When He Came Around, chapter 1

The snow fell continuously and showed no signs of stopping. Billie Joe cursed again as the car he had rented wouldn't start. It was the last show of their tour, here in Vancouver, Canada. There was two weeks before Christmas and after tonight, he was heading home. Although looking at the state of things, he wondered if he would even make it to sound check today at four. Mike and Tre were out together, doing some Christmas shopping, considering that Ramona and Estelle had similar tastes, they thought that together they could get something that they would like for Christmas. Two brains are better than one, right?

Billie Joe had decided to head to guitar shop across the street from this small recording studio. He had heard some good things about this recording studio and half wondered if he should check it out. Looking down at his car that won't start, he shivered at the sudden gust of wind that was his final decision maker. He walked over and opened the door to the recording studio. A wave of warm air hit him and he sighed. Looking around, he noticed that it was empty. He took a quick look around and saw that inside they had all the latest, but also best equipment. The inside was quite rich and he smiled at the row of guitars and basses. He would love to get his hands on those.

"Can I help you, sir?"

Billie Joe turned around and saw a young woman standing before him. She had golden brown hair that fell to the middle of her back in layered loose waves and shone against the dim light. Her eyes were green like his and accented by her thick black lashes. She had her eyebrow pierced and a body to kill. Although what made him grin was the fact that she was wearing an old Operation Ivy t-shirt. She seemed generally kind, and not one of those 'really hot, but bitchy' type of woman.

"Actually, my car broke down... and I was wondering if I could use a phone."

Biting her lip, she frowned. "I'm still working on getting the phone line in here, but they haven't decided to come around yet, considering the weather. If you want, I don't live very far... you could use my phone."

Billie Joe hesitated for a moment, but realized that he was much bigger than her and wondered if she would normally invite strangers over. "You like Operation Ivy?" he asked.

Her eyes lit up and Billie Joe smiled. "Yeah, they're awesome. I've been a fan for a while. My name is Mercedes Delisle."

She offered her hand and Billie Joe shook it. "Billie Joe Armstrong."

She nodded and walked to the entrance to grab her coat. "Are you the only one here?" he asked.

Again, Mercedes nodded. "Yes. I own this studio, and I've given the few people that work here time off for Christmas. They left this morning actually. I was just closing up for the holidays. You coming?"

Billie looked around and nodded as he followed Mercedes out the door. She led him to her car and he was surprised to see she had a pretty decent car. But then again, she owned the studio, so money wasn't really tight for her.

She drove to her apartment that was only fifteen minutes away. They talked for a bit in the car, Billie Joe learning that the studio belonged to one of her old professors and when he retired, he offered the studio to Mercedes. She was an honor student in film and music business and learned that there have been some pretty major recording artists that have recorded at that studio. She didn't ask many questions to Billie and his personal life, to which he was thankful for, but he had a small feeling that she may already know who he was. She listened to punk rock mostly and judging by the CDs in her car, he was shocked at how her taste in music was quite similar to his personal taste in music as well.

Billie Joe was amazed at how personable and pleasant Mercedes was. She was funny, but real, and quick-witted with much intelligence, but not to the point where she was snobby about it. She was generally kind and nice. Billie watched the snowfall and thought to himself about the last time that he had met someone who was just 'nice'.

Billie Joe walked into the apartment, behind Mercedes. His eyes quickly darted around and took in the peacefulness of the ambiance, and the comfort that merely staying in her apartment seemed to give to him. Billie Joe closed the door behind him and watched Mercedes take off her coat and scarf, setting them on the coat rack. She turned to Billie Joe and smiled. "Can I take your coat?"

He smiled. "No you may not. I should have asked you that... I'm the man."

Mercedes rolled her eyes and smiled as she went to the kitchen. "Would you like some coffee? Or something warm to drink?"

Billie Joe hung up his coat and walked into the kitchen. On the refrigerator, there were drawings done by little kids. He stood looking at the pictures, remembering when Jacob and Joey used to do that... and sometimes still did. Billie, for some unknown reason, turned and quickly scanned Mercedes hands for a sign of a wedding ring. Her hands were bare. "Billie Joe?" she said once more.

