A/N: Hey, I'm Back - Anyone missed me? Or this story for that matter. No worries, I'm writing again - so there will be new characters and I'm developing it more. And new problems will rise. And even a character death. It may even feature a cross-over with Grey's Anatomy in later chapters, hinting to all CallieXErica fans.
To those who read this before, I will update fast for the sake of you guys, & I apologize on leaving you guys hanging like that. It was evil of me.
Shout-out to GorgeousSmile, for the help on my future chapter! Keep the information you know on the low down (:
Read & Review & Thank You!
Disclaimer: I don't own RENT in any way or fashion. If I did, I wouldn't be writing FANfic in the first place.
My life with you means everything,
So I won't give up that easily.
I'll blow it away, blow it away.
It's Not Over – Chris Daughtry
It was already four in the morning – 8 hours after Maureen left without a word and Joanne had no idea where her wife was. 8 hours of pure agonizing worry for her safety and her whereabouts.
'Where the hell was she' the lawyer thought as she continuously paced in front of the couch biting her nails – a bad habit, she knew but it was a nervous reaction. Joanne glanced at the digital clock hanging on the wall, 4:05 and with that the diva stumbled through the front door with the smell of alcohol lingering on her and Maureen landed on Joanne, trying to support her weight, the lawyer managed to lead Mo safely to the sofa.
"God – where the hell were you, Maureen?" Joanne fumed trying to control her voice, she knew that her daughter was asleep so she did not want to wake her up.
With a goofy grin plastered on her face most possibly caused by the amount alcohol, Maureen managed to reply "Out."
"You were gone for 8 hours straight; all I get is 'Out'? Did you know how worried sick I was? Cassie was?" Joanne yelled softly at Maureen even though Joanne knew that Maureen was clearly happy drunk; Joanne was exceptionally furious at her. They had an 8 year-old child in the house and this wasn't an example that the lawyer wanted. However, Maureen clearly wasn't listening as she blissfully walked pass Joanne and headed toward the direction of Cassie's room.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Joanne asked
"I'm going ta see Cassie…" Maureen's words were slightly slurred but Joanne could understand clearly and she was having none of that.
"No you aren't, you're wasted and there is no way I am going to allow you in there."
"What the fuck Joanne! Cassie is my daughter too!" Maureen yelled at the top of her voice.
"You're drunk and stop yelling so loudly, she's asleep and she has to go to school tomorrow." The lawyer took Maureen's wrist and slowly lead her to their room "Joanne, you're hurting me!" Joanne just ignored her and told her to be quiet and out of nowhere Maureen snapped and shoved Joanne away, which caused the lawyer to hit against the wall with a loud thud.
"MOM!" Cassandra yelled bolting out from her nightmare or in reality, a hurtful memory from 5 years ago, she had seen this all from peeking from her door. Cassandra quickly snuggled under her blanket as if it would protect her from the outside world. But she could hear Joanne's footsteps running towards her room – her yell had woken her mom up.
"Cassie?!" Joanne came in completely worried stricken but her heart melted as soon as she saw her adopted daughter hiding under her blanket like a five-year old. Joanne silently slid behind her daughter, under the blanket and wrapped her hands around her waist hugging her tightly. Kissing her brown wavy hair in an attempt to calm her down, she heard her mom whispering softly; "It's going to be alright baby girl… It's okay sweetie."
Cassandra snuggled closer into the embrace, a sense of protection washed across her but she wanted someone else as well, "I want Mommy…"
'Damn it for thinking out loud' Cassie cursed in her mind – instantly she prayed that Joanne would not hear what she had said however Joanne had.
It had only been a month since Maureen or in Cassie's case – Mommy – had left the apartment. Both the lawyer and the diva agreed that they needed sometime away from each other as their constant arguing was becoming more violent as time went by. They had sat Cassie down and told her about it, to see if she was fine with it – at first she wasn't sure but eventually agreed. So for the time being Maureen was with Mark and Roget at the loft. Yet, it did not change the fact that both girls missed Maureen dearly and even though she tried to hide it, Cassie wanted Mo back in the apartment.
"Mom – when's Mommy coming back?" Cassie asked – eyes half shut.
"I don't really know baby girl."
"Mhmm – alright," Joanne felt heartbroken as she heard the sorrow hidden in her adopted daughter's voice – and she wanted to get rid of it when a spark of brilliance happened.
"Sweetie - how about you stay a week at the loft with your mommy?" Joanne asked, swiftly Cassie turned around to face her mom and her emerald eyes gleamed with happiness.
"Really?"
"I'll send you there tomorrow morning. How's that sound? "Cassie nodded but than looked down sadly realizing if she left, Joanne would be alone in the apartment, "What about you mom?"
Joanne smiled softly, easing her daughter's worry and she quickly made up a tall tale, "I've got of work to catch up on, working on huge case. So I'll be caught up, but I'll come and check up on you."
"Mom – you may be lawyer but some of us can tell when you're lying," Joanne rose an eyebrow questioningly at the teen and she just hugged her mom, "Okay- fine but check up on mommy too 'kay."
Joanne smiled as she tucked a stray brown hair behind Cassandra's ear, "'Kay. Now go to bed baby girl," but Cassie was purposely being difficult and Joanne couldn't leave until she pinky swore. After tucking Cassandra back into bed – Joanne absent mindlessly walked out of Cassie's room and silently prayed that Maureen would decide to come back to the apartment as well.
