Chapter 4

Three months passed and everybody settled into their new living arrangements. Danielle was still a little aloof, but she was happier now that she was being home schooled by Collins and socialized by Angel. Lizette was always happy and kept the bohemians from getting too stressed out with her bouncing nature and ever present laugh. Roger was constantly busy adjusting to parenting and Mark was dating again. Maureen got over the injustice of not being allowed to take Danni out, and Joanne won court case after court case. All in all, everyone was very happy for a change.

Now it was a little after four on a Friday afternoon and Danielle was wrapping up a tutoring session with Collins when Mark came in the front door hand in hand with his new girlfriend Kirsten. She was twenty-two and a recent graduate from the art program at NYU. She was a friend of Collins and that was how Mark met her. Now they had been going out for nearly two months much to everyone's surprise. Kirsten was not the kind of girl Mark usually went for, unless you counted Maureen. She smoked often and drank on occasion (though still considerably less than Maureen) and she had a fiery wit. More importantly, she was crazy about Mark.

Danielle looked up as the door opened and smiled. "Hey Mark. Hi Kirsten." She greeted.

Kirsten grinned and went to sit by the girl. "What's up Danni? Hey Collins, how's it going?"

"It's going Kir," Collins replied and kissed her on the cheek. "Just giving young Danielle here a lesson in classical literature, and what have you two been doing today?" he asked, giving Mark a coy look.

"We went for a walk and Mark filmed for a while and then we grabbed some lunch at the Life." Kirsten answered. "Hey Danni, you want to go to the bookstore with me and Collins later? The good professor's buying." Collins rolled his eyes and headed out to the fire escape to smoke.

"That sounds good." Danielle said. "Mark, Dad said that he'll be home around six and that he has news."

Mark gave her look as she headed into her room to put her books away. "Good news?" he asked skeptically.

"He just said news." She called back. "He took Lizzie somewhere a little while after you left and I haven't seen him since. But he didn't sound happy when he called."

"Well that's just great." Mark responded sarcastically. "I'm going to go take a shower. Holler at me before you leave okay Kir?"

"You got it baby." Kirsten said with an evil smile. "Although if you wanted, I could just join you in there." She waggled her eyebrows seductively.

Mark blushed and shook his head. "Child in the loft Kirsten. Maybe later."

Danielle groaned. "Why does everyone think that they have to censor everything about sex around me?" she demanded. "I'm almost seventeen for fuck's sake!"

"Really, for fuck's sake? Was that particular expletive necessary?" Kirsten asked with a shrewd look. "Your father wouldn't like that kind of language coming from his little princess."

"Okay one; I'm not the little princess. That's Lizette's job. I'm more the surly wench next door. And two, he can't say anything about me using expletives. He combines them with every word known to the English language, even ones with religious connotations." Danielle responded.

Kirsten laughed at the younger girl who she was really quite fond of. Danni was the closest thing that she had to a sister and they were enough alike that if they didn't look so remarkably different they could actually pass for sisters. Where Danielle was blond, green eyed and fair Kirsten was darker and had dark golden eyes. Her hair just brushed the top of her back and was a dark brown color, streaked with dark red. They were both tall and relatively slender. "You are ridiculous Danni."

The teenager smiled. "So can I ask you a question Kirsten?" she asked.

"Go for it." Mark's girlfriend replied.

"Well, you know Tobias the new waiter at the Life Café right?"

Kirsten thought about it for a minute. Then she grinned. "Shoulder length brown hair, awesome abs, about eighteen?"

"Deep blue eyes…" Danni continued and then trailed off embarrassed. "Yeah that's him."

"What about Tobias?" Kirsten inquired, although she was sure she already knew.

"I was down there with Maureen and Collins the other day and he was talking to me for a while before our food came. When we got ready to leave, he gave me his number and said I should call him sometime. But then yesterday I saw him walking home with another girl." Danni explained.

"Did you call him?" Kirsten wanted to know.

