Author's Note: I have to apologize for the "cliffhanger". It was unintentional. I didn't realize until I was rereading the already uploaded story that I had left out a couple small details. I mean, I knew what Tuesday was, but yeah… obviously no one else does. I meant to include what I thought was obvious in my head. So yes, I apologize.

Again, thank you for the reviews and your comments. I very much appreciate the warm reception back to fanfiction that I've had. And also, I've been having fun combing through our new little section over here, but if I've missed your new fic and you'd like a review or two I've got plenty of time until I go back to school. Let me know where the good stuff is! In other words… shameless plugs in reviews are encouraged. Love, and enjoy.

Trusting Desire
Chapter Three – Without A Burn
Roger's POV

I knock on his door, a polite precaution I've always observed for him that I've never cared about for anyone else. When he doesn't respond I knock harder.

"Mark…" I call into the damaged wood.

"What, Roger?" He groans from his bed. It's probably about eight in the morning. Even Mimi isn't awake yet. I just stayed up all night smoking and writing songs in my head. I didn't want to wake them up. But I didn't want to sleep until three today, either.

"Can I come in?" I ask and when he responds I go in, shutting the door behind me.

"What do you want?" He's sitting up in bed, rubbing a hand over his face, his hair sticking up in the back. He stifles a yawn while I reply.

"Do you have one of those things? Those cameras, you know?" He stares at me and I gesture with my hands, trying to show him what I mean.

"Those things. With the pictures that come out right after you take them?"

"A Polaroid?" His voice is weary and annoyed. "Yeah, over there."

"Is there uh, film or whatever in it?"

He nods and lies back down. "Yeah, should be full." He sighs sleepily.

"Can I borrow it?"

He opens his eyes again, blinking wearily. "You better not break it, Roger."

"Promise." I grin to him, reaching down to mess his hair as I leave the room. He swats at me furiously and turns over to go back to sleep.

I set the camera down on the floor next to our bed and sit down on the edge next to Mimi. She's on her side, head nestled in her arm, dark hair everywhere. I reach over to move her hair away from her face and the contact disturbs her. She frowns for a moment, her eyebrows knitting together before opening her eyes and letting out a little yawn. She smiles at me.

"Is it really late or really early?" She asks, her voice coming soft and low from sleep.

"Early, I guess." I shrug.

"What are you doing up, baby?" She stretches lazily, sitting up and moving closer to snake an arm around my waist and kiss my neck. I return her embrace and rest my cheek against her hair. Her other hand is on my stomach and she squeezes lightly like always.

"Filling out, chubby?" She jokes. I squeeze her right back, kissing her forehead and pulling her with me out of the bed.

"And where are we going so early?" She asks, intrigued. Gently I push the camera out of her view with a foot and pull her toward the bathroom.

"Come on, you smell." I tell her, starting the shower.

She smiles at my jab, far from offended. I tell her she smells all the time and she calls me fat. Neither which are ever true.

"There's no way we have enough hot water for two showers." She says, her hands moving up under my shirt. I feel her nails graze against my stomach and a full smile comes out. I grab her wrists.

"You're wasting the water, get in." I push her gently into the shower and she starts to pull me after her. I wave her away long enough to get my clothes off and then follow her in. A second later and little Mimi has me up against the wall, up on her toes to bring my lips to hers, her fingers tangled in my hair. I feel her breasts again my chest and my hands find her waist to keep her right up against me.

She pulls away a few moments later, hair half damp and half drenched, remnants of the eye makeup she always forgets to take off before bed underneath her eyes.

"You're forgetting something." She says, amused, reaching her hands behind her head to help the weak fall of water to wet it.

I smile at her, moving her so I can be under the water too, dipping my head under briefly and running a hand through it.

"I didn't forget." I tell her, leaning over to kiss her again. Moving my lips to her neck I pull her closer.

"Happy Birthday, baby." I whisper against her ear. She giggles at me and drops her hair to bring my face back up to hers for more kisses.

While Mimi puts her makeup on in the bathroom I examine the camera, wishing Mark would wake up so I could ask a few final questions. When Mimi comes out before he does I shrug to myself and grin at her. She's dressed herself more modestly than usual, a purple dress with her boots, a cardigan over it. I didn't even think Mimi owned a cardigan. I also didn't think I quite knew what a cardigan was, but that's what it looked like to me.

"You should really put some clothes on." I tease her. "You'll be arrested."

She smiles gently, walking around me and hugging me from behind. "You said to look nice."

"That's not what you usually put on when I say to look nice."

Her expression becomes infinitely more playful and she starts to drag me to the door.

"Let's go, baby. Where are you taking me? What's the camera for?"

I shrug, shoving it into the pocket of my jacket. It's almost too big to fit but I manage to squeeze it in while still keeping my promise to Mark to treat it well. I grab Mimi's outstretched hand and follow her outside.

