"Mom, I'm not wearing that." Ava argued into the phone as Roger came out of the bedroom. "No mom, I already have what I wanna wear... Mom, I gotta go. I have things to do... OK, I love you too. Bye." she smiled hanging up the phone. "Ugh, why is it, I can command thousands to hang on my every word, but my own mother still treats me like a kid?" she asked looking up at him.
"What happened?" he asked laughing as he went over to her.
"My mother wants me to wear her dress. I am not wearing that thing. It's too frilly and girly. That's now me." she said looking up at him as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Baby, calm down. It's gonna be OK. You'll wear what you want to wear and everything'll be perfect. But for the record, I'd be OK if you wore nothing." he smiled leaning down to kiss her neck.
"No way. You are not starting this again. I have too much to do and at this rate, we'll never be ready." she laughed looking over at him.
"Oh come on Baby. Maureen and Joanne are taking care of the party and your mom and my parents are doing the food and the flowers and stuff. Everything's right on schedule. I just want to spend time with my fiance." he whispered kissing her shoulders.
"Do you know how dangerous you are?" she laughed looking up at him.
"Who me?" he asked kissing up her neck.
"Yeah you." she smiled leaning her head back submitting to him.
"Yeah well, can I help it if my fiance is THE Avalon? The sexiest rock chick alive." he smiled picking her up and bringing her into the bedroom.
"You are a bad boy, Roger Davis." she giggled as they kissed furiously removing each other's clothes.
"Ava, are you here?" Maureen called out as she and Joanne entered the loft.
"I swear to God I am gonna be so glad when we're on tour and don't have to worry about that anymore." Roger said looking down at her.
"No you won't. You're gonna miss everyone." she laughed putting her shirt back on.
"Easy for you to say. You haven't had to deal with Maureen all these years." he said buttoning his pants.
"Oh stop whining." she laughed getting up from the bed. "We're coming Maureen." she called out leaving the room.
"Did we interrupt something?" Joanne asked seeing that her hair was a mess.
"What was your first clue?" Roger asked slipping his shirt over his head.
"Roger." Ava laughed looking back at him as Maureen seemed to ignore him.
"I found the most beautiful head piece for you." Maureen smiled taking the head piece out of the shopping bag.
"Maureen, do you listen to any thing I say?" Ava asked looking over at her.
"But look at this. It's perfect for you." she smiled showing it to her.
"This is really nice Maureen. Where did you find this?" Ava asked taking the headpiece. It was a crown of rhinestones and sapphires.
"A little bridal shop in Chelsea." she smiled as Ava looked over at her.
"Maureen, what were you doing in a bridal shop?" Ava asked with her hand on her hip.
"I was just looking, but just think, if I wasn't looking I never would have found this." she smiled trying to look innocent.
"Yeah yeah. You saved yourself on that one." Ava laughed looking down at the head piece. "I really like it Maureen. It's gorgeous. Thank you." she smiled looking over at her.
"Well, this is my cue. I'm gonna go take a cold shower." Roger mumbled looking down at Ava.
"I'm sorry Baby. But just think, we'll be together for the rest of our lives." she whispered looking up into his green eyes.
"I know Baby. I love you." he whispered leaning down to kiss her.
"I love you too." she smiled as he went into the bathroom and turned the shower water on.
"Is he OK?" Joanne asked looking over at Ava.
"Yeah, you know Roger." Ava laughed looking over at them.
"Yeah, I know Roger." Maureen laughed looking over at Ava.
"Anyway, have you thought of what you want to do for your bachelorette party?" Joanne asked trying to change the subject.
"I don't need a bachelorette party. I have the man of my dreams. I don't need to go out and watch men strip." she laughed looking over at her.
"Well, you do realize that Mark, Collins, Jimmy and June are taking Roger out to a strip club, right?" she laughed as Ava handed Maureen the head piece back.
"Yeah, I know Jimmy and June. They already warned me." she laughed going to the kitchen for a glass of iced tea.
"Well then you should have a bachelorette party." Maureen smiled looking over at her.
"Nah, I don't need one. Why don't we just sit around here and have a girl's night?" she smiled going over to the couch.
"That sounds like a great idea. We can swap stories." Joanne smiled looking over at her.
"OK then that's what we'll do." Maureen smiled looking over at Ava who looked happier than she had ever seen her.
"Where the hell are we going? I wanna go back to the loft and spend time with Ava." Roger whined as Mark and Collins dragged him to the Life Cafe.
"Oh stop your bitching. You can survive a couple of hours without her." Collins laughed putting his arm around Roger's shoulders as Mark opened the door.
"I've been without her 10 years." he whined looking over at him.
"So a couple of hours won't kill you." Mark smiled as they entered the cafe.
"Very funny." he smiled looking down at him.
"Hi Roger." Mr. Davis smiled looking over at his son.
"Dad? Dad, you look really good." he smiled as tears came to his eyes.
"You look really good too Roger. I missed you." Mr. Davis smiled pulling his son into an embrace.
