CHAPTER 13
A/N: Thanks to Michelle for the help with this part of the chapter, and you know what I mean by that, heh. Thanks sweetie! And thank you all for the reviews. Lots of love everyone.
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"Uncle Mark?"
Mark flipped over onto his side and groggily reached for his glasses off of the nightstand next to his bed. He put them on and sat up some, letting out a wide yawn. "What's wrong?"
Abby was standing in the doorway, clutching her stuffed pink panther. She was sniffling and rubbing at her eyes. "I can't find Mommy. Or Roger," she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.
"Hey, it's okay." Mark stood up and pulled a shirt on, not really in much of a mood to walk around the loft in just his boxers. Especially at 2 AM. He crouched in front of Abby and gave her a reassuring hug. "Your mom just went out with Roger for the night, but she should be back home soon, okay? Real soon."
"You swear?"
Mark nodded and followed her out into the living room. "I swear. How about some chocolate milk?"
"Okay."
Abby sat down on the couch and pulled her stuff animal close. "Uncle Mark?"
Mark looked over at her "Yeah?"
She just stared back at him with her blue eyes. "Is it okay if I call Roger my daddy?"
Mark walked over to her with the cup of chocolate milk. "Sure. Of course it is, but only if you want to. And Roger said you could too."
"Okay." She took a sip out of the cup. "Hey Uncle Mark?"
Mark laughed and sat down next to her. "What?"
"When are we getting a Christmas tree? It's like, a day until Christmas!" she giggled. "Where's Santa gonna put all the presents if there's no tree?"
"Well we're going to get one either today or tomorrow. The only reason we haven't yet is because your mom, Roger, and I have been so busy with our jobs and other stuff, like getting presents for you," he added as she smiled at him. "Plus, you have exactly eight—well seven days left until Santa comes, so don't worry about it, okay?"
"Uh huh. But we gotta have one."
"We will. I promise."
"Okay Uncle Marky."
The doorbell rang, and Abby lifted her head up and smiled again. "Mommy and Roger!" She tried to make a run for the door to open it, but Mark grabbed her around the waist and scooped her up.
"Not so fast kiddo. Roger has a key, so why would he ring the doorbell?"
Abby giggled and wrapped her arms around his heck. "I dunno. Maybe he forgot it?"
Mark had to admit she had a good point there. It used to be pretty common for Roger to forget his key—but that was back in the old days, where he used to come home drunk off his ass and with a girl attached to his hip. But even now, it was a little early for Roger to be ringing the doorbell, especially since Jen had already put Abby to bed before she had left with him and wouldn't want to wake her. Maybe Roger really did forget his key like Abby had concluded.
"Maybe he did." Mark opened the door. Jen was standing on the doormat, blowing into her hands. Her light brown hair was windblown under the black beanie hat she was wearing.
"Hey, what are you doing up?" she asked.
"I couldn't find you. I got scared."
Jen kissed Abby's forehead and twirled her around. "Aww, I'm sorry baby. But I told you that I was going out with Roger tonight."
"I forgot." She rested her head against Jen's shoulder.
Mark cleared his throat. "Do you mind me asking where my roommate is? You know, tall, blonde, and cocky. Tends to carry a guitar with him every now and then?"
Jen laughed. "Oh you mean him! Please, I picked up someone new at the bar we went to tonight!"
"Ha ha funny."
"He's right there." She pointed out the doorway.
"Oh look!" Abby cried.
Mark started laughing the minute he saw Roger. "You know what, I'm not even going to ask why he, Collins, and Benny are hauling a tree up four flights of stairs at a little after 2 in the morning."
"Mommy you got a tree!"
"Yeah we did. I told you we would get one."
"That's what Uncle Mark said too."
"But at two in the morning?" Mark laughed. "And what, did you party it up with Benny and Collins too?"
Jen shook her head and started taking off her coat. Abby ran over to the door and watched Collins, Benny and Roger trying to get the tree up the stairs without trying to fall back down or trample each other.
"No. After Roger got off work, we decided to go downtown to get a little bit more Christmas shopping down. Or Hanukah for you," she grinned, poking him in his ribs. "But anyway, we hit up this little restaurant to get something to eat, and guess who we see there?"
"Um, Benny?"
