Chapter 3:

Mimi and Angels' minds were swimming. Mark and Maureen are parents? How had such a huge secret like this been kept from them for so long? Joanne came storming out of the bedroom.

"Collins, Roger," she said with an angry tone. "I just wanted to thank you for not telling me about this." Her icy tone stung. Joanne pivoted, and left. Angel got up from her seat on Collins' lap.

"I'm going to go talk to her honey," she said. "Come on Mimi." Mimi gave Roger a quick kiss on the cheek before following Angel. As soon as Angel and Mimi left, Collins and Roger looked at each other.

"So do you really think that girl on the machine is her?" Roger asked. Collins shrugged.

"No one can be positive right now, but I think it is. I never thought I'd see this day."

Joanne stormed down to the stairs, tears streaming down her face. She was mad at everyone for not telling her about this, but she was also mad at herself for reacting the way she did.

"Joanne, wait up!" Angel called. Joanne quickly wiped away her tears before turning around. "We thought you could use someone to talk to." Angel gave Joanne a warm hug.

"Thanks, but I don't really want to talk about it," she replied. Angel looked reluctant to back down.

"You sure?" Joanne leaned against the wall, and closed her eyes.

"I don't know," she replied. "I honestly don't know." A few silent tears slipped down her cheek. "I can't believe Maureen would keep something like this from me for so long."

Mimi said, "Joanne, Maureen's pretty upset about this too. She's up in the loft crying."

"Maureen's crying? Oh God, this is the worst day ever. This can't be happening. I'm going to go to bed, I can't face Maureen tonight. I might blow up at her again, and that's the last thing we all need. I'll see you both later." Mimi and Angel each gave Joanne a hug, and watched her go to her apartment.

"You can return the phone call if you want," Maureen said darkly. "I really don't give a damn what you do." Maureen got up to leave, but Mark grabbed her, and spun her around.

"This is our decision to make. Just like it was our decision to sleep together, and our decision to put the baby up for adoption," he said firmly. Maureen wrenched away from Mark's grip.

"Let go of me," she snarled. "I don't care what you do about the phone call Mark."

"Please Mo, if you really don't want me to call her back, I won't. Think about this though: this girl is in search of her past, and we know about it. By not returning her call, we're denying her of the one thing she wants." Maureen rolled her eyes, and threw her arms up in defeat.

"Fine, whatever. Call her if you absolutely must," she said before leaving. When she got to the front room, Roger opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it when he saw how mad she looked.

Mark came out a few minutes later. Completely ignoring his friends, he went into the kitchen, and poured himself a large glass of vodka.

"I'm going to return the call tomorrow," he said quietly as he sat down on a chair.

"Are you sure you should do that?" Collins asked. "How does Maureen feel about this?"

"Right now I think she's more upset about Joanne than anything else, and yes I'm sure about returning the call. This is a young girl's past we're talking about here." Collins shrugged.

"Your call man." Mark finished the rest of his drink and got up.

"I'm going to go to sleep. I'll see you all later." Everyone said their goodnights, and Mark went to his room to try and get some sleep.

The next morning, Mark woke up around 11. He pulled on his clothes, and went out to the deserted main room. Taped to the telephone was a note from Roger with Felicity's number written above it.

"555-6824. Good luck! Roger." Mark took the not and the cordless phone, and went up to the roof to make a life changing phone call. He sat down on a makeshift bench, and dialed the phone number.

"Hello?" a female voice said on the other end.

"This is Mark Cohen. Is, uh, Felicity Carlisle there?"
"This is Felicity. I'm glad you got my call. You must think I'm weird for calling a total stranger out of the blue asking about my parents."

"Actually no," Mark replied. "You're looking for your parents. Besides, I have some much weirder friends. Like your Mother."

"You know my Mother? Do you know who my Father is too?" Felicity sounded incredibly excited now. Mark sighed. It was now or never.

"Yes I do, Felicity. I'm your Father."