CHAPTER 18
A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! I'm glad to see you guys are enjoying it, because I enjoy writing it.
There'll be a few twists coming up, so keep an eye out for them, as well as some more Roger/Abby interaction, along with more of Mark and Maureen.
Just a reminder:
Travis, Wes, and Evan: Members of the Well Hungarians.
* * * *
DECEMBER 31, 1997"Jen!"
"What?" She stuck her head out of the bedroom door, hairbrush between her teeth.
"Can you hurry up and wash this out for me? It's itching."
Abby giggled. "How come Roger's head itches?"
Jen finished pulling Abby's hair back into a ponytail and twirled her around in a circle. "Because he's a big baby and needed to get his hair dyed. But the bleach itches after awhile."
"Oh." Abby walked out of the bedroom and sat down on the couch, just as the loft door opened.
Mark and Maureen walked in with two bags of groceries. Mark took the second bag from Maureen and handed her a can of ginger ale instead. Jen automatically walked over to Maureen and motioned for her to follow her onto the fire escape.
"You're doing Roger's hair?" Maureen laughed.
Jen rolled her eyes and leaned against the railing. "Yeah. He's such a baby about it. 'Ow Jen, it burns!' or 'My head itches!' every other minute. God you think by now he'd know that it has to set or it won't look right."
"Or he could just look like a pumpkin." Maureen popped the top off of the can and took a sip of it. "I don't know why he keeps dyeing it. He should just leave it be. It's not like it looks terrible with the roots showing."
"Yeah I know." Jen glanced at the can of ginger ale. "So how are you feeling? Honestly?"
Maureen shrugged and sighed. "It depends. This morning I felt horrible, but then I went back to sleep for a few hours and Mark came down to try to make me something to eat that I could actually handle. Then we just ended up going to the store to get food and drinks for tonight. Even enough six packs of beer to last Roger's band."
"Sleep always helped me. Then it just started all over again," she winced. "But it gets better. Definitely by the end of February you should be done with the whole morning sickness thing."
"Sooner the better."
"So how's Mark taking the news?"
"He's okay with it. He was angry at first, but I think he was angrier at what happened between us in the past then what happened that night. But when we went to the doctor that day to find out for sure, he was really supportive. I think he's doing okay. He's been hanging out at my place a lot."
Jen smiled. "That's Marky. Always trying to help everyone else but himself out. Have you heard from Joanne?"
Maureen nodded slowly. "She called me yesterday to let me know that she'll be in town this weekend. Apparently she has some vacation time saved up already and she'll be visiting her parents in Long Island."
"She wants to see you?"
"Yeah." Maureen took another sip of her drink. "She wanted to go out to lunch so we could "talk" about us. Which I'm not feeling up for, but she's Joanne. Bossy, demanding, and anal."
"Are you going?"
"I think so. But I'm not interested at any sort of make up between us. We can be friends, but now things are a lot different. Considering the situation with Mark and that I'm pregnant. So I don't really know."
Jen gave her a comforting hug. "You'll be okay sweetie. I promise. It's New Year's Eve. We'll have fun."
"Yeah I know. I'm just feeling overwhelmed I guess," she smiled at her.
"You guys okay out here?" Mark had stuck his head out the sliding door.
Maureen nodded. "Yeah we're fine. I'll talk to you later Jen."
"Sure."
Maureen followed Mark back into the loft, and Jen made her way into the bathroom. Roger was glancing in the mirror. He was drumming his fingers along the sink and staring at his hair impatiently. He looked over at Jen when he noticed her come and shot her a look.
"Can I wash this out now?"
"Yes." He walked over to the shower and she had him lean up against the side of the bathtub in a way that wouldn't hurt his shoulder. "God are you impatient."
"When your scalp is on fire you come talk to me," he grinned at her.
She turned the faucet on and started rinsing out the dye, making sure to massage his head as she did so. "Better?"
"God yea. Can you get behind my ear? Yeah. Right there."
"You're so funny," she laughed at him. He sat up and she started toweling off his head.
"Why's that?"
"Because you just had surgery on your shoulder and you care about what you hair looks like. Then when you actually get me to dye your hair, you whine that it itches and it burns."
"Sorry." He stood up carefully and walked into the living room. Jen followed and dropped the towel into the laundry basket.
