CHAPTER 45
Refresher on some characters:
Cindy: Mark's older sister. She's currently eight months pregnant with her third child and has two other children: Anthony, who's 7, and Rachel, who's 4.
Adam: Cindy's husband
And thank you so so much to all my reviewers. Without you all I would have never gotten as far as I have with this. I know I don't thank you enough, so THANK YOU. I love you guys.
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* * * *
"Roger, I said no."
"Mimi, come on."
Mimi crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "I'm not letting you take our one month old daughter to the studio."
"Practice at the studio. There's a difference."
Mimi groaned and set her glass down on the kitchen counter. "Roger, Evan's a pothead."
Roger laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Baby, Evan's not a pothead."
She rolled her eyes and pulled away from him. "No, he just smokes pot like a fucking chimney."
"I told you he hasn't smoked in two months. Lauren's been trying to get him to quit."
"Yeah, okay."
"Please baby?"
Mimi pushed him away from her as he started to pout. "Well who's going to watch her when you're practicing?"
"Um."
"Exactly. So why don't I just bring her by for a little bit or something? So Wes and Travis can win whatever bet they have going on and I can collect the rest of the baby pool money."
Roger stared at her and laughed. "You know about that?"
"Yeah. Travis called, looking for you, and I overheard Wes talking about it in the background."
"Oh. So can you bring her? Come on baby, I have to show her off to everybody. Please?" he begged, getting down on his knees.
"You're so pathetic, Davis. Fine. Let me just get her ready and we'll go, okay?"
"Thanks. You're the best."
"Uh huh," she smiled and kissed him. "Just do me a favor and grab one of her bottles from the fridge and stick it in the bag for me? Because I'll feed her there, I guess."
"Sure."
"And Roger, no smoking. At all around her. Especially now. I'm serious," she warned him.
He nodded. "Okay okay. I promise. I'll even remove Evan's stash from his guitar case."
"What?!"
Roger laughed again. "Relax baby, I'm only kidding. He doesn't keep his stash anywhere. Jesus."
"Fine."
* * * *
"What are you doing out here so late?"
Jackie looked over her shoulder at Mark and blew out the smoke into the air. "Nothing. Sitting. Trying to get comfortable."
He nodded and walked over to her, taking the cigarette out of her hand. "You need to quit."
She shrugged and rested her chin on top of her knees. "I know."
He studied her for a minute before crushing the cigarette in the ashtray. He was starting to pick up that she only smoked when she was nervous, upset, or thinking about something, and he assumed tonight was one of those nights. "You okay?"
"Yup. I'm fine."
He sat down next to her and linked his hand through hers. She had put her engagement ring back on—or rather he had—the day after she moved back in, and he was really grateful for that, because he knew when she walked out on him that day there was a good chance that she would have never walked back in. "So tell me how much Lamaze class was a pain in the ass tonight."
She rolled her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. "I told you that would be such a waste of money. Now I know why Mimi and Roger didn't go."
Mark laughed and ran his fingers through her shoulder length blonde hair. "Could you honestly picture Roger in a room full of pregnant women? I think Mimi was enough for him. Plus you, but you weren't there all the time so he could deal."
"So what are you saying? That I'm intolerable?" she smiled.
"Sometimes?" he smirked. Just as he leaned in to kiss her, the phone rang. "Damn. Who calls at 1 AM?" he groaned, standing up and walking through the patio doors into the living room.
Jackie stood up slowly and followed. "Mark I have some advice for you. Never get pregnant." She looked up and watched him carry out the conversation on the phone. His words were jumbled and he looked unnerved, to say the least.
"Yeah. Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can. Yeah. Love you too. Okay, bye." He hung up the phone and stared at her.
"What? Who was that?" she asked, yawning.
"My mom."
"Is everything okay?"
"Um. I don't know. She said that they found a good match for Lisa and they're prepping her for the transplant right now. They're flying the kidney in from Philadelphia." He finished pulling his shoes on.
"So that's good, right? She'll be okay now?"
"If everything goes okay. She'll be on anti rejection medication for the rest of her life, but she'll be okay."
Jackie smiled and kissed him. "So let's go then."
"You sure you don't want to stay here? We'll be sitting around waiting for probably five hours while she's in surgery."
"Whatever you want."
Mark looked at the clock on the wall. "Why don't you just stay here and I'll call you when she gets out? Because you're tired and I want you to be able to get some rest."
She nodded. "Okay, that's fine. But call me and let me know what's going on."
"I will. And if Roger's up, let him know too, okay?"
He kissed her a final time before leaving the apartment. Yawning, she crossed over to Roger's apartment. He was sitting on the couch sound asleep with his mouth hanging open. Jaylynn was propped up in his arms and she was sleeping as well.
She lightly shook his shoulder. "Roger."
His head shot up and he stared at her. "What?" he yawned. "I fell asleep didn't I? I gotta stop doing that."
