Chapter 2:
"I cannot believe that you're going to be taking care of an 8 year old!" Roger exclaimed with a laugh. Everyone was gathered in the loft around noon for lunch.
"Shut up!" Mark said sternly.
"I mean, come on, Mark. You can barely take care of yourself, let alone a child! What were you thinking? Where will she stay? Sure that money will help, but for how long? What about school? And clothes? She has a life too you know, and now she's being dumped into ours."
"Roger, she can have your room," Mimi said from her seat on the ground resting between his legs.
"Excuse me? Where will I sleep then? Or have you already forgotten about your boyfriend?"
"No, I haven't forgotten about you. But we have been talking about moving in together for a while now, and now's our chance. Come on Roger. Please?" Roger rolled his eyes.
"Fine. I'll move my stuff outta here today while Mark's going to pick up Andie."
"We're all going to help out Mark, don't worry about that," Angel said from where she was in the kitchen. She was trying to teach Maureen to cook, but it wasn't coming out so well.
"Thanks you guys."
At 4:30, Mark and Joanne left to get Andie. The only reason Joanne went was if there was any legal work needed to be done, and since Mark didn't know a thing about legal work, Joanne offered her assistance. They took the subway into the city, and walked to the child services center were Andie was. As soon as Mark walked into the building, Andie ran up to him, and threw her arms around his neck.
"Uncle Mark!" she exclaimed. Mark was slightly taken aback by the sign of affection. He knew that the only reason that Andie was treating him like this was because she needed a shoulder to cry on.
"Hi honey. Don't you worry, you're going to come and live with me now," he said as he gently stroked her back in an attempt to get her to stop crying.
"Really? I'm going to live with you? Grandma and Grandpa told me that it was only for a little while, and that I would really be staying with them. Is Becky coming too?"
"No, I'm afraid not. Your parents wanted her to stay with your Grandparents, but she can still visit on weekends." Andie's face fell. Joanne was immediately moved with pity.
"Who's that?" Andie asked, nodding towards Joanne.
"That's my friend, Joanne. She's a lawyer, so she's going to make sure that all the paperwork's filled out." Andie's eyes got big as she nodded.
"Oh, Maureen's girlfriend." Mark burst out laughing. He didn't realize that Andie knew about him and Maureen breaking up. Joanne blushed. This was embarrassing to her.
"Well, um, Mark, we should get the stuff filled out and go. Not that I'm in a rush or anything. Maureen's making dinner tonight, so I might end up at the Life Café."
"Yeah, sure, okay." Andie slid her hand into Mark's, and they made their way to the front desk. After nearly an hour of filling out paper work that Joanne insisted on reading, and rereading, the trio was ready to leave.
"Do we really get to ride on the subway?" Andie asked with a glitter in her eye. "Mommy and Daddy don't…didn't like the subway." The glitter was gone, as was the smile. They were replaced with painful shadows that Mark understood. He had, after all, just lost his sister.
"You bet we get to ride the subway sweetie, it's how we get around New York most of the time when we don't walk," Joanne said, trying to distract the heartbroken child.
"Don't you have cars for that?"
"We don't have cars. There's nowhere to park them, and it's easier to walk or take the subway. Plus, cars can expensive."
"Oh," Andie said simply.
Andie seemed shocked when she, Joanne, and Mark got to Avenue A. She looked around wide eyed, not knowing what to think.
"Is this really where you live?" she asked. Mark picked her up.
"Yep. We live in that building right there." He pointed to their building. "Along with Joanne, Maureen, Roger, Mimi, Angel, and Collins. We don't live in the same apartment though. You and I are going to live in the very top apartment."
"Cool! Can we go on the roof?"
"Of course!"
Mark and Andie left Joanne at the door to the apartment that she shared with Maureen on the second floor. The nice thing about their building was each floor had a single apartment, and there were 5 floors in the building, so no one else besides the eight friends lived there. When Mark and Andie got up to their apartment, Mark immediately began to show her around.
"This is the kitchen/dining room/family room area right here. This is also where I work," he said as he placed her suitcase on the couch. He took her hand, and led her to her room. "And this, this is your room. You're lucky, this apartment has two bathrooms, and so you have one to yourself. My room is next to yours; so if you need anything, just let me know. Does that sound good?" Andie nodded silently. "Do you want me to help you unpack?" Andie shrugged. She had been silent since they had arrived at the apartment building. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" Mark asked as he sat down on the bed. Andie clambered up onto his lap.
"I miss my Mommy and my Daddy," she cried as she buried her face into her chest. Mark gently stroked her hair in an attempt to calm her down.
"I know I know sweetie. I'm here right now, I'm going to take care of you."
"Will I be able to see Becky again?" Becky was twelve, and thought that she was superman, and that she didn't need help from anyone. Andie adored her sister, but unfortunately, Becky didn't feel the same way.
"Of course. Just not as often as before. She's going to live with Grandma and Grandpa in New Jersey, but you'll still be able to see her. Plus, there's all your friends from school you can hang out with, and of course, yours truly." Andie giggled.
"Why would I want to spend time with you?" she asked. Mark could tell that she was trying to mimic her sister, but wasn't being very successful.
"Excuse me missy? Did I hear that right?" Mark began to tickle Andie, causing her to squeal, and roll onto the bed in fits of laughter.
"Stop! Stop please!" she gasped between laughs. After a few minutes, Mark finally stopped.
"Say we find some food in this dump, and start to get you unpacked?" Andie nodded as she followed her Uncle into the kitchen. He dug around in the refrigerator, and pulled out two cartons of Chinese food. "All I have for dinner is left-over Chinese food from two nights ago. Is that alright? I didn't have a chance to get to the grocery store today." He put both trays in the microwave, and pressed a button.
"That's okay."
Mark and Andie ate in silence. After they were done, Andie was exhausted, so she went to sleep early. Mark stayed up to nearly 2 AM working on his latest documentary about the residents of his apartment building…. who else? When he finally climbed into bed, he saw a small figure standing in the doorway.
"Uncle Mark?" Andie said in a small voice.
"What is it, Andie?" Mark asked.
"I had a bad dream about Mommy and Daddy. Can I sleep with you tonight?" she padded across the room, and stood at the edge of his bed. Mark slid over, and lifted up the covers.
"Sure, but just for tonight. Tomorrow I want you to meet my friend Angel. She's going to help you decorate your room, so you can sleep in there." Andie nodded sleepily. The second her head hit the pillow she was fast asleep. Mark kissed the top of her golden curls, and lay down next to her. He could do this. He could definitely do this.
A/N: Okay, yeah, me being the amazing writer that I am, I have actually found a way to incorporate the song in which this story is based. The one, the only, the best up-beat song in Rent…La Vie Bohemé! Waits for cheering And I promise you, it won't be a song-fic chapter. The characters will actually sing the song, I'm so excited, but it's going to be a later chapter. In another chapter or two, the story's going to jump ahead to 5 years later, just a warning! While you wait for the next chapter, please read and review! Much love! Oh, I'd like to have a lovely really random contest (I'm off cola until my audition in a week which sucks, so my mind's twisted). I'm famous (or is infamous a better word?) to leaving wacked-out reviews. Your job, leave the weirdest and yet most helpful review. I'll let you all know who the winner is! Good luck!
Tina101