Hey guys, thanks everyone for your reviews from last chapter. And it looks like I will be adding some more drama to this story, I'm kinda glad you guys wanted it that way. This chapter is the longest chapter I think I have in this story. POVs change a few times throughout this story, so make sure to take notice.

(Maureen's POV)

Joanne and I walked out of the apartment to go meet everyone for dinner. For some reason Joanne kept insisting that we leave early, I really wasn't sure why though and she wouldn't tell me either. We weren't even walking in the direction of the Life, she had something up her sleeve, and I wish I knew what. After we had been walking about five blocks in silence I finally spoke up.

"Hey Pookie, where are you taking me?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," she knew I hated being out of the know, she always said stuff like that when she wanted to torcher me. "And who said I was taking you anywhere?" I could tell she was attempting to be all cute and flirty; and even though she always looked sexy and cute when she acted like that, I wasn't in the mood to play games right now.

I pulled my hand away from hers, "then what are we doing walking in the wrong direction. The Life is the other way." I was getting slightly irritated that she wouldn't even give me a hint. I turned around and headed back in the other direction. She just stood there, didn't try to stop me at all. After I had been walking about a block without her chasing me down, I stopped and turned around to see why she wasn't chasing after me. But little did I know she was chasing me down, because when I stopped and turned around she ran right into me.

"About time," I was pouting. "What took so long? You going somewhere that you really don't want to take me anyway, so it doesn't matter if I'm with you or not." I wasn't mad by any means, I was just pouting because she wouldn't tell me where we were going.

"Quit pouting and come on," she grabbed my hand and drug me back in the other direction. "Just trust me ok." She squeezed my hand and leaned her head over so that I would have to look her straight in the eyes. I got this grin on my face, I was trying not to give in, but I couldn't help from smiling at her. She laughed when she saw that I was grinning, she wrapped her arm around my waist, kissed me on the cheek and we continued on our way…somewhere.

(Maureen's POV)

Finally, we made it to Central Park. This was my surprise, a trip to Central Park, woo-hoo. We walked into the park and sat down at a bench. It was a nice fall day out and the park was packed with people. There were kids on rollerblades skating through cones they had sat up, challenging each other to see who could do it the fastest. There were random artist sitting around trying to earn a buck or two. Some of them were painting or drawing, others were playing random instruments, and yet others were dancing. Of course, the always famous New York City vendors were out, Joanne had gone over to get us a couple of drinks while I sat there and watched all this life happening around me. Joanne quickly returned and sat down beside me. She draped her arm around me and I laid my head on her shoulder. I had even managed to drap my leg over her's. Occasionally, I'd sneak in a peck on her cheek or neck. She'd just look down at me and smirk. She usually didn't like a lot of PDA, but I don't think she cared today.

I looked up at one point and saw this old couple sitting together on another bench. He was whispering to her and she was smiling and laughing at his comments. Their old wrinkled hands were latched together; you couldn't tell whose hand was whose. They were absolutely adorable. I lifted up my head and gazed into Joanne's eyes, "I want to be like that, with you." She looked over to the old couple realizing what I was talking about. "I want to be that old and still that much in love with you." This was one of the most honest comments I had ever made in my life.

As she turned back to face me, I could see this hug smile that had come across her face. "Maureen I think that may be the sweetest thing you've ever said," pure bliss was shining from her eyes. She leaned over to me and embraced me into a passionate kiss. "And I want us to be like that too."

Apparently some little tourist kid, he had an I heart NY shirt on; no one who actually lives in New York wears those, saw us kissing. I guess this wasn't something he was use to seeing because he just pointed at us and shouted, "eww mommy those two girls were kissing. That's disgusting. Mommy are they going to hell?" The mother was quickly running over to grab her son away from the lesbians; he got in a few last comments though. "Mommy look at her face, what is wrong with her? Why does that other girl want to kiss her for?" His mother was quickly dragging him away from us, attempting to shut him up.

I just put my head down and stared at the ground; I couldn't even look at Joanne. The comments he made about us being together didn't really bother me. I'm not embarrassed that I have a girlfriend; Joanne treats me better than any guy I've ever dated, but still just to hear that little kid say that, it just got to me I guess. But what really got to me was what he had said about my face. I was having such a wonderful time with Joanne that I had completely forgotten about my encounter with Steve…maybe that's what Joanne was going for…then this little kid brought all that reality back to me. However, no one else around us seemed to even notice though, except for the obvious tourists.

