Naomi was at Andie's as often as possible. One weekend though, her parents insisted that she go with them to a party in Washington, D.C., leaving Andie with the Bohemians all weekend. It was a Saturday evening when everything started. Joanne was going up to Mark and Andie's apartment to pick up some of Andie's old clothes for Julie, who was arriving in two days. When they got up to the loft, there was a familiar figure standing at the doorway.
"Becky?" Andie asked. The figure turned around. It was Becky. Andie hadn't seen her sister in about four years. She tried to keep in touch with her, but Becky didn't want anything to do with her. and now, now here she was, standing on her doorstep. She knew that she wanted something. Especially when she threw her arms around her in what would appear to be a sisterly hug, except it held no real emotion.
"Andrea! Oh, I've missed you so much! We have so much to catch up on! I have great news. You have a family again!" Becky exclaimed. Andie couldn't believe it! She had a family. "Oh, hey Uncle Mark. How are you?"
"First of all, it's 'Andie', not 'Andrea'. Secondly, I have no clue what you're talking about. I have a family, and you're not part of it," Andie said firmly before Mark could answer Becky's question.
"What is your problem Andie? Is that anyway to treat your sister?" Andie laughed bitterly.
"My sister? You have got to be kidding me! You show up out of the blue, after four years, four years in which I tried to contact you, but you didn't want anything to do with me, and you expect me to call you my sister? This has got to be a joke. If you just wanted to stop by for a friendly chat, you better go." Mark couldn't believe how Andie was acting, but she did have a point.
"So um, Becky, what brings you to our lovely community?" he asked, hoping to ease the tensions.
"Well, I'll be 18 in a few weeks, making me a legal adult. Now, Grandma and Grandpa told me that my parents wanted me to raise Andie if anything should happen to them, and was too young at the time. Well, now I'm old enough, so I decided to bring by the adoption papers, so Andie can come and live with me." Becky pulled out a packet of papers to hand to Mark, but Joanne grabbed them first. "Umm…excuse me. And you are?"
"Joanne Jefferson, I'm Mark's lawyer."
"Lawyer?" there was a hint of fear in Becky's voice.
"Yeah, his lawyer. I'll look over these papers before Mark does to make sure everything's clear, and then he can decide if he wants to hand over custody to you."
"Okay, great. I'm sure you have my number, I still live with Grandma and Grandpa. Give me a call, and tell me when I can pick up Andie. Bye!" Becky waved cheerfully as she left.
"Can you believe her? just showing up out of the blue, and assuming that you'll give me up without any thought! I can't believe her!" Andie exclaimed the second the trio got inside the apartment. "You're not going to make me leave, are you?" Andie's face was filled with fear.
"I don't know Andie. I can't give you much here. You'd have a better chance of getting into a good college and everything if you go with Becky."
"I can get into a good college now! Something's not right."
"Something's not right about what?" Maureen asked from the doorway. Joanne quickly filled her partner in about the events that had just happened. Maureen immediately began cursing loudly.
"You're not going to let her go…right Mark? At least give pookie a chance to look over the papers."
"Yeah, I want to take a look at those papers too. I have a bad feeling about this too. Becky made it sound like I had already agreed to her proposition."
Joanne sat down on one of the chairs, and began flipping through the papers. Mark pulled up a chair next to Joanne, and they began to talk in low voices. Maureen sat down next to Andie on the couch, and Andie rested her head on her shoulder. She was exhausted for some reason that she didn't know. Even though it was only 9:30, she promptly fell asleep.
"Mark, do you want me to get Andie changed for bed? She's completely out for the night," Maureen asked. Mark looked up.
"What? Oh, yeah, sure. She has a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt on her bed," he replied before going back to his work. Maureen gently woke Andie up, and led her off to her room.
"Do you think that's wise," Joanne asked. "Letting a lesbian, especially one like Maureen get your teenage niece changed for bed." Mark looked at Joanne, and shrugged.
"Maureen's been changing lately. I think Andie's been good for her. She brings her back down to Earth and reality. She wouldn't do anything…would she?"
"Of course not. She's not like that. You're right; Maureen's heart is in the right place."
