Disclaimer - I own nothing of RENT or Ragtime. Both of them belong to their respected owners. 'Nuff said.
Italics are song lyrics.
A/N: After finding out that my high school was going to put on Ragtime for their fall musical, I got very excited and bought the Ragtime soundtrack online. My favorite song is 'Your Daddy's Son' and it made me somehow think of RENT. I thought about the song for a while and worked it in my head, resulting in this idea.
Summary: AU: After Mimi has her son, she realizes how much he looks like Roger. Set to the song Your Daddy's Son from the musical, Ragtime. Set in 1902 & rated T for safety. One-shot.
Genre: General/None
Rating: T
Mimi Marquez was nine months pregnant and working as hard as she could out in the cotton field. Wiping the sweat off her brow, she went to work putting the cotton into her basket at her side. There were two others beside her - her friends Angel and Joanne. The three of them had been friends for a long time and didn't plan on abandoning each other anytime soon.
"Dear lord, I think it's happening." Mimi announced, placing her hands on her stomach. Angel and Joanne rushed over, just in time to see their friend lower herself to the ground.
"Easy, darlin'." Joanne soothed, nodding for Angel to fetch some help.
"Joanne, am I dying?" Mimi asked, squeezing her eyes shut as a contraction tore through her body.
"No, honey. You're going into labor." Joanne answered, going to Mimi's front and lifted up her skirts. The sun was starting to set and Joanne did not want to leave her friend alone in the dark.
"Ben and Thomas went to fetch Roger - Master's son." Angel announced to her friends. Joanne nodded and with Angel's help, moved Mimi to the slave quarters.
"Dammit - I can't find him anywhere." Ben told the others, sticking his head inside.
"Leave him be - Angel and I got it from here." Joanne told him, flashing him a small smile.
Hours passed and Mimi was entering the final stages of her intense labor. Resting, she laid back on the pillows when Angel gently shook her awake.
"You had a son, but he didn't make it." Angel whispered, handing Mimi a bundle. Mimi blinked the tears out of her eyes and requested that she be left alone. The others nodded and exited the shed.
Gently rocking her stillborn son in her arms, she realized how much he looked like Roger - Master's son. Roger and Mimi had gone away together after Mimi finished her chores and he would play his guitar for her. Mimi knew she wasn't Roger's only lover - there were at least two other slave girls that she knew about - April and Maureen. When Master had found out about Roger sleeping with the three women, he had sold Maureen and had whipped April to death. So far, Master hadn't laid a finger - or the whip - on Mimi and she thanked God for that every minute of every day.
"Ooh…
Daddy played guitar,
Played it very well.
Music from those hands could
Catch you like a spell.
He could make you love him
'Fore the day was done.
You have your daddy's hands.
You are your daddy's son
Ooh…
Daddy never knew
That you were on your way.
He had other ladies
And other tunes to play.
When he up and left me,
I just up and run.
Only thing in my head -
You were your daddy's son." Mimi crooned, feeling tears stream down her cheeks.
The next morning, Tom, Mimi, Joanne, Ben, Angel and a new slave named Moses, came to witness the burying of Mimi's stillborn son. Mimi bawled like a baby when Ben put the baby in the ground. Angel and Joanne placed their arms around Mimi's shoulders, comforting her.
"Couldn't hear no music,
Couldn't see no light
Mama, she was frightened,
Crazy from the fright.
Tears without no comfort,
Screams without no sound.
Only darkness and pain,
The anger and pain,
The blood and the pain!
I buried my heart in the ground!
In the ground -
When I buried you in the ground." Mimi belted, feeling the anger boil inside her.
Since she had had a baby, Master refused to let Mimi work and threatened her with the whip if he saw her in the fields. Mimi laid on her bed and cried most of the day, but when she felt dried-up, she just laid there in the silence, asking God why He had taken her baby away from her.
"Daddy played guitar.
Bet he's playin' still.
Mama can't forgive him.
Don't suppose I will
God wants no excuses.
I have only one:
You had your daddy's hands.
Forgive me
You were your daddy's son." Mimi crooned into the darkness.
The next day, Master let Mimi return to work and put her to work in the horse barns with two slave boys - Zack and Jacob. They had heard what had happened with Mimi and were extremely sympathic towards her. Mimi smiled and thanked them, going to get the first horse to be groomed - a big black one named Hercules - out of his stall and into the set of crossties.
As Mimi groomed Hercules, she gently sang to him as she worked, which he seemed to enjoy. Mimi smiled and went over his body with a brush when she heard laughter and talking. Looking out, Mimi couldn't hide her tears as Roger and a black-haired girl walked towards them.
"We would like to go for a ride." The black-haired girl told Mimi a little too loudly.
"Yes, ma'am. Which horses would you like?" Mimi inquired.
"Pauper and Chocolate, if you don't mind." Roger answered. Mimi nodded and with Jacob's help, they got the two horses ready to ride in a hurry.
"Here you are, sir and ma'am." Zack announced, leading the dappled gray Arabian stallion named Pauper while Mimi led the chocolate-brown Quarter Horse mare named Chocolate.
"You - girl. My horse's saddle isn't on straight." the black-haired girl yelled at Mimi. Mimi took a deep breath to hide her anger and adjusted Chocolate's saddle.
Mimi watched as the two of them rode into the horizon, secretly wishing that it were her and Roger instead.