughed as she pushed past him. "They're gonna be living at home. They don't need any wedding shower stuff. Give them a gift at the wedding."

"I'm gonna have to now. It'd be a little tacky shoving a bunch of twenties into Joey's palm mid-party."

"Well, you have two weeks to buy a nice card for all those twenties."

They found the buffet style table set aside for gifts and then began to mingle. Chloe almost instantly found her Auntie Adie as she wove through the guests like a bee with its sight on the most precious flower in a garden.

"Auntie Adie!" Chloe squealed as she threw her arms around her godmother's legs and smiled a thousand watt smile upward at the woman.

Adrienne's heart melted as she crouched down to swoop the four-year-old up into her arms. The two pressed their noses together and gave each other Eskimo kisses.

"How's my favorite girl?"

"Good."

Caroline watched the interaction from a few feet, and guest lengths away, just smirking. She continued after a few moments, content knowing her daughter was in good hands and would probably stay glued to Adrienne's hip the rest of the day.

There was some music playing in the background, several people had small white plates filled with finger foods or cups of either coffee, tea or some sort of soda in their hands; either sitting or standing as they snacked, drank and chit chatted.

Caroline found a spot in the kitchen with Billie Joe's sisters Marcie, Hollie and Anna; the four women talking about this and that and eventually cooing as Nicole made her way toward them, her stomach protruding so far out they all joked that the baby would probably come out the same size as Billie Joe. And, of course, Billie Joe had to happen to walk by at that moment and throw a mock offended look at his sisters and Caroline.

"Are you calling Nicole fat or me short?"

"You short," they all replied at the same time, followed by them looking at each other and cackling.

Billie Joe, the good sport he is, just smiled and walked closer toward the twenty-year-old who was going to be his daughter-in-law in two weeks' time and placed an arm around her widened waist, moving his hand to the side of her stomach. "Don't listen to them. Joey's taller than me and your dad's gotta be taller than God. I think your kid will stand an excellent chance of not inheriting my height deficiency genes."

Nicole giggled. "I'll love him or her no matter what."

"Aww," Billie Joe smiled, kissing her temple. "Good girl. You're definitely in my Will now."

Giggling again, Nicole nodded. "Awesome, can I have your Fairlane?"

"Hey, I'm not dead yet."

The party wore on and the time came for everyone to watch Nicole and Joey -- but mostly Nicole -- open the gifts they'd received. It was the typical baby gifts, gifts Billie Joe and Adrienne could have bought all of without making any dent whatsoever in their bank accounts. But family and friends always wanted to contribute and buy gifts for each other. Mostly they got clothes because everyone probably assumed the unborn child's paternal grandparents would have taken care of the bulk of the gifts or they just didn't look at the registries at Pottery Barn Baby and Babies R Us.

The most amusing outfit was probably the plain, white onesie with a green dollar sign on it that said, in black letters, Tax Deduction.

Surprisingly, that was not one of the gifts from Tre, but in fact one from Jakob.

After the gifts had all been opened, the door prizes handed out, cliche baby shower games played and cake eaten, the party began to wane. The bulk of the guests with longer distances to drive to get home, left first, since it was a Sunday and most had to be to work or school the next morning. The immediate family and close friends stayed longer, helping the Armstrongs clean up.

"Any names picked out?" Caroline asked when she was alone in the family room with Joey and Nicole.

"If it's a boy, we like Austin Joseph," Nicole responded, subconsciously rubbing her belly. Caroline took note of it and smirked. Every woman who has ever been pregnant does that. She remembered doing it as well during each of her pregnancies.

"And if it's a girl?"

"It's a toss up between Cadence or Dominique," Joey answered. "Whichever we decide on if it's a girl, the middle name will be Nicole."

"They're all great names. I have a cousin named Austin back in Buffalo."

"Oh yeah, I think I remember him from your wedding ceremony and reception you and Uncle Mike skipped out on." Joey flashed Caroline a smirk and nudged her knee with his before sitting back on the couch they were all on.

"Yeah, well, we did what was right for us. You two won't be able to do the same because Nicole is too far along to hop a plane anywhere. And you should really enjoy your wedding ceremony and reception. After that, only one month left of freedom before parenthood."

