APRIL 1ST, 1997

"Do you want to stay here tonight?" Mark whispered softly, as Maureen cried quietly against his shoulder.

Maureen sniffled and wiped at her noise with her sleeve. "Yes. I would," she said, in a small voice.

"It'll be okay," Mark repeated, resting his chin on the top of her head, gently. "It'll all turn out alright."

Maureen said nothing and squeezed his hand tightly.

Suddenly, Mark found himself kissing the top of her head, and Maureen slowly lifted her head up so that their lips met one another.

You can't do this, Mark told himself inside his head. You can't do this to Jan. But what about what Jan was doing to him? She was shutting him out. She was isolating herself from him. She hadn't returned his calls or even tried to communicate with him for days.

The more Mark thought about this as he and Maureen clung to each other desperately, the less guilty he felt as he felt around for the doorknob to his bedroom and he and Maureen slipped inside.

***

"Mark? Do you want breakfast?" Roger shouted, banging on Mark's bedroom door, obnoxiously. "We got frozen waffles yesterday. Do you want some?"

"Don't wake him up," Mimi hissed, sticking her head out from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head.

Roger waved his hand at her as if to shush her. "Mark, I know you're not asleep. I know you like to lie awake in your bed." He paused. "I'm opening the door." There was no answer. "Okayyy…you asked for it." Roger pushed the door open, revealing a sleeping Mark and Maureen entwined among their bed sheets, and all but smothering each other.

"Holy shit," Roger yelped, slamming the door shut again as Mark and Maureen stirred from the noise.

***

"Was that Roger?" Maureen asked sleepily as she sat up in bed.

Mark rubbed his eyes. "Shit," he moaned. "I forgot to lock the door."

Maureen groaned. "Well, they were bound to find out one way or another."

"I have a feeling this isn't going to be too easy to explain," Mark grumbled as he fished his boxers up off the floor.

***

"What happened?" Mimi asked, alarmed, coming out of the bathroom in a light blue terrycloth robe. "Did you stub your toe again?"

"N-no…," Roger said, slowly. He wanted to open the door again just to make sure he hadn't imagined what he had just saw. But he couldn't very well barge in on them again.

"Why'd you shout, then?" Mimi frowned.

Roger looked at her. "There's, uh…a girl in there."

Mimi raised her eyebrows at him. "You mean Jan?"

Roger shook his head. "No, not Jan."

"Who, then?"

"Morning," Mark said quickly as he bustled out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him before hurrying into the bathroom.

Mimi gave Roger a questioning look. "Who's in there?"

As if on cue, Maureen then emerged from the bedroom, wearing one of Mark's robes, and quickly she hurried into the kitchen, not meeting their eyes.

Mimi' eyes and mouth widened in shock, and she stared at Roger as if to say, Did you just see that?

Roger laughed when he saw the look on Mimi's face.

"Rog…that was Maureen."

"I know."

"That was…Maureen," Mimi said again, a weird smile coming over her face.

Roger nodded again. "I know."

Mimi began, hysterically, to laugh.

Roger found himself laughing for some reason as well, and quickly tried to stop. "Shut up, they'll hear us," he hissed, clamping a hand over Mimi's mouth.

"Okay, I'll stop," Mimi giggled, squirming away from him. She took a few seconds to catch her breath. "Why is this funny?"

"I don't know…because…it's Mark and Maureen. They're not exactly the ideal couple."

"I know. I thought when you said there was a girl in Mark's room that he had hired a prostitute or something."

"Mimi!" Roger exclaimed, swatting at her leg with his hand.

"Bad joke. Sorry," she giggled. "And don't hit me."

They both paused.

"So…now what do we do?" Mimi asked, looking up at him.

Roger shook his head. "I don't know. I want to ask them what the hell's going on." He paused. "You don't think this is some sort of April Fools joke, do you?"

"No. They didn't look too amused when they came out. In fact they looked kinda pissed."

"They were probably just embarrassed," Roger said. "Speaking of April Fools, I'll let you know now that I no longer have a tolerance for April Fool's jokes since last year." The previous year, Mark, Mimi and Maureen had slid purple dye into Roger's hair gel.

"Okay," Mimi laughed. "I'll go easy on you this time."

Mark finally exited the bathroom just then, and was greeted by Roger and Mimi's questioning eyes.

"What?" he mumbled.

"What do you mean, 'what'? Explain!" Roger demanded, impatiently.

"Maureen came back to the apartment last night, really upset. She was crying. I think Joanne left her for good." He fiddled with the tie on his bathrobe. "So I told her she could stay here…and then one thing led to another and then uh,…you know."

"But what about Jan?" Roger asked.

Mark sighed. "I don't know about Jan anymore. Honestly, I haven't heard from her in a long time."

"So…is this something permanent?" Mimi asked him.

"I don't know. I think Maureen and I are both looking for something a bit more in a relationship right now. And ironically…we turned to each other." He squeaked his slippers along the wooden floor. "Anyway, I'm gonna get dressed and walk Maureen back down to her apartment." He glanced at them. "She's still pretty upset about this thing between her and Joanne, so don't mention anything about it, okay?"

The two of them nodded.

"So, uh…how much did you see?" Mark asked Roger, embarrassed.

Roger blushed. "Uh, I don't know…"

"Enough to make him shout obscenities," Mimi laughed.

"I wasn't shouting obscenities," Roger scoffed. "I was just startled."

Mark rolled his eyes. "I get the point. I'm gonna go leave with Maureen now. I'll see you guys in a little bit." He retreated to his bedroom to change.

Roger looked at Mimi. "I don't get it," he said.

Mimi shrugged. "Me neither," she said.

"This is gonna get ugly when he gets in contact with Jan again."

"If he gets in contact with Jan," Mimi said.

Roger sighed. "Well, whatever happens, let's hope for the best."

***

A/N: Sorry that was a tad short. I apologize for the goofyness of Mimi and Roger. I think seeing Daphne had an effect on my writing this chapter because she's weird and has a weird sense of humor and is silly and…yeah. Hope you like, review ;).