Union

"Poor Billie..." Rose said as she cuddled up next to Tre, and rested her head on his shoulder in their side by side seats.

"Yeah..." Tre sighed as he rolled his eyes without her noticing. He knew Billie was extremely upset but under the given circumstances, he didn't feel much sympathy for the lead singer.

"Look...do you know anything about my girlfriend or not?!" Mike yelled into the phone at the back of the cabin.

Suddenly all around them darkness, and silence.

"HELLO?!" Mike shouted into the now dead airphone as he looked about the cabin of shadows, "Oh shit..."

"Oh my God! Frank what's happening?!" Rose said, almost jumping out of her skin with fear.

"Fuck...I don't know," Tre answered as he they held each other close.

"Mom!" Jakob was heard screaming from the cockpit of the plane.

Adrienne darted out from the bathroom and into the dark cabin. "What the fuck is going on?!" she shouted, starting down the long aisle towards the cockpit.

"Mom!" Joey called now. He and Jakob appeared from the cockpit, but weren't clearly seen.

"Boys! Sit down! Billie! Get out here!" Adrienne said as she turned back towards the bathroom.

"Oh my God...we're going to die!" Rose said and she started gasping with anxiety.

"No we're not..." Tre assured her.

Right now the only sound that could be heard was the noise of their own fearful hearts pounding a terrible rhythm. They were gliding seven miles up in the air; and without engines, quickly descending.

"I don't want to die!" Rose started crying hysterically. She always knew why she disliked flying, and this be one of those reasons.

"Captain! Captain! What the hells going on?!' Adrienne said, darting down towards the cockpit door. Opening it she could barely make out a man sitting at the wheel of the small private jet. "What's happening?!"

"We're having power failure," he answered calmly.

"Well...can't you fix it?!" Adrienne said with excitement.

"I hate to say this to you. But right now, it will be pure luck if the power decides to come back on," he answered.

"Oh my god..." Adrienne sighed.

"There's one good thing though. We might be close enough to our destination to just glide in, power or not," the pilot said.

"Can you do that?" Adrienne asked hopefully.

"Well...I saw it done before on television, if that helps..." he said.

"Fuck...that's great," Adi said sarcastically. "Look, please try anything. This is my family, nothing can happen to them," Adrienne said as she started to shed tears. There was one thing about Adrienne Armstrong, the woman was brave.

"Of course ma'am," he answered.

"Thank you..." Adi said, she brushed his shoulder and turned back for the cabin.

"Mommy...are we going to die?" ten year old Jakob asked.

"No..." Adrienne said as she came over to both her sons. "Billie! Get out here!" she demanded again.

"Oh God...we're gonna die...we're gonna die...we're gonna die...we're gonna die..." Rose cried as she buried her head in her husbands chest.

"Rose shh..." Tre hushed her and he rubbed her back lovingly.

A seemingly brave Mike hadn't made another peep since the engines went dead. In the dark though, he was secretly crying.

Billie slowly came out in the cabin, and could now hear his sons crying. This brought him away from his selfish 'whoa is me' type behavior. "Guys, it's okay," Billie said with fatherly love as he took back his seat on the right side of the cabin.

"I love you Frank..." Rose sniffled like she might never get to say it again.

"I love you too," Tre replied, in an equally sorrowful tone. "Mike? Billie?" Tre asked suddenly.

"Yeah?" Mike said in a quiet voice.

"Yes?" Billie said as he was huddled up with his wife and kids.

"I want you guys to know..." Tre started before being cut off.

"We know..." they both said in unison. "We love you too man."

"Good..." Tre said nodding his head and feeling himself break into heavily emotional tears.

They were aloft over the Pacific Ocean, with no light and thinking they were going to die for twenty-three minutes before the lights came back on.

"Oh my God..." Rose said lifting her head from Tre's chest.

The captain came over the intercom, "Okay, power's back and if I can administor it to hold long enough we're an hour from the San Francisco airport."

***

Touching down in the wee hours of October 21, in San Francisco everyone was exhausted and stressed to the max.

Outside their small plane, Rose was met once again with the sight of waiting barricaded fans. Apparently that's what happened when Germany made a big deal about Green Day leaving their country. Everyone back home knew about it.

"Don't ever let go of me..." Rose said to Tre as she stood up out of her seat with him as the plane parked.

"Never..." Tre smiled at her comfortingly.

What had happened on this flight? Had the threat of a near death experience made Green Day aware of how much its survival gave survival to its band members?

The stairs to exit the plane were put in place and each member of the group looked at each other, trying to decide who should face the gathered crowd first. Not just a crowd either, a whole media circus as well.

Taking his wifes hand, Tre nodded his head. "Come on Rose..."

Rose looked at Billie, Mike, Adrienne and her two younger cousins, thankful to still be alive to see them all. "Okay..." she answered slowly to Tre, before turning into the mid-aisle with him.

The side door of the plane was opened, and an early sunlight poured into the cabin. The sound of the crowds became louder. Rose decided this time she would step outside first, followed by her husband whom was holding her hand from behind her.

