Okay, so Captain Jack Sparrow is now our computer screen back round, which inspired a title, which RENT fanfic follows, so here it is!
Their Only Child
Sidra walked the streets of Alphabet City. She had been walking for the past two days, sleeping on benches or in slides at parks. She had run away from her foster family who didn't give a rat's ass about her. She was trying desperately to find anyone who could tell her about her parents. She was only told that they had lived in Alphabet City, and had died of AIDS, which she had miraculously not inherited.
She approached a brunette and asked her directions to Avenue B.
The brunette did a double take. "I could have sworn you were a younger version of an old friend of mine. Sorry;"
"What was your friend's name?" Sidra asked eagerly and quickly.
"Mimi, Mimi Marquez-Davis, I swear you look just like her, sorry. Avenue B is over there."
"She was my mother. Mimi was my mom. Can you tell me about her?"
"Sidra?" Sidra nodded. "Oh my God." The brunette caught her breath.
"Maureen? Honey Bear?"
"Pookie, I'm right here." Joanne came to a stand still when she saw Sidra.
"Oh my Lord." Sidra shifted her weight uncomfortably.
"Um, I take it you must have known my mother too. Will you please tell me about her?"
"We should probably take her with us to the loft..." Joanne muttered.
"Follow us honey, yeah, we'll tell you about Mimi and Roger," Maureen said, slightly bewildered. Sidra followed Maureen and Joanne to the loft. "Mark! Mark, where the hell are you?"
"I'm right here Maureen." Mark appeared from behind the kitchen counter. "Holy shit..."
"Mark, this is Sidra."
"She's the spitting image of Mimi..."
"Okay, now that all three of you have established that I look just like my mother; will you tell me about her?!"
"Uh, yeah, just wait until Collins gets here. He and Mark have known Roger the longest." Maureen sat down on the ancient couch that had been only God knows where.
"She's got Roger's temper though," Mark pointed out.
"Take a seat somewhere, Collins should be here any minute," Joanne stated.
"Hey bitches! Holy..." Collins said entering the loft.
"I'm guessing you must be Collins. I'm Sidra, yes, I look just like my mother; I just want to know about my parents." Sidra's eyes, which were her Mimi's, pleaded them for the information that she so desperately wanted.
"What do you want to know?" Collins asked solemnly. Roger's life had been claimed by AIDS 12 years ago; right after his death, Mimi started using again. Sidra was only 1 and ½ at that time. Child Welfare Services came and took Sidra away when Mimi died of an overdose.
"Anything you can tell me. None of my foster families knew anything and the social worker said that it wasn't appropriate for a thirteen year old."
"Who do you want me to start with? Roger or Mimi?"
"I don't care; just, please, tell me what you can."
"I've known Roger since first grade," Mark said, his eyes downcast. "Roger was big into Rock music and played the guitar. He was always causing some sort of mischief at school. He, uh, he had a lot of issues at home. His mother, your grandmother, was pretty abusive, and his father ran off with another woman when he was eleven."
"Roger had a girlfriend, April, who he would shoot up with when he first moved here with the other members of the Well Hungarians. April had a lot of issues too. She committed suicide, leaving a note saying she had AIDS and that Roger had it too. Roger ran away from the world for a year, he refused to leave the loft. Then on the following Christmas Eve, Mimi turned up at the loft, asking if Roger had any matches since Benny had cut the power for the whole building."
"They started dating, but not without issues of their own. Roger was clean from the heroin he had used, but Mimi was a junkie at the time. Mimi and Benny had dated three months earlier, which own sparked jealousy from Roger. Eventually things panned out. They were in love. They got married, and a couple years later, had you," Collins finished. Maureen's eyes were glazed with tears, and Mark had tear stains on his cheek.
"Can, can I see a picture of them?" Sidra asked in a whisper barely loud enough to hear.
"Mark would be the one to talk to. He's the one with all the film," Joanne said speaking for the first time since Collins had arrived. Sidra looked at Mark, who nodded slightly.
"But it will take me a little while to find the right reel. Do you need to call anyone to let them know you're safe?"
"My foster family doesn't give a shit about me, and Child Welfare Services wouldn't want to be bothered."
"You can stay in your parent's old room if you like," Mark said before leaving the room."
"Pookie, what would it take for us to adopt Sidra?" Sidra looked up surprised that someone would want to adopt her.
"Paperwork, I can get started on it tomorrow, that is if you want us to adopt you Sidra."
"Yes, I would very much like to have a permanent home; thanks so much."
"No problem, but perhaps you should stay at our place if you want us to adopt you, that way we all can get used to each other."
Line!
The next day Maureen and Joanne were granted a trial custody for Sidra. The day after, Mark showed his film "Today 4 U: Proof Positive". He paused the film where Mimi was shown sitting on Roger's lap. Sidra inhaled sharply. She did look exactly like her mom, except for her nose, which appeared to come from neither of her parents.
"I can't believe that for the first time, I'm getting to see my parents." She leaned her head against Joanne's chest. Maureen snuggled up to Joanne's other side.
"They were an interesting couple. Roger was part of the Well Hungarians for a little while after you were born, and Mimi still danced for the Cat Scratch Club. It was most definitely an interesting year," Mark commented.
"If my parents both worked nights, who took care of me?"
"Well, we all took turns helping out, and Roger only had gigs for the weekends. About year after you were born, Roger got pneumonia, and he died, so Mimi got a job as a waitress, but that only lasted about six months, she uh, she died of an overdose. That's when Child Welfare Services took you," Collins answered. Sidra nodded, taking in everything Collins had said.
"You gonna be okay?" Maureen asked, watching Sidra with a concerned eye.
"Yeah," Sidra replied. "How long before I'm yours legally, permanently?"
"One and a half weeks, and then if everything works out, and we're deemed responsible enough, you can be ours," Joanne answered.
Line!
A week went by, and Joanne and Maureen had met the requirements to become the legal guardians of Sidra. She had been registered for school, and health insurance had been acquired. Now they only had to wait two more days before they could fully adopt Sidra.
Meanwhile, Sidra was really starting to become one of the Bohemians. She had learned all of Maureen's quirks within that week than Joanne had in a month.
The two days passed, and Maureen and Joanne were granted full guardianship of Sidra. The family once broken was reunited at last.
The End!
So that's it. I couldn't decide how to end it, so the ending kinda sucks. Anyway, that's it. I've already got four multi-chapters that I'm working on, so this is a one shot. Let me know what you think. Like it? Love it? Hate it? Wanna feed it to your goat? Just let me know!