Disclaimer: Nothing…I still own nothing. Well, except for the characters I made up…I guess I kind of own those. But nothing else.

A/N: Another chapter! This is what I do when I should be doing homework. I must say that this is A LOT more entertaining. And I had to write while I had all these ideas floating in my head, so I won't have to think about what I want to make happen and it'll just kind of pour out while I write. Oh and thanks for all your amazing reviews! Nothing like a cliffhanger to make the reviews pour in like crazy. And now:

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

After the little library incident, no one really talked. Marli's dad had obliged when Marli had asked for the private jet to bring them back to New York that day. Everyone was still processing the events of that day. It was towards the end of March, which was a usually uneventful month with this group. Maybe not this time though.

Mark's head was going bonkers. It couldn't be him. It just couldn't be. He and Maureen hadn't slept together since…oh wait, never mind. Now he remembered. About a week after the whole Alexandria fiasco, Mark was practically always drunk and very, very, outrageously depressed. One day Maureen came into his room and just sort of…um comforted him. Maybe it was her excuse to sleep with him, but since he was drunk and depressed, he kind of let her take advantage of him. And the next morning, she was gone. And he was in his bed, naked…and he really had no idea what had happened the night before. Until now, that is.

Oh shit! That couldn't be fucking happening! As if his life wasn't complicated enough, you have to add a drunken one-night stand with an ex-girlfriend, and possibly a child resulting from this. So that means that he could possibly be the father to three kids all born around the same time. Oh God! Pray that Maureen was a slut enough to sleep with another guy. She always was when they were dating so why not now?

They boarded the plane in Palm Beach's private airport. He was squeezing Marli's hand and her head was on his shoulder. He could tell that she was thinking the exact same thing he was. And she didn't even know the whole story. It was dead silent in the luxurious private plane. That silence held so much emotion and so many thoughts. Everyone wanted to know what had happened. Oh boy did that want to know. But no one had the guts to ask. It just never seemed appropriate. And somehow Mark ended up in a part of the plane with Marli and Maureen, alone.

"Mark, can I talk to you? In private?" Shut up, Maureen! Can't you see that he is really pissed off with you right now?

"Um, not in private."

"But—"

"No buts. Anything you say you can say in front of my wife." He was determined to find out what was going on, but he didn't want to find out alone.

"I'll leave if you really need to talk to him in private…" He could tell by Marli's tone that she didn't want to be there. But he needed her there. He couldn't face whatever news Maureen was about to tell him alone.

"No, Mar, that won't be necessary." He tightened his grip on her hand so she couldn't walk away. She turned to him, and he focused his blue eyes on her amber ones, pleading for her not to go. She sighed and stood by him again. "Go on, Maureen."

"Mark…I'm really, really sorry that you had to hear that. You were never supposed to find out about any of it and it was really stupid of Joanne and I to fight there with both doors wide open. It was even more stupid of me to sleep with you after the whole incident after Christmas. But I was out of it and so were you and it didn't seem so stupid then. I doubt you even remember what happened, you were so trashed. But the good news is, you're not the only possible candidate for the whole mystery dad thing."

"Who else?"

"Um…this guy Joanne works with, Keith. Actually, when we said we hired someone to get me pregnant, we weren't lying. That's where Keith comes in. He was the guy we hired. He's thirty-five and probably never going to get married, but he always wanted a kid. So we figured that it would be an easy solution for all us to have kids if Keith got me pregnant and whatnot. We didn't have sex or anything though. It was done the artificial way. So as far as he knows, there could've been a lab mix-up. He's going to want a paternity test after the baby's born, but he already said that even if there is some sort of lab mix-up, he still wants to be the dad. Consider this your get of jail free card."

"Wait, but how could there have been a lab mix-up?"

"Well Mark, remember that time you participated in medical research?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, the lab could've easily screwed up and put your specimen in the wrong pile to go to the sperm banks and voila, lab-mix up!"

"Ok…just one question."

"Yeah?"

"When you did this whole thing with Keith…when did that happen?"

"Actually, right before I slept with you. Oh wow, that complicates things even more, doesn't it?"

"No shit."

"Don't worry about it. I doubt it's yours anyway. We probably used protection. I can't really remember, and I doubt you can. But the point is, more likely than not, it's Keith's. And even if it is your, don't worry, it's Keith's. He wants to be a dad and you're already going to be a dad to twins so calm down. You'll just be dear old Uncle Mark, even if the baby is yours. And I will once again repeat that I doubt it is. Ok?"

"Um, okay."

"Good. I need to get back to Joanne. Thanks for this wonderful little chat. 'Bye." Mark had so many other questions, but he figured there was time for them later. He opened his mouth to say goodbye, but she was gone.

