Disclaimer: Oh I wish... this was mine... but it's not... so I will die... or not!

Notes: Here it is, my lovlies. The long awaited chapter 7. hehe. Um, I know some of you have been um, asking me not to kill off Roger. Well, um... -looks down, shuffles feet- it's kinda of inevitable. I kinda have to... BUT WAIT! He won't die right away, I promise. He'll live a bit longer. He's too damn stubborn anyway to die anytime soon, and Mark won't let him either, so no worries yet. This is a somewhat filler chap, mainly cuz it's the chap before...

Nope, I won't tell. You'll just have to wait for chap 8 which should hopefully be posted in the next few days or so. I appreciate ALL your reviews, and it makes me soo happy to see new reviewers. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! So, on to the story. Enjoy!

Dedicated to: Don't Believe A Word! Happy birthday, sweetie. And to my girl for her love and inspiration.

Chapter 7 - Happiness Restored

I'd been editing all the film I've shot over the last several months… all the ones of Maureen mostly. She asked me not to show how fat she was getting, though I had to sneak in a few shots of her stomach, which was now sticking out pretty far. I also didn't take out the part of the film where you can hear Roger mentioning him dying. I couldn't. I knew he wanted that in there, so for him, I kept it in.

Three months have passed since we took Roger to the hospital. Roger had been staying in bed the whole time. He didn't go anywhere, or do much of anything. He hardly spoke either. As if he was afraid that moving or speaking would only make things worse. I had been trying desperately to just get him to say even a few words to me, but the most I got was something along the lines of, 'Hey,' then a mumble, or 'no,' and some other unintelligible words.

Getting him to eat anything had become increasingly difficult too. I would make him soup, but he'd just stare at it then turn over. He even stopped going to work, because he didn't want to leave the loft. I had to call in for him and tell them he was really sick, and they finally called after a couple weeks of that, and told him not to come in at all. He lost the medical insurance he had with the company that was paying for his hospital bills, so any more trips to the hospital we'd have to pay for ourselves.

"Please, Roger?" I walked into the room, setting down a tray holding a bowl of ramen on the makeshift nightstand, and sat down beside him. "You need to eat. You haven't eaten anything in three days. Please? Just eat half of it, and I won't ask you to eat anything else until tomorrow."

He opened his eyes, and met mine briefly, and they pleaded with him. "I'm not hungry." I heard through the mumble.

"Roger, you have to eat."

"Why?" He said so softly, it was nearly inaudible.

That actually pissed me off, and I very rarely show my anger. I grabbed his shoulder, pulling him to face me, and leaned right into his face. "Because you could die, and god-damnit Roger, I'm not going to let you."

"Fine," he whispered. "I'll eat." He sat up, and I got up, and laid the tray on his lap, handing him the spoon.

"Thank you." I said, as I sat back down beside him, carefully, so the tray wouldn't fall.

I watched him eat slowly. I could tell he was hungry, because before I knew it, he had finished the entire bowl. I couldn't help, but smile at that. I was hoping this meant he was starting to feel better, or if maybe me getting angry got him thinking.

"Maureen's as big as a house now." I started gingerly. "She looks like she's about ready to burst."

"How much longer does she have?" He said quietly. I was surprised I got that much of a reaction from of him.

"Oh, um, about two months, give or take. I've been filming her on an almost daily basis, and she hates it. Okay, not entirely, but a good portion of the time. It hasn't been the same without you there, though."

There was a long moment of silence, and I thought maybe he had gone back to not speaking, and I got up, grabbed the tray, and headed for the door. "I'm sorry." Did he just apologize to me?

I turned to face him, arching an eyebrow. "What did you just say?"

"Don't look so surprised, Mark. I said, I'm sorry." Of course I looked surprised, he just apologized, and Roger doesn't apologize.

"F-for what?" I set the tray down on the floor, and made my way over to him, sitting beside him on the bed.

"For putting you through this. For making you have to take care of me again." He reached for my hand, taking it into his, gently rubbing his thumb over it.

"Roger, you don't have to apologize. It's… it's understandable." Our eyes met, and after three long months, I finally got to see his smile again. Instead of blushing, I just smiled back, grateful for moments like these. "You think you- I mean, do you want to, you know, maybe come out to the living room?"

Roger released my hand so he could support himself, lifting himself off the bed, but his legs gave from lack of use, and he fell to the floor. I caught him, but wasn't exactly strong enough to support his weight, and we both fell to the floor. Concerned, I jumped to my feet, and tried to help him up, but he wouldn't let me. What he did though was surprising. He didn't let me help him up, instead he just laughed, and quite heartily.

"Why are you laughing, Rog?" I thought for a moment that maybe he just lost it, and now I would have to deal with not only a sick Roger, but an insane one too.

"I haven't laughed like that in a long time, and it felt good." Roger looked up at me, a smile still pasted across his face.

"Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine. Come here." He reached up for my hand, and pulled me down on top him, kissing me as if he had never in his life kissed me before. I was shocked at first, but gave into him, as I always do, and kissed him back; trying to match the passion I could feel radiating from his lips.

I wanted to pull away, to ask him to make love to me, but I didn't have to. He knew what I was thinking, because he was thinking it too. I got up briefly to grab a condom from the dresser, and helped him with it. I missed this.

The old Roger came back, and I was so happy about that. We had spent that entire evening in our room, just snuggling, after I helped him off the floor and back into bed. A week had gone by, and Roger was back on his feet, back out in the living room, and back out in the world. Well, he didn't get another job, but he had been out of the loft, which was all I wanted him to do.

"Hungry?" I asked him, while he sat on one of the beanbag chairs Collins brought over for us. 'A gift', he said and dropped them off, and took off. I wonder where he's been hanging out lately… or with whom.

"Sure am. Hey, can we go to the Life today? I wanna get a big basket of fries. I haven't had that in a while. Do we have enough money to do that?" His eyes filled with a sense of joy, like a child in a candy store. How could I say no to that?

"Sure," I started, pulling out the money from my pants pocket, and counting it. "We have about thirty dollars, so yeah, let's go."

"And can I get a beer while we're there? I haven't had one of those in a while either."

"Well, I don't know…"

Roger's lips turned down, giving me this pouty face. "Pleeeeeeease?"

I sighed then chuckled. "Oh, alright."

We got to the Life, and of all people we didn't care to see, Benny was there with his wife, Alison. "Well, it's been an awfully long time since I've seen the two of you. How've you been?" Benny began, though we tried our best to avert him.

"We've been," A whole slew of possible answers raced through my mind: shitty, going through hell, having problems… you're an asshole, though that was just for the sheer hell of it. "Good. And you?"

"We've been wonderful." Benny said, a rather large grin on his face. Pompous asshole. What happened to Benny, what happened to his heart…

"That's good to hear." I just smiled and nodded, hoping that he'd just walk away without bothering us about money, or something else.

"So, how's Maureen? Did she have the baby yet?" He turned his head to look over at Alison, as if to say something to her, but at this point she had walked away with Roger.

I turned to look as they both began to laugh about something amusing, and Benny didn't like that too much. He interrupted their conversation by literally stepping in between them, and taking Alison in his arms. "What's so funny?"

"Muffy and I…"

"Her name is Alison." Benny hissed, glaring at Roger.

"Riiight," Roger grinned. "Alison," he continued, emphasizing her name. "And I were just talking about how cool you used to be." Alison snickered.

Benny just ignored it, and took Alison's arm. "Come on, honey, we have to go. Your mother is waiting for us." Benny practically dragged Alison out of the café, but before they left, she turned around and winked at Roger, who was still grinning like the Cheshire cat after leading Alice down yet another wrong path.

"You are such an asshole," I blurted once they left.

He grinned cheekily. "Yes I am."

We went over to Maureen and Joanne's after we ate, to see how Maureen was doing, and her and Joanne were in the middle of yet another quarrel. Do they ever stop fighting?

"Marky, she's bitching at me for not getting enough rest, and I keep telling her I've been sleeping too much."

"No you haven't. You stay up late every night coming up with another one of your stupid performances." Joanne snapped.

"Stupid? My performances are not stupid. They're brilliant, colorful, entertaining-"

"And stupid."

"Guys, could you please calm down, for the baby's sake. You do know they can hear everything you're saying, right? Especially at this stage." I butted in.

"Mark's been reading a lot of books lately." Roger entered unexpectedly into the conversation. Both women turned their sudden attention to Roger.

"Oh my god, when did you get out of bed?" Maureen asked in a surprised tone.

"What she means is, how have you been, Roger? You feeling better?" Joanne corrected Maureen.

"I've been better, but yes, I'm feeling better. I got up earlier, and Mark and I went to the Life."

Maureen gave me a once over then sneered. "I bet that wasn't the only thing that got up. Marky's glowing." My mouth gaped open.

"Well, that too." Roger just smirked.

"Roger!" I cried. "They don't need to know about-"

"They already do, so why does it matter."

"We may know, but we don't want to hear about it." Joanne stated.

"Could we not talk about our sex life, please? I'd like to keep some aspect of our life private." I bellowed. They all turned to me and stared. I shrunk under their gazes, but held my ground on the issue. "I mean it's nobody's business."

"Pookie," Maureen broke the silence after a few moments. "I'm sorry. You're right, I do need more rest." She ran into Joanne's arms and kissed her squarely on the mouth. I wondered if these were the hormones, or if maybe Maureen was actually giving in.

"No honey bear, I'm sorry. You're performances aren't stupid. They're beautiful, like you."

Maureen took Joanne by the hand and led her to their bedroom, which meant she only gave in for her needs, and that was our cue to leave. Those two were one of the strangest couples I've ever known. Either they were always fighting, or they were making out wherever they went.

"I guess Mo's fine." I said as we exited their home.

"I guess so."