AN: Here's when everything starts going wrong. Can't say much without giving anything away, but I will say this: get used to the cliffhangers.
Even though the last snowfall of the winter had come and gone, a chill still hung in the air, so Maureen and Joanne had to hug their winter coats tightly around them as they made their way down the street. When they finally reached the Kelly Koffeehouse, they were very grateful to step inside and get warm.
"Oh, why does it always have to get so cold in New York," Maureen complained, rubbing her hands together in an attempt to warm them up.
"Just be thankful for warm clothing," Joanne comforted, squeezing Maureen's hand lovingly. At that moment, Joanne spotted Mark sitting in the back of the coffeehouse.
"Hey, Mark," Maureen greeted as she and Joanne sat down in the chairs across from him. "What's up?"
"Hi, Maureen, Joanne," Mark forced a smile. "Glad you two could make it." Sighing, Mark looked down at his folded hands, which were resting atop the table. The conflicted expression on Mark's face even left Maureen worried, but before she could ask what was wrong, they heard someone clear their throat. Looking up, they saw it was Kris Kelly, Zack and Rodolfo's close friend.
"Morning, Mr. Cohen, Mesdames Jefferson-Johnson," she greeted, serving them three mugs of warm coffee, each mug containing a stick of cinnamon.
"Thanks, Kris," Mark nodded in gratitude to the teen girl. After Kris had gone off to wait on the other customers in her family's coffeehouse, Joanne took it upon herself to continue their conversation.
"So, what's this about, Mark?" she asked. "You sounded very worried about something on the phone."
"Yeah," Maureen added. "What was so important that we had to meet here on such short notice? Couldn't it have waited until tonight, when we meet at the Life for our monthly family dinner?"
"No," Mark shook his head, the conflicted expression returning. "This isn't something we could talk about at the Life."
"Mark, what's wrong?" Joanne urged, growing very worried. She had never seen Mark like this, and it was making her very uncomfortable.
"It's…" Mark spoke after a long pause. "It's about Emily."
"Emily?" Maureen stared. "What, are you two having marriage problems or something?"
"Of course not!" Mark snapped, suddenly sounding angry. "It's just that…" Mark trailed off, his face deflating again. "She's…been having nightmares lately."
"Mark Cohen," Maureen huffed, clearly annoyed now. "Do you mean to tell me that you dragged us down here because Emily's just been having bad dreams?"
"Nightmares about Kingpin," Mark spoke seriously. Immediately, Maureen and Joanne's eyes grew as wide as saucers.
"Kingpin?" Joanne nearly choked over the name. "That…that man from the Rat Fang Gang who tried to kill Emily almost two decades ago?"
"Yeah, him," Mark confirmed. "She's been having nightmares about him for over a month now, and she always wakes screaming because of them. But what really worries me is her reaction when she's awake. It's almost like she's expecting him to jump out at her any second. Just yesterday, when Zoey was over studying with Zack and Rodolfo for a math test next week, one of their textbooks fell off the table and Emily nearly had a heart attack.
"I've never seen her like this before. We all know she's never been the nervous type. But now, these nightmares have her scared to death. I'm just so worried about her. I hate seeing her like this."
"I don't get it," Maureen shook her head. "I don't think Emily's thought about Kingpin for years."
"Neither do I," Mark agreed. "And I can't think of anyone who would have brought it up. Apart from us, Penny's the only one who knows about what happened back then, and she knows how Kingpin's a sensitive subject for Emily."
"Well, her and Sergeant Kurtz," Maureen reminded. "But he'd know better, too."
"Mark?" Joanne spoke up, seemingly deep in thought about something. "I have a question. Did Emily tell you exactly what happens in her nightmares?"
"Yeah," Mark announced. "It's usually always the same dream, with very little variation. She comes home from somewhere to find that Kingpin broke in and killed the boys and me. Although, sometimes Lucia and Penny are killed, too."
"Maybe…" Joanne muttered, half to herself. "Maybe it was Angel's warning."
"Angel's warning?" Mark and Maureen turned to her in confusion.
"Well," Joanne explained. "All of us remember how Angel had Rodolfo warn us about that 'storm' that's supposed to be coming, right? At the time, Emily said she wasn't that worried about it, but maybe, without her even realizing it, her subconscious mind came up with what she saw as the worst case scenario. After what happened to her parents and older brother when she was young, it wouldn't surprise me if Emily considers something happening to Mark, Penny, or the rest of her immediate family as the worst possible thing that could happen." Mark simply stared at Joanne for a moment, wondering why he'd never considered that possibility. Now that he thought about it, Joanne's theory did seem to make sense.
