Author's Note: Well, here you go dearies. I hope you enjoy! :) There's only going to be two more chapters after this probably. :( Wahhh. I'm really attached to this story…anyway, review please!

Disclaimer: If I owned RENT, my life would be much more exciting. Which it's not. So yeah. Wow. This disclaimer makes no sense. Moral of the story, RENT is not mine.

"Well, cheers to Collins!" Maureen announced raising her glass as her friends immediately raised theirs in response.

Maureen, Collins, Mark, Joanne, and Roger sat in the Life Café eating dinner, still waiting for Mimi to show up.

"I can't believe I'm toasting to my own case losing," Joanne complained, taking a sip of her wine, earning her a smirk from Maureen who took an enormous gulp of her beer.

Mark looked on with a glint of hope in his eye. Maureen and Joanne's relationship was playing out perfectly. Now there was just Roger and Mimi to worry about.

As he looked over at Roger sitting in the corner of the café, staring out the window watching small flakes of snow fall as Christmas neared, he couldn't help but thinking he had a hell of a lot of work to do.

As if on cue, Mimi entered the restaurant. And she was dressed to kill. She was clad in a short, black, strapless dress, along with black fishnets and silver boots. She looked unbelievable.

Mark kept his eye on Roger as he watched the musician's eyes slowly shift from the new fallen December snow to the petite Latina that had just entered the café.

"Mark!" Mimi greeted running and giving Mark a hug, soon doing the same to Collins.

"Sorry I'm so late! Work ran later than I expected," she apologized.

"It's fine," Mark reassured.

"Mimi, you met Maureen and Joanne earlier," Mark introduced.

"Yes, nice to see you again," Mimi smiled.

"And Mimi, this is Roger, Collins's friend," Mark introduced.

The two simply eyed each other for a few moments and Mark felt a triumphant grin overcome his features as he watched beads of sweat slowly drip down Roger's neck as his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

After so long, he moved his eyes back onto his shoes.

"Roger Davis," he stated, "We've met before."

"How could I forget," she retorted.

"Oh, how'd you meet?" Mark probed.

"She needed me to light her candle during a power outage," Roger supplied.

"And then I came back later in an attempt to get him to take me out. Mission failed," Mimi dryly continued.

"Well, doesn't that sound delightful," Mark responded, earning a suspicious look from the two, "Well, I'm sure you two have lots in common. Just talk for a while."

And with that, he walked over to the table where Collins, Maureen, and Joanne were seated in hopes of Mimi and Roger having a private conversation.

"Marky!" Maureen squealed, throwing her arms around his thin frame and planting a kiss on his cheek.

"It's nice to see you too Maureen," he responded, blushing a deep shade of red.

"I know," Maureen giggled, "That's what everyone says. It's always nice to see me."

Mark simply nodded in response.

"So, Joanne, you're a lawyer. How is that going for you?" Mark inquired, desperately attempting to change the topic off of him and onto Joanne.

"Um, fine," Joanne responded, cocking her eyebrow and eyeing him skeptically.

"Marky, I'm not doing anything tomorrow night," Maureen pointed out.

"That's nice, Mo, and please don't call me Marky if you value my sanity," Mark begged.

"Who says I value your sanity?" Maureen sarcastically questioned.

"Touch I'm not doing anything tomorrow night," Maureen pointed out.

"That's nice, Mo, and please don't call me Marky if you value my sanity," Mark begged.

"Who says I value your sanity?" Maureen sarcastically questioned.

"Touché," Mark smirked.

"Sooo, what are you doing?" Maureen pressed.

"Well, I don't, um, necessarily have my, uh, schedule on me right now, so I'll have to get back to you. Maybe another time. After all, tomorrow's Christmas Eve. You and Joanne could always do something instead!" Mark suggested.

"But Markyyyy, I wanna hang out with you! Not to mention you're Jewish. You can sooo do something on Christmas Eve." Maureen moaned, pouting her lower lip, "Pretty please Pookie? With sprinkles on top?"

Mark hated himself at that moment. He hated the fact that he couldn't make the burning sensation in his stomach that completely consumed him disappear as he eyed Maureen's big brown eyes that looked up at him. All she ever had to do was pout her lips and call him Pookie and that was it. She was his.

On one level, he needed Maureen and Joanne to get back together so that he could return home.

But, on the other hand, one date wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Fine," Mark gave in, "I'll meet you in front of that new café on 11th and Avenue A tomorrow night at eight."

"Yay!" Maureen squealed, planting a kiss on his cheek.

Joanne. Joanne. Joanne. He just kept repeating the word in his head. He needed to stop focusing on his own desires and focus on getting everything into place so that he could go back to the land of the sane and normal.

Mark's thoughts were soon interrupted by a buzzing from the other side of the room.

"AZT break," Mimi muttered, reaching into oversized brown bag and pulling out a pill popping it into her mouth as Roger followed suit.

"Wait," Roger stopped, "You're HIV positive?"

"Yup," Mimi replied, smiling in response, however she wasn't quite sure why.

"How long have you known?" Roger interrogated further.

"A few years," Mimi answered, "Why?"

"So, that night, when you came to my loft, with the heroin…" Roger started.

"I knew. I've known for a while. It doesn't mean I have the willpower to quit though," Mimi confessed, "Plus, why stop now? I mean, I'm already going to die so I might as well enjoy myself while I can still live."

Roger just eyed the girl before him. So weak looking. So delicate. So frail. Yet so breathtakingly beautiful. Almost immediately, Roger pulled Mimi into a tender hug, planting a soft kiss on top of her messy brunette curls.

"Everyone has the willpower to stop," he muttered, eyeing her.

Mark smirked to himself from the other side of the room as he watched the scene between the two play out. Perfect. Now the only kink in that situation was Benny.

He looked over to Maureen and Joanne to see if they had made any progress.

Maureen was rapidly chatting with Collins as Joanne sat next to them chatting animatedly on the phone. Maureen turned and smiled at him, eyeing him from the top down.

A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! If you wanna see a picture of the dress Mimi shows up in, it's in my profile. Just imagine it with black fishnets and silver boots. :)