I could see Joanne looking at me; I could tell she was worried about me. She was rubbing my back; her touch was always so gentle and loving. "Maureen, come here," Joanne had stood up and was reaching her hand out to me.

"What?" I sounded like a poor, defenseless child.

"Just come here," her tone was so soft.

I got up and she led me closer to two guys who were playing a guitar and a saxophone. When we got closer she wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, "dance with me," it was so sweet. I draped my arms around her neck, she seemed pleased that I had actually obliged to her request. The men started playing "Forever in Love". Joanne began to softly sing the lyrics to me, And I know, There is nothing that I would not do for you, Forever be true, And I know, Although times can be hard, We will see it through, I'm forever in love with you, I felt a tear flow down my cheek, it was beautiful. I laid my head down on Joanne's shoulder as she continued to sing; I closed my eyes; I wanted to remember this moment forever.

After the song was over, I lifted my head up to see Joanne smiling. I could see traces of where tears had fallen down her face. She let go of me, but not before kissing me again. She then turned and thanked the men and threw some money into the open guitar case.

"Well if we are going to the Life we better go," she seemed a little disappointed that our Central Park outing had to end; I was too. I know it wasn't a lot, we just sat in the park and danced; but it was actually very nice, I would almost dare to say romantic. Plus, we were together and that counted for a lot.

She grabbed my hand and we started to head to the subway station to go to meet everyone. On the way out of the park we walked by that child again. I was just going to ignore him; however Joanne had other plans. Right after we passed him I felt Joanne slap my ass and leave her hand there.

(Joanne's POV)

We were the last ones to arrive at the Life. Everyone was already seated waiting on us. As we walked in everyone was instantly on their feet racing towards us. Of course everyone was heading straight for Maureen, well everyone except for one person.

Roger had come right up to me and hugged me. "How are you doing?" he seemed to genuinely care. It was nice too. Roger and I had never really been close ourselves; we typically just hung out when Mimi and Maureen were there. But something about this whole incident how brought us closer somehow.

"I'm doing ok," I glanced over to Maureen who was currently being engulfed in Collins' arms. "I'm worried about her Roger," I hadn't taken my eyes off of her. "She's crying one minute and then acts like everything is ok the next."

"She'll be ok Joanne. As long as she has you and your love, she'll be ok." I quickly looked back at Roger with this puzzled look on my face, since when did Roger Davis become a hopeless romantic. And even though this wasn't typical of Roger's attitude, I kind of liked it.

"Thanks." We wrapped our arms around one another and he led me to the table.

We all sat down at the table, all eight of us. Mark took the seat by the wall; he said he got better camera angles that way. Of course Eden took the seat beside him. I had pulled up a seat beside Eden. Later whenever everyone else was drunk, Eden and I would be the most sober, so we tended to always sit beside each other. Maureen was quickly on my other side, her hand already rubbing the inside of my thigh. I think it was her way of reminding me that she was there and maybe a little bit of a reminder of what she wanted to do when we got home. Roger and Mimi had made their way down to the other end of the table to sit across from Mark and Eden. Collins had taken the seat across from Maureen. Then that left the seat across from me and in between Mimi and Collins empty. It was reserved for our eighth member. That was Angel's seat. Ever since Angel had died, we always left an empty seat for her. It was our own personal way of remembering her.

Random conversations had begun between various people. I was just sitting back watching all of them go on. Mainly though I was watching Maureen. She actually seemed to be enjoying herself. She was smiling and laughing; being her old self, I loved seeing her like that, but part of me knew it was just an act. She noticed me watching her once and she leaned over and lightly kissed me, "I love you," she whispered in my ear. She was again quickly back deep into her conversation with Collins.

One of the pitchers of beer was empty, so I volunteered to go up to the bar to refill it. As I was waiting at the bar Eden showed up, she had come up for a refill of soda.

"So how is everything Joanne?" I could see the sincerity in her eyes. Since Eden was one of the ones that found Maureen, I felt like I could open up to her more about the whole situation. Plus, Eden and I had actually gotten close since she and Mark started dating. Eden was just one of those people you, well I, felt comfortable opening up to.

