Hey everyone! Just a quick note to the three of you who reviewed (and the one who did it personally ;)): thank you! It's always nice to know that people like your work...and even if you don't like it, review anyway! Here's chapter two. Would have been up several hours ago, except for some reason my was not working. Hope you likey!

Chapter Two

Mark was awoken the next morning by the ringing of the telephone. He rubbed his eyes at the familiar "SPEAK!" His mother's voice reverberated throughout the loft.

"Mark? Mark are you there? Quit screening your calls Mark, it's your mother." Mark sat up, still rubbing his eyes. "Look, have you heard from your sister? Josh called here last night, hysterical. Apparently Cindy ran away with the kids. Josh and your father and I are worried sick! If you hear from her, please call." She said.

Mark stood up, stretching his muscles, sore from sleeping on the lumpy couch. He jumped when he saw Cindy standing in the doorway. "Oh! Cindy, you startled me." he said, clutching his chest.

"Sorry." She said. She looked at the answering machine. "I heard the call."

"Yeah..." Mark said. He looked up at his sister. "I'm not going to call her back. I'm not going to rat you out, Cindy." He assured her. She looked relieved. A cry from the room had Cindy rushing back in. She came back out with the baby. Mark looked at her, having never met his only niece. "Is this Chey?" He asked.

Cindy smiled affectionately at her daughter. "Yes...this is Cheyenne." She said. The baby squirmed in her arms.

"How old is she now?" Mark asked, leaning over the baby. He smiled at her and she smiled back at him.

"She's six months." Cindy said, grinning at the interaction between her brother and her daughter. Mark held out his hands to take the baby and Cindy handed her to Mark.

"Hi there sweetheart!" Mark said. His friends didn't know it, but babies were his weakness. He loved babies. He juggled the baby, making her giggle. A whimper from the other room told the siblings that Mason was up. Mark moved to the couch with the baby and Cindy hurried into the room.

At that moment, Mimi got up and came out into the main room of the loft. She blinked seeing Mark with the baby. "How long was I out?" she asked.

Mark chuckled. "Just last night. Mimi, this is my niece, Cheyenne." Mimi's eyes had dark circles and she looked tired, but she grinned at the baby.

"Your niece?" She asked, moving next to Mark on the couch. "You have a brother? Or a sister?" she asked him.

"A sister. Cindy. She showed up here last night. She's...having trouble with her husband so she came here. She's getting up my nephew right now." Mimi leaned in and rubbed noses with the little baby, who giggled. Cindy came back into the room, smiling at Mimi.

"Hi there...you must be Mimi. I'm Cindy." She said. A sleepy Mason was clinging to his mother. "This is Mason and I see you've met Cheyenne."

Mimi laughed lightly. "I thought I had been out for too long when I woke up and Mark had a baby." Cindy and Mark laughed with her.

"How are you feeling today, Meems?" Mark asked. Her eyes flashed with worry and she looked at Cindy.

"I hope you're not mad, Mark and Roger already told me." Cindy assured her. Mimi relaxed.

"I feel okay. Better than yesterday." She told him. Mark carried the baby into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee, a kettle of water, and began to heat a bottle that Cindy had been holding. Roger made his own appearance then. "Morning baby."

Roger made his way over to her and kissed her. "Morning. How are you feeling?" He questioned her, his eyes betraying deep concern.

"Much better." Roger sat down next to Cindy.

"How are YOU?" he asked her. She smiled gently at him.

"I'm alright." The phone rang again and all four of them looked over at it. The message shouted throughout the loft.

"You two really need to change that." Mimi said. Both men looked horribly offended.

"Mark! Mark pick up the phone!" His mother sighed. "Mark please call me. We're so worried about Cindy! Just tell us if you've heard from her. Josh said that they had a little argument over what Cheyenne should wear and Cindy ran off with the kids." Cindy's mouth opened and closed wordlessly. "Josh is so worried, Mark. Please-" She got cut off when Mark answered the phone.

"Mom." He said. Cindy looked at him, horrified. Mark gave her a look to assure her he knew what he was doing. "Yeah Mom, it's really me."

"Oh Marky! Have you heard from Cindy?" She asked him.

"No. Why on earth would I have heard from Cindy? She and I don't exactly get along, you know." He told his mother. This was true, ever since Mark had left home, he and Cindy had barely spoken to each other.

"Well, you heard my message?" She asked.

"Yeah, I heard it."

"It was a stupid little fight and she took off. Josh is scared to death. If you hear from her, you'll call, right Marky?" She begged him.

"Of course Mom. Though I don't really think she'll be banging on my door anytime soon." This earned a smile from Cindy. "Bye Mom." He said, hanging up the phone.

"Thank you, Mark." Cindy said. Mark smiled over at his sister.

"Your welcome. Besides, if I didn't say something, she just would have kept calling." The kettle whistled, signaling the water was ready for tea. "Cindy, would you like coffee or tea?" She requested tea. Mark poured two cups of coffee and fixed two cups of tea. He was still warming the bottle. Cindy came over to the kitchen and took over making the bottle. She also opened their fridge and was shocked to find it completely bare.

"You guys have nothing!" She looked at the three loft occupants, all who were stifling laughter. "What do you guys eat?"

"Well...sometimes we go to the Life Café." Roger said, as Mark looked at his feet. Cindy closed the empty fridge, realizing just how much her brother really sacrificed.

"You mean, you don't eat regularly?" She asked, looking directly at Mark.

"Come on, Mimi. Let's go get dressed." Roger said, pulling Mimi into their bedroom. Mark was still looking at his feet.

"Mark?" She asked. He looked up at her. "Mark, you'd rather live like this? Starve? Look at you...you'd rather live like this than come back home? Let Mom and Dad help you?"

His eyes flashed in anger. He and Cindy had never really gotten into why he left. She thought it was due to a fight between him and their parents. "Mom and Dad cut me off. Those are THEIR words. Anyway, you wouldn't understand." He said.

"What wouldn't I understand?" She challenged.

"Just forget it Cindy. If you're hungry, we can go over to the Life and get some breakfast." He said, trying to back out of the fight. He didn't really want to get into this with her right now. Especially because she was probably still a bit traumatized from the events of the day before.

"I'll run to the grocery store and get some food. Can you watch Cheyenne and Mason for me?" She asked him, respecting his wishes for now. Mark nodded, juggling the baby in his arms. "Just...point me in the right direction." She asked.

Mark gave her directions to the local grocery store and handed her some money. She handed it back him. He smiled at his sister and gave her his key. Mason was still groggy and moved to Mark's arms without much complaint. He had had a long night last night. His little head flopped onto Mark's shoulder and his eyes drifted shut. Roger had taken over holding Cheyenne and Mimi decided to take a nap. Mark closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing the little boy's back.