This is my first Rent fiction. Please let me know how you like it, if it goes over well, I may write some more ;)

I'll Cover You

Chapter 1

Roger Davis sat on the back of his couch, his bare feet on the seat cushions, guitar in hand, strumming and waiting for the chords of his song to come when he heard the sound of the metal door. Putting his guitar down, he leant his head to the side and waited for the sound to repeat. At the second knock, he stood up and made his way across the factory-turned-apartment stopping to pull on the metal door handle and sliding it to the side. On the other side of the door there stood a small woman with long black riotous curls covering her face looking down at her feet. She was tiny in a brown rain jacket which she held clutched across her front in an attempt to cover up. Roger cleared his throat to make himself known and when she looked up at him, her eyes widened as she came face to face with his bare chest, then, just as quickly, she looked back down at her feet.

"I'm looking for Mark Cohen." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear not once looking up at him. "Umm, maybe I have the wrong apartment?"

"No. No, this is Mark's apartment. I'm his roommate Roger. He's not here though."

The woman looked up again this time allowing Roger to take in her appearance. Her face was pale and she had dark circles under her large blue eyes. Were they blue? Their color was something he'd never seen before, almost aquamarine. She blinked making her long dark eyelashes flutter as she furrowed her black eyebrows. She looked from one side of the hallway to the other then back at Roger. Her face was full of desperation and her voice had a slight tremor as she spoke.

"Umm, I guess I can catch him another time. I'll just-"

Roger noticed the way her body shivered and how her plump lips were dry and peeling from what he could only guess was dehydration. He thought these things odd, especially because it wasn't horribly cold out. The beginnings of spring were starting to show and it couldn't have been colder than seventy two degrees out. He looked at her torn up and stained jeans, saw the tattered Converse sneakers on her feet and took pity on the poor thing. Her appearance combined with the fact that she looked painfully familiar made it so he couldn't find it in him to turn her away.

"You can come in and wait if you'd like. He should be back in about an hour."

Her lips stretched out into a hint of a smile as she tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear.

"Thank you that would be nice." Her voice was rough as if she hadn't used it in a long time making Roger wonder what her story was.

She followed him into the apartment, standing behind him as he slid the heavy metal door shut, and then following him back to the couch.

"Have a seat," he offered, signaling to the couch with a nod of his head.

She silently took a seat, letting out an inadvertent sigh, making him wonder about her once more. How long had it been since she'd been able to sit down comfortably? He remained standing in front of the couch while she rested her elbow on the armrest using her hand as a head rest.

Finally, after what seemed like minutes of silence she looked up at him and said, "My name's Tess. Mark's an old friend."

Roger nodded, noticing how her eyes lingered on his chest, looking down at himself his eyes widened as he realized that he was not wearing a shirt. He felt his cheeks burn feeling embarrassed at the situation. He had just come out of the shower when she'd knocked on the door and had only sat down to tune his guitar before getting fully dressed. Fully aware of how uncomfortable the situation was, he excused himself to go in his room and put one on. When he came back he saw that she had curled up into a ball on the couch. She'd fallen asleep clutching her raincoat for warmth, her mass of hair covering her face. Taking pity on her, he went back into his bedroom, grabbed a blanket and put if over her shivering frame. He then sat on the other side of the couch and waited for Mark's return.

An hour later, he was startled from his sleep by the sound of the door sliding open. Glancing over at Tess, he saw that she had not been disturbed in the slightest and continued to sleep soundlessly next to him.

"Hey Rog, what are you still doing here? Weren't you going to catch a meeting to-"Taking notice of the figure sleeping on the couch, Mark pointed at her and shot Roger a quizzical look.

Roger shrugged his shoulders. "She came here looking for you."

"Me?" Mark put the camera he had been holding down on the table and made his way around to the other side of the couch leaning over to get a closer look at the girl. Recognition didn't dawn.

"Said she's an old friend. Name's Tess?"

Mark's body shot up from where he'd been leaning over the girl. He stood stiffly looking at Roger his hand coming up to cover his mouth.

"Oh my God." He'd hoped to have enough time to tell Roger about her before she showed up.

"What? Mark, is this some girl you fucked come to stalk you?"

It was a joke. This was something more likely to happen to Roger. Mark would never treat a woman so cruelly. He was shy when it came to the opposite sex. His lack of flirting skills might have had something to do with the fact that he found the video camera he always carried around far more interesting than any woman.