Joey kept a straight face and simply nodded, but as he looked away, it was as if something more was on his mind. Nicole wasn't looking in his direction, so she didn't notice it. Caroline did, however, but it didn't seem like it was anything major to her, so she let it slip.



Thirteen days later, Adrienne was literally running around her house like a chicken with its head cut off. She was shouting at her sons, husband and the boys standing up as ushers for Joey's wedding ceremony. The best man, Jakob, was probably the only calm one there, watching his mother run back and forth from room to room, upstairs and down, making sure everyone was getting ready on time and the guys all had their corsages pinned on.

"This shit is stupid, mom," Joey complained at the white corsage she was pinning onto his lapel during one of the brief moments when she actually stopped moving.

"It's tradition. Shut up."

Billie Joe smirked. "Your mom and I had the dinkiest wedding known to man and even I wore a corsage, Joe. You'll survive."

Caroline sat at the kitchen table with Mikey and Chloe who were the ring bearer and flower girl, respectively, watching all the craziness ensue.

"Do I get a flower on my jacket, Aunt Adie?" Mikey asked when she finally stepped away from her eldest.

"Yes, you do," Adrienne smiled when she turned and looked down toward the nearly six-year-old.

"Let's switch," Caroline muttered, gesturing to Joey. "You pin my boy, I'll apply cover-up to yours."

"Apply what?" Joey question with a grimace as Caroline began to dig through her purse. He watched her pull out a some make-up thingamajigs and started to back up. "Nuh-uh. I'm not wearing make-up."

"Dude, seriously, you might wanna reconsider. You still have dark circles under your eyes from the bachelor party and that was two nights ago."

Joey shot a faintly venomous look at his cousin Andrew who looked more like he could be Billie Joe's other son rather than his nephew, or could be a younger version of Billie Joe, but with glasses.

"Do you really think Nicole wants to marry Edward Cullen?" Caroline pestered.

"Actually, yes, she probably would," Joey smirked.

"Joey, let Care put the cover-up on you," Adrienne groaned as she knelt down in front of Mikey, situating the corsage on his lapel. "When your Aunt Nat takes photos before and after the ceremony, you're not gonna wanna look like death warmed over."



Finally, the circus arrived to the church.

The Armstrongs, who weren't a religious, church-going family, were a little out of their element at Montclair Presbyterian Church in Piedmont which was where Nicole had been brought up in, even though she also wasn't religious at all. However, that didn't mean she wanted to forgo the traditional church wedding. Mostly she was just appeasing her own family.

They weren't one hundred percent happy that she had gotten pregnant before marriage, and that she was only twenty, but they were content in knowing she would be married before the baby was born and they she would still be able to continue her education. And they were thankful for Billie Joe and Adrienne taking on the brunt of the work in the grandparent department.

The Armstrong family just seemed better equipped to deal with chaos than the more conservative Stanley family.

Adrienne's sister Nat had showed up at the Armstrong residence to take a few "getting ready" photos of the guys putting their tuxedos on and general goofing off, before she hurried over to Nicole's parents house where Nicole had been staying the last week and where all the girls in her wedding party were getting ready. Natalie Nesser was now at the church getting photos of Joey standing at the altar at the front of the church, with Jakob immediately to his left, followed by some of his friends, cousin Andrew and Nicole's younger brother Kyle.

Shortly thereafter, Billie Joe stood up and walked over to the side of the church where a microphone stand was set up and he began to sing a song he had written for this occasion, as a request by Nicole who wanted something special and one of a kind to play when she walked down the aisle instead of the wedding march or the overused Canon in D by Pachelbel.

As the green eyed guitarist sang, he had to close his eyes to keep from staring at his song because doing so would only make his eyes water up and he wouldn't be able to see anything anyway. And he wasn't about to get choked up and fuck up the song.

After the last bridesmaid and the maid of honor made their way toward the altar and took their place, Nicole finally appeared in the doorway between the church's sanctuary and the narthex with her father's arm linked through hers.

