A/N: I am sooo sorry that it took so long to update, please dont hate me. I've been wrapped up in a story called "Inevitibilities and Eventualities" by the extremely talented Mecelphie! If you like Wicked, and please tell me you at least know of the wonderfulness that is Wicked, and love the Glinda/Elphie or Gelphie, pairing, READ THIS STORY! Well, enough of that! Please review, and I will try to get more chapters up in a timely manner. Thank you all again.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing. God Bless You Jonathan Larson.
Chapter Eight
Collins had carried the beaten Maureen over four miles to the hospital that night. The doctors rushed her into surgery because she had a badly broken arm, which needed surgery to repair.
Five hours later, the surgeon emerged from the forbidden corridors. "I wish to speak to the family of Maureen Johnson?"
The three friends stood and walked over to the surgeon, "How is she?"
"Mr. Collins I presume?" The surgeon shook the eager black man's hand. "Ms. Johnson is very weak, but she will make it through. I'm sorry to say that she is in a coma, due to a very severe head injury."
Mimi cried into Mark's neck as she heard the news. She felt as if all of this was her fault, she should have told Maureen.
"How… how long before… before she wakes up?" Mark asked, silently rubbing Mimi's back.
The surgeon sighed, "It could be weeks, if not longer."
Collins groaned and sat on a bench near the three others. He hadn't wished this on anyone before in his life. And the scary thing was the scare of AIDS around every corner. He looked to the ceiling and begged who ever was listening to help his best friend.
"Thank you Dr. Main." Mark said as he turned to sit beside Collins.
"That's not everything." The surgeon said quietly.
The group looked anxiously at him.
"Ms. Johnson is pregnant…" He said as he left the three friends to process the information. Maureen had never wanted children, and they all had known this. She loved children deeply, but never saw herself as a mother. She was going to be even more torn after she woke from the coma.
"However, we were able to get some DNA from the rapist…" The doctor's beeper went off, "Excuse me. I have to go."
Mimi sighed and stood, "I should call Roger and…"
"Joanne." Mark said in a whisper.
Collins rolled his eyes and walked over to the soda machine.
"She's the reason Mo's here... If that stupid bitch wouldn't have…" Collins thought to himself.
Mimi put a hand on his shoulder, "It's not her fault Tom… it's just fate."
"Fate?! This is Mo's fate?! I don't fucking think so!" Tom yelled into the corridor, for anyone to hear. "She had so much potential. I had higher hopes for her than for anyone else on the face of this fucking God forsaken planet!"
Mimi took a step away from the shaking man, who had tears streaming down his face and neck. He fell to the floor and shook with grief. This was all too much for them to take in. Why couldn't life just be good for once?
"Collins, she'll be alright. She's Mo…" Mimi said, sitting down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.
Collins sniffled, "I'm just so sick of bad things happening to such good people. I mean come on, there are people out there who are lower than trash and have everything in the world. And then there's wonderful people out there such as Maureen and this happens to her."
Mimi nodded, "But it's not all Joanne's fault."
Collins rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever Mimi. I'm still pissed at her. She should have been fucking with Mo's head. It's not right."
Kissing Collins' cheek, Mimi stood and walked over to the pay phone. Depositing 50 cents, she dialed the number to Joanne's apartment.
"Hello?"
"Hey Jo…" Mimi said quietly and cautiously into the receiver.
"Hey Meems, what's up?" Joanne asked cheerfully, almost too cheerfully.
"Why are you so uppidy?" Mimi asked.
There was a short silence.
"I uh…" Joanne took a deep breath, "I haven't slept all night and I got drunk as hell after what happened the other night…"
Mimi sighed deeply, "Well, you need to come to the hospital, if you still care about Maureen."
Joanne gasped, "What the hell? Why? Mimi, what's wrong with Maureen?"
"Joanne… Maureen was…" Mimi let out a small sob, "Maureen was raped and beaten."
Joanne arrived at the hospital exactly 4 minutes after Mimi's phone call. She was hysterical and fell to the floor when she heard what the doctor had told them. As everyone else, she felt as if this was her fault. Unknown to the group, after being slapped and spat on by Maureen, Joanne had realized what she was doing and broke it off with Jordana on the spot. She went home that night and used a razor blade for something more than shaving for the first time. Mimi noticed the white bandage wrapped around her friends wrist.
Mimi hugged Joanne and kissed her wrist. "It'll be okay Jo…"
Joanne shook her head and looked up, "No… she'll never want to see me ever again. I never want to be with myself ever again. I'm a deeply horrible person who should be tormented for the rest of my life. This is all my fault."
Mark stood by the soda machine and witnessed the sight before him. He honestly had thought about getting back together with Maureen, but seeing Joanne like this told him that he wasn't in love with Maureen anymore. He loved her deeply, but he was in love with the past, and the memory of him and Maureen. He walked over to the sobbing woman and took her chin in his hand.
"Joanne… I know that we haven't ever been close at all but…" Mark released her chin and gently took her hands, "Maureen loves you. You have been heinous bitch, and what you have done is almost unforgivable."
Joanne ripped her hands out of his and went to stand, "But…"
She stopped.
"Give her time. She loves you and it's apparent you do love her. People are humans, we all make mistakes. God knows I have," he was crying now, "But… give her time, and space. Be there for her, and if she wants to, not if you want to, but if she wants you to, be with her again. But it's no longer up to you, it's up to her."
Joanne hugged Mark for the first time, and clung to him as she shook with sobs. She wished that Angel were here. Angel would know what to do.
