Chapter 12, wow, only two more chapters (plus one of thank yous). Well I'll shut-up and just type the story. Disclaimer: don't own RENT

It was now December 10th. Marie sported a bump on her stomach.

It was nearing 2pm, and Marie was still asleep on the couch. Mark sought Lorana's assistance in waking his wife.

"Why do you want her awake?"

"We have a doctor's appointment."

"Oh, yeah, I'll do what I can." Grabbing his camera, Mark followed Lorana to the sleeping Marie.

"Go ahead," Lorana urged, "I want to see your attempt before I show you." Mark nodded grimly; he knew this wasn't going to be pretty.

"Marie, honey, you need to wake-up now." Marie twitched, and then pulled the blankets further up and over her head.

"Marie, I bought grapes," Lorana said. The blanket lowered slightly. "They're even the red ones."

"Where?" said Marie in a demanding tone.

"They're in the bottom drawer in the fridge. You have to get them yourself though."

Marie rolled off the couch with a thud, the blanket still covering her, and crawled into the kitchen. Mark and Lorana followed her. Marie opened the fridge door, found the grapes, and crawled over to the table, climbed onto a chair, and with the blanket still covering her, began to munch the grapes. Mark, who found this highly amusing, was glad he had filmed Lorana's successful attempt. He continued to film as Marie ate 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 of the grapes. It was then that Lorana took away the bowl, "After you go get dressed, you can have them back," she told Marie who had given her a look of anger and desperation.

Marie grumbled a few cuss words under her breath before going to change.

"How'd you get her to listen?" asked Mark, astounded.

"Consider how long Marie and I have been friends, Mark. This time, I used bribery, but grapes won't work for long though; soon enough, she'll be craving all sorts of weird foods."

"Damn," muttered Mark. Marie returned to the kitchen, fully dressed in clean clothes.

"Can I have my grapes back now?"

"You can eat them on the way to your doctor's appointment," Lorana answered.

"Damn three month check-up."

"Be nice Marie, we just want to be sure the baby's doing okay."

"Fine." It was clear that Marie didn't want to go.

"How's the baby?" Jake asked as he was stroking Lorana's head.

"Fine, the baby's fine. So am I, in case you were wondering." Marie stalked off to her and Mark's shared room. Mark was starting to follow when Lorana stopped him.

"No offense to you, but she needs a woman right now. Jake, I'll be back."

Lorana knocked on the door. "Who ever it is, leave me the hell alone!"

"Marie, it's me. Please can I come in?"

"No, go away!"

"I'm not going away. And I'm not going to give up. I'll be just like you were when Mimi told you about my bruises."

"What do you want?"

"To come in and talk." Lorana heard the door unlock. "Thank you," Lorana said as she entered the bedroom. "Now what's wrong?"

"What do you care?"

"A whole hell of a lot; Marie, you and I have been best friends for a long time. How could you possibly think that I wouldn't care about you?" Up till now, Lorana's voice had been soft and soothing, now it had some harshness in it.

"Because more and more people are only asking about the baby."

"Have I once not asked about you first?"

"Not yet," Marie said, feeling slightly guilty for yelling at Lorana. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to snap at you, it's just..."

"Say no more, I understand what's going on."

"Will you be the baby's godmother?"

"What?"

"You know how I hate to repeat myself."

"Did you just ask me to be the baby's godmother?"

Marie nodded. "Uh-huh, that's what I asked."

"How does Mark feel about that?"

"Mark isn't the one who's going to be carrying the kid for the next six months and going through labor and the birth. I am, so I get to chose."

"Fair enough; I'd love to be.

Okay, yes, I know they're getting short. The next ones are going to be short also. I'm trying to put less stuff into my chapters, because then I don't have to close too much stuff at the very end. Much love to my readers! –Diva Actress