Snapping out of his trance, he looked up at her. Her green eyes seemed to sparkle. "Sorry?" he muttered.

"Nothing... just, I'm making some hot chocolate, and I wanted to know if you wanted some? Have you eaten lunch? I could make you something?"

Billie Joe smiled, shaking his head in disbelief. "You're just like my wife."

Mercedes' smile widened and she took out four mugs. "So is that a yes? I'll get the phonebook after for you to call a garage. Although in the meantime, I'm going to make some lunch."

Billie Joe nodded. "That would be very nice of you, again, thanks a lot. There's not a lot of people that would stop and help strangers out nowadays."

Mercedes agreed with him and suddenly, a cry was heard.

"Mommy!"

Billie Joe turned his head and watched the kitchen doorway as two little boys stampeded through and each one grabbed one of Mercedes legs, hugging tightly. Billie Joe looked at the two boys and was shocked at how much they reminded him of his two little boys. They had dark brown hair, darker than Mercedes bronze locks, and blue green eyes. There was no doubt that they were twins, and no doubt that they were cute. Mercedes kissed each one of them on their foreheads and whispered something into their ears. They nodded and turned to Billie Joe. "Hi Mr. Armstrong," said one of the boys.

Billie Joe chuckled and lowered to the ground to reach perfect eye level with the boys. He held out his hand. "Hello, it's very nice to meet you... "

Mercedes cleared her throat. "The one in the orange shirt is Joey and the one in the blue is Liam."

"Well Joey and Liam, it's a pleasure to meet you. How old are you?"

Joey held up his hand. "We're three!"

"And a quarter!" piped Liam.

Smiling, Billie Joe shook their hands and Liam turned to Mercedes. "What can we have for lunch?"

"Can we have macaroni and cheese!" Joey asked.

Mercedes looked up at Billie Joe, waiting for his request. "I've never turned down macaroni and cheese in my life."

Grinning, Mercedes nodded and poured everyone a glass of hot chocolate. She added marshmallows for the boys, including Billie Joe, and sent the two boys off to clean their room and wash up before lunch. Mercedes brought Billie Joe a phonebook and gave him the phone. As she went back to the stove to start cooking lunch, Billie idly scanned through some numbers, not actually paying attention. Instead, he was watching Mercedes make lunch. She was truly beautiful and possessed this youthful innocence to her. Tilting his head to the side, he sighed. "How old are you Mercedes?"

Mercedes turned around. "I'm twenty-three, why?"

"No reason," he lied. He wondered where the father was then... probably some jerk who left her on her own he thought. Mercedes leaned against the counter as the macaroni cooked. She watched Billie Joe.

As Billie looked at various numbers, he bit his lip and asked, "Joey and Liam are twins right?"

When he didn't get an answer right away, he looked up and saw Mercedes staring at him. He shifted in his seat. Mercedes nodded. "Joey's the older one, by a few minutes I think. I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?" Billie asked.

Mercedes sighed and offered a sad smile. "They're not mine."

Billie Joe blinked and apart from that, remained immobile. "They're... not?"

Mercedes shook her head. "They're my nephews. My sister was twenty-two when she had the boys, but the boyfriend at that time, if you could call him that, left her. She was alone and later overdosed on cocaine. Since my parents and brother are also gone, I was the only one left in the family and I drove down to get the boys when they were three months old. I was twenty."

Billie Joe ran a hand through his hair and frowned. "Wow, that sucks. I mean, not having the boys, cause they seem real great, but you were so young. It was kind of a loss of your youth I guess."

Mercedes shrugged and turned to stir the macaroni. "Partly, but they're my nephews... they're the only family I have now. I would have taken them no matter what."

Billie Joe nodded to himself and waited a few moments before picking up the phone and calling a garage. Due to the weather, they would be down in two, maybe three hours at the least. Secretly, Billie Joe didn't mind at all.

After the call, Billie Joe walked back into the kitchen and saw that the table was set for four people and that Joey and Liam were already sitting, arguing. Joey was in favor of eating macaroni with a fork, while Liam believed it was better to eat it with a spoon. Billie Joe smiled. Letting out a chuckle, he turned to Mercedes who rolled her eyes. "An argument that is to be an issue till the last days of man... macaroni with a spoon, or a fork."

