-1Disclaimers: I do not own any of them.
Maureen…Collins…Baby?!
"Collins, baby…can I talk to you for a moment?"
Collins continued to grade his papers without looking up. "Not now Maureen, I really have to grade these papers by the end of this weekend and Angel being sick last week held me back." Collins took a drink of the bottle of stoli and went back to attempting to read the chicken scratch that was Adam Peters hand writing. Maureen pouted down at Collins, she was not used to rejection. "MAUREEN!" Maureen sat on top of his packet of papers, pushing everything else off of the table.
"Can you please listen to me for a sec. PLEASE!"
Collins pushed his chair back and took another drink, looking up at her. "If I do will you please let me be?"
Maureen crossed her legs and pulled her skirt up a little. "How much do you love me Tommie?"
Collins raised one of his eyebrows and looked up at Maureen. "Maureen, I am gay and I already have someone that I love. Not that I don't love you. So cut the shit and tell me what you want."
Maureen uncrossed her legs and looked down swinging her legs. "I want you to give me a baby."
PIFFT
Collins sprayed the vodka that he just drank all over Maureen and the already graded papers. Then he came over with a fit of the cough. Maureen bit her lip, worried that she just killed her best friend. "Are you okay?"
Collins clutched to his chest and looked over at her catching his breath. "I-I-I thought that you-you just asked me to give you a baby." He looked up at Maureen as if to make sure that she was either not fully clear or that this was some sort of joke. Maureen looked at him with pure seriousness. "You have got to be-" Maureen's look shut him up. She was dead serious about this. "Why?"
Maureen looked a little bit happier then put her hands on the ends of the table. "Well, you are a man and I am a woman, and…" Maureen looked slightly exasperated. "Do I really need to go in to this?"
Collins held up his hands and stood up, helping Maureen off of the table. "Okay, I got that. But, I cannot." Maureen turned her head as if to ask Why? "Look, I am gay, I am HIV+, and I have someone in my life."
Maureen took his hands and led him to the couch, kneeling in front of him. Maureen took his hands. "None of that matters."
"Okay, but why me? You have Mark, or why don't you just go to the sperm bank? Or, since you are obviously not worried about HIV, why not Roger?"
Maureen sighed, as if she was talking to an impatient child. "Having a child with Mark would be bad in two ways, one, he is Jewish and if his mother ever finds out about the kid she will be on my back about getting him circumcised, and even then, do you know how wrong it would be to have child by your ex? Then if I go to the sperm bank, the odds of me getting someone ugly, or ugly genes are big. Even more than that, who knows what they are carrying there, my child could be sick and I won't know who's fault it is, and even more than that, I want my child to know his father. Then even though Roger is fucking hott for a guy, have you seen his family? His mother mole city? Hell no!! That shit skips a generation. But you, your family has amazing, rare genes! I know who you are, he would know who you are, I have never dated you! Then the added bonus, you are black…so is Joanne!" She put their hands together, "Perfect!!!"
Collins let go of her hands and cupped her face in his hands. "Maureen, love, I have HIV+. Even though all of those….superficial….reasons are good, I will not help you bring a child in to his world, that has a high chance of sharing the same fate that me, Mimi, Roger, and Angel have." Maureen pouted and Collins heart broke. He has a thing for that pout. But only when women do it. "Does Joanne even know that you are asking this of me?"
Maureen shook her head.
Three Months later.
Joanne and Maureen decided that they were going to have a quiet Christmas to them selves. Maureen had crawled in to Joanne's lap as she handed her a small gold wrapped box. "Marry Christmas Pookie!"
Joanne smiled as she opened the gift and kissed Maureen on the temple.
Inside there were several pregnancy tests.
"Honey?"