A/N- Two major reasons for this ridiculously late update: an incredibly hectic week, and my personal feeling that I sort of lost my grip on Maureen's character. At some point I kind of realized she didn't really sound like herself, but more like… me, in a way, I guess. So I spent some extra time on this chapter, trying to work on her character in a way that would make her a bit more Maureenish. This chapter is really more of a filler, but I hope you'll like it still. I threw a small Rent NYTW reference in there, let's see if you'll get it… Happy reading! Please review!

11- Just a Kiss

"Okay! I'm coming out! You can open your eyes now!" she called from the hall. All she got in reply was a soft grumble. She shrugged but stepped out to the living-room anyway. Mark was there where she last left him, lying on the couch, and she stopped right in front of him, striking a pose. "Ta-da! What do you think?"

Mark stared at her, jaw-dropped. He didn't say anything for a very long time, so for a moment she thought he fell asleep again, which was kind of unlikely because his eyes were wide-open.

"Pookie, are you okay?" she asked, racing for the couch. She sat beside him and felt for his forehead. Poor thing, he was still burning up.

"I'm… you… this is what you're gonna wear?" he asked weakly, no so much because of his fever, it seemed.

"Yeah! Isn't it stunning?"

"What happened to the cat-suit?"

"I found this one last week and it looked so pretty on the mannequin! And it had a matching costume for you too, I had to get it! It seems like you're not gonna use the costume after all, under the circumstances. And the cat-suit? I guess I'll save it for, umm, other opportunities," she said, winking. Then she looked at him seriously. "Are you sure it's okay that I'm going?"

"Maureen, there's nothing you can do for me here and you know it. I just need to rest. I want you guys to have a good time. So go, I promise I won't die or anything."

"Okay," she said quietly, caressing his cheek. "We won't stay out long."

Just then, Benny walked in, dressed as if he was at work. He dropped his briefcase on the table and looked up to acknowledge them. "Happy, happy Hallow-" Then he did a double take, and stared at her shamelessly. "W-what are you supposed to be?"

She frowned and looked down at her costume. It was a tiny green dress that ended way above her knees and looked as if someone tore it here and then, which was kind of on purpose. "I was supposed to be Tinkerbelle and have Mark dress as Peter Pan, but since he ditched me, I guess I'm just a green fairy without a date on Halloween!" she said, her voice getting a bit whiny. She didn't mean to come out so bitter and frustrated, but she was extremely disappointed that Mark came down with a flu couple of days before. He would have looked so adorable in that costume she got for him!

"What are you talking about, I didn't ditch you!" said Mark. "Believe me, I'd rather wear a stupid Peter Pan costume, tights and all, than-" Then he seemed to realize what he was saying, and shook his head. "Actually no, scratch that. Being sick on Halloween rocks."

Benny roared with laughter. "Mark as Peter Pan! Now, how much would I pay to see that!" Mark frowned. As Benny's laughter died out, he looked up at her and said, "Well, I saw Collins downstairs and he's dressed as a pirate. You can be a fairy in captivity. Seems almost as good as Tinkerbelle, isn't it?"

"Almost," she replied, softening a bit. Then she realized what he had just said. "Collins is downstairs already? What time is it?" she glanced at Mark's watch. Was that the time? "Oh crap, I'm so late!" she grabbed her wand and leaned down to kiss Mark. "I'll be back before you know it. In the meantime, Mr. Coffin here will keep you company," she said, flashing a sweet smile at Benny. "How is it that you're home by the way?"

"Alison and her parents went to Switzerland for their annual ski vacation."

She let out a long whistle. "Switzerland, huh? Neat. And they didn't ask you to come along?" she asked as sweetly as she could. She wondered if she'd be able to push it far enough to annoy him. Benny wasn't easily annoyed. She guessed it was because she wasn't trying hard enough. Ever since she got to this realization, she took the mission of annoying Benny on herself. He seemed easier to handle than, say, Collins, and she did manage to annoy Collins once or twice, so she figured it was only a matter of time before she'd get to Benny as well.