The air is cool for the first time this year, summer is beginning to come to close on the calendar. Mimi is up against me, my arm around her shoulders, hers around my waist. Her perfume floats around me on the air, intoxicating and feminine. She's talking a mile a minute, telling me about a birthday she had with Angel. Her words blend into one long strain of voice, bouncing about in my head. I'm no longer sure of what she's saying. My arm slips down and my hand is on her waist and I'm very aware of the curve there. Her hair is up today, the back of her neck exposed to the air and my eyes, soft down on her smooth skin. In front, her small neck leads down to her collarbone, always two straight, beautiful lines leading to her shoulders. They disappear under her sweater today, only half exposed in the rather small bit of skin showing from her neck to her chest.

Beneath my hand her body moves, hips swaying gently beneath her dress. I'm aware of the perfume again, the small sweet scent that I always small at the most inopportune moments for its fragrance to overcome me. I swallow and smile at her, nodding. I think somehow she knows I'm not really listening and I'm right.

"Roger. You're not even paying attention." She sighs, pursing her lips and looking up at me.

I lean over to kiss her temple and move my hand up from her waist to touch the tender skin on her neck. Rubbing it I smile down at her again.

"Just looking at you." I shrug and let it drop. She watches me for another moment then I feel her fingers squeezing my side and she giggles when I bend down to hook an arm under her knees and pick her up. Her laughter is sweet, tinkling in the air as she pushes against my chest.

"Roger, my dress!"

I adjust my hold on her so her dress is caught between my arm and her legs and she relaxes, her arms around my neck and her fingers playing with the ends of my hair.

Mimi scrambles out of my arms and over to a window of a store.

"I was here with Maureen the other day." She explains. "Look, they still have my dress." She touches the glasses absently.

"That's the dress?" Long and pink, shiny things attached to the neckline and on the high waist. The same one she was talking about with Maureen when they came back to the loft after their "shopping". Of courses, I'd heard all about the dress. She sighs and smiles, nodding at me. I'm suddenly overwhelmed with wanting to do more for her. I feel insignificant and stupid suddenly.

I bite my lip. "You know that I can't buy it for you but…"

She turns around so fast I almost miss the motion. "Oh Roger. I don't expect you to buy things for me." She hugs me around the middle, her head against my chest. I put an arm around her too and kiss her head.

"But I think you should try it on anyway." I tell her. Her eyes meet mine and she grins.

"I don't think they'll let us in that store, baby." She says, her hand under my shirt again, fingers dangerously close to the top of my jeans. She just loves to play so much.

"Go try on your dress, Mimi. No one will mess with my girl."

"Oh, my tough guy." She teases, poking me in the stomach.

She pulls me into the store with her and sure enough there is a neat looking woman fussing at a display that glares at us. I try to look wealthy in my shredded jeans and my beaten leather jacket and know I fail, so I try the alternative and grin at the sales lady, winking in her direction. She bumps into the mannequin behind her and drops the handful of tags she's holding. I smile to myself, watching Mimi look for her size. I guess I've still got it. Just haven't used it in awhile.

While I wait for her to come out of the dressing room, I pull out the camera and examine it again. It seems fairly cut and dry, nothing too complicated. The woman disappears into a back room at the same time Mimi throws open the door of the dressing room, her expression brighter than the flash that goes off when I take her picture.

She giggles at me when I pull her close for a tight, brief hug, before she waltzes away to twirl in front of a mirror.

"Take more pictures, Roger. It's so pretty."

I toss the finished ones on the floor to dry when I take them. Mimi takes her hair down for a moment and then puts it back up, comparing. The sales woman finally emerges again and starts over to us as I take another picture. I see her coming and as Mimi stoops to look at some shoes I head over to her.

"I'm buying a dress for my girl's birthday. Just taking pictures so we can decide which one is best later."

The woman glares at me, but I grin at her. "Hey now, don't chase us out. She's so excited, look."

She looks over at Mimi who is sure enough still twirling in the dress. She stops for a moment and looks over her shoulder to examine the back of the dress, one hand following a hip and she tilts her head and frowns. I wink at the woman one more time and head over to Mimi again, setting the camera down and moving her hand away from her hip and turning her around toward the mirror with my arms around her waist.

"Beautiful." I say into her hair, and then decide to push my luck.

"Hey," I call to the sales lady. She crosses her arms. I pick up the camera again and hold it out to her. "Take a picture of us?"

She could have easily kicked us out. She knows we aren't here to buy anything and charm or no charm, she wasn't swayed by my performance. But she stares at us for minute then sighs heavily and lifts up the camera. I quickly grab Mimi and pull her close. The flash goes off and the camera is thrust back against my chest and the woman disappears again.

Mimi changes as I pick up the pictures from the floor, most at least half developed by then. I stick the camera back in my pocket, Mark still had some film left in there and it was intact. There was no way he could kill me. I find the best few of her and when Mimi joins me again I hold them out to her. She bites her lip over a spreading grin. We sit for a few minutes so the rest can develop further and eventually I pick up the one of the two of us and allow my own grin to overtake my face.

Mimi leans over the pictures and presses her lips over mine.

"I love you." She giggles at me. I smile to myself, looking down at the pictures and then back up at her. She reaches over and pinches my stomach.

"Love you, beautiful." I tell her, and kiss her again.