"Do you still play that damn song?" a voice asked as Roger sat in his studio strumming Musetta's Waltz.
"Mark, when the hell are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming in until next week?" Roger asked putting his guitar down next to him to get up and hug his friend.
"Yeah well, my sons wouldn't stop talking about how Uncle Roger was gonna introduce them to Zach Winters. Coming out early was the only way I could get them to sleep." he laughed looking over at him.
"They're in luck, Zach's coming over later to hang out with Cass. Where are my boys anyway?" he asked smiling over at him.
"Upstairs with Aunt Alex getting the grand tour. This place is great Roger, really. When Collins told me you had this huge house with an in ground pool, I didn't believe him." he smiled looking over at him.
"Yeah well, big tv star and all. It comes with a lot of perks." he laughed sitting down in the chair at his desk.
"A lot more perks than being a starving artist, huh?" he smiled looking over at him.
"Yeah, but I still enjoy my stoli." he smiled taking a bottle of his desk drawer and pouring himself and Mark a glass.
"I can't believe used to drink this crap." Mark laughed taking the glass.
"Long live bohemia." Roger laughed before they emptied the contents of their glasses.
"This is really a nice place Roger." he smiled putting his glass on the desk.
"Yeah well, you're not doing too bad for yourself either. A beautiful house in Westchester is a far leap from that crappy loft in the East Village we used to have, huh?" he laughed looking over at him.
"Yeah it is. We've come a long way, huh?" he laughed sitting in the other chair.
"Yeah we have. I guess Alex and Hanna changed us, didn't they?" he smiled putting his feet up on his desk.
"I hear your show's been picked up for another 2 season. Congratulations Roger. And I see you and Alex are doing a lot for pediatric AIDS charities. That must be nice. Doing some good." he smiled looking over at him.
"Mark, why did you come out here? You hate LA." he asked looking over at him.
"It's Hanna. She's sick." he said looking over at him.
"How sick?" Roger asked taking his feet off of the desk to lean forward.
"Colon cancer. Her dad had it, so apparently she's high risk. Her oncologist told her that there is a new treatment that they're doing at Cedar Sinai." he said looking over at him.
"I'm sorry Mark. Is there any thing we can do? We can take the boys so you can spend time with Hanna at the hospital. We'll do whatever you need us to do. Just name it." Roger said looking over at Mark who was staring at the floor.
"She just wanted to be near you guys, you know? She missed being around all of you. She feels like she missed so much in Cassie's life and she doesn't want to miss any more. She wants us to move to LA. Be closer to you guys and so Adam and Anthony will be closer to you too." he siad looking up at him.
"Mark, you know you're more than welcome to stay as long as you want. Alex and me will do anything for you guys." he said looking over at his friend. He no longer looked like the young man he was for so long. While the rest of his friends were inflicted with HIV and AIDS, Mark still had a young look upon his face. That look was gone now. He could tell this wife's illness was hard for him to take.
"Thanks Rog. Um... the boys don't know that Hanna's sick." he said looking over at him.
"How could you not have told them? They're not stupid. Trust me, they're my nephews." he said looking over at him.
"Yeah well, what do you want me to tell them Roger? Not only are they gonna lose their favorite uncles and the cousin they adore more then anything in the univers to AIDS, but they're gonna lose their mother to colon cancer? Yeah right. You can have that conversation because I'm not. I'm not even sure I understand it myself." he yelled looking over at him before getting up from his chair and pacing around the studio.
"They're not gonna lose Hanna. Colon cancer is treatable. She can overcome this. You just have to think positive." he said looking over at him.
"It's cancer Roger. You go into remission from that. There is not cure." Mark yelled looking over at him.
"And it's not HIV." he said looking over at him.
"Pretty damn close." Mark said looking down.
"Mark, this sucks and I'm sorry. But you can't feel sorry for yourself because your wife has been diagnosed with colon cancer. You gotta pull it together and be there for her. Don't worry about the boys. We'll take care of them. And when you and Hanna are ready to tell them, we'll be there to help you with whatever you need. But you can't keep this from them like it doesn't exist. They're almost 10 Mark. We can't keep this from them." he said looking over at him.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just afraid to. Those kids are facing so much loss in their lives. I don't want to add to it." he said looking over at him.
"It's not your fault Mark." Roger said going over to him.
"Yeah well, that doesn't make it any easier." Mark said looking up at him.
"I know." Roger said shoving his hands into his front pockets.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Oh my God. How could this be happening to them?" Alexandra asked looking over at Roger as she sat on their bed crying.
"I don't know Baby. But they'll get through this. We'll get them through this." Roger said sitting next to her taking her into his arms.
"How Roger? How are we gonna do that? It's cancer." she cried looking up at him.
"Alex, we will. I promise." he said kissing her head.
"What are we gonna tell the kids?" she asked pulling away from him wiping her eyes.
"Alex, come here. Sit down." he said looking up at her.
"I can't. There's so much we have to do. Zach's gonna be here soon to hang out with Cassie and the boys and I have to start making lunch for them." she said continuing to wipe her eyes.
"Alexandra don't do this." he said getting up to go to her.
"Do what?" she asked turning to look at him.
