Family Reunion

Adrienne, Mike, Billie Joe and the boys all went home from the hospital the next day. Tre insisted that he couldn't leave Rose's side. He wanted to be there the minute she opened her eyes.

Well to Tre's disappointment Rose didn't wake up on this day either. Weeks went by and Friday came and went. Tre had slept almost constantly in that wheelchair. As time went by and even though she was in a coma Rose would get morning sickness and throw up. This was something the doctors had to monitor closely so that she would not choke on her own regurgitation.

A nurse finally made an arrangement for Tre to get a hospital bed next to Rose. But it did require moving the existing patient that was occupying that bed.

Billie Joe, and the rest of Rose's family would all come visit frequently. They all begged Tre to leave the hospital because they claimed it was making him crazy.

The only good thing about the weeks gone by was the fact that Tre didn't need a wheelchair anymore.

Tre 'was' beginning to feel crazy. He had done nothing except lay by her side day after day with nothing to do but wait. He was reminded of that little boy who had gone into a coma and his parents claimed he woke up when he listened to American Idiot.

He thought that maybe he could give it a try; even though he still felt quite skeptical about the whole thing.

For close to ten minutes Tre left Rose's bedside. He rushed to the closest Wal-Mart and bought up a CD player, headphones, and a copy of American Idiot. The young girl working in electronics was more then a little surprised to see him. She wanted to ask him why he was buying his own CD, but she never actually did.

Tre returned to the hospital his heart racing out of his chest. He was so worried he had missed her waking up while he was gone.

Well to no surprise she was still there undisturbed. Her scrapes had healed quite noticeably in the time she's slept.. Tre spent little time opening the package that the small CD player was stuck in. He opened up his copy of American Idiot and placed it in the player.

He plugged the headphones in and realized that the CD player had no batteries. He became frantic and started running around the hospital begging for batteries. "I need two 'Double AA' batteries!"

"I might be able to find some, what do you need them for Tre?" the nurse asked him because she had come to be quite friendly with Tre. She thought he was a good person for never leaving her side.

"For a CD player, I want to play Rose some music. I heard the Jesus of Suburbia can heal people," Tre said.

"The Jesus of what?" the nurse asked.

"Ah... never mind," Tre grinned.

"Here, I found some," the nurse smiled at the drummer as she passed him a couple of batteries.

"Thank you," Tre said and he took the moment to pause and let her know he really appreciated it.

"Oh, you're welcome," the nurse said.

Tre took off back down the hall to Rose's room. He had left the CD player on the side of her bed and he quickly snatched it up again. He threw the batteries in, placed the headphones over her ears and pressed play.

He turned it up loudly and waited for some sort of response.

***
In Rose's mind she felt trapped. All she could see was the image of her favorite band playing American Idiot on the other side of a green haze while she appeared to be tangled up in something.

She looked down at herself to see an invisible barrier wrapped around her. "Why can't I get out of here?" she asked herself. She felt scared and although her favorite band was there she almost knew they couldn't help her get free.

***

Tre played the entire album through and there was no response from Rose. He decided to put it on repeat and he would just keep playing it until the batteries ran out. He didn't know what else to do, he was at wits end.

"Rose, please respond to something..." Tre said. "Come on, don't wanna be an American Idiot..." Tre said as he started to sing to her.

***

Rose was still trapped; she was in her own world. She knew this wasn't like her ordinary dreams. This dream seemed to never ever end.

She looked at Green Day through the haze again and suddenly through the clouds a drumstick had come, flying towards her. It smashed into whatever this invisible barrier was and shattered it into a thousand and one pieces.

Just then she felt herself jerk and gasp.

***

Tre just stared at her expecting dead batteries before any signs of life from her. Just then the most unexpected thing happened. Her body jerked knocking her headphones off and she gasped. Tre just about had a heart attack as he jumped up from his seat.

