No Day But Today

DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or anything affiliated with it.

A/n: Thanks to Abby and DamagedGlory for the hugs!

Mark sat back and closed his eyes. "I told you it would stop," Mark said.

"You aren't getting out of this one, Mark," Roger told him. "The towel was soaked. You lost a lot of blood."

"But I quit bleeding. I'm fine," Mark replied.

"Mark, there's nothing fine about this. If I hadn't shown up, there's no telling what could have happened to you," Roger said. Mark rolled his eyes.

"Well then it's a good thing you showed up, isn't it?" Mark said, sarcastically.

Liz walked out of Mark's room and found Mimi asleep on the couch. She walked over and shook the younger girl. "Hey, have you seen Mark?" she asked. Mimi sat up and began to bite at her nails. "What?"

"Roger took him to the hospital this morning… When we got here this morning, he was in the bathroom. He looked like someone punched him in the nose," Mimi said. "He'd been bleeding for a while. I still haven't heard from them."

"How long ago was that?" Liz asked.

"About three," Mimi admitted. She got up. "I should have cleaned up." She walked towards the bathroom.

"I'll help you," Liz said, following her.

"Are you sure? You might not want to see this," Mimi said.

"I think I'll be okay," Liz replied. They went into the bathroom and began cleaning up the mess. Mimi was just glad that Roger hadn't left the towel sitting there.

"Mr. Cohen?" Mark opened his eyes and looked up at the doctor who had addressed him.

"Yeah."

"I'm Dr. Benton. Dr. Kennedy asked me to come talk to you. Your test results came back," the doctor said. "We should talk alone." He was looking at Roger.

"It's okay. He's my best friend," Mark said. The doctor just nodded and then sighed.

"Mr. Cohen, I'm afraid I have some bad news. The blood work came back showing that you have leukemia." Mark felt his chest constrict. It hurt to breathe.

"C..cancer?" he asked. Dr. Benton nodded.

"I'm very sorry. You're actually lucky… it looks like we caught it early. With treatment, you have a very good chance of beating it," the doctor told him. Mark just nodded.

"And without? How long would I have?" he asked.

"A year. Maybe more. But we've caught it in time," Dr. Benton reminded him.

"Thanks," Mark said, getting up. "Let's go, Roger."

"Mr. Cohen, you really should stay here, at least until you decide what you're going to do," Dr. Benton. Mark just put on his jacket.

"I have decided. Thanks. Roger, come on," Mark said.

"Mark, wait. What are you doing?" Roger asked, following Mark out of the room.

"We can't afford it. That's all there is to it, Roger," Mark replied.

"We'll find the money, Mark. Don't throw your life away."

"Roger, I already decided, okay? Let's just go."

"What are you going to tell Liz? How are you going to explain to her that you're just giving up without a fight?" Roger asked.

"Can we talk about this later? I just want to go home," Mark said. Roger continued to follow him out of the hospital. Mark headed towards the subway.

"No, we're taking a cab," Roger said.

"We can't afford that, either," Mark replied. Roger took him by the arm.

"I don't care if we can't afford it. The last thing we need is for you to pass out on the subway," Roger told him.

"I'm not going to pass out. You heard the doctor, I've got a year. I'm not dead yet," Mark replied, heading down into the subway.

"We're almost there," Roger said. Mark leaned against him, unable to hold himself up any more. "Just a little further."

"Don't let Liz see me," Mark said.

"Easier said than done," Roger replied. He pushed Mark just enough to get him up the last few stairs, and then helped him over to the door. Mimi opened the door just as Roger reached for the handle. "Help me get him in bed," Roger said to her. Mimi just nodded and put one of Mark's arms around her neck so she could help carry Mark's weight. "He's so exhausted."

"I'm still here you know," Mark said. "Where's Liz?"

"She went to work… We didn't know how long you guys would be, and she was driving me insane," Mimi said. "Shit Mark, how much weight have you lost?"

"None of your business."

"Mark," Roger said. "Ignore him, Meems. He's just pissed off."

"You wasted twenty bucks on a cab," Mark reminded him.

"Yeah, and now you see why I wanted to take the cab in the first place," Roger said. He and Mimi helped Mark into his bed, and then Mimi left the room. "Go to sleep."

"Don't tell anyone, okay Rog?" Mark asked.

"Mark…"

"Please. Just let me."

"Fine. But I'm not keeping this a secret forever," Roger told him.