Front Porch Story

I put Joey in his car seat and take my place in the driver's seat. We're off to Reprise studios, we're going to get to see the music videos in their entirety for the first time. Billie went in earlier with the Mike and Tre. Joey is just babbling like he always does when I turn on the radio. I pull into the parking lot at Reprise and take Joey out.

I walk down the hallway to the sound room with Joey babbling away in my arms. I open the door and see Billie in the next room talking to some producer seriously, so I take my seat on the sofa, placing Joey on my lap. Joey must have seen Billie because he let out a squeal of joy, receiving Billie's attention.
"Oh there's my guy." Billie says happily as he comes up to us. He picks up Joey, making the baby burst out laughing. "Hey Adie, how was your morning."
"Good, good." I say as I make a small wave to Mike, Anastasia and Tre. "So how's everything here?"
"We're releasing the album in a little less than a month."
"October tenth to be exact." The producer says.

"Hi guys." Lisea says as she enters the room with Ramona.
"Hey." We all say more/less simultaneously.
"Is it bring your kid to work day?" the producer asks glancing from Ramona to Joey.
"I dunno." Tre says as he starts making funny faces only to hear Ramona laugh. She grabs for his nose. "Why the nose?" he asks laughing as he takes her from Lisea's arms.
"Well is this everyone, or are we expecting Mike's offspring too?" the producer asks as he puts the tape in the VCR.
"Very funny." Mike mutters as everyone takes a seat. I hold Joey in my lap as the video Stuck With Me starts, he's more amused with pulling at his feet.
"You look hot with your hair like that." I whisper into Billie's ear, causing him to smirk evilly. Next up is Geek Stink Breath. Ana had a growing look of uneasiness on her face as the video proceeded.
"Oh jeez, how can you guys watch this." She says at peek of the video's dentistry disturbance.
"It's better not to think when you watch this." Mike says calmly.

"Oh this one's for you." Billie says as he takes Joey in his lap as Brain Stew started.
"I don't think he likes it." Tre teases as we see Joey trying to crawl out of Billie's lap. The Jaded part of the video starts up and both Ramona and Joey squeal with happiness, probably because of all the flashing colours.
"Hey your kids already like the stoner stuff." Mike teases. "This is the last one."

Walking Contradiction starts up, this video makes Lisea, Ana and myself laugh like there was no tomorrow.
"Da!" Ramona squeaks towards the end of the video where there's a close-up of Tre.
"That's right, it's me." Tre says happily as he lifts Ramona up in the air. "You're so cute."
"And the award for most hard core rock star goes to..." Mike teases as he receives and evil glare from Tre.
"I don't care." Tre pouts as he kisses his daughter's forehead.

"We should go celebrate now." Mike says excitedly.
"I'll just call my sister and see if she wants to baby sit." I say as I head over to the phone.
"Doesn't she live in Minnesota or something?" Lisea asks as she plucks Ramona out of Tre's arms.
"She moved over here last month." I mumble as I dial the number.
"Hello?"
"Hey Tanya, it's Adie."
"Oh hey, what's up?"
"Uh would you mind babysitting Joey and Ramona today? We'll pay you."
"Yeah sure, I was just going to sit around doing nothing anyway."
"Okay great, so I'll drop Joey and Ramona off in about half an hour."
"Yeah sure." She says as she hangs up the phone.

After dropping of Joey and Ramona we all head out for supper, followed by Mike's for drinks. The booze flow seemed never ending, funny how when the guys first started out they barely had enough money for a beer each. As I return to the sofa from the washroom I sit on Billie's lap.
"Honey, I think I'm wasted." I say laughing.
"I agree." He says also laughing. "It's getting kind of late." I say as I put my lips against his neck. "I should call Tanya." I manage to stand up by putting my hands on Billie's shoulders for support and make my way over to the phone. I dial the number and put the phone to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Hiya Tanya."
"Adie, are you drunk?"
"Maybe just a little."
"Where are you?"
"Mike's house with everyone else, we've all been drinking."
"Adie listen to me."
"Okay."
"Don't leave Mike's house till tomorrow morning when you've sobered up."
"What about Joey?" I ask.
"He'll be fine, right now he's sleeping like an angel."
"Awe okay, give him a kiss for me." I say as I hang up the phone and head back to Billie, bumping into Mike in the process.

