Part 10

*//

"Hello?"

"Mom? It's Roger." He paused and glanced back in Mimi's direction. She was lying on her stomach, eyes shut. Roger figured that he wouldn't get much more privacy then that, but he did try pulling the phone cord as far away as it could go from the table.

"Roger?"

"Yeah Mom. It's me." Roger paused as he heard muffled sobs on the other end of the line. "Don't cry. You know I hate it when you cry."

"Lindsey, it's…Roger. She wants to talk to you." Roger could hear his mother crying and talking to his older sister at the same time

"Hey rock star. Is your hair still blonde?" Roger smiled. He hadn't spoken to his sister in about three years. He was suddenly thankful that Mimi forced him to make the phone call on a 'no sex until you do' basis.

"Hi Linds. Mom still upset? Maybe I should go then, if you know—"

"Yeah, but I think it's more happy tears than anything else. Are you getting tired of your fabulously rich and famous lifestyle yet? Miss Mom's incredible apple pie?"

"Yeah, actually I do. I miss all of you."

"Believe me, we all miss you. Even Heather."

"That's surprising, even though I bet you're just saying that." Roger smirked. He and Heather had never gotten along, even when they were adults.

"You know how she is. Runways to walk, foreign boyfriends to fuck. And I have to hear about all of it." Roger heard his mother shouting about Lindsey's choice phrase. "Sorry mom."

"Ouch. I think I corrupted you too much when we were younger."

"Probably. Okay, Mom's begging to talk to you, and I have to feed the baby anyway, but seriously kiddo, come home, before I beat your ass."

"Yeah, I will. Wait—whose baby?"

"Mine. You really have missed a lot. Her name's Marissa and she just turned two last week. Another reason why you should come home. You have nieces and nephews left and right that you haven't even met."

"No shit. I know I've missed a lot." Roger paused until he heard his mother's voice again.

"Roger?"

"Yeah, I'm still here."

"You're going to come home soon, right? And you're clean? Drug free? You have a job?" Roger groaned.

"Yes, yes, yes, and no. No luck with a job, but Mark has one, and we're doing okay."

"That's good. That's really great to hear." Roger looked up and found Maureen, Mark and a man he assumed to be Chad standing in the kitchen. He turned his back to them and attempted to adjust the heater.

"Mom, I gotta go. Mark and some of our friends just got here with food. I'll come home soon, okay?"

"Okay sweetie. I love you."

"I love you too, Mom." Roger clicked the phone on the receiver and walked over to the kitchen, where Mark, Maureen, and Chad were seated around the island on barstools.

"Your mom?" Mark asked, twirling some lo mein around his fork.

"Yeah. She really wants me to come home. I actually don't think it's such a bad idea anymore," Roger joked, pouring some rice onto a nearby plate.

"Oh! Roger, this is the infamous Chad! Marky already met him downstairs," Maureen squealed. Even though he was well dressed, Chad looked laid back in the present setting.

"Hey man," Roger greeted, shaking his hand.

"Hey."

"How's Mimi?" Mark asked, staring briefly at Jackie's door. It was after one, and he hadn't heard a word from her since last night. He figured that if she weren't up soon, he'd go check on her and see if she wanted anything to eat.

"She's good. Really tired, though. I think she passed out on my bed when I was on the phone," Roger laughed. Sure enough, Mimi was snoring lightly from the bedroom.

"What did the doctors say?" Maureen voiced.

"She was anemic, and that was the main reason why she passed out. They started her back on AZT and gave her iron pills, along with prenatal vitamins," Roger answered.

"Good luck with those. My sister Becky always threw them up when she was pregnant with Lillian. She had to stop taking them."

"That's real comforting, Mo." Roger rolled his eyes and continued eating his rice. The last thing Mimi needed was to make her temporary home in the bathroom every day. Mark cleared his throat and attempted to change the subject.

"When are you thinking about going to see your Mom? Are you taking Mimi with you?" Mark asked, rolling his eyes at Maureen. Her and Chad were all over each other at the opposite end of the table. Mark didn't even understand why Maureen was even seeing Chad—she had been so caught up with Joanne in the past year that he was almost sure it was for pure revenge and nothing else.

"I don't know. I know she'd really like it if I surprised her, so I was thinking about maybe taking a trip up there tomorrow and coming home Sunday night or Monday morning."

"Are you bringing Mimi?" Mark repeated.

"Probably not. Not this time, at least. I think it would be better if my mom got used to me coming home before I brought Mimi with me. I want to see how everything goes first. I just need to do this on my own."

"Yeah, I understand what you mean. If you want to go tomorrow, that's fine. Mimi and me will hang out. Get some movies, catch up on a few things," Mark offered.

"Thanks Mark. I just feel really bad about leaving her by herself, especially since she just got out of the hospital today," Roger said.

"I swear I'll call you if there are any problems. Don't worry. Have I ever let you down before?" Mark laughed. Roger shook his head and sighed. Mark had never let him down before. It was always Roger letting Mark down.

"Okay."

They all finished their meal in silence, Roger occasionally thinking about Benny. It hadn't really hit him yet that Mimi had been pregnant before, but he hated that it was because of Benny. Sure, he allowed Benny to take them home from the hospital, but it didn't mean that he had to like the guy. He was a complete prick. No wonder his wife divorced him. Maureen and Chad stood up, breaking Roger's thoughts.

"Okay pookie, we've gotta be going. We're going down to Jersey tonight to visit Chad's parents for dinner. But by the way, you should have heard the noise coming from Benny's place last night. I wonder who he had down there with him. He's even louder than us, baby," Maureen whispered not so quietly in Chad's ear.

"I don't know. Lisa fell asleep down there last night. Maybe you're hearing things, Mo," Mark laughed.

