COLLINS IS BACK! Yay. XD

Someone will disappear though. O.o Not disappear like in a mysterious way, but be gone for quite a long time. :) Oh, we have oozing drama in this chap.

Mimi's hormones act up a lot in this chappie. LOL. Thank you thank you thank you for the reviews! BTW: This thing is only 15 chaps. :) Review this chapter and I will fall at your feet and proclaim you my master. LOL

Disclaimer: I fall at the feet of the great Jonathan Larson and chant: I am not worthy, I am not worthy! XD

Alphabet City: December 15, 1992, 7 pm, Eastern Standard Time

Making his way from the subway to Avenue B on foot, Thomas Collins stopped to survey the old apartment building that had once been his home. He had missed it, and couldn't feel better to be back.

As always, he made his way to the old pay phone by the sidewalk, put in a quarter and dialed the loft's number. He was quite surprised when the machine didn't answer and when he heard barks erupting from the phone.

"Shhh! Gelly! Shut up! What's gotten into you?"

"Hello?" came a voice which Collins recognized immediately.

"Hey Meems," he smiled.

"COLLINS! SHIT!" Mimi screamed. "MARK, COLLINS IS HOME!"

"I've missed you too, Meems," Collins laughed. "Throw down the key will you?"

But Mimi was already on the fire escape, brandishing the key wildly in the air.

"COLLINS!" her shrill voice rang through the entire street.

"Thanks, Meems," Collins smiled, catching the key.

(At the loft)

"UGH!" Collins had the breath knocked out of him when Mimi came running into his arms.

"You've gained weight," Collins uttered to Mimi.

"I have a good excuse," Mimi snapped. (It's the hormones again)

"Oh?" Collins raised an eyebrow.

"Are you pregnant or something?" Collins joked.

Mimi gasped as if it couldn't be so. But then she broke out in laughter.

"Just like you, Thomas," she said.

"What? YOU'RE PREGNANT?" Collins fell to the floor.

"Shit," Collins muttered, grabbing his head.

"Yes, I am!" Mimi danced, waving her hands in the air.

"No kidding, Meems?"

"No, why would I joke about that?" (Me: singing hormones!)

"Are you sure?" Collins gaped.

"Uh no. DUH!" Mimi snapped. "I think I'd know if I was carrying something that weighs like a watermelon."

"Does everyone know but me?" Collins frowned.

"Yup, except Roger of course, 'cause he's not the father."

"MIMI!"

"Just kidding!" Mimi laughed.

Gelly came bounding up to Collins, wagging her tail insanely. She immediately began licking his shoes and barking madly.

"And who's this?" Collins asked, bending low and ruffling the puppy's hair.

Gelly licked at his face as if it were full of grape jelly.

"Gelly, my dog," Mimi said.

"Gelly?" Collins felt his heart sink.

"Yeah," Mimi frowned. "Sorry."

Collins laughed as Gelly licked his neck. "It's okay."

"She likes you, a lot," Mimi observed.

"Strange…"

"Why is that strange?"

"She hates Mark," Mimi shrugged.

"I heard that," the blonde came out of his room.

"Collins, man!" Mark walked up and gave Collins his welcome home hug.

"How's your love life?" Collins sneered, since he didn't know about Maureen.

"Really good actually," Mark sneered back.

"COLLY!" Maureen came out of Mark's bedroom and jumped in Collins' arms.

"Mo? What're you… Oh." Collins blushed; embarrassed that he'd thought Mark and loser with no girlfriend. The two boys did a guy handshake behind Maureen's back.

"Yo! My homecoming… let's celebrate at the Life!" Collins grinned. "Beers on me!"

"Urg," Mimi said.

"Oh right, sorry mommy!" Collins teased. "And cider too."

"No, it's alright, I'll stay home," Mimi said irritably.

"What? But…"

"Col, chill.. It's the hormones, let her stay," Mark whispered.

"Okay," Collins backed away from Mimi.

"Am I allowed to invite Jo and Ben?" Collins peered at Maureen.

"Yeah, Jo and I are okay," Maureen shrugged.

"Ben's welcome, Col, Rog is off at band gigs," Mark added.

"Great, I'll call them," Collins said, making his way to the phone.

"Meems? You sure you won't come?" Maureen asked, making her way to the couch where a pissed pregnant woman was fuming.

"I'll stay home, thanks Mo," Mimi simpered.

"Bye mommy!" Collins called, walking up to the loft door.

"If I get kidnapped while you're gone, it's your fault!" she called after them.

Mark, Roger, Mimi and Maureen's loft: 10 pm, Eastern Standard Time

"I'm home!" Roger sang, unaware that the loft he came home to was empty.

