Disclaimer: Rent isn't mine!

A/N: I am once again very disappointed in you all. Not only has my last chapter, one of the best I might add, gotten one review (although I am very thankful for that one ), it has gotten very few hits! And it has been up for over a day. This is strike two. One more strike and less frequent updates. I don't want to do that, but if this continues I will be forced to. OK? Because I really wanted to know what you thought about what had happened and only one person cared enough to do so. So be dolls and review.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

When Mark woke up, he was in Marli's hospital room. He had had the weirdest dream. In this dream Marli was pregnant and he fainted. But that was definitely a dream. I mean there's obviously no way that could've happened to them in real life.

"Mark, are you okay?" It was Marli. She was still in the hospital bed with the IV's hooked up, but she was looking better.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had the strangest dream. The doctor came in and said you were pregnant. And then I fainted. That was pretty much the dream."

"Um, Mark? I hate to burst your bubble, but that wasn't a dream. The doctor did come in and say that I'm pregnant and you did faint."

"Wait, what? Oh my god…how did this happen?"

"Well you know Mark, when a man and a woman really love each other…"

"Not like that! I know that, I'm not retarded! I mean how could it have happened to us? We were really careful."

"I guess we weren't careful enough. I told the doctor not to tell anyone, by the way. He was going to, but we need to talk about this before anyone can find out. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. I mean, I've had all of three minutes to think about it. You've had much longer. And besides, you're the one who's pregnant, not me. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I mean obviously, the time in my life is right. I have an established career, and a very flexible one at that, I'm the perfect age, it's just…we aren't married, we just got back together today, there's so much to be thought about."

"I know what you mean. I always saw myself having kids eventually, hopefully while married to you. But this is just so sudden and so unplanned."

"I know, I would hate to have a baby while I'm not married. But I'm not really sure I want to have an abortion either. I mean, I always thought I would do the latter if I got pregnant when I wasn't married. But I also assumed if that had ever happened, I would be a teenager when it did. It's not like I couldn't give a baby a good life. Hell, I could give it a great one. It's just so complicated…"

"We could get engaged…"

"Okay Mark, must say, not my dream proposal. No girl wants a shotgun wedding."

"Well, technically, it would be a bit shotgun, but I wanted to eventually marry you anyway, so I guess it really wouldn't be, would it?"

"Maybe not, but everyone would assume it was shotgun."

"Eh, I sort of have a plan that takes care of that…"

"Which is?"

"Well, let's say I propose this week. Then we go and tell everyone. Then a week after, we say that we found out you were pregnant. It makes sense. As far as they're concerned, we found out you're pregnant after we got engaged. We might have to move up the wedding a little bit, but it won't necessarily be shotgun."

"That just might work," Marli said ponderously, "this is why I love you! You're an absolute genius! I love you, I love you, I love you."

"And I love you and I love our baby. Okay, so let's have people start visiting you. I will duck out and go get your engagement ring. Then you will just be absolutely surprised from then on. I love you Mar. Do you want your sister to come in first?"

"Yeah, send Alicia in. Also, my parents and Erich if they're here. Oh and if anyone asks, I'm dehydrated. Tell the doctor to tell them that as well. Sound good?"

"Great." He busied himself putting on his scarf.

"Mark, are you planning on having anyone go with you?"

"I don't know. Probably Roger, just to have someone with me. Why?"

"Oh well, you can tell Roger about the baby. No one else though, make sure he doesn't tell anyone. My ring size is a seven."

"Ok babe," he gave her a kiss, "I'll be back by nighttime. It's about three now. Love you."

Mark's heart was racing against his ribcage. He didn't know why he was so nervous. Marli already knew about everything. Maybe it was the fact that he'd be admitting to Roger what was going on, and that he was almost sure that Roger would tell Mimi, who would tell Maureen, who would tell everyone. But there was a zero to none chance that Roger would go with him unless he told Roger everything.

On his way to the waiting room, Mark stopped and told Marli's doctor about what they wanted everyone to know. He was apprehensive, but he agreed. After all, they needed to finish talking this out.

Mark continued walking until he came to the waiting room. Marli's whole family was there and everyone wanted to know how she was. "She's fine. She was just dehydrated." He told everyone calmly and then went over to Alicia, Erich, and Marli's parents and told them that Marli wanted to see them. He told him her room number and they went off.

Mark didn't even need to go to Roger before Roger came to him. "Mark, I need to talk to you. Outside of the hospital. Now."

"Funny I wanted to do the same thing with you. I need you to come with me somewhere anyway. I'll explain after you're done."

They stepped into the elevator and once they got outside, Roger started. "I don't know how to say this, so I guess I should just come out and say it shouldn't I?" Mark nodded, utterly confused, not really wanting to know what was going on. "Well, today I found out something that kind of worries me…a lot. It's going to have such a big impact though. I guess I should tell you what it is shouldn't I? You are my best friend, aren't you?" Mark once again nodded, realizing completely how strangely Roger was acting. "Okay well today Mimi told me that she's pregnant. And that really scares me. I mean I love kids and everything; it's not that at all. It's just that I'm worried about it. I mean she just got off the drugs six months ago and we both have AIDS. Which means the baby probably will too. I'm so scared, Mark. And I don't know what to say or ask or talk about. What do I do Mark?"

To this question, Mark just laughed. He really shouldn't have, but the irony was just so great that he did. This time, it was Roger who was utterly confused. "What? Why are you laughing Mark? This isn't funny! It isn't fucking funny Mark! This is very serious."