Maureen was standing in the kitchen at the counter, trying to fix herself a chicken sandwich. She glared at Roger when she realized that he was staring at her with a smirk on his face.
"What's your problem?"
"Nothing. How you feeling Mo?"
"I'm great, yourself?" she said sarcastically.
"Want to make me a sandwich while you're at it?"
She rolled her eyes and dropped the knife she had been using into the sink. "Not really."
"Just asking."
"Well can you at least be less of a pain in the ass about it. God Roger." Maureen took her sandwich and curled up onto the couch with it next to Abby.
"What are you eating Aunt Mo?" Abby asked her curiously.
"A chicken sandwich. Want some?" she offered her.
Abby nodded. "What's on it?"
"Just chicken on a roll. No lettuce or mayonnaise or anything of that yucky stuff, I promise."
"Okay."
Maureen handed Abby one half of the sandwich and a napkin. "There ya go."
"Thanks." She took a bite of it and looked over at Roger. "Hey Dad, you want some?"
Jen almost dropped the glass of soda she was holding onto the floor and looked back at Roger. Roger just stared at her, then to Abby. Abby had finally said it. After over a month of living in the loft with him, she had called him Dad. He hadn't expected her to say it this soon, but nothing could take away the feeling that washed over him when she did. He was glad she had, because he was starting to worry that all the pushing Jen had done to get her to finally say it had failed.
Maureen covered her mouth and stifled a laugh. Roger had turned pale, and Jen was resting her hand on his good shoulder. "Seriously you two look like you just saw a ghost."
"Daddy I asked you if you wanted some!" Abby said louder, waving the sandwich half towards him.
"Yeah DAD, do you want some?" Maureen laughed. She looked back over to Mark, who had just walked out of his room.
He sat down in between Maureen and Abby and looked around. "What'd I miss?"
Maureen leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Abby finally said the "D" word."
"Really?" he whispered back. He laughed and looked down at Abby. "Are you gonna finish that sandwich or what?"
Roger cleared his throat and walked over to the couch. He intercepted the sandwich and took a huge bite out of it before Mark could even get his fingers on it. "Sorry. It's a dad thing only."
"Did you forget that I'm gonna be a dad soon too? I mean—shit!" he laughed. Mark looked over at Maureen and she shrugged at him.
"You're gonna be a dad too?" Abby practically squealed at him. "Where's your baby?"
Roger laughed and squeezed in on the couch next to Abby. "Christ Mark, when were you planning on telling me? I'm surprised I didn't hear it through Benny or anything."
"Yeah, sorry. I've been busy and I guess I figured you already knew because of Jen," Mark grinned sheepishly.
"I did know because of Jen," Roger muttered through a mouthful of chicken. "But I was waiting for you to say something to me so I could bust out the cigars and vodka shots," he joked.
"Where's Uncle Mark's baby?" Abby asked. She looked up at Roger and then to Jen. "Mom?"
"In my tummy sweetie," Maureen told her. "You'll see him or her in about eight months."
"That's a long time."
Jen sat down on Roger's lap and started playing with Abby's hair. "Well that's how long you were in my stomach. And then you were born."
"So Uncle Mark and Aunt Maureen's baby is gonna be born too?"
"Yup," Mark agreed.
"But how did a baby get there?" she continued curiously.
"Isn't it a little early for this conversation?" Mark started laughing. "You handle this one Rog."
Jen shook her head. "Hell no. There's no way he's handling this one. You never know what might slip out of his mouth," she teased him.
Roger leaned in and kissed her. "You're funny."
"Good. So anyway, what's going on tonight? The guys coming over?" Jen started playing with Roger's earrings.
"Yeah. Wes and Lori are bringing the baby and she's walking so we need to make sure everything is up high so she can't reach it. Evan and Travis are coming later tonight," he answered her.
"Oh yeah, and Collins called. He's bringing someone with him tonight," Mark chewed. He had finally managed to get a hold of a piece of Maureen's sandwich.
"A someone someone? Or a someone?" Roger asked.
"I don't know. Just someone."
"God, can you guys speak in terms we can understand?" Maureen asked.
"Nah, because that's against the rules," Roger joked. "But thanks for your sandwich. It was great."
* * * *
"Roger get the door!" Jen hollered across the living room.
