A/N Okay, since it's been awhile since a few of the characters in this chapter have been mentioned and because their names are so similar, I figured I should run through them real quick. Hopefully it will keep everyone from getting confused.

Joellen – sort of dating Mark. Works at Life Café.

Jolean – Joellen's twin sister. Dating Andrew. Met everyone when she came to the party that night at the loft.

Andrew – Works at Life Support. Plays drums and used to jam with Roger once in awhile. He came to the party at the loft. Known Roger since way back.

Hope this helps!

Chapter 48

"Hey Mark!" Jen called to him. "Where's Joellen? I thought she was coming for dinner?"

"Yeah. She'll be here soon. Her sister and Andrew are coming too."

"You want a beer?" Jason asked, sliding Collins an empty glass to fill for Mark.

"Thanks. What's up?"

"Nada." Maureen told him, finishing off her beer as Joanne came back to the table with another pitcher.

"Hi Mark." Joanne set the pitcher down and gave him a hug. I haven't seen you in forever. I did however hear about the events of last week." She rolled her eyes at Maureen.

"Heard about that huh?"

"Duh Mark." Maureen said sarcastically.

He grinned. "Yeah, you know Joanne, Roger felt real bad about that. We're both real sorry."

"You should be." Maureen said smugly.

Joanne gave her a look. "For what? What did you do?"

"Well," he couldn't hide the fact he was going to enjoy this some. "Roger actually realized it."


"Realized what?" Jen asked.

"Just that, that was what?" He looked to Collins. "The third or fourth time he forbid Maureen to speak ever again." He laughed. "And every time it happens, you're not around to enjoy it."

Joanne tried to swallow the laughter at that statement. She could tell Collins was doing the same. "Tell him I appreciate that. But don't worry, we all know it will happen again."

"Excuse me?" Maureen said, not realizing till the last second she was being picked on.

"That's not nice Mark." Jen chipped in.

"Don't help her anymore Jen. Remember what happened last time Sis." Jason laughed at her.

"Oh shut up. Both of you."

"Moving on." Collins said, eyeing Mark. Wondering about the new found outgoing attitude he had started developing in the last few weeks. "So how are things at the loft Mark?"

He gave an exasperated look and rolled his eyes. "Oh man." He shook his head. "Bitchy. Cranky. Down right psychotic."

"And that's just Roger." Joellen said from behind him. "I snuck in the back door."

"Hey." Mark grinned at her as she sat down. "Yeah he's still a little cranky about the smoking thing."

"That's a little cranky?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

Mark had to laugh at her. He was so used to Roger's moods he forgot how it must look to other people sometimes. She had been around the loft a lot lately. At least enough to see him, Roger and Cass in full action. And she still came back. He was almost amazed by that. Mark realized he really liked Joellen. But at the same time, he wasn't sure if he really liked her liked her, or only just regular liked her.

Sure they had a lot in common, and she was fun. Not to mention the fact that the sex was great too. But he was kind of afraid they were just sort of going through the motions of a relationship. Almost for lack of anything better to do. It seemed to him like she kinda of felt the same way too. And Mark was glad about that. He would have hated the idea of their relationship meaning more to her than Mark thought it really was.

"How's Cass Mark?" Jason asked, snapping him out of his thought.

"She's okay I guess." He shrugged. "I mean I don't know who named it morning sickness, but it's more like an any time of day thing."

"I feel horrible for her." Joellen told them. "She is sick a lot."

"That's what Ginny said. And that if she's throwing up that much now, it'll get worse before it gets better." Jen told them, refilling her beer as the waitress took their orders.

"Yeah. Whatever you do," Mark explained, "stay away from her with any kind of food that smells. Especially Chinese or eggs."

"Unfortunately coffee is like the one thing that wasn't making her sick." Joellen poured herself a beer.

"Yeah, that's not helping anything." Mark said as Andrew and Jolene made their way to the table and joined them. After all the pleasantries were exchanged and Andrew and Jolene's order was placed as well the conversation turned back to Cass.

"What did you mean about the coffee not helping Mark?" Collins asked.

"Oh, well you know how she was always scratching? It turns out she was becoming allergic to coffee or caffeine or something."