She looked beautiful, wearing a simple white dress with an empire waistline to accommodate her huge stomach. Her hair was pulled up with a few crystal jewels in her hair. Her make-up was done simply as well but in a way that made her brown eyes stand out and her lips plump and ready to be kissed. Holding a small bouquet of white roses in her hand, she smiled toward Joey as she and her father got further down the aisle.

Billie Joe had finally opened his eyes and watched Nicole walk up to Joey, letting the song come to an end. Quietly and discreetly he set the guitar down and walked toward the pew in the front row of the right side of the church where Adrienne was sitting. She took his hand immediately and he brought hers up to his lips to kiss it. They looked at each other and smiled.

Turning their attention toward Nicole and her father, they watched as Rick Stanley placed his daughters hands in Joey's, then take a step back.

The pastor moved forward and began to speak, "Who gives this young woman away?"

"Her mother and I do," Rick Stanley replied before kissing his daughter and taking his seat beside his wife.

As the pastor droned on, Nicole stared at Joey, who stared back at her; big smiles on both their faces. They were excited and happy to be marrying each other, despite the fact that they had each spent a few minutes before the ceremony had begun, sitting by themselves, both unaware that the other was thinking the same thing at the same time.

That out there in the world, Joey had fathered another child and a few moments of cold feet were taking their place. They wondered if they were doing the right thing, if they were going to fast, if they loved each other enough to go through with it.

But when it came down to it, Nicole and Joey made each other very happy and were very at home with each other. She would strive to be the best wife and mother of his legitimate child, and he would strive to be the best husband and father of their child together that she deserved for sticking with him through thick and thin.

Adrienne turned to Billie Joe and leaned her head on his shoulder, letting out a mew of a sigh, tears stinging her eyes and threatening to ruin her mascara. She couldn't believe her firstborn was getting married and at the same time she was remembering her own wedding twenty-one years earlier. She lifted her head just a bit to look briefly at Billie Joe's profile. His hair, which he'd dyed back to dark brown from blonde within the last week, curled slightly around his temple, ears and back of his neck. His face was clean shaven and he still looked the same to her.

Adrienne smiled and returned her head to his shoulder, unaware of the tear rolling down his cheek on the side of his face opposite from the side she was leaning on.

Caroline sat about two rows behind with Tre. She was watching Mikey and Chloe who were sitting with Billie Joe and Adrienne. She had taken a few pictures with her camera when they came down the aisle together; Mikey holding the small pillow with fake rings sewn own and Chloe holding a basket of orange rose petals, and throwing clumps of them to the ground in front of her as she walked beside her brother.

Ramona, Frankito and Estelle sat in the pew with Caroline and Tre; Frankito on his father's left, Ramona and Estelle together on Caroline's right. Their little ones, the twins and Avarielle were at home with Caroline's parents again for the day. The Woods weren't all that close to the Armstrongs, and were more than okay to babysit their grandchildren while the others attended Joey and Nicole's wedding.

Taking Caroline's hand, Tre gave it a quick squeeze while Nicole and Joey took turns repeating the vows to one another. She looked at him with a smile and knew in that moment she truly did love him as more than just a friend with benefits.

They might have had a romantic past that eventually became awkward and uncomfortable after they broke up, but they had found their way back to friendship, even to being best friends and then back to each other's beds. They were there for each other, and could walk in the other's shoes when it came to having lost a spouse and friend. They care deeply for each other and each other's children. They had a career they shared.

But despite the love they were beginning to realize they truly felt for each other, there was no rush at all to make it a big deal.

Especially when they had a busy year ahead of them with their new album which they had finally wrapped up recording and all the promotion and touring which would follow.

Right now, they were going to focus on the matters at hand and worry about the rest later.

"By the power invested in me, by God and the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife," the pastor eventually announced, gesturing to Joey and Nicole. "You may kiss the bride."

When Joey wrapped his arms around Nicole as best as he could with her bulging front, a round of happy applause erupted from all the guests present when the young newlyweds kissed.

Especially Billie Joe who could barely see what was going on with all the tears in his eyes.



Oh we just get closer
I fall in love all over
Everytime I look at you
And I don't know where I'd be
Without you here with me
Life with you makes perfect sense
You're my best friend