A/N: See, I've already started updating more often! If I can, I'll update one more time before Christmas Break, but no promises. School speeds up right before then, and I may not have the energy. This chapter picks up right where the other one left off, and is entirely devoted to Mimi and Adrienne.

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"Excuse me?" Mimi blinked, sure she must have heard the girl wrong.

"I know it sounds crazy, but please listen. This is what I know – over twenty-one years ago, when I was only a few days old, my parents took me to an orphanage. They told one of the caretakers there that there was simply no way they could keep me, and they just wanted me to be taken care of. They also requested that I never be told who my parents were for reasons they considered too private to confess. All I was told was that my mother was a very young Latina and my father was African-American."

Mimi stood still, her emotions raging. Her mind flashed back to nearly twenty-two years ago…

"Benny…I'm pregnant," she whispered into her lover's chest, tears trickling down her cheeks.

Benny tensed, and then pushed Mimi away gently. "Mine?" She nodded. He sighed, and pulled her back to him, stroking her hair.

They'd considered abortion. But Mimi was only seventeen, and it was too dangerous. Keeping the baby was entirely out of the question for more than one reason. Abandoning it to die was unacceptable, too. So adoption was the only way to go.

A few days after their daughter was born, Mimi and Benny took it to the orphanage. A kind young woman helped them fill out some forms, then asked if there were any special instructions for the as-yet unnamed little girl.

"Just – just don't ever tell her who we are. I don't want her to be ashamed of me," Mimi whispered, looking ashamed of herself.

Then they abandoned the child. They never heard any more about her – not her name, not her adoptive parents. They didn't want to know. Life went on; Benny married, Mimi met Roger. Years passed. The fact that there was a kid out there with Mimi and Benny's combined DNA was all but forgotten.

But here she was.

"Are…are you sure I'm your mother?" Mimi asked the young woman, holding her breath, unable to tear her eyes away from the face that she was now comparing to her own. The skin color was a combination of Latina and African-American. Her nose and chin and face shape were Benny's. But those eyes…they were undoubtedly Mimi's.

Adrienne looked uncomfortable. She wouldn't meet Mimi's eyes. "Well…I was hoping you could tell me that," she said awkwardly.

Mimi sighed, and nodded. "All right. Come in." She held the door open while the other woman passed through, then shut it and sat on a chair, motioning Adrienne to the couch. Then she took a deep breath.

"The truth is, Adrienne, I do believe you are my daughter. You look an awful lot like your father, and there's some of me in you, too. What I'd like to know is how you found out."

Hope had flashed through Adrienne's eyes at Mimi's prediction, but she blushed and looked embarrassed at the accusation.

"Well…" she said to the floor, "I know I shouldn't have…but I wanted answers, and no one would tell me anything. So I broke into the Head's office during lunchtime, and I found my file. It told me my parent's names, and that they had requested I not be told the truth. It was enough for me. I started looking for you right away."

Mimi was confused. "Did you go back to the orphanage to look without your adoptive family's knowledge?"

Adrienne flushed bright red. "I…uh…was never adopted," she whispered.

Mimi felt a pang of sorrow. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

The girl looked up, blinking back tears. "When I turned eighteen, I got kicked out of the orphanage. I was the oldest there by far, and I helped look after the younger kids, but every orphanage in New York is overcrowded, and they couldn't afford to take care of an adult. So I left and got a job. About three months ago, I went back and found out who my parents were. I don't know why I never did that before. Maybe because I was angry at you for leaving me. Maybe I did it when I did because someone at work said I reminded them of someone else who used to work there, and that got me thinking of my mother."

"Where do you work?" Mimi asked.

Adrienne met her gaze. "The Catscratch Club," she admitted, as if daring her mother to argue.

But Mimi didn't. "I worked there for awhile, when I was just a little younger than you," she said.

"So…how about you?" Adrienne asked, "Did you…did you marry my father?" she asked hopefully.

Mimi laughed wryly. "No, I'm afraid not. We were only together for a little while. After we left you at the orphanage, we ended our affair. He got married, has a teenage son. Actually, he's in the middle of a nasty divorce right now."

"Oh. And you?"

