Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own the rights of the characters, but Jonathan Larson did and he still does. I myself like to decide all the characters future. So I hope you enjoy the future!! THANK YOU JONATHAN LARSON!!
5.5 months in counting for the pregnant Maureen. )
"I have to take these!!" Maureen questioned loudly at Collins.
"Yes" he said placing the horse size pill in her hand. "At the pharmacy I asked for the prescription for Maureen Johnson. And this is what they gave me. So bottom's up Girl."
"I can't do this?!" she exclaimed raising her eyebrows.
"Girl, if you can't even swallow a pill, how are you expecting to give birth?" he said raising his eyebrows and laughing.
Just then Mark opened the door. His face was all red and sweaty, and he was panting hard.
"Guys!" he said trying to catch a breath. "I--" he tried to speaking. "Wait! Roger! Mimi!!" he said yelling. Roger and Mimi came out of their room and into the living room.
"Mark are you okay?" Roger asked.
"GREAT! Other than trying to breath" he panted "I'm amazing!" Mark had a huge smile on his face.
"Pookie! Tell us!" Maureen said happily smiling. The pill in her hand started to melt as she held it.
"You're not going to believe this!" he said excitingly.
"Well go on son tell us!" Collins said impatiently.
"Okay, well remember how I'm apart of that New York Film challenge!" Everyone nodded. "I'm in the top five! I got a call early today, telling me to come down to the building for some news, and they told me!"
"Oh baby!!" Maureen said rushing to him giving him a kiss. "Congratulations!"
"Wow Man! Congrats, that's beyond amazing." Roger said.
"Yay Mark!" Mimi said happily clapping her hands.
"Congrats, brother" Collins said giving him a hug.
"Let's go celebrate!" Maureen said exultantly.
"It's a celebration!" Mimi sang.
"Whoa, I haven't won yet but thanks guys!" He said. "When I win then we'll celebrate."
"Come on Mark, on me how bout?" Collins asked slapping his hand on Mark's shoulder.
"I really appreciate it guys' but--"
"Hey mister nobody likes party poopers! We are celebrating no matter if you like it or not." Maureen said.
"You know you want to Mark!" Mimi said.
"I'll buy you a nice new shot glass Mark." Collins said.
"I don't even like shots that much though!" Mark laughed.
"Just give in man." Roger said trying to persuade him.
"Guys you really--"
"Why are you being so difficult? Baby lets celebrate! It will be fun! Please!" Maureen said with her puppy dog face. Mark couldn't resist the face.
Mark sighed. "Fine, okay, I give up." he said slightly smiling.
"Let's go now, its perfect timing!" Mimi said.
"Everyone get your shoes, purse, wallet…even if we are broke asses, whateva! Let's move!" Collins said.
Maureen found her shoes and purse. She remembered the pill in her hand and opened it; Collins saw her stare at the giant size pill.
"You know you have to take it. It's best for the baby and you." he said as he tied his shoes.
"It's all grody now." she said back.
"Oh its fine."
"I'll take a new one when I get home." she said trying slid past it, she was seriously afraid of that pill. The size of it scared her immensely. They heard the water running in the kitchen. Mimi walked over to her and handed her a glass of water.
"Here, let's not wait, let's just get it over with." she said nodding, smiling sweetly.
"The baby and I can wait a couple of hours, seriously guys, we'll be okay." she said.
"Nope now." Mimi said.
"Ugh, okay. Okay." Maureen held the glass of water and stared at the pill. She looked up scared. "I can't!"
"You can Mo!" Mimi said.
"I can't, I'll choke and die!" she said fighting back.
"Maureen." Collins said "I promise you won't die. And if you choke, which you won't, I'll do the Heimlich maneuver."
"You'll hurt the baby." she said placing her hands on her five month pregnant belly.
"Girlie you have to take it. Don't you want the baby to be healthy?" Mimi said
"Of course I do!?" she said confused.
"Well, if you want a beautiful healthy baby, then I suggest taking it." Mimi said calmly.
