"Hey. You're up early." Fiona smiled looking at Roger as she exited her room.
"Yeah, I um... couldn't sleep. Do you want coffee?" Roger asked sitting at the metal counter.
"Yeah, thanks. I didn't expect you up so early. Everything I heard about you suggested that you were a late sleeper." she laughed looking over at him.
"Usually I am. How do you take it?" he asked looking over at her.
"Black is fine. So um... what do you guys have around here for breakfast?" she asked opening the cabinets.
"Cereal or ramen." he laughed looking up at her.
"Yeah see, you guys really need to broaden your horizons. You know, get some eggs in here, maybe toast, pancake mix. Stuff for breakfast." she laughed looking over at him.
"Pancake mix? What do you think this is, uptown?" he laughed looking up at her.
"I'm gonna go in and get dressed. When I come back out, you better be ready to go." she smiled looking down at him.
"Go where?" he asked looking over at her.
"Road trip." she smiled taking her coffee into her room with her. Roger got up and went into his room to get dressed. He had only known Fiona for 9 hours, but what he knew about her he liked. She had short golden blond hair and blue eyes. She was funny and smelled so nice.
"Where are you going?" Mark asked seeing Roger come out of his room.
"Out with Fiona. We're gonna go to the store and get some real food." he smiled looking up at him.
"So you met Fiona. What do you think?" he asked pouring himself some coffee.
"She's nice. Um, Mark... did you know about why she's here?" he asked looking over at him.
"Yeah, Collins told me. When did you find out?" he asked looking over at him.
"Last night. I was watching tv and she came out for some water and we got to talking." he said putting his jacket on.
"Just make sure you keep her safe, OK?" Mark said looking over at him.
"Don't worry Mark. No one's gonna get anywhere near her." he said looking over at him as Fiona came out of her room.
"Are you ready?" she asked looking over at him putting her jacket on.
"Yeah, I'm ready. Do you have any requests for breakfast Mark?" he asked looking over at him.
"Yeah, bagels because when you two burn breakfast at least I'll have something to eat." he laughed looking over at them.
"I'll have you know, I can cook. But I require more than cereal and ramen soup." she laughed looking over at him.
"Someone who can cook, finally. I heard about it, but I thought it was just a myth." Roger laughed looking over at Fiona.
"Very funny. Come on. I wanna get the good bagels for Mark." Fiona laughed looking over at Roger before they left the loft.
"So what are we getting, exactly?" he asked looking down at her as they walked down the block.
"Real food. I'm sick of you guys only having cereal and soup." she laughed looking up at him as he scanned the block for anything suspicious.
"Mhm." he agreed looking around.
"Roger, he's not gonna find me here. He hates the East Village." she said looking up at him.
"Fee, I don't want anything to happen to you. You came here to be safe, I just want to make sure you are." he said looking over at her.
"Thanks Roger, but I'm fine. Now, let's go shopping. And no cereal or ramen, OK? You have to start eating better." she smiled looking up at him as he opened the door for her.
"You're not gonna make us start eating healthy, are you?" he whined looking down at her.
"Maybe. Would that be so bad?" she laughed looking up at him.
"Ugh, but I like my sugary cereal and junk food." he smiled looking down at her.
"Oh stop your whining. It's not like I'm gonna make you start eating tofu and vegetables. Much." she laughed looking up at him as they pushed the cart around the store.
"What did you guys get?" Mark asked looking up at them as they both carried bags into the loft.
"Crap." Roger answered as Fiona laughed at him
"Oh stop, bran is not gonna kill you." Fiona laughed looking up at him.
"It might." he laughed looking down at her.
"Well if the mobsters don't get us, you'll at least be healthy." she laughed taking the groceries out of the bags beginning to put them away when Roger stopped in his tracks.
"That's not funny Fee." he said looking down at her.
"I'm sorry. Roger, mobsters are not gonna kill us. We're perfectly safe here." she said looking up at him seeing that he was not amused.