Marli was speechless. She liked to think that the whole time they broken up, he was drunk and crying and never left his room. Not having drunken sex with his ex-girlfriend that he wouldn't remember and possibly ended up in him getting her pregnant. This could be quite an issue.

Mark kissed her forehead and lifted her chin with his hands. He loved her, he really did. He never loved Maureen, this she knew. It's just…wow! Her husband slept with another woman. Given, they were broken up, but it was still a lot for a girl to comprehend. She decided to forgo thinking for once, though. She had a husband who loved her and she loved him. They were going to have twins and Maureen had granted Mark a freebie. Everything, no matter how dysfunctional, was somewhat falling into place.

"Mar…are you okay? Listen, about everything…"

"Babe, don't worry about it. I understand. I understand completely. And besides, what's done is done, right? Nothing you can do about it now."

"Right. And regardless of what ends up happening, I will only be an uncle to that baby. For our babies," he placed a hand on Marli's slightly showing stomach, "I'm going to be a dad."

Marli smiled and kissed him. She loved him so much. She loved how he always knew how to make things right, even when they were a disaster. She loved the way he always made her feel better. Simply she loved everything about him.

"Come on, Mark. Let's go out there with everyone." And so they walked to chat with their friends.

The next morning, Mark woke up in he and Marli's gorgeous apartment. They decided not to film today, because Marli had a doctor's appointment. Today, if they wanted to, they could find out the sex of the babies. However, there had been some dispute over that. Marli wanted to find out, saying that she wanted to be able to decorate and buy clothes and make it gender-specific. Mark, on the other hand didn't want to know. He thought it should be kept a surprise.

As they were eating breakfast at the deli across the street from their apartment, they discussed names. Sure, she was only four months along, but the doctor said that its not abnormal for twins to be born much earlier, so they decided to start. And besides, Marli was very indecisive, so she needed the time to think about it.

"How about Isabelle for a girl?" Marli seemed to really like that name, but Mark…well he wasn't so fond of it.

"Pass. How about Rosie?"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I was giving birth to a litter of puppies."

"Very funny. I'll take that as a pass?"

"Yeah. Dara?"

"Um, no thanks. It reminds me of this girl I Hebrew-schooled with. Erin?"

"It's too close to Erich. Rebecca?"

"I have a cousin named Rebecca. If we have girls, we should name one Hillary or something with an H."

"Maybe as a middle name, but I don't want my mother crying every time she sees the babies. Lillie?"

"Pass. Kellie?"

"Like Barbie's little sister? No way! Let's talk about boy's names now. Sam?"

"No way am I going to ever have a son named Sam! Then his nieces and nephews will have to call him 'Uncle Sam'. Sorry, that will not be happening."

"Noah?"

"Actually, I kind of like Noah. It's a nice name. You can put that on the maybe list. Nate?"

"That's cute. But it reminds me of this stoner I went to high school with. James?"

"It's nice to know you have better taste in boy's names than you do in girls. Maybe list James. Kevin?"

"Um, no. I know way too many people named Kevin." This went on for another fifteen minutes before they paid their check and left the deli, heading for the hospital.

They got there and took the elevator up to the floor where Dr. Morgan was. When they got into the waiting room, they say Roger and Mimi in the waiting room. "Hey guys. What are you doing here?"

"Um, doctor's appointment. We do have the money to go to good doctors now that I'm doing that soundtrack for your movie, you know." Roger was bit defensive and it was hard to tell if he was a little offended.

"Oh. Speaking of that, how's the soundtrack coming along?" Marli really hadn't heard much word on the soundtrack, and she hoped it was coming along okay.

"It's great. They want me to make my own CD after we're done with the soundtrack. They apparently like me a lot. I've already signed the contract for my debut CD. Their convinced it's going to be big. And they paid a lot as a signing bonus, so that's always helpful. So what's up with you guys?"

"Nothing. We just had an hour long discussion of baby names." Mark said flatly, but smiling at the same time.

"Yeah, we had that conversation last night." Mimi seemed really, really excited about them having that conversation. "Oh Roger! I came up with a new girl's name: Karma!"

"Why the hell would you want to name our baby Karma if it's a girl?"

"Well, what if she turns out to be a bitch? Then people can say 'Karma's a bitch'…I think it's funny."

"I still think it's stupid. Please don't name our baby Karma. If you do, I will personally steal the birth certificate and change the name." Roger was getting really into this semi-threat, while Marli and Mark were laughing hysterically.

