Thomas' POV
I know Roger dosen't want to let me go. I don't want to leave him. I know how hard it will be for him, I'm supposed to be his best friend. I knew how I felt when he lost his Mimi, it was hard for all us. Roger got hit the hardest by his soulmates death, but we all knew there wasn't anything we couold do to escape the inevitable. Even if it could be on our own terms, like Aprils easy way out.
I know that the light dimmed in my Angel's eye's when her best friend (and little sister in so many ways) passed away. I remeber that conversation that took place afterward so clearly.
Five Months Ago
"Baby?"Angel looked at me, her face streaked with tears. I nodded, not even able to speak, not even ten minutes had passed and I had a firm hand on Rogers sholder by Mimi's rapidly cooling body, she finally looked at peace.
"That's going to be me next. I just know it." I looked at her with shock. "I just have this feeling lover, we have limited tme left together, a cople of months, I just know it, I can feel it in the very depth of my heart, and I'm kind of scared. Tommy." Angel clutched my arm worridly, and at that moment I knew too.
And she was right. Angel passed away just three months after Mimi. Now just two months after she left me, I'm going back to her. It won't be long for Roger either. Poor Mark. I knew the night that Angel died in my arms that my time on earth was almost through. I wasn't meant to live with out her. Roger squeezed my arm.
"Collins?" I turned and looked at him. I coughed, it took me a minute to catch my breath.
"Rog, I'm scared, I don't want to waste away like they did in the hospital surrounded by people who don't give a shit, hooked up to machines like my Angel or Mimi. I want to die peacefully in this bed that I shared with Angel, with her presance everywhere around me." Roger smiled and nodded, but I could see the effort it took him. "Angel taught me how to love again, taught us all, you know that." Roger nodded, he should know by now that no way in hell was I going to die in the hospital.
"I miss Mimi, Tom, more than anything. When she died, well, you know what it's like to lose your sun, your life and your very reason for staying grounded." Roger rubbed his eyes and looked at me again. "And when we lost Angel..." Roger was falling easily into the plural of our little family. "I thought I was going to lose it when we buried her right next to Mimi." It took me a lot of effort, I was dying, I had only hours (if that) left on this earth, and I turned my head and struggled to sit up. This was the worst part, being awake for that last hour, to know that you were dying.
"Promise me something Roger?" He nodded and I manage a weak smile. "Bury me next to her?" Roger smiled, a real smile, something I haven't seen in months, not since Mimi died.
"How did you do it? Without her?"
"I never planned on doing for long, I knew when she left me, then it wouldn't be long before I left to join her. But I just kept telling myself that I'd be back with my perfect Angel again." Roger nodded, and put his hand in mine. I gave it a gentle squeeze. "Could you have the gang come over?" Roger nodded and stood up, presumedly to call Maureen and Joanne.
Here I come Angel, it won't be long now Lover, and I'll be in your arm's again. I'm sorry Rog, I have to go.
Roger's POV
I know he's only got an hour left tops, I'm surprised at how coherant he is though. Mimi wasn't even awake. It hurts, to know that not only did I love my soulmate, but I lost my friend, and now I am losing my best friend.
"Mark?" He looks up worridly from his camera.
"Is he?" I shake my head, Mark stands up. "How long?"
"Mabye an hour, maybe two." Mark nods and heads for the room, and I know that before too long I'll be planning another funeral.
Mark's POV
Collin's looks like shit. He didn't even look this down when Angel died. I flinched internally, even thinking about her hurt. But I know it's killing him, this my be, no this is my last chance to have a conversation with him. He attempts to grin at me, but it just dosent reach his eyes. It's empty, and it has been since Angel died. I sit down in the folding chair by the bed and help him take a drink of water.
"Does it hurt much Tom?" He shakes his head softly and looks at me. I am so taken back, Collin's always been our rock... Now, I can hardly look at him, without the sudden urge to cry. Why was this so hard? Was it wrong to get closer to Collins this past year? When I knew he was going to die? No... then I would have been cheating myself out of a wonderful friendship.
"Mark I need you to take care of him. Please." He speaks with such a soft pleading that my heart breaks in two. I don't even need to ask. "Don't let the herion take over him again Mark, I don't care if you have to-" Collin's went into a rough coughing fit that shook the shadow of his body. I place a hand on his shoulder and hold the glass of water up for him again.
I wait patiently, even thouh it's hard because this is the last chance I have to tell him just what his friendship means to me.