"What? Roger look at her, she can't be more than 16. Why would I do something like that?" Mark yelled, his words cutting into Roger's inner musings.

"Calm down. It was just a joke. Seriously though how do you know her?" Roger continued while looking at the girl.

"She- she's homeless. I think she lives in Tent City. Anyway I always see her on my way to work or when I'm out filming- there's something about her. Something makes me want to- to help her, you know? So I usually get her a burger or give her some change. Last week I noticed she had a black eye and was limping so I gave her my address and told her if she ever wanted to get help she could find me umm- you know -here." Mark was wringing his hands, looking back and forth between the girl on the couch and Roger.

"Mark-"Roger knew that his friend had a tendency to want to take care of everyone, but he had to know that inviting a homeless girl, no matter how sickly and helpless she looked, wasn't a good idea. Could her familiar look have had anything to do with his generosity? Did he see it too?

"I didn't think she'd actually show up! I was trying to do something that Angel would have done. The way she helped Collins out that time he was beat up-"

"That was different." Roger knew it had been right for Angel to have rescued Collins. But this thing Mark was doing with the girl on the couch, it felt completely wrong. Not to mention that the girl's presence was rubbing salt in both their wounds.

"It just seemed like the right thing to do."

Roger stood up, walked over to his friend and slapped him on the back not missing the sadness in his eyes. The loss of Angel had hit them hard. They'd lost too many people in the last year. He knew enough to realize that this was not the time to have an argument. He would have to wait until later to get Mark to see reason.

"How is she still sleeping?" Roger wondered.

"Do you know how long it's been since she had something soft to sleep on? Poor girl's had it rough."

Roger took another look at her. She was dead to the world.

"What do we do now?" They couldn't just let her stay. He was just starting to get his act together a year after his girlfriend's death and throwing someone new into the loop would just make him lose the sense of control he'd just gained over his life. He peered closer at the sleeping girl. The similarities were uncanny.

Mark shrugged. "Let her sleep."

Roger nodded, resigned to the fact that this situation couldn't be solved as quickly as he'd hoped, and sat at the kitchen table while Mark rummaged through the cabinets for something to eat.

"Nothing."

"Yeah, well, when's the last time we grocery shopped?"

Mark turned and frowned at Roger. "Real funny dumbass, it was your turn to do the shopping this month."

Roger gave him his most innocent smile catching the empty bottle of ketchup Mark grabbed from the cabinet and threw at him.

For the next two hours the two friends tried to go about their business. Roger tried to play his guitar but found it difficult to concentrate knowing there was a stranger lying on his couch. Every few minutes he stopped playing and looked over to her. The more glances he shot at her, the more he saw how sick she looked and felt guilty for wanting her gone from the apartment. While Roger was trying to deal with his guilt, Mark sat at the table editing his day's filming seemingly without a worry in the world.

"Do you think she's okay?"

Mark looked over at the girl and waited to see if she was still breathing.

"Yes. Her stomach is moving."

"Well, we may as well let her stay the night. It's dark out and she looks really sick."

"Yeah, I think we should." Mark agreed.

"Should we move her? She can't be comfortable there." Roger looked at the way she was curled up into a tight ball and couldn't imagine ever being able to sleep that way.

"Yeah. She probably hasn't slept in a bed in forever. We can take her to my room. I can sleep on the couch."

"You sure?"

"Rog, you sleep the day away. I'm usually the first one up. It's best if I take the couch then I won't wake you up when I'm banging around in the morning."

Roger nodded then walked over to the couch. He lifted the girl in one swift motion. She was lighter than a feather. She let out a moan but didn't wake up. Mark followed Roger into his bedroom and watched as his roommate tucked her under the blankets. When Roger finally looked up he saw Mark looking at him with a lifted brow.

"Shut up. She was cold when she got here."

"Uh huh."

Mark decided to keep quiet and followed Roger out of his room and into the living room.

Tess awoke in a dark room. Struggling to remember where she was, she realized she was in a bedroom. They must have moved her while she was asleep. Thank God for Mark and his generosity. Suddenly feeling incredibly thirsty, she made her way out of the room and into the dark kitchen. She felt dizzy on her feet and was glad that the outside traffic lights gave the kitchen a bit of illumination so she could see where she was going. She made her way over to the sink and jumped when she heard the sound of another door. Turning around she held her hands up in surrender.

