‹ Prequel: Family Reunion
Sequel: Communion

Union

The Embarkment

A flight from hell...that it was. For ten hours, Rose and Tre wouldn't speak a word to one another. They sat their distance, and wouldn't even look at each other.

Rose preferred it that way anyways. She didn't want him to see the tears his presence brought to her face. But she was also quite sure at different times throughout the flight, that he was crying as well.

Adrienne occupied the seat next to Rose quite a few times throughout the flight. She felt it her job to try and contain the emotions running high, through the younger woman.

Somewhere over the Pacific, Rose fell asleep and leant her head on Adrienne's shoulder. Adrienne didn't mind this at all. She would have just been happier if Rose could have been leaning on her own husbands shoulder.

***

Waking up six hours after she fell asleep, Rose felt the plane retouch down on the surface of the Earth. Stretching her arms as she reopened her groggy eyes she found she was sitting in her seat all alone again.

Adrienne had moved back with her husband on the opposit side of the cabin. Joey and Jakob were also just waking up, and Mike stirred slightly in his seat as his girlfriend woke up.

It still appeared to be light outside, but very quickly getting dark. The plane slowed and made its way into the terminal. Looking out her small window, Rose was startled to see a group of hundreds of barricaded fans had gathered at the airport.

She hated fans. They made her nervous as all shit. And as Tre woke up in the seat ahead of her, he also looked out his window at the mass number of fans. He was well aware how much Rose was afraid of them.

Standing up from his seat, just as everyone else did when the jet came to a hault; Tre turned to look at Rose again.

Still sitting in her seat, she drew her eyes into the magnetic pull of his. Not saying a word she looked down, stood up and turned around.

"Don't you love this part Bill?," Mike sighed, referring to the fans waiting to greet them.

"Ah ah...curtains up ...five hours. Silence..." Billie said clamping one hand at Mike like a closed mouth.

Mike rolled his eyes and helped his girlfriend out of her seat. "Come on babe. We'll go to the hotel and sleep for a couple of more hours before the show," Mike said to April.

"Hmm, sounds good," she sighed.

"Where's my suitcase?" Rose asked as she looked in her overhead compartment.

In the seat ahead of her, her husband also scronging in his upper compartment for something or another. "I think this might be yours..." he answered her.

Tre having spoke the first words to her, Rose was quite shocked to hear his voice. She had missed his voice, this was the first time she had heard it in an eternity.

"Yeah...that's it," Rose answered quietly. "Thanks..."

"Mmmhmm," Tre nodded as he slid it over to her side of the compartment, and grabbed a tiny bag of his own out from beside it.

Everyone else on the plane could feel the tension. They all exchanged uncomfortable glances with each other.

"Umm...don't bother with your luggage Rose. They'll have it delivered to the hotel," Adrienne said.

"Yeah, that's fine thanks. I just want to get my 'barf bags'," Rose grinned as she started looking through a front compartment of her Louis Vuitton case.

Tre wondered if that comment was supposed to be nasty towards him. Did she mean that he made her feel like throwing up? Little did he know, his wife was once again suffering from the little atrocity called 'morning sickness'.

Airport crew wheeling the manueverable staircase over to the tiny jet as its door was opened; the light and cool air from an October day in Germany poured into the cabin.

The screams of fans became more apparent now, as they waited for their idols to emmerge at any given moment. Rose's heart was beating out of her chest as she held back.

One thing was running through her mind at this moment aside from fearing the fans. What would they think when they saw Tre and herself not holding hands, or even standing near each other?

Every member of Green Day stood in the mid-aisle of the cabin, looking at each other. No one of them could decide who would leave the plane first.

"After you Dirnt..." Tre said motioning his hands towards the door.

"Hmm, gladly," Mike said as he took his girlfriends hand.

Exiting the cabin, the crowd grew louder at the sight of the best bass player on the face of the planet. "Ahh! Mike!" fans cried with joy.

Both Mike, and his girlfriend waved to the fans before escaping into one of two waiting tour buses.

Billie sighed as he motioned for his kids to get in front of him. He took Adrienne's hand and following his kids, headed out onto the declining staircase outside.

"Ahh! Billie! Adi!" fans screamed as he waved unfriendly like and barely turned his head. 'Rude, bitchy and cranky'. All words to describe Billie before any performance. He escaped to the opposit bus as Mike.

Rose stood inside the cabin now and decided she best just get it over with. But Tre rushed ahead of her and exited the plane.

"Oh my God, Tre! Tre come here!" fans begged. Exiting the plane directly after Tre, Rose barely lifted her head to look at the massive group of people.

"Rose! Holy shit it's Rose!" a number of fans screamed while others were obviously screaming about Tre and her in German.

Rose was quite surprised that these fans knew, or even cared anything for her. Seeing her husband disappear into the same bus as Mike, Rose loaded herself up onto Billie Joe's tour bus.

The buses pulled out of the airport. A number of fans darted back to their own vehicles in order to follow the bands buses. The ones whom stayed were quite puzzled as to why the couple left on seperate buses.

***

Arriving a few minutes later, at a hotel in downtown Berlin; the band pulled up behind their hotel and drove into a locked underground parkade.

"Uhh...fuck I'm tired," Rose complained, even though she had already slept a fair share on the plane. Getting off the bus and looking around the underground parkade, once again confronted with the sight of her husband.

Settling into their appropriate suites on the very top floor of the hotel; Rose lay down on a bed and closed her eyes.

Billie and Adrienne took another bedroom, and Joey and Jakob another, in this three bedroom house-size loft.

Green Day, having rented out the entire top floor of the hotel to avoid fans; Mike and his girlfriend wanted a suite to themselves. This left Tre to occupy his own suite, and spend the evening on his lonesome.

Sorting through his newly arrived luggage, Tre came across the honeymoon package he had purchased for Rose and himself. It made him start to cry, as he thought about how it was probably near impossible to do with her all the things he had wanted.

***

Waking up, three hours later, and two hours prior to the show; Rose rolled over on her comfortable hotel mattress. She was hot and sweaty; her heart raced after a familiar repeated dream of her assault.

Getting up and going out into the main area of the massive suite; Rose saw Billie and his family all up and preparing to leave for the stadium.

"Come on Rose, we have to leave," Adrienne reminded her. Adrienne darted around the room quickly, putting up her dreads and trying to get the boys ready.

Billie Joe was standing in the middle of the room staring into space. Rose slowly came over to him and stepped up right in front of his face. She stared at him directly in the same stupid nervous look that was on written on his face.

Rose, waving a hand in front of his eyes; Billie just grew more aggitated and turned away without chuckling or fuck all.

"Hmm..." Rose sighed as she turned away to go back into her room. Finding her suitcase has been delivered whilst she slept, Rose began scronging for an outfit.

Throwing every bit of clothing she had packed all over her room; Rose eventually settled on one particular outfit. A faded old mud stained Screeching Weasel t-shirt. This indeed was the same shirt Mike wore at Woodstock '94. Just another present from the band; this one was given for her twentieth birthday.

She thought tonight she might put it on. Woodstock '94 had been the start of her Green Day obsession. Which is great luck, right?

Just maybe this mudded old 'good luck shirt' would bring much needed luck to her marriage.