Disclaimer – I own nothing of RENT, except the original characters (aka – cats, dogs, rabbits and people). The rest belongs to Jonathon Larson. 'Nuff said.
Italics are thoughts, lyrics and flashbacks
A/N: I have no idea how this story came to me – it just did.
Summary: AU: Sometimes you lose the most important things in life. Other times you gain things. THREE-SHOT. Takes place in 2009.
Genre: Family/General
Rating: T
CHAPTER ONE
(chapter title – Pet Talk and Surprises)
Angel and Collins giggled silently to each other as they entered the loft. Roger, Mimi and their cat, Squeak, were fast asleep in Roger's room, while Lacey – the Doberman/Standard Poodle – slept on the worn-out couch in the living area.
"Hello?" Angel called softly into the loft. Lacey's ears pricked up and she leapt off the couch, putting her front paws on Angel's chest and covered her face with kisses, her tail wagging wildly.
"Some guard dog you are." Angel joked, shoving Lacey off of her as Collins put two-month-old Marta in the playpen near the couch.
"Angel? Collins? What are you doing here?" Roger inquired, entering the room. He put his four-month-old son, Eric, in the playpen with Marta.
"We just came to show off our new puppy." Angel said, getting the carrier from near the door. Roger put Lacey in a different room while Angel opened the carrier door.
A brown, timid, scrappy-looking puppy exited the crate, looking scared to death.
"Aww – what a cutie." Mimi chimed in, walking over to where the puppy was.
"Meems – no sudden movements. We're still trying to get used to Alley." Collins warned as Mimi sat on the couch, watching the puppy.
"Alley?" Roger asked, confused.
"We found her in an alleyway and we couldn't leave her." Angel explained. Both she and Collins were dog people, while Maureen and Joanne preferred cats – they had four – Jackson (in memory of Michael Jackson), Tanya, Charlie and Mittens. Roger and Mimi loved both cats and dogs. Mark was married to a girl who had three Old English Sheepdogs – Rex, Marley and Oliver. Luckily, the house where Mark and Kate lived had a lot of space, so the three boys could run and play together.
"What happened to Marvin?" Roger inquired, sitting down on the floor and watched Alley attack him playfully.
"We decided to put him to sleep – he was getting old and a little cranky." Angel answered, smiling as Squeak came over to investigate the goings-on. When Alley made her way over to the orange tabby, Squeak hissed and ran in the opposite direction, Alley chasing her, bounding and barking the entire time. It was only a matter of minutes when Alley ran back over to Angel, timid as a mouse.
"Aww you poor baby." Angel told the pup, picking her up and kissed her on the nose. Alley licked Angel and squirmed in her arms. Angel laughed and warned Alley to be careful in Spanish.
"So, what kinds of pets did you guys have growing up?" Collins asked as the Bohos sat on the couch. Maureen and Joanne had arrived at that time, followed by Mark and an extremely pregnant Kate.
"I had two guinea pigs – Pebbles and Locket. Locket looked like she was wearing a locket around her neck and that's where the name came from." Maureen spoke up.
"I had three dogs – Hobo, Eskimo and Snuggle. I grew up with them and when they passed away, it broke my heart." Joanne said, feeling tears in her eyes.
"I had a boa constrictor." Roger announced.
"What did you name it?" Mimi asked.
"Diamond because it looked like it had diamonds on its back." Roger answered. "I also had two dogs – Rusty and Lucy. Lucy was hit by a car when I was in seventh grade and Rusty passed away in the backyard when I was a junior in high school."
"My parents wouldn't let me have a pet with feathers or fur, so I was given an aquarium full of exotic fish for my eleventh birthday." Mark told the group, squeezing Kate's hand.
"Growing up, I lived on a farm and we had horses, goats, sheep and pigs. We also had a Golden Retriever named Sunlight and two Australian Shepards named Lucy and Goosy." Kate said, brushing her hair over her shoulder. Mark kissed her cheek and put a hand on her belly – he could feel the babies moving around beneath his hand.
"I had two gerbils – Sprite and Pepsi, plus a hamster named Root Beer." Mimi said, making the others laugh at her pet's names. "I was seven when I got them."
"Growing up, I lived in an apartment, so we weren't allowed to have cats or dogs. Instead, I had four frogs, a horned toad, a lizard and a snake." Collins told the group – remembering his beloved reptiles.
"I had a beautiful Macaw growing up – I named him Rainbow because he had the colors of the rainbow in his feathers." Angel recalled, frowning.