Seeing Tre follow out his 'popular to Green Day fans' wife, they got overly excited. Some people sounded like they were cheering, and others like they were booing.

"TRE! ROSE!"
"BOOOO!"
Someone was holding a picket-sign that read, 'Green Day Killed Those Kids'.

"Shit..." Rose said as she saw the limousine that was supposed to take them away.

They weren't able to make it pass the media circus without being stopped by multiple reporters,

"Tre! Is it true Green Day..."
"Mr. Cool! Is Billie Joe responsible for the deaths of those twelve teenagers?!"
"Mr. Cool?! Can you tell us what made Mr. Armstrong so upset!?"

"SHUT UP! NO AND NO!" Tre retorted before pulling Rose through the crowd towards the limousine.

"LEAVE US ALONE!" Rose shouted.

Surely enough the reporters did. That is only becuse they saw Mike appear on the stairwell without his girlfriend and rushed over to him.

"BOOO!"
"GREEN DAY IS GUILTY!"
"GREEN DAY SUCKS!"
The crowd of angry adults shouted with anger.

Only a few supportive fans showed up to welcome home their favourite band. No one could really know for sure what had happened and why though.

"Mr. Dirnt! Where's Billie Joe? Did he kill those kids?!"
"Mike! Do you have a guilty conscience?!"
"Where's your girlfriend Mike!?"
Reporters yelled as the pushed him around between themselves.

"WHAT KIND OF FUCKING QUESTIONS ARE THESE?!" Mike snapped as he tried desperately to push through them.

"MIKE HURRY UP!" Tre yelled from where he was sitting inside the limo.

"I'M FUCKING TRYING!" Mike shouted.

He became more free to walk as the reporters rushed away from him, at the sight of Billie Joe and his family appearing in the exit to the small jet.

"BILLIE'S A MURDERER!" a protestic parent shouted.

Coming down the stairs, with his kids and wife behind him Billie sighed with stress. "NO COMMENT! NO COMMENT! DON'T EVEN FUCKING TALK TO ME!" Billie shouted at reporters.

This didn't stop them from asking outrageously bizarre questions,

"BILLIE! BILLIE JOE! DID YOU PURPOSLY START THE RIOT?!
"DID YOU LAUGH WHEN THOSE KIDS DIED?!
"MR. ARMSTRONG?! ARE YOU A THREAT TO YOUR OWN CHILDREN!"
"KIDS! DOES YOUR DAD EVER HURT YOU?!"
Reporters saw that each member of Green Day adorned several bruises on their faces. Thankfully Billie's kids did not.

"I'M NOT FUCKING PSYCHOTIC! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Billie shouted as he shoved his family and himself through the media circus and into the limousine.

"Fucking perfect..." Mike said crossing his arms in anger. "Fuck! I need to get a fucking phone call soon..." Mike said, only thinking of his girlfriend.

"What's fucking perfect?" Adrienne asked, looking away from her husband, over at the bassist.

"This...this is going to finish us," Mike answered as the limousine started up and started to drive out of the airport.

"I thought we already agreed we're finished anyways?" Tre piped up.

Billie, Mike and Tre all looked at each other, unsure of what the next man was thinking about their band. "Let's go on hiatus..." Billie suggested suddenly.

"Hiatus... How long?" Mike asked.

"A year," Billie said.

"An entire year? But Bill..." Mike said.

"Look man, if we decide to do something before that, than fine... But I think a year would do us all some good," Billie said. His mind right now was still heavily fogged with the burden of feeling responsible for the deaths of twelve teenagers.

"Okay," Tre agreed.

"We won't ever live this down..." Mike said shaking his head.

"Who gives a fuck? I'm thirty-six years old; I could use a vacation back into my past," Billie said.

"What do you mean 'into your past'?" Mike said with a dumbfound look.

"I meant, if this destroys are career...I don't mind being an underground punk band again," Billie said.

"Oh..." Mike said.

"I miss those days..." Tre admitted as he put his arm around his wifes shoulder.

"Yeah me too..." Mike said looking down, recalling days they would play at Gilman, or in Tre's garage.

"Yep, and I have the perfect inspiration for an 'underground CD'..." Billie Joe grinned.

"What's your inspiration?" Rose asked him curiously.

"Well, we almost just died. That's a big fucking inspiration. I want to do a tribute to the victims of the riots, it will be a way of paying omage and apologizing," Billie said. "Because I am very sorry..."

"It wasn't your fault," Mike finally said.

"Thanks Mike. I'm going to blame myself until the day I die though..." Billie said as he shed more tears.

Mike sighed, "You shouldn't."

"I will though... I also have someones royal ass I should be kissing, because she tried to prevent something that meant the world to me from getting destroyed. Her story should be told, because it's worth being shared. And to her, I'm also very sorry," Billie said, letting his eyelids droop down over his green pupils.

"Whose story?" Rose asked her cousin.

"Let's just say...every rose has its thorns..." Billie said looking up at her.

"Blue...." she whispered.