"Fiona, you don't know that. The guy's a criminal. What makes you think he's not gonna scour the city to try and find you?" he asked leaning on the counter.
"Because they haven't arrested him yet. If they had, he'd know I ratted him out. As long as he's on a free man, he doesn't think I said anything. I'm fine Roger. Don't worry about it. Now, make yourself useful and help me put away these groceries." she said looking up at him.
"But how do you know he's not out to kill you to stop you from talking?" he said looking down at her.
"Well in that case, why don't I just hide out in my room and die? Because my life is over." she said looking over at him before running into her room.
"Fee wait." he called out as she slammed the door.
"Roger, what happened when you guys were out?" Mark asked looking up at him.
"Nothing. I mean, we talked and I was looking around to make sure I didn't see anything suspicious and she just acts like nothing is going on. Like everything is fine. She doesn't understand how serious this is. If this guy finds her, that's it. It's over." he said looking over at him.
"Roger, Collins knows what he's doing. He knows hiding her here is the best thing for her. He's not gonna find her. She's safe." he said looking up at him.
"I swore to her last night that we wouldn't let anything happen to her and she's acting like it's a game." he told him going towards Fiona's room. "Fee, I'm coming in." he called out opening the door.
"Roger, what do you want? Did you come in here to try and scare me again? Because I get it OK. I'm not gonna leave the apartment anymore. I'm just gonna stay here where it's safe." she asked looking up at him.
"No, listen Fee. I'm sorry for saying that. I just don't want anything to happen to you. I promised that we were gonna protect you and that's exactly what we're gonna do. But when you leave the loft and act like no one is after you, it's dangerous." he said looking down at her.
"Yeah well, what else am I supposed to do? Stay locked up in here? I cut my hair, so he wouldn't recognize me. I'm not the criminal, he is. Why should I be the one who has to live like one?" she asked looking up at him.
"You don't. Just stay put here for a little while. At least let the dust settle before you start going out again, OK?" he asked sitting on her bed.
"Roger, I had to quit school because of him. I'm 25 years old. I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to go back. I'm not gonna let him stop me from going grocery shopping. I may hate it, but at this point it's all I have." she said looking over at him.
"I'm just worried about you Fee. I know if you left me, I wouldn't be so eager to let you out of my life and I'm not a criminal." he said looking over at her as he looked down at the floor.
"Strangely enough, that is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." she smiled looking over at him.
"I'm sorry for that." he said looking over at her.
"Well I dated nothing but losers and criminals my whole life." she said looking over at him.
"How come you started college so late?" he asked looking over at her.
"I had to save up the money. My parents died when I was really young and I was a ward of the state my whole life. I'm putting myself through college. At least I was until I got involved with Jake. I was the hostess in this restaurant he liked to go to. Then he didn't want me working and volunteered to pay my way through school. He was so convincing, you know? I mean, he told me that I should be focusing on school. Not working all the time. I was so stupid." she said getting up from the bed.
"You know, if you want to go back I can go with you. For protection." he said looking over at her.
"I don't want you guys to be in danger because you tried to help me." she said looking over at him.
"Fee, I can take care of myself. The last thing I'm worried about is getting hurt by mobsters." he said getting up from the bed.
"What do you mean?" she asked looking over at him.
"I'm HIV positive Fee. So you see, I'm not afraid of those guys." he said looking over at her.
"I'm sorry Roger... um... I didn't know." she said going over to him.
"It's OK. I mean, I'm healthy." he said looking down at her.
"I'm glad I have friends like you on my side." she smiled looking up at him.
"Well, you're one of us now. We're not gonna let anything happen to you." he smiled looking down at her.
"I'll be careful from now on, OK? I wouldn't want to leave my new friends." she smiled looking up at him.
"Come on. You can cook breakfast for your new friends." he laughed putting his arm around her shoulders.
"You're gonna eat a lot, aren't you?" she laughed looking up at him.
"Maybe." he laughed as they left thet room.