Chapter 3
"Mimi darling where's Angelo's blue shirt?" Darren called. They were trying to get ready to go to dinner at Mark and Roger's.
"I don't know honey. Just put him in the red one." Mimi called back as she got dressed herself.
"I tried, but he's screaming for the blue. Oh wait I found it." Darren said. "Crisis averted."
"Thank God." Mimi said under her breath. It was harder than she thought it would be to be a parent. Darren came into their bedroom carrying their now silent son. "I am so asking Maureen to baby sit sometimes. She loves things that are loud." she told him.
"I'm all for that." Darren replied kissing her on the cheek. "Sometimes daycare just isn't enough."
Mimi smiled at their reflection in the mirror. She was so happy with her little family. Her husband caught her look and smiled too. "We should go." Mimi said. Darren nodded, scooped up Angelo and escorted Mimi out the door.
"Roger!" Mark was yelling. "Roger will you come on already? Your hair is not going to ever stop being messy and you will never look any better, so come on!"
Roger was indeed in the bathroom mirror checking himself out. He had been in the bathroom since Ana had come out an hour before. He heard Mark yelling and decided he looked good and opened the door.
Ana was walking by. "Jeez Daddy how much time do you need in there?" she asked.
Roger wrapped an arm around her. "Ana my dear, I may have natural good looks, but it takes time to polish them into pure handsomeness. You can't just roll out of bed and look this good."
Ana raised an eyebrow. "Daddy, you look really good, but I think you need some serious therapy." she said patting him on the back as they descended the stairs together.
Mark looked up. "Ana you look lovely." he remarked. It was true. Ana was growing up into beautiful young woman. Tonight she had on a long denim skirt and a green tank top. Her strawberry blond hair had grown and hung halfway down her back. Around her neck was the gold necklace that her fathers had bought her for her thirteenth birthday.
Her gray eyes sparkled as she kissed Mark on the cheek. "Thank you Dad. You look nice too."
"Yeah Mark, you're such a cutie." Maureen said as she came into the kitchen.
Roger turned around to look at her. "Who let you in Maureen?"
"The door was unlocked so I just came right in." She said.
"Note to self: Buy industrial strength lock to keep pests out." Roger said. Then there was a knock on the door. "That's probably Mimi and Darren." he said and went to answer it. "Hey you guys. Come on in." he greeted.
They all went back into the kitchen. "Hey Mimi, hey Darren, hey Little Angel." Maureen said.
"Maureen dear you get lovelier every time I see you." Darren said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "And Ana you are becoming a very beautiful young woman. Must be something in the water up here."
The girls giggled. "Darren you charmer, you're making me blush.." Maureen said with a smile.
"Okay Darren. We've already accepted you into our family, you don't have to try and butter anyone up." Roger told him.
Ana took Angelo from Mimi. "Thank you chica." Mimi said gratefully. "I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to be a mother. That kid drives me crazy most of the time."
Mark laughed as Ana put the baby in the play pen with Andrew. "Mimi you can handle it. You took care of Roger all that time. Angelo has to be easier to handle than he was."
Roger swatted him on the butt with an oven mitt. "Yeah well it's your job to take care of me now Marky." he said.
"Oh Rog, how are you holding up after your gray hair tragedy earlier?" Mimi asked as she took a seat at the table.
He gave a dramatic sigh. "It was hard at first, but I accept that I am getting older. At least my face is still young looking."
"Well Roger you know what happens when you get old. First it's gray hairs, then the wrinkles set in." Maureen said grinning.
"Maureen, out." Roger said warningly. "If you value your life, you will leave now."
"Oh please. It's not like you can chase me on those old creaky legs Grandpa." she fired back. Roger shot her an evil look. "Alright I'm going. I'm going. See you guys later."
When she was gone, they all sat down at the table to eat. "So Ana, I heard you had a date earlier today." Mimi mentioned.
Ana blushed a bit. "It wasn't really a date. Arty's my friend and we just went to have an after school meal."
"But you like him." Mimi insisted. "I can tell, we girls always know when a fellow girl likes a boy. That's how I knew Roger liked Mark."
"Oh ha-ha." Roger said with a smirk. "You guys are wonderful friends treating me like this, and in front of my daughter too."
"Aw Daddy you know we love you." Ana told him with a smile. Then she turned back to Mimi. "Aunt Mimi, you know Jaylah and I can watch Angelo for you sometimes if you want."
"Could you do it this Saturday?" Darren asked. "I want to take my lovely wife out somewhere special."
"I'm free." Ana said. "I'll call Jay later and ask her."
The rest of the meal progressed in the same manner and Mimi and Darren left around ten. Ana loaded the dishwasher and then went in search of her fathers. She found them sitting on the porch swing with their arms around each other.
"Aww." she gushed. "I've said it before and I'll say it again. The two of you are so cute." They smiled and moved apart to make room for her between them. "Back in the old days, did you ever think you'd be sitting on a porch swing with a family?" she asked.
"I never thought I'd own a porch swing." Roger told her. "Hell, I never even thought I'd have a porch."
Mark smiled at that. "Yeah, Roger and I thought we'd be stuck in Alphabet City forever. And if you had've asked us if we'd have kids, we would've laughed you out of the loft."
"You mean kids in general, or kids with each other?" Ana wanted to know.
They looked at each other. "Don't get me wrong." Roger began. "I've always loved Mark. Just not in the kids having way."
Mark reached out and grabbed Roger's hand. "I know what you mean. But I feel like this is what we were destined to become. And I know I couldn't be happier."
"Me either." Ana said contentedly.
"Me either." Roger echoed. They were all silent for a moment.
Then, "Alright Ana, you've got school tomorrow and you know what that means." Mark said.
She got up. "It means I need to get ready for bed so that my body can be prepared for school tomorrow." she recited. "I'm going." She kissed them both on the cheek and then went into the house.
"What if someone had've came up to you back when we first met and told you that you and I would be raising a family together one day?" Mark asked Roger.
Roger considered it. "Well considering how hostile I was back in those days, they might have gotten shot or something. What about you?"
"I would never have thought that you would go for a guy like me back then." Mark told him. "If someone had've told me this would happen I would've thought that he was one of your druggie friends."
Roger smiled and leaned over to kiss him. "Well I'm glad we defied the odds and got together."
"Ditto." Mark replied. "And I'll prove it to you in about two hours when the kids are asleep."
"Ah it was worth giving up my old life just for moments like these." Roger said with a happy sigh.
"No offence Roger my love, but your old life wasn't really that great. You should be happy you got away from it." Mark said.
"That's true." Roger admitted. "But still, this life is really very fulfilling to me. It's like I can do something important with the time I have left."
"Yeah, you can do me in two hours." Mark reminded him. "I'm important."
Roger just laughed and kissed him again.
Author's Note: Ah I love Mark and Roger's happy family moments. They deserve them, after all they've come through together. Anyway I need ideas for this story. I don't have any drama to add. So if anyone has any ideas I'd be happy to consider them. Now click the "Go" button and leave me a review. You know you want to.