Mercedes motioned for Billie Joe to sit, despite his offer to help with anything. He sat down, and picked at some fresh vegetables that were set down on the table. Mercedes put bowls of macaroni, homemade macaroni, in front of everyone, turned off the stove and sat down, across from Billie Joe.

Lunch that day, sitting with two pretty quick-witted children and a beautiful, funny, smart woman was the best lunch that Billie Joe Armstrong had in a long time.

* * *

With a plate of freshly cooked gingerbread men set on the coffee table in front of the television, Billie Joe watched cartoons with Joey and Liam, truly enjoying just sitting there, listening to the kids and being inside in such a loving ambiance. Mercedes was sitting at the kitchen table and was writing addresses on Christmas cards. Billie Joe looked around and smiled as memories of other Christmases passed in his mind. He had never actually had a Christmas where there was so much snow outside and it made him wonder how he ever had a Christmas without snow. Watching the flakes fall silently on the ground outside and the little bit of frost that had collected on the window, with the lights from the beautiful Christmas tree inside and the decorations around Mercedes apartment, down to the stockings with their names embroidered on them, Billie Joe felt like he was placed into some kind of Christmas movie... a good Christmas movie.

Billie's eyes continued to travel around the room and widened when he saw something he hadn't seen before. "Mercedes!" he called.

Mercedes looked up and saw what Billie was looking at. Smiling, she rose from the table and walked into the living room. "Is that... "

Mercedes chuckled and reached over to pick it up. "A 1952 Les Paul... it was my dad's first guitar. All these guitars are his, so are the two basses."

Billie Joe rose from the couch and looked at the other six guitars that were all lined up and the two basses. They were in beautiful condition and were tuned to his exact liking. "You're dad was a musician?" he asked.

"Yes he was... for forty two years."

Billie Joe held the Les Paul and let his fingers move to the familiar motions of strumming the strings. "This is the one guitar that I've always wanted," he mused.

Mercedes smiled. "Well, play around, I don't mind. They're good guitars, they're meant to be played."

Billie sat on the other couch and plucked away at the other guitars and basses. 'Mike would love this one,' he thought to himself. Then he froze. He hadn't told anyone where he was in the last while, and he forgot that he had a plane to catch that night after the show to go home for Christmas. He looked at his watch and noticed that it was only three o'clock. There was a sound check at four and the mechanic still hadn't shown up. At the latest, he would have to leave at three thirty, in case of traffic and depending on the weather. Frowning, he looked up at Mercedes who was done with all of her Christmas cards and placed them in a basket near the door where he noticed that she had thrown her keys in earlier.

Billie Joe plucked the guitar around for another fifteen minutes before he stood up and started to walk over to Mercedes who was now going through some papers with a calculator and a pen in her mouth. She was wearing glasses and had her hair back, which made Billie smile. He had noticed that there was a huge bookshelf full of books in her room that he had seen when Joey and Liam offered him a tour of their home. There was a small bookworm, schoolgirl side to Mercedes, and he thought it was terribly cute. Setting the Les Paul down gently, Mercedes looked up. "Should I expect a Christmas card?" he joked.

Mercedes leaned back. "Sure, although I'm not too sure how to send it, considering I don't know where you live."

Billie Joe smirked and wrote down his address, along with his number. "You know, I really appreciate this. You helping me out, inviting me in and all that. Although, I have to do a show tonight, our last one for this tour, and we have sound check at four."

Mercedes looked at her watch, and for the first time, Billie Joe noticed she had a tattoo. Along her arm, she had the names, "Richard - Alice - Ray" written in black cursive lettering. It was actually pretty nice. He didn't say anything, but averted his eyes back up to hers. "Shouldn't you be going soon then?" she asked.

Billie nodded, "I should, but they haven't come for my car yet."

Mercedes nodded. "Well then, I'll take you now. Get your coat."

"You don't have to... " Billie started.

Mercedes was already standing up and putting her bills and paperwork to the side. "It's nothing. Come on. I'll take the boys with me... they need to get their hair cut anyways."

Billie Joe stood in the kitchen and watched as Mercedes scooted the excited boys out of the living room where they were playing with their toys and towards the closet to get them dressed for outside. Mercedes handed Billie his coat and once the two boys were warm and safe from the harshness of outside, Mercedes put on her coat and scarf, grabbed her gloves and keys, and off they were.