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you or anything, but Mark just left for the hospital. Lisa's getting her transplant."
"Really? Wow, that's great. So she'll be okay?"
Jackie nodded. "Yeah, it looks like it. She probably won't be home for a few weeks, but she'll be okay."
"Yeah. I feel bad for her though. She hates hospitals as much as I do, and she's been in one for about a month already."
Jackie looked down at the baby. "Want me to get her to bed for you? I kind of need the practice anyway."
He nodded and stood up, stretching his arms out. "Yeah, go for it. December's gonna be here before we all know it."
Jackie picked up Jaylynn and rested her against her shoulder. "Night Roger."
"Night." He set Jaylynn's bottle on the coffee table. "Hey question. Are you and Mark ever gonna get married, now that you two are okay again?"
Jackie shrugged. "Eventually. After I have the baby. Don't know when," she smiled. "Why?"
"Just wondering. Well—" he said in mid yawn. "Goodnight."
"Night rock star. Don't let the bedroom door hit you on your ass."
"Oh fuck me, I almost forgot how funny you try to be."
"You better watch it or you're getting nothing from me for your birthday, let alone Christmas."
He grabbed his chest. "Ouch that was a good one. Hurt me right here," he winced.
She gave him the finger. "Get to bed."
He grinned and ducked into his bedroom and Jackie put Jaylynn in her bassinet.
* * * *
"Hey. Did you get here okay?"
Jackie nodded and Mark kissed her before wrapping his arm around her back. "I had a conversation about shopping with the cab driver. Go figure. You Americans are weird."
He smiled and they headed towards the elevators. "Get any sleep?"
"Kind of. My back hurts, and his feet are all over. Maureen wants me to go shopping with her later, something about getting Roger a present, so I got this great idea."
"For Roger?" Mark punched the button for the surgery floor.
"Hell no. For me. There's this thing called a feather bed or whatever, and basically it's like an extra mattress but not really. Sort of like a comforter filled with down feathers. It's supposed to be really comfortable, and I could use that. Or we could use it."
"So you're buying it?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. I guess I'm not that comfortable to sleep on anymore?"
She smiled and followed him down the surgery corridors. "Didn't say that. What are you getting Roger for his birthday?"
"Umm. Haven't really thought about it," he said sheepishly. "He's hard to buy anything for. I guess I'll talk to Mimi about it."
"I already did. She doesn't know what to get him either," Jackie laughed.
"Well we're screwed then." Mark paused outside of the waiting room. Both of his parents had disappeared, probably to the cafeteria. A very pregnant Cindy was holding Rachel on her lap and reading a book to her.
"So if there's green eggs and ham, why can't there be blue eggs? And you don't eat ham with eggs, Mommy. That's gross," Rachel said, making a face. "Uncle Mark! Mommy look!"
Mark smiled and pulled Jackie in with him. "Hey Rach. What are you reading?"
"Green eggs and ham," she said, hopping off of Cindy's lap and running over to show him the book.
"Awesome. One of my favorites," Mark answered. "When did you get here?"
"Um, like three hours ago?" Rachel shrugged, now seated on the floor by Cindy's feet.
Cindy laughed and rolled her eyes. "Adam dropped her off when you went downstairs. He has to get Anthony from soccer practice."
"Oh." Mark looked over at Jackie and noticed she was staring uncomfortably at the wall. "Hey Cind, you remember Jackie, right?"
Cindy looked over and smiled. "I think I met you at Roger's wedding."
"Yeah, probably."
Mark cleared his throat. "So where are Mom and Dad?"
"In the recovery room with Lisa. She just got out of surgery about five minutes ago. She's doing great, her doctor and the surgeons say that she's accepting the kidney pretty well. They just want to wait for the anesthesia to wear off before they set her up in a private room."
"So that's good?"
"Obviously," Cindy laughed sarcastically. "Honestly Jackie, I don't understand how you put up with him. He asks about a million questions for everything," she teased. "That is if he ever gets the camera out from under his nose."
"Hey, I've gotten better. And for your information, my camera hasn't been under my nose since last year. I actually have a job now," he shot back, grinning.
Jackie smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. "His camera's still under his nose. Sort of."
* * * *
Lisa groggily opened her eyes and the fuzziness in her vision started to clear. She moved her head to the side and groaned. "Holy shit, I almost die and when I wake up, the first person I see just so happens to be Roger Davis. Must be my lucky day."
Roger grinned and took a seat on the edge of her bed. "Flowers for you," he said, pointed to the bouquet placed on the nightstand.
She smiled at him. "Thanks. Didn't know you had it in you."
"You must be feeling better if you're making fun of me."
She shook her head. "No, it's just payback for all the years you used to make fun of me when we were growing up." She closed her eyes again. "So where's my dysfunctional family?"
"Cafeteria? I think. Your fans were getting hungry," he smirked. "You were keeping us on the edge there for a little bit. You took a little longer than the doctors expected to wake up."
