A/N: Well, I had a scare, I lost my flashdrive and lost this whole story. Thank goodness that I have been putting this up and could save it again. I'm not smart and didn't save any of this to my computer, so I had to start this chapter from scratch when I lost it. I know where it is and I will get it back soon, so that is good. Anyway, this chapter is done and its pretty good, I hope, but you guys will be the judge of that. Tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: Jonathan Larson definitely came up with the genius idea of Rent and not me!

Chapter 9 – Telling the Bohemians Part 3

Maureen was alone in her apartment for the first time in two days. Benny had an audition at 2:15 and she decided she would stay behind. From her experience, she knew that auditions can take up to several hours, and although she wanted to support Benny, she figured that she could get more done at home. Cleaning the place was at the top of her list. Through being sick and having Benny over, the apartment was being neglected, and she knew she could get it clean when Benny wasn't there. She put her favorite Aretha Franklin CD in the stereo and started picking up the living room.

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me," she was singing as she heard a slight knock at the door.

She turned down the volume and looked at the door as if it was going to tell her who was standing on the other side. She burrowed her eyebrows in confusion because she knew it couldn't be Benny, his audition hadn't even started. She walked over to the door as the knocking continued. Since there was no peep hole, she flung the door open to reveal other man she knew well.

"Oh my god, Collins, what are you doing here?" she asked, surprised to see her friend at her doorstep.

"Can't a man come by to see his little sister?" he came back, his grin growing by the second.

"Of course! What a surprise!" she exclaimed as she hopped into his arms.

Maureen released herself from the hug and gestured Collins to come into the half clean apartment. Collins looked around the place as if it was the first time he had been there. As he scanned the apartment, he noticed a pair of men's shoes at the front door, but decided to let it slide for now. Maureen walked to the kitchen, only to yell back into the living room, "Collins do you want anything to drink?"

"Sure, anything you have is fine," he yelled back at her.

He sensed that something was different about this place, but he couldn't put his finger on it. As Maureen came back with two waters, he noticed how different she looked, almost as if she were glowing. Happiness, was it? The bohemians hadn't seen Maureen happy in months, but here it was, right in front of him. Why? He wondered if it had to do with the men's shoes that he found to the left of the door.

"Shoes," he said plainly.

"What?"

Collins eyes shifted to the pair of black and white Nikes that lie on the floor, and then back to Maureen's face.

Maureen knew exactly what he was talking about, and started to get uncomfortable. She started pacing before saying anything.

"You know him," she told him, avoiding any contact with the darker man.

Collins tried to concentrate and read her face, but nothing was coming to him.

"Are you back with Mark?" he asked, deciding he would try his friends first.

"No, oh my god, no," she replied quickly, crinkling her nose in disgust.

"Roger?"

"Collins! No," she yelled, as she grew more and more nervous with each passing second.

"Well, who else—" he started saying, until it dawned on him, that yes, he did indeed know the man, but he was praying that he was wrong, "Maureen, no, not Benny."

Maureen just looked at Collins, and nodded her head slightly. She knew that he was not going to like the fact that she was dating Benny. He viewed her as a little sister and this was the last person Collins wanted to see her with.

"Why the hell are you with Benny? Didn't you like hate him last year?" Collins had exploded and Maureen winced at his words.

"Yes, but people change, I have changed Collins, and so has Benny!" she came back, knowing that she had to stand her ground or be defeated.

"Oh really? Like how? You aren't a lesbian anymore because he came knocking at your door, and he isn't rich anymore because he just got divorced so he decided to shack up with you? Is that how people change?" He said bitterly, knowing he went too far after the words left his mouth and he saw the look on Maureen's face.

Maureen could feel the tears start to well up as she was hit with his words, but she knew that she had to remain strong.

"You know what Collins? I am happy now and I haven't been happy since Angel died, and so what if my sexual orientation changes! I was trying different things to try and be happy, isn't that what you did? Before Angel there was Andre, and before him it was Tina. If I'm correct, Tina was a woman!" she yelled at him, trying to make the words come out right to make her point.

"Yes, but I never swung back! I stayed with men after Andre."

"But are you happy now? Who says that a woman isn't going to make you happy this time?" she started out in a yell, but ended up in a whisper.

"Because Angel was the only one that could make me happy, and there is nobody like her. And I don't date people that turn on us. Benny is going to leave you when he gets his hands on some money, you just wait!" Collins told her as he walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

When she was alone again, Maureen collapsed on the floor in tears. That was not how she saw that going, and she had hoped that Collins would be supportive like the rest of the bohemians. Was Collins right? Would Benny leave again once he found someone with money like Allison? She thought that he had changed, but he could just be playing her; there was no way of knowing until she got hurt.

It wasn't ten minutes before she heard a knock at the door again. Hoping it wasn't Collins, she slowly opened the wooden rectangle. It revealed Benny with a smile that always had a tendency to make her feel better. His smile soon faded when he saw the tear streaks and running mascara on her cheeks.

"Mo, what's wrong," he asked, concern and worry washing over his face.

Maureen didn't know whether to cling to him and risk getting hurt or to run in the other direction and let her heart keep healing without interruption. Her heart had spoken for her and overshadowed her mind making her rush into his arms and sob even harder now that he was here.

Benny knew he wasn't going to get an answer out of her in the middle of the hallway and she was crying much too hard to be understood. He took her inside and waited until she was calmed down enough to talk.

"Baby, what happened?" he asked, a supportive and soothing hand on her back.

Maureen took a deep breath to gain control of her emotions before she told him what happened with Collins not fifteen minutes ago.

"Collins stopped by about fifteen, twenty minutes ago and he saw your shoes by the door when he walked in," she started, "He asked me about them and I just told him that he knew him. He asked if I was seeing Mark or Roger and I said no; then he knew that it was you and went crazy. He yelled and screamed about how you were going to leave me when you got a little bit of money again. I tried to stand strong, I really did, but then he just walked out and I lost it." Tears ran down her pink cheeks again, causing Benny's heart to break; he just didn't know what to do to help her. "I thought that out of everybody, he would understand and support me the most, but I guess I was wrong."

"I know baby," he whispered as he pulled her into an embrace. "Look at me," he took her tear streaked face in his hands and stared into her soul, "We are going to get through this, and he's wrong. I would not leave you if I had all the money in the world, believe that, all right?"

Maureen felt those deep brown eyes bore into her soul, and she knew that he was telling the truth. She just nodded her head as her forehead rested on Benny's lips. Benny was determined to talk to Collins and try to get him to understand, because he knew that no matter how hard Maureen protested, Collins approval was very important to her.

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