"Meems? Baby?" Roger called, looking in the kitchen. (Obviously Mimi wasn't there since she can't cook for her life, remember?)

"Babe, I…"

Roger didn't find Mimi in the bedroom either. He began to worry again. Last time he came home to an empty loft, it wasn't a good sign.

Mark and Maureen probably took her out with them, Roger reassured himself, pouring a cup of coffee. Her hormones hate it when she's left alone in the house.

"START SPREADING THE NEWS!"

"I'M LEAVING TODDAAAYYY!"

"I WANT TO BE A FART OF IT!"

"IT'S PART, DUMBASS."

"I WANT TO BE A PART OF IT!"

"NEW YORK NEW YORK!"

3 drunken people stumbled through the loft door, Collins still carrying a half empty beer bottle. Suddenly, the room smelled like dead fish. Roger stood up and searched for Mimi.

"ROGER, BABY!" Collins shouted, stumbling over his words.

"SING WITH US!" Maureen cried.

"THESE VAGABOND SHOES!" Mark cried, kicking off his own shoes and sliding on the floor.

"Guys, you're drunk," Roger said, coming forward and looking out the door for Mimi.

"Duh, you dumbfuck. Isn't that obvious?" Maureen snorted.

"Where's Mimi?"

"IF I CAN MAKE IT THERE!" Mark continued to sing.

"You skipped a whole lot of lines, Marky!" Maureen pouted, falling on top of Mark.

"GUYS! WHERE'S MIMI!"

"I'LL MAKE IT ANYWHERE!" Collins raised his hands in surrender and landed on the pile on the floor that was Maureen and Mark.

"YOU DUMBFUCKERS TELL ME WHERE MIMI IS NOW OR I'LL HANG YOU OVER THE FIRE ESCAPE, GOT IT?" Roger yelled.

"IT'S UP TO YOU! NEW YORK NEW YORK!"

"Ugh!" Roger had half a mind of hanging his friends outside the window.

He ran to the phone and started dialing 911 or something. He couldn't even think straight. It was then he saw a paper stuck to the answering machine.

Roger got even more nervous. Last time he saw a paper with a note in this apartment, nothing good came of it too. (Referring to April of course.) The note was in Mimi's handwriting, but was written in a rush, as one could tell from the scratchy edges.

Roger,

My parents found me. I locked myself in the loft but I'll know they'll find a way in soon. They're bringing me back to L.A. I just know it. Don't follow, it'll make things worse. I promise I'm coming back no matter what it takes. Just wait for me, baby. I love you.

M

The scene swirled around in Roger's head, Mimi's parents bursting in, grabbing her and taking her away from him… Even before she could finish writing her name on the letter.

NO. No, NOT AGAIN! Why did everything he loved have to be taken away from him?

"FUCK YOU!" Roger screamed, knocking over chairs, tables and anything within his reach. Too drunk to act, his three friends watched on, laughing.

"GOD DAMMIT. WHY THE HELL? DO YOU HATE ME?" Roger slumped to the floor and cried.

He grabbed the last thing he loved, his own classical guitar, and banged it on the floor until it was just shards of wood and nothing less.

If Mimi was gone, then he simply just ceased to exist.

Mark, Roger and Maureen's loft: December 24, 1992, 12 am, Eastern Standard Time

"God dammit Rog! It's Christmas Eve! Come inside and celebrate with us!" Collins called from the window.

Though it was most probably less than zero degrees Celsius out there, Roger was sitting on the fire escape, apparently determined to freeze his ass off.

"Leave me alone, Thomas," Roger growled. They were the first words he'd spoken in days.

"Hey, Roger," Collins walked up to his friend. "Mimi promised she'd be back."

"And there is nothing we can do about it."

Roger remained silent.

"At least she's still alive, Angel's gone. She can't come back," Collins' voice shook.

"If you just know how much I wish she were here with us. You know she wouldn't want you acting like a son of a bitch like you are now."

Roger still didn't say anything, but Collins knew that he had hit one of the boy's weak spots.

"The most you can do is not ruin your life because if she comes back," he paused. "When she comes back, you're going to have a wedding and a baby. You need a lot of money for that, man."

"Take care of your life, Roger."

"Mimi was my life."

Roger sighed. "Leave me alone."

Collins walked away and turned around one last time.

"Merry Christmas," he said with a sad frown and closed the window door behind him. He had tried, and Roger was just too hard.

A/N: Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to Mimi. Let me tip you off: next chappie will be about 5 months later. (Yes, it takes that long for her to escape) :) I love it when Roger's depressed, I have no idea why. XD Maybe it's because he's so cute when he pouts. :)

Poll: When Mimi comes back, does the wedding or the baby come first:)