"Yeah. It turns out that they were celebrating their first night out since Alison had Jesse and ended up at the same place we did. So we basically had dinner with them, and surprisingly Roger behaved himself and managed to joke around with Benny without wanting to slice and dice his head open."
"That's a start," Mark smirked.
"So we placed our orders and Roger and Benny decided they wanted to get more drinks from the bar, so they leave, leaving me and Alison to get to know each other a little better. She looks great considering Jesse's only about three weeks old. She was telling me all about him and showed me pictures. I have a copy in my wallet if you want to see it later," she added.
"Yeah sure. So is there a point to this story or what? And I can't believe they're still struggling with that goddamn tree!"
Jen looked around the corner and wrapped one arm around Abby's shoulders. "They're only on the third floor landing. That's progress. It took them about twenty minutes to get it up the first flight. And please Cohen! I know your attention span is longer than that. Like I was saying, they went off to the bar and who do they come back with? Collins. "
"What was Collins doing there?"
"Beats me. But anyway, he comes back with Collins, so we all ended up having dinner together. To make a long story short—"
"Please, spare me," Mark grinned as he pretended to roll his eyes.
"Jerk. We leave the restaurant and we're walking down the streets and we pass this Christmas tree lot. And somehow Roger magically remembered that oh, we don't have a tree yet. So I tell him that we could always come back and get one tomorrow morning but he insisted that we get one now because god forbid all the good ones get up and walk away in the middle of the night. Because there's just that many people shopping for Christmas trees a little after eleven. We find a decent size tree and Roger paid for it, and that was another argument in itself because he wouldn't let me pay for it like I wanted to. After it's well and paid for, Collins realizes that there's absolutely no way in hell we're going to be able to lug this tree thirty blocks home."
"Good point."
Jen ran her fingers through Abby's blonde hair. "So we realize that we're screwed and we just wasted about forty dollars on a tree that's just going to sit here and probably get stolen by some guy. Benny even offered to get on the subway and get his Range Rover so we could put the thing on the roof, but Roger wouldn't have any of that. The whole time the Christmas tree lot guy is watching us argue back and forth with each other like a bunch of morons, so he offers us this big red wagon to pull the thing home in. We get the tree in there, and Benny is pulling, Collins is making sure the tree doesn't fall out of the front end, and Roger is in charge of the back end of the wagon, all while me and Alison are trying to figure out why one, she's married to one of these morons, and two, why I'm dating one of them," Jen laughed.
Mark shook his head and started laughing. "That would have been great to get on film. Then what happened?"
"We decide to all take the subway home and get the tree through the turnstile. The train pulls up and we all get on, pulling this tree along on this squeaky ass wagon. The people that were on that train thought we were crazy. Basically it took us over two hours to go from the lot to the loft. We ended up dropping Alison off at Benny's place so she could relieve the babysitter and feed the baby. We get here, and they've been struggling for over an hour to get the thing up the stairs."
Abby stared up at her wide-eyed. "All that for a tree?"
"Yeah. You believe how crazy your Dad—Roger is?"
"Mommy, I can call him Daddy, right?"
Jen nodded. "Sure."
"Okay."
"Watch out!" Benny hollered. He was backing up through the doorway with the tree.
"Goddamn fucking needles! Ow Collins! Watch the branches!"
"Sorry man!" Collins laughed.
"Roger!" Jen said, resting her hands on her hips. Abby copied her and tapped her foot impatiently.
Roger's head peeked out once he helped Collins and Benny lean the tree against the wall. "Sorry," he apologized. He picked up Abby and kissed her on the cheek. "You like your tree?"
"Uh huh, but guess what?"
"What?" Roger grinned at her.
"You're a moron!"
Everyone laughed at this and Jen was practically leaning against Mark for support at the look on Roger's face. "Abby Nicole."
"What Mom? That's what you and Alison said Roger and Benny were."
Benny threw his hands up in protest. "Hey, I may be a moron, but did I or did I not help you drag that pain in the ass tree through the East Village?"
"You did," Roger said. "And thanks."
"No problem. I better get back before Alison thinks something happened to us." Benny gave Jen a quick hug. "I'll see you guys later."