Soon a nurse emerged from the door. "Marli Ryan? Did you change your last name? We can discuss that later. Dr. Morgan will see you now. And Mimi Marquez, Dr. Gale will see you now."

Mark turned to Roger. "We should be getting out around the same time. Let's all grab lunch together after."

"Yeah, sounds good. Later!" Roger and Mark both walked off to the separate exam rooms.

When Mark walked into Marli's exam room, she was already in the exam gown. He took a seat next to the table and she grabbed for his hand. Dr. Morgan walked in. "Hey you two. Congrats on the wedding! How was it?"

"Um, eventful," Marli said truthfully, "but good, fantastic."

"Great. And you were okay with flying? Nothing unusual happened?"

"Nope. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Good. So today's an exciting day. You can find out the sex of the babies. If you want to, that is. Would you guys like to find out?"

"Yes!" Marli had to say something before Mark did or else she'd never find out.

"No!" Mark glared at her for saying that she wanted to.

"Well I could tell you Marli and not tell Mark, but I think he'd figure it out anyway. I mean the only reason you probably want to know anyway is so you can decorate and buy clothes…am I correct?" Marli nodded sheepishly and Mark felt as though he had won some sort of battle. "Mark, are you sure you don't want to know?"

"Positive," he stated clearly.

"Alright, well do you at least want to know if the twins are identical or fraternal?"

"Well, yeah, that would be go to know, wouldn't it Mark?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "We can find that out."

"Ok, well then let's get started!" Dr. Morgan began the ultrasound, checking on the babies' development. She made little comments as she went along until finally, she was going to tell them the only thing they had asked to know. "It looks like you guys are going to have identical twins! You both are in for quite a handful!" She made notes in the folder.

"What are you writing?" Marli's tone was extremely curious, like that of a child.

"Oh just some notes. Identical twins, the sex of both the babies. You know, stuff like that."

"So, everything is in that folder?" Marli's tone was extremely mischievous, and that scared Mark.

"Yeah, pretty much." Suddenly, Dr. Morgan's beeper went off. "Oh, I have to go take a call really quick! I'll be back in a couple of minutes!" She ran off to take the call.

"Mark? Which one of those babies do you think is ugliest?" Marli gestured to the wall of pictures of the babies Dr. Morgan had successfully delivered.

"Marli! That's so mean! They're all babies and all babies are cute!"

"The third one on the left?"

"Marli that's so me— yeah, third on the left, it's like it's staring at me. It looks like an alien, doesn't it?" He turned around to see his wife trying to sneak a fast glance at the folder. She dropped the top of the folder as soon as she saw him looking at her. "Oh my god! You were trying to trick me into not paying attention so you could find out the sex of the babies!"

"Well, initially, yes. But I didn't see it before you turned around. I have no idea where she wrote it down, but she certainly made it hard to find!"

"You're lying!"

"No, I'm not. I seriously didn't get to see it."

"Yeah, okay."

This went on back and forth for about another five minutes before Dr. Morgan came back in and told them they were free to leave. As they left the room, Roger and Mimi had just been released from their appointment as well. Mark decided to take them out to lunch at the place he and Marli went sometimes after work for dinner. Mark asked Dr. Morgan one last thing before they left. Once seated, they decided to talk about their appointments.

"So, we're having a boy." Mimi said lightly, sipping her water and looking at the menu.

"Oh, that's great, congrats guys." Mark really meant it.

"Thanks man. How about you?" Roger asked as he read thru the menu.

"Well, we're having identical twins. Mark wouldn't let us find out the sex of the babies." Marli glared at her husband, who was innocently drinking his water.

"But you know, don't you Marli?" He didn't even wait for Marli's answer before going on. "Marli decided to take a look and see the sex of the babies in the folder when I was looking at the wall of pictures."

"I didn't see the sex of the babies! You turned around before I could." The waitress came and they ordered. "I seriously didn't!"

"It's okay. Because I asked Dr. Morgan on the way out what the sex of the babies are. Now we both know that they're girls!" Mark exclaimed this quite triumphantly! He had beat Marli at her own game! Ha! Folder look-up that! He turned to her to see a look of utter shock on her face! "You really didn't know?"

At the same time as he said that she said to him, "We're having girls?"

"Yeah. You really didn't see, did you?"

"No. I really didn't! Oh my god! We're going to have girls!"

"Congrats," Mimi and Roger said in unison.

"Thanks." Mark and Marli then said in unison before sharing a quick kiss, just as the food came to the table. "That was quick." He said lightly.

A/N: Whoo hoo! Longest chapter yet! And yes I admit that I stole the whole trying to look at the sex of the babies thing from FRIENDS. I couldn't resist! Keep the reviews pouring in!