"So you volunteered to stay with me? How sweet."
"Nah, just had nothing better to do. And I wasn't hungry."
"I would really hit you right now if I could lift my arm off the bed without it feeling like it weighs an extra twenty pounds," she warned.
"So how do you feel?"
"Really out of it. Sore. Did you bring Mimi and Jaylynn with you?"
Roger shook his head. "Nah, Jay was napping when I left, so Mimi said she'd try to stop by tomorrow and see how you're doing."
Lisa looked over and saw the rest of the gang walk in. There were more flowers, food, and a balloon. "Seriously. I get a balloon for getting a kidney. You are all a bunch of losers," she laughed with everyone else.
Mark's mother Eva leaned over the bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Feeling better?"
She nodded. "Much."
"Good. Because I think someone's been missing you," Eva smiled, holding Lisa's eight-month-old baby, Noah.
"Hey little man," Lisa looked up, running her hand down his back. "Was he good?"
Matt nodded and sat down on the edge of her bed. "He was great. Slept for me, woke up at a semi normal time. He was good."
"That's good."
Mark laughed. "How about having him come over and talk to Jaylynn about her sleeping habits?"
"Shut up. She's not that bad," Roger grinned. "You better watch it if you still want to be her uncle."
* * * *
"Happy birthday to you…"
Mimi crawled onto Roger and straddled his lap. "Happy birthday to you…" she whispered in his ear, trying to wake him up.
"I could get used to this," Roger grinned, sitting up and yawning before wrapping his arms around her back.
"Uh huh. So could I," she winked. "Happy birthday dear Roger…"
He kissed her and pulled her back down with him as he stretched out. "Happy birthday to me," he finished, kissing her neck. "But I think the birthday boy wants to get some more sleep."
"Hmm, sounds like a good idea, but I think our daughter might have some other plans," she said, pointing to the baby monitor.
He shook his head. "Uh uh. No it's my birthday," he pouted.
Mimi rested her head on his chest. "I don't think she understands the concept of a birthday. Plus you think your birthday is a fucking holiday."
"True. Now what did you get me?" he grinned, sitting up again and pulling her onto his lap.
"You're an ass," she laughed.
"What? My ass is sexy? What?" he whispered in her ear as he started kissing her shoulder.
"Ew. You're slobbering all over me," she giggled, pushing his chest away. "Come on. Get up."
"Let me think about it. No," he smiled, pulling her back down on top of him. "Go back to sleep."
"I would if I could, but someone's hungry," she pouted as he ran his hands up the back of her shirt.
"Are we decent?" Mark asked through the door.
"Nope, I'm totally naked, but come on in," Roger said happily. Mimi rolled her eyes and smacked him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, we are. Come on in," Mimi added.
Mark walked in with Jaylynn. "One pre fitted party hat for the birthday boy." He tossed the hat at him with his free hand.
"Oh Marky, you shouldn't have," Roger laughed. He placed the hat on his head and winked at Mimi. "How do I look?"
Mimi laughed and crawled out of the bed. She took Jaylynn from Mark and kissed the top of the baby's head. "Look how silly Daddy is. Hard to believe he's related to you, huh?" she smiled.
"It's hard to believe anyone's related to him," Mark grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Were you good for Uncle Mark?" Mimi asked Jaylynn. She just smiled in response when Mimi started tickling her stomach.
He nodded. "She was great. I fed her so you guys could get some more sleep. I'd say she's happy now, she spit up all over Maureen when she held her."
Roger stifled a laugh. "She knows the enemy."
Mimi shoved him again. "Roger!"
"Sorry baby. You know I love Mo."
"Yeah right." Mimi rolled her eyes. Jaylynn reached out her hand in the air in Roger's direction. "You want to go to Daddy? Try to be nice to him, he gets grumpy when he doesn't think he's loved," she teased.
Roger kissed Jaylynn on the cheek as he picked her up. "She's gonna share the Roger love over here. Love love me do, you know I love you, I'll always be true, so please love me do," he sang to her.
Mimi covered her ears and rested her head against Mark's shoulder. "Make it stop," she whined.
Roger stopped and frowned. "I thought you liked it when I sing?"
"I do. But you have a paper birthday hat on right now and you're singing the Beatles. You're traumatizing her," Mimi pointed out.
"Am not. She likes it."
"Uh huh."
The doorbell rang just then. "I'll get it," Mark called out to no one in particular. He picked up Jaylynn and carried her into the living room with him.
Mimi leaned over and gave Roger a kiss as she passed, only before snapping the string on his chin.
"Ow!" he laughed. "What was that for?"
"Being too good for your own good."
"Roger! Wes and Lori are here!"
"Yeah yeah, I'm coming." Roger slid out of bed and pulled on a shirt over his boxers.
Mimi kissed him again and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Happy birthday baby. I love you."
"I love you too," he smiled up at her. "I really do."