Unfortunately, Benny didn't flinch. "Well, it's not like we're engaged or anything."

"I thought you were getting there."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "What is it to you?"

She smiled innocently. "Nothin', just showing some interest."

"Looking for gossip seems more like it," he said kind of coldly, as if thinking his tone would scare her off. His tone also sort of implied that the conversation was over. Damn. He still wasn't annoyed. Gah. "Anyway didn't you say you were late?"

"I did. I am. I'm off." Then she remembered something and gave Benny an innocent look. "Where's your costume, Benny?"

Benny rolled his eyes. "Can't you tell? I'm a guy in the real-estate business who has a lot of paperwork to finish and hand in to his boss by 9am tomorrow."

"Oh. How… original," she replied dryly. She could never realize those people who lacked the Halloween spirit. She was crazy about Halloween. People like Benny kind of sucked all the fun out of it. "Well, you can do it and watch Mark until we go back, can't you?" Benny shrugged. Taking it as a 'yes', she smiled, and turned her attention back to Mark. "And if he tells me you were good… I'll make sure you'll get your trick or treat later," she whispered seductively into his ear.

Mark groaned miserably. "I can't even think about that right now." He turned away from her so he wouldn't have to cough in her face. Then when it died out, he turned to her again, looking even more miserable. "I swear, this is a punishment. This is God's way to remind me to stick to my own holidays instead of celebrating yours."

She laughed softly and got up, shaking her head over him until some glitters fell from her hair on his blanket. "Fairy dust… and I'm gone."

She knew he wouldn't be able to resist this. He smiled. "Cute."

Benny looked disgusted. "You're such a drama queen, Johnson."

She chose to ignore him. "Bye guys! See you later!" Another wave of her wand, and she was gone, racing down the stairs.

Collins was waiting for her in front of their building. He was staying over at a friend's house because of Mark's flu. Being HIV positive, they didn't really want to know what affect a simple flu would have on Collins if he caught it. He wasn't allowed to go upstairs until Mark was completely better. They were on their way for a Halloween party at the club the Well Hungarians were playing at. It was their first gig in a while. Roger had his ups and downs. He was still using, she knew, but now it was less frequent. They all had a big talk right after she and Mark made up, and everyone told him how they felt about it. He promised he'd try. It was just impossible to stop at once, she guessed. She kept telling herself it wasn't because he didn't really want to stop, because he only wanted to get them off his back, but deep down inside, she knew it was probably the case. Besides, they did what they had to do. At least now he knew how they felt about it (as if he couldn't guess it himself); the rest, or at least most of it, was up to him now. She knew he felt extremely guilty, being the cause of her fight with Mark. If anything, he was trying to make it up for them because of that.

Collins burst out laughing as she stormed out of the building. "That's a very impressive entry."

"You like it?" she asked, turning around so he could see every bit of her dress.

"You look stunning," he smiled, kissing her cheek. Then he gave her a look. "Did Mark see you go out like this?"

She waved her wand. She could get used to that little thing. "He's too sick to care."

"Poor boy. Is he any better?"

"Not really. I'm doing all I can. He doesn't get sick much, but when he does, he gets it bad," she said sorrowfully. It was the one party to which he actually agreed to go, and now he couldn't. Then she took another look at Collins' costume. "Love this cloak, by the way," she giggled, poking his side with her wand. He was wearing a crimson velvet cloak along with an old-fashioned suit and a silly-looking parrot on one shoulder. Just like her, Collins was sucker for Halloween as well. "You kind of look like the Phantom of the Opera."

"If he had an eye-patch and a parrot," Collins smiled, taking her arm. "Let's go, we're gonna be late."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The Well Hungarians gave one of their best performances that night. Roger was definitely in his best, nailing it in every song. April wasn't around. She didn't know why, but she didn't bother to ask. He was always more prone to temptations when she was around. She danced with Collins and with some friends she happened to meet there, and then after a while she went over to sit with Collins by the bar. He bought her a drink and they just sat and talked for a while, since they didn't really have a chance to do that since Mark got sick. Then the band took a break, and Roger joined them. Collins, who was getting a bit drunk, laughed, patted on his shoulder and handed him a beer.

