Whoot!! Now we find out where Jo and Roger have gone to . . .

Disclaimer: I don't own, I RENT. Except for my characters and my storyline. . . those are mine.

Arguing and Loving

Josephine May and Roger Davis were two stubborn, willful people who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

"Why can't we see him?" Roger asked, trying to keep his temper in check.

"I'm sorry sir, but Mr. Cohen is still being checked out by the doctor and— . . ."

"We won't get in the way. We just want to be with him." Jo cut off the receptionist.

"I'm sorry, but hospital policy— . . ."

"Is that what you'd say if it was your best friend in there?" Roger snapped, "Would you say that if your best friend has been missing for two months and you find him on the street dying of hypothermia and god knows what else?! Would you honestly want to be kept away from them when you know they need you?!"

Jo quickly took over for Roger, a bit calmer. "Look, we just need to be with him. We're part of the only family he's got . . . Please . . ."

The receptionist sat in shock for a minute before speaking. "He's down the hall . . . in room 204."

"Thank you," Jo took hold of Roger's arm and lead the way to Mark's room.

When they got there, the doctor was just leaving.

"Are you with Mr. Cohen?"

"Mark," Both Jo and Roger corrected before Jo continued speaking. "Yes, we're with him. Is he alright?"

"He's suffering from a case of hypothermia so we're working on warming him up with warm water bottles and blankets and such. But it seems we've discovered a small difficulty . . ."

"What?" Roger demanded.

The doctor hesitated. "I don't mean to pry, but does Mark use any sort of illegal drug?"

Jo and Roger looked at the doctor sadly, "He's going through withdrawal, isn't he?" Jo asked.

"That, and the drug seems to have been a depressant, making Mark's respiratory system slow . . ."

"Yeah, heroin will do that to you . . ."

"It is heroin?"

Roger nodded, "Do you watch the news?" he asked.

"Yes, when I'm not at work . . ."

"A couple of months ago, do you remember hearing about how the police 'found' a girl who had been missing for 10 years on the brink of death in a warehouse?"

"Yes . . ."

"Well, you're looking at that girl." Roger motioned to Jo. "And your patient is her best friend who was held hostage for seven months before we went to rescue him. And during those months, he was force given heroin until he became addicted . . . well his addiction is still there."

Jo continued for Roger, "After trying and failing to go through withdrawal, Mark disappeared for almost two months until Roger found him on the street, we don't know how bad his addiction is but from the looks of it, he's been on the street the whole time doing god-knows-what to get money for smack . . ."

"Well, that explains a lot." The doctor said, jotting something down on his clipboard.

"Do you have the means to test for HIV here?" Jo asked.

"I believe so. We'll do a test once his body temp's up. In the meantime, you may go in and see him. But be warned; he's hooked up to a lot of machines to monitor his heart and such. Do you want m to start him on methadone?"

Roger looked to Jo; it was her decision to make.

"No. Unless the withdrawal is so bad that he needs it than he's going to have to do it the old fashion way at home." Jo said resolutely.

The doctor nodded, "You may see him now." He started to walk away but Roger called after him.

"We have more in our party; if you could call them in . . .?"

The doctor nodded again and went on his way.

Jo and Roger walked into Mark's hospital room. Jo immediately went to Mark's side and gently stroked his dyed-brown hair. Roger set Mark's worn carpet bag down and sat in a plastic chair.

"It shouldn't have happened this way." Jo said softly, willing herself not to cry. "We should've held on to him tighter . . . he should've been clean by now." Tears started to well in Jo's seal-grey eyes, "I should've been stronger for him . . . I . . . I . . ."

Roger jumped up and ran to Jo, holding her tight as she cried. "Shh . . . don't say that. No one could've predicted this would happen. Don't blame yourself, Jo. Forget Regret; no day but today."

Roger held Jo for a few minutes before the rest of the Bohemians and Benny entered the room.

"Josie?"

Roger let go of Jo and went over to explain Mark's situation while Jo resumed her previous position and stroked Mark's hair. She let her mind wander and couldn't help but think of a few lines from a song she used to listen to . . .

So what happens now? . . . So what happens now?

Where am I going to?

Don't ask anymore . . .

"Jo?" Mimi placed a hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Jo thought for a moment. Was she okay? Here she was, next to her best friend who was suffering from hypothermia and going through heroin withdrawal; the only person her heart belonged to and he was possibly dying . . . Would anyone be okay in her position?

"I'm fine," she lied, "It's him we need to worry about."

Mimi nodded, "He'll get through this." She said, knowingly, "Mark wouldn't leave his family like this."

Jo nodded and felt Mark's cold cheek. He didn't seem to be getting warmer . . . Then Jo got an idea

Carefully avoiding all the wires and tubes, so as not to disturb anything, Jo slid into the hospital bed behind Mark and held him; transferring her body heat to the body of her hypothermic best friend. The Bohos silently sat around the room, observing the scene of Jo holding the unconscious form of Mark Cohen close to her as she whispered reassuring words into deaf ears.

It would be hours later, after the rest of the Bohemians had left, until the form in Jo's arms would twitch and open winter-blue eyes to show pain from withdrawal.

Who can guess what musical those lines are from? If you guess right I'll give you a virtual cookie!! MMmmm . . . cookies!!!