A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed on that last chapter. I really tried to get this chapter up before I left for vacation, but that didn't happen. I even caved in and tried writing some on vacation, but I only made it to about a page and then I just had a major block. This chapter is pretty much a filler to hold off to the more important stuff that will take place in the later chapters. I'll try to update on more of a regular basis, because I know how tough it is to wait it out for chapters of a story you really like. Look the next chapter by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week!

November 26, 1999

Thanksgiving

10:30 PM

"You sure you're not hungry?" Mark looked over his shoulder from the kitchen of his and Maureen's townhouse and sighed. "I'm putting the peanut butter away…now." He shoved the container back into the refrigerator and shut the door.

"No!"

Groaning, he rested his head in his hands and reopened the refrigerator, taking the peanut butter back out. "No what?" Mark realized that he already knew this answer. Maureen was eight and a half months pregnant, irritable, tired, and hungry. Her cravings hadn't really kicked into until her sixth month, but since then, Mark knew the clerk at the twenty-four hour convienence store around the corner on a first name basis.

Maureen waddled into the kitchen, pulling her curly blonde hair back into a ponytail as she did so. "Do we have any salami?"

He shook his head. "Nope. You don't like salami. I don't like salami. Why would we have salami?"

Maureen shrugged and stared at Mark as if he had four heads. "Because I told you to get salami last week and you never got it for me. Therefore I assumed we would have salami this week."

"Well, we don't. Come on, you just ate a huge Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. How can you still be hungry?"

"I did not eat a huge dinner!" She rested her hands on her hips and stared at him defiantly. "I think I have a right to eat what I want."

"Not if I have to hear you complaining about much weight you're gaining," Mark pointed out, shoving the peanut butter for what was hopefully the final time back in the fridge. "And you and Cindy fought over the last of the mashed potatoes."

"Well it's not my fault we're both pregnant!" Maureen sat down at the island and pretended to pout. Mark just smirked at her and sat down across from her. "Four kids is a lot to handle, don't you think? I don't want to have four kids. One is enough for me."

Mark sighed and shook his head. It was true what Maureen was saying. He didn't understand how his older sister Cindy managed sometimes. Even though she was an interior designer and worked from home most of the time, three children under the age of ten was a little crazy. Anthony and Rachel were nine and five, while Victoria had just celebrated her first birthday. Now that Cindy had just dropped the bomb about her new pregnancy over dessert, Mark and his family had learned that she was expecting another baby in May. "One is enough for me too," he agreed. "At least until after we're married and both have steady jobs."

"Yeah…jobs," Maureen sighed. "I've been seriously thinking about going back to college. I don't want to have to work at the Life Café for the rest of my life."

"For what?" Mark was only half paying attention, as he was busying himself sorting through the bills.

"I don't know." She shrugged and rested a hand on her stomach. "I really want to do something good. Maybe help people in some way. I just want to prove to people that I am smart and I can do whatever I want with my life. This way Roger can get off my ass and stop thinking I'm some blonde slutty bimbo."

Mark wanted to laugh at that last part, but the expression on Maureen's face was so sad that he knew he better say the right thing or else he'd be sleeping on the couch tonight. "You'll make it."

"Yeah. Maybe. I haven't auditioned for anything since last year, but I read that auditions for an off-Broadway production of West Side Story are being held in April. Maybe I'll go out for Maria. It never hurts to try, right?"

"Right." Mark yawned and got up off of the chair. He walked over to Maureen and kissed her on the forehead. "Whatever you decide to do, you'll be great."

"Okay." She stood up off and followed him slowly towards their bedroom. "Are you okay?"

He nodded and pulled back the covers on the bed. "Yeah. I've just got a lot of things on my mind. But yeah, I'm fine."

Maureen smiled and managed to comfortably position herself underneath the sheets. "You'd tell me if something was wrong, right?"

Mark turned onto his side towards her and nodded. "Of course. But nothing's wrong, so don't worry."

"Okay. Goodnight." She reached over and turned off the light.

"Night." He continued watching Maureen until he was sure she had fallen asleep, wondering all along how much longer he could keep such a huge secret from her—and trying to figure out the best time to tell her.

11 PM

"Jen! Phone!" Roger hollered from their bathroom. He had just gotten out of the shower and was dripping water all over the place from his hair.

"Don't yell like that! I just got Ryan down for the night," Jen warned. "And why can't you answer the phone?"

"Because I'm here and you're there."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and lifted the cordless. "Hello? Yeah, he's right here." Jen jogged towards the bathroom and handed the phone to Roger. "It's for you anyway. It's Wes."

He grinned and kissed her before answering the phone. "What's up, man. Yeah, right."

Jen walked away and ended up on the couch, picking up the notebook that she had been jotting down wedding plans in before. After getting back from Scarsdale and Sandra's around nine, that's all she had been doing since Abby had fallen asleep right away and Ryan just wanted to be fed and held. The more she thought about it, the more work she knew had to be done, which made her think that hiring a wedding planner might not be so bad. Expensive, but at least they were experienced.

The invitations had been sent out a week ago, all one hundred and fifty of them. Most were family and extended relatives of Roger and Jen, along with various old friends from high school and people Roger was close with in the music scene. Jerry and Sandra, Roger's stepfather and mother, had offered to host the wedding and foot most of the bill for two reasons. One, they wouldn't see it any other way, and two, Jen wasn't on good terms with either one of her parents, unless it came down to seeing Abby. Her parents hadn't even bothered to come to the hospital to see Ryan when he was born, and now three months had passed and still, no word from them.