"Angel? What's wrong?" Maureen asked.
"Rainbow accidently hung himself when I was a freshman in high school. He was fifty-years-old." Angel told the others. They all hugged her, telling her how sorry they were about her precious bird.
"I have an idea." Kate said after a while. All eyes turned to her. "Why don't we make a scrapbook of our pets – old and new?"
"That's not a bad idea." Roger spoke up.
"So, Kate, when are you due?" Maureen inquired as she, Kate, Joanne and Mimi went to get supplies for scrap booking.
"Any time now – the doctor said it could be at the end of the week, or sooner. I have a C-Section scheduled for Friday, just in case things go wrong or the babies are late." Kate answered.
"Babies? Are you expecting twins?" Joanne asked.
"No – triplets. According to the doctor, we're having three girls." Kate told her.
They arrived back at the loft and instantly got started on the scrapbook. Their thoughts were on their pets that they had growing up as kids. Each of the Bohos decorated a page that was of their pets (or pet) growing up.
Maureen's page was plastered with stickers of guinea pigs. In the right hand corner, she wrote in black marker 'Locket and Pebbles – the best guinea pigs ever.'
Joanne's page had three dogs – a medium-sized brown dog, a small white dog and a Beagle – on it. Underneath the pictures, she wrote 'Hobo' 'Eskimo' and 'Snuggle.'
Roger was attempting to draw a boa constrictor, but it ended up looking like the letter 'S.' He just shrugged his shoulders and continued working on the page.
"Mark – either I just wet myself or the babies are coming." Kate said, putting her hands on her belly. Mark got up from the table and ran over to Kate.
"How far apart are your contractions?" Mark asked, his tone concerned.
"About five minutes apart." Kate answered, wincing as a contraction seared through her.
"Guys, we need to get Kate to the hospital – the babies are on their way." Mark told his friends. They all rushed to help – Angel and Mimi went to hail a taxi while Collins drove to the couple's house and got Kate's overnight bag. Roger busied himself by getting the babies ready to go. Joanne and Maureen took the dogs for a walk and put them in their crates.
"The cab's here." Mimi announced as Collins entered with the overnight bag.
"Collins and Roger, I'll need your help getting Kate down the stairs." Mark told his friends. The guys nodded and carefully got Kate down the stairs.
What seemed like a year later, they arrived at the hospital. Roger went to get Mark and Kate checked in while Angel went to get Kate a wheelchair.
"You're doing great." Mark told his wife, kissing her cheek.
"IT HURTS!" Kate screamed, clutching to Mark's hand for dear life.
Mark smiled and entered the waiting room to see his friends anxiously waiting.
"What's going on? Is she okay? How are the babies?" they all asked at once.
"Everything's fine – the babies are beautiful. We have three beautiful little girls. You guys can come back and see them." Mark told his friends. The girls squealed and the boys smiled and told Mark 'congratulations.'
Upon entering Kate's room, the Bohos saw three babies wrapped in three different blankets – one was in pink, one was in yellow and one was in a light green.
"Everyone, this is Savannah Grace, Amber Elizabeth and Isabella Faith." Mark introduced the babies, placing Savannah in Joanne's arms, Amber in Roger's arms and Isabella in Collins' arms. Maureen, Mimi and Angel looked over their partner's arms at the beautiful babies.
"I thought that you were gonna name one Sara." Maureen whispered, a little confused.
"We were, but we decided against it, fearing it would bring back memories of the first one." Mark answered, feeling tears in his eyes. Sara was the name of the year-old baby they lost due to a rare blood disease.
"They are so adorable. How's Kate doing?" Angel inquired, changing subjects.
"She's exhausted, but she fought like a trooper." Mark answered, motioning for the people holding the babies to switch. Maureen squealed when Savannah was placed in her arms, causing the baby to wake up and start crying.
"Aww – sweetie, I'm sorry." Maureen soothed, rubbing Savannah's back, but that only made her cry louder.
"Maureen, what did you do?" Roger asked, handing Amber to Mimi.
"I-I didn't do anything!" Maureen answered. Joanne carefully took Savannah from Maureen and calmed the baby down before handing her back to Maureen.
"Wait – where are your babies?" Mark asked.
"I called a sitter." Roger answered, looking over Mimi's shoulder. Little Amber was fast asleep.
After an hour visiting, the others decided to head home and see how things were going.
Roger paid the sitter and went to check on the kids – they were fast asleep, hand-in-hand.
