[A/N: Sorry about the delay, once again. Once school starts I'll probably update less, just to warn you. Thanks for all the great reviews!!!]

Maureen entered Collins' apartment cautiously, dressed in hot pink maternity pants and a T-shirt. "Hey . . .is Kelly here?"

"No, she's out with Mark," he replied between bites of cereal.

"Oh, ok . . .I've been wanting to talk to you about something." Maureen eased herself into the chair next to him and placed one elbow on the table. She drummed her long nails nervously on the tabletop. Collins could tell that something was wrong, and he immediately put down his spoon and waited for her to start talking.

"The other day I remembered something . . .I don't know why, it just came to me. It was a year or two ago and you said that you had a friend helping you out with something. You never mentioned what it was, but you said his name was Jeff and . . ." Maureen stopped, calming herself. ". . . and I've been thinking about the time I was at Jeff's apartment and you were there. You told me to stay away from him and you wouldn't say why."

Collins swallowed and stared at the floor. He couldn't meet Maureen's eyes.

Maureen reached across the table and touched his hand. "Collins? Please, you have to tell me how you knew Jeff . . .I just need to know. You knew he was an asshole before I did. God, I should have listened to you." She looked away for a moment fight against the tears welling up in her eyes. "Please talk to me."

He made no reply.

"He was the father of my baby, Collins! I think I have a right to know! Please."

It wasn't her anger that caused Collins to speak. It was the pleading of her voice that made him want to tell her everything. Almost everything.

"After Angel died I became a recluse. I was enveloped in my own grief, and I planned to stay that way. Finally I was tired of it. I wanted happiness, but I couldn't make it myself, so I turned to artificial happiness. I started going to The Man for drugs."

"So did Jeff get drugs from The Man too?"

"Jeff was the one I was getting them from."

Maureen put her head in her hands. "Wait . . .hold on. Jeff is The Man?" Collins nodded gravely. "Oh my god. Why didn't you tell me who he was? Maybe I would have listened . . ."

"I did warn you, Maureen."

"Well I could have known he was a drug dealer! That might have been nice to tell me," she snapped. The regret and fury burning inside her turned to sadness as realization washed over her. "The father of my baby is The Man . . .well this just makes everything wonderful." Maureen closed her eyes as though expecting everything to go away.

Collins watched her struggle with her emotions sympathetically. "I'm so sorry, Maureen . . ." He sighed. "When Jeff found out you were pregnant he wanted your baby. He's used them before. A guy with a baby doesn't look as suspicious . . .that's what he told me."

Maureen regained her anger. "And you knew about all this? And you never told me?"

"I couldn't tell you, Maureen."

"Why not?"

"I knew you'd react like this . . ."

"I may be a drama queen, but for ONCE I have a damn right to act like this!"

Collins lost his calm disposition. "You were going through enough! I just didn't want to make things worse for you-"

Maureen rolled her eyes at him angrily. "Well you sure as hell did!"

"I'm sorry! What was I supposed to do? Tell you I was drug addict like Roger and Mimi were? I was supposed to learn from their example, but I didn't and I was too ashamed . . ."

Maureen was silent for a moment. "Are you still . . ." she ventured.

"No," Collins said quickly. "I don't do drugs anymore. That part of my life is over." He hated lying to her again, but Collins convinced himself that it was for her own good.

She let out a sigh of relief. "Good." Instead of yelling at him once more, Maureen surprised Collins when she grabbed him by the arm and hugged him tightly. "Don't you ever lie to me again," she murmured, but there was no fiercness in her voice. Maureen spoke to him gently, as though making up for their previous screaming match.

"Well I should get going. Ever since we found out about this Band Wars thing Mikey has been schedueling practices like crazy." She groaned, rolling her eyes. "Take care of yourself, ok?"

"Scott quit," Ed, the drummer, told Roger as he entered his apartment for a band rehearsal.

"What?" Roger almost dropped his guitar case. "Why?"

"He eloped with some chick he met at a club. Can you believe that?"

Roger shook his head. "Sounds like Scott . . .but who's playing bass now? Band Wars is coming up and we've been planning to blow the roof off that place. Without Scott-"

"Don't worry about it, Rog. I already found a replacement." Ed looked up at the doorway. "Hey, Schyler, c'mon in."

A young, blonde man with spiked hair and a nose ring walked in carrying a red bass guitar and an amp. He looked like he was about 17.

"No . . .no way. He's a kid!" Roger glared at Ed. "There is no way we can work with him- he hasn't gone through puberty yet!"

"Hey man, I'm right here," Schyler looked uneasy.

Ed grinned. "Schyler, how 'bout you play a little something for Roger to convince him." Schyler picked up his bass. "No, no, not with that. Do something on the guitar, that oughta impress him."

Roger reluctantly handed over his Fender guitar and Schyler started to play. The kid was incredible.

"Fine, he's in," Roger said, feeling competitive. "But only for Band Wars. That's it."

Mimi walked off stage that night at the Cat Scratch Club to find Bud waiting for her.

"You're doing a nice job. I like your stuff," he said with a cigar in his mouth.

Mimi couldn't make herself thank him. Her "stuff" was dancing seductively around stage while slowly stripping herself of all clothing and dignity. She hated herself for doing it.

"Listen," Bud went on after a moment of silence, "We're adding some new dance numbers and I want you to be our star, how 'bout that?"

Mimi rolled her eyes at him. "If it involves a bigger paycheck I'll do it."

"Looks like you've got yourself some extra bucks."

"So what are these dance numbers for?"

Bud tapped the end of his cigar sending ashes to the already dirty floor. "The club is having a special event in a week or so. I haven't been told much about it. It's some competition. I want you here early tomorrow to learn the dance, alright? We've got something special choreographed for you."

Mimi nodded and left for the dressing room to change, wondering exactly how "special" her dance number would be.