She lay back calmly and she slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times as she looked around at the room around her and couldn't bring her to speak for quite a few moments that -- besides Wake Me Up When September Ends bafefully playing in the background -- were silent. "Where...where am I?" she finally asked quizzically.

She looked around, at the medical equipment, the ceiling lights shining in her eyes and Tre Cool standing at her bedside. After being away so long in her head it seemed easy to forget that she knew Green Day in real life. She was more used to not knowing them and living thousands of miles away from the place where they dwelled.

"Oh my god...Tre Cool..." Rose gasped.

"Rose... oh my god Rose... " Tre said as a smile came to his face.

She turned her head to her side to see the headphones lying next to her ear. She realized the song that was playing and she adverted half her attention to it.

Rose then looked at Tre again, "Oh my god, no this can't be true."

"Nurse! Nurse!" Tre shouted.

The nurse came running in. "What is it?" When she set eyes upon Rose she gasped. "Oh my...I'll go get the doctor!"

"What am I doing here?" Rose inquired, suddenly realizing her body hurt a severe amount.

"We got into a car accident Rose," Tre said.

"We did? When was I ever in a car with Tre Cool?" she said feeling intimidated by his presence.

"Rose...you don't remember?" Tre asked.

"Remember what? Oh my god...where are we?"

"We're at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles dear," a male doctor said as he came into the room slowly with a flashlight in hand.

"I'm in California?" Rose shuffled herself slightly.

"Yes, that's right," the doctor said and he turned his flashlight on and began shining it in the young woman's eyes.

"Oh my god. You're fucking Tre Cool, what are you doing here?" Rose said with excitement, ignoring the fact that she was being blinded.

"Rose, I can't believe you don't remember," Tre sighed.

"It all just seems like one big dream to me. I can't remember when my reality turned into a dream. How long was I asleep for?"

Tre looked at his watch, "62 days, 4 hours and 31 minutes."

"What? I've been gone for over two months? And you've been counting the days and hours?"

"I need to call Billie Joe and the rest of your family," Tre said and he picked up his cell phone.

"Billie Joe? Oh my god I love Billie Joe! Green Day is so ultra cool, I've loved you guys since I was like eight or something! Wait what do you mean Billie Joe and the rest of my family?" Rose said with a bewildered face. "Am I still dreaming right now? Because I would really like to know what the hell is going on."

"Rose, just let me call your family. I think it would put too much stress on you right now if I was to go and tell you everything that you've apparently forgotten."

"I haven't forgotten, I remember almost everything. I just don't know whether it's true or not."

Tre dialed Billie Joe's cell and he picked up slowly. "Hey Tre."

"Hey man, guess what!? Tre said with excitement.

"Oh my god, did she wake up?"

"Yes! And I'm so happy right now, she looks beautiful. I missed seeing those beautiful green eyes of hers," Tre smiled.

Rose looked at Tre, feeling uncomforted by his strange comments of her. He couldn't possibly be talking about her, could he?

"Just hurry up and get your ass down here quickly."

"Okay, we'll leave right now!" Billie Joe said and he too felt just as happy.

"Okay love yah," Tre said and he hung up his phone. "Rose! You came back!" he gave her a gentle hug.

"Go easy on her son," the doctor warned Tre.

"Oh, of course!" Tre obliged.

"So Rose, how are you feeling today?" the doctor said, just needing to know.

"A little bit confused; and my body really hurts," she said and she started to weep. Was it her confusion or was she just hysterical? Maybe it was a combination of both.

"I'm sorry to hear that dear. I assume you've already been told where you are and why you're here."

"I have...but I don't understand," Rose said and she lifted her arm up to her eyes when she noticed patches of skin all over her arms. She gasped, "Oh my god, what's wrong with me?!"

"Relax dear, we had to give you a skin transplant. You also shattered your jawbone and we did some reconstructive surgery on your face; but you are very lucky to be alive. You will get use to the changes, and your body has not fully healed. This time next year the only scars you'll have will be thin white lines; not the pink lines you see right now. So don't worry about it at all," the doctor said.

