Disclaimer: I don't own Rent. All character you recognize belong to Jonathon Larson and all those you don't belong to me.
Thirteen year old Roger Davis watched his mother move around the kitchen. She was rushing around putting dishes away, finally she stopped and started to cry. Roger rushed over to her and wrapped his arms around her.
"It's ok mom." He said softly.
"I just can't believe it." She said pulling away from him and wiping her eyes. "I really didn't think that she would pass away."
"I know." He said quietly looking at the floor.
"Roger I want you to look after Kelly, ok?" She said. "This is going to be really hard for her."
"I know." He said looking up. "We were all going to go there after school today."
"That's a good idea sweetie." She said hugging him. "Are you sure you're up to going to school today?"
"Yeah. I have to get Kelly's school work for her." Roger said.
"Ok. You should probably be getting to school. Is Becca ready?" She asked.
"Yeah she's up in the bathroom right now she should be down in a minute." He said grabbing his book bag.
"Remember that you need to get your work for the next two days too. Tomorrow's the wake and then the next day is the funeral." She said, tears forming in her eyes again.
"I will." He said as he hugged her one last time before leaving. He waited on the front steps of his house for his sister to come down. He saw one of his best friends make her way across the lawn.
"Hey Roger." Maureen said sitting down next to him.
"Hey Mo." He said looking at the ground. "How are you holding up?" He asked looking up at her for the first time. He could see the tears in her eyes.
"I guess I'm doing ok. I can't believe that she's gone. I mean she was like another mom to all of us." She said trying to hold back her tears. Roger wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"I know. But she's not in any pain anymore." He tried comforting her. "But we got to be strong for Kelly, Mo. She's going to be real upset for awhile."
"I know. Don't worry I won't cry in front of her." Maureen said wiping her eyes.
"I didn't mean it like that Mo." Roger said.
"I know. But she doesn't need me breaking down in front of her. She needs us to be her shoulder's to cry on." She said.
"You're a really good friend." Roger said. He heard the door open, he turned around and saw Becca standing there. "You ready?" He asked. Becca just nodded and followed him down the steps. They walked in silence to the bus stop when they got there, Mark and Benny were waiting there.
"Hey guys." Benny said. Everyone said hey. They all stood their in silence.
"We're still going to Kelly's after school, right?" Mark asked.
"Yeah." Roger said. No one said another word. They just waited until the bus came.
Roger was going nuts. He couldn't concentrate in any of his classes. By the time lunch came around he couldn't take it anymore. He found Mark walking into the cafeteria.
"Mark I'm going to go to Kelly's, ok?" He said pulling him off to the side.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Mark asked.
"No. If we all left they would suspect something. Just come by after school, ok?" He said.
"Ok. Tell her we love her and we'll be by later." Mark said.
"I will." Roger said turning around and walking out of the school building. It took him about twenty minutes to walk to Kelly's. He noticed that her fathers car wasn't in the driveway. 'That's weird' he thought. He walked up to the door and got the spare key out from under the doormat. He grabbed the key and quickly went inside.
"Kelly?" He called out dropping his book bag by the door. He when he didn't get an answer he started to get worried. He quickly ran up the stairs and into Kelly's bedroom. She wasn't there but then he heard crying coming from the next room. He gently opened the door and saw Kelly curled up in a ball crying on the bed. It was the room that her mom stayed in when she got sick. Roger walked over to the bed and sat down next to her.
"Hey." He said softly reaching out taking her hand in his.
"Hi." She managed to say between sobs. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"
"I thought that you could use a friend today." He said. "Have you eaten anything today?" Kelly shook her head. "Come on you need to eat." He said pulling her up with him.
"I don't want to." She said pulling away from him.
"Kelly you need to eat ok?" He pleaded with her. "Please?"
"Fine." She said. Roger wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room and to the kitchen.
"So what do you want to eat?" He asked looking through the refrigerator.
"I think Mrs. Coffin sent over a casserole." She said quietly from the table.
"Ok. I bet its good. She's a really good cook." He said trying to find the casserole. He finally found it he pulled it out and just stared at it. Not really knowing what to do with it.
