Mimi's heels dug into the ice on the sidewalk as she made her way to the Cat Scratch Club. The snow looked more like gray slush on the ground. It was freezing outside, and she had nothing but fishnets and a mini skirt to warm her legs.

"I swear, if one more man touches my tits when I sit in his lap tonight. . ." she muttered to herself. "I'm fed up with this fucking job!" she cried a little too loudly. A few tourists across the street glanced nervously at her and quickly made their way into the nearest building. "Yeah, you heard me!" Mimi screamed at the top of her lungs to let out her anger.

"But Roger would be so upset if he found out I was fired from my job 'at the café'. . .and then there's the fact that we don't have much money. . .but what would he say if he found out the Cat Scratch Club?" She paused. "Oh great. Now I'm talking to myself. I must have picked that up from Maureen. Oh god, Maureen. . ."

Thoughts of New Year's Eve came flooding back to her. She didn't want to remember it. She didn't want to think about the fact that Maureen was going through something she could do nothing to help.

"You always have to solve everything, don't you Mimi?" she asked herself sarcastically. "I have enough of my own fucking problems. I have to go to this shit hole every night to make some fucking money! Maureen's a drama queen anyway." Even as Mimi said those words she knew she didn't mean it. She even regretted it, even though she hadn't said those words to anyone but herself. "Forget regret or life is yours to miss," she quoted half- heartedly. "No day but today," Mimi mumbled as she entered the club.

----------------------------------------------------

"Alright, let's do it again," Mikey said gruffly.

"Argh. Mikey, I wrote the damn song. I think I know it already." Maureen sighed dramatically.

"Do you wanna do good at our next gig or not?"

"Fine." Maureen gave in.

"What's up with you? You got PMS or something?" Mikey asked and the others laughed idiotically.

"The exact opposite." Maureen replied and they looked at her stupidly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I'm just really tired, ok? And you all are pissing me off!" Maureen began pacing nervously. It was a new habit she had picked up ever since New Year's Eve.

"Meow!" Mikey hissed like a cat. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

She stopped paced and moved on to biting her already short nails. "Nothing!" She sat down on a speaker and stared at the floor. "Nothing is wrong. Nothing at all," Maureen said trying to convince herself as well as the others.

Mikey just rolled his eyes and mouthed "Drama queen" to Charlie who began laughing stupidly.

Maureen turned to Charlie. "WHAT?!"

"I was just. . .geez, Mo."

"Just leave me alone, ok?"

"I didn't do anything!" Charlie whined defensively.

"Look, I really don't feel very well. I'm going home." Maureen grabbed her jacket and started for the door.

"You can't do that!" Mikey shouted on her way out. "You're a part of this band too!"

"Just give me a break, ok? And it's not like you're gonna find any other singers anytime soon. We're not exactly making it big time," Maureen shot back sarcastically.

"Go then. But it won't be my fault if you fuck up our next gig."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

----------------------------------------------------

Mimi returned from the Cat Scratch Club to find Maureen lying down on the couch reading a romance novel.

"Hey. You ok? You don't look too good," Mimi began as she sat down beside her.

"Ugh. I'm fine I guess. Just really exhausted."

Mimi nodded. "I can tell." Maureen smiled weakly. "So did you schedule an appointment with your doctor?"

Maureen's eyes wandered to the window.

"Did you?"

She picked at the skin next to her thumbnail. "No."

"Well, why not?"

"I hate doctors. . ." Maureen began.

"You're gonna have to get over that, 'cause you're gonna be seeing a lot more of them in the next few months."

"I know." Maureen turned back to her novel as an attempt to get out of this conversation.

"Mo." Mimi gently closed the book. "Tell me the real reason."

"I don't want to talk about it." Maureen reached for her novel, but Mimi pulled it out of her reach. "Oh come on! No fair! I was just getting to the graphic sex scene!" She sighed and sat up. "Ok. I'll talk."

Mimi smiled. "Go on then."

"Well, I don't know. Right now. . .the fact that I'm pregnant doesn't seem like a reality. I. . .I don't want to believe it's true. I just want to forget it and move on with my life. I have a life, you know. Ok, so I have a job with a crappy wedding band and just got knocked up by my agent and dumped by my girlfriend but I HAVE a life! And this just throws it all off course. So if I went to the fucking doctor he would have to tell me, 'Yes, Maureen dear, you are going to be a mother' and it would all be a reality right then and there and I don't want to hear that. . ." She resisted the urge to cry. "I don't want to be a mother, Meems. I just can't."

A single tear ran down her cheek. Mimi was left wordless, so she just nodded. "Maureen. . .I'm sure you could. . ."

