A/N Here's to you guys that had that figured out! Glad you're liking this so much. We've got some exciting and intense stuff coming up, so stay tuned!
Chapter 42
Mark came out of the bathroom pulling his shirt over his head. His hair was still wet from the shower. "Are they back yet?" He asked anxiously to no one in particular.
"Not yet. And before you ask, they didn't call either." Maureen told him looking up from the magazine she was taking her aggressions out on as she flipped the pages. Damn it Mark! How do you manage to always do this, she thought. You work your self up into a state, and somehow the rest of us end up getting there too. It's almost like we suck it up by osmosis from you! The only person that ever seems to be immune to that is Roger. How does he do that? More importantly, where the hell is he?
"Well have you heard from Collins yet?" Mark asked Jason who was working on something in his sketchpad.
"Yeah Mark!" Jason snapped at him. "He called, told me everything that's going on, but I decided to keep it as one big fucking secret! What the hell do you think? No, I haven't heard from him."
"Fine! I'm sorry. I was just asking. I'm just a little on edge at the moment." Mark sank down into the couch.
"No fucking kidding." Jason snapped back.
"Enough!" Jen yelled at them both. "We will find out what's going on when one of them either calls or shows up. Not before. And bitching each other out until then won't help matters any."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry." Mark said as he reached for the remote and started flipping channels on the TV.
Jason really couldn't blame Mark for being upset. Mark hated and dreaded these days as much as Jason did. The sitting around, and the waiting for Collins and Roger to come home from the clinic. Waiting to hear about T-cell counts, and if their prescriptions changed, and if anything is wrong. Always knowing this time it could be different. This time something cold have changed. Could have gotten worse. Always knowing someday that it will. Always knowing that in the back of your mind lives that unrealistic wish that they would walk in and say it was all a big mistake and that they are fine.
Yes, he and Mark were really in about the same place. Actually all four of them were pretty much the same he thought. Not that he ever thought of Mark and Roger as gay, but with the exception of the physical side of his and Collins' relationship, theirs was pretty similar. They were as committed to each other as he and Collins.
Like Jason, he didn't think Mark could imagine life without Roger at this point. He figured the same held true for Roger about Mark. Even when they were in relationships. Granted Jason had only known Roger while he was with Mimi. But he had seen Mark date a few girls since he had been around. That one girl even somewhat seriously. But it never seemed to make a difference. No matter how into their relationship they were, and Jason saw Roger blow Mark off for Mimi often, it didn't matter. They were always there for each other. They always would be too. For however long always was at least.
With Cass in the mix, he knew today was even harder on Mark. It was like he could see the movie that played in Mark's mind. Running through every possibility of what could have, or at least to Mark, most definitely did go wrong.
Jason knew as well as Mark how much Roger hated going to the clinic. That was the reason Collins changed his schedule so they could go together. That was even before Jason was around and still, what four, four and a half years later it's still no easier on Roger. He still hates it as much.
For Roger to have taken Cass there with him, something had to be up. Jason knew that. He also knew Mark knew it. And now Roger wasn't answering his phone. And they were late getting back. Damn it Collins where are you? Jason looked at his watch again and then back at Mark who was just sitting there blankly staring at the TV as he flipped over all the channels, not really watching any of them.
"Yeah Mark, I'm sorry too. Here." Jason said as he signed his name on the sketch and ripped it off his pad, handing it to Mark. "Now you've got a signed Jason Sumner original. Hold onto that it could be worth money someday." He grinned.
"Wow Jason, this is great! I mean really, really good." Mark said looking down at the sketch of his camera, surrounded by his glasses, an open pack of cigarettes, a book of matches, a coffee cup and a few guitar picks.
"Wow!" Maureen said grinning. "Art at the loft. Who would have ever guessed? Big step up from Roger's old band posters you used to use to decorate and cover up the holes Benny and Roger punched into the walls."
Mark got up to look for something to hang it on the wall with and set the sketch on the counter.
"That's really cool Jason." Ginny called from the kitchen. "This stuff should be warm in like another twenty minutes or so I guess you guys."
"What exactly is that you're feeding us Ginny?" Jennifer asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "And why do you have an army sized portion of it?"
"It's Hungarian goulash and because I saw my grandmother last night." She shrugged. "What can I tell you, she's old, she likes to cook, and she thinks I don't eat. What she thought I could do with all that I don't know. My freezer is still full from the last time she made me meatballs."
Everyone jumped just then as they heard the knock on the door. Jen answered it to find Joanne standing in the hall, holding her briefcase, and toting a suitcase.
"Pookie!" Maureen hopped out of the chair wide eyed, dropping the magazine to the floor. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be getting on a train to Washington in like," she looked at her watch as a confused look crossed her face, "twenty minutes ago."
"I'm not going. Not this week at least. I told Steve something came up. He'll survive without me."
"But, but, your job…" Maureen Johnson speechless.