"I want a beautiful healthy baby." she looked at the pill again. "I'll take it." she said looking up.
"Good girl." Collins said.
She placed the pill on her tongue, bringing the water to her mouth, she squinted her eyes shut and swallowed. She opened her eyes when she finished. A huge smile spread across her face.
"I did it!"
"Yea you did!" Mimi smiled big.
"See was that so hard?" Collins said happily.
"It was a sinch." She rubbed her stomach, looking down at it. "All for you beautiful." she said smiling at her tummy.
Later
The bohos decided to go to The Life Café for the celebration. Collins bought drinks for everyone, like he said earlier, it was on him. Maureen said she didn't want anything, even if Collins had asked if she wanted a soda, she told him she didn't want to have to go to the bathroom a hundred times more than she already had to. But Collins couldn't help himself; Tom bought her a virgin pinea colada so that she could have some fun as well.
"And the virgin pinea colada for the lady" said their waiter. He placed the drink in front of Maureen.
"Oh on the house! Cool!" Maureen said happily. She looked around at her friends. "Wait, Collins! I told you not too." she said as she saw the smile on his face. "But thanks!" she slurped the drink and smiled.
"Of course girl."
Maureen sipped her virgin drink. No alcohol was presentable in the taste which was good sign; even if she knew a virgin pinea colada had no alcohol. She had promised herself she wouldn't drink because of the baby.
Maureen took another sip of her drink and looked up as she heard her name.
"Maureen?" The voice asked. Maureen looked up and wasn't prepared to see what she saw.
"Joanne?" She said confused.
"Hi guys."
"Hi." only Mimi and Collins said softly.
"So Roger, Mark you're not going to say hi to me?" Joanne stated to them strongly.
"Not when you're a bitch we won't." Roger said with a crossed face looking up at her.
"I'm a bitch because--please anyone fill in for me." she said.
"You left Maureen."
"Wow" she said fuming at this point. "Really, I'm the wrong one, she's the one who got pregnant behind my god damn back!" She said yelling at this point.
"Really Joanne?!" Collins said crossly. Joanne ignored him.
The host came over to see what was going on.
"Oh of course." He said rolling his eyes at them. "Why didn't I guess. Guys could you please take this outside?"
"First of all sweetie I didn't get pregnant behind you back." Maureen said angrily standing up.
"Oh really then, so because of that rumor, you don't think I'm going to believe you got pregnant from one of them?" She said sneering back at her.
"Yea I didn't!" Maureen irately.
"Oh get out of my face."
"I believe you're the one in my face…." She said back, putting her hands on her hips.
"Get out now!" said the host, he started to get panicky. "Please?"
"Hey shut up, okay first she's in my face, now you?" Joanne said madly at the host.
Mark looked up. He knew he had to say it, it was perfect. He stood up. "Joanne, you're the one in everyone's face and now his?!" he said furiously. "Maureen didn't get pregnant from one of those guys."
"And I'll believe that one because?" Joanne said.
"I did!" Mark said. "Maureen and I are pregnant." Everyone was shocked. They said nothing and went along with it. Maureen looked back at him and smiled. She liked his answer. He locked his arms around Maureen's waist, since he was behind her, and rested his hands on her belly.
Joanne looked confused. "What?" She laughed. "You got Maureen pregnant? You got pregnant from Mark?" She laughed again.
"Why is it funny?" Maureen said. "Mark and I are going to have a gorgeous child."
"That's really funny."
"If you're going to be rude about it, why don't you leave." Maureen said talking back at her.
"Oh I'd love too, but I'm actually meeting a hot client of mine here tonight." Joanne said straight back at Maureen.
"Then we will." Collins said confidently and he stood up. "Come on guys."
They all got up and left. Joanne was stunned and Mark was feeling pretty victorious.
As they left the restaurant, Maureen and Mark left hand in hand. Outside, she stopped and kissed him. Maureen looked into the restaurant and saw that Joanne had seen the kiss. Joanne turned away quick. Maureen turned back to Mark. "I love you." she said softly and meant it. She looked into his eyes
"I love you too." he said back happily and the two continued to walk hand in hand back home.