"Could what? Go through with this? Have my agent's baby? Be a mom? I'm not a mother. I mean, what would my kid say if someone asked him. . .or her. . .about me? 'My mother is a whore who lives in the East Village and had me because she sold herself to her agent. Oh, by the way, she's bisexual too, and she'll have sex with anything that moves.' I would screw the poor kid up just like my mother did to me! Look how I turned out!" She was practically screaming by now. Even so, Maureen was doing everything possible to prevent herself from having a total break down.

"Honey, calm down. . ."

"Calm down? How am I supposed to do that?! I'm a pregnant woman! I have an excuse!" She cried. "Call me a drama queen. Go ahead. Don't think I don't know what people say about me. I know. 'Maureen the Drama Queen' or 'Maureen the Whore' or my personal favorite-'Maureen the Dramatic Whore Who Thinks It's Ok To Get Laid By Her Agent!'" She was standing up now and pacing the room. "See, you can't even deny it, Mimi! Because that's what people say! Do you know why? Because it's the truth! And I've always been afraid of the truth. . .especially now. Now the truth is worse than ever." Her voice grew quieter. "Meems, I've never really loved someone before. I never got caught up in a relationship with anyone. I never expressed my true feelings to them. So it makes me wonder. . .if I've never loved anyone before, then how am I supposed to love my baby?" Maureen sank back onto the couch and put her head in her hands. She was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Mo. . ." Mimi rubbed her back gently. "It's ok." She wrapped her arms comfortingly around Maureen and hugged her tightly. Maureen buried her face in Mimi's shoulder. "Everything is gonna be fine." A tear escaped from the corner of Mimi's eye, and soon she was crying too. After several minutes, Mimi looked up to find Collins, Mark, and Roger standing in the doorway looking very uncomfortable.

Maureen gulped. "Oh god, no."

"Um, hi," Mark mumbled awkwardly. "Something wrong?"

Maureen quickly wiped her eyes. She turned to Mimi. "Should I tell them?" she whispered.

"If you want to."

"Ok. Well. . .since you're all here. . .I might as well tell you that I'm. . .well, I'm. . ." Her bottom lip began to tremble. Mimi squeezed her hand.

"Hold it together, Mo," she whispered. Maureen nodded, still struggling not to begin sobbing again.

"I'm pregnant."

Roger's jaw dropped. "You're what?"

"I said that I'm. . ."

"I know what you said." Roger still looked dumbfounded. "Whoa. How the hell did you and Joanne manage to. . ."

"It wasn't Joanne," Maureen interrupted as she became impatient with Roger's stupidity. "In order to make a baby, you need a man and a woman," she said slowly as though speaking to a child. Mimi laughed quietly.

"I know! I know!" Roger blushed. "I just. . .who did you. . .?"

"Roger. I don't think this is a good time for that," Collins said almost sternly.

"Oh. Right."

Mark shifted uncomfortably. "Well, erm, I suppose a congratulations is in order?" The others looked at him quizzically.

Roger cleared his throat. "Uh, right. Congrats, Mo."

Collins joined in. "Of course. Congratulations."

Maureen gave a small, shy smile. "Thanks. . .I guess."

There was an awkward silence.

"Well. . .um. . .I'm going to brush my teeth." Roger quickly left.

"I'll help! Um, no I mean. . .never mind. . ." Mark followed.

Collins walked toward Maureen. "Can I talk to you for a moment in private?" He glanced toward Mimi. Mimi raised an eyebrow at Maureen who shook her head urgently. Mimi followed Roger and Mark out of the room.

Collins turned back to Maureen. "It was him, wasn't it?"

She studied a stain on the floor.

"Maureen." Collins gently touched her chin and turned her face towards his. "All I want to know it why."

She grasped his wrist and moved his hand away. "I. . .I don't know. I can't think about this right now."

"You're going to have to. Every action has a consequence."

"I told you I don't want to. . ."

"How are you going to support a child, Maureen? How are you going to get the money you need? Have you thought about abortion or adoption?"

"Collins, shut the hell up. This is my baby. I'm not a little girl. I can take care of myself."

"Obviously not. Have you even scheduled an appointment with your doctor?" He went on.

"God, Mimi was just bugging me about this. Why is everyone on my back?" Maureen began walking to Roger and Mimi's room.

"Because we're your friends and we care about you," Collins replied. "And I would rather not lose another friend."

Maureen stopped. She had always thought she was "Maureen the Bitch" in everyone else's minds, but now she realized that Collins really did care. He cared about everyone. . .Mark, Mimi, Roger, and Angel. And he was often pushed into the background and ignored, yet still he continued to love them all unconditionally the way Angel had.

"I'm sorry," she murmured and pulled him into a quick hug before he went back to his apartment. "Thanks for caring, Collins."