"I don't know how Mark and Kate are going to handle three dogs AND three babies." Maureen said, filing her nails.
"They'll probably going to have to make some changes." Roger said, picking up his guitar and played 'Musetta's Waltz'. Angel, Marta and Collins had left already.
"Rog, I need to go to work. Are you okay with the evening routine?" Mimi asked, putting in her star earrings.
"Yes, honey, I'm okay with it." Roger reassured Mimi, kissing her on the cheek as she headed out the door.
Joanne, Maureen and Roger sat on the beat-up couch, talking about random things when the phone rang.
"SPEAK!" Roger and Mimi's voices came over the answering machine.
"Roger, Mimi – it's Benny. I know we haven't spoken in a while, that's because we have two new additions to the family – Labradoodle puppies – Maxine and Lucky. We were also wondering how you two were doing-" the machine cut him off.
"That was nice of that prick to call." Maureen said as she cleaned up the Bohos mess and put on a Little Einstein's tape for Eric to watch.
"Honey, watch your language around the baby." Joanne warned, smiling at Eric. She couldn't believe how much the little boy looked like his dad, only he had his mom's brown eyes and light skin. He was incredibly handsome and was sure to win the heart of the girls when he got older.
At the hospital, Mark was stroking Kate's hand when there was a knock on the door. He smiled as his parents and Kate's parents entered the room.
"Hey everyone." Mark whispered, hugging everyone before leading them over to where the babies were.
"What are their names?" Kate's mother – Elaina – asked.
"Savannah Grace, Amber Elizabeth and Isabella Faith." Mark answered, placing Savannah in his father's arms, Amber in his mother's arms and Isabella in Kate's father's arms. Kate's mother had recently fell and dislocated her shoulder, so she could only look from a distance.
"Such beautiful granddaughters." Kate's father – Stavros – spoke up, his voice heavy with a thick Greek accent.
"I couldn't agree more." Mark's mother chimed in, gently singing to Amber.
"How did you come up with the names?" Mark's father inquired.
"They were names that both Kate and I liked." Mark answered.
"Have your little friends been in to see them?" Mark's mother asked.
"Yes, they have – they were the first ones to see them." Mark told her.
"Do you think that if Sara was alive, she would've liked them?" Mrs. Cohen asked. Mark felt his eyes well up with tears – he missed Sara.
"I think so." Mark responded, blinking the tears out of his eyes.
"Oh, honey – I'm sorry – I didn't mean to bring her up." Mrs. Cohen apologized. Mark just shook his head and exited the hospital room. Outside the hospital, he hailed a taxi and gave the driver directions to the cemetery where Sara was buried.
Flashback:
"Honey, I'm home." Mark announced, entering the house when he was knocked over by the three Old English Sheepdogs that he and Kate owned.
"In here." Kate called from the kitchen.
"Boys – get off of me!" Mark told the dogs, standing up and went to the kitchen. He saw Kate standing in front of the stove, cooking dinner.
"Babe, are you sure that's a good idea? We can order pizza, or Chinese or something." Mark told his wife. She was nine months pregnant and was expecting any day.
"Honey, I'm fine." Kate reassured her husband, stirring the sauce.
"That smells good – what are you making?" Mark asked.
"Spaghetti and meat-" Kate started to answer when she felt some pain in her lower back. "Honey, my back hurts."
"Here – you go lay down on the couch and I'll finish up." Mark assured her, kissing the top of her head and helped her over to the couch.
A few minutes later, Kate complained about her still aching back. Mark turned off the stove and went to check on Kate. The couch was wet and Kate was sweating profusely.
"Hun, we need to get you to the hospital – now!" Mark told his wife, going to the room they shared and got Kate's overnight bag. He then called a neighbor to watch the dogs while he drove Kate to the hospital.
"She's definitely in labor." A nurse told them, directing them to the delivery room.
"How dilated is she?" Mark asked.
"About five centimeters." The nurse answered, helping Kate change into a gown while Mark changed into scrubs.
"OWWW! THIS HURTS!" Kate yelled as the doctor told her to keep pushing. Mark squeezed his wife's hand and whispered how much he loved her in her ear.
"Okay, the baby's almost here – what I'm going to do is count backwards from ten. What I need you to do is push hard when I get to one, okay?" the nurse told Kate. Kate nodded and squeezed Mark's hand.
"…Six, five, four, three, two, one and push!" the nurse told Kate. Kate sucked in a lot of air and let it out as she continued pushing. Mark looked between his wife's legs and saw a heedful of hair making its way out.