"Don't worry about it? What the hell happened to me!" Rose shouted angrily, but then sudden fell ill and leant over the side of her bed and hurled. "Oh my god... " she whispered.

"Rose," Tre said wanting to explain to her why she was likely feeling the was she was. "I have to-"

"What Tre Cool?" Rose answered like she didn't know him personally and she wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand.

"You're my girlfriend," Tre told her.

"Wow really?" Rose laughed in disbelief. "This is an awesome dream! I love Tre Cool!" Rose said aloud, in her head she really did believe she was dreaming, because nothing like this could ever happen to her.

"Rose this isn't a dream," the doctor assured her.

"It isn't? Well I feel in a dream state right now, but maybe it's just my anxiety disorder; it does that to me sometimes. But wait...no Tre Cool can't be my boyfriend," Rose laughed, "that would be fucked."

"Your dream state is normal, your mind has been in that state for longer than usual it is normal to feel disoriented with everything," the doctor explained.

Tre was really starting to become concerned for her. Well he had been for the last two months, but in a different way. "Rose, you came out here with your mom for a family gathering. Your mom kicked you out of your house back east, you live with your cousin Billie, I'm your boyfriend, you're my girlfriend." Tre slowed down to say the last bit, "And... and you're pregnant with our child."

Rose's jaw dropped to the floor but the moment was overshadowed by the doctor who wanted to ask her an important question." Rose, what do you remember happening before you woke up?"

It took her a few minutes to say anything. She had been silent since hearing the news from Tre. "I...ah...there was... umm there was..." Rose stammered.

"That's okay, take your time," the doctor said.

"Tre Cool was there, Billie Joe and Mike Dirnt. These guys have always been really special to me, their music had been my savior," Rose said and she looked down at the discman that was sitting beside her on the bed. The CD could still be heard, it was on its last song Whatsername. "And Tre Cool, he threw a... a... .I think he threw a drumstick at me. And then all of a sudden I just I jumped and I woke up."

Tre looked enlightened that she had been dreaming about him for two months; and longer then that without question. "I can't believe it..." Tre said.

"I think that means you knew he was trying to help you and you grabbed his hand," the doctor said.

"The music...I could hear it so clearly. And then bang, the reality came tumbling in and I escaped it. Thank you Tre Cool..." Rose said and it was obvious she was very grateful. "They should make this CD a legal drug."

"It already is..." Tre laughed.

"Yeah that's true," Rose smiled but then recalled what he had said to her. "Is that really true? Billie Joe is my cousin...and me and you?" She didn't even ask about her mom, because as far as she was concerned if it was true that was wonderful.

"Yeah, it's pretty damn true," Tre said and he felt so happy he kissed her on the side of her mangled face.

She froze she just didn't know how to react. She looked like she'd seen a ghost or something. Tre stared at her with a look of concern. "Are you okay?"

"Umm...yeah," she said nervously. "Umm...so what's the date then?" she laughed slightly trying to relieve the tension she was feeling.

"July 28th..." Tre said.

"Really? Wow, did I sleep through my eighteenth birthday?" Rose asked and she looked very bummed.

"Yeah you did, but that's okay I'll still throw you an awesome party," Tre said and he pinched her playfully.

"You need to stay in bed and rest Rose. You might be feeling anxious to get up and walk around, but I really think it is best you don't for a few days. Things will become more clear to you, as you think of them in your conscious state," the doctor said.

"Oh...okay," she agreed. "Whoa, I'm just so shocked and..." she didn't get to finish her sentence before leaning over the side of her bed and throwing up again.

"Oh boy..." Tre said as he reflexed back from getting regurgitated on.

"Oh, jeez I'm sorry Tre Cool..." Rose muttered in embarrassment and she bit her prudent bottom lip.