CHAPTER 60

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! We're jumping a little bit of time now, so I'll just throw in a few reminders.

Roger and Mimi have been married for two and a half years now. Jaylynn is now two years old, having celebrated her birthday in early September of 1999.

Mark and Jackie have been married for seven months. Jackie is now eight months pregnant with their second child. Luke turned two at the end of November 1999. She has retired from dancing for the time being.

Harvey and Maureen have been married officially for a year in October of 1999, although their Vegas wedding took place a few months before that. Harvey is still dancing with the ballet company, and Maureen is still performing on Broadway. 

Hopefully that catches you all up a little bit, so enjoy this next part. The next chapter will take place shortly after this one.

*                            *                    *                      *

MID JANUARY 2000

"Oh yeah. Yeah. Right there. That feels so good. A little to the left. Oh my god! Right there."

"Mommy!"

Jackie groaned and sat up some on the couch. "Mommy's coming, Luke. God Mark, where did you learn to give back rubs like those?" she laughed.

Mark grinned and grabbed her hands, pulling her up slowly off the couch. "I am a man of many talents."

"Oh, right." She rested a hand behind her back, just as Luke came speeding out of his room, down the hallway of the apartment, and straight into her legs.

"Ouch!" He rubbed at his head and stared up at her.

"Oof," she muttered. Mark grabbed her arm to try and steady her balance. "Luke, be careful!"

"I sorry," the toddler apologized. "Baby yet?"

Mark shook his head at his son. "Nope. Remember I told you that Mommy still has a few more weeks to go before your sister gets here?"

"Oh yeah. Okay." Luke ran back into his room, imitating an airplane.

Jackie shook her head and pulled her light blonde hair back into a loose ponytail. "I hope she comes early because I feel like a cow," she complained, resting a hand on her large stomach.

"Well you look beautiful anyway. Five more weeks to go," Mark chided her.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Oh please. You're lying through your teeth. You said the same thing when I was pregnant with Luke. And it's four more weeks tomorrow!"

"Okay." Mark kissed her forehead and Jackie tried to scramble out of his arms. "What, I can't kiss my own wife now?"

"Ugh. You're making me have a hot flash." She pulled at the top of her shirt to try and fan herself. "It's so hot in here! Did you turn the heat up or something?"

"No," Mark smirked. "You're just hot because you're carrying around all that extra weight, remember?"

"Oh don't try to tell me how it feels like to be pregnant because you never have been!" she snapped at him. Jackie let out a long sigh and started bending down to pick up some of Luke's toys that were scattered messily in the middle of the living room. "God, I've told him so many times to pick up his damn toys!"

"Jackie. He's two years old. He's trying."

"I know! And I'm also trying to not lose patience with you or him while I feel like I'm about to explode." She looked down at her stomach. "Literally."

Mark had gotten used to Jackie's frequent mood swings, but every once in awhile she had a bad spell of them, and it was more than he could take. "Just try to relax. Please? You don't want to stress yourself out."

"Easy for you to say when you're not lugging around a beach ball in your stomach," she whined. "Sorry."

"It's okay," he laughed. "Come here."

Jackie walked over to him and kissed him softly. "I'm a real bitch lately, huh?"

"Well—"

"Shut up," she laughed. "Luke, baby, can you come here for a second?"

"Uh huh!" Jackie heard his footsteps run down the hall and then he appeared in the living room. "What?"

"Why don't you come with me and we'll go and visit Uncle Collins while Daddy goes to work?"

"Okay."

Jackie took his hand and kissed Mark on the cheek again. "Have a good day at work. Don't get home too late."

"I'll be home at three," Mark reminded her, smiling, as he grabbed his coat.

"Sounds good! Wait a minute and let me find my coat and Luke's jacket and we'll walk out with you."

Mark patiently waited at the door. He heard Luke's closet door shut in the toddler's bedroom and then Jackie and Luke both appeared in the living room. He cracked another smile when he saw Jackie's stomach protruding from her black pea coat.

"What?" She shut the door behind the three of them and smiled brightly. "Do I look that horrible?"

"No, not at all." Mark picked up Luke and placed him on his shoulders, being sure to ruffle his son's mess of light blonde hair as he did so.

"Mark be careful," Jackie said, reaching her hand up to make sure Luke wouldn't lean back too far.

"Higher, Daddy!" Luke called out.

"No," Jackie laughed. She kissed his small hand and smiled once again.