"No, I never did." Danielle admitted.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Alright hand over the phone and the number." She ordered. Danielle handed her the phone from off the table and pulled a napkin out of her pocket that had the number scribbled on it. Kirsten accepted both and dialed the number.

"Hi, can I speak to Tobias please?" she asked when someone picked up. "Tobias hey. This is Kirsten, Mark's girlfriend. Yeah. Well the other day you gave your number to Mark's roommate Roger's oldest daughter Danielle and she was freaking out because she has just been so busy this week and hasn't had time to call you. So I told her that I would do it while she studies with Collins. You know Collins of course." She was talking at the speed of light on purpose. "Anyway Danni just wanted me to tell you that she'd like to get together sometime. Yeah? I know for a fact that she's free then. In fact she'll be down at the Life later tonight and you guys can talk then. Okay? Sounds good." She hung up with a flourish. "Now you have a date with Tobias tomorrow afternoon." Kirsten announced.

"Oh my God Kirsten, thank you!" Danielle exclaimed and threw herself at the older girl. Then she pulled back. "Fuck. Dad will never let me go out with him. Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

Kirsten raised an eyebrow. "I'm offended when you say fuck." She told her and folded her arms.

"Oh whatever. What am I going to do about Dad? He'll die before he lets me go out with Tobias. He has an eyebrow ring and a tattoo. There's no chance Dad'll ever go for that."

"Like he's such a blue collar?" Kirsten retorted. "Roger's a badass himself."

"I'm offended when you say ass." Danni interrupted.

"Shut up. Look I'll talk to Roger for you if you want. But if you want my opinion, he's only been in charge of you for like three months. You can do what you want."

"Yeah right." Danni retorted. She looked over as Collins who had just come back in. "Can we just go now please? I need to talk to Tobias before I talk to Dad."

"Tobias from the Life?" Collins asked with interest. "When did that happen?"

"I'll fill you in on the way to the bookstore Professor Stoned A lot." Kirsten joked.

Meanwhile, halfway across the Village, Roger was sitting in the doctor's office with Lizette on his lap. She was half sleep and her father was not doing much better. First he had gotten tests on himself to make sure that he was still doing alright (he was). While he was there he decided to have them take a look at Lizette. It turned out she was not doing so hot. Apparently she had caught a cold a few months before and it had severely weakened her immune system. Now they were sitting outside waiting for another doctor to come back and tell them just how bad it really was.

The musician looked up as the doctor walked down towards him. It was the same doctor who had walked down this exact same hall to tell them that Mimi wasn't going to make it. Roger fought a shudder, shifted Lizette onto the bench, and stood up.

"Ah, Mr. Davis." Dr. Wilson said when he reached them. "Nice to see you again."

Fighting the urge to give the good doctor a dirty look, Roger smiled and shook the man's hand. "I wish it were on better circumstances."

"Yes I suppose that would be preferable." Dr. Wilson replied. "So I suppose you would like the results of little Lizette's test results. But first I need to ask, how she is related to you."

Now Roger did give him a withering look. "She's my daughter." He snapped. "I would appreciate it if you would just give me the results now. I do have better things to do than stand around in this god forsaken hospital."

Dr. Wilson cleared his throat. "Well it's like this Mr. Davis. Lizette's immune system is shot right now. The cold that she caught recently wreaked havoc on her white count and she will need to double up on her AZT intake for the next few weeks. I suggest that she stays here in our care for best results."
"No." Roger said immediately. "I don't want her staying here. She can take her AZT at home."

"I'm not sure if that's the best idea Mr. Davis." Dr. Wilson said with hesitation. "Lizette can get better much faster here than she can at your…home."

Roger's nostrils flared in annoyance. "You can call my loft a crap hole if you want to, but that's where my daughter will be. I've trusted enough lives to your care and I truthfully think that she will be much better off at home with the people who love her."

"I understand how you feel Mr. Davis but…" the doctor was cut off by Roger lifting Lizette into his arms and walking away purposefully. He sighed and shook his head, hoping that the musician would not end up losing another loved one.