"I know, I know it is. It's just kind of…you know what I'm just going to say what I had to say. Is that cool?"

"Um, yeah, I guess."

"Okay, well you need to come with me to get Marli an engagement ring."

"What, why? You guys just got back together and you went out for like four months. What the hell are you thinking?"

"She's pregnant."

"Wait, what? She's pregnant? Wow, Mark, I must say I'm extremely surprised. I would never have expected you of all people to get a girl pregnant. In fact I've always kind of thought that the idea of you spawning was kind of scary."

"Thanks Rog, thanks a lot."

"Well I didn't mean it like that. I mean you started laughing when I told you about Mimi. Don't tell anyone about that by the way."

"I won't as long as you keep Marli's condition secret and say it's dehydration for at least a week."

"Why a week?"

"Because we are going to be engaged and then she will 'find out' she's pregnant. That way it won't seem shotgun."

"But it is, isn't it?"

"It is what?"

"Shotgun." Roger's tone pretty much implied that he thought Mark was smarter than that.

"Well, technically, I guess it is. But not really. We knew we'd get married eventually, but we just figured it would be a long time from now. We're just speeding it up a bit. Hopefully, everything will be okay. I can't say I'm not nervous, I mean we haven't been dating long, but it feels right."

"Yeah. At least I'm already engaged to Mimi. Does Marli know you're proposing?"

"Yeah, I kind of had to tell her in order for the plan to work. But that's okay. She can act surprised."

"Whatever you say Mark, whatever, you say.

They walked around for three hours trying to find the perfect ring before finding it. It was a two-karat radiant cut with two one-karat side stones set in platinum. It would be the envy of a lot of people. Too bad it took Marli getting pregnant for her to get it.

Back at the hospital Marli was visiting with people. She really didn't want to. Truth be told, all she wanted to do was sleep. She was tired and had been way too worried about her situation to sleep while Mark was out of it. In fact, even with the plan she was still worried. A baby. Shit!

Finally, the last of the visitors left and Marli finally thought she could get some sleep. That was when the door opened…again. She prayed it would be Mark. But instead, it was Mimi.

"Hey," Mimi said shyly, "you don't mind, do you? It's just Roger went somewhere with Mark and I don't want to be all alone."

"No, I don't mind. I guess it would be nice to have company." That was half true. Marli did want to sleep, but she hated being alone. When she was alone, she would think and that was something she didn't need to do right now. "If I fall asleep on you, don't get mad." Mimi nodded and Marli realized it was better to have her around than Mark. He was a part of her problem and would probably want to talk about it, which would lead to thinking about it, which would lead to problems.

"Marli? If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone?"

"Of course. That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

"Right. So if you hear this, you're going to be the only person who knows besides Roger. Here goes…I'm pregnant."

"You are?"

"Yeah. And this is really the worst possible time it could happen. We don't really have a lot of money. I just really got off the drugs like six months ago and both of us have AIDS, which means there's a big chance of the baby getting it."

"Don't worry. We can give you money if you need it, we'll all makes sure you're off heroin for the rest of your life…in fact the baby might give you something that makes it easier to stay off. And I was reading an article just the other day about how they have ways to make sure babies don't get the virus from their parents. I don't really remember how, but it has something to do with AZT."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and we'll all be here for you guys. I pretty much know how you feel. Somewhat. Except without as many problems." Oh shit. Fuck! Shit! She basically just admitted that she was pregnant to Mimi. And Mimi wasn't stupid, she was going to catch on.

"Wait, Marli…did you basically just say you're pregnant."

"Yes. But that never leaves this room. Not yet anyway. Mark and I have a plan. Everything will be fine."

"And what is this plan?"

"We're going to get engaged this week, then next week we will announce that we just found out we're having a baby. That way, the wedding doesn't seem shotgun."

"But it is shotgun isn't it?"

"Technically, I guess it kind of it, but we knew we'd eventually get married, this is just sort of speeding up the process. Everything will be fine. Besides, I know it'll be good for Mark and I."

"Yeah, you guys will be great parents. Roger and I…well we're basically the poster children for screw-ups. The thought of us having kids is pretty much really scary for the world."

Marli laughed. "You guys will be great. I just don't want to be there when the baby is a week old and Roger decides it's time for the first guitar lesson."

"It's not anymore crazy then Mark taking your baby out filming when it turns a week old."

"I think their both equally amusing. The sad thing is, I can actually see them doing just that. It's a bit on the pathetic side." They both laughed at that and continued to laugh for about five minutes.

The girls chatted for another hour before the boys came back. That was when Mark kicked Mimi out, saying that Marli needed to sleep. The girls exchanged knowing glances before Mimi and Roger both exited.

"Does Mimi know?"

"She figured it out. I know Roger knows. Do you know about Mimi?"

"I do know about it."

"Scary, isn't it? That we're all going to be parents?"

"Absolutely terrifying." He paused. "Mar?"

"Yeah."

"Will you marry me?" He took out that expensive gorgeous ring and held it out. It wasn't a poetic proposal, and it was in a hospital of all places. But she liked it. By proposing in the hospital, he kept the element of surprise in there somewhere. She slipped the ring on her left hand ring finger and they kissed. This was a new beginning and they weren't going to screw it up this time…they couldn't afford to screw up anymore!

A/N: TADA! CHAPTER 11! LIKE THE BANKRUPTCY…but not really. Okay, so I like this chapter even though not a lot happens…it was more of a building chapter. I can't stress enough the importance of reviewing! Do it, do it!