Later
All night Maureen had a burning question to ask Mark. She couldn't contain herself for any longer, but she didn't know how to start off the question.
She went to bed clueless on how to start the question, and she worried what his true reaction would be. The next morning Maureen woke up the next morning thinking about the question. She had gone to bed thinking about it and woke up thinking about it. What to say…Oh god damnit Maureen just ask, she thought to her self.
As she was about to wake up Mark, she saw the sudden peacefulness he had upon his face as he lay there asleep. She smiled to herself. Okay okay I'll wait till he wakes up… oh what the hell. She thought again. She rubbed his shoulder gently.
"Mark?" She waited. "Mark wake up baby." He rustled in his sleep.
"Hmmmmmm" He said not fully awake yet.
"I need to ask you something." She said.
"What?" He said now opening his eyes. He rubbed them and stared at her squinting. He turned over and grabbed his glasses from the night stand and placed them on him. "Yea" he said looking at her.
"Okay, baby remember last night, when you told Joanne you had gotten me pregnant?"
"Oh jeez, damn you didn't like it--" He continued on rambling about his mistake.
"Mark!" He stopped startled. "No baby, I loved it." She said calmly to him.
His worried and stressed eyes changed and became calm. "Oh." He smiled. "You liked it." The beautiful blue eyes sparkled.
"No, I loved it." She took his hand and held it. "Really baby, did you mean it?"
"Of course I did." He said assuring.
"Why?"
"Well, I mean it was a perfect come back." He laughed. "But I realized that not only was it a great come back, and that I would've really loved you know to uh have a baby with you."
"Pookie!" Maureen cooed.
"What?"
"Really!"
"Uh, yea is that good?"
"Of course it is silly! I would've loved to have had this baby with you too." She kissed him and when they let go, she looked into those beautiful sapphires. "We can still do that too."
"You're kinda pregnant as we speak though?" he asked confused.
"No baby." Maureen said laughing. "I mean I would love to share this baby with you."
"Share?" Mark said confused.
"As in, I'm the mom and you're the dad." She said with a smile, although quickly she got serious. "I want you to be the father of my child Mark, that's one regret I've had about this pregnancy. If I had done anything different baby, I would've wanted you to be the father."
"Muh muh--uhh me?" Mark said worried.
"No the other Mark Cohen I'm talking too. Yes you baby!" She paused. "You would be an amazing father."
"How do you know, I mean how uhhh--how?"
"Because your loving, sweet and caring."
"I don't know if I could be a father just yet."
"Ya know mister, when you were telling me I was going to be fine and that I was able to become a mother, you didn't think I really convinced? Hell, I'm still not totally convinced, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try and take on the job." She said rubbing his palms. "I love you and I know you would be an wonderful father Pookie."
"I'm still not convinced." He paused and Maureen's heart danced with nervousness. "But" He took a deep breath in and smiled. "I'd love to take on the job and adopt the baby." He kissed Maureen.
"Really Pookie?"
"Really really." He said smiling. She kissed him and continued too.
The phone that sat beside Maureen on a shelf next to the wall began to ring.
"Whoa!" she said pulling away and looking down at her belly. She hands immediately moved to her belly.
"What!?"
"The baby got scared and jumped." She said with a smile. "That was really strange. The baby just spazzed." They laughed. "That's the first time I've felt it move." She sat up and Mark followed her. She lifted up her shirt to reveal her belly and looked down, placing her hands on her stomach. "Hello gorgeous."
Mark bent down and kissed the center of her belly. "Hi baby." He said and they both laughed. "Now, I have a question for you." He said looking at Maureen. He was back sitting up. She nodded, still keeping her hands on her belly.
"How do you feel about Joanne?" He said cautiously, he knew he was entering into a danger zone.
"What do you mean?" She said all serious now.
"Do you still love her at all?"