"I think she'll be ok, I really do. I mean in time," I was trying to convince Eden and myself that this was the truth.

"Joanne, I don't want to push but," she paused, took a deep breath, "did Maureen tell you who did this?"

"Why!" I blurted it out very quickly, maybe making it obvious that I knew something I didn't want her to know. "Why do you ask?" I tried to appear calmer when I asked her this time.

"Well, it's just that she told us she didn't know who it was," Eden glanced back over to our table of friends. I could tell a million thoughts were running through her head. She looked back at me with this seriousness about her, "Joanne I think it's someone she knows." I could tell how worried Eden was about Maureen, which kind of seemed odd to me, seeing how the two of them never really got along.

As I got ready to confide in Eden, I happened to glance out the window onto the New York streets. That's when I saw him; Steve was walking by the Life. He had stopped right outside of the restaurant; I was just glaring at him.

Apparently, Eden noticed, "Who's that Joanne?" I turned to see that she too was looking at Steve. She reached over and touched my shoulder, "Joanne, everything ok?"

"Umm, yeah. Hey, Eden would you take the beer back to the table for me? Tell Maureen I went to the bathroom if she asks. Thanks." I took off past a very confused looking Eden to head after Steve.

(Maureen's POV)

Eden had come back to the table, beer in hand, but no Joanne in sight. I started looking around the Life, I couldn't see Joanne anywhere. "Hey Eden, where's Joanne?" I was actually a little concerned. Ever since this happened, Joanne had seemed to continually let me know where she was and kept a tight watch on where I was. However, though we were typically together.

"Oh yeah, she went to the bathroom," her eyes didn't even meet mine when she spoke. She then was quickly offering to pour everyone's beer, making sure not to look up at me. I could tell something was going on; Eden has never been a good liar.

Ok, so don't panic Maureen, maybe she really did go to the bathroom. The last time though she went to the bathroom when we were all together, she had run into Steve in the hallway. My eyes were then quickly scanning to see if Steve was in there.

It had been a few minutes now and still Joanne didn't return. I was becoming frantic by then. Where did she go? Collins was trying to talk to me, trying to keep my mind off of worrying, but I wasn't listening to much he was saying. I was getting too worried about Joanne. "Collins," I interrupted him mid-sentence, "I'm going to go to the bathroom ok."

"Well hey Maureen, how about you just wait here. I'm sure Joanne is fine Maureen; she'll be back any minute. You know how women are in the bathroom." He did have a good point and if Joanne knew how bad I was freaking out just because she had went to the bathroom without me, she'd worry. I was just going to sit here and wait on her; show her I was handling it ok, her not being around me for the first time since Steve, well you know.

(Eden's POV)

"Hey Mark," I pulled the camera down away from his face, "turn that off for a minute, would you?"

"Of course," he quickly had it turned off and was facing me. "What's wrong Eden?" he seemed slightly confused.

"Well, is everything ok with Maureen and Joanne? I mean besides this whole…incident of Maureen's?" I was getting worried that Joanne had went chasing after some guy and told me to tell Maureen she went to the bathroom. And now with Maureen obviously freaking out, I was worried something was really wrong.

He looked completely puzzled by my question, "Well I guess their fine, why?"

"Well," I was slightly hesitant to tell him, I didn't want to start any drama for Joanne and Maureen. That was the last thing they needed right now, but I worried something was really wrong. "When I was up at the bar talking to Joanne, she noticed some guy walking by and ran out of here."

Apparently Mimi had been listening to our conversation because she was quickly adding to it. "Umm, hey Eden just curious, but what did he look like?"

"I really didn't get a good look at him. He was a tall, black guy, that's all I could really tell."

A look of panic came over Mimi's face, like she had just figured something out that worried her, "that's Steve."

Roger too was now in our conversation, "who's Steve?"

Mimi was now trying to be as quiet as possible so that Maureen could not hear us. "Remember Joanne and Maureen getting into that fight at the hospital when Mark was in there?"

I just rolled my eyes, "yes".

"Well it was over Steve."

"So what are you suggesting Meems?" Mark was now intrigued.

Mimi just gave him this look. Apparently he knew what she was thinking. "You can't seriously think that Joanne would cheat on Maureen with him?"

"Honestly, no. But crazier things have happened."

"But even if she was Meems, Joanne wouldn't leave Maureen tonight," Roger quickly added.

