A/N- Hey guys! It's Kait again! Here's chapter 23! Hope you like this one? Yeah, so I kind of lied to you before. I said I'd get this chapter and the next one to you by today. Well it's been a busy day so I haven't had time to write much. (I know what you're thinking. Excuses, excuses.) So tomorrow, hopefully, I'll get 24 out to you!

-Kait

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

(Title- Reactions)

The next three days flew by. Joanne, Maureen, Mimi, Mark and I went to visit Roger every day. Justin was kind enough to watch Owen and Sara for Mark and I while we went to go visit our friend. As much as we want to see Roger recover, it hurts us to see him in so much pain. We only want him to be happy. And Roger's definition of happy was most definitely not lying on a hospital bed for over three days.

When the five of us walked into his room, we were shocked. He looked even worse than before, and let me tell you, it scared the shit out of all of us. I couldn't even begin to imagine the thoughts that were running through my friend's heads as they looked at Roger for the first time today. Well, that's not true. I did imagine what their reactions were.

Maureen? Well, Maureen was probably about to break down again. After she began crying on the day Roger came to the hospital, it was like she couldn't stop. After Joanne would get her home she found a way to calm her down, but Maureen always started to cry again upon entering Roger's room. God bless Joanne, though. None of us could make Mo stop crying. I wonder what it is Joanne does. Well, maybe I don't want to know now that I think about it. But I bet you she was preparing to do it all over again tonight.

Joanne? She was a hard person to read. I mean, being a lawyer has to take its tolls on you. She definitely doesn't wear her emotions on her sleeve like a lot of our 'family' does. She's, without a doubt, a strong person and I respect that. But seeing her friends sick always makes her break. She's like a pillar—strong until something really hard hits her.

Mimi's reaction? I can't even begin to tell you how many things must be running through her mind. She's losing the love of her life, her everything. She's scared, terrified even. Nothing's harder than losing someone you love. And it must be ten times harder on Mimi because she knows that she'll die of complications from the same disease. I honestly don't know what I would do if I were in her situation. I couldn't imagine losing Mark. God knows this can't be easy on her. I just wish there were something I could do for her, but there's really nothing any of us can do but pray for a miracle.

And Mark? I know he usually holds his emotions in, hides behind his camera, but I can see it in his eyes. He's fucking terrified. Roger and him are best friends, have been from the get-go. And even though they have their differences, they'd be lost without each other. I know for a fact that Roger and Mark know more secrets about each other than anyone else in our 'family'. Hell, Roger knows more about Mark than I do. One; they've known each other the longer; and two, there's probably some secrets in there that I don't want to or need to know.

As for me? I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Was this really Roger? No, it couldn't be. Roger…he was in such good spirits the past few days. Even though he knew he didn't have much time—the doctor said it was only a matter of days because the infection was too strong for his immune system to fight—he didn't let that get to him. He wanted to spend his last days surrounded by his friends, which he was, in a way.

It was like clockwork, actually. Every day at exactly eight pm, Dr. Grey came in and kicked us out, rambling on and on about how Roger needs his rest to recover. Grey knew damn well he wasn't going to recover,—he said so himself— and why he was feeding us this 'You have to leave now!' bullshit is beyond me.

I'm so scared, though. He's not gone yet, but we all know it's close. I can't even begin to imagine how we're all going to survive without Roger around.

No more faint guitar riffs being played at ungodly hours of the night.

No one to scream at Mark when he reminds them to take their AZT. (Mimi obviously takes it but doesn't complain.)

No uncle for Sara and Owen.

No best friend for Mark.

No one left for Mimi to love.

No more Roger.

A/N- Love it? Hate it? Review and let us know! Questions? Comments? PM me (rentislife0619) or Mimi (Roger Davis' Song of Glory).