"Thank you for a great day, Roger. I really needed it." Keira said smiling up at him as they entered her apartment.
"I know what it's like to have a rough day and wonder how you're gonna make it without a hit." he said setting her dance bag on the floor next to the door.
"Well, thank you for coming to my rescue." she said reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck.
"Like I told you, there's no need to thank me. I'm not going anywhere." he smiled leaning down to kiss her. They began kissing passionately when the phone rang. "Should you get that?" he asked looking down at her.
"Let the machine get it." she answered it beginning to kiss him again.
"Keira. Keira, are you there?" the voice on the machine called out.
"Oh man, it's my mom. I really need to get that." she said looking up at him before rushing to the phone. "Mom? What's the matter?... yeah mom, I figured it out. I'm picking her up this weekend... well, I have friends who are willing to help me... no mom, they're not junkies. They're really good people." she said yelling into the phone. "Mom, I'm not gonna sit here and fight with you. You wanna move to Boca, fine. But Kylie is my daughter and I'm not gonna have her go with you. I can take care of her... you know what mom, whatever. But I'll be there this weekend, just have her stuff packed." she yelled as Roger stood by helplessly. He wanted so badly to grab the phone from her and start telling her mother what a great woman Keira was and how they couldn't wait to have Kylie with them, but he knew he couldn't. This was something Keira had to do for herself. "Fine mom, bye." she said slamming the phone down.
"Are you OK?" he asked looking over at her.
"Yeah, I'm OK. It just seem like no matter how far I come, my mother will never forget my mistakes." she said crying into her hands as Roger rushed over to her.
"It'll be OK Keira. I promise, it'll be OK." he whispered kissing her head.
"How can you promise that Roger? If my mom wants to take Kylie to Florida with her, she will. Kylie's only living with her so the state wouldn't take her away from me when I was using. All my mom has to do is call the state and have Kylie placed with her legally." Keira cried as Roger held her tight.
"That's not gonna happen Baby. We won't let it happen. We'll get everyone here making everything perfect for Kylie and then we'll talk to Joanne. She's a lawyer. She'll take care of everything. If your mom wants a fight, we'll give her one hell of a fight. We won't let her take Kylie away from us. I promise." he whispered rocking her back and forth.
"Us?" she asked looking up at him surprised at his choice of words.
"Yeah us. Keira, Kylie's one of us now too." he smiled leaning down to kiss her.
"Thank you Roger." she said looking up at him as he caressed her wet face.
"Do you need me to go with you this weekend?" he asked looking into her bright blue eyes.
"You have no idea how much I need you to go with me, but I don't know if it's such a good idea. I mean, if my mom knows I have a boyfriend, she might be less inclined to give me Kylie. I mean, she doesn't know you and the last guy got me hooked on smack, gave me HIV and died on me. Maybe I should just take Mimi, Maureen and Joanne with me." she said looking into his green eyes.
"OK Baby. Whatever you think is best. But I can't wait to meet her." he said leaning in to kiss her.
"I can't wait for her to meet you." she smiled looking up at him.
"I'm gonna call the others and see if we can get them over here to make this place ship shape for our girl, OK?" she said kissing her again.
"OK. Thanks Roger." she smiled kissing him again before he picked up the phone to call everyone. She reached up to take his hand. He smiled down at her as he talked to Mark and Mimi.
"Everyone'll be here later." he smiled hanging up the phone.
"Later, huh?" he aksed looking up at him smiling.
"Yeah later. What do you want to do until then?" he asked as she walked over to him wrapping her arms around his neck.
"How about we pick up where we left off when we got back." she suggested looking up at him.
"Are you sure?" he asked as she pulled him into a passionate kiss.
"I'm positive Roger." she whispered kissing him again as he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom as they made love.
"Are you OK Baby?" Roger asked looking down at her.
"Yeah, I'm fine Roger. How about you?" she smiled looking up at him.
"I'm perfect." he smiled leaning down to kiss her.
"OK, let me take a look at what we have to work with here." Maureen said prancing around the apartment looking around.
"Hello Maureen." Keira smiled as she stood with her arm around Roger's waist.
"Don't mind her. She's in Martha Stewart mode." Joanne smiled looking up at her.
"That's OK. I could use all the help I can get, as you can see." Keira smiled looking up at her.
"Oh Jo, we wanted to talk to you about something." Roger said looking down at Joanne.
"What's up guys?" she asked looking over at them.
"We're afraid that Keira's mom is gonna put up a fight when she tries to bring Kylie home with her." Roger said as they sat in the chair in the corner of the apartment.
"Don't worry Roger. The state doesn't usually like to take custody away from the biological mother unless she is deemed unfit." Joanne said looking over at them.
"Keira, how attatched to this hideous trunk are you?" Maureen asked looking over at her.
"The trunk stays Maureen." Keira yelled laughing as Roger played with her hair.
"OK, now which bedroom is gonna be yours and Rogers and which one is gonna be Kylie's?" she asked as Roger and Keira looked at each other.