"How awesome are we tonight?" asked Roger, beaming.

"Nah, you still suck. You'll suck forever, man," said Collins drunkenly, tossing his drink in the air.

"That's okay, Thomas, I never expect any feedback from you. I was talking to the gorgeous fairy next to you," Roger said, smiling at her.

"Careful, Davis, don't drool all over her high heels. You know it scares them when you do that."

Roger rolled his eyes at Collins' remark. Then he looked around and at her. "Mark is still sick?"

She nodded sadly. "Mark is still sick."

"You left him alone?"

"No, Benny just got home when I left, so he's sort of babysitting him now."

Roger burst out laughing. "God, poor Mark. To be sick on Halloween and have Benny as company?"

"I think I would rather stay with Benny than having to listen to this noise you call music."

"Collins, unless you've got something intelligent to say-"

"Oh, I've always got intelligent things to say," said Collins.

"Yeah. I noticed," Roger said dryly, messing with the parrot on Collins' shoulder. Collins made a face and set his parrot free by slapping Roger's arm away. Roger pretended to look offended, and then looked at her. "Hey, how about you'll go up there after our break?"

This took her by surprise. "What, to sing with you guys?" She joined them for their rehearsals couple of times, but he never actually offered she'd go onstage with them.

"Yeah. You'll make us look even better."

Collins rolled his eyes. "Not a chance. Not even her."

Roger ignored him. "We can try this duet we did once on the fire escape. Or you can do a solo if you want. This crappy song about the Starbucks guy."

"If you're mocking my music, I'm not going up there," she said, pouting, making both of them laugh.

"So, what, now I need to beg that you'll go up there to sing with us?"

"That would be nice," she smiled sweetly.

"Oh Miss Johnson, the mighty queen of Alphabet City, will you please do us the honor and come onstage to sing with us, your humble servants?"

She opened her mouth to answer, when two strong arms circled her waist from behind. She jumped, startled, and look back to see a stranger in a Zorro costume, smiling at her like an idiot. A drunken idiot, by the smell of it.

"Does the pretty lady have a name?"

"The pretty lady is not interested, thank you," she replied dryly, freeing herself from his grip. She didn't feel like flirting with strangers tonight. Not that he seemed to be worth the efforts, anyway. Roger and Collins stood there quietly, as if to let her handle it by herself, but she could see on their faces that they were ready to kick the guy's ass if necessary.

The stranger didn't seem too impressed by her refusal. "Oh, why not, sugar? Just one dance; no harm in that, right?"

"She said she wasn't interested," said Collins, in a low, threatening tone that managed to scare even her.

The guy measured him from his toes up. "And who are you, her daddy?"

"Boyfriend, actually," she improvised, throwing Collins a 'work me with' look. Roger, who obviously got the look as well, tried to hide a smirk by sipping his beer. She went over to Collins and wrapped her arms around his neck. "A very jealous one, that is," she added, shooting Collins a seductive look. "Isn't that so, baby?"

"Extremely jealous, yeah," Collins murmured, leaning down to kiss her neck.

On the side, Roger was choking on his beer. He stared at them with his mouth wide-open. He didn't hang out with them a lot lately, so he didn't know they had to use that tactic every now and again.

"So the next dance is kind of taken already, you see," she smiled sweetly.

"Y-yeah, well, your loss." Collins raised an eyebrow. The guy did a step back, looking somewhat intimidated. "I-I'd better go now."

"You better," she nodded. The three of them watched him mingle again among the crowd.

"Holy shit, dude, that was some show!" Roger laughed.

She smiled, then looked up at Collins gratefully. "Thanks."

"Any time," he said, returning her smile.