Jen crossed off various things on her list and realized that she had to call tomorrow and make an appointment with the caterer so the food, drink, and dessert list could be finalized with her and Sandra. Then next month the flowers would be ordered, a photographer would be selected, and Jen would be going shopping for her actual wedding and bridesmaid dresses.

Roger came back in from the patio balcony and slammed the glass door, breaking Jen out of her trance. He stormed into the kitchen and began slamming things around.

"What's wrong?" she called over from the couch.

"Nothing."

Jen sighed and flung the notebook on the coffee table. "Is Wes coming over?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong?" She pulled her hair out of the loose ponytail it had been in and began to finger comb it. It fell just under her shoulders before she pulled it back up.

"Nothing." He started pulling a few more of Ryan's bottles out of the dishwasher and placing them in the drying rack.

Jen grabbed the bottles from him and began drying them. "Then what's your problem? You're never this cranky after we get back from your mom's."

"Travis is on probation and back from rehab. He beat the shit out of his new girlfriend two weeks ago, Alise and she landed up in the hospital. Well it turns out that his daughter from his first marriage, Michelle, and his daughter with Alise, Diana, were in the apartment when it happened so his neighbors called the cops on him after Alise did. Alise is good friends with Wes' wife and took the two girls to their place and they've been staying there for the past week, but Travis doesn't know that. It's just all this bullshit because they took custody of Michelle away from him and gave temporary custody to Alise, who isn't Michelle's real mother, but has been as much of a mother to her in the past few years I guess. Alise has got this restraining order against him, similar to yours, and basically he can't see them until something gets worked out and he gets his act together."

"Why did Wes call you?" Jen continued drying the bottles, trying to pretend that the thought of Travis didn't make her blood run cold.

"Because Travis "ran" into him a few days ago and asked a bunch of questions about me and you. Wes wanted to warn me or something in case he tried anything, but he knows that if he breaks that restraining order he's in deep shit with the police."

Jen grew silent temporarily and finished with the bottles, placing them in the cabinet. "Okay."

"Yeah."

"He won't try anything, wouldn't he?" she asked so quietly that Roger barely heard her.

"No. Definitely not." Roger wrapped his arms around Jen and she rested her head on his chest. "You have nothing to be worried about. Plus Wes called me to remind me that we have that interview with that record label scout Thursday morning."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Okay. Abby has gymnastics tryouts tomorrow for the school team for the four to five age group. Roger…she's really good."

"Yeah, she can tumble and all that. I know, I've sat in on her classes."

Jen shook her head. "No Roger, I mean she's really good. Like scarily good for her age. She's four and a half years old. Do you remember my old friend Michelle?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you helped her out last year coaching some of the girls with her at Abby's gym. She pushed you to put Abby in the advanced three to four year old class this year."

"And she'll be moving to the advanced five and six year old class right before her fifth birthday in March. But what I'm saying is, I went to pick her up the other day and she was working with Michelle on her back handspring. Most five year olds can't even master a round off, and here she is doing a back handspring. She can tumble like a pro, she loves the mini balance beam and swinging on the uneven bars. She's mastered her cartwheel and round off. I mean, Michelle told me about all these great opportunities she could have in the next few years. We're talking serious competitive gymnastics for Abby. Abby loves it. I don't know where she gets the energy, but she loves it."

"I know," Roger agreed. "But do you think she's ready to actually go out there and take this seriously? She's not even five years old Jen."

"I know that. She's a kid. I want her to be happy and have fun, and if she's really serious about this I'll pay for it. I'll pay for everything."

He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Come with me."

"I'm not done talking to you about this," she smiled, but followed him anyway.

Roger led her out onto the balcony, leaving the sliding door half open behind him. He fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out a small, black velvet ring box.

Jen stared at it. "What is that? Is that an engagement ring? I told you you didn't have to get me one!"

He laughed and opened the box, taking the ring out. It was a simple platinum diamond solitaire. The diamond sat in the middle, catching the balcony light as Roger slipped it onto Jen's left ring finger. "I promised you a ring. Maureen helped me pick it out, and I went with Mark to get it."

She lifted her hand into the light and smiled, kissing Roger gently. "I love it. It's beautiful."

"I guess you're really gonna have to tell your parents we're getting married after all, huh?"

"The invitations went out two weeks ago. I think they know by know," she laughed. "I'm surprised I haven't got any angry phone calls yet."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground. "I think it's time for bed, Miss Walsh."

"Maybe. I thought turkey was supposed to make you sleepy."

"There must have been something in Joey's, because he was passed out for a good two hours before the football game with Alicia upstairs. That and who knows what else they were doing."

"You know exactly what they were doing before they fell asleep, and we do enough of it too, thank you," she teased him, punching him lightly on his shoulder.

"That's it." Roger scooped her up in his arms and carried her to their bedroom, tossing her on their bed. He pinned her against him and she laughed. "Got anything else to say?"

"Nope," she giggled. "But really babe, the ring is perfect. I love it, and you know you didn't have to get me one."

"You deserved one. I wanted to get you one."

"Thank you." She kissed him deeply, and just then, Ryan began to whimper over the baby monitor.

"I got him," Roger groaned, getting up off of the bed. "Raincheck?"

"Most definitely," Jen smiled. "He probably just needs his diaper changed or he's restless."

"Got it."

Next up:

Maureen finally goes into labor and Mark's secret is revealed. Travis tries to cause problems for everyone. Roger gets some bad news from his doctor. Abby gets increasinly jealous of her baby brother Ryan.