Joellen shook her head. "Did the two of them exist on coffee and cigarettes?"

"Yup." Jen answered without looking up.

"Well Joellen actually figured it out." Mark told them.

"What was there to figure out?" She asked nonchalantly. "The girl had hives within five minutes of drinking coffee. And it seemed like it was getting worse and lasting longer."

"Wow. Roger Davis with no cigarettes and no coffee. Hard to imagine." Jason laughed.

"Yeah well, I'm still having a hard time with Roger Davis, Daddy." Andrew laughed.

"Yeah I kind of know what you mean." Collins smirked trying to picture that.

"Oh please." Maureen scoffed. "With the string of groupies that used to run through that place until April. It's amazing it never happened before."

"What? April of this year? What happened then?" Joellen asked as an eerie silence fell across the table.

Collins looked at Mark. He knew Mark's feelings on April. On who she was and what she stood for to him. He knew Mark well enough to also know the inner battle he had that went between hating her and pitying her. And the guilt he felt for hating her. And blaming her and knowing, deep down it wasn't really her fault. Mark knew Roger was a big boy and April never made Roger do anything he didn't want to do.

Maureen regretted the words as they left her mouth. She had forgotten the girls would have no way of knowing who April was. She was before Jason and Jens' time. Even before Joanne had been around.

Stupid Maureen. You know how Mark feels about her, but you open up your mouth anyway. No wonder Roger kept forbidding you to speak. She thought back to the many conversations she had had with Mark about April over the years. Both before and after. True, she never really liked April. Never really trusted her. But never as severely as Mark.

With Joellen's question she looked at Mark. She saw his eyes close tight as he clenched his jaw. Maureen knew what he was thinking. Knew what he saw in his mind.

She was the one that cleaned up the bathroom. That night. After the ambulance left. She was the one that watched Mark try and comfort Roger. She was the one that sat with him when he couldn't hold it together for Roger anymore. She was the one that laid there watching Mark's fitful sleep, and held him when he'd wake up in a cold sweat from the nightmare he had for the many weeks that followed Mark and Roger finding April.

"Um, no. Maureen said softly studying her beer, not looking up. "Not the month. She is, I mean she was, I mean…"

"April was Roger's girlfriend. A long time ago." Collins said softly.

"Uh yeah." Maureen continued. "Back when Collins and I lived at the loft with Mark and Roger. And April. She uh, died." The words came out quietly as Joanne took her hand under the table. Maureen's foot went further under the table, bumping up against Mark's ankle and staying there. He looked up and caught her eye as well. She felt his leg shift and press against her's. They may be with other people she realized, but hey will always be there for each other at least.

"Oh." Was all Joellen could think to say. She saw the look on Mark's face. She had a pretty good idea there was more to it then she just died. She felt horrible having brought everyone down like this with one simple question. Maureen should have known all this. Why did she even bring it up? Joellen had mixed feeling about Maureen, especially where Mark was concerned. But at the same time, she sort of had mixed feelings on Mark too sometimes.

Jen tried unsuccessfully to stifle a small laugh. Jason heard her and shot her a look, which only made her laugh again. "I'm sorry. Really." She told them, covering her mouth with her hand as their food arrived. "I mean I just keep going back to that Roger as a daddy thing."

"I know what you mean." Joanne had a small grin forming.

Jason was still giving her evil looks and Mark hadn't really looked up yet, but Jen kept laughing. "I mean it wasn't that long ago we were joking about Roger even knowing how to wash dishes, much less change diapers."

Mark got a small smile at that. She was right, it was kind of funny to think of. "Yeah, I think I know what you mean."

"Please! Roger needs Mark's help to change his mind." Maureen started to laugh a little too. "How is he ever gonna change a diaper?"

"Can't you just see it now?" Andrew asked. "A two year old in a leather jacket."

"With biker boots and bubble gum cigarettes." Joanne giggled.

"And a sucky attitude." Jen started laughing again.

"Whose first words will be either 'fuck' or 'whatever'." Mark grinned. "Dripping with attitude of course."

"Yeah," Jason started laughing too now. "The kid's first sentence will either be "Mark get that fucking camera out of my face' or 'Maureen shut the fuck up'!"

