Roger and Mimi had just returned from the movies, expecting just a normal quiet night back at the apartment like usual but when they made their way up the stairs and heard arguing inside, the pair glanced at one another with a quizzical look playing on their faces because one of the voices sounded very much like Mark. Yes, Mark. A man who never truly got confrontational, so whatever was happening on the other side of that door was going to be interesting.
Pulling the door open and the two stepped over the threshold just in time to hear Mark yell to Joanne to keep her hands off. 'Did he finally grow a pair and confess his feelings to Maureen?' Roger thought to himself before shaking the thought from his head when realizing he could have sworn he hear the word 'pregnant' being tossed into the conversation before the 'Keep your hands off' bit.
"What did we miss?" Roger asked, looking at the threesome.
Mimi was thinking the exact same thing that Roger had been thinking. Well, almost. She had definitely picked up the 'She is pregnant' bit, so she was starting to piece together what was going on. 'Maureen is pregnant? Oh, great! No wonder Joanne looks pissed. But, wait..why is Mark defending Maureen?' That's when it hit her. 'Oh.' Though, she had figured it out, she didn't say anything just yet.
"Maureen's pregnant." Joanne seethed as she turned her back towards Mark and Maureen. Needing to put some distance between herself and the two so she could get a handle on her emotions and calm down.
It was a shock to both Roger and Mimi to actually hear the words confirming what they thought they heard when they walked in. Maureen is pregnant. That wild and outrageous woman was going to be a mother!
'Maureen? A mother? Oh, this is too good.' Roger thought to himself, a small smirk forming on his lips at his next thoughts. 'I wonder how she's going to deal with a crying baby in the middle of the night. Or the dirty diapers!'
Mimi turned to look at Roger who began to snicker at the thoughts of Maureen becoming a mother. She smacked his arm to get him to snap out of it. This situation was a lot more complicated then Roger would know about. She was well aware that Mark was most likely the father, she remembered that night they walked out of the bar completely hammered two months ago.
"Congratulations, Maureen." Mimi smiled happily at her. She never had a problem with Maureen. The two had always gotten along. They were like sisters. So at this happy news, she couldn't wait till the little guy joined the family.
Maureen smiled brightly. It was the first anyone had really congratulated her on the pregnancy. Between telling Mark and Joanne all she got was nothing but shocked expressions. One followed by anger and lots of yelling. Bouncing her way over to Mimi and hugging her tightly. "Thanks, Mimi!"
"Wait. Who is the father?" Roger asked, not fully putting the whole picture together just yet like his girlfriend had.
Maureen slowly pulled away from Mimi as Joanne turned around, a scowl on her face as she looked at Roger before the two girls turned to look at Mark, who instantly looked uncomfortable that everyone was staring at him. Roger didn't quite get why they were all looking at his roommate then finally it hit him like a ton of bricks.
"No way." Was the first thing that Roger could think of to say. Putting together the story in his head as to why he had been protecting Maureen from Joanne. A smile crept it's way onto his lips as he moved across the room towards his friend and pulled him into a hug. "Congrats, man!"
Mark had been taken back by his friends sudden hug but he didn't shy away from it. He embraced it. In that moment he had the feeling that everything was going to be okay. His child was going to be looked out for and he knew it. The friends he had were the type that lasted forever and he couldn't wait till the baby was born so that he could be apart of the boho family.
When the two pulled away from one another, Roger turned to look at Maureen. She looked at him with a smile on her face, half expecting to get a hug too but she knew better. He wouldn't really hug her. But to her surprise, he held out his hands and motioned for her come over. She squealed in delight before rushing into his open arms and hugged him.
"Don't get use to this." He said simply as he held her in his arms for few more moments as she nodded her head.
As they retracted from the hug, it was just in time to see Joanne making her way towards the door. "Baby, where are you going?" Maureen asked, taking a couple steps towards her only to stop after two steps when Joanne motioned for her to stop where she was.
"Stop." She warned. "I need to be alone for a while. This is...too much. I need to think." Backing away from her lover before turning around and walking out the door.
Silence had taking over the room after Joanne had left. It was evident to the others that Maureen was a little depressed over the departure of her lover but who could blame the woman for walking out. She just found out that her girlfriend cheated and got knocked up. All within 2 minutes.
Mark on the other hand was a bit relieved to say the least that Joanne had left. It meant that Maureen and him could discuss important issues that needed to be addressed concerning the baby. Like: Baby names. Doctor visits. Basically how they were going to make this work. In his own little world he hoped that Maureen would break things off with Joanne and come back to him, especially now.
