"Baby, do you ever think about having another baby?" Roger asked as his wife lay in his arms.
"Sometimes, but Roger, it's bad enough we have to leave RJ. I don't want to put another child through that." she told him sitting up.
"I just don't want RJ to be an only child. I mean, I was and it wasn't fun." he told her sitting up to face her.
"I understand what you're saying Roger, but given our disease, I don't think it would be fair to bring another child into this world just to leave it." she said as tears fell from her eyes.
"But they can take care of each other." he said wiping her eyes with his thumbs.
"No Roger. It's bad enough we're gonna have to leave that little boy in there one day. I don't want to put another child through that." she said getting out of bed beginning to cry.
"Marty, I'm sorry. I just... I just don't want RJ to be alone in this world when we're gone." he said getting up to comfort her.
"He won't be alone. Roger he has Maureen, Joanne, Collins and Mark. They would never let him be alone." she said looking up at her.
"That's not what I meant Baby." he told her caressing her hair.
"I know what you're saying, but I already don't want to leave RJ. Imagine how it'll be if I had to leave 2 children behind? Roger, I can't do it. Not even I'm strong enough for that." she told him pulling away to pace the room again.
"Marty I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I've just been thinking." he said going after her again.
"I know Roger. I'm sorry for reacting like that. I have thought about having another baby, but then I started thinking about RJ. I mean, when I found out I was pregnant with him 3 years ago, I was scared to death. I mean, I love that little boy so much. I never thought I could love someone else as much as I love you and then your son came along and he is my life, but Roger, I never planned on having him. It was one thing when it was just us. You know, you, me, Collins, Mark, Mo and Jo. But with RJ things just get complicated and sad. I don't want to leave my little boy." she said crying again.
"I know. It's OK. I'm sorry." he said taking her into his arms and bringing her over to sit on the bed.
"No. It's not OK Roger. None of this is OK. I mean, we're sick and we have everything in the world to live for, but we're not allowed." she cried looking up at him.
"It's not fair Baby. I know it isn't." he said now crying.
"So why do we have to? Why can't we just live our lives being happy with our son? Why does he have to learn so early how unfair life is?" she asked burying her face in his chest.
"I don't know Marty. I don't know." he said holding her closer crying with her.
"I mean, Roger, he's only 2 and I hardly remember my life before him." she said looking up at him.
"I know Baby. Me neither." he said smiling at her.
"Mommy." RJ called out as Marty's head darted up.
"Why don't you let me get him? I'll bring him in here and he can sleep with us." Roger said wiping his eyes.
"OK. I'd like that." she said as he got up and opened the bedroom door to go to RJ's room, which used to be his. "Roger." she called out before he left the room.
"Yeah Baby." he answered turning to her.
"I love you." she said looking up at him with sad eyes.
"I love you too Baby. You do know that, don't you?" he asked looking at her as she nodded. "What's the matter buddy?" he asked as he went into RJ's room.
"Where's mommy?" he asked as Roger sat on the edge of his bed.
"Mommy's in bed. How come you're not sleeping? It's past your bedtime." he asked holding his arms out for RJ to come on his lap.
"I got scared." he said burying his head into Roger's shoulder.
"OK buddy. Do you want to sleep with mommy and daddy tonight?" he asked rubbing the boys back.
"Yeah." he said sheepishly as Roger picked him up.
"Come on buddy." he said carrying his son into his bedroom.
"What happened?" Marty asked as Roger entered the bedroom with the 2 year old in his arms.
"He got scared." Roger said as RJ leaned down to Marty.
"What made you scared baby boy?" she asked as she sat the boy on her lap.
"Noise outside." he explained pointing to the thunder and lightning.
"Oh. OK. Do you want to sleep with me and daddy tonight?" she asked as he smiled and nodded. "OK, why don't you come lay over here and get comfortable?" she asked putting him on her side of the bed so she was in the middle between him and Roger.
"I need woobie." he told her looking at Roger who was about to get into bed.
"I'll get him. Just lay with mommy, OK buddy." he said before going back into the boy's bedroom.
"Thank you Honey." she said smiling at him.
"Here's woobie. Now you have to go to sleep for me and mommy, OK?" he asked handing the boy his bear before getting into bed.
