CHAPTER 21

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone! It feels really good to be back.

Just wanted to remind you all of who a few people were:

Joey: Roger's younger brother. He's 21 and still lives with Roger's mom and stepfather.

Jerry: Roger's stepfather

Sandra: Roger's mother

Annie: Roger's aunt and Sandra's sister

Wes: Drummer of the Well Hungarians

Lori: Wes' wife

Just as a heads up, there are some intense events coming up in the future chapters, as well as some emotional ones, so stay tuned, and don't forget to review!

Mari

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"So do you think Roger and Jen are coming back from Scarsdale today?" Maureen asked. She was sitting on the couch, flipping through an old magazine and sipping a cup of coffee. The ratty plaid blanket was draped over her legs comfortably.

Mark pushed the work papers he had been working on at the counter back in their folder. "Hopefully. Abby keeps asking me when Jen's coming home, plus it's supposed to snow tonight and I don't really want to be snowed in with a three year old."

Maureen rolled her eyes. "So what are you telling me? When our three year old wants to go out and play in the snow, you'll be the grumpy father that doesn't want to?"

"Didn't say that. I just said that Abby's-well, a little hyper?"

"She just misses her mom."

"Yeah, and the big blonde goon known as her father."

She laughed and tossed the magazine on the coffee table. "Goon? That's really eighties. Jesus Mark."

"Sorry," he shrugged. "Is it just me or is it a little cold in here?"

"No, it's not just you. It's really cold. I think Benny or Mr. Grey is fucking with our heat this month."

Mark checked around the living room to make sure all the heating vents were open and blowing out air. He waved his hand in front of the one underneath the window. "There's barely anything coming out. And whatever is coming out is freezing."

"Wonderful," Maureen responded sarcastically. "Perfection."

"You know, I really hate this piece of shit dump. Because that's what it is. It's bullshit. Take a really good look around next time. The heating just kicked out. The couch is practically sunk into the floor. You have to constantly screw with the antenna on the TV to get it working."

"Well at least Roger's mastered that. He said it's just like driving. Position them at ten and two," she grinned.

"Yeah but come on Maureen! The fucking water goes cold in the shower after barely ten minutes. The toilet flushes when it wants to. The floorboards creak, and last week Roger cracked the bottom of my bedroom window, so it's about ten degrees colder in there then it is in the rest of this place."

"Which will be about what? Sixty degrees by noon?"

"Lower than that," he grumbled. "Let's try forty by tonight. The whole apartment."

"This is bullshit!" Maureen shouted out. "I hate this whole building!"

"Yeah!" Mark shouted at her, agreeing. He then started to laugh and so did she. "You remember the time Roger broke the window right after you moved in here?"

Maureen covered her mouth and started laughing. She pointed to the first of two windows that overlooked the street below. "He got really pissed and tossed the lamp out."

"He wasn't pissed, he needed a fix and he was bitching because he couldn't find the Man," Mark corrected her. "But yeah, actually he was pretty pissed off."

"See? I told you. It's not like I forget these things." She ran her fingers through her curly hair. "I mean shit, I might be a slut but I'm not stupid," she joked.

Mark shook his head and walked into the kitchen. She heard him slamming a few things down on the corner and stood up to follow him.

"Marky?"

"What?" he said angrily.

"Okay, what'd I do now? You're doing that thing where you get really pissed off and clam up about it. I used to hate that."

"Oh great."

"I didn't mean it like that! I meant I used to hate it, but the makeup sex afterwards was great," she added in an attempt to make him smile. "Come on Mark."

"You're always putting yourself down. Even when we were dating. Either you were too fat, or not pretty enough. Or too stupid and you'd always tell me you weren't my type. You weren't supposed to be with me. You were too toxic for me," he tried to point out.

Maureen sat down on the barstool and watched him dig around in the cabinets for a granola bar. "I'm not even going to deny that, because I know I'm hard on myself. I know. And I try not to let everything bother me, but it does."

"It's not just that! You walk around here and talk like you've fucked every guy in the East Village. I just don't get it. Why can't you commit?"

"It's not about commitment. I can't really explain it. It'll probably sound so stupid anyway."

He shrugged and handed her half of the granola. "I guarantee it won't. Tell me why you cheated on me."

"I don't know."

"Great answer." He rolled his eyes and poured himself a glass of orange juice. It was silent for a few moments as they both sat there in the empty loft. Mark heard Maureen tapping her nails against the island and the occasional sniffle. "Are you crying?"

"No." She quickly wiped her eyes and tried to cover the tears up. "Maybe."