"Where were we, before this small interruption?" she asked Roger, shifting a bit so that she was now leaning against Collins, her back against his stomach, just in case. His arms were wrapped protectively around her waist.

"You just said you'd sing with us."

She laughed. "Nice try, Davis."

"But…?"

"But I'll be extremely nice and go up there."

Roger smiled. "Awesome."

"It's just because misses the spotlight, Davis."

But Roger didn't seem to hear him. He looked at something behind Collins' shoulder. "He's still looking at you." She looked at him questionably. "That jerk that is dressed like Zorro. I can see him just standing there."

"In that case…" she said, a slow, evil smile curling on her lips. She thought about doing this for quite some time, just to see how it would be. Now the circumstances worked perfectly in her favor; Mark wasn't around to make jealousy scenes (which she didn't expect from him, anyway), and Collins looked too drunk to really care. She turned and looked up at him. "Wanna try something a bit more risky?"

He looked at her slyly. "Depends what I'll have to do."

She smiled and brought his head down, kissing him fully and deeply on the lips. It obviously caught him off guard, but he didn't push her off. He was kissing her back, out of instinct, she figured. It was slow and hesitant, like he still didn't realize what he was doing. And then, when he did, he pulled away and looked down at her, breathless and confused.

She smiled sheepishly, suddenly embarrassed. "I swear to God, Collins, you're wasted on the wrong side of the game," she said, trying to regain her breath.

"For a moment I thought you forgot what side of the game was the wrong one," he replied.

For a second, she thought he was mad at her for kissing him. His tone sounded extremely serious, his expression remained blank. She wondered if she should apologize. Guilt and regret hit her full force. She shouldn't have done that. God, what was she thinking? Alcohol or not, she was sober enough to know this was wrong. She would have felt much better if it was some random guy, even if it was Roger, but this was Collins. Did it hurt him? Would he hate her after that? She shouldn't have done that.

"Well, it kind of worked, because the jerk is gone," said Roger, breaking the tensed silence.

She hardly heard him. She looked at Collins seriously. "Collins, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… I mean I did mean to, I just didn't…" Ugh. This was really not the time to get so inarticulate! She let out a frustrated sigh and looked up at him pleadingly. "Please say something."

He said nothing. He looked away. She could feel her heart racing. He would never forgive her; he'd never speak to her again. But then her fears were cut short when she realized he was trying really hard not to giggle in her face. The bastard. She hit him square on the chest. That did it; he burst into laughter. She could hardly make out what he was saying. "You should… have… seen… that look… that look on your…" the rest kind of swallowed by his uncontrollable giggles as they were getting worse. It took him a moment, but then he finally managed to get himself together, although there was still a hint of a smile in the corner of his lips. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"You're drunk, Collins," she grumbled. She didn't like being laughed at.

"Of course I'm drunk! It's Halloween!" She said nothing. He gave her a look. "Oh, come on, don't get all offensive on me for making fun of you. You kissed me, remember?"

Yeah, like she could forget. It felt like it was going to haunt her forever. Damn it. She'd just have to… blame it on the alcohol and make believe it never happened. But suddenly she couldn't stop thinking about what Mark might do if he'd ever find out. Sure, she dismissed it before, but now it was kind of bugging her. "Let's… not tell Mark about this, okay?" she asked slowly, suddenly feeling extremely guilty. "He might take it the wrong way."

"Tell him about what?" Collins asked innocently, and winked. "You were drunk and acted silly, that's all. He didn't miss a thing, the music was bad 'cause the band sucked."

"Hey!" Roger. Who else?

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

She joined Roger onstage for the second part of the band's performance. Since they didn't have anything planned, they had to improvise with cover versions to some well-known duets, their voices fitting perfectly together, making the crowd roar. They left the party once the performance was over. She really thought she should be back and see how Mark was doing, and the boys didn't seem so willing to stay any longer. After dropping Collins at his friends' building, she and Roger continued towards their own place. The night air was chilly and she shivered in spite of herself. Now she thought it was a really stupid idea to go out with nothing on but this little dress just so that a coat wouldn't ruin the effect of it. The last thing she wanted was to come down with a flu like Mark.

