"Maureen, that was great." Brianna told her smiling from the table.
"Really?" Maureen asked standing on stage.
"Yeah, you're doing really great. I can't believe how this is coming together." she said smiling at her.
"Yeah well, it's great material." Maureen said sitting on the edge of the stage.
"Why thank you." she said laughing as a young girl ran into the theater.
"Hey mom." she called out her long golden blond hair waved in the air as she ran.
"Hey munchkin. How was school?" Brianna asked hugging the 10 year old.
"It was good. Who's this?" she asked looking up at Maureen.
"This is Maureen. Maureen, this is my daughter Hope." Brianna said smiling at Hope.
"Hi Hope. It's very nice to meet you." Maureen said looking into the girls familiar green eyes.
"Are you in my mom's play?" Hope asked smiling up at her.
"Yeah sweetie, I am. Your mom is really good." Maureen said still stunned at how familiar the girl looked to her.
"OK Maureen, we're gonna call it a day. I'll see you monday." Brianna said packing up her papers.
"I have an idea. Why don't you come with me to meet my friends?" Maureen said putting her pocket book on her shoulder.
"Oh I couldn't. What would I do with Hope?" Brianna asked tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Bring her with us. We're a fairly PG gang. I'd really like it if you met my friends." Maureen said smiling at her.
"OK. I'll meet you there. I just have to drop Hope's books and things off at the apartment. Where are you meeting?" she asked looking up at her.
"OK. The Life Cafe." Maureen said as they left the theater.
"I'll see you there." she said smiling as she took Hope's hand and they went home as Maureen rushed to the cafe. She couldn't wait to tell everyone about Hope. She couldn't believe how much she looked like Roger. But if Roger had a kid, he would have told everyone, wouldn't he have? When she got to the cafe, Collins and Mark were sitting at the table and they were waiting on Roger and Joanne, who were still at work.
"Oh my God, you two will never guess what I saw today." she said rushing over to the table.
"I can't wait to hear this." Collins said sitting back in his chair.
"OK, so you know I'm working on this play, right?" she said quietly as she leaned into the them.
"Yeah, um Maureen you've been working on it for a month and a half now." Mark said smiling at her.
"OK, well the playwright's daughter came into the theater today, right and you will never guess who she looked like." she said smiling at them as Brianne entered the cafe.
"Brie?" Mark said standing up.
"Oh my God, Mark? What are you doing here?" she asked as tears came to her eyes.
"I live here now. How about you?" he asked looking at Hope, who looked just like her father.
"I moved back. I wanted to be a playwright, have you heard from..." she started before looking down.
"Yeah, he should be here any minute." he said looking down at her.
"I have to go. I can't face him right now." she told him wiping her eyes.
"No, you should stay. He'd would like to see you guys." he told her quietly as Collins and Maureen looked on confused.
"I can't Mark. Not the way he left us." she said looking up at him.
"Mommy, what's wrong?" Hope asked looking up at Brianna.
"Nothing munchkin." she said trying to leave.
"You really should let him explain." he told her as the door opened and she turned around. Before she knew it she was face to face with Roger.
"Brie?" he whispered as tears sprung to his eyes.
"I have to go. Come on Hope." she said pushing past him. Hope looked up at him and smiled as her mother dragged her out of the cafe.
"What's going on? You know Brianna?" Maureen asked as Roger and Mark stood staring at each other.
"Yeah, you can say that Mo." Mark said as tears ran down Roger's face.
"Did you see how big she got?" he said shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah well she's 10 Roger." Mark said as Collins got up.
"Can someone clue us in on what's going on, please?" he asked looking at them.
"I have to go." Roger said rushing out of the cafe.
"That was Roger's high school girlfriend and their daughter." he said as Collins sat back down in his chair.
"Roger has a daughter and no one told us?" Maureen asked looking up at him.
"Her mom talked him into leaving them so they'd have a better life. They ran away and tried to make it on their own, but things were so hard for them, so when Brianna's mom finally found them, she talked to Roger and told him that she would take care of Brie and the baby if Roger was out of the picture. Otherwise, they would be still be struggling and he didn't want that. He didn't want to turn into his father, so he had to break up with her so her and their daughter could have a life." he explained sitting at the table.