Collins gave Abby a kiss on the forehead and headed for the door. "I've got a class in the morning, so I better get going too. And Roger? Next time, let Benny use his truck instead of a red wagon."
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"Roger," Jen mumbled, prying her head off his chest some. "Did you leave the damn TV on?"
Roger flipped onto his side and pulled her closer to him, their legs tangled up together. "No baby. Go back to sleep." Jen felt his breath blow across her cheek and knew he had fallen back to sleep.
"Goddammit! Fuck you!"
"No, fuck you! I'm going to work!"
"Good! I hope you get set on fire! And I hope no one's stupid enough to hose you down you reincarnated piece of dog shit!"
"Bitch!"
Jen heard the slam of a door and sat up. Roger's arm instinctively wrapped around her waist and tried to pull her back down next to him. "Roger what's going on?"
He sat up sleepily and rubbed his eyes. "What baby?"
"Who's fighting downstairs?"
Roger stared at her for a second before breaking out in a grin. "Dammit, they were so good for a month."
"What?"
Mark knocked on the bedroom door and poked his head in. A grin was plastered across his face as well. "You owe me thirty bucks."
"Do not. You said that if they made it for three weeks, you owe me an even thirty. Jen's been here for three and a half weeks, and they haven't fought since a few days before she moved in. Cough it up, Cohen," he smirked, pulling Jen onto his lap.
"Fucker," he grumbled.
"Does someone want to explain to me what's going on?" Jen asked. She was half amused, half annoyed at the situation. "Because all I really want to do is get some more sleep before the terror on two feet wakes me up."
Mark jumped onto the bed and stretched out next to Jen. "Rog, how long have Maura and Jake been living downstairs?"
Roger thought about this for a second as he rubbed Jen's back. "Uh, a little over a year maybe? Maybe a year and a half?"
"Who are Maura and Jake?"
"Jake Wilson and Maura Bennett are our neighbors that live in the apartment exactly under us on the third floor. They've been dating on and off for the past year and a half, and basically they fight so much that me, Roger, Collins, and Maureen can just about tell when one is about to breakout."
"Yeah," Roger agreed. "They usually happen right about now, around 4 PM, or sometimes around 11. It depends on what shift Jake is on and when he gets home from work."
"That's horrible! So you have nothing better to do then listen to some soap opera drama that some couple downstairs is having! Losers," Jen smirked as Roger kissed her neck.
"No, I'm not finished yet. See we know both of them. Maura works with Mo at the Life, and Jake and Roger hang out at least once a week to watch football downstairs. But they haven't been lately because Jake's been so tied up with his job."
Jen just stared at both of them. "I'm confused. So is there something I'm missing?"
"Basically, whoever storms out comes up here and hangs out with us until the other comes back to apologize. Usually it's Maura, but rarely Jake comes up here. It's just so funny that we can call these things right on schedule."
Jen pulled her hair out of the ponytail holder. "So what does Jake do? You keep mentioning shifts."
"He's a firefighter," Roger chimed in. "For the FDNY."
"Oh. So what do they fight over?"
"His job, mostly. Sometimes marriage. Sometimes her job. Definitely his job."
"So are you expecting her to come up here or something?"
"Pretty much, yeah. Plus Collins has a class, so he won't be home. And Maureen's probably at work."
"Maura and Maureen. How do you keep that straight?"
"One's Mo and the other's Maura," Mark said to her. "Easy."
"Alright whatever. I'm still not completely following you."
"It's just that the first time we met Maura, she had just moved into the apartment and gotten into a fight with Jake. So he left to go to work, and she stormed out and locked herself out of the apartment. At this time Collins was at the hospital with Angel—that was his boyfriend at the time—and well she got stranded on the fire escape and started throwing things at Roger's bedroom window to try to get someone's attention."
"Romantic, prince charming."
"I know. Thanks," he yawned.
"So Roger goes out there and really tells her off, like lays it on her. And she stands there and tells him that she demands to be let in through his window or she'll have her brother arrest him, who's a cop and lives with them!"
Jen pressed her face into Roger's chest. "Shut up, Mark. Just shut up."
"So that's the story of how we met Maura. She's really nice Jen. You'd like her," Roger added. "And we just have to give you a little background before she charges into our place screaming her head off about her bastard boyfriend."
