Author's Note: I know, I haven't updated in forever. I've been pretty busy with schoolwork and crap. So I sincerely apologize. Just in case you have forgotten, a little mind-refresher on these characters:

Isabella: Mimi's older sister (by five years)

Daisha: Mimi's younger sister (by five years)

Oliver Caldwell: The scumbag art agent who tried to hit it in the sack with Maureen ^_^

Mitch: Roger's old college roommate

*One other thing…just for reference…the character Jan is not based on me, even though we share a name. I was having a brain fart when I created the character, and couldn't think of anything else to name her.

MARCH 28TH

"Guys, just tell me what it is!"

"Keep your eyes closed," Isabella instructed Jan and Maureen, as they slowly made their way into the Loft.

"Is covering my eyes really necessary?" Mimi complained.

"Yes," Isabella said, "Because knowing you, you would peek."

"I would not," Mimi said, hiding a smile.

"Liar. Daish, get the door, would you?"

Daisha pushed the door open, and the five girls made their way inside, making sure Mimi's eyes were closed.

"Closer…forward a bit more…okay. You can open!"

"This better be good," Mimi teased, as she pushed Maureen's hands away from her eyes. "Oh, you guys…" she gasped.

They were standing in the dining room (as Roger, Mimi and Mark still called it, even though it had been converted into a nursery.) The now lime-green walls had a dewy glow to them now that the one window that led to the fire escape was open. Earlier, she and Roger had added frilly off-white curtains to add some style. Mimi gawked, delightedly at the new items in the room.

Facing both opposite sides of the rooms were two wooden cribs, both with teddy bear sheets and lining. In the middle of the room, a teddy bear throw-rug covered the wooden floor, and two strollers rested on top of that. Mimi also saw two mobiles hanging above each crib; both with an outer space motif, including stars, moons, suns, among other things.

Mimi stood in the doorway, shaking her head in amazement. "When did you…how did you…"

"We've been planning on getting you some wedding slash baby presents for a while," Maureen explained. "We finally went through with it and went shopping yesterday at 'Babies 'R' Us.'" She grinned. "I used some of the money that I made off the paintings that Oliver bought from me."

"I don't know what to say…thank you so much, guys," Mimi grinned, turning to them.

"Joanne and I chipped in to buy the two cribs…Jan and Isabella did their share and bought the strollers, and rug. And we all put in our share for the mobiles."

"And I got you these," Daisha announced, handing Mimi two plush teddy bears.

"Jesus Christ, I feel like it's Christmas or something," Mimi laughed, setting one bear in each crib. "Thanks, Daish," she smiled, kissing her younger sister on the cheek.

"Your welcome. I was going to buy them booties, but then I couldn't decide on a color…I didn't want to get pink ones for a boy, or blue ones for a girl…"

"When are you finding out their sex?" Jan asked Mimi.

"Well…I'm almost four months along now. I can't find out whether I'm having boys or girls…"

"Or both," Daisha interrupted.

"Until I'm six months along," Mimi finished.

Maureen groaned and leaned against the windowsill. "I hate not knowing. I wanna know whether I'm having nieces or nephews!"

"And how does that work out?" Mimi asked her, with an amused look on her face.

"How does what work out?"

"You becoming my babies' aunt?"

"Simple. Um…I'm close family. Hell, I'm part of the family. I'm in your apartment often enough, aren't I?" Maureen grinned.

"So that makes me their aunt too," Jan declared, grinning.

"Don't forget Joanne," Maureen added. "She would've been here with us, but she's with her parents in New Jersey."

"Wow. They're not even born yet and already they have three aunts. Five, including Daisha and Isabella," Mimi said, shaking her head.

"Look on the bright side. The more relatives, the more gifts at the baby shower," Maureen joked.

"Good point," Mimi rolled her eyes. "Does Roger know that you bought all of this stuff for us?"

"Nope. But Mark does."

"Why Mark and not Roger?"

Maureen pointed to Jan. "As long as she's around, there's not keeping secrets from Marky."

Jan grinned, sheepishly. "He hounded me. He wanted to know why we all took Joanne's car by ourselves."

"So, where are Mister Mark Cohen and Mister Roger Davis-Marquez?" Maureen asked.

Mimi couldn't help but smile when she added her surname to Roger's.

"You know them. Boy's night out. A celebration of the engagement."

"Or an excuse to get drunk," Daisha laughed.

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Roger better come home sober tonight. Otherwise he's not going to be let inside."

***

"I'd like to propose a toast!" Collins announced, standing with Roger, Mark, and Mitch in the living room in his and Frankie's apartment. "To Roger Davis, his fiance, and his unborn children."

"Here, here," Mark said, clinking his glass against everyone else's.

"Amen," Mitch added, taking a sip.

Roger tilted back his head and let the cool liquid run down his throat. "It's not the same," he said to Collins, who shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry. Frankie said as long as we're having a little 'manly' get-together that involves making toasts, she'll only let us have Iced Tea."

Mark snorted.

"Besides," Collins said, glancing at Pepper and her two puppies who were seated on the other side of the room, watching them intently, "I have a reputation to keep. Don't want to wrongly influence my grandchildren."

"Oh, yes, we wouldn't want Pepper to steal the car keys and get a fake ID and sneak into a rave, now would we?" Mark said, with a serious look on his face.

"God, Mark, what crawled up your ass and died?" Roger laughed, taking another sip of iced tea.

"So, Roger…how've you been coping?" Mitch asked, when Mark pretended not to hear him.

"With what?"

"With Mimi."

"I, uh…well, I've known her for about two years now…"

"I mean pregnant Mimi."

