Chapter 3

Mark and Roger left Maureen and Joanne in the office and followed Ms. Wilson out. As they walked down the hallway, children rushed by, laughing and shouting. Roger dropped back to speak with Mark.

"Are you sure we're ready for this Mark?" he asked quietly.

"I think we are sweetie." Mark responded. "I love kids, and you are one, so we should be fine."

Roger stuck his tongue out at his lover, "You are such a chick." he said softly.

"And it turns you on." Mark said back.

Roger opened his mouth to say that wasn't all that turned him on, when Ms. Wilson announced that they had arrived. She opened the door to a small room and they saw the child.

She was a girl with strawberry blond hair, looking to be about eleven or twelve. She was laying across the bed reading a book. Her room was small and pretty empty, but Roger spied a guitar in the corner.

"Ana" Ms. Wilson said. "You are supposed to be practicing the violin."

The girl looked up from her book. "I hate the violin." she said simply. "Ever since Bobby left and gave me his guitar, I've found I love it much more than the stupid violin."

"Oh Ana." Ms. Wilson said sighing. The girl looked up at the two men standing with her. She turned her stormy grey eyes on them.

"Hello." she said. "Are you the ones who are going to be my new dads?"

Mark smiled. "Uh yeah, we hope so. I'm Mark and this is Roger."

The girl smiled. "I'm Anastasia." she said. "Anastasia Avia and I don't have a last name."

"Well," Roger said speaking up, "If you come with us it will be Cohen-Davis. Or just Davis if Mark gets his way."

"And I intend to." Mark said grinning.

"Anastasia Avia Davis." Ana said slowly. "I can live with that." Ms. Wilson smiled and left the boys alone with their future daughter.

"So," Mark said. "What book are you reading?"

Ana held it up. "The sixth Harry Potter," she said. "It's always better the second time."

"Really?" Mark said happily, for he too had a weird fixation with Harry Potter. "Don't you just hate it when Dumbledore dies? It's like we all knew Snape was evil, but dang that was harsh."

"I know!" Ana said excitedly. "I was shocked. Without Dumbledore Harry is toast though. There's no way he can beat Voldemort by himself."

"I don't know about that." Mark said. "He's gotten pretty good over the years."

"Yeah, but every time something goes down he's always knocked out or poisoned or petrified. Then Dumbledore swoops in and saves him."

"But what about in the second one when he fought the basilisk?" Mark argued back. "Dumbledore wasn't there then."

"Who sent him Fawkes and the sword?" Ana asked. "Before they came he was just running around like a scared puppy."

Roger was listening to the argument with wide eyes. "You read Harry Potter?" he asked his partner in disbelief.

"Um yes." Mark mumbled back. "There's nothing wrong with Harry Potter."

Roger held his head in his hands. "I can't believe I'm in love with a thirty-five year old filmmaker who loves Harry Potter books."

"Hey!" Ana said indignantly. "I like Harry Potter too."

"Yes, but you're like eleven, and you play the guitar so it balances out."

"Actually I'm twelve." Ana said back. "And I'm not a very good guitar player."

"What a coincidence." Mark said grinning. "Neither is Roger." Roger glared at Mark who blew him a kiss, and then picked up Ana's guitar.

He strummed it and found it was tuned correctly. "What can you play?" Roger wanted to know.

"Not much." Ana said. "A few simple cords and this one song I hear on the radio all the time."

"Can I hear it?" Roger asked her.

She shrugged, took the guitar from him, and began to play. It was soft and timid at first, as she tried to find the correct notes. But once she had them she played louder, singing along as she played.

On that night, I promised you forever;

On that night, I gave you the moon;

And on that night, I said I'd leave you never;

But on this night, I say goodbye to you.

Ana looked up, surprised to find Roger smiling with tears in his eyes and Mark rubbing his back.

"What?" she asked. "Jeez, I said I wasn't that great."

"No" Mark said. "It's not that, it's just-"

"I wrote that song Ana." Roger said softly. "When you hear it on the radio, it's me singing it."

Ana's eyes widened. "So you're that Roger Davis?"

Roger nodded.

"Oh my God!" Ana shrieked. "One of my new Dads is The Roger Davis. I've loved that song for years. I would never have guessed I would meet the artist responsible for it. Let alone that he'd be my new parent."

Roger grinned at her. "I wrote that years ago, when I first left New York. It was for Mimi, who was my girlfriend at the time. I had promised her that I'd never leave and then I did end up saying goodbye. I ran into her for the first time in ten years, last year. She's engaged now, but we're still close."

"She's engaged and you have Mark." Ana said. "Seems like you both found happiness."

Roger looked over at the love of his life who was blushing furiously. "Yeah," he said
"I can't picture myself without him. He's my heart and soul."

"And your brain." Mark interjected. "Okay we need to go before the moment gets to sappy. We still have to meet the renovators at five and Joanne and Maureen have to go back to work."

"Okay see you later Roger. Oh and Mark, we haven't finished our discussion yet. I'm still right and I can prove it." Ana said as she walked them to the door.

Mark laughed. "We'll see about that Ana."

They left the room and started back down the hall towards the office to collect their female companions.

"So" Mark said to Roger. "Think we can handle this?"

"I love that girl Mark." Roger said back. "This is going to be great."

Ms. Wilson came out of her office smiling. "Oh I was just coming to get you two. The head of the board just looked at your application. You are now the proud parents of Anastasia Avia Cohen-Davis."

The lovers smiled at each other.

"Actually" Roger said, "It's just Davis. Mark's orders."

Ms. Wilson laughed. "Whatever you want. You can come collect Anastasia in two days. Congratulations."

Author's Note: Okay so now they have met and secured the child. I know her name is wild, but I love it. I decided they should have a daughter to bring out the softer side of Roger. And the whole Harry Potter thing was actually an from an actual argument I was having with my friend Hayden as I was writing this. I thought it would be a nice touch to make Mark a Harry Potter fan. But do you guys think the whole song moment was too sappy? It just came to me and was not in my original plan for this chapter. Oh and the song Ana sings was written by Hayden Bryson who is as big a RENThead as I am. He graciously agreed to lend the song to Roger for the sake of this story. I'll try to update soon. Only 7 days of school left!