By then the uncomfortable silence that followed the mention of April was long gone. They spent most of the rest of the meal laughing and joking at images like those.

"So when is she due?" Jolene asked.

"May 24th." Mark grinned.

Jen shook her head. "This kid's gonna turn out totally twisted."

"Jennifer!" Jason yelled at her.

"It's not a bad thing." She tried to explain. "I just mean with those two for parents. And Mark as whatever Mark's supposed to be."

"Hey!" Mark protested.

Jen kept going. "Not to mention the strange assortment of, well, aunts and uncles it's gonna have. It's just not gonna be your normal everyday childhood."

"Maybe that's a good thing." Collins said. "Think about it. We all had, to some extent, what is considered a normal childhood. And look what happened. We all left that for what? A chance to be who and what we want? Live the way we want? With people who understood and appreciated us?"

Always the professor, he continued after the dramatic pause. "So would that be so bad? I mean wouldn't you have rather grown up with people like us? At least to some extent, then with who and how we actually did grow up? Waiting eighteen or so years to go looking for a place where you feel like you fit in and belong?"

"Then in Scaresdale with Howard Cohen, father of and I quote, 'that idiot who still can't get a real job after wasting all my money at Brown'? God yes."

"Or hearing your whole life about how 'those freaks are going to burn in hell.' Yeah, preferable." Jason said leaning against Jen, who reached down and held his hand.

"Or being called a dumb slut tramp? Just like your mother. Yeah, could have lived without it." Jen said with her eyes on the table.

"She's crazy and insane if she thinks that crap is art! Or if she thinks she's getting any more of my money. Especially if she's dating girls!" Maureen imitated her father.

Joanne shook her head. "You went to Harvard for God sake Kitten! I can understand you doing pro bono work there, but living down there? Like you're one of them? Really! And how much longer is this lesbian phase going to last? People are starting to talk!"


"When are you going to have some clue as to what you're going to do with your life?" Joellen joined in.

Jolean looked at her twin and grinned. "Things like that are nice hobbies dear, but what do you want to do for real?"

Mark was staring at his beer. "I walked into a fucking door and I don't want to fucking talk about it!" He imitated Roger. "And my mom and my brothers walked into the same fucking fist shaped door and I don't want to fucking talk about that either! Whatever!" Mark drank back the rest of his beer.

Collins looked around at the group as another silence fell among them. No one was looking at anyone. He hadn't meant to depress anyone. He actually started out that little speech in a positive direction he thought.

Mark looked up and realized no one else was looking up. But Maureen was getting this huge grin on her face. "What's with you Mo?"

"Well," she beamed, "Collins is right. All things considered, that's gonna be one lucky ass kid. I mean it's gonna have all of us to begin with. But think about it." She almost couldn't contain herself. "We're gonna have a baby! We are actually gonna have a baby!"

Mark looked around the table and knew he wasn't the only one to realize what Maureen meant and was actually saying. She didn't meant just Cass and Roger. And she didn't just casually mean all of them. No, they were family. They were a family at this point. He was glad about that. He knew Roger and Cass would be too. Especially Roger. "Yeah, your right." Mark smiled back. "We are gonna have a baby!"

********************

As they walked into the Iguana, Mark spotted Cass about halfway down the bar, filling a pitcher. "Yo! Bar Wench! Bring us some beer!" He yelled to her. Cass just gave him a look and finished filling the pitcher she was working on.

"Oh there's a good way to get yourself killed." Roger said as he walked up behind him with a rack of glasses. "It's not like she can't get you while you're sleeping Marky. And don't expect me to protect you." He grinned at him.

"Yeah I know. So, where's our free beer?"

Roger looked at Jason and Joellen. "Christ, he's already half lit isn't he?" Their laughter answered him. "Hang on." He turned. "Hey Cass, fill two." He started putting glasses up for them.

"Having only seen her with the cast on her arm it looks strange to see her without it." Jason told Roger as he watched Cass fill the pitchers.

