A/N: Pictures of Dani are on my homepage (go to my profile first).

Tina101

Chapter 2:

When Mimi got up around eleven, Dani was still fast asleep. Mimi took a good look at their small guest. Her face was covered with dirt, and her blonde hair was all matted. Mimi quietly slipped out to the front room.

Roger and Mark were sitting at the table, drinking coffee and talking, when Mimi emerged from the bedroom. She got herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter.

"Mimi, Dani can't stay here," Roger said.

"Why?"

"Look at where we live," Roger replied. "She'd be better off in foster care." Mimi slammed down her mug.

"You don't know anything! Foster care is the worse place for anyone!" Mimi turned to Mark. "Mark, you don't agree with this insanity, do you?" Mark sighed.

"I'm staying out of this battle."

"But you live here too!" Mimi argued. "Say we vote," she said hopefully after remembering how Mark had interacted with Dani the night before.

"We can't vote on a little girl's life!" Roger exclaimed. He and Mimi were staring daggers at each other.

"Yes we can, it's the only way to come to a fair decision. You say no, I say yes; Mark, it's up to you." Mark got up. This little girl's life hung in the balance. It was all up to him. Mark sighed.

"I'm sorry, Roger," he said.

"You're agreeing with this madness!? How will we afford it? You don't know what you're getting ourselves into!"

"I do know what a hell-hole foster care is. Cindy's a social worker, remember?" Mark paused. "Cindy, of course! She's getting rid of a whole bunch of my niece's stuff."

"And?" Mimi asked.

"We could ask for some of it. Rachel's seven." Roger grabbed his jacket off the chair where he had put it the night before.

"Whatever, I'm going out." Mimi followed after him.

"Roger, baby, wait!" Roger left, completely ignoring Mimi's pleas. When Mimi turned around, Dani was standing in the doorway to the bedroom.

Mimi's face softened. She went over to Dani. Dani popped her thumb in her mouth and rubbed her eyes with her grimy fist.

"Did we wake you?" Mimi asked gently. Dani shook her head.

"Are you going to send me away?" Mimi knelt down in front of Dani so they were at the same eye-level.

"We're going to try not to." Dani coughed a little. "You know what; I have some bubble bath, say we get you cleaned up?" Dani nodded eagerly. Mimi stood up. "Okay then, let's go." Dani followed Mimi to the bathroom.

Mimi set up a warm bubble bath and plopped Dani down in the middle of the tub. Dani relaxed in the warm water.

"Where's that other man?" she asked. Mimi dug around for a new bottle of shampoo.

"Roger? He went out for a little while." Dani's eyes shifted downwards.

"He doesn't like me, does me?" Mimi rubbed Dani's back.

"Roger's my boyfriend. He's a very complicated guy. Give him some time to get used to this. Don't you worry about it." Dani began to play with the bubbles in front of her while Mimi washed her hair. "You have such pretty hair. Es muy bonita."

"What's that mean?"

"It means that it's very pretty in Spanish."

"You know Spanish?" Mimi nodded. "Can you teach me?"
"Maybe another time. Right now, lean back." Dani leaned back so her hair floated on top of the water. Mimi rinsed out her dirty blonde locks. "There we go. Now you wash your body." There was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Meems, I'm leaving for work. I left Cindy's number by the phone. Just tell her that you're a friend of mine," Mark said through the door.

"Okay."

"Oh, and Maureen's coming over when she gets up. I'd expect Her Majesty to grace us with her presence with her usual grand entrance around two thirty or so." Mimi laughed.

"Okay, bye Mark."

"Bye Mimi, bye Dani."
"Bye!" Dani chirped. Mimi got up and grabbed a clean towel out from under the sink for Dani.

"Come on princesa, let's get you dressed." Dani climbed out of the tub, and Mimi wrapped the towel around her.

"Why won't you teach me Spanish?" Dani couched. "Please?" she gasped. Mimi looked worried. She felt Dani's forehead.

"How long were you living on the streets?" Dani shrugged. "Let's get you changed into something warm." Mimi guided Dani to her room to get her dressed.

Mimi had Dani into one of Roger's hoodies. The over-sized forest green sweatshirt hung like a dress on Dani. The sleeves barely hung above the floor. Dani was still coughing.

"How long have you been coughing?" Dani shrugged. "Are you cold?" Dani sat on the couch with her knees drawn to her chest.

"A little." Mimi wrapped a blanket around Dani and went to get a fire going. When she turned back around, Dani was fast asleep. Mimi put another blanket over her sleeping form and went to go make herself something to eat.

Around two o'clock that afternoon, Mimi was on the couch next to Dani's sleeping form when the door was thrown open. Maureen froze, mouth open, about to make a grand entrance.

"Whoa, there's a kid!" she exclaimed. Mimi got up. moaning, Dani changed positions. "Where'd she come from?" Mimi grabbed Maureen's arm and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Her name is Dani."
"Dani?"
"Yes, Dani. We found her on our way back from the Life. Her sister left her on the front stoop sometime yesterday morning."

"Who the hell would do that to a child?" Mimi shrugged.

"I dunno, but I want to adopt her."

"What!? Meems, look at where you live! You have no money, no kid stuff, and what about the AIDS?" Mimi shook her head.

"I don't know. All I know is this feels right. There's something about her. I dunno, there's something there I can't explain. It's like she was sent here, to us, for a reason."

"Like Angel sent her?" Mimi shrugged.

"I hope so. Roger and I will need to talk to Joanne."

"Pookie has to work late today. So you really want to adopt her?"

"If I can. Roger's completely against it right now. He wanted to just send her away to foster care!"

"Foster care isn't that bad." Mimi glared at Maureen.

