Disclaimer: I don't own Rent. All characters you recognize belong to Jonathon Larson and all characters you don't recognize belong to me.
When Mark walked into the loft early the next morning it was still dark out. He smiled when he saw Kelly and Roger curled up on the couch together. His eyes wandered to the coffee table and saw the reels. Mark stopped dead in his tracks. Roger shifted on the couch and opened his eyes.
"Hey man." Roger said sleepily while he untangled himself from Kelly. Mark just stood there.
"Next time you spend the night at Caitlin's can you at least call?" Roger said ginning, and then he noticed the look on Mark's face. "Are you ok?"
"Where did you find those?" He asked pointing at the table. Of course he already knew where he found them.
"I um well." Roger stammered. He sighed. "Do you remember when Mimi made us clean the entire loft that one time? I mean really clean it?" Mark nodded. "Well instead of putting the things away like she wanted me to I just shoved them under your bed. And when I was putting them there I found those." Roger said pointing to the table. "I shouldn't have been going through your stuff. Sorry."
"I'm not mad I just thought you wouldn't want those around and I couldn't rid of them so I decided to just put them there." Mark said.
"I guess I kind of didn't want to see them at first, but ever since I found them I watch them every once in awhile." Roger said. Kelly stirred on the couch and started to wake up.
"What time is it?" She asked sleepily sitting up on the couch.
"About six." Mark said. Kelly nodded. She looked at Mark, at first she had a confused look on her face but it soon turned into a smile.
"Mark are those the same clothes you were wearing yesterday?" She asked grinning. Roger started laughing while Mark's face turned red.
"I fell asleep on Caitlin's couch." He mumbled walking towards his room.
"Oh is that what their calling it now?" She laughed as Mark shut the door. Roger came over and sat down next to her. "Hey." She said kissing his cheek and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Hey yourself." He said wrapping his arm around her and kissing the top of her head. "We should probably go back to bed."
"Yeah we should." She said standing up. "We should probably put those away." She said pointing to the reels.
"Yeah." He said as he put them in the crate. "I'm going to put these in my closet." He said picking up the crate. Kelly nodded and followed him into the bedroom. Roger put the crate in the bottom of the closet before climbing into bed with Kelly.
"I got a question for you." He said wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck.
"And I got an answer." She giggled as she turned to face him.
"Why don't you move back in here?" He asked.
"Because I signed a six month lease." She said. Roger rolled his eyes.
"Like Benny would make you stay down there. Kelly you only go down there to get clean clothes and sometimes you develop your film down there." Roger said smiling. "Think about all the money you could save if you stayed here."
"Oh so this is all about saving me money?" she asked wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Yes. And the fact that I like waking up with you next to me every morning." He said kissing her.
"Don't you think we're rushing things a little? I mean we've only been together for a little over a week." She said.
"Kelly it's not like we just started dating. I mean yes we just started again but we were together for a really long time before." He said.
"Just give me a little time Roger." She said looking away from him. "Sorry." She whispered.
"I was just asking. If you're not ready that's fine, you have nothing to be sorry for." Roger said rolling on top of her. "I love you." He said caressing her cheek.
"I love you too." She said smiling. He leaned down and kissed her gently before laying down next to her. "We should go see Allison today." She said yawning.
Roger wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "If that's what you want. We can stop by later, but right now all I want to do is go to bed." He said yawning. Kelly nodded and snuggled closer to him, they were asleep in minutes.
Roger was in the kitchen when Mark walked out of his bedroom. Mark's jaw dropped when he saw what Roger was doing.
"Um Roger what the hell are you doing?" Mark asked stunned.
"Making Kelly breakfast in bed. Why?" Roger said as he wandered around the kitchen.
"Because you can barely make Ramen noodles." Mark said. Roger rolled his eyes.
"I'm making pancakes and eggs. It doesn't take a genius to do that Mark." Roger said annoyed as he put the eggs on the plate.
"No but once again Roger you can't make Ramen noodles." Mark said laughing.
"Shut up." Roger said as he walked into the bedroom. He set the plate down on his nightstand and crawled into bed.
"Baby wake up." He said kissing her cheek. Kelly opened her eyes and smiled at him.
"Good morning." She said sitting up. Roger sat up and handed her the plate of food.