"That explains so much." Collins said looking at Maureen.
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"Brie, wait." Roger called out running down the street.
"Why Roger? You don't need me complicating your life any more than I need you complicating mine." she said turning around to face him.
"We really should talk Brie." he said as they stood in the middle of the sidewalk.
"About what? Roger, I need to go. I have to make dinner." she said walking away.
"I'm her father Brie." he asked as Brianna stopped.
"Mom?" Hope asked looking up at her.
"Sweetie, can you look in that window please?" Brianna asked pointing to the clothing store in front of them.
"But Mom..." Hope asked again confused as she looked at Brianna and then Roger.
"Hope, please. I need to talk to this man, OK?" she said kissing Hope's head as she went to the window.
"Brie, does she even know about me?" he asked walking towards her.
"Of course she does Roger, but all the pictures I have are from when we were kids. You left us when she was almost 6 months old and we never heard from you again. I had to raise her on my own this whole time." she said watching her daughter.
"I left you because your mom threatened me. She said if I stepped aside, she would take care of you and hope, but I had to leave you and never look back. Otherwise we would be living the way we were before she found us and I didn't want the for you two." he told her looking down at his feet.
"Well guess what Roger. She shipped me off to my aunt's and refused to see us. She used me to watch Bethany and then when she didn't need me anymore, she kicked me out of my aunts house too. Me and Hope were on our own. She didn't take care of me, she just wanted us apart." Brianna told him as tears came to her eyes.
"I'm so sorry Brie." he said quietly as he reached out for her.
"No. Roger you broke my heart. You promised that everything would be OK. You promised you loved me and that we would be a family and then you broke up with me." she said pulling away from him.
"Brie, I do love you. All I've ever wanted was to be a family with you and Hope. She's my daughter and I missed her whole life. But I did what I thought was best for my family." he told her looking at Hope.
"You love me? As in present tense?" she asked looking up at him.
"Yeah. Brie, I never got over you. I've been wanting to see you guys for a while, but I called your moms house and the phone was disconnected. Mrs. Cohen said your mom and Bethany moved and no one knows where they are." he told her quietly leaning down to her.
"Yeah, she sold the house and ran off with some guy she met at the hospital. I haven't seen her in a while." she said looking down.
"She got so big." he said smiling at Hope.
"She's 10 Roger. Kids tend to do that." she said looking up at him.
"When did you move back?" he asked looking down at her.
"A few years ago. I decided to start writing again and I wanted to sell my plays. That's how I know Maureen. She's in my latest one." she said tucking her hair behind her ear like she always did.
"Do you think I can maybe take you and Hope out for dinner? Maybe catch up with you and get to know my daughter?" he asked smiling at her.
"Roger, I don't know if I'm ready to let you back into our lives. What if you decided to leave again? I don't know if Hope could handle that. She's 10 years old." she said looking up at him.
"Brie, I was 17 years old then. Your mom manipulated me into thinking leaving you two was for the best. I never wanted to leave you. I love you both so much. Not a day goes by when I don't think about you." he told her as Hope came running up to them.
"Mom, can we go back to that restaurant? I'm hungry." she said looking up at her.
"Hope, sweetie. There's someone I want you to meet." she said looking up at Roger.
"Are you my dad?" Hope asked as Roger smiled at her.
"Yeah sweetie, I am." he said as tears formed in his eyes.
"You look different then the pictures my mom showed me." she told him holding Brianna's hand.
"Yeah well you look a little different from the pictures my mom gave me of you too." he said taking his wallet out and showing Hope the picture. It was pretty worn.
"This is me, you and mom when I was a baby." Hope said looking at it.
"It was the last picture I have of you." he said smiling down at the picture.
"Why did you leave?" Hope asked looking up at him as she handed the picture back to him.
"It's a long story kiddo. Why don't I take you and your mom out to eat and we'll talk?" Roger asked looking down at her.
"Can we mom?" Hope pleaded.
"Sure munchkin." she said smiling at Hope, but Roger could tell how uncomfortable she was.
"Don't worry Brie. I'm not going anywhere this time." he whispered as they started walking back to the Life Cafe.
"We'll see Roger." she said holding her daughters hand.