First off...CONGRAT SHOUT OUTS TO ELISE, AUBURNMISTRESS, and ELPHABAGLINDA who knew where "Life of the Party" came from in the last ch.For the ones of you who don't know...shame on you, lol..."Life of the Party"comes from the off-Broadway production of "The Wild Party". It is a song in the show which is sung by the very talented Ms. Idina Menzel; she plays the character of Kate. I highly recommend you find it and listen to it!

Now for my fic. Here's the next ch. obviously. Thanks for everyone who reviewed the last ch. I'm glad that the reason was a surprise to some of you...that's what I was hoping for. Enjoy!

(Joanne's POV)

I was standing in the kitchen pouring wine into some glasses when I heard the front door open. For some reason I got nervous; I could see the wine bottle shaking in my hand. This was it; I was going to sit Maureen down tell her how much I really appreciate her and love her, then show her just how much. I took a deep breath, grabbed the wine glasses, and walked out to greet Maureen.

"Hi baby," the sight of her made me smile. However, from the look on her face I quickly realized that she wasn't having a good day. "What's wrong?" I sat the glasses down and walked over to her. I had figured when she walked into our apartment with it looking like this that she wouldn't be able to contain her excitement; but if she was happy right now she was doing a good job at covering it up. She looked tired, emotionally tired. She hadn't taken her eyes off of me once since I walked into the room. I could always tell so much about how Maureen was feeling or thinking by just looking into her eyes; right now I could see the hurt, questions, and anger she was holding inside.

When I reached her I began rubbing her shoulders again asking her what was wrong. I didn't get a response though. She basically collapsed into my arms, sobbing. Where was this coming from? What had happened to her today? All day I had been excited, nervous, and anxious for tonight. I thought this was going to be one of the best nights of my life…not just because of the sex, but for the fact that I thought that after tonight we would be the old Joanne and Maureen again…something was telling me right now that my evening was not going to go as planned.

I held her in my arms, her sobbing into my shoulder, as I walked her over to the couch. I gently lifted her head off of me, looking her straight in the eyes. Her eyes telling me that something was truly bothering her right now. "Maureen what is wrong?" I was becoming worried now of what could possibly be wrong.

She sniffled a little bit before being able to speak to me. "It's beautiful Joanne," she gazed around looking at the decorated apartment. "I love it…I love you." She looked back over at me, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Maureen, that's not all." It was very apparent to me she was hiding something from me right now. These tears were not that of happy tears. "Something happened; what?" My nerves had caused my voice to become shaky; lately no good news had happened so why should this news be any different. "Please just tell me baby," I reached over rubbing the top of her leg, trying to get her to open up to me.

"I talked to Eden today," her voice was very somber. She was again looking up at me, "she told me Joanne." This confused me even more. What could Eden of told her that would make her this upset. Eden was always saying something to Maureen, but it had never caused to become as upset as she seemed now.

"What did she say to you?" I was almost angry at Eden. Lately Eden had seemed to be pushing Maureen's buttons as much as possible. And to make Maureen this upset, she most of really let into her. I've always known that Eden didn't like Maureen even before Eden had joined our little family….oh shit, she wouldn't have.

"She told me about you and her." My heart stopped. I froze; I didn't know what to say. Eden and I had agreed never to tell anyone…especially Maureen and Mark….about the two of us knowing each other before she met Mark. I just felt it best for everyone if no one knew. We were both drunk that night and then eventually I was able to convince Eden I wasn't leaving Maureen…so nothing came of it, end of story…or so I thought.

"Look Maureen, nothing happened," the hurt in her eyes was very evident. I reached over and put my hand against her cheek, softly rubbing her cheek with my fingers. "I was upset that night. I got drunk and she was there. I know that's not an excuse, but…" my words trailed off as I could feel her warm tears hitting my hand. Why would Eden have to tell her this now…at a time like this. Why didn't I just tell her about it when it happened? The pain that I was trying to spare her at the time was now being put on her at the most difficult time of our relationship. This is why I never told her because I knew how upset it would make her. And I never wanted to be the cause of any type of pain or hurt that Maureen was feeling.

"Joanne just tell me why?" I hated seeing her hurt like this and it was worse knowing that I had caused it.

I released her face my touch, tightly grabbing hold of her hand. "I was hurt and I was mad at you. I shouldn't have gone back to her place, I know I shouldn't have…but I did. And I never should have…kissed her." When I said this her body hunched over and I could hear the crying get stronger. Her body was trembling underneath my touch. "Baby I promise," I lifted her face up to look into my eyes, "I only kissed her that was it. And I know that's bad enough, but I stopped it from going anywhere. As soon as I realized what was going on I stopped it. Maureen I love you." She smiled a little hearing me say this and nodded her head.