Mimi just looked between her two friends before realizing that she and her boyfriend needed to give them some privacy to talk about things that were to come. The only reason she figured this out was because of the look on Mark's face as he looked at Maureen. It was clear to see that he had something he wanted to say to her but couldn't while they were present. She walked over to Roger, gently grabbing his hand and led him into their bedroom to leave the parents-to-be alone.
Once they were finally alone, Mark shifted a bit to move towards Maureen but she let out a over dramatic sigh before plopping herself down onto the couch. A small smile formed on the corner of his lips when he heard that. Those little annoying moments were so cute to him. It was one of the reasons he was in love with her. He just couldn't help it.
He let her pout for a second or two before sitting down beside her. Trying to think of the best way to start this conversation but no matter what was said, it was going to be a difficult talk and he knew she was going to try and avoid it.
"Maureen, we need to talk about what we're going to do." He said softly.
She rolled her eyes some before turning to look at him. "Marky...we're having a baby together. What's there to talk about?"
Sometimes she was really dense. "There's a lot to talk about. Like, setting up doctors appointments. Getting you into a Lamaze class. Deciding whether or not we want to know if it's a boy or a girl ahead of time. Names. What will happen after the baby comes." He began to list off everything that came to mind about what needed to be addressed.
She sat all the way back on the couch and folded her arms across her chest. "I can set up my own doctors appointments." She stated bluntly.
"Okay. Fine." He nodded his head some before glancing at her. "Am I going to be able to go to some of them?"
"Why would you want to go?" She asked looking at him.
"Cause, I want to be able to hear the baby's heart. See the baby on the monitor."
At that, she just looked down. That was something she should have known he would want to be apart of. Course, she would allow him to go with her. And for her to be completely honest, she wouldn't want anyone else with her.
"Of course you can go, baby." She said softly, giving him a reassuring smile.
"Lamaze classes." He stated, changing the subject which caused her to roll her eyes once again. "We need to get you into a class."
"Okay. Okay." She stated, putting her hands up in defeat. Not even bothering to argue on that one. She knew that was something that she would have to do.
There was silence for a few long moments as they both seemed to try and gather their thoughts for other subject matters that were going to need attending.
"Abigail."
"What?" Mark questioned, turning his head to look at her. A bit puzzled.
"That's what I want to name her."
"What if it's a boy?"
"It's a girl." She said with confidence.
"How can you be so sure?" He was enjoying the conversation now. Leaning himself back as they continued their talk.
"A mother knows." She smirks looking at him.
He shook his head some. "We still need to come up with some boy names, just in case."
"No we don't. Cause it's a girl."
"Maureen, it's a fifty fifty chance that the baby could be a boy or a girl. So we should come up with boy and girl names." He tried, not wanting to just think of girl names cause he is kinda hoping it's going to be a boy. Again she shook her head. "What about Kegan?" He tried.
She sighed. "Look, Marky...if we have a boy, which we wont but if we do then we're just gonna name him Abigail so he'll forever be reminded that mommy wanted a girl."
'Damn she's stubborn.' He thought to himself as he tried to hide a chuckle that was threatening to escape after hearing her words. Seeing that he couldn't get her to budge just yet on baby names, he decided to move on with a different subject. "What about living arrangements?"
"What about them?" She asked confused.
"I mean, did you want to move in here? Should we get a place of our own?" He tried, wondering if she would be okay with him thinking this way cause he was thinking in terms of Joanne and her breaking up.
"Marky. I'm with Joanne." She gently said, not wanting to really hurt his feelings.
"I know. But what if she can't handle the situation? What if she leaves you?" When he said the words her eyes grew big like she really hadn't thought of the possibility of what he was saying. "I'm just trying to prepare you."
But the more Maureen began to think about it the more she realized that she really fucked up. She cheated. Again. But this time got pregnant. By her ex! No way was Joanne going to stay with her now. Maybe Mark was right. She really did need to think about living arrangements. She glanced around the old apartment and sighed softly, trying to picture raising her baby there but just couldn't.
"This place is too small."
Mark let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding until that moment. It was reassuring that she was actually thinking of the reality of her situation with Joanne. And he wasn't too surprised when she mention that this place was too small for them to raise their baby. Technically, it wasn't small it was just too crowded. If it had been just the two...three of them, then it would be different.
He nodded his head. "Then we should start looking for apartments."
Chapter 3! I'm having a lot of fun writing this story and I'm hoping that everyone who is reading it is enjoying it too! Please review and let me know how I'm doing or if you have any input! I would love to hear from you. My review box is looking pretty empty right now.
Ashes2181
