Hey all! Sorry for mistakes, pleaaaaase review, no flames though! Enjoy part five! Some exciting stuff here (:

Disclaimer: As much as I wished I owned Rent, I do not. Depressing Much? I think yes!

Turn This House Into A Home

Chapter 5: Total Eclipse Of The Heart

Morning-Lily POV:

"Miss me Babe?" A harsh voice said behind me. It was so dark. Hands grabbed my from behind and pulled me to the floor.

"Travis…NO!" I struggled under him, as his face dimly came into view. "Stop it…please!" He had a knife in his hand. I panicked more. "Help!" I screamed in the dim light. An evil grin took over his face.

"I'll miss you Lillian." He brought the knife high above me.

"NO!" I shot up in bed shaking hard. I was home…safe….I'm safe. My heart was racing. He's gone, he's gone, he's gone, I chanted in my head. I took a deep breath and got out of bed, heading for the bathroom for my daily routine. Forty-five minutes later, I was shower, dressed, and ready to go. Or am I? I thought, suddenly nervous. Come on Lily….just talk to him. The phone rang interrupting me.

"Hello?" I asked picking it up.

"Lily? Its Joanne," her voice sounded.

"Oh, hey."

"I just wanted to tell you that Travis will be brought to court and…" She paused for a second. "Will you be willing to testify, in court, against him?" She asked.

"Y-yes…I will." My voice shook. I have too.

"Good. The court date in a week on August 26th. I'll keep you posted, but for now I'm going to do a little digging." She trailed off. "One more thing."

"Yeah…" I wondered.

"I have to warn you. You may have to reveal some personal details on the stand." She sighed.

"I'll…I'll be ok, as long as Travis is put away for a long time." I reassured myself.

"Ok. You'll have all of us to back you up Lily. He is going to be put away for a long time. I have to go now. Have a good day." She said.

"Yeah, you too. Thanks." I responded.

"No problem, goodbye."

"Bye." We hung up. Personal details…I'll be ok, I'll be ok. I'll be ok. I took a deep breath. I'm going to talk to Mark now. I can do it. I walked toward the door passing the room I painted in. I haven't painted in a while, my last paintings sold pretty well, maybe I'll start some more soon.I grabbed my keys and rushed out the door, forgetting my coat. On the way up stairs to familiar voices sounded.

"Roger! Mimi!" I hugged then. "Good morning!" I noticed the were both dressed nicely. He's going to propose to her. I thought happily. "Hot date today?"

"Yeah, Mimi and I are going to spend the day together." Roger smiled at me.

"He won't tell me anything though." Mimi huffed.

"That will ruin the surprise, love." Roger winked.

"Well, have a great day you too." I said. "Um, is Mark upstairs, I'd like to talk to him?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's up. Its the very last loft, at the top." He replied.

"Thanks, have a great day you too." I smirked in Roger's direction. They nodded walking past me. I jogged up the stairs reaching the door to their loft. Deep breath. I lifted my hand and knocked on the door.

"You forget something already Rog-" Mark swung open the door. "Lily? Hi! Sorry I thought you were-"

"It's fine." I said suddenly shy.

"Oh sorry! Come on in. It's freezing out." He gently took my arm and lead me in. Their loft was larger then mine, his camera was on the table and a giant sheet was hung up with different clips playing on it. I watched the clips out of curiosity recognizing most of my new friends laughing together. Two people stood out to me.

"You guys are friends with Benny?" I recognized the owner of the building.

"What? Oh yeah, we were. He used to stay with us till he married into a wealthy family and bought the building." Mark stopped the clips. "Things are better now though, we see him from time to time." I looked from him back up to the screen. It was a still frame of Collins with his arm around another man. They were smiling affectionately at each other. They obviously really love each other. The man was dressed in a short wig with a short, fluffy Christmas coat and zebra tights. He wore really tall black heels. A drag queen? I smiled at the sweet picture.

"Who's that?" I pointed at the man. Mark looked up and sighed slightly. He looked sad.

"That's Angel." He still stared at the picture. I stood next to him. "He and Collins were together." Were?

"What happened?" I asked softly. Mark tore his eyes from the screen and looked to me.

"He died. AIDS. Around last Halloween." Mark paused.