"It will still be there." Joanne said, setting her bags down. "And all I've been doing is working, or fighting with you. And when I talked to you before, you just seemed so, well, upset and well, here I am. Have they come home yet?"
"No not yet." Maureen said, sitting herself and Joanne down on the couch. "And Mark keeps calling, but Roger turned his phone off."
As they all settled in to waiting again they heard keys going into the lock. Before it could get unlocked from the outside, Jen was off the barstool and opening the door.
"Hey." Collins said walking through the door. "What smells so good?"
"Where have you been?" Jason asked.
"And where the hell is Roger? And Cass?" Mark demanded.
"The pharmacy was short handed, I had to wait awhile. And I had to stop back by school and pick up some papers." Collins scanned the group of friends, all of whom seemed to be waiting for something big from him. "Roger's not back yet?"
"No, they're not back. What's going on Collins? Why did he take her instead of bring her home? What's wrong? And where are they?" Mark couldn't have hidden the worry in his voice even if he tried. Not from all of them. They all knew him too well.
"Um, well," Collins stalled. It wasn't his place to tell all this he thought. "He brought her because he didn't have time to take her home." That was true. "And she's fine Mark. She got her cast cut down. Roger's fine too. Everybody's healthy." That was true too, sort of, one of them was just currently a little more "healthy" than the other two. "As for where they are, I don't know. They left before me. I stayed to wait on our prescriptions." He said dropping Roger's pills into the kitchen drawer. "I'm sure they are fine Mark. They probably went for a walk or shopping or something. Did you call the cellphone?"
**********
They were sitting on the bench watching the onsetting darkness when Roger felt her shiver. "Are you getting cold?" He asked as he ran his hands up and down her arms to warm her up.
"A little."
"I guess we should go home. Crap." He looked at his watch. "I didn't realize it was that late. Aaagh! Mark's gonna really start now. Well, don't worry about it, let's just go home. Okay?" He said softly, almost trying to convince himself more than Cass.
All the way up the stairs Roger just kept telling himself to remain calm and don't take it out on Mark. High strung, over sensitive, over worrying, over protective, going to be a pain in the ass tonight Mark. He won't mean it, he'll just be upset. Just remember all that Davis. All he's going to want to know is where you've been, what happened, and is everything okay. Simple, that's it. Just remember he'll ask it by way of a thousand questions and it's only because he cares. Remember all that and don't bite his head off. Don't bite his head off. Don't bite his head off.
As they reached the door, Roger saw it wasn't shut tight and he pushed it open for Cass to walk in. He was right, he realized as he looked around the room at everyone eating, it wasn't just Mark, Collins, Jason and Jen. Somehow he managed to end up having Maureen, Joanne and even Ginny and Leslie as well.
"Where the hell have you been?" Mark yelled at him from the kitchen as he closed the door behind him.
"Don't start Mark!" Roger told him trying hard to be firm but not mean as he watched Cass walk into the bathroom. He pulled out his cigarettes and lit one. Roger had a feeling it was going to be a long night and was suddenly grateful Cass had made him buy a carton of cigarettes.
"No! You were supposed to be home like two hours ago! You were also supposed to call me back! Or at least answer your goddamn phone! As a matter a fact, you were supposed to bring her home this morning! So I'm gonna start! Where the hell have you been?"
Mark was yelling at Roger and Collins could see Roger trying hard not to yell back.
"Maybe we should go." Joanne leaned forward and whispered.
"It's either sit here, listen, try and be helpful or at least prevent Mark's murder, or we sit down stairs and listen to everything, including Mark's murder through my ceiling." Ginny whispered back. No one moved. They all just watched Roger and Mark.
"Mark, I'm telling you, don't start right now." Roger told him again through his clenched jaw.
"No! What the hell is going on Roger? Where have you been? What's wrong?"
"She's fucking pregnant okay!" He yelled back at him. "Shit!" Roger walked over to the counter and sat down. Dropping his face onto his crossed arms.
"Pregnant?" Mark asked meekly. Of all the thoughts that had run through his mind today, that was never one of them. He never thought that. His subconscious probably would never allow his brain to go there.
Pregnant. Cass is pregnant. Fuck. Cass is pregnant. The words kept running over and over through his brain. And with each replay, stuff he never really wanted to see or hear again came with it. Stuff he really didn't think Cass was really up for dealing with right now. And it scared Mark.
"How pregnant? I mean how far gone pregnant?" He asked Roger. Please don't say almost three weeks. Please don't make it Anton's. Pleas God. Make it some guy in a bar or something if you have to, just don't do that to her. Please don't say almost three weeks. Tell me two months, three months, nine months, even tell me it's yours. Just don't tell me almost three weeks and make it his. Mark silently begged all that from God and Roger as he stood there, unable to move.
Without picking up his head Roger answered him. "Almost three weeks."
Fuck! I begged you not to tell me that he thought. "So that means it's …" his voice trailed off.
"Yeah Einstein that's what it fucking means." Be nice Roger, he's only worried about Cass. Be nice.