"You're cold, huh?" Roger asked.

"No, of course not, I'm just-" Her protest was cut short when he took off his leather jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She smiled, slipping her arms into the sleeves. "Thanks." They continued walking in silence. She was tired, and she figured Roger was tired too after his performance. But there was this thing she wanted to talk to him about, and it seemed like a good time, now that they were alone. "So, umm, how is it that April wasn't there tonight?"

Roger glanced at her, kind of surprised. "We… decided to cool it down for a while."

She suspected as much. It's been a while since she had last seen April at the loft, too. "Oh. I didn't know that."

"I didn't tell."

She took his hand. "I think it'll do you good," she said gently. She knew that things were extremely tensed between him and Mark ever since he found out the truth. They were still talking, but it wasn't like before. Roger betrayed Mark's trust, and as far as Mark was concerned, it was the worst thing he could possibly do. She knew that Roger would have to work really hard to regain this trust.

"I just need some time to figure things out."

"You know I'm here if you need to talk, right? Nothing changed." Except that now everything he did looked suspicious to them; they watched him more closely, and they had to make sure they didn't leave any money wandering around the loft so that he wouldn't find it and use it for buying smack. Other than that… yeah. Nothing changed.

"You probably have other things on your mind now," he said, squeezing her hand. His finger brushed against the ring Mark got her. He flashed her a devilish smile. "You're wearing his ring now, huh?" It sounded more like amusement than sarcasm or mockery. She smiled. She could bet he never thought it would last so long. She looked up and saw him watching her, smiling like an idiot. "That's so cute. So 50's."

She frowned. In spite of everything, he was still the same old Roger.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

It was almost 3am when they went back into the loft. Mark was still on the couch, fast asleep. His mouth was slightly open, and she could notice a trail of used tissues that started on his blanket and ended somewhere under the coffee table. She whispered good night to Roger, who smiled and disappeared down the hall, and then went over to kneel next to the couch. She felt for Mark's forehead. Still warm. His eyes fluttered open when she laid her hand against his forehead.

"Maureen?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Shh… go back to sleep, baby," she whispered.

He sat up, groaning softly at the effort of it. "What time is it?"

"Late. Almost three. Do you feel any better?"

"Not really."

"Do you want me to help you to get to bed?"

"I think I'll stay here. You take the bed this time, looks like you need it," he smiled sleepily, touching her chin.

"Okay. Will it be necessary to kick Benny's ass tomorrow or did he take a good care of you?"

"It was okay, I guess. He tried to convince me to get into his business."

"What, real estate?"

"Yep."

She smiled. It definitely sounded like something Benny would do. "What did you tell him?"

Mark looked contemplated. "I really can't remember. The last thing I remember is him telling me how there's no future or money in filming, whereas in real estate there are both. But I think I kind of lost consciousness before I had a chance to say anything."

"Yeah, well, you still look like you're gonna lose consciousness," she observed. "So come on. Lay back down. I'll change and make you some tea before I'll go to bed."

"Thanks," he replied, lying down. He closed his eyes, snuggling into the blanket. He didn't even try to protest, so she figured he was really out of it. She hoped he'd feel better soon. She got tired from sleeping alone. She lingered next to him for a moment, and then when she thought he was asleep, she got up, about to go to their bedroom. Then when she was halfway there, she heard his voice again. "How was the party?"

She stopped dead on her tracks, her heart missing a beat. Blame it on the alcohol and make believe it never happened. "I've been in better ones," she said vaguely, not even looking back.

"Oh."

That pang of guilt again. Should she tell him anyway? What different would it make? It was just a kiss. It was Collins. It wasn't even cheating. Besides, would it clear her conscience if he'd know? Would it make her she feel less guilty? "Mark-"

"Yeah?"

It probably wouldn't. Besides, a girl must have a secret or two. "Nothing. Close your eyes; I'll bring you that tea in a bit."