"I can see the head." Mark whispered in Kate's ear.
Forty-five minutes later, screaming filled Mark and Kate's ears.
"Congratulations you two – you have a healthy, perfect little girl." The doctor told the happy couple, holding the baby so that they could see her. She was covered in blood, pink and screaming. Both Mark and Kate burst into tears as the baby was cleaned up, weighed and measured.
"What's her name?" the doctor asked.
"Sara Louise Cohen." Kate spoke up, her voice hoarse. Mark kissed the top of Kate's head and held her in his arms.
Later that day, Mark was watching his daughter in the nursery when he felt someone walk up next to him. Turning his head, he saw Roger and Mimi.
"Hey guys." Mark whispered.
"Hi Mark – which one's yours?" Roger whispered back.
"Third one in the first row." Mark answered, indicating to his daughter.
"Oh she's beautiful – congratulations." Mimi spoke up, hugging Mark tightly.
"Thanks, Meems." Mark thanked her.
"What's her name?" Roger asked.
"Sara Louise Cohen." Mark responded.
"What a beautiful name." Mimi told Mark, kissing him on the cheek.
"How's Kate doing?" Roger inquired.
"She's sleeping right now. Would you guys like to go in and hold Sara?" Mark asked. The two of them nodded and the three of them entered the nursery.
"Here she is." Mark said, handing the others hand sanitizer.
"What's this?" Roger asked, taking some hand sanitizer.
"Hand sanitizer. I don't want my baby getting sick." Mark answered. Roger nodded and put some hand sanitizer on before giving some to Mimi. While his friends did that, Mark went to see his little girl.
"Hi my angel." Mark greeted her, carefully picking her up. Sara continued to sleep in his arms. Mark kissed her forehead and brought her over to his friends. He instructed Mimi how to hold her (Mimi was the eldest of four kids, so she knew what to do, whereas Roger was an only child, so he didn't have any experience with kids). He then placed little Sara in Mimi's arms.
After an hour, Roger and Mimi went home, so Mark decided to put Sara back in her basinet before going back and checking on Kate.
"I love you, sweetie, and I always will." Mark whispered in Sara's ear before exiting the nursery.
Two days later, Kate and Mark were allowed to bring Sara home. Kate put the boys in their crates while Mark put Sara in her crib so that she could sleep.
"She's the best baby ever." Mark noted, pouring Kate some lemonade. Kate nodded in agreement as she drank her lemonade.
Everything seemed to be going well with Sara until she turned a year old. She was always in bed with a high fever and she cried a lot. Kate called the doctor to see if he could make a house call while Mark stayed with his chickadee (his nickname for Sara).
"I'm afraid she has a rare blood disease and there's nothing I can do. I'm sorry." The doctor apologized, taking the stethoscope out of his ears and put it in his medical bag.
"Blood disease? Like leukemia?" Kate asked.
"No, this is much severe than leukemia." The doctor told Kate.
Mark and Kate ended up crying themselves to sleep that night, praying their daughter would be okay in the morning.
Two months later, Sara passed away from the disease.
"Right here is great." Mark told the cabbie. The cabbie nodded and told Mark how much the fee was. Mark handed the cabbie two twenties and got out of the cab.
As Mark walked the cemetery, he thought about his daughter. She would've been six-years-old if she was alive. Mark felt the tears come to his eyes as he approached Sara's grave. It had fresh daisies in the corner and a wreath of roses in front of the tombstone.
SARA LOUISE COHEN
April 3rd, 2002 - March 13th, 2003
Our Little Girl
Mark knelt down in front of the tombstone and began sobbing. It wasn't fair that Sara had been taken away from him and Kate. Sara now would miss everything – first day of kindergarten, going to middle school, high school, getting her driver's license, dating, prom, graduation from high school, college, first dates, break-ups, make-ups, voting and everything in-between.
Between his sobs, Mark began singing a Tim McGraw song that he loved – it was called My Little Girl and it suited Sara completely.
"Mark?" he heard Joanne's voice call to him.
"Joanne? What are you doing here?" Mark asked, wiping the tears out of his eyes.
"Looking for you – everyone's worried." Joanne told him, helping him stand up.
"I can't leave her." Mark said, indicating to Sara's grave.
"Mark, you'll see her again." Joanne soothed him as they climbed into the taxi.
"Where's Maureen?" Mark questioned.
"At the hospital with your and Kate's parents." Joanne answered, telling the cabbie where she wanted to go. The cabbie nodded his head once and drove to the hospital.
