Chapter 9

At a quarter to five Mark and Roger walked outside of their house to find a car sitting in their driveway. Roger recognized it as belonging to Lanna, his former agent. She was sitting in the car and looked up as they came out of the house and got out of the car.

"Hey Roger." she said as she walked toward them, "How's life been treating you since we last saw each other?"

"Um okay." Roger answered. "What are you doing here Lanna?"

"Can't a girl come see her old friend from time to time without getting the third degree?" Lanna asked innocently.

"So we're friends now?" Roger asked uncertainly.

"Of course."

"Okay." Roger said slowly. "You remember my uh- my, you remember Mark right?" He realized he really didn't know what to call Mark.

"Yes, it's good to see you again Mark." Lanna was saying.

"You too Lanna. But we're kind of running late for a very important meeting so we'll have to talk to you later." Mark said going toward his car.

"Yeah, we are." Roger concurred.

"That's okay. I'll be in town for a while so I'll stop by later. See you guys." Lanna headed back to her car and then drove away. Mark sighed and then got into the car.

"Come on Roger, we're going to be late if we don't leave now." he called impatiently. Roger got in the car beside Mark and looked at him sideways.

"What was all that about?" he wanted to know.

"All what?"

"The whole 'we're running late for an important meeting thing'. What was that?" Roger clarified.

"We are running late and it is important." Mark said as he drove. "Plus I don't like her." he added softly.

"Why not?" Roger asked.

"Because she was all upset when she found out we were together; and now she all of a sudden wants to come back and be your friend. It just doesn't seem right to me, that's all." Mark explained.

Roger looked over at him, touched in spite of himself. "Aww you love me don't you? That's so sweet."

"Oh shut up." Mark countered with a smile.

It took them all of an hour to get from the ferry to the city. But they still got there in time. As they entered the Life Café, they saw that Collins, Jaylah, Arty, Ana, Maureen, Joanne and Sara were already there and sitting in their usual spot.

"Hey you guys." Roger greeted as they came in. "Hello Miss Ana. Did you have fun with Collins?"

"Yeah. Your friends are really cool Roger." she replied.

"They're okay." Roger said back grinning at them all. They sat down and the waiter came over.

"How are my favorite Bohemians?" he said. "The usual for you all?"

"Yeah with a soy burger Ana here." Mark said.

"What's a soy burger?" she wanted to know.

"It's food. You'll like it." Roger told her. He then turned to look out of the window and saw Mimi and a dark haired man getting out of a car. He nudged Mark.

"Here they come." he whispered to him. Mark turned look.

"We'll let's get ready for this." he said back.

They sat there making idle chit chat until Mimi came in. She smiled when she saw all of her friends assembled at the table.

"Hello everyone." she greeted them. "This is Darren. Darren you remember Sara, Mo, Jo and their daughter Jaylah don't you?"

"Of course." Darren said. "Hello ladies."

"Hey." they chorused.

"And this is Collins, Mark, and Roger. Not too sure about the kids though." she continued.

Roger took up the introductions then. "The strawberry blond is Mark's and my new daughter Anastasia." he said deliberately looking at Darren.

"And I'm Arty. A friend of Jaylah's." Arty chimed in. Ana got up and walked over to Mimi.

"You have to be Mimi." she said.

"You're right I am." Mimi said. "How did you know?"

"Roger talks about you and I just knew." Ana told her.

Mimi looked over at Roger. "Aww you talk about me Roger? I'm touched." she said grinning.

Roger rolled his eyes at her. "Don't flatter yourself." he said scornfully. "It wasn't all good stuff I said."

"What's got your panties in a twist, gay boy?" Darren said just as scornfully.

"No one was talking to you dancer boy." Roger spat back.

"What's your problem Roger?" Mimi wanted to know.

"Nothing." He said harshly. "Are you sure you're okay? Still taking your AZT and all? And taking care of that baby I hope."

Mimi just looked at him with hurt in her eyes. "Thanks a lot Sara." she said finally.

"Hey, I thought they should know. Aren't they your family too?" Sara said back.

"I thought Roger was, but now I don't know." Mimi said back sadly. "Are you still my family Roger?"

"I don't know that I want to be a part of a family that hates me Mimi." he said softly.

"Who hates you Roger?" Mimi wanted to know.

He just looked at Darren and raised an eyebrow. "Darren doesn't hate you." Mimi told him. "He just doesn't know you."

"Honey." Darren said. "If Roger already knows I don't like him ten maybe I shouldn't pretend that I do."

"Not now Darren." Mimi said bitterly. "You know, all I wanted was for us all to get together every once in a while. My friends are important to me and I wanted to be able to see them. But not like this. If you all are going to act like children then I don't think I want to stay here."

Everyone stared at her, speechless. Little Mimi had never spoken to them like that. She had tears in her eyes and she was shaking uncontrollably.

"We just had this conversation last year when Mark and Roger weren't speaking." she continued. "Do we really need to have it again? Can't we all just get along for once? If Angel were here she would be ashamed of how-" she broke off sobbing.

Maureen stood up. "Mimi sweetie, you're yelling at us like this involves everyone. But really this is between you and Roger. There's too many things left unsaid between the two of you. And now the man you are supposed to be marrying comes in with an attitude towards Roger. I think you three need to work this out." she said calmly.

"I agree." Collins said. "You guys haven't really talked about what happened between you. So I suggest we try this again."

Mark, Joanne and Sara agreed that that was for the best and they stood up to take their leave.

"I don't have anything to say to her." Roger said as he headed out the door. "Mark grab Ana and come on or I'm leaving without you." he called back.

Mark exchanged glances with the group as he collected his daughter and made to follow Roger. "I'll try to talk to him you guys. Call me tomorrow." he said. Ana waved at every one. "It was nice to meet you all." she said and followed Mark out the door.

Mimi turned to Darren. "I want to go home." she told him. "I don't feel that good anymore."

Darren nodded. "Okay then, Let's go."

It was a very silent car ride back to Long Island. Roger was driving very fast and Mark kept glancing at him wanting to say something.

Finally he settled for, "You need to slow down." Roger didn't respond but he did ease off the gas a little to slow the car down. Ana was asleep in the backseat when they arrived at their house. Roger jumped out of the car, opened the front door and went inside. Mark sighed and gathered Ana up into his arms and carried her to her bedroom and put her to bed. Then he went back and made sure the front door was closed. Finally he made his way into the bedroom.

"Roger." he said as he came in.

"Did you put Ana to bed?" Roger asked abruptly.

"I did." Mark responded. "You want to talk about it?"

"No." Roger said quickly. "I really don't."

"Whatever, just don't keep it all bottled up Rog. We wouldn't want your pretty little curly head to explode." Mark rebutted as he headed to the bathroom.

Roger shook his head and allowed a small smile to form on his lips. A few minutes later he walked into the bathroom, took off his clothes and slipped into the shower with Mark.

"You left me in there to mope." he complained.

"Because you said you didn't want to talk about it." Mark said back.

"I always say that. You're supposed to make me talk about it. It's the only way I'll get it off my chest."

"Sorry." Mark said laughing. "Now could you get out so I can finish my shower?"

Roger shook his head, spraying Mark with water form his wet curls. "Why don't I just take my shower with you? We don't want to waste water now do we?"

Mark grinned at him ruefully. "No we don't want that."