"I know you do…and I love you too." She reached over and placed her other hand over top of our already adjoining hands. "Ok so I get that you kissed her and that you stopped it, which I'm glad to know. And Eden told me how you even refused to meet her afterwards and everything, but why are friends with her now?" This was a good question; a question I had expected her to ask me. A question that I had asked myself many times once Eden started dating Mark.

"Well when I first met her as Mark's girlfriend we had a talk one evening. I explained that if she would try to persuade me that you weren't good enough or anything that I couldn't be around her at all. She told me she was sorry for how she had acted and that she just wanted to be friends. I just couldn't tell her that we couldn't be friends; I actually get along with her as friends. I think Eden just needed a friend; even back when we first met." She just sat there; staring at me. I could tell processing everything she had just heard. I wish she would just say something so I knew what she was thinking right now. I'm praying that she doesn't leave me now because of this. I need her more than anything now; she has to forgive me.

"Pookie," she pouted her lips, "is she a better kisser than me?" A little sheepish grin came over her face.

I smiled knowing this meant she was feeling better about what she had found out. "No one even compares to you." I leaned over towards her and pulled her closer, our lips meeting for the first time in what seemed like forever…at least while we were sober. Her lips were just as soft and tender as I remembered. Our kiss was so intense, so passionate; I held her as tight as I could, never wanting to let her go. However, realizing that there were so many more things I needed to say to her.

"Baby," I pulled away from the tight grasp she too had on me, "I need to talk to you about something else before we go any further here." I sat up staring at her; trying to be serious. We had to talk about everything that had happened lately. We really hadn't got a chance too. And if we were going to get back to where we were before Steve happened, we had to talk about things.

"Ok, what is it?" She seemed much happier now from when she first walked into the apartment earlier. She lay down on the couch, resting her head in my lap. Her eyes gazed up at me; she had the most intense, beautiful eyes that I had ever seen. I started running my hair threw her massive curls; it always relaxed me for some reason to play with her hair.

"I just wanted to tell you how much I truly appreciate how patient you have been with me lately. And I know it couldn't have been easy with you still trying to get over Steve beating you up. Thank you so much Maureen, I love you so much for that. I don't think I could have made it through this without you." Saying this all aloud to her, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. She has meant so much to me, especially recently and I just wanted her to know how much I do really need her and love her. I was finding it hard for once in my life to come up with just the right words to express what I was thinking, what I was feeling.

"You would have done the same thing. I would have waited as long as I had to wait for you. I would do anything I had to do to keep you with me." She smiled up at me with that little seductive smile of hers…this was the old Maureen coming out of her, the flirty and horny Maureen…but I loved her still, I loved every aspect of this woman. "I wanted to be there, I always do."

I smiled back down at this woman who is truly beautiful, inside and out. Someone who honestly loved me and who I wanted in my life always. "When we have to go through this whole court ordeal with Steve, I want us to be able to openly talk about it. I don't want you to be afraid to say something to me thinking I may break. Because as long as I have you Maureen I'll never break." I felt a stray tear begin to fall from my eye.

"I promise. But you have to promise me the same thing. If you feel scared or hurt whatever you have to come talk to me. I want to be here for you and I want you to be there for me. I wouldn't want anyone else by my side through this." Her flirty attitude had diminished and she had become very serious in these moments. "I couldn't imagine my life without you…you keep me sane and protected; and make me feel more loved and wanted than I have ever felt before in my entire life."

"I love you," I pushed away the hair that had been covering part of her face revealing this beautiful face smiling up at me from my lap. She was glowing, she looked truly happy.

She sat up and straddled me on the couch; our faces only inches from one another's. "I love you too," she whispered to me. I wrapped my arms around her waist pulling her body as close to mine as possible. It had been such a long time since I had felt her touch and that she felt mine. Our lips again met in a passionate embrace. This feels so real, so true…so right.

And just as always we were interrupted…don't people have anyone else to bother. Except for this time it wasn't the telephone which we could have easily ignored; it was a pounding at the door. We could hear someone screaming from the hallway, "Joanne, open up please, it's Eden."

So, your opinions/comments/suggestions please. I'm not real sure right now where I'm taking this fic. I have so many ideas I just don't know. So I await your reviews to figure it out. So the quicker I receive reviews, the quicker I write the next ch., the quicker you guys get to read the next ch. Don't forget go check out Idina singing "Life of the Party". Thanks for reading!