"Are you guys sleeping over?" Mike asks as he looks over at Billie, Tre, Lisea and I.
"Yeah." I say as I sit back on Billie's lap and rest my head on his shoulder.
"Alright well you know where the guest rooms are." He says as he and Ana leave us in the lounge.

"Billie, I love you." I say not moving my head from his shoulder.
"I love you too." He says as he helps me up, "Maybe we should go to bed now."
"Okay." I murmur as I lean against him as we head to the stairs.

I fall asleep the second my head touches the pillow and I'm reawaken by Billie who has a glass of water and an aspirin.
"Here." He says handing them both to me. I took them from him popping the little white pill in my mouth and literally chugged down the water before replacing my head back on the pillow and like before, falling in a deep sleep.

The next morning Billie and I silently make our way down to the kitchen where everyone else is sitting in silence, all with their mug of black coffee. Ahh yes the hangover silence. Billie goes to sit at the table and puts his head in his arms. I head over to the pot of coffee and pour a couple of mugs and go to sit at the table as well. I hand a mug to Billie. He looks up from his arms and accepts it, nodding in thanks.

"We should get going." Lisea says quietly as she stands up from the table.
"Yeah us too." Billie says as we too get up.
"Thanks for everything Mike." I say as we head out.
"Yeah, yeah." He mumbles as he places his head in his hands.
"Bye." Tre murmurs.
"Bye." Ana says back quietly.

Tre and Lisea get to Tanya's before we do, so as we pull up the apartment complex we see Lisea walking out with Ramona in her arms.
"I'll get Joey." I say as I get out of the car, which is currently double parked. I head up the stairs to Tanya's apartment and knock on the door.
"Come in!" she calls. I open the door to find her rocking my crying son in her arms.
"Here." I say taking him from her and kissing his forehead. "Sorry about all this."
"It's nothing." She says quietly. I hand her an envelope with her pay for babysitting.
"Adie." She says disapprovingly.
"No, I insist." I say shoving it in her hand.
"Adie, are you okay?" she asks curiously.
"Does this make me a bad mom?" I ask on the verge of crying.
"What?! No!" she says angrily.
"Good Moms don't get pissed drunk."
"Dammit Adie, one time is not being a bad mom, if you make this a habit then you're a bad mom, but this was one time. That's all." She persists.
"I can't help but feel guilty. I screwed up."
"Yeah so? Everyone screws up. But you did the right thing afterwards, you stayed at Mike's so you wouldn't endanger him or yourself, that's why you're still a good mom." She says seriously. I nod as a couple of tears roll down my cheek.
"Well I should get going, Billie's double parked outside." I say as I pick the diaper bag off the floor and sling it in my shoulder as I balance Joey in my other arm.

As I head back downstairs I wipe the tears off of my face. I open the back door of the car and put Joey in his car seat. I go around to the passenger's door and get in.
"Are you okay?" Billie asks, damn he could see I was crying.
"Yeah, just got a little emotional." I say shrugging him off.

We get back home and Billie goes to bed to sleep off his hangover, I on the other hand spend my afternoon in the living room playing with Joey regardless how bad my head is pounding. I just can't shake this guilty feeling, it's like I have to make it up to him. I'm playing a sort of patty-cake game with Joey when Billie Joe graces us with his presence.

"You over your hangover." He asks as he sits on the floor next to me. I shake my head. "If you want you could go take a nap of something, I'll watch Joey."
"No, it's okay, it's just a headache." I say as Joey claps his hands happily and tries to reach for Billie's hand too.
"Adie, is there something going on?" he asks as he scoops up Joey causing the child to burst out laughing.
"I don't know, I just feel guilty about yesterday." I mumble as I stand up to stretch my legs.
"Don't be." Billie says as I sit back down, "You're a great mom, that's for sure, I see you with Joey and-"
"Tanya already gave me a similar speech." I mumble.
"Well then she was right." He says as he leans over to kiss me. "Go and get some sleep." I get up and head to the stairs, just before I go up I look back to see Joey in Billie Joe's lap laughing like crazy as Zero paws at his father's foot.