A/N: Final chapter! Thanks for reviews. I own nothing.

"Go ahead. Do it." Mimi Marquez handed the phone to her extremely nervous friend Mark, who was hesitant about taking it from her.

Roger, who was sitting beside Mimi on the couch, rolled his eyes. "Call her, for God's sake. Eventually I'm gonna lose interest and I'll walk away to go do something useful with myself. And I already agreed to help you. So I guess it would be mean to leave, now, wouldn't it?"

Mark snorted. "As if you've ever cared about being mean."

"True, true," Roger replied, smirking.

With a sigh, Mark snatched the phone from Mimi and dialed Maureen's phone number.

There were a couple of rings before someone picked up. "Hello?" Maureen's loud voice echoed through the loft.

Mimi giggled, burying her face into Roger's shirt. This would prove to be quite the phone conversation.

"Yeah, uh, hey...it's Mark," Mark said awkwardly, adjusting his glasses in apprehension.

All three of them heard a loud squeal on the other line. "Hi, Marky! I haven't talked to you lately? What's up?"

Roger cringed. "Somebody's too enthusiastic," he muttered.

Mark motioned for his friend to be quiet before quickly replying, "Oh, nothing much...I was wondering if I could talk to you at some point today...You know, maybe meet somewhere? Alone?"

"What are you implying, Marky?" Maureen joked.

Mark cleared his throat. "I'm serious. Can I...talk to you? Maybe around 2:00 at the Life Café? Is that okay?"

"Um...okay, sure..." Maureen said in reply, sounding a little less happy than before.

Mark hung up the phone and turned to face Mimi standing in front of him, her arms crossed.

"You better have at least an idea of what you're going to say to her. She's the only one who doesn't know about your little fun and games. I have a feeling Joanne figured it out by now," she said matter-of-factly.

Mark knew she was right. Glancing at both of his friends warily, he headed into his room, waiting for the moment of truth to come around.

He was clutching on to his cup of coffee when she walked in, her dark curly hair flowing behind her. He waved to her and she noticed, running over and sitting down across from him.

"Hi, Mark!" she said, smiling brightly. It made Mark shiver. "What did you want to talk to me about? Girl troubles? Something going on with Stephanie?"

Mark looked into Maureen's eyes. "That's the thing. Stephanie...isn't..." He ran a hand through his hair. "Stephanie isn't real."

Blinking rapidly, Maureen replied, "Wait...What?!"

"I——"

"No, wait a second. What the hell, Mark? We all saw her with our own eyes. Is this some kind of joke?"

It hurt Mark to see Maureen like this, but he knew what he needed to say. He explained everything to her, from the beginning to the end. Maureen sat, taken back at his words.

They were both silent for a couple of minutes after that.

"Mark..." she finally said, "What were you thinking?! Why would you think you had to prove yourself to any of us—especially me? Our relationship...just didn't work out. You don't have to prove to me that you're fine without me by getting a fake girlfriend. That's probably the dumbest thing you've ever done."

Mark closed his eyes. "I know, Maureen. I'm so sorry. I just...sometimes wish that we were still together," he told her, "And, don't get me wrong...Joanne is a great person. I'm glad to see you happy...but...sometimes I can't help but wonder what it would be like if I still...had you."

"You always have me, Marky," Maureen whispered softly, tilting her head to the side and smiling, "And you always have your friends. Isn't that all you really need? Someday you'll find the girl of your dreams. I know you will." With that, she leaned over and gave Mark a quick kiss on the cheek.

Mark blushed, and it was clearly visible on his pale skin. "You're not...angry at me?"

Shaking her head, Maureen replied, "Just a little...confused. But you need to promise me you won't do something like that again. Okay? I'm glad you were able to talk to me. That's all you have to do, you know. Talk to me. Not get some random lady and call her your girlfriend to see if I'd get jealous."

"I know, I know, it was stupid. You think Roger hasn't told me that already?"

Maureen giggled. "I can imagine. So, are we okay?"

"Only if you are, Maureen."

After a pause, she nodded. "Yeah, Mark. We're definitely okay."

A couple of weeks later, the group of bohemians were gathered at the loft once again. With the incident behind them, they were acting like a group of friends again—not like little cliques keeping secrets from each other.

Until just then, Mark hadn't realized how much he'd truly moved on from his relationship with Maureen, even when he hadn't realized it. At first, he would hide away from anything that would help him accept the fact that he needed to forget the past. Now, he knew that whatever was destined to happen for him was happening now, in this moment, and that he couldn't do anything to stop it even if he tried.

"Quick, Mark! Call her before you chicken out again!" Angel squealed, snapping Mark out of his contemplation. She was bouncing up and down happily from her spot on Collins' lap.

"Ang, save the pieces, will ya? I think my legs are about to break," he muttered, wrapping his arms around Angel's waist from behind to settle her down.

Smiling at all of his friends' enthusiasm, Mark picked up the phone.

Roger sighed. "Do you know her number, you idiot?"

"As a matter of fact, I do, Roger. Thank you for your supportive words," Mark said dryly. Everyone laughed lightly as Mark dialed a certain woman's number.

This is it, he thought. No turning back. He glanced at Maureen. There was a look in her eyes that sparkled as if to say, "Go for it."

With those thoughts in mind, he punched in the phone number.

"Hey, uh, Michelle? Yeah, it's Mark! How are you?" He shared a nervous glance with his hopeful friends. Mimi was almost beside herself, having to cover her mouth to keep from screaming. Joanne had one of her well-known amused smirks on her face.

"I'm great, thanks," he continued, "Hey, um, I was wondering if you would want to...go out...on a date with me?" He squeezed his eyes shut, afraid of what her answer would be.

After a pause to let Michelle speak, he laughed and said, "Oh, uh, no, Michelle. A real date."

Roger snickered, and Maureen punched him in the shoulder lightly to keep him quiet.

"I was thinking maybe tomorrow night at 8:00...at that little Italian restaurant across from the Life Cafe...Really?! Um, great! Okay...Okay, see you then...Bye..." Mark hung up the phone to hear a round of applause from his friends.

"Marky has a date!" Mimi cried, running over to hug her friend.

Mark smiled sheepishly as everyone congratulated him. He was finally moving on, and no matter what changes life would bring him, he knew he'd have his friends to stand by him through it all.

-FIN-