It's mid December. Jami's birthday is approaching. With Christmas is not too far away, Roger has been very distant. Jami's been giving him his space. She's been writing non stop, attempting to finish her screenplay about his life. Maureen and Mark have been spending a lot of time alone together and Collins seems to be missing in action. He's been spending a lot of his nights out. Leading the others to believe that he has a new man in his life.
"Mama, I don't need anyone to walk me down the aisle. I'm an independent woman." Jami argued into the phone as she sat on the window seat.
"But Aidan would really like to do it. He is your oldest brother." Mrs. Barnett spoke gently.
"Mama, please. It's my wedding and I don't want it to be so old fashioned."
"Just think about it. It would mean a lot to your brother and to me." she suggested as the door opened and slammed shut. It was Roger.
"Fine mama, I'll think about it. I... I gotta go. I'll talk to you later. I love you."
"I love you too, Jami." Mrs. Barnett hung up the phone as Jami directed her attention towards Roger.
"Hey, what did that innocent door ever do to you?" she joked looking over at him.
"Sor... sorry. I... I just had a shitty day." he groaned going straight to his room. She got up from the window seat and followed him.
"Anything you want to talk about?" she asked looking over at him.
"Not particularly." his reply had a bit of sarcasm in it.
"Roger, what... what's going on? You've been really moody lately and I've been trying to give you some space, but I wish you would talk to me." she entered the room and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Let's see. The band is falling apart, I hate the damn cold and it's almost Christmas. Does that about cover it." he snapped looking over at her.
"What do you mean, the band is falling apart? What does that mean?" Jami looked over at him.
"It doesn't matter. So, you see. I do have a lot on my mind right now." he looked over at her.
"And that gives you the right to be a bitch to me and everyone else around you?" she snapped back getting up from the bed.
"I'm not being a bitch, it's just... this is a rough time of the year for me. I thought you understood that." he looked over at her.
"I do understand that, and I've been giving you your space, but Roger I highly doubt that Mimi would condone you acting like this." she walked over to him.
"I'm dealing with a lot more than that right now James, OK?" he snapped looking at her.
"Then talk to me, Roger. I'm still your fiance, aren't I?" she yelled looking up at him.
"Yeah James, you are." he looked over at her taking a deep breath.
"So talk to me." she settled down and lowered her voice.
"It's Joey. That... that damn kid, he's fucking up. I knew it was a mistake to hire him, but I looked at him and saw some of myself in him. Too bad it's all the bad parts." he looked down at her.
"What does that mean?" she asked confused.
"He's been snorting shit before rehearsal and last week I caught him shooting up in the bathroom. He was so high that I... I had to kick him off the stage. I tried to talk to him, but that damn kid thinks he knows it all. Like I'm this asshole who has no idea what I'm talking about. Like I haven't been around long enough to know what the fuck's what." he ranted walking away from her.
"He's gotta listen to you. You've been where he is right now. He's gotta realize that he's making the mistake of his life." she walked over to him as he sat on the bed.
"That's the thing. He... he won't listen to me. He doesn't care. We... we got into it during rehearsal. He walked out yelling about how I fucked up my life, and how I was only on top again because of him." he looked up at her.
"You do realize that it's not true, don't you? You made him who he is, not the other way around." she sat next to him on the bed.
"James, he's good. He's really good. I know he could do so much better than those little assholes he's hanging with, but they just want to party with a rock star." he looked down at her.
"That kid is lucky to have you in his life. He'll realize it." she looked over at him.
"Hopefully before it's too late." he leaned over to kiss her head before getting up from the bed.
"Roger, you can't help what other people do." she got up to go to him.
"I know, James. I'm sorry."
"Honey, about... about the other stuff..." she started before he looked over at her.
"Yeah, I'm... I'm really sorry about the way I've been acting lately. It's the first Christmas that I'm with someone since Mimi... and I'm not dealing with it very well, am I?" he looked over at her.
"Not really. But you're not the only one who lost her. The others did too. You guys should be helping each other through this time of year. You shouldn't be biting their head off." she looked over at him.
"You're right. And you're the last person I should be snapping at. It's just... I don't know how to deal with this time of year. Never did."
"Well, I happen to know someone who can help you. She's little, blonde, kinda clumsy, but I heard you like that sort of stuff. She can help, if... if you want her to?" she asked walking over to him.
"Of course I do, James. I'm sorry." he wrapped his arms around her and brought her close to him.
"And I happen to have something that will take your mind off of what's going on." she smirked up at him.
"Oh yeah, what's that?" he smiled looking down at her.
"Um... my birthday. It's in 3 days." she smiled.
"I know, Baby. I'm... I'm keeping track." he smiled down at her.
"You better. Because it would be bad form for my sexy fiance to forget my birthday." she leaned up to kiss him. He kissed her deeper picking her up into his arms. The kiss turned passionate as he led her to the bed.
"Are you sure you're ready to...?" he started as he lay her on the bed.
"It's been too long, Roger. Yes, I'm ready." she smiled pulling him down to kiss her again. He reached into the night stand for a condom before they began to make love.
"How do you feel?" he smiled as she lay on his chest smiling.
"Great." she smiled looking up at him.
"You're sure? No pain or anything?"
"No Roger. No pain or anything. I missed being with you like this." she crawled up to kiss his tender lips. Their kiss was interrupted by the door opening and closing gently again. "Someone's home. We should get up." she smiled at him.
"Do we have to? I wanna stay here a little longer. I... I missed holding my girl like this." he smiled at her.
"I missed you too, but we have society to get back to." she smiled, kissing him before getting up from the bed and getting dressed.