"I'm getting changed!"
She dumped a bag of potato chips into a plastic bowl and handed it to Mark. "They're your friends!"
"I don't think they want to see me naked on New Year's Eve!"
Jen sighed and pulled at her necklace to get it straight. Abby wandered over to her and tugged on the edge of Jen's black tee shirt. "Mom?"
"Where do I go?"
"You can stay here with us if you want to. Or you can watch a movie with Mark and Maureen later."
"Okay." Abby walked away and Jen brushed off the top of her jeans. She pulled open the door to find Collins and another man with strawberry blonde hair standing on the doormat. "Hey."
"Hi." Collins leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Jen, this is my friend Logan."
"Nice to meet you." Logan stuck out his hand and Jen shook it. She smiled at the trace of his Irish accent.
"Same here." She glanced at the bottle of wine that he was holding and the tray of shrimp and appetizers that Collins had. "Let me take those for you."
"Let me help you out." Logan handed her the wine and took the tray from Collins. "I'll see you in there."
"Alright. It's about time I found out what the hell Roger's been up to anyway." Collins smiled at him and headed for the bedroom.
Logan followed Jen into the kitchen and watched her put the wine on the counter. "You might want to slip these in the refrigerator. It's fish, it spoils and it can be disgusting," he laughed.
"Good idea." She placed the tray in the fridge and turned back to him. "So how did you and Collins meet?"
"Well I own a pub close to NYU, and one night Collins happened to drop by to have a few drinks and grade papers and we just started talking. We just sort of hit it off from there I guess."
"He's a great guy. Used to be one of my old professors a few years back."
"Oh yeah?"
Jen and Logan made conversation for a few more minutes while she finished setting up the appetizers. It turned out that Logan was actually a certified chef and not only owned the pub, but also actually made the food with his family. Pretty soon he had showed her a few creative ways to arrange her dishes and actually started whipping up a few things of his own in the kitchen.
She walked out with the shrimp and set it on the table. "Collins, you didn't tell me you brought me a chef tonight," she laughed.
"Let me guess, you left him alone in the kitchen and he's already cooking something for tonight?" Collins smirked, taking a sip out of his beer.
"Yea, pretty much. He seems like a great guy."
"He is. I really like him a lot."
"That's great," Jen smiled at him and knocked on Roger's bedroom door. "Are you actually coming out sometime tonight, or do I have to drag you out?"
"I'm coming," he grumbled. "I can't find anything I like to wear."
Collins laughed and motioned for Jen to help him out. Abby had just climbed onto his lap and was eating chips out of the bowl. "You're such a girl!"
* * * *
By eleven, the party had started slowly spiraling out of control. The Well Hungarians had been rationing out drinks to the best of their ability, although Jen had been controlling most of Roger's because of the medication his was on for his shoulder.
Jen looked back over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen. She started piling the empty beer bottles to the side and almost started cleaning up everything that had been left out on the counters but figured she might as well leave it for tomorrow.
"Hey Jen! Do you have anymore of this pie!" Wes shouted out.
"God you are such a pig," his wife Lori laughed at him.
"Yeah I have some in here!" Jen answered back.
Wes shoved Travis in his shoulder and pointed in the direction of the kitchen. "Dude, can you go and get the rest of the pie. It's fucking awesome."
Travis stood up and rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever," he slurred. He stood up and stumbled more than walked into the kitchen to try to locate the pie that Wes and everyone else wanted.
"Hey sexy," he grinned at her stupidly.
Jen looked cautiously at him as he grabbed another beer from the fridge. She dropped the stack of paper plates she was holding and bent down to pick them up. But as she came up, she slammed right into his chest and realized that his lips were inches from hers.
"Pie's in the fridge." She tried to step aside to avoid him but he blocked her path.
"You're really gorgeous, you know that?"
"And taken, remember? I'm Roger's girlfriend?"
"I fucking know that." Travis dropped his hand to rest on her waist and she pulled away quickly.
"Can you cut that out?"
"Cut what out?"
"That! What you were just doing."
He popped the top off of the beer and took a sip out of it. "This too?" His hand lazily climbed up her stomach to her chest where he held it for a split second.
"What the fuck Travis!" she hissed at him. "Get off."
"Whatever. I bet Davis is lousy in bed anyway."