"So, what do you think I should do?" Mark asked. "I know it might be the best idea to bring Dr. Jordan in on this. He'd probably be able to suggest the best solution. The problem is that Emily's been wondering if there's something mentally wrong with her. I've been spending so much time trying to convince her that she's not loosing it, I can't see how I can suggest visiting Dr. Jordan now without making it look like I was lying to her."
"In other words," Maureen concluded, realizing what he was getting at, "you want us to do the dirty work for you and bring Emily to see Dr. Jordan ourselves."
"I know I sound like a coward," Mark admitted. "I'm just afraid of Emily thinking I don't have faith in her." A second later, a distant expression appeared on Mark's face, and he stared off into space aimlessly, as if his mind had suddenly traveled miles away. "I wish….I wish Roger was still here. He and Emily just always seemed to get each other. He'd probably be able to know what to do right now."
"It's alright, Mark," Joanne reached across the table to place a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. She knew how it was still hard for him to talk about Roger sometimes. "Tomorrow, Maureen and I both have the day off, so we'll take Emily out for the day. I promise we'll do what we can to talk her into seeing Dr. Jordan about this."
"Thanks, Joanne," Mark reluctantly smiled.
The rest of the day passed somewhat normally for Mark, so by the time night had fallen and the Bohemians were gathered at the Life Café for their traditional monthly family dinner, he was in high spirits. It was times like this when it was hard for him to remember that when this tradition of dinner at the Life began, their family had only consisted of seven people. Now, even though they had lost some dearly loved members of the family throughout the years, it had still grown bigger than they could have ever imagined. Maureen and Joanne were sitting across from Benny and Allison, talking about random topics. Penny and her boyfriend, James, were sitting side-by-side, with James' young son, Sammy, perched on Penny's lap. Meanwhile, Rodolfo, Zack and Alvin were sitting together on one side of the table with Kris and Zack's girlfriend, Zoey, Alvin and Rodolfo engaged in a thumb war. Even Lucia was having a good time, partially because her best friend, Julie, had been able to join them tonight.
However, the part that left Mark feeling the best about tonight was its effect on Emily. Being around the entire family like this seemed to be helping her cheer up a great deal. In fact, she hadn't even batted an eye when Benny's chair scrapped against the floor when he'd got up to visit the bathroom. Perhaps Dr. Jordan wouldn't be needed after all. Maybe all Emily needed was to spend more time with her friends. If that was the case, Joanne's suggestion of having a girls-day-out tomorrow was probably the best thing to do.
Reaching out, Mark took Emily's hand under the table to give it a loving squeeze, smiling to himself when Emily reciprocated the gesture. Content to just hold Emily's hand, Mark found himself listening in on the conversation the Boho Kids were having while Alvin nursed his sore thumb. From what he gathered, it sounded like Kris was talking about her grandparents' cottage up in Michigan.
"…And out back, there's a large, deep river where my brothers and I go swimming when we visit in the summer. There's even a thick rope tied to an overhanging branch which we can use to swing into the water," Kris was saying. "It'll really be great if you guys could all come up with us when my family visits them in July. I've told Granny and Gramps all about you, and they'd love to have you over for the summer."
"Michigan does sound like fun," Zoey noted brightly.
"Yeah, your grandparents' place always sounds great, Kris," Rodolfo agreed.
At that moment, Mark felt someone tap his shoulder. Looking up, he saw it was James.
"Um, Mr. Cohen," James spoke in a low whisper. "I was going to go up and get some drinks for the table. Could you help me carry them back?" After a brief hesitation, Mark got up from the table to accompany James, greatly confused. When did James start calling him 'Mr. Cohen' again? They'd been on first-name terms for quite a while now, ever since James had protected Penny from Zoey's abusive father, so why was it now 'Mr. Cohen' again?
Mark got his answer almost immediately. While they were waiting for the drinks they'd ordered, James turned to face him, looking extremely nervous.
"Mr. Cohen," James breathed. "Um….I'm not sure how to…"
"James, what's this Mr. Cohen stuff?" Mark interrupted. "You know you're allowed to call me Mark."
"I know," James nodded. "But…the thing is…. I know you probably don't agree with some of the older traditions, but…I wanted to do this the old fashioned way, just to be safe. The last thing I want to do is to offend you, especially now. I really want to do this correctly."
"You lost me," Mark frowned. "What older traditions?" James suddenly looked even more nervous, if that was even possible.
"Well, Mr. Cohen…Mark," James spoke slowly. "It's just that…there's an old tradition where it was customary for a guy to go to the father…and ask permission to marry the father's daughter."
