Chapter 10

"Okay, so I've figured it out." Brooke said from the kitchen table, pulling Leah's attention away from the TV.

Leah stood up walking the short distance to take a seat across from Brooke, curious to see what type of apartment Brooke had found. The brunette had been working on it almost all afternoon.

Brooke slid the newspaper over to Leah, pointing to a circled apartment article. "With the raise I got and with your paycheck put together we can just make rent. And if you sometimes work Saturdays we can have a little cash leftover. Not a lot but enough if we wanted to order out. Then with my tips we can buy food. We will be broke, but if you want to get out of this shitty place, it's a sacrifice we have to make."

Leah looked up a slight smile on her face, "You really want to stay in the city huh?"

Brooke nodded, hoping Leah wanted to as well. "I do."

Leah read over the apartment again, nodding in approval, "Okay, we'll go take a look at it tomorrow and if it's better than this place then we'll stay."

"Yeah?" Brooke asked with a little excitement.

Leah stood up walking around the table to take a seat on Brooke's lap, "If that's what you want, then I want it too…in a nice place."

"Thanks babe." Brooke smiled pulling Leah closer.

Leah leaned in placing a kiss on Brooke's lips. They enjoyed it for a few minutes, until Leah jumped up, furiously wiping her neck.

"What?" Brooke asked,

Leah looked up, watching as water slowly dripped from the ceiling, "I'm loosing my patience living in this dirty place Brooke Andrews!"

Brooke stood up wrapping her arms around Leah's waist, "How about we go take a look at that apartment today?"

Leah nodded her eyes on the leaky ceiling above, "Yes, let's go."

After checking out the nice apartment in a nice neighborhood, Leah was all smiles.

"I take it you like it." The sales woman asked with a grin, watching as Leah ran from the master bedroom to the kitchen.

"I love it." Leah beamed, twirling with excitement. True, it was small, but with just the two of them it was perfect. Plus it was a lot cleaner, and Leah had a feeling she would feel much safer in this place than the last one.

Brooke smiled, happy Leah was happy. She didn't care what the place looked like as long as she had a place to stay in the city. She was also happy she didn't have to resort to selling those pills to help pay for it. "We'll take it."

"Okay, we just need a down payment." The sales woman said,

Brooke's face fell, Leah watching, "You're frowning, why are you frowning?"

Brooke shook her head clear, "A down payment?"

"It's to pay for the first three months and you have to fill out an application." The sales woman said, "To make sure you're eligible to make rent."

Brooke sighed; she didn't care about the application, she knew they could make rent, it was the down payment she was scared of.

"Baby?" Leah questioned, rubbing her girlfriend's arm.

"Okay." Brooke nodded, "Okay." She smiled, "I'll have one for you."

"Great." The sales woman said handing the couple a paper to fill out, "Fill this out bring to my office with your down payment and I'll see if I can get you two an apartment."

Leah waited until the woman was gone to ask Brooke, "Can we afford the down payment? I can read you Brooke, you look worried."

"It's okay, we can do this." Brooke nodded, "I told you I'd get you a nice, clean apartment, and I'm going to get it for you."

Leah widely smiled, throwing her arms around Brooke, "I'm so excited! Thank you Brooke!" She kissed her cheek.

Brooke weakly smiled, "No problem at all…"

Later that night Brooke made a call to Will explaining her situation. He agreed to help her and the next night at closing Brooke sold her bottle of pills to a guy, giving her more than enough money for the down payment. She thanked Will for his help and swore she'd never sell again feeling slightly guilty. However by the end of the week the thrill on Leah's face as they moved into their new apartment pushed that guilt far away.

Over at the Jefferson-Johnson household Joanne abruptly woke up, due to sounds coming from the basement. She instinctively reached out for Maureen, but then remembered the diva was banished to the couch. Coming to the conclusion that it was just Maureen making the noise, the lawyer laid back down to go back to sleep, but the noise Maureen was making was almost too loud, so before the diva could wake the rest of the house, Joanne climbed out of bed and headed downstairs.

"Maureen?" She called out, following the noise and light to the laundry room. She came to a halt when she found her wife frantically searching the room,

"Where is it?" Maureen mumbled, tears almost spilling from her eyes.

"What are you looking for?" Joanne asked, already knowing the answer but she was desperately hoping she was wrong, "It's three in the morning."

"I need it Joanne." Maureen whined, opening another cupboard, throwing things out, "Please, just one taste."

"No." Joanne firmly stated, she took a step in, but quickly jumped back when Maureen whipped around.

Maureen froze, taking in Joanne's startled expression, "You're afraid of me."

Joanne's heart melted, her face softening, "Maureen, no…"

"I can't do this," Maureen shook her head, "It's too hard. I drank so much my body can't handle the sudden change." She leaned against the wall, sliding to the floor, resting her head in her hands, trembling, "I screwed up my life."

Joanne sighed, she was hesitant at first, but soon enough she slid on down taking a seat next to Maureen, "No, you didn't Maureen, you just made some bad choices, but you can fix them. You're trying right now, you can't give up."

"It's too hard." Maureen sobbed,

Joanne wrapped an arm around Maureen, "I'm here to help you." She whispered pulling Maureen close.

Maureen didn't say anything; she simply leaned against Joanne and let her emotions out, crying into the lawyer's chest.

"Shhh, go to sleep." Joanne whispered, rubbing her hands soothingly up and down Maureen's arms,

Sure enough after a few minutes Maureen had relaxed into Joanne's touch and slowly drifted off into a restless sleep.

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Don't worry, things will pick up soon... ;)

Thanks for R&Ring.

And no, I don't own RENT.