Note: Much love to everyone that's reviewed. Just so you know, the sections written in italics are flashbacks.
Mark emerged from the bedroom and shut the door quietly behind him. Collins and Roger looked up expectantly.
"She's sleeping."
"What the hell happened?" Collins asked.
Mark looked to Roger and Collins rolled his eyes.
"He told me what happened now. I mean, what the hell—has this been going on long?"
Mark sighed and flopped down into the armchair. "Apparently since Roger was in the hospital."
Roger winced.
"Rog, it's not your fault. It's just the time frame," Mark said.
Roger shook his head. "But I should've told you guys…"
"You knew about this?" Mark asked, rising to his feet.
"Not now. I…she did this before. She used to…in high school."
Roger sat on the plush couch holding Maureen's hand. Her parents sat opposite them. Judy and Stan Johnson had talked with Roger the night before. He told them everything he knew about Maureen making herself sick. Judy had noticed the rapid weight loss, but Maureen had blamed it on the flu and dance rehearsals. Roger's explanation made much more sense.
"I told you guys, nothing's wrong. I just had an upset stomach. It's probably just the flu."
"Baby, it's not the flu and you know it," Roger said.
"I can't believe this. You guys are all completely overreacting."
"Honey, we just want you to get better," her mother said, tears springing to her hazel eyes.
"I am getting better. I'm fine. I'm eating healthier and exercising and—"
"You're not eating," Roger said.
"How the hell would you know?"
"Because I watch you. I love you, baby, but I see the way you push around the food so it looks like you ate."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Maureen, you need help," her father said, speaking for the first time.
"Daddy, I'm fine. Really. Look, I'm sorry if I worried you guys but if it'll make you happy, I'll eat more."
Roger stared at the floor and then looked up at her. "Mo, how much do you weigh?"
"What? I don't know."
"Come on. You've got a scale in the bathroom. Let me see that you're a normal weight and I'll take back everything I said."
Maureen's eyes filled with tears. She glared at her parents, then at Roger. "Fine."
In the bathroom, she stood on the scale shaking. "102. Happy?"
Maureen's mother backed up into the hallway and went to the kitchen. Roger blinked back tears and pulled her into his arms. She tried to fight him, but was too weak. He hugged her to him, his tears falling in her hair as she sobbed into his chest.
"Why didn't you tell us that before?" Mark asked.
"Because…because I thought she was okay now. She was okay for a long time. I didn't think you'd need to know. Besides, I figured that she'd told you and if she hadn't, then it wasn't my place."
Mark ran his hands through his hair. "Why does she do it?"
"What?"
"Why does she do it?"
"Mark, Roger's not a therapist. There could be a million reasons."
"No, there's a reason. She kept talking about control and wanting me to love her. Why does she do it? What happened that she wants control and love so badly that she'd do that to herself?"
Roger blinked back tears and rested his head in his hands for a minute before returning Mark's steady gaze.
"She does it because she doesn't think she has control over anything. Her parents always controlled her every move so last time it was that that finally set it off. She never really got over that."
"And now?"
Roger shrugged. "She can't control me? I don't know…I swear to you, Mark, I wish I could tell you what the hell this was about, how we fix this…"
"What did her parents do last time?" Collins asked.
Roger held the bouquet in his shaking hand. It had been two months since the confrontation about her eating disorder. Maureen's parents had taken her to a hospital that specialized in treating girls with eating disorders. Roger had reluctantly agreed to wait to visit.
Maureen went through the first two weeks of treatment with only phone calls. During the third week, her parents began to visit once a week. Finally, after two months of treatment and Roger sitting through three interviews with her doctors, they agreed to let Roger visit her.
When he entered the lounge they visited in, Roger almost didn't recognize her. Maureen had gained fifteen pounds since he'd last seen her. He smiled, blinking back tears. She turned and saw him and ran towards him.
"Roger!"
"Hey baby!" he said, pulling her into his arms.
"I missed you so much."
"I missed you too. I love you so much…Look at you. You look fantastic!"
Maureen blushed. "You think so?"
"I know so. You look more beautiful than you ever have before."
"So what do we do now?" Mark asked.
Collins shrugged. "I don't know, man. We can't afford a hospital…fuck…"
"We make her eat, make her talk to us, reassure her that we all love her and we're not going anywhere," Roger said.
"Think it'll work?" Mark asked.
Roger nodded. "It has to."