They reached the door to Collins' apartment on the second floor within minutes. Mark placed Luke back on his feet, and the toddler instantly clutched onto his mother's hand.

"Bye little man." Mark kissed Luke on the cheek, and then Jackie on the lips. "I'll be home as soon as I can. Call me if anything changes."

"You know I will. Not that anything will happen," she sighed. Jackie knocked quickly on Collins' door. "Have a good day at work."

"I'm looking so forward to it," he laughed. Mark waved briefly at Collins when he opened the door. He made sure that Jackie and Luke were inside before heading for the subway. It was cloudy, cold, and it looked like it planned to snow outside. Just the type of morning that Mark wanted to spend in bed with Jackie and Luke, not going to work. But unfortunately, he had a ton of paperwork to do and a new personal assistant of his to train. He had to ship off his new documentary to Los Angeles before noon, and then field phone calls back and forth. At least he was finally getting somewhere in the company. Mark had his own office, and someone working under him to do the scud work, as he liked to call it. His primary documentary was getting play on the few independent movie channels, and recent attention was drawn to it at the Cannes and Sundance film festivals. He was finally getting some well deserved recognition.

For the first time in his life, Mark could say he was truly happy. He had Jackie. They had been married for seven months already, and he could honestly say he didn't want to change a thing. Then there was Luke, a two-year-old ball of energy that was into everything you could name. He had started kicking around one of his toy balls the other day, and deep down Mark had a feeling that his son would be very interested in playing soccer in a few years. And if not soccer, then maybe football, basketball, or baseball. Even wrestling. Mark's mother Eva told him all the time how much Luke looked like him when he was that age. Luke had the same sparkling blue eyes and nose as Mark, but had Jackie's lighter blonde hair and chin. He could already tell that he was excited about the future arrival of his new sister, who Mark was just as anxious for.

Life was incredible lately.

*                           *                         *                          *

"Hey Roger, what time did you want me to bring Jaylynn home?"

Roger looked up from the stove, where he had just pulled a pot of chicken noodle soup off of the burner. He looked up at Maureen and checked the clock. "Maybe around six? I sort of want to give Mimi a chance to get some sleep. Jay's been in our hair lately."

Maureen nodded and smiled. "No problem."

Jaylynn walked over to Roger then and tugged on his leg. "I go?"

Roger nodded and smiled. "Just for a little bit with Aunt Mo and Uncle Harvey. Until Mommy feels better."

"Kay." Jaylynn let Maureen help her into her coat and smiled. "You do my hair, Aunt Mo?"

"Sure sweetie." Maureen pulled Jaylynn's wavy light brown hair out of the hood. "I'll do it special just for you when we get back to my place."

"Kay."

Roger bent down to give Jaylynn a tight hug and kiss. "I'll see you later tonight, baby."

"Bye Daddy. Love you."

"Love you too. Mommy does too, okay?"

"Kay."

"I'll see you later Mo." Roger picked up the bowl of soup and glass of orange juice. "And thanks."

Maureen nodded and looked towards Roger's closed bedroom door. "Tell Mimi I hope she feels better, and anytime." She picked Jaylynn up and propped her up against her shoulder. "Come on sweetie, Uncle Harvey's waiting downstairs in the car."

Roger waited until Maureen had shut the loft door before letting out a long sigh. He heard Mimi's loose, raspy coughing from the other side of the wall. Then came the loud shifting of the pillows and slapping of the sheets as she tried to get comfortable after the coughing fit. This had been going on for almost two weeks now, and the doctors told them both that Mimi would get worse before she got any better.

What had started out as bronchitis quickly developed into pneumonia a week and a half beforehand, and since then it had been a daily struggle to get Mimi to eat anything so she could take her antibiotics and AZT. She had been holed up in their bedroom for the majority of that time, and when she almost felt like her old self again, she started running a fever and was too tired or weak to even tuck Jaylynn in at night. The heater had been running at eighty degrees nonstop because she was constantly shivering underneath the four or five blankets that Roger had laid out on the bed. He and Jaylynn had grown accustomed to wearing just pajama pants and tank tops throughout the loft, and when he could, he cracked a few windows to air out the place with the cold January air.

Roger creaked open the bedroom door slowly, setting the soup and orange juice down on the dresser top. He stretched his neck over to see if Mimi was still awake, but couldn't tell. He looked up and noticed the window right over their bed was opened, a cold breeze blowing the curtains back and forth. He stepped over the pile of dirty laundry and reached his hand up to close it.