"Yeah kinda. But thank god it's gone. She couldn't take much more of that thing. And she was killing me with it. She was dangerous in her sleep with that thing. Nothing like waking up feeling like you been hit with a baseball bat all night." He laughed, leaning against the cooler behind the bar. He watched her, talking to customers and taking money. She filled the two pitchers from the tap and brought them over.

"Hey guys!" Cass set the pitchers down and leaned into Roger.

"So," Collins grinned, "you ready to give up that high powered, well paying job of yours and take up bartending?"

"Um…no!" She grinned at him. "It's kinda fun once and awhile though." She looked up at Roger as his hands went around her hips and landed on her belly. "Yeah, if she did this, she would have to get dressed before seven at night." Roger teased her.

"Oh look who's talking." She teased back.

"How did you get conned into doing this anyway?" Maureen asked, pouring herself a beer.

"Izzy had to take Krystal to Jersey. And Dave couldn't cover for him. So that only left poor Roger with no one to help him but Rob." Cass explained, giving Roger a pouty face and saying it all in a pity voice.

"Oh, so in other words, Roger begged?" Maureen joked, taking a drink.

"Exactly. It was pathetic." Cass laughed.

"Hey! I never beg!" He slipped his arm up across her chest to her shoulders, almost putting her into a playful headlock, kissing her ear as she looked at Maureen. And did I tell you that you were allowed to speak yet?"

"Hmf!" Maureen glared aback at him as the other bartender called Roger for help.

"Go help Rob. You're supposed to be working!" Cass told him, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow.

"So are you."

"Oh you mean I'm actually going to get paid money for helping you out tonight?"

"Well, maybe not money, but I'll pay you, don't you worry Baby." Then he whispered into her ear. "I'll do something to you, or um, for you." He grinned, cocking an eyebrow to let her know that wasn't a mistake.

"Go help Rob. We'll talk to you guys later." She let him move her down the bar, giggling as he whispered something else into her ear.

Jason and Joellen took all but the three beers Mark, Collins and Maureen were holding over to the tables where everyone else had sat down, leaving the three alone at the bar. Maureen took a sip of her beer and watched Cass and Roger down the bar. "You know, I never thought I would see it."

"What's that Mo?" Collins asked.

Still looking at them, "Roger Davis, actually happy."

"What are you talking about?' Mark asked somewhat defensively. "He was very happy with Mimi, and April too I guess."

"No, he was content and happier than he ever had been alone. But never just plain happy. I don't think he ever was. That boy was mad at the world already the day I met him and that was before April, and everything."

She looked at Mark, who was studying his beer. "I don't mean it badly Mark. I know he loved Mimi. I mean she was one of my best friends. I'm not saying he didn't love her or wasn't happy with her. But there was always something else there. Even at their best times. Even at his best times with April back before things got so bad. It's just like there has always been this thing there. Like the world has been crushing in on him for a number of years, and even when he is happy, there was always still a shadow that hung over him. That he couldn't escape from.

"All I'm saying is he seems actually happy this time. No dark cloud following him around that he's just waiting to pour down on him. So much so that he isn't just locked away in his own little relationship world. Where everyone only sometimes exists. He's out here, with the rest of us, and he just seems really and truly happy this time. And for a change he's in a relationship that is more than just drugs and sex like April or well sex and sex like Mimi."

She saw the look on Mark's face. "Oh give me a break! Don't look at me like that! You know it's true. Him and April and especially him and Mimi, it was constant sex! They were like rabbits and you know it." Maureen shook her head. "I mean think about it, if he and April weren't too wasted, they had nothing else to do or say but have sex! And with Mimi, well I think that was a little different, they had a different kind of, I don't know, spiritual bond or something. Where they were afraid to let each other go for any length of time. Which resulted in constant sex! Collins you were there. Am I right?"

"Well…" Collins trailed off.

Mark got a little smirk. "No you're wrong. There was more than that with both of them. You forgot the fighting."

Maureen grinned. Mark had realized her point. "Okay, so there was that too. All I'm saying is, this time actually seems to be different all the way around. Like he's not waiting for the next bad thing to happen. And I'm really happy for him."

"She's right." Collins agreed.

"Yeah, she is. Wow. Wonders never cease. Roger Davis truly happy and Maureen Johnson actually right about something." Mark hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.