"Shut yourself off. That's not gonna do you or the kids any good." he said standing over her.
"Yeah well, if I don't I'm gonna break down and I have 4 kids to take care of right now." she said turning away from him.
"Alex." he whispered taking her arm as she turned to bury herself into his chest.
"Roger, what are we gonna do? We could lose Hanna." she asked crying into his chest.
"She's gonna be OK. She's going to the best cancer hospital in the nation. They'll take good care of her." he said looking down at her.
"Do you remember when we met her?" she asked looking up at him.
"Yeah, we had just gotten married and you dragged me out of the apartment to meet her at the cafe." he laughed looking down at her.
"You were such a big baby about it too." she laughed wiping her eyes.
"Yeah well, I wanted was to be with my beautiful bride." he smiled leaning down to kiss her.
"Guys, I would like you to meet my girlfriend Hanna. Hanna, this is everybody." Mark said laughing as he stood at the head of the table with his arm around her. She was a petite african american woman with dark brown eyes.
"Hi everybody." she said smiling at everyone.
"Hi Hanna, I'm Alex and this is my husband Roger." Alexandra said getting up to shake her hand.
"You just love saying that, don't you?" Joanne asked laughing at her.
"Yeah what of it?" she said laughing as Mark looked over at Hanna.
"Roger and Alex just got married a few weeks ago." he whispered to her as she laughed and nodded at them.
"Congratulations." she said as Roger put his arm around Alexandra's shoulders.
"Thank you Hanna." Roger said before leaning over to kiss Alexandra.
"I'm Maureen and this is Joanne. I used to date Mark but now I'm with Joanne." Maureen said smiling at her.
"Yeah, too much information Maureen." Mark said smiling at her.
"Sorry Pookie." she said cheerfully as she put her arm around Joanne.
"And I'm Collins. It's really nice to meet you Hanna." Collins said getting up to shake her hand.
"I've heard so much about all of you it's nice to put faces to the names." she said smiling at everyone.
"Funny enough, we've heard nothing about you. What's up with that Mark?" Roger asked torturing him.
"Sure, the one time we're in here and Roger's tongue isn't down Alex' throat he's busting on me." Mark said laughing as he and Hanna sat down.
"Yeah, well I guess there's a first for everything, huh?" Roger said taking a sip of his beer.
"How did Alex get you out of the house anyway?" Mark asked putting his arm around Hanna's shoulders.
"It wasn't easy, I'm telling you now." Alexandra said laughing as Roger pulled her closer to him.
"Well with a wife who looks like this, would you wanna leave the house?" he asked burying his face in her neck.
"Roger, we're out in public." she told him giggling.
"So, everybody is used to it by now and Hanna'll get used to it." he said leaning up to kiss her head.
"That's OK Alex. I think it's sweet." Hanna said smiling as Mark put his arm around her.
"Thank you Hanna." Roger said smiling at her.
"Anyway, so how did you and Mark meet?" Alex asked looking up at them.
"We met at the playhouse. They was a showing of On the Waterfront and it was sold out, and the only seat available was next Hanna so before the movie we got to talking and figured out we had a lot in common." Mark said smiling at Hanna.
"Wait a minute, Mark you like Brando movies?" Roger asked looking at him confused.
"Um yeah Rog, I love Brando movies." Mark said as if Roger should already know that.
"Had I known that, I so would have dragged to you a bunch of those." Roger said surprised sitting up in his seat.
"Oh my God, which one is your favorite?" Hanna asked leaning forward with her elbows on the table.
"Streetcar Named Desire definitely." he said leaning towards her as Alexandra and Mark just looked at each other laughing.
"Mine too." she said laughing
"Stella." they both yelled in unison as everyone laughed.
"Oh, sorry. I just get really excited when I meet up with someone whose favorite Brando flick is something other than The Godfather." Hanna said laughing as Roger sat back in his chair.
"I take it you like Hanna?" Alexandra asked quietly smiling at him.
"She's a Brando fan, how could I not?" he asked smiling at her as she kissed his head. As everyone hung out they drank and laughed. Hanna felt so comfortable with everyone. They were all very accepting of her even though they had just met her. At the end of the night they all said their goodnights.
"That seems so long ago, doesn't it?" Alexandra asked looking up at him.
"Yeah it does. It was before we got Cassie." he smiled leaning down to kiss her head.
"Roger, what are we gonna do?" she asked looking up at him.
"I don't know Alex. I don't know." he said looking down at her.
"OK, we have to get back downstairs. I'm sure the kids are hungry." she said looking up at him.
"Why don't you take some time to clean up? I'll feed the kids.' he said looking down at her.
"Thanks Baby. I could use a little time alone." she said looking up at him.
"OK Baby. Take your time, OK?" he said leaning down to kiss her before leaving the room. She walked over to the bed and sat down. She leaned down to get her photo album from under her nightstand. When she opened it, there was a picture of everyone with Cassandra when they first brought her home. Joanne took it while Hanna, Mark, Roger, Collins and Maureen were on the floor with her. She smiled as she ran her fingers over Hanna. They had become really good friends since the night they met in the Life Cafe. She sat on her bed smiling as she looked through the pictures.