"No. Leave it open. I'm hot," she mumbled.

"Okay." Roger sat down next to her and kissed her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Same. A little hungry."

He smiled. "Good, 'cause I brought you food."

She nodded and tried to sit up some, closing the notebook she had previously been writing in. "Okay."

Roger carried the bowl of soup over to her and set it in her lap. "What were you writing?"

"Letters."

"To?"

"You. Jaylynn. Mark. Collins. Maureen. Everyone. I want to make sure everyone that ever meant something to me has a letter. Jaylynn will probably have more than one though."

"Oh." Roger's face fell. He knew exactly what types of letters she was writing. Goodbye letters. "Why are you writing them now?"

Mimi looked at him like he had sprouted a third eye. "Because I don't know how much more time I'll have to write them," she finished simply. "I want to make sure they're done and they make sense."

"Mimi, you have plenty of time—"

"Do I?" She looked at him sharply. "You know how sick I am now. Roger…I'm never going to be one hundred percent better after this. I've heard what the doctors have been saying. I've read the articles in the health magazines. This is a major blow to whatever's left of my immune system. It's not long before I develop another kind of infection and—"

"No!"

Neither one of them knew what to say to each other after that. Roger sat on the edge of the bed and fingered the edge of the sheets while Mimi managed to swallow a few spoonfuls of her chicken noodle soup. They wouldn't meet each other's eyes, so instead Roger took a long look around the bedroom. Pictures were everywhere. Their wedding day. Mimi and Roger sitting on the couch when she was nine months pregnant. She looked so frustrated, but happy at the same time with Roger's arms wrapped protectively around her. Mimi in the hospital with Roger, holding Jaylynn, who at that time was just a few hours old. Another picture of Roger, Mimi, and Jaylynn in Central Park when the baby had started to crawl. Roger sitting on the couch, picking out chords on his guitar while Jaylynn sat in his lap, mesmerized.

He cleared his throat and looked up at her. "Mimi, you're gonna get better. Maybe not a hundred percent like you said. Maybe not even as much as we'd both like. But you're still going to be living, and breathing, and loving everyone. Me and Jaylynn. Everyone. I'm not letting you sit here in this damn room any longer, preparing yourself to die. You're not dying today. Not yet. Not if I have anything to do about it. You're going to be able to watch Jaylynn grow up a little bit more, and we're gonna celebrate a few more wedding anniversaries and birthdays before then. Not today. Not anytime soon," he repeated to her. "I'm not ready to let go of you yet." Roger didn't realize that he had started crying a little bit until he finished speaking.

Mimi wiped at her eyes. She too had started crying. "I love you so much. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm sick and I'm not going to get better. I'm sorry that I'm going to leave you both. I mean, what kind of mom leaves her own daughter? What kind of wife leaves her husband?" she cried.

Roger wiped the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs. "A great mom. A great wife. You'll always be Jaylynn's mom. When she grows up, I'll tell her about you. I'll tell her how good of a person you were and how much I loved you. How much you taught me. There'll be pictures. I'll show her everything."

She nodded and brushed a curl out of her face. "I don't want her to forget about me."

"She won't, baby. I promise. She won't."

Mimi rested against the pillows some more and looked up at the ceiling. She covered her mouth and started coughing again, as Roger rubbed her back soothingly. "I think tomorrow I'm going to try and walk around a little bit. Hang out with Jaylynn and color with her. Maybe watch a movie together."

"I think she'd like that. I have practice with the guys tomorrow at one, so you two could make it a girls day in type of thing," he laughed.

"Yeah," she smiled. "Roger? Promise me something?"

"What?"

"That when I start getting sicker, you won't let Jaylynn be scared. You just tell her the truth, and let her come see me as much as she wants to. Even if I look like hell and can't get out of bed anymore. I want to see my daughter for as long as possible. Promise me that."

"I promise." Roger leaned over to kiss Mimi's forehead.

"And another thing," Mimi added softly.

"Yeah?"

"Promise me you won't leave my side when things start getting bad. I don't want to go through it alone."

Roger nodded and wrapped his arms around her. "Never. You'll always have me. I'll be there. I promise."

*                                *                         *                           *

We have a few more chapters to go before we switch back to the present with older Jaylynn, where everything first started.

Don't forget to review! =]