"I was just getting a drink of water."

Roger took in how scared she looked and wondered what things she'd gone through to make her so jumpy. "It's okay," he told her, "I came out for a drink too."

"I'm sorry, it's just-"Dizziness took over, making her lose her balance. Slumping down to her knees, she hit her head on the corner of the metal table on her way down.

"Are you okay?" Roger rushed over kneeling down in front of her he took her head in his hands to look her over. When she looked up to meet his eyes he saw that she was bleeding. She had cut the side of her forehead. "Here, you're bleeding." He lifted his hand to push her hair away from the cut but she pushed his hand away.

"No! Don't!" She managed to look sheepish; almost embarrassed at the look of shock he gave her. "I have HIV," she whispered, "You don't want to get my blood on you."

Roger nodded his understanding then stood up extending his hand to help her up as well. "Let's go get that cleaned up"

She nodded and began walking toward the bathroom but found herself having to place her hand on the table for balance. Roger put his arm around her waist and walked her to the bathroom.

"Sit down, I'll get the first aid stuff." He sat her down on the toilet seat then went into the medicine cabinet for alcohol, cotton swabs and Band-Aids. He poured alcohol on the cotton and went to dab it on her cut but she placed her hand on his wrist and gave him a warning look.

"I can do it myself."

"Can't contract a disease you already have." He pulled his hand out of her grasp and began dabbing the cold liquid on her injury.

She stared at him incredulously as he went to work, her eyes wide with surprise. She took the opportunity to look at him closely. He was sexy. She could see that even through the haze her brain seemed to have her in. His hair hung in layers, the longest stopping just above his shoulders. It was brown and wavy and combined with the black tank top he wore, the whole look screamed out 'rock star'. He was very intense, she could see from the way he looked at her as he worked on cleaning up her cut. His eyes were light blue and his face was stubbly. He smelled like tobacco which she found to be very enticing. She watched as her hand extended out to caress his face and feel his stubble. She was in such a daze from her fall and her dizzy spell that she really didn't have the strength or desire to pull it back.

Amused by her strange behavior, he smirked and took her hand in his gently guiding it back to her lap.

"You're sweating." He noticed that she had stopped shivering and saw that there was sweat gathered on her forehead.

"It's hot." She winced each time the cotton made contact with her skin.

"You lost your balance out there. Twice." He gave her a pointed look.

"I haven't eaten much in the last few days." She took the cotton away from his hand and threw it in the trash bin next to the toilet.

"Withdrawal's a bitch."

Tess froze unable to do anything but stare into his pale blue eyes. Roger took her hand in his and tilted his head to the side.

"I've been through it. Twice."

Tears began falling from Tess' eyes but she remained strangely calm as she continued to look at him.

"It's okay." Roger wrapped his arms around her and she allowed herself to be held while wiping away at her tears.

Once she was sure the tears had stopped coming, she pulled away from him.

Seeing that she had recovered he went on trying to distract her from the pain of the alcohol by making conversation. "How old are you, Tess? You don't look much older than sixteen."

"Eighteen," she answered. "Just had a birthday last week."

Roger let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. She was a baby, just like he'd been when he got into it. He'd been so innocent and bright eyed coming to the big city to make it as a rock star, meeting Mark at the local bar he'd gotten a job bartending in, and finding an apartment with Benny and Collins. It had all seemed so new and exciting, the possibilities seemed endless. Those possibilities had quickly dissolved into a heroin induced haze right along with his dreams of stardom.

"What was it?"

"Heroin." She looked down at her hands not feeling brave enough to look this man in the face. "I haven't used in a few weeks. I think it's getting better. The fever and the shivering, the cravings, they only come every now and then."

Roger nodded. He remembered.

"You came for Mark's help?" He was asking her why.

Tess nodded her head, her hair falling on her face once again. "He's so kind to me. He offered to help once, I didn't know if he meant it but, I had to get out. I can't live that life anymore."

"Mark's the best." Roger couldn't help pushing her hair behind her ears, enjoying the way she smiled her thanks to him. "Come on. Let's get you back to bed."

Tess nodded and stood up following him into the large open space that was both kitchen and living room. Roger looked behind him and saw that she was still weak in the knees. He walked over to her and put his arm around her waist giving her better balance.