"I missed you too dad. I'm really sorry for running away. I left because I was afraid to watch Ava kill herself and then I saw that she was doing good and she hit it big and everything and I didn't want to interrupt her life and I didn't know how to face you..." he started before his father cut him off.
"It's OK Roger. What's done is done. As long as you're OK, that's all that matters to me and your mother. It's OK son." he said looking into his sons green eyes.
"Where's mom?" he asked looking over at him.
"She went to see Ava with Sue. They'll be here in a little while." he smiled as Roger looked over at Collins and Mark.
"You guys knew about this?" he asked as Collins stood with his arm around Mark's shoulder smiling at them.
"Define know." Mark laughed looking up at him.
"Dad, these are my best friends Mark Cohen and Tom Collins. They like to torture me, as you can tell." he laughed looking over at them.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you both. Thanks for taking care of my boy." he smiled leaning in to hug them.
"No problem Mr. D. It wasn't easy at times, but we kept the boy in his place." Colins laughed looking down at him.
"Well that's good." Mr. Davis laughed looking over at them as they sat down.
"Dad, there's something I need to tell you and mom. It's really important." Roger started looking over at his father.
"Whatever it is Roger, it's OK. None of it matters." he said looking over at him.
"Thanks dad. That means a lot to me, but you might want to wait before you make that promise." he said looking over at Collins and Mark who were silent.
"Roger, you're my son. Whatever it is, we're here for you." he said looking over at him smiling.
"Dad, when I get here I was really screwed up. I missed Ava and I didn't know what to do. I started playing in a band and I got involved with this girl April and we got into shooting heroin. Dad, April killed herself and I got HIV." he blurted out looking over at his dad.
"Oh Roger, I'm so sorry. Are you OK? Are you taking care of yourself?" he asked leaning towards him.
"Yeah dad. I've been clean for 4 years and I'm on good meds. My viral load is low and my t-cells are high. I'm fine dad." he said looking down.
"As long as your clean now and you're doing fine, that's all that matters Roger. You're my son and I love you. I'm not gonna judge you." he said bringing Roger into an embrace.
"Thanks dad. You have no idea how much I regret doing what I did. I left Ava because she was drinking and I go out and put that shit in my arms and get HIV." Roger cried into his shoulder.
"I know son. It's OK. Don't worry. Everything's gonna be OK." he said comforting his son as Ava and the rest of the women entered the cafe.
"Roger, are you OK?" Ava asked rushing over to them seeing Roger was upset.
"Yeah Baby. I'm fine." he smiled wiping his eyes as she wrapped her arms around him.
"You look incredible Ava. Better than the magazine articles make you look." Mr. Davis smiled looking over at her.
"Thanks Mr. Davis." she smiled looking down at Roger.
"I'm fine Ava. I promise." he said leaning up to kiss her.
"It's so nice to see you again Ava." Mr. Davis smiled patting Roger's leg before standing up to hug Ava.
"It's great to see you too Mr. Davis. You look really good. If this is what I have to look forward to when Roger gets older, it's a good thing I'm marrying him." she laughed hugging him tight.
"Listen to me Ava, you're finally marrying my son, I think it's safe for you to call me dad now." he smiled looking down at her.
"I would be honored dad." she smiled looking over at him.
"Hi Roger." Mrs. Davis said looking down at her son.
"Hi mom. I'm really sorry." he said getting up to hug her.
"Forget about it Roger. All that matters is that you're OK and we're here now. You look so handsome." she smiled hugging her son tight.
"Hi Ms. Parker." Roger smiled looking over at her.
"Hi Roger. You look really good." Ms. Parker smiled looking up at him.
"Thanks. Why don't we all sit down. There's something I need to tell you and I think it would be better if we sat down." Roger said looking over at the women as they sat down.
"Roger, what is it?" Mrs. Davis asked looking up at him.
"Please mom, just sit down, OK?" he asked as Ava clutched his hand.
"OK we're down. Now tell us." she said looking up at him as she sat next to her husband.
"Mom, Ms. Parker when I left I came here and I got into some really bad stuff. I started shooting heroin and I'm HIV positive. I quit using 4 years ago and I'm clean. I'm on some really good meds, so I'm healthy. I'm really sorry mom." Roger said looking over at her.
"You're clean? Completely clean?" Ms. Parker asked looking over at him.
"Yes Ms. Parker. I'm completely clean. And me and Ava take precautions, so she isn't at risk. I would never play games with her health. I love her." he said looking over at her.
"And you're healthy?" Mrs. Davis asked holding her husbands hand.
"Yeah mom. I'm healthy. I'm on good meds and I take care of myself." he said looking over at her as Ava held his hand tight.
"Roger, it's OK. We'll get through this. Everything is gonna be fine. You and Ava are back together and you're gonna be fine." she smiled getting up to hug him.
"Thanks mom. That means a lot to me." she said looking down at her as they hugged.
"Now, we have a pre wedding celebration to get on with." Ms. Parker smiled looking over at Ava who was smiling up at Roger and Mrs. Davis.
"I'll drink to that." Collins smiled as everyone laughed.