The moment he heard those words, Mark's face froze. He knew he should have been expecting this to happen one of these days. It was impossible to see Penny and James together without knowing it was going to happen. So why was he so shocked to hear James say this now? After a brief pause, Mark glanced back over at Penny. At the moment, she was busy playing with Sammy, but in that instant, all Mark could see was that seven-year-old girl with the bridge of freckles across her nose. A second later, Mark remembered that James was still waiting for his response, his face betraying his worry that he'd said something wrong.
"Sorry, James," Mark forced himself to speak. "I'm sorry for zoning out for a moment. I'm afraid you won't understand what this is like until Sammy's all grown up. Believe me, even then, you'll still see him like he is now.
"When I first met Penny eighteen years ago, I never imagined she'd one day mean as much to me as she does now. But I eventually realized I was wrong, and willingly became her father. Ever since then, everything about it just seemed to come naturally, and it was so easy for me to forget that I wasn't Penny's biological father. All the normal fatherly instincts you hear about seemed to just sprout out of nowhere, including that one annoying opinion that nobody could ever be good enough for your daughter. However, I suppose I'm wrong once again.
"James, like I said, you probably won't know how hard this is until Sammy's older, but…I don't think I could ever agree to give Penny away to anyone else but you." Reaching out, Mark awkwardly patted James' shoulder in what he hoped was a supportive way. "I would tell you to take care of her, but I already know you will. You already do."
"Mark," James spoke, his voice shaking with gratitude and relief. "Thank you." The two men didn't speak again as they carried their drinks back to the table and sat back down, but as Mark instinctively draped an arm around Emily's shoulders, something in his expression must have alerted her that something had happened.
"Mark?" Emily frowned in concern. "What's wrong?" Before replying, Mark snuck a glance over at James and Penny, just in time to see James entwine his fingers with Penny's before lifting them up to place a gentle kiss to the back of Penny's hand.
"I'll tell you later," Mark promised in a low whisper before kissing Emily's temple. Satisfied to wait, Emily nodded in agreement, but as she started to turn back toward Maureen to listen to what she was telling Allison, her smile faded. In the span of thirty seconds, her face paled, becoming whiter than a sheet, and her expression shifted from shocked to completely terrified. Wondering what had suddenly scared her so badly, Mark followed the direction of her eyes, but it was a moment before he noticed the television hanging in the corner of the room, which currently was tuned to a live news broadcast. His heart stopping in panicked worry, Mark jumped to his feet, surprising everyone at the table.
"Hey," Mark called over to the people behind the bar. "Could you turn that TV up?" The Bohemian family all looked from Mark to the TV, wondering what was going on as the TV's volume increased to an audible point.
"For those of you just tuning in," the newscaster announced. "An inmate from the Sullivan Correctional Facility managed to escape police custody during his scheduled transfer to the Attica Correctional Facility. While the name of the escaped convict still hasn't been released, it has been revealed that he had been serving a life sentence for counts of attempted murder, kidnapping, and drug trafficking. More information will be released as it comes."
Mark felt his mouth drying out as the newscaster's words sank in. The Sullivan Correctional Facility? That was where Kingpin had been taken after his arrest eighteen years ago. Looking at the expressions on the faces of Maureen, Joanne, and Penny, Mark could tell that they were all thinking the exact same thing.
"Emily?" Joanne whispered carefully, cautiously looking over at the photographer, who looked like she was about to be sick. In the blink of an eye, Emily swayed in her seat and started to fall backwards. It was only the quick reactions of Mark and Benny that prevented her from hitting her head on the floor as she fainted.
"Mom!" Zack and Lucia cried in unison as everyone jumped to their feet in worry and concern.
"Mark, what's going on?" Benny asked urgently as he and Mark carefully lowered Emily to the floor. "Why…?" The rest of Benny's questions were abruptly interrupted by the bang of the restaurant door as it flew open. Standing in the doorway was Sergeant Kurtz, the Bohemians' friend from the NYPD. Without a word to the Bohemians, Sergeant Kurtz went straight to the fainted Emily, his face grim and angry.
"She saw the news about the prison break, didn't she?" Sergeant Kurtz spoke in a low voice as he crouched down at Emily's side, his eyes focused on her face.
"Yeah, just now," Mark nodded numbly. Sergeant Kurtz cursed under his breath.
"They weren't supposed to announce it yet," he muttered, half to himself. "I didn't want her to hear about it like that."
"Sergeant Kurtz?" Penny whispered in horror. "Does that mean…. The escaped convict. It isn't…him, is it?" Sergeant Kurtz did not need to reply to Penny's question. His expression was enough to confirm that their fears were well-founded.