"Thank-you," she whispered.

Roger nodded. She was beginning to think that this was his preferred way of communicating. He walked her over to her door and placed his hand on her forehead feeling how warm she still was.

"You gonna be okay?"

This time it was her turn to nod. "There's a fan in the room. I'll blast it and I should be fine."

"Okay." Roger gave her a small smile. "If you need anything, I'm in the next room or you know, Mark's on the couch but as you can see, he sleeps like the dead."

Tess let out a small laugh at that.

"Good night Roger."

"Good night."

Tess turned and made her way back into bed while Roger walked over to his room. He was unable to get back to sleep; the dark haired girl and her large aquamarine eyes remained at the front of his mind for the rest of the night.

The next morning found Roger sitting across from Tess at the metal table both of them sipping on coffee listening to the rain outside.

"Where's Mark?" she asked.

Roger shrugged. "Out." Then, "You look better today."

She smiled. "Thanks, I feel better."

She had discarded her rain coat and now sat in a spaghetti-strap leopard-print multi-colored tank top. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a sloppy pony tail with a few strands finding their way onto her face. He enjoyed the way she continually fought to keep them tucked behind her ears.

"What are you smiling at?" She had a feeling it was her and gave him a glare.

"You. Quit fighting with your hair. It looks fine."

"It's annoying." She made her point by showing him how the curls sprang from their place behind her ears and covered her face again.

This time when he started laughing she couldn't help but laugh along with him. It did seem ridiculous to worry so much about her hair in light of the things they'd spoken about the night before. Stressing about her hair beat the alternative though. She didn't like to think of all of the things wrong with her life and sometimes it was easier to let herself be distracted by other things.

"What's so funny?" Mark came in from outside shaking his body in an attempt to get dry from the outside rain.

"Nothing." Roger's smile suddenly disappeared as he looked over at his roommate. He had a feeling Mark would be uncomfortable with the way he was so at ease with their houseguest.

"My hair," Tess answered and burst into another fit of giggles making Roger look at her, smiling widely.

"Nice to see you two getting along." Mark placed his camera on the counter giving Roger a pointed look.

Roger ignored him. He wasn't in the mood for one of Mark's speeches. He knew what Mark was thinking, Tess seemed a lot like his recently deceased girlfriend and of course he would think that he was just flirting with her as a way to replace the woman he'd lost. As if he could ever replace a woman he had loved so much. Did Mark really think he was so cold and callous?

Tess stood up from her chair and walked over to Mark.

"Thank you so much for taking me in last night." She gave him a hug bringing a blush to Mark's cheeks. "I was in a bad place."

"It's no biggie?" He pulled away from her embrace to get a better look at her. "And today?"

"Better." She gave him a firm nod.

Mark looked her up and down taking in her ragged jeans and sneakers, her too thin arms and the way her clavicles jutted out.

"You're too thin Tess. Are you—" Mark looked over at Roger then back to her. "are you taking your medicine?"

He remembered that she had told him about her HIV one of the times he had tried to help her clean up a cut on her knee. He was hesitant to say AZT, unsure if she was prepared to let Roger know about her HIV.

"It's okay Mark, Roger knows." At Mark's incredulous look she explained, "I had a bit of an accident last night and Roger rescued me." She brought her hand up to the Band-Aid on her forehead showing him exactly what kind of accident had prompted her to reveal her information to a complete stranger.

Suddenly she remembered what she'd come into the kitchen for.

"Mark, I don't plan on living here for free. I don't even plan on living here for long…." Mark gave her a wide eyed look which she mistook for shock "I mean, I don't even plan on living here at all. Just until it stops raining. That is, if you don't mind of course." She felt a bit of panic at his continued stare and thought maybe he had only meant for her to have stayed the one night. "I'm going to get a job, I'll chip in or get my own place. Mark?"

Noticing how frightened she looked, Mark realized that she was taking his reaction the wrong way. He took her hand in his and reassured her. "It's okay Tess. You need to take some time to take care of yourself. Stay as long as you have to and get a job only when you're ready."

"Absolutely not-" Tess felt a sharp pain in her stomach making her double over.

"Tess!" Roger shot up from the table and took the girl from Mark's arm, eliciting a look of shock from his roommate.

She allowed herself to lean into his strong arms then slowly brought herself up to a standing position wincing in pain as she did.