"OK daddy." he said smiling as he laid his head down on Marty's pillow.
"Good night RJ. I love you." Marty said kissing his head.
"I love you too mommy and daddy." he answered as his eyes slowly closed.
"I love you too RJ." Roger said reaching over Marty to kiss him on his head.
"I know daddy." he mumbled as he fell asleep.
"I love you Roger." Marty said turning to kiss him good night.
"I love you too Baby. So much." he said holding her in his arms before she turned around to hold her son as they both fell asleep.
"Roger, Marty have you seen..." Mark started as he opened the bedroom door seeing the three of them laying in the bed. Marty and RJ slept right through it. Roger's eyes creeped open and quietly slipped out of bed as to not wake them.
"Sorry Mark. He got scared of the thunder and lightning last night so I brought him in to sleep with us." Roger whispered as they left the room.
"It's cool. I just got worried when I didn't see him sleeping in his bed when I went in to check on him." he explained as he put coffee on.
"Oh man, I really screwed up last night." Roger told him leaning on the counter with his head in his hands.
"What happened?" Mark asked sitting on the stool to wait for the coffee.
"Marty and I were laying in bed talking and I asked he if she ever thought about having another kid." Roger started as Mark's jaw dropped.
"Bad move." Mark said looking up at him.
"No shit. She just about freaked out on me. She kept crying about how she doesn't want to leave RJ and it wouldn't be fair to bring another child into the world so we could leave them too. Mark, she was really upset about it." he said looking up at him as he pushed his hair back.
"You think? I mean Roger think about it. When she got pregnant with RJ, it was hard. She didn't say much about it, but you could tell she was scared to death." Mark said looking up at him.
"Yeah, I know. But I don't want RJ to be an only child like I was. I just don't want him to be alone in this world. Aside from you guys." he said as Mark got up to pour the coffee.
"Don't worry Rog. He'll be fine. If strength is genetic, he has a 100 chance of being the strongest kid there ever was." Mark said handing Roger his coffee.
"I know. His mothers strength alone is gonna have him leaping tall buildings in a single bound." Roger said laughing.
"No kidding. I mean, the night I met Marty, I never could have imagined she would be as strong as she is now. Remember that?" Mark said sipping his coffee.
"Yeah, she was this scared little girl. She couldn't be in a room alone much less sleep alone without having a nightmare. She needed me so much back then. Now I think I need her more." Roger said staring into his coffee mug.
"I know. I mean, she is the glue that keeps this family strong. Remember the day she found out she was positive?" Mark asked thinking back.
"Are you kidding? She yelled at me so bad that day. That was the day I knew I wanted to marry her." Roger said laughing as Mark looked over at him.
"Really? I never knew that." he said putting his coffee mug down.
"Yeah. I mean, her lust for life. Her strength to go on after finding out she was dying. I don't know. I knew that day, no matter what happened from that day on, I wanted to be with her when it happened." he told him smiling.
"But you did you wait 4 months to ask her on stage?" Mark asked confused.
"Well, first I had to save up for her ring and then I wanted to ask her onstage because if you remember, she's the reason I was up there again. It's what she wanted." he said smiling at him.
"God Rog, that seems like such a long time ago." Mark said smiling at him.
"Yeah it does." Roger said as Marty came out of their bedroom.
"Good morning boys." she said stretching as she came out in her pink pajama pants and a black t-shirt of Roger's.
"Good morning Baby. Is the terror still sleeping?" Roger asked as he held his arm out inviting her to come to him.
"Yeah. He looks so peaceful." she said running her fingers through his hair. "Roger, I'm really sorry about how I acted last night. I know you were asking an innocent question and I totally blew it out of proportion." she said caressing his face.
"No Baby. I'm sorry. I never wanted to upset you.' he said leaning in to kiss her.
"I know." she said as he held her close to him.
"So I was thinking. How would you feel about taking RJ to the park today? We'll have a picnic. It'll just be the 3 of us." Roger suggested smiling at her.
"That's a great idea Honey. We'll wait for RJ to get up and then we'll get dressed and go." she said leaning in to kiss him.
"OK." he said holding her close caressing her hair.