He sighed and sat down next to her. "So are you crying because I'm an asshole, because I'm right and you know it, or because you're really hormonal?"

"All of the above."

Mark wrapped his arm gently around her waist and she propped her head up against his shoulder. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I guess I'm just curious, you know? I mean, we were together for almost a year. We did have something good going."

"I know that. But do you ever just get caught up in the moment and realize that whatever you're about to do will make you feel so much better about yourself? And I don't mean that you never made me feel better about myself, because honestly you treated me better than most of my previous ex boyfriends ever did. It was just a matter of me going out, flirting with some guy, and taking it way too far. I just had a problem with being tied down."

"Yeah."

"I don't know what you really want me to say to you Mark. I don't even want to explain the whole relationship with Joanne to you right now. I can't. So I guess I'm just really sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry for being a bitch, and for being a slut. I'm sorry for walking all over you and using you. But most of all I'm sorry for never being there for you when you needed me."

Mark rubbed her back slowly as she sat on the barstool, just sobbing. "It's okay."

"God Mark, I hate myself for doing that to you."

"It's okay. Don't cry." He handed her a tissue and she wiped her eyes with it. "You can't change the past anymore."

She nodded and wiped her eyes as her tears started to subside. "Yeah."

"So whatever happened then, happened. But right now everything's a hell of a lot different."

"Mark, what do you want to do about our relationship?" Maureen asked him suddenly. "I mean, this is what the whole conversation we just had is about right? Our relationship?"

He was a little taken aback by this. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. What do you want to do? Do you want to stay friends and share custody of the baby? Or do you want to try and date again and see where it takes us? Maybe?" Maureen bit her lip and looked over at Mark.

Mark stared at the worn tile that covered the kitchen floor. He knew what she meant. He had too good of an idea. He wasn't about to lie to himself by saying that it hadn't hurt the last time they had broken up, because it did. She had left him vulnerable just when Roger was starting to recover from withdrawal and get back on his feet. But now as she sat here next to him, it was almost as if she was a completely different Maureen from the last time. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that the prospect of her being a mother had shocked her into taking control of her life.

As all of these emotions crossed his mind, he realized that he couldn't sit here and tell her no. He wanted to date her again. That's all he really had wanted for so long was for her to come back to him so they could rethink their relationship and possibly rekindle things. Yes, she was pregnant with his child. Yes, she had fucked him over in the past. But she deserved another second chance and he was willing to take the time to give it to her.

"I think we should try and date again," Mark replied slowly. "But I don't want any of the bullshit that we went through last time. We both don't need that hassle this time around."

She nodded and dropped the tissue in the trashcan. "I know that." She looked at him and smiled. "I promise Marky."

"Okay. That's all I needed to know." He leaned in to kiss her slowly, and Maureen ended up wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her forehead against his.

"Thanks," she said to him as he kissed her forehead lightly.

"Anytime."

Just as Mark said that, a loud noise rumbled through the building and then, the power completely blew—as well as the heat.

"Oh great," Maureen muttered. "Now not only is it freezing, the power just had to go out." She picked up the phone, only to be greeted by a nonexistent dial tone. "Fuck! I can't even call Benny to threaten his sorry ass."

Mark smirked and walked into Roger's bedroom, returning with Roger's cell phone. "I'll just call him and harass him on here—"

Abby had just woken up and walked out of her bedroom. "Uncle Mark! It's really cold in here!"

"We know sweetie. The heat went out and so did the power. But we're trying to get on the phone with Uncle Benny right now to see if he can fix it, okay?"

"Okay." She sat down on the couch.

Mark hit the end call button on Roger's cell. "He's not picking up."

"Shit. I guess we're just gonna have to rough it then. Where are the extra blankets?"

"Oh look! It's snowing!" Abby giggled. She pointed to the window, where large snowflakes had started to fall and coat the sidewalk below.

"We have no power, it's snowing, and we don't have heat. Could this get any worse?" Mark grinned at Maureen.

"It probably could. Just wait for it."

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Jen rolled over on her side and pulled the covers up to her chin. She heard muffled coughing down the hall and closed her eyes briefly again. She didn't think much of it until she realized that Roger wasn't lying next to her in his bed anymore. "Roger?" she called out.

Roger walked into the room, coughing again. "Hey."

"That doesn't sound great," she winced as he tried to catch his breath. "Do you feel okay?"

"No."

"Come here." Roger walked over and stretched out on the bed next to her. Jen placed her hand on his forehead and ran her fingers through his hair with the other hand. "You're burning up."

 "Yeah no shit."