"How would you know?" she demanded. Maureen put her hands up in defense.

"Okay, okay, sorry. Touchy topic. I'm sure that Pookie will help you in any way she can." Mimi began to dig around the kitchen to find something to eat.

An hour later, Mimi decided to call Cindy before she forgot. Dani was still fast asleep on the couch with her thumb in her mouth.

"Mo, I've gotta make a call, can you keep an eye on Dani?" Maureen looked reluctant to agree. "I'll be right out on the fire escape. Please?"
"Fine." Maureen sat on the couch by Dani's feet and picked up a magazine. Mimi took the phone and Cindy's number out to the fire escape where she could talk to Cindy privately.

As soon as Mimi had climbed out the window, Dani's eyes opened. She sat up and looked at Maureen with confusion written across her face.

"Who are you?" she asked. Maureen looked up from her reading.

"I'm Mimi's friend, Maureen," she replied.

"Where's Mimi?"
"She's out on the fire escape talking to someone on the phone." Dani's bottom lip began to tremble.

"But I want Mimi!" she wailed. Dani's face scrunched up. Maureen sighed; this wasn't going to be pretty. Dani let out a piercing wail.

Mimi dialed the number Mark had left to call Cindy and held the phone up to her ear. It was slightly warm out for a New York City winter day.

"Hello?"
"Cindy? My name's Mimi, I'm a friend of your brother's," Mimi said.

"Oh hi, what can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if…" Mimi stopped. "I'm so sorry, could you wait for a minute?"
"Of course." Mimi went back inside. Dani was wailing and coughing while Maureen struggled to calm her down.

"Mimi!" Dani cried.

"I'm right here, Dani. Calm down." Dani stopped at the sound of Mimi's voice. Mimi went back to Cindy. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Is that your daughter?"
"We're in the process of adopting her. Mark said that you were getting rid of a bunch of your daughter's stuff. I was wondering if I could buy some of it from you."

"You don't have to pay me for any of it."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. How old is she?"

"Four and a half."

"I have a bunch of Rachel's old clothes I can bring by. I also have an old bedroom set and some old toys if you want."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, what do we need with all of it? Just let me know when we can bring everything by."
"The sooner the better, but it's your call."
"Today's Thursday, so how about Saturday? Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine." Dani's coughing filled the loft. Cindy heard it through the phone.

"Do you want a humidifier too? It could help out with that cough." Mimi stopped to think. Dani's cough did sound pretty bad.

"Sure, thanks."

"Anytime. Oh, before you go, where do you live?"

"In the loft with Mark."

"Oh, okay. I'll see you on Saturday."

"Thanks, bye."

"Goodbye." Mimi hung up the phone. Based on Mark's complaints on his family, that had gone better than expected.

Dani rushed over to Mimi with surprising speed and latched her arms firmly around the dancer's legs with all her might.

"Where'd you go?" she asked. Mimi picked her up. Dani wrapped her arms around Mimi's neck.

"I had to go make a call." Dani coughed. Mimi felt her forehead. "You feel a little warm. Maureen got to her feet.

"Meems, maybe I should take her so yo don't get sick," she said. Dani tightened her grip around Mimi's neck. Mimi rubbed her back.

"Its okay, Maureen's one of my best friends. She's really nice and really fun." Dani reluctantly went over to Maureen. "There you go chica. Now, how about lunch?"

"That better include coffee!" Maureen announced. Rolling her eyes, Mimi went into the kitchen to make some sandwiches.

Mimi began to dig around the kitchen for food to make lunch. Maureen put Dani down on the couch. She felt bad for the little girl who had to be bored out of her mind. Suddenly, she got an idea to entertain Dani.

"Hey Mimi, where's your deck of cards?" she asked.

"In the cabinet," Mimi replied without looking up from what she was doing. "Oh Mo, no blackjack, poker, strip poker or fifty-two pickup." Maureen scowled but still retrieved the deck of tattered cards. Shuffling them expertly, she sat down across from Dani.

"Ever played war, since Mimi won't let us play any fun games?"

"So sue me."
"For what? That hunk of junk you try to pass off as a TV?" Maureen scoffed. She turned back to Dani. "So, ever play war?" Dani shook her head. "I'll teach you, it's easy." Maureen dealt the cards and explained the game to Dani.

Not even five minutes later, the loft door slid open. Roger stopped for a second when he saw Dani and Maureen playing cards on the couch. He went over to Mimi and kissed her cheek softly.

"Where'd you go?" Mimi asked.

"Life Support with Collins. I guess I needed to talk about this with someone." Mimi patted Roger's cheek playfully.

"I'm so proud of you for talking about your feelings." Roger shook his head. "What did you come up with?" Roger glanced over at Dani.

"This feels right, but I'm worried about what'll happen when we get sick." Mimi wrapped her arms around Roger's waist.

"No day but today. We'll cross that bridge when it comes, okay?" Mimi paused. "I love you." Roger kissed her forehead.

"I love you too." Mimi broke free of Roger and finished making Dani her sandwich.

Mimi sat down on the couch next to Dani and put her sandwich on the coffee table. Dani began to cough pretty badly.

"I'm really worried about that cough," Mimi said as she felt Dani's forehead. "I want you to relax, okay?"

Mimi sat on the couch and watch as slowly, Maureen accumulated more and more chards. Finally, Maureen threw down her deck of cards.

"Okay, I'm done losing to a three year old!" she announced.

"I'm four and a half!" Dani exclaimed.

"Sorry, a four and a half year old. You win; I owe you an ice cream or something." Maureen got up. "I'm gonna go surprise Pookie at work. Feel better, Dani." Maureen grabbed her purse and left to go see Joanne at work.