"I'm so sorry. He seems really nice." I looked back to the photo.

"He was, he really was. Always smiling. Always helping everyone out. Angel was defiantly the best of us." He smiled to himself as if remembering. "What Angel and Collins had, was special."

"True love?" I faced him.

"Yeah…True love…" He was really close to me now. Then….the power blew. Mark stepped away from me abruptly.

"Damn weather. Why don't you sit down." He motioned to the couch, "I'll get some candles to light later." He walked off quickly as I sat down. The windows were frosting over somewhat. I rubbed my arms, shivering. Damn I forgot my coat. Mark came back in and set some new candles on the table. He gazed at me.

"God your freezing." He grabbed a nearby blanket and wrapped it around my arms rubbing them.

"Yeah. Silly me…I was in a bit of a hurry to get here. I walked out with out my coat." I paused. "Mark? I really came up here to…to talk to you."

"Yeah…" He adjusted his glasses. "About what?"

"Well, Mark I…" I stopped meeting his gaze. I bit my lip. "I don't know how to say this." He put a comforting hand over mine. "Mark, I li…" I took a deep breath. "MarkIlikeyou!" I blurted out. I almost didn't register it when his lips collided with mine. He's kissing me! My mind screamed. My eyes started to close but, he suddenly pulled back.

"I'msosorry!Ishouldn'thavedonethat!Ugh!Ialwaysruineveryth-"I cut him off when I grabbed his face a kissed him. He immediately responded firmly putting his lips on mine. He ran his hands through my hair as the kiss deepened. My heart pounded against my chest and my stomach did flip flops. Our kiss finally ended both of us gasping slightly for air. Our foreheads touched.

"I really like you too Lily," he sat back and gazed at me. "I'm afraid of going too fast for you." Always the gentleman.

"Me too. But, I want to get to know you." I studied him. I could fall in love with you, Mark Cohen.

"Perhaps, we should start sharing now then." He smiled at me.

"Ok." I nodded, and we did. We just talked for hours. He told me about his passions for film and directing, I talked about my paintings promising to show him one day. He told me about all of his friends and what happened with April and Roger; along with the events of last year when they almost lost Mimi. Then about his strained relationship with his family. I told him about my life before Travis. My mother died in birth and my father passed away when I was 14. I went from job to job and sold paintings for money. We discussed everything from random likes and dislikes to some inter-most thoughts. Hours passed and soon we lit candles, as it got dark outside.

"It's nice to actually be able to talk to someone again." I was lying on him with my head on his chest, as he idly ran his hands through my hair.

"Yeah…" I could hear his heart beat. I feel safe.

"Hey, Mark?" I brought my head from his chest to look at him. "I got a call from Joanne about Travis's trial, she asked me to take the stand and I was wondering…" I trailed off.

"I'll be there." He said firmly. I brought my head back down.

"Thank you…" I whispered. My gaze went to the window. "Hey, it's beginning to snow." We sat up on the couch looking outside. "It's beautiful."

"You know," Mark looked to me, rather boldly and continued, "I can think of something more beautiful.." A blush took over my cheeks. He leaned forward and kissed me. As if on cue, the door swung open.

"She said yes!…Oh shit!" Rogers surprised voice sounded as we jumped apart. He looked amused and shocked. Mimi just smiled at us. I jumped off the couch.

"Congratulations guys." Mark followed behind me. "I'm so happy for you too."

"I hoped you would have the guts to do it." Mark joked giving Roger a "manly" hug.

"I could say the same for you, Cohen." Roger smiled in my direction then laughed as my face turned red. I gave Mimi a hug as she showed me the beautiful ring on her finger.

"We'll tell everyone else tomorrow." She remarked happily. "We should get to bed soon though."

"Yeah, I should head back downstairs." I yawned "Congrats again guys!"

"I'll walk you down." Mark voiced following me.

"Goodnight everyone! See you tomorrow." Mark grabbed my hand on the way down.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed me, as I wrapped my arms around him.

"Yeah…tomorrow." I gave him one last kiss, before turning to leave. I locked my door then leaned up against it sliding to the floor. I thought about what all happened today as my heart sped up at the thought of kissing him. Bliss, pure bliss.