Maureen and Joanne had raised Cassie since she was around 5 years old and they both since then watched her grow. Cassie was pretty messed up when they adopted her. Joanne had came across her due to a court case – Cassie's real mother, Evelyn Anderson was charged with first degree murder to her husband and Joanne was her prosecutor. The first time their paths cross was when came when Mr. Lonnie – Mrs. Evelyn's defendant, came to discuss the case with her. Cassie had been waiting outside her office, interacting with her sectary, Amy and for some reason, Joanne could not keep her eyes of her. And Joanne remembered the first day they ever met like it was just yesterday.
"Mr. Lonnie – I don't want to be off topic but who's that young girl?"
"Oh her – her name's Cassandra Anderson, she's about 5 if I am not mistaken."
"She's the daughter of your defendant?" Joanne asked suddenly curious, usually any child who was involved in a case was taken to Social Services, Mr. Lonnie answered that the defendant was also an old friends of his and her mother didn't want her place in the hands of of any Social Services.
"Yes – but see how she never talks to anyone and she is the only possible witness,"The balding man in front of her nodded and continued, "But if you do win the case – she needs to be put in a foster home. Her mother would be doing probably doing around a lifetime of jail time. That is if you do win."
"I believe justice will be served in due time Mr. Lonnie but let's take a short break." Mr. Lonnie nodded in agreement as he left the office and went towards the hazel nut hair colored girl sitting quietly on the bench. Joanne could clearly see the discomfort the young child showed toward her mother's lawyer. When Mr. Lonnie wanted to take her hand, Cassandra instinctively pulled away. Joanne felt a drawing towards the girl and so she stepped out of her office to see what she could.
"Cassandra – I'm not going to hurt you. We're going to get some donuts from across the road." Mr. Lonnie tried to persuade Cassandra but she wouldn't budge than he felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Joanne looking over.
"Mr. Lonnie, Why don't you get coffee for yourself, I'll take care of her." He did a double take but willing agreed and left. Joanne keeled down so that she and Cassandra would be at the same height.
"Hey sweetie – I'm Joanne. Joanne Jefferson. What's your name?" Joanne asked sweetly.
"Daddy's name was Jeffery, I'm Cassandra."
"Cassandra, do you mind if I call you Cassie?" The tan girl just shook her head and looked at Joanne.
"Are you one of Mommy's friends? Like Mr. Looney is?" Cassie asked.
"Why do you ask Cassie? Is that why you didn't follow him? He was your mother's friend?"
Cassie nodded and stated to choke back a few tears, "Mommy and her friends always hurt me," tears were starting to roll down Cassie's eyes and swiftly rubbed it away with her sleeve, "Daddy caught Mommy once and he said he wanted a … a… dey…a …diva…"
"A divorce?" Joanne offered. Cassandra nodded and she could not hold back her tears any longer and the lawyer's motherly instinct took over and hugged the young child tightly, carried her while rubbing her back trying to soothe her , "I want Daddy back…Why did mommy hit daddy with a vase. He didn't do anything wrong." At this point, Joanne's lawyer side was screaming at the sight of a witness and a confession but Joanne knew it wasn't the time to poke deeper into it.
"I'm sorry honey– I can't bring your daddy back but I can make sure your mommy never hurts you again."
"Really?" Joanne grinned at the sight of Cassie perking up but her smile dropped to soon, "But Mr. Looney said if mommy goes to jail he says I have to get new parents but I'm scared they would be like mummy."
Joanne allowed herself to be seated while Cassie continued to hold on to her for dear life, "It's gonna be alright sweetie." Without realizing it, Cassandra fell asleep while she was still hugging Joanne. And before anyone knew it Cassandra had been adopted and Joanne won the case, hands down. However, it was thanks to Maureen that Cassie came out of her shell and became more bubbly and cheerful. Speaking of Maureen, in all honesty – Joanne had been missing her wife terribly – especially at night. A sneaky smile crept up the lawyer's face. Joanne was already under her covers when she noticed the voice recorder line was beeping so she clicked it and the custom message was played.
"Hey! Jefferson – Johnsons aren't here so please…"
THUD!
"Pookie – that hurt."
"It was just a bump honeybear."
"It might have internal bleeding, baby I feel woozy,"
Shuffling was then heard, followed by a giggle.
"Mothers – Leave a message."
Why couldn't she sleep? The drama queen looked at the table clock and saw it was almost 5. Even if she was drunk – she would have passed out by now. Maureen continued to toss and turn, somehow still unable to catch any shut-eye.
With a loud groaned – she grabbed the cordless phone and dialed the apartment number, she just wanted to hear her family's voice even if it was on voice mail.
As the custom message almost ended, Maureen heard a groggy voice on the other end of the line.
"Hey…"
"Joanne? I'm sorry - did I wake you?" Feeling a surge of guiltiness appear.
"Nope. Your daughter woke me up."
"Cass?" Each mom had a nickname for their daughter, Cassie for Joanne while just Cass for Maureen.
"Do we have another daughter, I don't know about?" Joanne smirked, "She had another bad dream but she went back to bed before I could ask her about it."
"I'm sorry I'm not there to help you. If you want you could bring her down to loft tomorrow while you're in the office, I'll talk to her-"
"That sounds great honeybear but can she sleep there for a few days," Maureen heard a soft yawn from Joanne, "she misses her Mommy too."
The diva felt a smile crept on her face, "Sure why not -"
"and then you can also come back to the apartment and I'll have a surprise waiting for you," Joanne whispered seductively.
Maureen laughed softly and the replied to her wife, "Sounds like a plan."
"Bye baby."
"Bye, Jo wait!"
"Yea – "
"Love you Pookie."
"Love you too Honeybear."
And they both hanged up. Maureen cuddled herself into a ball and before she knew it sleep overcame the diva.