Maureen found a pair of old pink shorts, and one of Roger's old band t-shirts on Andie's bed. she pulled off Andie's shirt, and pulled on the t-shirt before removing her bra. Andie slumped over. She was out. All the long nights at the Life Café had finally caught up with her. then, Maureen pulled off Andie's jeans, and pulled on the shorts. She gently laid Andie back in her bed, and wrapped the blankets around her. Before she stood up, she gave Andie a quick kiss on the forehead.
"Don't worry chica," she whispered. She had just started calling Andie by her nickname. "Mark won't let you go. Joanne and I need you to help us raise our daughter." Then, she stood up, turned off the light, and closed the door quietly behind her.
"Is she asleep?" Joanne asked. Maureen nodded as she sat back down on the couch, and pulled out one of Andie's teen magazines that she left lying around the loft. Mark was digging through the refrigerator for something to drink.
"You want a beer, Maureen?" he asked, still in the refrigerator.
"Sure, why not?" replied Maureen.
"Hey Mark, you get child support for taking care of Andie, right?" Joanne asked. Mark came back into the room with two bottles of beer, and a bottle of cola in his hand.
"Yeah. Why? I know I'll loose it if I hand over Andie, but I don't use a penny of the money. Whatever money I don't use, I put in a savings account for her. it's not a lot, but it'll help in college."
"Yeah, I know. It says that any money in that account, man, her lawyer must have looked in to you to find this out. Anyway, any money in that account must be handed over to the, wait, this can't be right. I'm glad we looked this over."
"What? What is it pookie?" Maureen asked as she closed the magazine, and crawled across the couch to see what Joanne was talking about.
"Any money in that account, and fifty percent of any money in a trust-fund set up by Mr. and Mrs. Harry Silversmith must be handed over to the new caregiver of Miss Andrea Silversmith. Miss Rebecca Smith."
"What would Rebecca need with that kind of money? She shouldn't even touch that money anyway! That's for Andie's education!" exclaimed Mark.
"Calm down. I'll make a call right now, and have someone down at the office look into Becky. Maybe she's keeping something from us."
"You think?" Maureen replied sarcastically as she took a sip of beer, and went back to her reading material.
Joanne rolled her eyes as she picked up Mark's phone, and began to call someone down at the office.
"Yeah, hello?
Steve, Joanne. Yes, yes, I know it's late, but this is important.
I need you to look into someone for me. I have a client of mine
who's been taking care of his niece for the past five years. Now,
the niece's sister has showed up basically demanding custody of her
little sister. Here's the thing, in the terms of agreement for
this adoption, it says that all of the left-over child support money,
which has been put away in a savings account for college, and fifty
percent of the money in the niece's trust-fund, set up by the
parents before their death, is to go to the sister too. I need you
to look into Rebecca Silversmith, and her grandparents I guess."
Joanne covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "Mark, what are your
parent's names?"
"Cynthia and Jacob Cohen," Mark replied.
"Okay, the grandparent's names are Cynthia and Jacob Cohen. This is top priority. I'll be stopping by around noon tomorrow to pick up whatever you have, and helping you if you get nothing down. Just know that if you get nothing done, I'll sick Maureen on you." Joanne chuckled. Maureen looked up from her reading, and shot her a dirty look. Joanne stuck out her tongue, and continued talking for about five minutes with Steve. "Okay. Remember, top priority. You're the best! Thanks! I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!"
Joanne hung up the phone, and went back to looking over the papers. The rest of the agreements were typical. Visitation rights and things like that.
"It doesn't matter to me Joanne. I'm not letting Andie go," Mark said.
"You're not?" asked Joanne. Mark shook his head.
"No. She's the world to me, and I have a feeling that Becky needs the money, that's why she showed up. Thanks though."
"No problem. We should probably look into why anyway. I'm curious. Becky wanted nothing to do with Andie before, and now she shows up, and acts like they're long-lost best friends. Something's not right." Maureen made a face.
"You think Sherlock?" she commented without looking up from her magazine. Mark shot her a dirty look. "Hey! I'm just saying, anyone could have told you that!" Joanne rolled her eyes, and went back to reading the paperwork while Mark and Maureen bickered for nearly ten minutes.