"What else is bothering you?" Jen pulled the covers over them both and Roger wrapped his arm around her waist before propping his head up on her chest.

"My head. My whole body hurts. I'm cold. And this fucking cough," he mumbled.

"You probably have the flu. I shouldn't have dragged you out in the rain last night."

"I could have stayed at the house so it's my fault, not yours. I'll be fine. I think I just need to sleep."

"No, I think you need to go to the doctor."

"Come on I don't want to go to the fucking doctor," he begged her. "Can we just go back to the loft?"

"If you want. Did you take your pills?"

"Yes."

"I'm picking up some Tylenol Flu for you on the way home and then we're going to the doctor."

"Jen—"

She shook her head. "Nope. We're going to the doctor and he might be able to give you some antibiotics for the cough to make sure that doesn't turn into bronchitis."

Sandra knocked on the doorframe before walking into Roger's bedroom. "Good morning. Nice of you to come down to the kitchen and see your own mother, Roger," she laughed at him.

"Sorry Mom. Wait, how'd you know I was here?" he grinned.

"You're just loud. You never do anything quietly. I knew you would have come up here to see Jen after Joey called you."

Jen glanced at Roger. "Joey called you? So he gave it away that I was here?" she laughed.

"Yeah." Roger shrugged sheepishly and started coughing again. "He wanted me to watch the game with him."

Sandra walked over to the bed and placed her hand on his head. "Sweetie you have a fever. Let me go get the thermometer and some Tylenol for you."

"Mom—"

"Don't Mom me. You know what, I think I'm going to call Annie too and have her come over to check on you. Hopefully she doesn't have a shift today. Or even better, you could go down there and see her at the hospital if you need to."

"Mom—"

"Stop being a baby!" she laughed at him. She walked out of the room to get the Tylenol bottle and the thermometer.

"See? I told you that you needed to see a doctor."

"Baby, come on."

"I just want to make sure that with the HIV it doesn't become anything worse than it should."

Roger sighed and kissed her. "I promise I'm fine. Okay? You're not gonna get rid of me that fast."

Jen kicked him with her foot. "Shut up," she laughed.

Roger's mom returned with the thermometer and stuck it under his tongue. She pulled it out about a minute later and looked at it. "100.8. I'm calling Annie."

"I swear it's only the flu!"

"Well then you can talk to her on the phone and tell her your symptoms."

Jen covered her mouth and started laughing against Roger's shoulder. "Poor baby."

Sandra handed him the Tylenol pills and the glass of water. "Take two of those and it should knock your fever down."

Roger groaned and obediently took the pills and swallowed them. "Mom—" Jen was still laughing and he started tickling her. "You cut it out and stop getting me in trouble," he laughed.

"Roger leave Jen alone! We're just trying to make you feel better. Honestly," Sandra smiled. "Well I'm calling your aunt and then you can talk to her."

"Okay." Roger pinned Jen down on the bed once his mom had left his room. "That's what you get for being a bitch about this."

"Oh poor baby is such a momma's boy and he knows it," she giggled at him. She kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You're gonna get sick from me."

"Maybe not."

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Jen pulled into the loft parking lot around six later that night. Roger's aunt had diagnosed him with a case of the flu and told him to get as much rest as possible, along with enough fluids. They had left Scarsdale around five, and Jen had picked up two boxes of Tylenol Flu from the drugstore before getting on the parkway.

She turned off the ignition and gently shook his arm to try and wake him. "Rog, we're home." She smiled at him. He looked so innocent and peaceful when he slept, and he had fallen asleep about five minutes into the ride home. "Roger."

"What?" Roger yawned and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Did you get the meds from the drugstore?"

"Yup." She handed him the brown paper bag she was holding.

They crunched their way through the three inches of snow that had fallen since the morning and up the metal stairs to the fourth floor. Roger unlocked the door and unsteadily walked through the door. Jen grabbed his arm and helped him onto the couch before taking off her jacket.

"Christ it's cold in here!" She covered him with the blanket and tried to turn on the lamp. "What's going on in this place?"

"Why?"

"The lights won't turn on." Jen tried to flick on the kitchen lights to no avail.

"Oh." Roger shrugged and closed his eyes. "The power probably blew when we were at my mom's. It does that. Most of the time the heat goes too."

"Didn't know that." Jen sat down next to him. "We forgot to tell your mom that we're engaged."

"Oh yeah. I still have to buy you a ring." Roger pulled her on top of him. "We gotta go looking."

"You don't have to buy me a ring."

"Yes I do. Because that way everyone will know you're unofficially mine," he grinned. "Jennifer Davis. Sounds fucking good to me."