"Yeah, maybe. Well, tell her I said hi and we'll see you later. Bye guys."

*//

Mark's bedroom door opened shortly after Maureen and Chad left. Jackie somewhat unsteadily stumbled out, clutching her left side.

"Wow, I guess I really did sleep late. What time is it?" she laughed, holding her side harder.

"It's almost 2. It's not a problem though. You must have been really exhausted. This is my roommate Roger. He's the cranky and whiny one," Mark joked. Roger looked up and smiled, but stopped when he noticed how swollen her cheek was. Sure, he had gotten into bar fights before that had resulted in cracked ribs, busted lips, and fractured cheekbones, not to mention black eyes, but to him, it looked about ten times worse on a female.

"Yeah, I was. I didn't mean to stay so long. Those meds must have really knocked me out. Do you mind if I take a shower or anything? I swear, I'll leave right after that," she laughed. "The hot water would feel really great on my bruises right now."

"Go ahead. Just as a heads up, it usually runs out after about ten minutes. We're not kicking you out," Mark smiled.

"Thanks." Jackie turned and entered the bathroom. About a minute later Mark heard the shower being turned on and attempted to talk to Roger again.

"What happened to her? Those are some pretty fucked up injuries," Roger questioned.

"I don't know. I bumped into her last night at the hospital after you went in to see Mimi. She said her boyfriend knocked her around, cracked a few ribs, and bruised her arms and cheekbone. She didn't exactly want to go back right away, so I let her stay her for the night considering it was empty and all.

"That's pretty rough. I wouldn't want to go back either. Seriously, the side of her face looks like she got sideswiped with a Mac truck and not someone's hand," Roger replied. "I'd say some kind of heavy pos."

"POS?" Mark asked, confused.

"Piece of shit. Jesus, get up with the lingo here. No wonder we can't take you anywhere," Roger teased.

"Yeah, I forgot, because you go everywhere." Roger flung an empty Chinese food carton at Mark's head. "Hey!"

"Stuff it, film boy."

*//

Jackie finally left around four, claiming that she needed to fill her prescriptions and come up with an explanation as to why she missed work.  Mark made her promise to call if she ever needed anything.

Roger was sprawled out across the entire couch watching the TV, and Mark was sitting at the kitchen table, suddenly struck with a wave of inspiration that he felt the need to write down. When the phone rang, Roger completely ignored.

"Get the phone," Mark ordered. By that time it was too late, and the answering machine had already started recording.

"I don't give a shit," Roger shrugged.

"Hey Lisa, it's Danielle. Your mom gave me your brother's number, so I figured I'd call and see how you are and everything. I miss you and I'll talk to you later I guess. You know how to reach me."

"Jesus Christ, what are we, 411? What's with everyone calling and using our place as a hangout lately," Roger grumped.

"That's enough out of you. Are you going out tonight?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, looks that way. I'm supposed to meet Wes at the bar around ten." Roger drummed his fingers against his leg and flung the remote to the side. "This cable fucking sucks."

"We're poor, what do you expect?" Mark laughed. Roger didn't find it funny and just glared instead. "Are you definitely leaving for your Mom's tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, I just don't know how to break it to Mimi. I need to borrow someone's car to get there, I guess," he said back.

"I'll call Mo and ask her for her car later. Chad takes her everywhere in his car anyway, so I doubt she'll need it this weekend," Mark offered. "You can always take the train too."

"Yeah, I know, but I'd rather drive."

"Whatever you say." Mark shoved the paper he was writing on into a drawer and slammed it shut. Mimi sleepily came out of Roger's bedroom and sat next to Roger.

"Hey babe. Feel better?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry we couldn't finish what we started. How did the conversation with your mom go?" Mimi asked. Roger shrugged and stood up, pulling her with him.

"It was fine. Can I talk to you a sec in our room?" Mimi looked at him and raised an eyebrow, but followed anyway. She shut the door behind her and sat on the bed while he stood in front of closet.

"Okay, shoot," she initiated. Roger sighed and sat next to her.

"I'm leaving tomorrow to see my mom. I'm gonna be in Scarsdale for the weekend, but it's something I need to do by myself, at least the first time. I feel like such an ass for leaving you when you just got out of the hospital," he added.

"Roger, it's fine. I'll be okay. Mark is here, remember?"

"That's exactly what he said to me when I talked to him about it."

"Does she know you're coming?" Mimi asked, stretching out across the bed.

"Not exactly. I figured I'd surprise her and come home sooner then she expects. I know she'd appreciate that. I want to tell her about you and the baby—and everything else. You swear you'll be okay? I won't go if—" Mimi put a finger to his lips and kissed his forehead.

"I'll be fine. Okay?" she laughed. Roger nodded and wrapped his arms around her, drawing him closer to her.

"So how about we start what we didn't even begin?"

"I could go for that…"

*//

After spending the night at the bar, Roger arrived home around one AM. He had made Mark promise to wake him at seven the next morning, even though he knew he wouldn't like it. He had enjoyed himself for once—and it had been just like old times when the band was still together. He had told Wes, Travis, and Evan that he would consider rejoining the band, and they had all agreed to jam together the following Friday at Wes' place. For now, Roger had picked up some bartending shifts from Wes' uncle Ray, starting Tuesday night.

After throwing his leather jacket on the couch and placing his Fender back in its case, he carefully crawled into bed next to Mimi, who was sleeping soundly. Her eyes fluttered open softly when his head hit the pillow.

"You're home." She yawned.

"Yeah, it's late. Go back to sleep," Roger whispered. Mimi nodded and closed her eyes again.

"Wake me before you leave tomorrow. Promise?"

"I promise."

Roger attempted to go to sleep, hoping that there wouldn't be any unexpected incidents tomorrow at his mother's.

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