"I got married, too, a few years later. His name is Roger. He's a musician."

"And you paint," Adrienne said, noticing a half-finished portrait on the table.

"No, that's my daughter, Angie. It's a self-portrait."

Adrienne looked sad. "I thought it was you."

"She looks a lot like me," Mimi said, noticing the hurt expression on Adrienne's face. "I'm sorry," she said quickly, "I didn't think…"

"It's okay," Adrienne whispered, "She's very lucky."

Mimi mentally slapped herself. What was she thinking, talking about Angie when this girl, too, was her daughter, but hadn't gotten to grow up with her mother?

"Adrienne, listen, I – I don't want to say to make this better," Mimi said, "I've always felt guilty for leaving you at the orphanage-"

"-but you have a different life now," Adrienne finished.

"That wasn't what I was going to say."

"It's okay," Adrienne stood. "I didn't come here expecting you to treat me as a daughter or anything. I just wanted you to know that I know."

Mimi sat there for a moment, trying to figure out if that was meant as an insult. Then she jumped up and followed her elder daughter.

"Adrienne – wait. You didn't let me finish. I'm thrilled – thrilled­ – to know you're alive and okay. I'm glad you found me, because I could never had found you. I don't want you to just step out of my life forever. I just – I didn't expect to ever meet you."

"Tell me more about yourself. What do you do?" Adrienne asked, pausing in the doorway.

"I have a dance studio, which I love. This year, we've been chosen to perform 'Swan Lake' at the Tompkins Center for the Performing Arts. I love to dance – it's the only way I could make money when I first came to the City."

"I love to dance, too," Adrienne murmured, "If you can call what we do at the Club dancing."

"That's where I got started," Mimi said, "I know that life."

"What about your husband?"

"Roger plays guitar. He works with one of our friends, writing music for local movies. He wants to start up a band, eventually."

"And your daughter – does she dance, too?"

Mimi nodded. "Angie dances, but she enjoys painting more." She said this delicately, because she wasn't sure how Adrienne felt about talking about Angie.

Adrienne nodded. "She's got a knack for it," she said, glancing back at the painting on the table, "One of the kids I knew back at the orphanage, just a little eleven-year-old – he could paint like no one I'd ever seen. He got adopted. I was thirteen then."

Mimi's beeper sounded. She turned it off and unscrewed her bottle of AZT, popping one of the little pills into her mouth.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I forgot to tell you – I'm HIV-positive."

But Adrienne was digging in her purse, and she too extracted a bottle of the pills. Without looking at Mimi, she took one and replaced the container. "Me too." She said quietly.

Mimi gaped. "But – how? I wasn't HIV-positive when I had you!"

Adrienne shook her head. "It's my own fault. Two years ago, I got drunk and went home with a guy from the club. He had AIDS, but I didn't know until too late."

"I'm sorry," Mimi whispered, putting a hand on her daughter's arm. Adrienne twitched but didn't pull away. "I lost two of my best friends to AIDS," Mimi said, "And my husband has it, too. Maybe sometime I'll tell you about them. And I hate to say this, but I need to go. You can stay, or-"

"No, I have to go, too." Adrienne said suddenly, glancing at her watch, "I have a couple things to do before work." She looked up at her mother. "It's been nice talking to you, Mimi."

"You too," Mimi said, "I really want to talk some more, soon. When do you get off at the club tonight?"

Adrienne thought for a minute. "Eleven," she said finally, "But…I don't know if I want you to…"

"See you like that? Honey, I lived that life for a long time. I probably still know most of the people there. You don't have to be embarrassed."

"Okay. I'll see you tonight, then. Bye, Mimi." Adrienne said.

Mimi stepped out the door after her. "Bye. And you know, Adrienne – you can call me Mom…when you're ready."

Adrienne smiled slightly. "When I'm ready, I'd like that." And she disappeared down the stairs, leaving Mimi alone in the hall to collect her thoughts.

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A/N: Okay, I know that in the musical, Mimi and Benny's affair was three months before the events that first Christmas, and in the movie it was three years. I just picked a time in the middle, about two years before RENT took place, and made that the time. Review?