"What's this?" She asked.
"I made you breakfast in bed." He said smiling.
"You don't know how to cook." She said laughing. Roger rolled his eyes.
"It's pancakes and eggs, I can do that." He said. Kelly smiled and picked up the fork and began to eat.
"This is really good!" She said as she swallowed a bite of her eggs. She leaned over and kissed him. "Thank you."
"Your welcome." He said smiling. "So what time do you want to head over to Benny and Allison's?"
"What time is it now?" she asked.
"About 10:30." He said looking over at his alarm clock.
"How about noon?" She asked getting out of bed and rummaging through the pile of her clothes that were on his floor. "I think I need to get clean clothes out of my apartment." She said standing up.
"You wouldn't have that problem if you moved back up here." He said wrapping his hands around her waste.
"Just let me think about it for a little bit." She said leaning up and kissing him.
"Ok." He said as he released her. "I'm going to go call Allison while you go get ready, ok?"
"Ok. I'll see you in a little bit" she said leaning up to kiss him one last time. As she walked away he smacked her ass. She turned around and glared at him.
"You're in trouble for that." She said before walking out the door.
Kelly was walking out of the bathroom in a towel when Roger walked into her apartment.
"My favorite sight in the world." He said grinning as he walked over to her. He picked her up and carried her to the couch.
"Roger it's 11:30 we have to leave soon." She said as he kissed her neck.
"I talked to Allison she said that she can't meet us until one. So we have sometime." He said grinning as his hand traveled up her leg.
The phone started to ring.
"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Roger groaned. Kelly laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Let the machine get it." She said pulling him down into a searing kiss.
"Kelly this is Mary from the office, you need to call us back as soon as you get this." A voice came over the answering machine.
Kelly pulled away from Roger. "I should call them back." Roger groaned and sat up. Kelly walked over to the phone.
"Hey it's Kelly." She said into the phone. Roger heard Kelly talk excitedly into the phone. Fifteen minutes later she came back to the couch.
"I have to stop by the office after we go see Benny and Allison." She said.
"What's up?" He asked.
"They just said that they have some really great news for me and that they wanted to tell me in person." She said smiling.
"I take it its good news then." He asked laughing.
"They sounded really excited so that's what I'm assuming." She said standing up. Roger quickly pulled her back down.
"And where do you think your going?" he asked smiling.
"To get dressed. I have to stop at the gallery before we go to Benny and Allison's." She said getting back up.
"I think god hates me." Roger said crossing his arms. Kelly laughed and leaned down and kissed him.
"But I love you." She said before walking into her bedroom.
"Want some company." He said loud enough for her to hear him.
"Roger the point is to get dressed, we both know that wouldn't happen if you were in here with me." She said sticking her head out the door. She shut the door again. Roger got up and looked around the apartment. He never really looked at what was in it. Kelly really only came down for clothes and the times they were down in her apartment Roger's mind was elsewhere. She had photos everywhere. A lot of them were from when they first moved to the city. He took down one of the photo albums and sat down on the couch. He started flipping through the pages, one photo made him stop in his tracks. It was of him performing, he knew exactly where it was taken. It was taken two years ago when he first started performing again, when Mimi was still around. Kelly walked out of the bedroom and sat down next to him.
"What are you looking at?" She asked peering over his shoulder.
"Where did you get this?" he asked holding up the picture. Kelly looked down at the floor.
"I took it." She said barely above a whisper.
"You took it? That would mean that you came back here. Why didn't you come see us then?" He said standing up.
"Roger sit down let me explain." Kelly said trying to get him to calm down.
"Go on explain." He said angrily.
"I was back here on assignment. I went out to a bar with a coworker and you were there." She said with tears in her eyes. "I was going to go talk to you but them I saw you get off stage and you were with this girl, I'm assuming it was Mimi. I figured that you moved on and that I would just complicate your life more. So I left." She said crying. Roger stood there stunned. He was so angry. He turned and walked towards the door. "Roger where are you going?"
"I just need to think for awhile." He said as he closed the door.
Roger sat alone in a booth drinking a beer at The Life. He felt bad for walking out on Kelly like that but he needed time to clear his head. If he had have stayed he knew he would have ended up saying something he regretted. He couldn't get the look on her face when he walked out the door out of his mind. She looked so sad and heartbroken.