"Alright you guys!" she finally yelled. "You're going to wake Andie, and at the rate you're going, Mimi, Roger, Collins, Angel, and Benny!"
"I think your yelling took care of that, pookie."
The next afternoon, Joanne rushed home from work early with a packet of papers from her office that Steve had gotten.
"Mark! Mark you home?" she called as she knocked on the sliding door to the loft. Mark opened the door, looking worried.
"What, what's wrong?" he asked.
"I have the information on your niece, and your parents. May I come in?" Mark stepped aside, and let Joanne enter the loft. "You'd better sit down for this." Slowly, Mark sat down on the couch. "Okay, ready? The only reason Becky wants Andie is to pay for the three times your parents have filed for bankruptcy. That won't hold up in court though, if they sue you for not handing over custody. This is why I dug even deeper. Okay, ready? Becky has been kicked out of four schools in five years."
"What? For what?"
"I'm getting there. Fighting in three of them, and possible gang relations in the last one. Now, she's at some expensive private school in Jersey. Your parents have done a good job trying to cover this one up. This will stand up in court. The second I bring this up, the judge won't even consider visitation rights if it's a really good judge." Mark stood up, and began to pace.
"I can't believe this! Becky fighting, and in a gang! This is insane! She was always a sweet child. I know this sounds mean, but Andie was always the rebel growing up, if anything, if either one of them even considered doing something like this, I would have thought it to be Andie, but she's changed now. I wasn't going to give Andie up before, unless there was one hell of a reason, and now, I won't give her up to them for anything. I'm going to call Becky right now, and tell her that if she comes by here again, we'll sue for harassment."
"Do you really think that wise Mark?"
"If I just call her, and tell her no, she'll keep calling, and stopping by, asking why she can't have Andie. What should I tell her if not that?"
"How about you don't want her growing up in the hazardous environment that she would provide?" Mark gave Joanne a friendly hug.
"That's it! You're a genius Joanne!" he picked up the phone, and dialed his parents' phone number. "Yeah, hello Becky? It's Uncle Mark."
"Oh, hey Uncle Mark! Made a decision that quickly. When can I be by to pick up Andie's stuff? You'll have to give me a few days to get her room ready of course." She chuckled. "She'll make so many wonderful friends once we transfer schools. She needs some structure in her life. Anyway, when can I-"
"Becky! Becky stop! I'm not signing over custody. Andie has a structured environment here, something you can't provide her with, seeing as you can't stay at the same school for a whole school year."
"What do you mean?"
"You remember my friend Joanne?"
"The lawyer? Yeah,
what about her?"
"Well, she did a background check on you-"
"She what?"
"Tell her that the lawyer would have done it anyway, so it really doesn't matter what she thinks about it," Joanne said quietly. Mark nodded, and told Becky what Joanne had told him.
"So, then let the judge do his job! I can't believe you! I always liked you! Andie means the world to me."
"Only because you can get a hold of all her money. It's not happening Becky. I'm sorry, I always liked you too." Mark hung up the phone, and sighed. "I can't believe I just did that." Joanne gave him a comforting hug.
"Don't worry about it. You had the best interest of Andie in mind."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
That afternoon, Becky came back from shopping with Mimi, dying to find out if she was moving or not. When Mark told her that she was staying right where she was, she began to dance wildly all over the loft. Mark pulled out his camera, and taped his niece in one of her wild moods, something he hadn't seen in a while.
A/N: Another long chapter, I know. Here's some update stuff. About three more chapters here pauses until groaning stops. BIG Angel moment in the chapter after the next one. For Off-Camera (for those who haven't checked it out, I talk about in chapters 1 and 5 of this story, it's a behind-the-scenes on Rent deal, and I'm very proud of it!) There are about 7 or 8 more chapters left (I have them all planned out, it's just a matter of writing them), and the majority of them will be a decent length. I'll be skipping over most of filming (save for the first day). I know, that's why you're reading the story, but the premiere itself is like 3 or so chapters (two long ones, and a really short one to Seasons of Love). More drama ensues for both stories, so please read and review!