This is the last set up chapter. And I guess I should do the disclaimer thing now. I do not own Rent or any affiliated characters except Lizette and Danielle.

Chapter 3

It was 12:17 am and September 11, by far one of the longest days of Roger's life, was finally over. The musician was lying on the couch, eyes closed, shirtless, and strumming his guitar. His fingers automatically found the chords for the song he had written eleven years ago.

Your eyes, as we said our goodbyes… he sang in a whisper. As he cut off, there was the sound of a sob coming from the room where his daughters were sleeping. Roger sat up and listened for a second. A second sob followed the first, so he got up and went to poke his head in the room. Lizette was curled up under the blanket on the bed, sound asleep. But Danni was on the floor in the fetal position shaking violently. Roger closed his eyes, praying for strength, and then went over to her.

"Danni, are you okay?" he asked softly. The girl didn't respond, just cried harder so Roger sat down beside her on the floor. He pulled her against his chest and let her cry. Roger was so surprised that Danielle was allowing him to get this close that he started to sing into her hair like he did for Mimi and April before her. After a minute or so he tried again. "What's wrong Danielle?"

She lifted her tearstained face. "What's going to happen to us Dad? Everybody we had is dead now."

"You're going to be fine." Roger answered. "You'll stay here with me and Mark."

"And what about when you die?" Danielle snapped. "What do we do then? Where are we going to go?"

To her surprise, Roger laughed. "Listen kid, when I get around to dying, you won't need me anymore. I've been hanging in there for over a decade and I'm not planning on cutting out anytime soon. And as for where you'll go, you don't have to go anywhere. Mark's not going to kick you out."

"Yeah but, Lizette needs structure. She just lost her mother and can't be assured of a life with you. How easy is it going to be for her just to live here with Mark if you die?" Danni argued.

Roger laughed again. "Danni, Danni, Danni." He chuckled. "Lizzie will never have to worry about that. She has you. When I'm gone and Mark gets sick of your surliness and kicks you out, which he never will by the way, Lizzie will have you. I would never have brought her here without you. She needs you and I know I sure as hell do."

Danielle sucked in a breath. I'm not surly. I'm motherless teen with an AIDS infected father; excuse me for having an attitude." She pushed herself away from Roger and got into bed beside her sister. "Goodnight." She snapped at him and rolled over.

Roger took that to mean "Get out," so he did. He had learned from his own childhood that sometimes it was better to be a hands-off parent.

Nine hours later, Mark awoke to a curly blond head and bright aqua eyes directly in his face. "Hi Mark!" chirped Lizette's cheerful voice. "It's morning time."

"Apparently it is." Mark returned. "Does your dad know you're up?"

Lizette shook her head and bounced up and down on the bed. "He's still snoring. Will you play with me?"

Mark smiled. "I would love to. Give me ten minutes okay hon? I'll meet you in the kitchen and we'll play what I like to call the breakfast game."

"Okay." The girl agreed and ran out of the room. Mark chuckled. Life was going to get way more interesting with the girls in the loft. The filmmaker got dressed hurriedly and brushed his teeth as he fluffed his hair that he was beginning to let grow out. Once he was satisfied that he didn't look like a bum anymore, he headed out to the main room of the loft.

Danni was reading on the couch and Roger was asleep next to her. Mark rolled his eyes and tossed a rolled up sock at his best friend. "Get up you lazy bum. Your daughter and I are making breakfast."

"Don't let her use a knife." Danni ordered without looking up. "You know why."

"Yeah I know." Mark agreed just as Roger sat up and snapped, "Don't be rude to Mark." The musician turned to his best friend. "What's for breakfast?"

"Ask Lizette. She's in charge."

The little girl jumped up and squealed. "Can we make pancakes Mark? Please can we? Please?" she begged.

"Well I went shopping yesterday and I got some breakfast stuff. So yeah we can make pancakes."

"Awesome!" the girl exclaimed jumping into Mark's arms. "Let'sgolet'sgolet'sgolet'sgo." Mark laughed and towed the Lizette into the kitchen. Once they whipped up some batter and chopped up some apples to put in, the door opened to reveal Collins, Angel, and Maureen.

"We're here!" the diva announced.

"But nobody invited you!" Roger retorted. "Hey Col, Ang. What do you want Maureen?"

"I'm not here to see you Davis. I'm here to see your daughters. And I smell pancakes!" Maureen sang out and skipped over to the kitchen.

Collins rolled his eyes and pushed Roger over so that he could sit beside Danielle. "Hey kid. What are you reading?" She turned her book around and held it up so the professor could see. "Ah Bronte, good choice. Tell me, do you have a preference between Emily and Charlotte?"

Danni's eyes lit up. "I try not to play favorites, but I must say that Wuthering Heights kicks Jane Eyre's ass." She told him. "There's just something really endearing about Heathcliff's obsessions."

"I agree." Collins replied. "There's a method to his madness. It's nice that Heathcliff isn't just unnecessarily brutal."

"Totally!" Danni agreed quickly. "I kind of wanted to date Heathcliff for a while."

"Oh I did too kid. I did too." Collins admitted. "Something about him holding me hostage in a room makes me ridiculously happy and horn-" he broke off when Roger glared at him. "But that's a story for another time." He continued.

Danni rolled her eyes. "Oh please Dad. I'm sixteen and I'm not stupid. I'm not going to get all bothered when Collins says that Heathcliff getting all bondage and domination with him would make him horny. I mean God, my sister and I are the products of drunken nights with two different women. I know how sex works."

Roger scowled at her. "Go eat breakfast with the others." He ordered. "Now."

Danielle rolled her eyes again and flounced off into the kitchen. Collins chuckled and followed her, and Angel came to sit beside Roger. The rocker put his head in his hands and groaned.

Angel smiled. "You're doing fine Roger honey. Teenagers are harder, especially ones in a situation like your Danielle is in. Don't worry about it. And don't worry about Maureen either."

"Why should I worry about Maureen?" Roger asked suspiciously.

"No, I said you shouldn't worry about Maureen." Angel corrected.

"Which means that there is something happening that is cause for worry and Maureen is at the center of it. Spill, Angel."

"Well, Maureen wants to take Danielle out and make her more sociable and dateable or something like that. I promised Mark that I wouldn't let her get too out of control though."

Roger glared in the drama queen's direction. "No. She is not corrupting my daughter. It's bad enough that she has me and April for parents. She does not need to be taught sociability skills from the loudest, craziest, most sex addicted woman that we know."

Angel smothered a grin. "I can see your point. I would let her spend sometime around one of us though. Maybe Collins. They could talk about books. That would be a much better influence."

"You know I'm desperate when I'm going to send my child to Collins because he's the saner of two psychopaths." Roger sighed. "But he actually is, maybe I'll send her with you two when you go home. She could definitely use some Angel time."

"I would be honored Roger." Angel said.

"No, I would be honored." The musician corrected. "I know I can't do this without any help."

A/N: Okay so these are the set up chapters. Now the stage has been set for the drama! The next chapter will be set about three months later and I will be introducing a new character to the scene. The updating will go faster with every review I get. They inspire me to make you all happy.