"Ohhh…uh, she's alright. A bit bitchy at times. And she's been feeling really lousy in the morning. The other day she barely made it into the bathroom in time."

"I feel for you," Mitch said, wincing. "Karen was the same way. It was like she was bipolar or something. One minute she was her normal self, and the next, it was like a PMS attack. It's crazy."

"Thanks for cheering me up," Roger said, sarcastically.

"Oh, don't worry, of course it'll stop in a few months…how far along did she say she was?"

"Almost four months."

"Well, then…you've only got five more months left until you officially become a dad."

"Feels more like five years," Roger groaned. "I wish they'd just pop out already."

"You'll probably have your mind on other things in the meantime," Mark said. "After all, you're getting married in May."

Roger grinned in spite of himself. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

"I still can't believe you're getting married," Mitch said, shaking his head. "Seems like only yesterday we were roomies in college, and you were practicing with your old garage band…"

"Mitch, we've heard this story before," Roger said, smacking his arm.

Mitch shrugged. "Mark knows what I'm talking about. You remember that, Mark? They never made it out of the garage."

Mark laughed. "Yeah, I remember. You guys thought you were hot shit."

Roger blushed. "We were good."

"Yeah, right, that's why you never heard back from CBGB's or any other clubs that you sent in your tape to," Mark teased.

"I wish I could've seen all this," Collins mused.

"We have tapes of it!" Mark exclaimed. "I just remembered I used to film you guys whenever you practiced. Or the few times that you ever played somewhere besides the garage."

Roger gave him a dirty look.

"You should bring them over some time- we could have a little get together. It should be entertaining," Mitch said, wickedly.

"This I have to see," Collins laughed.

"I'll look for the tapes tonight. I know I have them stashed away somewhere."

"I'll kill you," Roger said to Mark, in a serious tone.

"We'll live," Mark grinned. "It's too big of an opportunity to pass up."

"Boys, it's six- clear out," Frankie announced, walking into the living room.

"Jesus, Col, you run a tight ship in here, don't you?" Roger observed.

"You guys know the rules. You stay until five thirty. And you got an extra half hour. Scram!"

Collins laughed, moving over to Frankie and kissing her gently. "Sorry, guys. You know the drill."

"I should be getting home anyway," Mitch admitted, standing up. "Karen's all alone with Eva. I should really be helping her out."

"See, there, that's a good daddy," Mark said. "We can all hope that you will be as well mannered, Rog."

"My kids'll behave themselves," Roger declared.

Frankie snorted. "Good luck. Out."

"Okay, okay," Roger grumbled, standing to his feet. "I'm going."

"I'll come upstairs with you. Jan and I are going to head back to her place."

Roger gave him an odd look. "I should really be charging you to live in our apartment. You're hardly ever there anymore," he joked.

"Yes I am," Mark argued.

Roger shrugged. "Whatever. Let's go, guys. Before Frankie bites all of our heads off."

***

"Alone at last," Mark murmured, closing the door behind him and Jan.

"Finally," Jan smiled. "It's been a long week."

"Yeah," Mark said, flopping down onto Jan's bed. "On top of supporting Roger with his unborn kids, and helping him out with the wedding…"

"So he asked you to be his best man?" Jan asked.

Mark grinned. "Yeah. I'm the best man, Collins is going to be the ring bearer, you, Isabella, Daisha, Frankie and Joanne are going to be the bridesmaid, and Maureen is going to be Mimi's matron of honor. Mitch is going to be one of the ushers. And they're still figuring the rest out."

"That's a lot of bridesmaids. It must be fun," Jan said, yawning.

"What?"

"Planning a wedding. You know, deciding who to invite, who does what, the place, the decorations, the cake…" her voice trailed off.

"Frankie's also helping out with the decorations, and the arrangements of everything," Mark added. "They're not sure of where they're going to have the actual wedding, though."

"Well, they have a little while longer to plan it all out," Jan shrugged.

"Yeah," Mark said, as he undressed and slipped into an old T-shirt and a plaid pair of pajama pants.

"April and I used to plan out our weddings when we were little," Jan grinned, as she pulled her nightgown over her head. "We wanted to have a double-wedding. So we'd both get married at the same time, and neither of us would be jealous of the other. And we wanted everything to be orange."

"Orange?" Mark frowned.

"Yeah, orange. Orange bridal grown, orange bridesmaid dresses, orange wedding cake…"

Mark laughed. "You two must have been pretty weird kids."

"Yeah, well," Jan shrugged.

Mark smiled and leaned over to kiss her as he slid into the bed beside her, turning off the light. "Maybe we'll be planning our own wedding soon," he whispered into her air.

Jan smiled. "Maybe."

"Night, babe."

"Night, Marky. I love you."

***

Jan woke up in the middle of the night with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

She rolled onto her side and saw on the alarm clock that it was three in the morning. She groaned, and lay on her back. It felt like she was having a really bad case of cramps. But it wasn't that time of the month yet…

Worriedly, she slid out of bed, being careful not to wake Mark. She tiptoed quietly into the bathroom, and switched on the light.

To her horror, the lower front of her nightgown was soaked in her own blood. The sinking feeling in her stomach seemed to sink lower and lower, until the point that she felt as if she were literally draining, and fading away.

"Mark," she called out, but her voice was barely more than a whisper, and coated with fright.

"MARK!" she screamed again, "HELP ME!"

***

Author's Note: Dun dah dah dah DAHHHHHHHH. What's wrong with Jan? Find out in the next installment of 'How Do You Leave the Past Behind?' Yeah, sorry for the cliffhanger. I wasn't going to have that happen until the next chapter, but as I started typing up this one, I realized how boring it was, so I needed to throw in something exciting. I'm evil.

Review, por favor!!!