Author's Notes: Another chapter for you! Seeing as though I probably won't be able to update for a couple of days, I'd figure I get this out to you before I become busy again. Thanks again to everyone that keeps up with this story, I really appreciate it.

I OWN NOTHING (but this story & add-ons).

Please read, review and enjoy!

Thanks so much to AngelxCollins for the encouraging review, it really gave me confidence in my writing.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

With Mark, Joanne & Collins

Mark wasn't sure how Collins was possibly making it through all of this, but he knew that once he got well enough he'd drink himself into oblivion.

"Where is my son!" Cried a screaming lady down the hall, she sounded hysterical.

Both Joanne and Mark looked at each other before glancing at Collins, his parents, they were here.

"I said where is my son!" The quiet and serene mood in Collins' hospital room was torn to pieces when Mrs. Collins entered. "Oh my sweet Lord in heaven above!" She shouted tearing away from a man that Mark swore was Collins in 20 years. "Janetta please calm down."

"Mr. Collins?" Mark tried; he hoped the man would remember him.

"Mark?" The older version of Collins said as he quickly shook his hand. "How is he doing?"

"He actually just got out of surgery and they specifically told me that only one person could be in here at a time."

Nodding understandingly, Mr. Collins' grabbed Mrs. Collins by the arm trying to get her out of the room. "Come on, there is only a certain number of us that can be in here."

"I'm his mother Terry! I can be in here however long I want!"

Joanne took her cue from Mark. "I'm Joanne Jefferson, one of Collins' good friends."

"Are you his girlfriend?" Mrs. Collins answered as she stopped from the kissing fest she was having with Collins' forehead.

The lawyer was taken aback by this. "No, I'm not. Collins is…"

"With that drag queen isn't he? He did this to him! I told him not to stay here."

Mark looked at the display he saw before him. Collins hadn't spoken to his parents especially his mother in years, why were they so concerned now? When they learned he had AIDS, his father cut off all communication with him.

"I want a lawyer! Terry, get me a lawyer!" Mrs. Collins was completely hysterical.

Hearing all the hysterics and realized more than one person was in the room, a nurse came in to control the situation. "Okay, the patient can no longer see anyone at this time."

"Are you out of your mind! This is my son! I am Janetta B. Collins and I will see my son for as long as I want to do you understand me?"

But the nurse wasn't faltered by Mrs. Collins' antics. "With all due respect Mrs. Collins, we must look out for your sons' health and it is quite obvious that you have become a hazard to it. So I'll have to ask you to leave the room right away."

"I want my lawyer Terry; you get me my lawyer dammit!" Wrenching herself from her husbands' grip she walked over to Joanne and Mark who were clearly upset that they couldn't see their friend anymore. "You tell that thing, that he will pay for hurting my boy. He'll pay dearly."

With Maureen

When the performance artist reached Collins' room, she found a crying Joanne and a distraught Mark standing in front of the door.

"I want to see him!" She yelled at the both of them. "Get out of the way please."

"We're not allowed to see him Maureen." Joanne said simply.

"What do you mean?"

Mark slid down to the floor, at a loss of what to do. "Mr. and Mrs. Collins decided to pay a visit and as a result, no one can see Collins." They didn't even bother to relay the news that Mrs. Collins was probably going to put a hit out on Angel.

"Bastards." Maureen said without a care of who heard her or saw her. "I want to see Collins! This isn't fair!"

Joanne held her hand out to shush her girlfriend. "Maureen please, there is nothing we can do but wait."

"Well I don't want to wait! I want to see Collins! I want Angel to bring her skinny ass over here, fuck Collins and get this all over with! That's all everybody needs is a good screw!"

Mark clawed his face with his hands. "God dammit Maureen just shut the fuck up for once! There is nothing we can do! We don't know where the fuck Angel is, so please just SHUT UP!"

Maureen stood quiet looking over to her girlfriend who was staring at Collins through the window. "Aren't you going to defend me!"

"No Maureen, have a seat."

"All Collins and Angel do is fight for us, now you guys want to sit and take it in the ass! What the hell happened to you guys!"

"This is what happened Maureen! Don't you understand this is Collins and Angel we're talking about. It's quite obvious that we can't function without them." Joanne never admitted to her shortcomings or having to depend on anyone, so Maureen knew that she meant what she said.