Driving was slow, but not enough to get them late or anything. Mercedes knew where the stadium was and also knew the quickest way to get there. As they drove, Billie Joe continued to stare out the window and watch the snowfall. "I finally understand the whole 'white Christmas' thing now," he laughed.

Mercedes returned the laugh. "Good old Canada. I couldn't imagine a green Christmas... it's not the same."

"Say, are you going to the show?"

Mercedes looked at Billie Joe quickly and turned her attention back to the road. "Your show?"

"Yeah, well, you must know who I am, although you haven't said anything. I was looking through your CD collection and you had all of our CDs... so I was wondering if you were going tonight?"

"I was," Mercedes said truthfully. "But the person who was supposed to watch the boys cancelled on me, so I sold the ticket to someone else."

"Oh... " Billie Joe replied, quite sadly. He wanted to see Mercedes and the boys again. They were all so nice and polite, not to mention that being around them made him appreciate the entire idea of family and reminded him of his own. Also, the conversation with Mercedes during lunch about music, made him love music all over again. Mercedes was new and intriguing. She was beautiful in every way and to some extent, he felt compelled to protect her and be there for her, not romantically, but just as a person. "Well, you could always bring them," he suggested.

Mercedes laughed. "So they can be moshed on?"

"What's mosh mean mommy?" Joey asked.

"It's something that people do when they really fell... er... into the music. You'll have to be a little bit bigger though before you can mosh Joey."

"I'm bigger than Joey," Liam offered.

Mercedes shook her head. "A little bigger than just by a few minutes Liam."

"So, what do you say?" Billie Joe asked again. "You can watch us from the sides, with the boys."

Mercedes arched an eyebrow. "And when 'Hitchin' a Ride' comes on... where should I hide them?" she smirked.

Billie frowned. "Why would you hide them?" he joked. "The show starts at seven, but you can be down whenever. I'll tell them to keep an eye open for you. And you can bring some of those gingerbread cookies too."

"The ones that you ate?" she continued.

"Those are the ones."

Before they knew it, Mercedes pulled into the arena parking lot and drove around to the back. There were security guards all around and fans waiting in the cold. "Man, they're nuts," he commented. "We're so ugly and it's freezing outside," Billie finished.

"I know, you guys are ugly," Mercedes retorted with an innocent smile.

Billie Joe flicked his finger at her glasses, knocking them crooked and getting a grunt of annoyance from Mercedes. As Billie placed his hand on the door to exit, he turned to the boys on the back. "You two be good now for your mom alright?" he asked.

They both smiled at him and nodded their heads. "We're always good," was Liam's response and Billie Joe shook his head. Turning back to Mercedes, he smiled. "Thanks again. It was really, really great of you to make me lunch and feed me so well. Again, thank you. And I hope you'll come tonight. If anything, you can call my cell and then I'll come find you. Got it?" he asked politely.

Mercedes nodded. "Got it."

Before he realized it, Billie Joe leaned over and kissed Mercedes on her cheek, whispering another 'thank you' in her ear. Mercedes shivered, and watched as the Billie Joe Armstrong exited her car. Her eyes were still locked on him as he walked towards one of the guards. Billie Joe turned back once to look at Mercedes and the boys. They were all watching him with smiles and waved once last time before the guard guided Billie Joe in. Mercedes paused for a moment before shaking her head and drove back home.

Billie Joe Armstrong, the man who's music she had listened to since she was seven, was in her apartment, ate her food, played on her father's old guitar and invited her to come to the show tonight. Never had her luck been so good. She thought about the kiss on her cheek and smiled to herself. It had been years since she had been with any man. First, she had a scholarship and moved down to Vancouver for school in the first place and had no time for 'boys' and later, she had been given the recording studio by one of her professors who was retiring and offered her the studio. And it was only a few months later that the boys had come into her life and no man had wanted to start something with her when she had two boys to take care of. Well, no man her age at least. She knew very well that Billie Joe had a wife and a family, but just knowing that someone still appreciated her was overwhelming. She would love to be one of Billie Joe's best friends.