"You know, just as a heads up." Mark sat up and stretched his arms out over his head.
"You still owe me thirty bucks," Roger reminded him as he pulled the comforter around himself and Jen. "Now leave me and my girlfriend alone."
Mark heard the knock at the door and shook his head. "Told you."
"My god, what a bastard!"
Roger laughed and rolled on top of Jen. "Baby."
"What?" Jen whined.
"Come and meet Maura. Then we can sleep all we want." He kissed her deeply before pulling her up with him and half carried her out the doorway.
Roger wrapped his arm around Jen's waist and walked with her into the kitchen. He heard Mark tell Maura that there was a fresh pot of coffee and to stay as long as she wanted to. "Hey guys."
Mark grinned at them both, remembering the conversation that had just taken place minutes before. A woman with curly auburn hair was sitting at the table, adding sugar to a cup of coffee.
"Maura, that's Jen. Roger's girlfriend," Mark added as Roger shot him an obvious look.
"Hey," Maura smiled at her. "I'm Maura. Sorry about the noise. My boyfriend's an asshole," she said as if it didn't even faze her anymore. "Davis, I haven't been up here for at least a month and you have a new girlfriend already? Where have you been hanging out?"
"She's an old friend from Scarsdale." He wanted to add mother of my baby to that statement, but he figured he was better off starting with his own family, not someone that Jen had just met.
"Nice to meet you. And again, I really apologize if we woke you up. He'll be back in about an hour to get me. Always is."
"It's okay. I just thought Roger forgot to turn off the TV last night when he came home from the bar."
"Yeah, that's what everyone thinks," she blushed slightly. "But yeah. We're just having some problems."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Jen added.
"Yeah. I just worry about him a lot, especially about his job. But it's because I love him so much that I don't want to lose him. And I know he feels the same way, and that's partially why we fight. But we've been doing good so far. Actually whatever you heard today was the first fight we had in weeks."
"So that's some sort of improvement, right?" Mark added.
Maura nodded and took a sip of her coffee. "Basically. He's cut back on more of his hours."
"What do you do?" Jen asked. Roger sat down next to Mark kept his arm wrapped around Jen, who was still standing up.
"I'm a physical therapist."
The four of them continued their conversation for the next half an hour, and like Maura had said, Jake eventually showed up.
Maura grabbed her coat and slipped it on. " That's him now. Thanks for the coffee Mark. And it was nice to meet you Jen," she smiled.
"You too."
A tall, built man sporting sand colored hair was waiting on the other side of the door when Maura opened it. "Hey."
"Hey," she responded.
"I'm sorry," he laughed. "We've got to stop giving Roger and Mark a headache."
"Yeah," she looked back at them. "We do. Thanks again guys."
"No problem," Roger called over.
"Hey Rog, are we still on for the game Sunday?" Jake asked, slipping his hand into Maura's.
"Yeah what time?"
"Like 7?"
"See you then."
Jen shook her head when the door closed. "You both really have to get some new hobbies."
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Maureen ran up the stairs, trying to catch her breath. She couldn't believe this. She had to find Jen—she had to talk to someone before she had a panic attack right in the middle of the hallway. It was bad enough she almost freaked out on customers at work. She finally reached the fourth floor and brushed her curly hair out of her eyes before practically pounding on the door.
"Yeah. Can I call you back? Someone's at the door. I'll fax the article over to you when today. Okay great. Bye."
Jen placed the phone down and headed over to the door, pulling it open with one hand while the other held her coffee cup. "Hey," she greeted Maureen.
"Hi," Maureen said. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah of course. Sorry if it's a little messy, I was just trying to get some work done before Roger got back with Abby from daycare and before Mark came home from work."
"It's fine."
Jen stared at Maureen for a second. "What's going on? You look like you just saw a ghost," she smiled at her. "Did something happen at work?"
"Not exactly."
"Then what? You want something to eat? Roger just got bagels before he left."
"Jen."
"Maureen you're really starting to scare me. Did something happen? Are you okay?"
"I think I'm pregnant."
Jen dropped her coffee cup, the brown liquid starting to seep out onto the floor through the cracked white ceramic. "What?"
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A/N: You'll see where I'm going with this. Surprised, anyone? Review!!