She took a deep breath and exhaled. "I do miss her and yea I kinda do when I think about the great times we had." Mark looked down at his hands. "But when I see her react to all of us that way like she did last night. I'm confused. She definitely doesn't seem like the Joanne I used to know, the temper maybe, but how she's doesn't even consider trusting me. I mean I really was becoming fully committed the last couple of months."
"So then where does this leave me? Am I a second resort?" He said confused.
"Mark, you're never a second resort. You've always been there in the back of my mine." He studied her words. "When I was with Joanne, and I felt as hard I as I tried, I never felt that she had total trust in me, which really bothered me the last few months, when I really started to want to be committed and during those months, I always thought, Mark believed me, he did. And I still loved you, when I was with Joanne."
"You did?"
"Yea" she nodded.
"Oh, well I thought I was the only one still who had the feelings for one another."
"Pookie, I've always loved you. Joanne was kinda the second resort, the idea of being with her, was fun for a while, and I thought I could eventually get rid of you, but God I couldn't." She said winking at him.
Just then they heard Mimi's yells "Roger! Rog--" and then a loud noise that had apparently came from the bathroom. It was the sound of someone falling and it didn't sound pretty.
"Fuck! Mimi!" Roger yelled and ran into the bathroom. Mark and Maureen looked at each other in panic and quickly got up from their bed. They rushed out to the bathroom to find Roger cradling Mimi in his arms. She was naked and wet. He was beginning to get soaked from the water rushing from the shower head. Her head was bleeding badly on the front and blood began to run down her head.
"Roger what happened!" Mark said quickly by his side.
"Oh shit!" Maureen said in a worried voice. She began to cry.
Collins came in next and saw unconscious Mimi laying in the arms of Roger. "Fuck! I'll calling 911." he said and grabbed the phone in Roger and Mimi's room.
"She, she--oh fuck Mark she can't do this to me again!" His voice was hoarse.
"Does she have a pulse?!" He said frantically. "Roger what happened?!" Mark said in a more panicked voice.
"Yes, she has a pulse, I checked when I first got in." It took Roger strength to say what he was trying to get out, but eventually he was able to speak.
"Collins she has a pulse!" Mark yelled to the other room where Collins was.
"She was complaining of not feeling right all morning, she went to go calm herself in the shower and then… then she fell. Oh fuck!" he said crying.
Collins rushed in. "The paramedics said they are on their way right now and will be here soon! They said to take a towel to her head and try to stop the bleeding." Mark handed Roger a towel immediately and Roger began to try and soak the blood. Collins and Mark both looked frightened by what they saw.
"How soon is soon?" Mark asked sadly. Maureen latched on to Mark digging her head into his chest. She was crying and shaking. Mark wrapped his arms around Maureen. He couldn't look at Mimi, it was heart breaking, was she really going to die right there. He didn't want to think that, and he didn't know what to think. A vision came into his mind of instead of Roger cradling Mimi, Mark was cradling a bleeding Maureen. He tried to cross the image out of his head but he couldn't. If this had happened to Maureen, Mark wouldn't know what to do with himself. He couldn't imagine what would happen if him and Maureen were in this situation. He would not only lose the love of his life, but another life. Mark seemed to think the love he had for Maureen shaped how he felt for the unborn child. Likewise, even before Maureen had asked Mark about adopting the baby to be the father, Mark had already come to love the little being inside of her.
Mark was in a horrible state right now knowing his best friends was instead in this situation. Mimi, couldn't die, she couldn't, losing her always happy face, her perky self and the passion and love she had for her friends and Roger. If Mimi died, Roger would be back to where he had been before Mimi, he couldn't lose someone again not after April and definitely not after Angel. His heart and soul would be thrown away and he would eventually throw away his own life.
Mark looked away still holding Maureen and he felt like he never wanted to let her go. He remembered what Maureen had said 'I always thought, Mark believed me, he did.', he did always believe her and he wasn't going to stop now. He believed every word Maureen had told him about loving him. He knew she was speaking the truth and that if Joanne wasn't going to believe her, Mark would always and forever would.