"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Mark asked, looking out his window.
"I don't know." Joanne answered, putting a comforting hand on Mark's shoulder.
"Where are Mimi, Roger, Collins and Angel?" Mark inquired as he and Joanne entered the hospital and walked briskly to Kate's room.
"Both Marta and Eric aren't feeling well, so the four adults are taking care of the babies." Joanne answered, entering Kate's room. Mark took his time entering the room – he could feel the seven pairs of eyes staring at him.
"Where the hell where you?" Kate asked, her tone angry.
"I went to the graveyard to visit Sara – she's our daughter too, you know." Mark answered, staring at the floor.
"You could've told us that BEFORE you stormed out of here." Kate told him. Joanne and Maureen ushered the grandparents out of the room so that Kate and Mark could talk. The girls had been taken back to the nursery.
"I know, but I was just mad at my mom – she kept bringing Sara up. It's been six years since we lost her." Mark said, feeling the sting of tears.
"Mark, we all miss her, but you've got to move on. We have three new little girls that need our love and attention now." Kate told him, her voice gentle.
The couple talked like that for a few more minutes before Kate felt herself grow tired. Mark kissed the top of her head before exiting the room.
Mark decided to walk around the hospital, after talking with a doctor about it. The doctor gave Mark a map of the hospital and marked off the areas that Mark was not allowed to visit – the burn unit and the cancer unit. Other than that, he could go anywhere.
An hour later, Mark was done walking around the hospital and decided to sit in the waiting room. There were two other people in the waiting room – a young man in a wheelchair and a young woman sitting beside him. The young woman had long jet-black hair, which was pulled into a braid. She was wearing a plain black shirt and a black pair of jeans.
The young man sitting in the wheelchair was dressed exactly like the woman sitting beside him.
"Are you two twins?" Mark asked.
"No – we're boyfriend and girlfriend." The girl answered.
"Sorry – I was just wondering." Mark apologized.
"It's okay." The young man in the wheelchair spoke up.
"So, what are you here for?" the young woman inquired.
"My wife had triplet girls, but they're all sleeping, so I decided to walk around the hospital. What about you two?"
"Blood work." The young man answered. That's when Mark noticed the young woman and the young man's tattoos. They had them everywhere Mark's eyes could see.
"How many tattoos do you guys have?" Mark asked.
"I have twenty and he has close to thirty." The girl spoke up.
"What do you two do for a living?" Mark asked.
"We work in a tattoo parlor downtown." The young man answered.
"Do you two have names?" Mark inquired, not meaning to sound rude.
"I'm Tamora and this is Ryan. What about you?" the girl – Tamora – asked.
"I'm Mark Cohen." Mark introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you, Mark." Ryan said, smiling.
"You, too. I hope the blood work goes well. You know, I lost my first daughter to a blood disease, so I hope you don't have what she did." Mark said, feeling himself ramble.
"Thanks and I'm really sorry about your daughter." Tamara told him as her name was called. She got up and went to the examining room, Ryan rolling right behind her.
Mark walked back to Kate's room when he heard an overhead announcement.
"ATTENTION – WOULD MARK COHEN COME TO ROOM 1056 – IMMEDATELY." A male voice rang over the PA system. Mark sprinted for Kate's room, praying that everything was all right and that he wasn't too late.
Arriving at Kate's room, Mark took a minute to catch his breath and wipe the sweat off his face.
"What's going on?" Mark asked when he walked into the room.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!" everyone whispered so that they wouldn't wake up the sleeping babies.
"It's not my birthday today – is it?" Mark asked, feeling very confused.
"I believe it is, sweetie." Mrs. Cohen spoke up, placing a party hat on Mark's head.
After everyone sang Happy Birthday, ate cake and Mark opened his presents, Collins dimmed the lights and Roger turned on the projector.
Mark cried when his second film – Things We Lost That We Love – played on the far wall they were using for a screen. Everyone awed as Roger and Mimi exchanged wedding vows. The next reel showed Mark and Kate exchanging their wedding vows.
The film ended with a family portrait – Kate and Mark looking down at a newborn Sara. Mark blinked tears out of his eyes as the image faded to black and the reel ended.
"But this isn't – how did you – what the – huh?" Mark was utterly speechless. Everyone laughed at Mark's speechlessness.
"It's a surprise." Roger whispered in Mark's ear, slapping him hard on the back. Mark let out a little cough and went back to his friends.