"This seat taken?" a familiar voice asked. Roger looked up and saw Joanne standing there.
"Be my guest." He said trying to smile.
"So are you going to pretend like everything is alright or are you going to tell me what has you so upset?" She said sitting down.
"How did you know?" He asked.
"Roger I've known you for three years, I can tell when something is bothering you. What is it? Did something happen with Kelly?" She asked. Roger sighed and looked down at the table.
"I was looking through some of her pictures and found one of me performing." He said.
"What's wrong with that?" she asked.
"It was taken two years ago." He said.
"But I thought that Kelly left four…oh." She said when she understood what happened. "And you're upset about that?"
"Yeah. She didn't make any effort to contact us then. She could have but she didn't." He said feeling the anger start to rise.
"Did you at least let her explain?" Joanne asked.
"She said that she saw me with Mimi and that we looked happy and she didn't want to make my life complicated." He said.
"Was she wrong?" Joanne asked.
"What do you mean?" Roger said finally looking up at her.
"Think about it Roger. That would have been right after Mimi almost died and you two were trying to fix your relationship. What would have happened had Kelly come back then?" Joanne said. Roger thought about what Joanne had just said.
"I don't know." He said taking a sip of his beer. "But what made now so different? I could have still been with Mimi."
"I think that Kelly finally realized that she needed to come back and accept the past. She didn't come back here to be in a relationship with you Roger. That was just something that happened." Joanne said placing her hand over his. "You can't be mad at her for getting scared and running."
"Because I've done the exact same thing." Roger said quietly.
"Did you guys yell at each other?" she asked.
"I got pissed and walked out. She was crying when I left." Roger said ashamed.
"Go back and talked to her." Joanne said squeezing his hand. Roger nodded and stood up.
"Thanks Jo." He said leaning down and giving her a hug.
"Anytime. Now go fix things with your girlfriend." She said smiling.
Roger went to open Kelly's door but it was locked.
"Fuck." He cursed softly. He knocked on the door. "Kelly it's me please open the door." The door opened and Kelly stood there. Her face was still moist with tears.
"Kelly I'm sorry about before. Can we talk?" Roger said pleadingly.
"I just want to be alone right now." She said as a fresh batch of tears glistened in her eyes.
"That's too bad because were going to talk." Roger said pushing past her. "Listen I shouldn't have acted like that before but you have to understand where I'm coming from."
"Like you understood me?" She asked.
"I was upset ok? I don't understand why it was so hard for you just to come up to us and say hi. Or maybe a phone call even." He yelled.
"You were happy Roger! I didn't want to be the cause of more hurt for you." Kelly yelled back at him.
"You didn't know that I was happy." He yelled.
"Yes I did. I could see it in your eyes when you sang that song for her. You were happy Roger." She yelled as more tears came down her face. "I saw you with her after you came off stage. I could see it Roger." She said breaking down.
"I just wanted to know that you were ok." He said lowering his voice. "Four years. Not a word for four years. Do you know how often I thought about you? Wondered where you were and if you were ok?" He said with tears in his eyes. "I loved Mimi and your right I was happy with her. But I never could stop thinking about where you were and what happened to you." He said.
"I wasn't ready to face you guys again." She said trying to calm down.
"What made you ready now? It wasn't just that you got a job transfer what really made you come back?" He asked angrily.
"You want to know why I came back now?" Kelly yelled. "Six months ago I found a lump in my breast. I had to get a biopsy done. And I realized that I didn't want to die without making amends with you." She exploded. Roger stumbled back into the wall like someone had just hit him.
"Are you…" He couldn't finish the sentence.
"No it came back negative. But it scared me. It's the same thing that killed my mother Roger." She said crying.
"Kelly..." He started to say.
"Get out." She said quietly.
"Just talk to me." He begged.
"I can't be in the same room with you right now Roger." She said. "Just leave me alone for awhile."
"Ok." He said defeated as the tears poured down his cheeks. As he shut her door he could hear her break down sobbing again.
A/N: Please don't kill me! I had to do it. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. You guys rock. Renthead621- Sorry, please don't hurt me. Next chapter will be up tomorrow night I promise.
Until Next Time, Lot's of Love
BohemianGirl06