"Mmhmm," she agreed. "But we have some planning to do."

He turned his head and coughed. "Yeah I know."

"I'm not just talking about the wedding either. What do you think about looking for a house?"

"Like a real house?" Roger asked her.

She nodded slowly and linked their fingers together. "Yeah I guess. I mean if you don't want to, that's fine. I don't mind living here."

Roger saw her look around the room as she said that. He knew she wouldn't to live in this place, especially after they got married. "Okay liar. I don't mind moving. I think a real house would be great. But where? Since we can't exactly have a house in the city."

"Well I just want someplace where they have a decent school system."

"Yeah I know what you mean. Wes told me the other day that him and Lori just bought a beach house in Belmar because his mom lives in Lakewood and they want to be closer to her. So I don't know where you really want to live. Do you want to be closer to the city, closer to the beach, or closer to our parents?"

She shrugged and Roger started stroking her hair. "I guess I'll have to think about it some more. But the beach wouldn't be that bad. I mean, I'd have to commute to work some days and so would Mark, but we could deal with that. Plus we could just keep this place and maybe fix it up to have on weekends?"

Roger smiled when she mentioned Mark. He had a feeling she would say something about Mark and Maureen possibly living with them or even getting a place of their own down wherever they ended up moving. "Yeah we could do that. Whatever you want. We'll just have to start looking."

Mark walked in with Maureen and Abby. "Hey. When'd you get back? Rog you look sick."

Abby ran over to Jen. "Mommy! You're home!"

"Yup." Jen kissed Abby and pulled her onto the couch.

"You're sick?" she asked Roger.

"Yeah. Kind of."

"He has the flu," Jen said to Mark. "He's supposed to rest and drink fluids for the next few days."

"Bummer," Maureen replied. "Just to let you know, the power and heat is out and apparently Benny has no idea when we're all supposed to get it back."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Figures. Hey before we figure out what the hell we're going to do to keep this place warm tonight, me and Jen have some news." He sat up on the couch and Abby climbed into his lap.

"Good news or bad news?" Mark asked. He picked up Abby out of Roger's lap and sat her on the barstool. "And we don't need her getting sick."

"Oh, sorry," Roger grinned. He looked at Jen. "You want me to tell them?"

"Sure." She nodded and sat down on his lap instead. "So—we're getting married."

"What?" Maureen squealed. "Really? Oh my god! That's awesome!" She ran over to Jen and gave her a hug. "Congratulations. I can't believe you're marrying Roger!"

"I'm just going to take that as a compliment Mo," he laughed.

"Wow man, congratulations," Mark added. "I think it's about time. When did this happen? And how did you get sick in the first place?"

"I asked her yesterday, and don't worry about how I got sick. We just got caught in the rain."

"Well however you got sick, you really need to be laying down in bed and not talking to all of us. Plus you need to take some Tylenol and eat something later tonight."

"You're almost as bad as my mom," Roger groaned as he stood up. "But yeah. I need a nap."

Abby ran over to him and almost collided into his legs. "So now you're gonna be my real daddy?"

"I am your real daddy. But by marrying your mom, that just means I'm not going anywhere for a real long time," Roger tried to explain to her.

"Really? Cool!" she exclaimed. "What kind of dress do I get to wear?"

Jen shrugged. "We'll talk about that later. You. Park it on the couch and let your dad sleep. Uncle Mark's gonna order Chinese. Right Mark?"

"Yeah sure. I'll get right on that," he answered sarcastically.

"Okay," Abby agreed. Maureen sat down next to her, only to promise to have everyone minus Roger play Twister with her later.

When Jen walked back out into the living room after getting Roger in bed, Mark had gone to get the Chinese food and Abby had fallen asleep in her room. Maureen was sitting on the couch flipping through another magazine.

"Hey," Jen greeted her.

"Hey." Maureen set the magazine aside and smiled at her. "I have something to tell you."

"Really? And does it have to do with you and Mark?"

Maureen nodded. "Yeah. We talked earlier and agreed to start dating again."

"That's great! See I told you it would work out between you two. You just had to give it some time."

"Yeah. It felt really good to talk things over with him, but it feels even better to know that we're together again," she smiled. "I guess it's sort of a way to prove to him that I am a different person."

"I know what you mean."

The lights in the apartment flickered and came on briefly, only to go back out again. Maureen sighed and shook her head.

"This place is such a shithole."

"Yeah, but it's the closest thing to home, right?" Jen laughed. "Now if they can just fix the heat, that would be perfect."

"Last time it took three days."

Jen shook her head. "Alright never mind. You're right, this place is a shithole."

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