"Put it in the microwave." Kelly said still looking at her hands.
"I knew that." He tried laughing. He put it in the microwave and sat down next to her. "Everyone said that they'll stop by later." Kelly just nodded and continued to look at her hands. "You want to talk about it?" He asked taking her hand in his.
"There's nothing to talk about." She said.
"Kelly you can't just not talk about it." Roger said.
"She's dead Roger. She's dead and she's not coming back." Kelly said before breaking down. Roger pulled her into a hug.
"It's going to be ok, Kelly." He said softly as she cried into his shirt. "It'll be ok."
"How can you say that? It's not going to get better." She yelled pulling away from him.
"It will get better. It just takes time." He said pulling her into another hug. "You know you have a lot of people that are here for you. Whatever you need I'm here."
"I know." She said pulling away from him and trying to dry her eyes. "I don't want to be in this house right now." She said with tears pouring out of her eyes.
"Where do you want to go?" He asked.
"I don't know. Anywhere but here." She said.
"How about we go back to my house and listen to some records?" He asked.
"Won't your mom be mad that your not at school?" She asked.
"No, she'll understand." He said standing up and helping her up. They walked to the Davis house in silence. When they got there Roger told Kelly to wait for him upstairs. After she walked up the stairs Roger went to go find his mother.
"Mom?" He asked walking into the kitchen. She was sitting at the kitchen table.
"Roger what are you doing home?" She asked.
"Well I kept thinking about Kelly so I kind of left school and went over to her house. Please don't be mad." He said looking down at the ground.
"I'm not mad. But don't leave school like that again with out calling me. Ok?" she said walking over to him.
"She's really upset. She didn't want to be at her house so I told we could come here and listen to music or something." He said.
"Ok. But I'm going to go upstairs and talk to her first, ok?" She asked.
"Ok. I'll wait down in the living room." He said following his mother into the living room. He sat down in the living room trying to watch tv until his mother came back down nearly an hour later.
"You can go up now Roger." She said walking down the stairs. He nodded and practicly flew up the stairs. When he walked into the room Kelly was sitting on his bed with her knees pulled up to her chest.
"Hey." He said sitting down next to her. "So what do you want to listen to?" He asked. Kelly shrugged. "How about Bruce Springsteen?" He asked getting up and walking over to his record player.
"You hate Bruce Springsteen." She said quietly.
"I don't hate him. I just can't listen to him everyday of the week." He said laughing and putting on the record. He came back to the bed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They sat there listening to music for hours until they both fell asleep.
Roger stood there watching his brother and dad helping to carry the casket. It was hard to believe that Mrs. Keaton was dead. She had been like a second mother to him since the day he was born. His mother and Mrs. Keaton had been best friends since they were little and they stayed close for the rest of their lives. Mrs. Keaton had been diagnosed with breast cancer when he was 9. His mother had named his baby sister Lindsey after her. The doctors told her that she would be lucky if she lived for a year. She lived four more years. She was determined to see Kelly grow up. Roger looked over at Kelly. She was standing there crying uncontrollably. Mr. Keaton had tears streaming down his face. Roger walked up to Kelly and took her hand in his. They stood there and listened to the priest.
"While we may not think it's fair, God does have a plan. And we must take comfort in knowing that Lindsey is now in heaven." The priest said. After he was done he told everyone that they were welcome to go back to the Keaton's house for the wake. As everyone dispersed Kelly and Roger just stood there. Mr. Keaton kissed Kelly's forehead before leaving. Kelly let go of Roger's hand and walked over to the headstone. She ran her fingers over the engraving. Then she kissed her fingers and whispered goodbye before coming back to Roger. He took her hand and they walked back to where the Davis's were waiting.
A/N: That's the first chapter I hope you all liked it. Remember to review, I love to hear your feed back. I want to dedicate this story to Renthead621 who is always there if I get writers block. You rock! I'm going to start the next chapter now so that will probably be up tonight.
Until Next Time, Lot's of Love
BohemianGirl06