"Even if you have to baby sit, make sure he makes it back to Mimi okay?" I nodded, the tears welling up in my eyes. He wasn't going to make it to say goodbye to Joanne or Maureen, he wouldn't be able to form words by the time they got here without the violent coughs that shook his body so hard. He would die surrounded by love.
"You have no idea how much your friendship has meant to me." I lean forward, touching my lips to his forhead briefly and sqeeze his hand as hard as I can with out hurting him. After everything Collins has done for me, he deserves more. I'll miss him so much. "You tell that amazing Drag Queen of yours that we miss her, ya hear?" Collin's wheezes a laugh, his health worse and worse by the second. "And that you two had better not run out on us, we'd like to see you again okay?" He nods and sighed. I needed to left Rog have his time, and squeezed his hand one last time.
Angel's POV
It's harder than I thought to watch him die. I so want to pull him into my arms and comfort him but I know that I can't. I can't help but, selfishly, wait immpatiently for him, so I can hug and kiss him. I watched from the side of his bed as Roger took his seat. I assume they are waiting for Joanne and Maureen. I touched his head, though I know he can't feel me.
"I love you," Though I know he can't hear me, yet, "I will see you soon." Roger's talking about Highschool. I laugh, those had been some pretty crazy years for all of us. When it's his time to crossover I will be right here, waiting to kiss him, hold him, tell him that I love him.
"Do you feel her Roger?" Collin's voice is barely above a whisper as he speaks, but it catches Roger's attention. He can feel me in the room. "She's waiting for me." He wheezes out another chuckle, and tears roll down my cheeks... Dead people can cry too, and this is certainly sad enough to cry about.
Maureen's POV
I knew as soon as I slammed on the gas pedal of Joanne and I's car that I wouldn't make it in time. We wouldn't have a chance to say goodbye. Just like Angel. I am damn determined to get there while his heart is still beating. My lover sits in the passenger seat beside me. I know she feels that same way, we will say good bye this time.
Collin's POV
I know I'm almost done, becasue I can feel her, the very essance of my Angel in the room, when Mo, Mark, and Joanne burst in. I struggle with words, these will be my last words, I know it, and from the look of their eyes, they know it too.
"I love you all... Goodbye." I wasn't going to take away their chance to say goodbye. They'd already missed that chance with Angel, and they regret it almost every day. The Girls take turns kissing my cheek, and Maureen throws her arms around my neck, crying on my sholder.
"Goodbye, my favorite Teddy Bear."
Joanne kisses my cheek again and whispers, "Goodbye Thomas," into my ear, I can feel the tears. This hurts, is this what Angel was begging for me to make stop in the end? Then I remember, again, that Maureen and Joanne never got to say goodbye to her, This hurts worse than dying. I just want it all to go away, all the pain, so I can selfishly be with my Angel again.
"You make sure to tell Ang that we love her." I could have sworn I heard Angel's giggle. My eye's fluttered shut, and then my meger life was over that fast. I could hear Joanne and Maureen's sobs, as Joanne put tw fingers on my wrist and muttered, "he's gone."
I sit up, looking around, my body is still laying on the bed, Roger's head is between his hands, Maureen is crying into Joanne's shoulder and Joanne's eyes are clouded with thick tears. I walk over to her, touching her face softly, even though something tells me that she would barely know. Mark puts a hand on Roger's shoulder, he's crying to.
"Take care of them Jo, you have to." I turn to face my lover and smile as she runs into my open arms.
"Oh Thomas!" She kisses me hard, as If our lives depend on it and then I take one last look around my home before taking her hand and we walk down a tunnel. I see two very familiar faces at the end, even though one was one I have never seen. God, and my little latina friend.
"Meems!!" I hug her, without ever letting go of Angel.
"Haha, welcome! Hows Rog?" I frown briefly.
"Not too much loger Meem's." She nods sadly.
"Jeez, Angel I love you so frikin' much." I kiss her hard on the mouth and follow Him forward, still holding on to Angel.
That night I look down over Roger, and I see that he is listening to me and making the most of his last few months. Angel is curled in my arms, sleeping peacefully. I smile and kiss her hair. "I love you." I whisper.
"Be happy Roger, it's a waste you know, to be miserable. Mark, Joanne, Maureen. They need you to be strong, you hear?" I know he understands, so I curl around my lover and kiss her lips softly.