"James." he called out looking up at her.
"Yeah Baby?" she smiled slithering into her jeans.
"I love you. Thanks um... thanks for putting up with me." he rolled over onto his side and leaning up on his elbow.
"Roger, I love you too. That's why I put up with you." she leaned over the bed to caress his cheek.
"I don't deserve you, you know that, right?" he asked looking over at her.
"Roger Davis, listen to me. You deserve every good thing that happens in your life. You just need to believe that you do." she looked down at him intently before reaching down to pick up her long sleeve t-shirt.
"Before you, I... I used to think I deserved every bad thing that happened to me."
"You don't still believe that, do you?" she sat on the bed next to him running the brush through her long blond hair.
"No James, I... I don't still believe that." he smiled at her before getting up to get dressed.
"I'm gonna see who came home. Maybe we can go out to eat." she looked down at him.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun. Maybe it's Collins and we could finally meet whoever is keeping him out all the time."
"Possibly." she smiled leaving the room. Maureen was sitting in the kitchen drinking a glass of water and Mark was standing over her. "Hey, Roger and I were thinking of going out to dinner tonight. Do either of you have a number for Collins? We wanted to see if he was up for introducing us to his new man." Jami asked looking over at them.
"No, we... we don't know where he is." Maureen told her quietly.
"What happened?" she asked looking up at Mark, who looked like he was on another planet.
"We... we just got home from the doctor. I'm... I'm um..." Maureen stuttered looking up at her.
"Spit it out, Maureen. You're scaring me." Jami was very impatient.
"I'm pregnant, Jami." Maureen blurted out looking over at Jami, her voice was quiet and cautious.
"That's great." Jami was truly happy for two of her best friends.
"I'm sorry, Jami. I know..." Maureen started before Jami interrupted her.
"Sorry? Why are you sorry, Maureen? You and Mark are having baby. You have nothing to be sorry about. This is amazing news. I'm happy for you. Both of you." she smiled as she made her way over to hug Maureen.
"Really?" Maureen asked getting up to hug her.
"Honey, you were happy when it was me. Why wouldn't we be happy when it's you?" she asked looking over at her.
"I don't know, I mean, it's been less than a month since you..."
"Maureen." Mark looked down at her.
"Mark, you can say it, you know? I'm fine." Jami looked over at him.
"Yeah well, you say you're fine, but we still worry about you." he walked over to the couch as Roger came out of the bedroom.
"You two aren't acting like you're together again, are you? Because, that wasn't funny the first time." Roger joked looking over at the girls.
"Maureen's pregnant." Jami announced excitedly.
"No shit. That's great." Roger smiled reaching out to shake Mark's hand.
"Thanks. We... we really appreciate that." Mark smiled at him.
"They were worried how I'd react." Jami looked over at him.
"Why were you guys worried? We're really fine. We plan on trying again after the wedding." he looked over at them.
"I know, it's just... you've been acting fine, but it's been barely a month and..." Mark started.
"We're fine, Mark. But thank you for worrying about me." Jami smiled over at them.
"I'll always worry about you Jami, you know that." he smiled looking over at her.
"I know, that's why you'll always be my best friend, but you need to start worrying about Maureen and your child now."
"We have to find Collins. We need to party." Roger smiled at them.
"So we take it you're back to normal too?" Maureen looked over at him.
"Yeah, um... about that. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. But I'm better now. Promise." he looked over at Jami.
"Good, because you were being a major pain in the ass. More than usual." Maureen looked over at him.
"I... I know. I'm really sorry. I guess I just needed an ass kicking from my fiance to snap me back into reality." he smiled at Jami.
"No problem, Baby. Anytime you need your ass kicked, I'll be there." she laughed looking over at him.
"Yeah well, you don't have to enjoy it so much." he laughed.
"Aw, but that's the best part of my job." she walked over to him.
"Glad you like your job." he smiled leaning down to wrap his arms around her waist and bringing her close to him. He leaned in to kiss her passionately.
"You two had sex!" Maureen called out looking over at them.
"Um... we're engaged, Maureen. It's kind of one of the perks." Jami laughed looking over at her.
"You know what I mean. You guys haven't had sex since before Thanksgiving weekend. You just did, didn't you?" she asked walking over to them.
"Yeah, um... we kind of did. I'm fully recovered from the surgery." Jami smiled at her as she nestled herself in Roger's arms.
"That's awesome. Things are finally getting back to normal." Maureen put her arms around Roger and Jami.
"Yeah, too normal." Jami looked over at her.
"What do you mean?" Roger asked confused.
"Mama's driving me crazy about the wedding again. Now she wants Aidan to walk me down the aisle." she looked up at him.
"Do whatever you want, Baby. I got your back." he smiled at her.
"I don't want anyone to walk me down the aisle. That's so old fashioned." she looked over at him.
"Her heart's in the right place, James." Roger smiled at her.
"I can't wait for this thing to be over with already." she groaned looking up at him.
"Gee thanks, James." he looked over at her.
"You know what I mean. I just can't take this planning and arguing with my mother about everything. It's my wedding. I should be able to do what I want to do." she looked over at him.
"After the wedding things'll settle down."
"And then we're gonna have Maureen and Mark's kid to make things insane again." Jami laughed looking over at her.
"Mine and Mark's kid, huh? That sounds weird, doesn't it?" Maureen asked looking over at her.
"I think it sounds great, Maureen." Jami smiled hugging Maureen again.
They left the loft for the Life Cafe. They hoped Collins would show up, but he didn't, so they celebrated Maureen's pregnancy just the four of them.