To Be
DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or anything affiliated with it.
A/n: Ah, I bet the suspense is killing you! Sorry guys, but I had to end it there. It's always more interesting when there's something to bring you back for the next chapter.
Roger sat in the back corner of the waiting room, exhausted. He glanced at his watch, trying to figure out how long he'd been waiting. He'd already tried calling all of their friends, only to be greeted by answering machines at both addresses. Once he realized he'd been waiting for nearly an hour, he got up and walked towards the nurse at the check in desk.
"Excuse me," he said, smiling weakly at her.
"Yes?"
"I'm wondering if you can tell me anything about my brother," he lied. "Mark Cohen." He waited as she typed the name into the computer.
"There's nothing up yet. I can go track down his doctor, if you'd like," she replied.
"No, that's okay." He sighed and walked back to his corner, closing his eyes as he sat down. After a few minutes, he heard someone walk up. He opened his eyes and looked up at the doctor.
"You're Mr. Cohen's brother?" the doctor asked. Roger shook his head, lying once again. "I'm Dr. Delgado."
"Is he okay?" Roger asked. The doctor sat down in the chair across from him.
"He has a pretty serious case of pneumonia. We've started him on a round of IV antibiotics. And I must say, I'm very concerned about his weight," the doctor told him. Roger nodded.
"Yeah, I know. We've had a hard time keeping food around the past few months. He lost a lot of weight from the chemo last year," Roger replied.
"What kind of cancer did he have?" the doctor asked.
"Leukemia. He's been in remission for about nine months," Roger said. "Can I see him?" The doctor nodded.
"He hasn't woken up yet, but I don't see why you couldn't stay with him until someone comes to move him upstairs. I should warn you, though, that he doesn't look good. We've put him on a respirator for the time being." Roger nodded and followed the doctor back into the emergency room.
LINELINELINELINE
Maureen silently nudged a sleeping Roger. She smiled at him as he opened his eyes and unfolded his body from the hospital chair he had been sitting in. "Hey," he whispered, glancing over at the bed. "When did you get here?"
"A few minutes ago. How is he?" she asked, glancing back at Mark's sleeping form. Roger sighed, looking at him.
"I don't know. They said it's pneumonia again," Roger told her. "I took him to the doctor this morning, but when the nurse called his name, I couldn't wake him up. He still hasn't."
"You should go back to the loft. Get some rest. I'll stay with him for a while," she said. Roger looked up at her and sighed.
"Call me if he wakes up, okay?"
"I will. Just take care of yourself too, Roger," she reminded him. He nodded and got up to go, but not until he'd stopped next to his friend's bed. He pushed the hair out of the filmmaker's face.
"I'll be back, man. Maureen's going to stay with you for a while," he said. He sighed and walked out of the room, leaving the filmmaker alone with the drama queen.
LINELINELINELINE
Maureen gently took Mark's right hand in her own, rubbing the back of his hand gently with her thumb. "Hey baby, it's Mo," she whispered. She didn't like the idea of talking to someone who couldn't talk back, but the nurses had told her that it might help. "God, baby, how did you let yourself get this sick? I thought you would have learned your lesson last time." She sighed and glanced over at the cast on his other arm. She smiled. "You were supposed to get your cast off tomorrow… I guess someone needs to call the doctor and reschedule, huh?" She brushed a stray piece of hair off of his forehead, being careful not to disturb anything. "You've got to wake up, baby. You scared the shit out of us today."
LINELINELINELINE
Roger sighed as he walked down the hall towards the ICU. It had been two days. They were all thoroughly exhausted, but they couldn't just leave Mark there alone. He still hadn't woken up. Roger stood just outside of Mark's room for a moment, watching Joanne and Maureen talking to him. He walked into the room, smiling at them.
"Anything?" he asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
"No. Not yet," Joanne replied. He sat down in the chair next to the bed with a sigh. "Maybe today."
"Yeah, maybe." Roger looked off towards the tiny window that looked out over a parking garage. He smiled at them again as they made their way out of the room, before turning to Mark. "Hey, it's me." He waited for a moment before continuing. "Come on, man. It's great outside… perfect weather for you to go film stuff." Roger silently took Mark's hand in his own. "Come on, Mark. I can't take much more of this." He just sighed and looked down at Mark's hand. After a moment, he felt Mark squeeze his hand gently. He looked up as his friend slowly opened his eyes. "Hey."
Roger watched as Mark reached up towards his face, his fingers grazing over the tube coming out of his mouth. "Hey, don't touch it, okay? Let me get a nurse to take care of it," Roger said, standing up. He walked out for a moment and then returned with a nurse and doctor in tow.
It was several minutes before the two were alone again. Once the two had finally left, Roger smiled at Mark. "Hey."
"Hey," Mark said. His voice was weak and raspy. "What happened? Last I remember, we were in the loft and you were telling me I had to go to the doctor."
"You fell asleep at the doctor's office. When it was your turn, we couldn't get you to wake up," Roger told him. Mark closed his eyes. "Why don't you try to get some sleep? You probably don't need to be talking right now anyway." Mark nodded, not opening his eyes.
"What about the cast?" he asked.
"What about it?"
"I was supposed to get it off tomorrow," Mark said, confused about the day.
"That was yesterday," Roger said. Mark opened his eyes and gave the rocker a questioning look. "You've been out for two days."
"Fuck," Mark muttered, pushing the hair out of his face yet again.
"Don't worry about it. Collins called and told them you couldn't make it. You'll just have to wear that thing for another week or so," Roger told him.
"Wonderful."
A/n: Hahaha… it's so funny, I finished this chapter in the middle of "Wonderful" from Wicked.