-1Chapter 5
Mark got out of the shower a half hour later and smelled something wonderful. He came into the bedroom where Roger was sitting on the bed reading one of Mark's Harry Potter books.
"Rog honey, what are you doing?" Mark asked.
"Trying to see what the appeal of this book is to a grown man." Roger replied. "I don't get it."
Mark laughed. "You don't have to get it Roger. Just respect the fact that I do. And that your new daughter does. It can be our thing, just like you two can have the guitar thing."
"I guess that makes sense." Roger agreed. "Let's go see what Mo is fixing for breakfast. Cause it smells really good."
The two men made their way into the kitchen where Maureen had a wonderful breakfast laid out on the counters.
"Wow Maureen, you really outdid yourself." Mark said as he came in and kissed her on the cheek.
"Thank you Marky. I tried. We've got waffles, eggs, sausage, grits, and orange juice. So dig in boys."
And dig in they did, the boys sat down and started to eat ravenously.
"You go Maureen" Roger said with his mouth full. "This is really good. "
"Thank you Rog." she said back blushing.
Mark heaved a sigh. "Why is it that all girls blush and giggle whenever my Roger says something?" he wanted to know.
Maureen giggled and reached out to ruffle Roger's hair. "It's because he's so damn pretty. All girls are attracted to such a pretty boy. God, I'm a lesbian and I know that."
Mark sighed again. "Oh come on Marky. You're committed to Roger Davis. Tragic, ex-junkie, sex symbol. You just have to look past it." Maureen told him.
"Shut up Mo." Roger ordered quickly. "Mark don't listen to her. I love you, and only you baby. All those girls who worship me for whatever reason, aren't you. And if I'm a sex symbol, I want it to be only for you."
Mark grinned at him. "Thank you darling." he said
The rest of the morning went past quickly. At eleven they got into Mark's car and drove to the adoption agency. They had no sooner walked through the door when a strawberry blond blur ran up shrieking "Mark, Roger, you're here!"
They all laughed at her enthusiasm. Then Roger leaned down.
"So you all ready to go then Ana?" he asked.
"Yes." she said. "I've only been waiting since forever."
Mark laughed again and said "Guess what?"
"What?" Ana asked
"I just got the fourth Harry Potter on DVD." he told her.
"Cool." was Ana's response. Then she turned to Maureen. "Are you Mimi?" she asked.
"No I'm Maureen." Maureen said. "You'll meet Mimi later. Why did you think I was her?"
"Well" Ana said. "I know Roger used to date Mimi and you look like the type of girl Roger would date."
Roger looked at Maureen in horror. "No way in heck. Not even if I did like girls still." he said.
"Ha ha I can hardly contain my laughter." Maureen said back.
"Mark why don't you and Mo take Ana and get her stuff and I'll go sign the custody papers." Roger suggested.
"Alright." They agreed. Ana led them down the hall and to her room. The already small space looked smaller with all of her stuff packed up. It was all in two boxes, except for her guitar which was laying on the bed. Mark set about checking to see if Ana had gotten every thing while she asked Maureen questions.
"So do you have any kids Miss Maureen?"
"Oh God. You make me sound so old. Just call me Maureen or Re-Re like everyone else. But yeah I have a daughter named Jaylah. She's fourteen and she just made a new friend Collins said. Some kid named Arty. You'll meet them both on Saturday."
"Who's Collins?"
"One of Mark, Roger, and my best friends. We've known him forever. He's a teacher and he lives in Boston like me and my wife Joanne." Maureen explained.
"Oh so you're gay too." Ana said politely.
"Not really, technically I'm bi sexual. I still like men. In fact I used to date Mark years ago."
"Maureen" Mark called from over in the corner. "Please don't corrupt Anastasia's mind with your crazy tales of what happened back in Bohemia."
"But Mark if she's going to be yours and Roger's child she has to know. I mean Jo and I told Jaylah all about it a long time ago. You can't expect to take her to the Life if she doesn't know. It goes with the territory." Maureen said.
"I know but-"
"No buts Mark." Then Maureen proceeded to tell Anastasia all about how they used to not be able to pay rent and about her protests and Mark's films and the fun times they had at the Life Café living "La Vie Boheme". The only thing she didn't mention was Roger and his past drug addiction and his AIDS, that was his story to tell. By the time she was done Anastasia couldn't wait to go live with her new dads and become a bohemian. And she was in luck. Roger came into the room a minute later and looked around.
"So we ready to go?" he asked.
"Yep," Ana said. "Mark's just putting the last box in the car. He said he'd wait for us down there because he wasn't walking up the stairs again."
"That's my Mark." Roger said laughing. Then he bent down. "Come on Miss Anastasia. I'll give you a ride down." he said and Ana laughed and jumped onto his back.
"Aww Roger you're going to make a great dad." Maureen told him. "Right Ana?"
"I think so." Ana agreed.
They went down the stairs and met Mark by the car. They all got in and started to drive away from the agency.
Ana looked out of the window and said "So long suckers."
"Anastasia" Mark admonished as he drove. "That wasn't very nice."
"Sorry." she said sounding anything but.
"Well," Roger said "you can see who your mother figure will be already." he looked over at Mark. "I told you that you were a chick." he said to him.
"And I told you-" Mark began.
"Uh, not in front of Ana please." Roger said.
In the back seat Maureen turned to Anastasia. "They are going to be doing that a lot. So you may as well get used to it. They started off as best friends before they got involved so they argue a lot." she said.
Ana laughed. "I think we'll be okay though. One little happy family."
Maureen grinned at that. "It won't be little once you meet the rest of our family. It gets much, much bigger."