Pieces of Truth

The next morning we all went to some local diner for breakfast, and who did we see?

Adrienne, and she wasn't alone. Sitting in her lap was a little girl, no more than a year and a half old. The woman noticed us, grinning as she got up and bringing her baby over to our table.

"Billie, could I talk to you?"

He looked to me and I simply shrugged, so he followed her back to her table.

"This does not look good," Tre mumbled as we sat and watched them talking.

I noticed how animated Adrienne was as she mouthed words like, 'baby' and 'yours', which made me nearly choke on the Pepsi I was drinking.

"You ok?" Mike asked from beside me and I shook my head.

"That creature is telling Billie that her baby is his," I laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" Tre asked, not getting it.

"That is the blondest little girl I've ever seen. I've seen Billie's baby photos, and it wasn't like that. Two brunettes don't equal that color."

"Weirder things have happened, you know," Mike reminded me.

"Her eyes are blue, I saw when they were over here. There's no possible way that any child of his would not get his green eyes." I was certain this woman was a lying sack, so I decided to go over there myself.

"Adrienne, that girl of yours is really pretty. What's her name?" I asked sweetly as I saw next to Billie, who gave me a stunned look.

"Her name is Allison and she's almost twenty-three months."

I nodded, doing the calculations in my head. I ignored her confused stares as I figured out exactly where Billie would have been those thirty-two months ago, and it hit me.

"So that means Billie Joe was with me, right? If my math is correct, which it is, that puts you at about.. January of 1991 conception. Billie was home with me, getting ready to tour," I said blatantly, watching Adrienne's mouth drop.

I knew she knew that Billie wasn't exactly book smart, and she was trying to take advantage of that.

"Why don't you go try and convince a blue eyed, blond guy that the kid is his, because it certainly couldn't be Billie's."

I glanced to my right and saw Billie checking my math and his eyes widened.

"She's right. I can't believe you tried to pawn your kid off on me by saying I was on acid and we had sex."

Adrienne was at a loss for words as we got up. On the way back to our table, I looked at Billie.

"You've done acid?"

"Not yet I haven't!" he laughed, taking his seat.

"So Bill, are you a dad or what?" Tre asked eagerly.

"Hell no! That kid looked nothing like me," he replied, obviously relieved.

I wasn't too sure if he was ready for little Billie Joe recreations running around and causing mayhem.

The tour quickly made its way over to Seattle, where we had the strangest time. Our first night there, Billie and I were invited to dinner with Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. We ended up going back to their house to get stoned afterward. I was hesitant about the thought of trying heroin, so I stuck to some pot, but Billie actually gave it a try, but not before he asked me first.

When we returned to the hotel the next day, he decided to ask me how I felt about him doing it.

"I dunno," I shrugged, "I didn't really like how you acted, but I was high too. Just please don't get addicted."

We stood side by side in the elevator, both facing forward.

"I won't, I promise. I really did it just to try, you know? Don't worry, I'm not gonna turn into Kurt," he assured me.

We walked into the hotel room and found Mike and Tre passed out on the couch and floor. Billie got a little idea, and we quickly went and got buckets of ice. We tossed them on the guys, cracking up at their totally opposite reactions. When they were done being mad at us, we sat around then decided to go explore Seattle.

The four of us went around the city, ending up at a park that had a playground.

Billie and I were swinging, Mike was attempting to sleep on one of the benches, and Tre was messing around on top of some pretty high monkey bars.

"Grace, look at me!" Tre called, trying to show me some cool trick he was going to do.

"He's gotta be careful," I told Billie as we watched.

Tre jumped off of the metal structure, attempting to do a front flip, landing on his back and slamming his head against the concrete.

"Oh my god," I breathed, jumping off of my swing and running over to Tre's unmoving body.
Billie wasn't far behind me, and Mike had heard and was off the bench in a flash.

"Tre?" I asked, quickly feeling for a pulse.

He had one, but he was out cold.

"I'm gonna go call 911," Mike said quickly before running to the nearest payphone.

Billie helped me elevate his head; there was some blood, so he must've cracked his head open. I cringed, knowing that feeling all too well.

"They'll be here in ten minutes or less," Mike announced, "The operator says to keep his head up, put pressure on a wound if he's bleeding, and just talk to him. I gotta go stay on the line with her."

We nodded and Billie pulled off his ratty gray hoodie, holding it under his best friend's head carefully.

"Man, you're a dumb ass," Billie said with a small chuckle, "That was a cool flip though."

"Billie!" I gaped, smacking his arm.

"What? It was awesome," he shrugged.

Once Tre was in the ER, all we could do was wait.

Billie had made several calls to everyone, their manager included, to let them know what was going on.
We kept asking what we could do to help, but the nurses kept telling us to wait.

I sat in the uncomfortable chair next to Billie, who was tapping his foot and twiddling his thumbs nervously.

"Billie Joe, he'll be okay," I told him as I slipped my arm through his, trying to offer some sort of comfort.

"You don't know that," he muttered, watching Mike come back from the hall with his eighth cup of coffee.

A few hours slowly passed before we were allowed to see Tre. We went in, and I immediately noticed that he was different.

"Hey Tre, how ya feeling?" Mike asked, pulling up a chair and I did the same.

Billie stood anxiously near the door and I understood why. He despised hospitals with a passion, which was totally justifiable for him.

"You gave us a scare, Tre," I told the man in the hospital gown, who gave me a weird look.

"Why are you calling me Tre? My name is Frank," he said, making our mouths drop.

"Do you even know who we are?" I asked, but I had a feeling I already knew his answer.

The crazy, fun loving Tre wasn't sitting in the bed; that light in his normally wide eyes had vanished.

"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head.

"Do you know what you do? Where you're from? Your birthday?" Mike asked, and Billie remained silent.

"The doctor said I live in California, but that's really about all I know. I would love if you could tell me.."

"But you're not allowed," a nurse interrupted as she walked in, "He needs to remember things on his own. The doctor stitched him up and he would like to keep Mr. Wright overnight."

"How long can it take for him to regain his memory?" I asked, keeping an eye on Billie, who kept inching for the door.

"Anywhere from the next hour to a few months. It's hard to tell."

"Oh," Mike uttered, shaking his head solemnly.

We sat there staring at Tre, when I heard the door quickly open and close, signaling that Billie had made his escape.

"I'll be right back," I told Mike and 'Frank' as I got up and followed.

He was halfway to the waiting room by the time I caught up with him.

"Billie, I know this is hard for you.. But you have to be there for Tre. He needs to remember who he is."

"I can't be in that room right now," he answered, avoiding my gaze.

"Why not? You can tell me, you know that."

"This is way too familiar territory. All I can think of is my dad, the time you were drugged, and all the times I've been admitted."

"Oh, Billie Joe, come with me," I took his hand, leading him to the waiting room and sitting him down.

I wasn't sure what to say; I didn't have to go through what Billie did when my mom died.. There was no prolonged knowing that her time was running out, it was all so sudden. Billie knew ahead of time, and I think that's why he's been so careful with me on tour. He didn't see Tre's accident coming and he's freaked out.

"You couldn't have stopped Tre even if you wanted to. He's gonna be okay, we just have to spend lots of time reminding him why he's Tre Cool and not Frank Wright the Third," I smiled reassuringly, finally getting him to be compliant.

"Let's go show him what he's missing," Billie grinned, practically dragging me back to Tre's room.