"Fine. I'm fine." For all of her bravado he noticed that she didn't move away from him as she reassured the men.

"Maybe we should take you to the clinic," Mark offered.

Tess shook her head vehemently. "No. I'll just lie down. I'll be fine."

Mark looked at her incredulously. "Are you sure?"

She nodded, looked at Roger and asked, "Could you help me to the couch?"

"Have her lie on my bed." Mark took Tess' arm and together, he and Roger waked her to his bed.

Once on the bed Tess seemed to relax.

"How do you feel? What's going on?" Roger placed his hand on her forehead making sure she wasn't running a fever.

"I'm crampy." Tess touched her lower stomach in explanation, not once removing her eyes from Roger's.

"Is it…." Mark cleared his throat. "you know, your period?"

Tess smiled at the way the tips of his ears turned red. "No. Not that kind of cramp."

"Tess, how long's it been since you ate?" Roger looked between her and Mark.

Tess tried to think back to the last time she'd enjoyed something warm in her stomach.

"I think I had some crackers for lunch yesterday."

Roger nodded then looked at Mark.

"What about water?" This time it was Mark who asked the question.

She shrugged.

"A few days?" She could only guess.

"You're dehydrated," Roger told her. "Mark, can you get her a glass of water?"

Mark nodded and went out to get it.

Roger took her hand in his. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Again she shrugged. "I don't get hungry anymore." That was a lie and he knew it.

"Tess, I don't need to tell you that you have to be extra careful."

She pulled her hand away from his her face turning serious. "It's not like I have a choice Roger. I'm homeless."

Taking in her anger he said, "No, I know that. It's just, you could have said something last night."

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm not used to asking for help. I wasn't at my best yesterday."

Roger nodded. "I know. Just, eat okay, and drink lots of water."

She agreed just as Mark came in with a glass of water. Tess accepted it with a smile.

"Thank-you."

Roger looked down at her and said, "Get some rest."

Once out of the bedroom Mark turned to Roger and asked, "What are you doing?"

Perplexed by the question Roger could do nothing but stare. Finally the words came to him after several seconds of shock. "I don't know what you mean?"

Mark pointed at his bedroom door. "She's barely just turned eighteen."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Come on, Mark. I'm trying to be a friend."

"I hope that's it, Rog, for both of your sakes. You don't need more complications in your life and neither does she."

"Come on Mark, quit trying to be my dad. I'll be good around the girl okay? I don't want to fuck her life up like I have mine."

"That's not what I meant Roger and you know it."

"Whatever. I'm going out for a bit. See you later.

Roger turned around and walked out the door. Mark let out a huge sigh and sat down on the couch. He'd guessed Roger would be upset at him, but he had to make him understand that getting involved with Tess right now would only make things harder. He wasn't ready for a relationship yet, especially with someone so similar to his last girlfriend, Mimi. Tess was the same age Mimi had been and seemed to be struggling with the same issues. Getting involved with her would only blur the line between the two girls for Roger and he could end up backtracking through the mourning process. Mark knew exactly what would happen, his roommate would end up inadvertently hurting Tess and the poor girl didn't need any more heartbreak in her life.

Despite Mark's comments, Roger couldn't help but want to hang out with Tess as much as he could. In the next few weeks he found that she was funny and quirky and he could see her health improving. The dark circles under her eyes disappeared and her lips were now gorgeously plump and red with no dryness whatsoever. Her skin regained its caramel color making her eyes stand out all the more. She was truly beautiful and he would always catch himself staring at her when she wasn't looking.

Mark seemed to also notice the bond that was slowly forming between the two. He was worried. Knowing that Tess was an addict and had only just recently quit made him afraid that she'd tempt Roger back into old habits. He'd only just recently began moving on from the loss of his girlfriend to AIDS and he knew how easy it would be for him to go back to his old ways. He was also worried about Tess. The two were closer than he'd let on. They'd had conversations since the first time they had met and Mark had made it a point to visit her and take care of her as best he could in the last month. He didn't know why he'd kept that information from his roommate but for some reason, Tess hadn't revealed how well they knew each other either. He loved Roger but knew that he wasn't the best person to be friends with. Roger was a mess. He ran from his problems and was out the door as soon as a complication arose. He didn't want Tess to deal with that. She deserved someone better.