"Guys, I don't know if this guy really was Steve, but Joanne didn't seem to have any love for this guy." I couldn't believe Joanne would cheat on Maureen anyway. For some reason, unbeknownst to me Joanne was completely in love with Maureen.

Roger looked down the table starring at Maureen, who was still freaking out about Joanne's absence; poor Collins was running out of things to say to her to try and keep her calm.

Roger turned back to us, this scared look on his face. "Guys," he paused, "you don't think Steve could have been the one that beat up Maureen do you?"

"That would explain why Joanne would run out of here after him," Mark added. This new scenario had made some logical sense, unlike the first one.

"But Maureen told us she didn't know who it was?" Mimi had a point, she did tell us that, but maybe she was just scared; she very easily could have been lying to us.

I then remembered how Joanne reacted when I questioned her about it earlier. I was quickly telling them that, "I asked Joanne earlier who did it. She became very uneasy. You don't think they actually know and just don't want to tell us." Everyone started glancing around at one another, fear and suspicion in each of our eyes.

"We just can't sit here," Roger stated in protective mode. "If it was him, what is going to stop him from beating up Joanne?" We all knew he was right, but we all knew we couldn't mention any of this to Maureen.

"Hey Roger, come on we'll go look for her. We'll tell Maureen we have to run back to your place real quick and that we'll be right back." That was a pretty good cover up, Maureen should buy that; I don't really think though she'll care that Roger and Mark are leaving.

So Roger and Mark got up, went over to tell Maureen their story and left. Now it was just Mimi, Collins, and me to deal with a frantic Maureen; this should be fun.

(Joanne's POV)

I rushed out of the restaurant, hoping that Maureen wouldn't see me and chase after me. That's the last thing that needed to happen; Maureen come face to face with Steve. Once I got outside I saw Steve walking into a small park across the street. Typically, my better judgment would have told me not to follow some guy, especially some guy who had just beat the living shit out of my girlfriend, into a park, but this was a smaller, well lit park; typically a safe park in New York standards. So I raced across the street to track him down.

As I made it into the park I saw him. I walked up behind him and shoved him in the back; he stumbled forward slightly. "You bastard!" I just screamed it at him. "How the hell!" Tears were now flowing from my eyes. He paused for a second, not turning around just yet to face me. I shoved him again, this time though he didn't budge.

He finally turned around to face me. "Look Joanne, it's not like that."

"It's not like what Steve," I was so angry, "you beat her up Steve. You put her in the hospital." He just stood there looking at me; a blank stare plastered on his face. "What type of man are you to do that to woman, huh?" I was still screaming, tears still pouring out my eyes, my body had begun trembling now.

"Joanne, look she deserved it…"

I cut him off right there, "she deserved it? Are you fucking kidding me?" I went straight at him this time, shoving him with every ounce of fight I could muster up. He nearly fell onto the ground, but caught himself on a bench. "How did she deserve it Steve? Just because I wasn't going to leave her for you. Get it through your head I love her, not you." He was just standing there, it was like none of this was even bothering him whatsoever. So I just continued on my rant, "and plus do you really think I'd leave her for you now after you pulled that stunt; not the smartest move Steve." I couldn't contain it any longer, I just punched him square in the jaw. I was trying not to hit him, because here I was bitching at him for doing that to Maureen; but I really didn't care now that I was face to face with him. If I would have had a gun or knife he probably would have been dead.

"Just stop it Joanne," he was rubbing his jaw where I had just hit him. I hope it hurt. He went to walk away but I grabbed his arm. He froze and slowly turned back to me.

"I just want you to know Steve, that if you ever come near her again I'll kill you." I had become calm and stern in that moment. I wanted him to know that I was serious about it; I didn't want him to think that I was just ranting and raving; that I would kill him if he ever went near Maureen again. "I'm serious Steve, leave her alone."

I let go of him and turned back around to go back to the Life; I'd wasted enough time on him already.

So there it was, what did you think? Please review. I hope to have the next chapter up soon, but I'm moving to NYC in a few weeks (sn: if anyone knows someone who needs a roommate i need one) so things are kind of getting a little hectic around here. Oh and just to cover the fact, I do not agree with anything my made up characters (Steve & the little kid in the park) said about Maureen or Joanne. But I hoped you enjoyed it, thanks for reading!