She pulled his hand away roughly and he dropped his beer bottle. The glass shattered on the tiled floor and the liquid started spreading all around. "Well that's for me to know, isn't it?"
"What was that?" Collins asked.
Travis smirked at her and started heading back towards the living room. "But I bet you're great. What I wouldn't do to have a piece of that," he slurred.
Jen heard his footsteps disappear onto the carpet and rolled her eyes. She grabbed the paper towels from the counter and tossed a handful of them onto the spill and started carefully wiping the glass and beer up.
"You okay in here? What happened?" Roger had kneeled down beside her. He grabbed the paper towels and started helping her clean the mess up.
"Nothing. Travis just dropped his beer bottle and it broke." She tossed the wet paper towels into the garbage and stood up.
Roger wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. "You sure?"
"Yeah." She looked over at Travis as she said this. "I'm sure."
"Okay," he grinned. "Come on. Ten minutes until the ball drops."
* * * *
Mark walked back into his bedroom and handed Maureen a glass of sparkling cider. "I figured that's about as close as you could get."
She lifted her head off the pillow and smiled at him. "Thanks Marky."
Mark sat back down on his bed and adjusted the volume on the television. Three minutes left until the ball would drop in Times Square and they'd all be thrusted into another new year. Hopefully this one would be an improvement from the last one. They had lost Mimi this past year, but they had also gained a lot of things as well. Roger had gotten a steady job and was playing more bang gigs. Jen had come back to the East Village with Abby. Maureen and him were about to become parents. He realized as he sat there in the dark room—the only light coming from the televised festivities at Times Square—that this year had more potential then he ever had thought possible.
"So do you want to go to sleep after this?" he asked her. He noticed that she was fading fast the more the hour had progressed and figured that she'd be asleep by 12:30 latest.
"Sounds good to me." She rested her head on his shoulder.
He hesitated before wrapping his arm around her shoulders, but realized that he had not much to gain and nothing to lose by doing so. "It's dropping."
"Yeah it is," she smiled. "1998. I wonder if it'll be any different than 1997."
Mark heard Roger and everyone else in the living room shouting and hollering at the top of their lungs, along with banging random things across the tables and in the room. "Sounds like they're having fun."
"Who wants to have fun with them anyway?" she laughed. "This is the only kind of New Year's Eve I need. A nice, relaxing one."
"I'll drink to that." He took her sparkling cider and sipped it. "To the New Year, to the baby, and I guess—"
"To us?" she threw in, glancing up at him. "Yeah. Why the hell not. To us!" She took a sip from the same glass. "Cheers."
"Five, four, three, two, one…"
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
"Now friends or not, I think the rule is you're supposed to get kissed at midnight," Mark grinned at her.
"Then what are you waiting for?" she laughed.
Mark leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. Maureen reached her hands up and placed them on his neck and kissed him back, first softly, but then more deeply and with increased passion.
"That's one hell of a new year's kiss," she breathed, pulling away.
"You got that right."
Roger opened the bedroom door just then and smiled. "Happy New Year guys!" He had his hand linked through Jen's and Abby was peeking out from behind his legs. "Everyone's heading up to the roof. You guys coming or what?"
Mark looked over to Maureen. "Want to go?"
"Sure. Let me get my jacket."
Collins entered the bedroom, holding an open bottle of wine and had one arm linked through Logan's. "Should auld acquaintance be forget, and never brought to mind! Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne!" he warbled, horribly off key.
"Uh oh," Maureen giggled as she followed everyone out the door with Mark.
Collins took another sip from the bottle and started singing again on his way up the stairs. "For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne! We'll take a cup o' kindness yet for auld lang syne!"
Maureen wandered over to the edge of the building with Mark and sighed. "Happy New Year Mark. It'll be a happy one, right?"
He wrapped his arm around her waist. "You bet."
At the other end of the roof, Roger had his arms wrapped around Jen's waist and was planting kisses all over her neck and face. "Kiss me at midnight," he sang to her.
"What's with you and everyone singing tonight?" she laughed. He kissed her and she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Happy New Year Roger Davis."
"Happy New Year," he laughed. He bent down and kissed Abby on the cheek. "And Happy New Year to you too."
"Was that my kiss?" she asked.
"You bet is was."
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