A/N: Wow, talk about a speedy update:) I just finished this chapter last night at about midnight, but I was on a roll and I couldn't stop. This chapter and this story as a whole isn't exactly going to direction I originally intended, but that's okay. I love writing this story, because lets face, Tidina is a very cute couple to be writing about. :) So here is another chapter and hopefully I write chapter 15 as fast as I wrote this one. So enjoy and don't forget to review and tell me how I am doing.
Shoutouts: Thank you soooooo much to the fans of this story and for the people that review each chapter, you guys rock and are keeping my spirits up!
Disclaimer: Rent is definitely not mine in anyway...!

Chapter 14 – Us against the World

The two women just stared at each other from across the room. All of Life Café was quiet, waiting for something to happen. Benny watched as Maureen's breathing changed and her hand started to shake in his.

"Are you going to be okay?" Benny asked in her ear, using his free hand to rub her back.

Joanne watched the close contact and instantly narrowed her eyes in his direction. Maureen nodded her head at Benny's question, but kept her eyes fixed on Joanne. As she watched the darker woman walk over to her, Maureen could feel her heart start to beat faster with every step.

"Maureen, can I talk to you? Outside," Joanne asked, her eyes shooting from Maureen to Benny and back again.

"Yeah, I'll be out there in a minute," Maureen choked out, her mind still not able to comprehend that Joanne was here.

Joanne turned around to walk outside and wait for her former lover to follow her. Maureen turned to Benny, trying to find answers to unasked questions in his eyes.

"Why now?" she asked, feeling herself being pulled into an embrace.

"It'll be all right. Just go and talk to her," he whispered in her ear.

Maureen just nodded her head as she gave him a quick kiss before walking toward the door to talk to her ex-girlfriend.

The slight breeze hit her face as Maureen walked out to see Joanne standing in front of her with her arm crossed, giving her a chilling look.

"What the hell?" Joanne said once she saw the door close behind Maureen.

Maureen didn't know what to say, she just stared at Joanne and watched many emotions run over her face. The darker woman stared back, waiting to hear an answer.

"What do you want me to say?" Maureen asked, walking farther away from the café door.

"I don't know, maybe that I was seeing things between you and Benny. That I am just so miserable that I'm hallucinating and imagined it," Joanne replied, following Maureen.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that because it's real."

"It's real?" Joanne questioned, the familiar glare of Maureen's eyes hit her body as she continued. "I can't even give you the number of times I listened to you talk shit about that man!"

"We've both changed," Maureen simply told her.

"Really? Like I hadn't noticed. Just five months ago, you were sleeping with me, a woman, and now you're with a man, a man whom you hated not even five months ago!"

"Yes. I fucking realize that. Oh my god, how many more people are going to tell me that? Okay, so I'm not a lesbian, I never was just attracted to woman anyway. What does it matter? I love him and he loves me and that's all that matters," Maureen raised her voice, anger evident in her tone.

"Love? Oh come on," the darker woman said, her heart crushing with every passing moment in this conversation, but she was doing everything to not let it show.

"Yes, we both have had feelings for each other for quite some time, and we know this is right," Maureen replied.

"It'll never last," Joanne told her, as she turned away to walk back to her hotel, more heartbroken than when she arrived.

Maureen's icy glares could still be felt with her back turned and mixed with the chilly night, it caused Joanne to walk back shivering.

Frustrated, Maureen turned and walked back into Life Café. She sped past the group sitting at their usual joined tabled in the middle of the building with tears in her eyes. They watched her go into the bathroom and Benny got up to follow her, worry showing all over his face. The rest of the group just looked at Benny and each other, not really sure what to do or expect. He got to the door and slightly knocked before entering.

"Hey baby," he said, seeing Maureen sitting on the covered toilet, her face in her hands.

She turned her head in his direction, forcing her tears to take a path less traveled.

"That bad, huh?" he asked, kneeling down, so he was on her level.

She just nodded her head as she felt her hands being pulled from her face. He held onto them as he stared straight into her wounded soul.

"Why doesn't anybody thing we will last? Joanne, people randomly on the street with their looks, my parents really didn't when I told them the other day. The whole world is against us," she wondered.

"Well, the truth is Joanne is jealous that you moved on and she hasn't and because of our past. That is probably part of the case with your parents. The other part and why the rest of the world is against us is simply because your white and I'm black, and people still have a hard time accepting that," he replied, seeing that she was somewhat surprised in his answer.

She really was. Maureen didn't want to admit it, but not only did they have problems to deal with when getting people to believe in them as a couple locally, they had the whole world now and the race issue. With Joanne, it was never that way, because they never publicly displayed their affection and people just thought they were two female friends. This was too much for her right now and the tears came on harder and faster.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Benny whispered, pulling her off the toilet and into an embrace. "We're going to get through this together."

"Why does it matter? My parents of all people should understand that race is only color. God, they taught me that, why can't they get past it now?" she asked.

"Well, your family is Jewish right?" he asked, receiving a nod as Maureen walked over and leaned against the sink, facing him as he continued. "They probably have been envisioning you with a nice, wealthy Jewish doctor since you were in diapers, and although they taught you that race is only color, they probably never thought their daughter would get with a black man. Now that you re, they actually have to deal with the issue first hand and it's probably a bit unsettling and a little overwhelming. Just give them time, they will see things through."

She smiled at him for his understanding and for always being able to get her through. Maureen walked over to him and kissed his lips, causing her heart to beat at a faster rhythm. It was as if she was falling in love with him again for the very first time. She broke it and caught another glimpse into those beautiful brown eyes.

"Are you ready to go back out and join the party?" Benny asked her, reaching for her hand.

"Yeah," she replied, letting him lead her out of the bathroom and back out with their friends, with people that believed in them, and back into a circle of love.