"So what do we do to help them! Please tell me to do something!" She pleaded with them.

After a long pause, Mark took the initiative to speak. "Sit down, shut-up and wait."

With Roger and Mimi

"I swear I'll fucking kill him myself." Roger said as he looked out the car door.

Mimi lifted her tired eyes towards her boyfriend, whose sandy locks crowded his face. "What?"

"I'll fucking kill Angel. Look at what he's done to us."

Sitting up, Mimi look at Roger like he had just gone mad. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Angel was her best friend, no matter what she did, how dare he talk about her when she's at worst. "You're not going to touch Angel."

"You and I both know that if Angel would have never come into our lives, none of this shit would have happened."

"What about Collins huh?" Mimi's anger began to grow. "Isn't he supposed to be your fucking best friend? Don't you want him to be happy?"

Roger felt his fists tighten. "There are plenty of guys, good guys out there that would appreciate and love Collins like he deserves."

"And Angel doesn't?"

"NO! HE DOESN'T! YOU DON'T HURT SOMEONE YOU LOVE MIMI! YOU DON'T TRY TO KILL SOMEONE YOU LOVE!"

His short change of tone startled Mimi a bit, shaking her up. "Angel deserves love too, you have no idea what's shes-"

"Hes Mimi. HE. Let's stop pretending. Angel is a man, deep down underneath all the make-up and underneath the high voice that is still a man. I just can't believe I actually let Angel in, I fell for it. We all fell for it. Angel isn't who we think he is. He's somebody else, not even Collins knows him."

Mimi was so hurt; she'd never heard such honesty from him before. At least not about Angel. "Take that back Roger. I won't let you bash Angel, not after everything she's done for me."

"Bullshit Mimi, you'd be fine without him. We'd all be fine without him. Collins wouldn't be in the fucking hospital." Tears streamed down the rockers face as he tried to conceal them by looking away.

"You don't know how Angel fucking saved me Roger. None of you will ever know what she means to me and how she saved me from myself! Think I'm fucked up now? Trying finding me on the street and Angel selflessly giving me a home! What if someone talked about Mark the way you talk about Angel, would you fucking like it! I can't believe you. I love you Roger, but I won't take this from you. Angel told me to visit you that night we met, she told me to fight for you when you wouldn't be with me. She knew what our love could be, and she pushed me. If it wasn't for Angel, we wouldn't be together."

Roger looked at Mimi stunned, he had no idea how much Angel had done. Crying out in hurt, Mimi opened the door to the car slamming it in the process leaving a speechless Roger regretting the minute he even opened his mouth.

With Angel and Aaron

She missed her man, she missed her friends, and she missed how things used to be. They'd never be the same again and it was for once…all her fault. Collins probably would never want to see her, and if he did want to see her Roger and Mark wouldn't let her near him. She was out of their lives forever, even Mimi's. What was she to do? Where was she to go? She had to leave. She'd call her lawyer, and get the hell out of New York. There wasn't anything for her here anymore, she'd rather die before hurting them all again. That didn't sound like a bad idea, dying. If she caused this much trouble to them, she'd leave. Leave them alone, let them be, because it was obvious how she wasn't as big of a help like she hoped she'd be.

That very night, Angel grabbed the remainder of the things that she have and began to walk towards the apartment. She entered the apartment walking over the do not cross signs and into the bedroom that Collins and she shared. She grabbed a huge bag and stuffed with as much as she could, including blankets and some food. She found her stash of money that she had been saving for months and stuffed it into her pockets. This was it, no more hurting anyone. She'd be alone. This is what she preferred right? The bed was still untouched by anyone's hands, and she closed her eyes as she reminisced of the hours of love making her and Collins enjoyed together. Finding a spare piece of lined paper, she wrote the following:

To my lover, Mimi, Markie, Joanne, Maureen and Roger-

I love you all. It's better than I'm not here I promise, you'll always be in my heart and you'll always be apart of me.

Tom, I never said that I didn't have baggage, I'm just sorry that I dumped it all on you.

I love you with all my heart; please take care of each other.

Angel D. S.

Hailing a cab, she looked around her telling the man to take her to the address that she come to learn so well. The house of Benjamin Coffin III, the enemy of avenue A. Benny would help her get out of here, after all, what was there to loose?