A/N: Here is the latest and greatest chapter

A/N: Here is the latest and greatest chapter. It is pure Mark and Roger, which are my favorite to write because they are the most easy for me. I hope you all are still enjoying it. There won't be an update for a little while because I'm going away this weekend, to see Jim's show and then the city to see Chad… uh, I mean Rent.

I rush out of the house, explaining little to my mother. On the way out of the door I mention that I was going to pick up Roger and then walk out before any of her questions could be answered.

I take my time driving, savoring my last few 'Roger-free' moments. It has only been two days, but I somehow feel different. A little more confident; a lot stronger. I conquered my dad. I faced the demon that has been peering over me for years and chased it away. I wonder if Roger will even notice.

I turn into the bus station, and notice the lone figure sitting on the sidewalk stand when it spots the headlights. I pull in front of him, lean over and unlock the passenger side door. He casually throws his few belongings, the guitar case, and a duffle bag, which I don't recognize, in the backseat, and sits down. We don't speak for a few minutes.

"You hungry?" I finally say.

"Yeah, I could eat."

"Ok, then, there's a Denny's down the street, let's go there." He nods and leans his head against the glass of the window.

I pull into the Denny's and we go inside and the waitress asks us 'smoking or non-smoking' and I'm about to answer and Roger spits out, "Smoking." I look at him confused.

We are shown to our booth (more like it was pointed out to us) and as soon as we sit, he lights a cigarette.

"Well this is new."

"I don't want to hear it, Mark," he sternly responds.

"OK, fine." I pick up a sugar packet and start playing with it. "So what happened?"

He blows out a thin line of smoke and sighs deeply. "It just isn't the same, hasn't been for a long time."

"What do you mean?"

"We fight constantly. You know that. I was sleeping in the loft more than with downstairs with her." I nod. "It just got to a point where it was easier to stay together than to break up."

"Well, what caused you to finally realize it?"

He shrugs as he flicks his ashes into the ashtray. "Long story."

I sit back against the booth, "We have all night."

"Ok, Maureen said we could stay with them as long as we needed to. So last night, Mimi had to work, and I was left alone in the apartment with her and Joanne. Well they were fighting, screaming really loud." He looks at me strangely, "Something about you actually. Care to explain?" I wave him off and he continues, "So I had enough of listening to them fight, and I wasn't in the best mood to begin with, so I took off to visit Mimi at work."

"Oh no." I can see where this is going.

"Yeah, exactly." He inhales deeply on the cigarette. "So I get there, and I'll give you one guess who else was there."

"Our former landlord?" He nods as he pounds the butt into the ashtray. "OK, so what, he was there, you know he hangs out there."

He looks up at me, "She was dancing in front of him."

"Roger, that is her job." I try and gently remind him.

"Yeah, I know, but," He looks at me, "You just had to see it for yourself." He laughs, "So guess what I did?"

"Beat the shit out of him?"

"Not exactly." He laughs and points to his face. I guess I haven't really looked at him yet, because I finally notice that his cheek is bruised and swollen.

"Shit, did Benny do that?"

"Not exactly," he repeats.

"Uh… ok, who then?"

He pulls out another cigarette. "Mimi."

I stare at him, a sound something caught between and gasp and a laugh escapes my mouth.

He nods, and lights his cigarette. "Yeah."

"Ok, go on."

"Well, I go in and I see Benny sitting at a table by himself. I push aside my anger and jealousy," his expression changes for a minute, "A big step for me, I may add," I nod in agreement, "Anyway, I decide to sit down at the table with him."

"No shit, what did he do?" The waitress comes over with two mugs and fills them with coffee, even though neither of us ordered it. She shoves two menus at us, but neither of us looks at them.

"He stood up and shook my hand. I told him I was sorry to hear about him and Alison, and he apologized about the loft."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"No, it wasn't." He glances down at the menu, purposely trying to add suspense to the story. It works.

"Ok, what happened then?"

"What? Oh…" He grins, enjoying himself. Typical Roger. "So there's Mimi, dancing right in front of our table, she sees me and starts to freak out. I'm not sure why. I just sort of wave to say hi and she runs off the stage."

"Weird."

"Yeah. That's what I thought." He exhales and blows the smoke in my face. I wave it away.

"Thanks." I roll my eyes.

"Sorry. I just needed them today."

I nod, "Last pack though, right?"

"Do you want to hear this story or not?"

The waitress comes back to take our orders. I'm suddenly starved and I realized that I never ate at the country club. We both order burgers and she leaves again.

"Ok, so Mimi runs off stage and I look at Benny and ask him what's up. And he just shrugs, but he gets this half grin on his face, you know the one? The one where he knows something you don't?"

"Yeah, I know exactly what you are talking about."

"So yeah, he grins and I ask him again, what is up with Mimi, and he says I should ask her myself. So I repeat to him the question, and he tells me that she is just upset. I ask him how he knows, and he says she told him. I asked when, and he said 'whenever'.

"Whenever?"