Roger looked up when he heard Cass come out of the bathroom. She walked over and sat on the other stool next to Roger.
Mark just stared at the two of them for a second. It seemed the three of them had forgotten everyone else was even in the room. "Cass what are you going to do?" Mark asked, hearing the edge of worry and fear return to his voice.
"I don't know Mark."
"Well, what do you want it?"
"I don't know Mark." She told him quietly again.
"Well do you not want it?"
"I don't know Mark." She was getting testy.
"Mark." Roger warned him. Don't bite his head off he told himself again.
"Well if you don't want it, then get rid of it."
"That gets complicated, you know that Mark." She glared at him.
"Leave her alone Mark." Roger warned again.
Mark looked from Cass to Roger. Yeah he knew what she meant by complicated. He remembered. He remembered and really wanted to forget. Forget and never see it again. From either of them. But that was it. Suddenly he knew that was it, what his brain had been playing around and hiding from him. If it came to that, he would lose her there again. And he was pretty certain Roger would end up following her.
"No. No it's not complicated. If you don't want it, you get an abortion. Period." The worry had left his voice and was replaced by anger. He could hear it. He could hear it and he didn't care. She almost died once. He wasn't going to watch her do it again. And maybe take Roger with her.
"Mark I said leave her alone!" Roger yelled at him, standing up. He never expected this. Questions yes, but not this. Roger didn't know where it was coming from or what it was really about, but he didn't like it.
"Mark it's not that simple!" She yelled back at him wiping at tears on her cheeks.
"No it is that simple. Do you want it or not? If you want it, then fine. If you don't want it, fine too. What do you want Cass?"
"I don't know Mark! Maybe! Maybe not! I don't know!"
"Well if you don't want it, then you get a fucking abortion!"
"Mark shut the fuck up!" Roger yelled at him.
"You know I can't just go do that." She cried.
"No! It doesn't work that way. Don't go fucking hiding behind a bunch of ancient religious crap again. If you don't want it, you get a fucking abortion!"
"You don't know what the hell your talking about Mark." Tears were running down her face so hard now, she didn't bother to even wipe at them.
As the conversation turned from a heated discussion to a screaming match between Cass and Mark, Jason had moved around to the backside of the couch, closest to Roger.
"I said leave her the fuck alone Mark!" Roger yelled at him as he went for him over the counter. At that Jason dove at Roger, grabbing him before he could get a hold of Mark.
Collins was right behind him. He had never seen the two of the like this before. Ever. He knew where Roger was coming from, but not Mark. Mark, the eternal peacemaker. Something else was the driving force behind Mark at the moment. Something he didn't think any of them, including Roger knew. Except for maybe Cass. Collins stepped in front of Roger. "You guys, calm down."
"I know exactly what I'm talking about! Tell him! Tell him why you ended up in the hospital!"
"I was in a car accident! You know that!"
"Tell him why you were in a car accident! Tell him!"
"Cause her fucking boyfriend was wasted out of his mind on coke! Quit being a fucking ass Mark!" Roger yelled at him while struggling against Jason and Collins.
"Tell him where the fuck you were going! Tell him why! Tell him how you almost fucking died! Tell him why Paulie almost got you killed in that fucking car!"
"It was a car accident and Paulie was wasted." She sobbed into her hands as Maureen walked over and put an arm around her. "It was just an accident. You don't know anything Mark." By now she had lost most of her strength to fight with him as she leaned against Maureen.
"Mark leave her alone. You're just upset. Everybody's upset." Maureen yelled at him while trying to comfort Cass.
"Bullshit!" Mark yelled, flinging the empty coffee cup he had been holding the whole time. He didn't even hear it break as he stormed into his room.
No one knew what to do or what to say. They had never seen Mark like this before. Not even Roger. Jason was about to let go of Roger when Mark's door flew open again.
Mark stormed into the kitchen carrying a videotape. He flung open a drawer and pulled out the envelope that had the remainder of the cash her father had left.
"Fine! Deny it all you fucking want. All I'm saying is if you want it, fine. If you don't, fine get an abortion. But if you just want to make it and everything else go away, don't fucking do it here! I don't want to see it!" Mark threw the money down on the counter in front of her. "Got to the fucking park if you want! Somebody there will hook you up! Shove what ever the fuck you want up your nose! Just stay the fuck away from me then!"
He realized he was still holding the video as he continued. "Don't sit there an tell me I don't know! When you tape over something Cass, you ought to make sure the rest of the fucking tape is blank! He slammed the video down on the counter in front of her so hard everyone else saw both Cass and Maureen jump. "Yeah, happy fucking birthday to me! Don't you fucking dare go there again. Not here where I gotta see it!" He pointed at the tape and then flung open the door. "If that's it, and you plan on fixing it by way of your nose again Cass," Mark paused and looked at Roger. "If you take him with you, don't come back! Either of you!" Mark slammed the door and took off down the steps.
"Fuck you Mark!" Roger was screaming at him and Jason and Collins had all they could do to keep him from taking off after him.