"Um, I don't know." Keira said looking down at him.
"I'm not moving in." Roger said looking up at her.
"What do you mean?" Joanne asked looking over at them.
"I don't think it's a good idea yet. I mean, Keira and Kylie should have time alone together. Plus we just started dating." he said looking over at her.
"That might be a good idea, for legal purposes. If the state wants to do a home visit, it wouldn't look good if Keira had her HIV positive boyfriend living with her. Especially since you guys just started dating and you don't know each other very well." Joanne said looking up at them.
"OK, now. We're gonna need a little girls bed for Kylie." Maureen said looking around.
"I have a set of bunk beds on layaway at the furniture store a couple of blocks away. And I wanted to refinish that dresser for her and paint her name on it." Keira said getting off of Roger's lap. "I thought I had more time, you know?" she said looking up at her as she entered Kylie's room.
"Don't worry sweetie. We'll have this place done by this weekend." Maureen smiled looking over at her.
"I'm gonna go to the store Baby. Do you need anything?" Roger asked getting out of the chair.
"No, I'm good for now. Are you OK Roger?" she asked walking over to him.
"I've never been better. I'll be right back." he smiled leaning down to kiss her.
"OK." she smiled as she watched him leave the apartment. "He's up to something, isn't he?" she asked looking over at Joanne and Maureen.
"Sweetie, you have no idea." Joanne smiled as Keira sat back in the chair Roger had just vacated.
"So, things are going good with you and Roger, huh?" Maureen asked standing next to where Joanne was sitting.
"Yeah, I mean we just started dating, but he's been really understanding about how complicated my life is. And he accepts Kylie even though he doesn't even know her." she said smiling down at her lap.
"Sweetie, the one thing you need to understand about Roger is that he's got a really good heart. He likes you a lot, so he accepts Kylie because she's a part of you." Joanne smiled looking over at her.
"Yeah, he is a really great guy." she smiled looking up at them.
"Keira, are you in there?" Mimi called out knocking on the door.
"I live here. Where does she think I'd be?" Keira asked laughing as she got up to answer the door.
"Hola chica." she smiled carrying an arm full of bags.
"Mimi, what did you do?" she asked looking down at her.
"I went shopping today. You are not gonna believe the cute outfits I saw." she smiled as shes entered the apartment.
"And toys." Mark smiled looking down at her.
"What? We're gonna have a little girl around. She needs little girl stuff." Mimi told him defensively as she sat on the floor with Maureen pulling stuff out of the bags.
"Mimi, you have got to be kidding me." Keira laughed as Mimi held up a long sleeved t-shirt that said Rock 'N Roll Princess.
"Well, she's gonna be exposed to Roger. Do you see any way around it?" Mimi smiled looking up at her.
"I guess not." she laughed watching her and Maureen take the clothes and toys out of the bag.
"This is the cutest." Maureen smiled looking at the skirts and dolls Mimi was pulling out of the bag.
"Are you OK sweetie?" Joanne asked walking over to her seeing the look on Keira's face.
"Yeah, I'm great." she smiled as Joanne put her arm around her.
"They are something, aren't they?" she asked watching as Mimi put a hairclip in Mark's hair and she and Maureen laughed.
"They sure are." she smiled as the apartment door opened. It was Roger and Collins and they were carrying a wooden bed frame in.
"Mark, can you stop playing dress up and give us a hand?" Roger called out smiling at Keira.
"Roger, what did you do?" she asked looking up at him.
"The baby needs a bed, right?" he smiled leaning down to kiss her before continuing on to Kylie's room.
"Roger Davis, you are incredible." she laughed watching as they set the bed frame in the corner of the room.
"Is this OK Baby?" he asked looking up at her.
"That's perfect Roger." she smiled as Mark came in with a couple of paint cans.
"I hope Kylie likes pink. I think that's all Roger got." Mark said as Keira turned around to look at him.
"Roger, this is too much." she said looking up at him as he came up behind her wrapping his arms around her.
"I figured I could paint her room pink and we can do the dresser in purple or something." he smiled kissing her head.
"Where did you get all this?" she asked looking up at him.
"Well, I paid off the bunk beds and then I was passing the hardware store down the block and got a few gallons of paint." he smiled as she turned around to look into his green eyes.
"Roger, this is way too much." she said quietly as tears fell from her eyes.
"Keira, I didn't do it to make you cry. I did it because Kylie needs a bed and every little girl should have a pretty pink room." he said wiping her eyes with his thumbs.
"You're a good man, Roger Davis." she smiled wrapping her arms around him and holding him close.
"Well this is Kylie's home. I want her to feel like it is." he said kissing her head.
"Thank you Roger. Everybody, thank you." she smiled looking around at everyone.
"She's our little girl too Keira." Mimi smiled getting up off of the floor.
"She's gonna be one lucky little girl." Keira smiled looking up at Roger.
"She already is, having a mom like you." he whispered kissing her head.