"Yeah, whenever. So I asked him what he meant by that and he says something about every time I run back to you in the loft, she calls him and cries to him about what a bastard I am."

"She does?"

"Yeah, so now I'm really pissed. I get up and step on the stage and go backstage. This bouncer guy tries to stop me, but Mimi sees me and yells to him in Spanish and he leaves me alone." He puts out the cigarette and the waitress brings us our burgers. "So I go up to her and before I can say a word, she starts screaming at me."

I start picking at my fries, "What was she screaming about?"

"Something about me checking up on her and that I don't trust her. She said I should know by now that she isn't fucking Benny and I'm the one that can't be trusted."

"You? You haven't cheated on her, have you?"

"No, and that is what I told her. I yelled back that I just wanted to get out of the apartment and visit her at work, and that I knew about the phone calls to Benny. So she said something about how I had you to lean on, and run away to, and she had no one. She said that Benny was a good friend and that was it."

"So, do you finally believe her?"

"Uh, not exactly, I called her a whore and that's when she hit me."

"Nice job, Roger."

"Look, I'm not proud, I was angry. We were yelling at each other, and I got mad, it just came out."

"So is that how it ended?"

"No, she started crying and I sat her down, and we talked a little more rationally. She said we keep having the same fight over and over and that I was obviously never going to trust her. I told her that it was hard for me to trust people. And she pointed out that I trusted you."

"Well, it is different with us."

"That is what I said, but she said that she knew that I loved you more than I could ever love her. That was why I always ran back to you."

"No, you went back to the loft, because that was where your stuff and your bed was. You kept in there for when you just wanted to get away."

"Mark, if I only wanted to get away from Mimi, I wouldn't go two flights upstairs."

"Yeah, but…" And then I got what he was saying. He was admitting what Mimi had said was true.

"So we decided that it was better if we stopped seeing each other. The thing is, this wasn't like our other break ups. We weren't screaming at this point. We were both calm and we decided. It really is over."

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I still love her, a part of me always will, but we just aren't meant for each other, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." I take a deep breath and push my plate away.

"So what about you? Have you seen your dad?"

I nod, and smile. "Yeah, I sort of told him off tonight."

"No shit, what happened?" I rehash the events of earlier this evening, which already seems so far away and distant. This is what I mean, the two different worlds. Each world can almost make me forget about the other. Roger gets excited as I droll out the story. He starts banging on the table and actually cheers for me when I'm done.

He tells me how proud he is of me.

That strikes me. I don't think he has ever said that before. All I ever wanted was to hear those words from my father, but hearing them from Roger is one hundred times better. I respect and care and love Roger so much more. Love, shit, there is that word again. I try and push it away.

Suddenly, he shifts gears and gets serious again. "I'm sorry that I just showed up here. I didn't know where else to go."

"You don't need to apologize."

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm just proving Mimi, right."

"So?"

"So, what if everything she said was right?"

"Like what?"

"Like that I'm in love with you." He concentrates swirling his french fry in the pile of ketchup on his plate. I watch him for a few moments, not sure if I should respond to that.

I take the easy way out; I change the subject. "So are you ready to go meet my mother?"

"Hell yeah." He takes out a wad of money and throws it on the table.

"Where did you get that?"

"Don't ask." That is what he said to me yesterday too.

We walk out of the restaurant, "I'm asking, where is this sudden cash flow coming from?"

"Nowhere, the band has been playing a lot."

I know that isn't true, but I drop it. We get into the car and start towards my house. Each street the houses get bigger and more luxurious. We pull into my neighborhood and Roger starts cracking up. He tells me that my father was right, that I was stupid for giving this up to live in a crappy loft in the East Village. I know he is only joking and we laugh as I pull in the driveway, and into the garage.

I open the car door and I'm about to step out, but he grabs my arm and stops me.

"Wait, before we go in. What I said before, well what Mimi said, are you freaked out?"

YES! But I don't say it, "No."

"Really? Cause I am?"

I smile, "Ok, yeah I am a little."

"Look, please don't let this change anything. You are my best friend, I don't want you to feel like anything is different."

"How do you want me to feel?" Very rarely does Roger show me this side of him. He looks at me, with pure vulnerability.

"I guess, I want you to feel the same way." I nod staring straight ahead. "But if you don't, I understand. I know this whole this is weird." I remain silent for a few more seconds, and his voice changes to harsh embarrassment. "Look, forget I said anything, ok? This conversation never happened."

He opens his door, and this time I grab his arm. I pull him towards me and I bring my face to his. He grasps the back of my neck and draws me closer and we kiss each other. This time, it isn't an accident, it isn't a game, it is real, and it scares me, because it is real.

How the heck did this turn into a slash fic? I swear, I had no intentions of this. Blame Kait, and her evil mind control and spork toting posse. Please review and tell me what you think. I… uh… sort of now have an ending in mind, but I'm not sure how I'm going to get there. Ok, scroll down and review now! Oh, and send me Chadvibes for Saturday.