Chapter 6

Rhoda could remember back to the time they had been forced to share Mary's apartment. Before she'd gotten sick and decided she needed Rhoda. After the fire in her kitchen which had forced them together for several nights Rhoda had wondered how they might now find themselves not so annoyed by the other. Perhaps it was because she carried on her normal life away from Mary. They weren't running up against one another, they were free to come and go.

And the nights were becoming more scattered. If Mary didn't make the suggestion, Rhoda happily retreated into her pink room, curled up atop her bed, and thought about the woman a floor down. For being a woman who had thought she loved men so much, who had tried to best Mary a time or two for a guy, she was quickly realizing her shortcomings. If she let her mind wander long enough she was apt to recognize that sometimes when she had been fighting Mary for a guy, she had really been fighting him away from Mary. From Mary's heavenly orbit, which Rhoda was somehow delusional enough to believe she was the sole inhabitant of.

Rhoda was beginning to recognize the hurt each time she sauntered into Mary's apartment to find her all dolled up for a date. Especially now that she was no longer serious with Peter. She was dating again. As if she had needed a quick three-week hiatus, pulling Rhoda in to ease the pain and the loneliness But now she was back in business.

Rhoda felt used and a little hurt.

But those nights, those Goddamn nights when Mary called around ten and inquired if Rhoda might come down – sometimes she'd make up some flimsy excuse – and the next thing Rhoda knew she was back in Mary's bed. It was intoxicating and never enough. It was becoming exhausting to read Mary. And perhaps Rhoda should have been mad at her friend, mad that she was pulling her in and then pushing her away, but Rhoda was too wrapped up in it, too willing and wanting to spend the night with Mary regardless of the guy she'd dated that evening.

Rhoda could sense when the date had gone well and when it hadn't based on whether or not Mary called. And Rhoda preferred when they went bad. Not that she wished ill for her friend, but there was a little piece of her that wanted Mary to need her.

"How pathetic, Morgenstern." Rhoda sighed into the magazine she was glossing over as her mind wandered in another loop around Mary.

She glanced at her clock, noting that it was only 7:30. Mary should be home at any moment and Rhoda felt that perhaps they needed to have a little talk about their arrangement. She wasn't sure it was working for her.

Yes, Rhoda was going to have a little talk with Mary that night.

They were usually so open with each other, it was easy to point out the other's fault. Mary wasn't a naturally forward or confrontational person, but Rhoda was good about pulling this side out of her. Rhoda had certainly let this little handicap, this desire for Mary to need her, go on too long. And she needed some kind of clarity, something to grasp onto if it were to continue.

It had not helped that Ms. Richard's had been sprawled nearly atop Rhoda last night, her lips so tantalizingly close to Rhoda's neck, her breath fluttering against her tender flesh.

Rhoda turned the magazine page roughly.

She heard the door downstairs open and close.

Sitting up in her bed, Rhoda steadied herself. She could do this, she was the boisterous, loudmouth Rhoda Morgenstern and she was not going to be jerked around by Mary Richards. She was either going to put an end to these slumber parties, or she was going to get answers.

It didn't cross her mind that perhaps she wasn't ready to actually know, or to even voice her own feelings, but she figured that somehow, she and Mary would cross that bridge. She assumed Mary was fairly open-minded, even if she had voted for Nixon in the last election. Rhoda could deal with that.

"Mare?" Rhoda peered into the apartment, finding that the doorknob had been left unlocked.

"Oh," Mary was somehow frozen to the spot, as if she had come home and not gotten any further than the threshold. Rhoda had come down the stairs quickly, but not that quickly. She watched as Mary wiped at her cheek, animated into sudden action. She slid out of her coat without turning to face Rhoda. "Well come on in," she spoke but her voice was shaky. She moved to her closet without turning to see Rhoda enter.

"Mare, what's going on?"

Mary locked herself away in her closet, "I'm fine. Just fine." Mary's not fine voice responded through the door.

"Mare, you're not fine. Clearly. What is it, kid?" Rhoda stood by the door, ringing her hands together. All thoughts of confronting Mary about their situation were tossed out the window.

"I'm just fine." Mary emerged in a loose-fitting shirt and some pants. It was quite an odd look for her.

"You were crying, weren't you?" Rhoda stalked her into the kitchen.

"Rhoda," Mary crashed the teapot atop the stove, "yes. No, I was but I'm…fine…I'm just fine." Tears were streaming down her cheeks now, as if she'd erupted and couldn't shore up the dam to stop the tears. All while denying the fact that she was wrecked, drowning.

"Mare, kid, come on. Let's sit down." Rhoda grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the stove, away to the couch, easing her down into its cushions, settling down beside her. "What is it?"

"Oh, Rhoda. It's…it's so embarrassing." Mary whispered. "Lock the door, I don't want Phyllis barging in here and seeing me like this." Mary spoke with an authoritative demeanor. Rhoda jumped to, locking the door before returning to Mary's side.

"What is it?" Rhoda coaxed, hating to see Mary like this.

"Rhoda," Mary covered her face in her hands. "Rhoda, that wasn't the flu I had the other week."

"What?" Rhoda was confused by how the flu had anything to do with anything. Other than the fact that it had brought them together, into one bed.

Mary mumbled something into her hands.

"Kid, I can't understand you." Rhoda pried Mary's hands from her face.

Mary's words hardly formed in her mouth, it came out again as a jumble and Rhoda was lost. The tears quickened. Rhoda enveloped her in a hug, holding her close. "I still can't hear you."

Mary mumbled against Rhoda's chest, her hands coming up, pushing away from Rhoda.

"What?" Rhoda was getting annoyed.

"RhodaI'mpregnant. I'm pregnant. PREGNANT." Mary's fists pounded lightly into Rhoda's shoulders before she fell against the couch in another fit of tears.

Rhoda was frozen to the spot. The news absolutely floored her. This she had not expected, not from Mary Richards of all people. She was perfect, virginal – even though Rhoda knew she'd had experience, there was still something about Mary that remained pure – and now…now she was with child and without a husband. "Oh, kid. Oh, Mary." Rhoda turned to Mary, wrapped her up in her arms and held her close, rubbing her back, soothing her until Mary's body went limp in her arms. She'd cried herself out, leaning against Rhoda, exhausted.

"What am I going to do?" Mary asked into Rhoda's chest.

Rhoda was certainly glad that Mary could not see the lost, uncertain look that crossed her own face. How would she know what to do with this? This was all new, foreign. People had babies when they got married and she'd assumed Mary would follow suit. One day Mary marry and then would have a baby. Mary was logical, straightforward like that.

But now, now she was defying tradition and she'd gotten herself knocked up. "I don't know, kid." Rhoda knew this wasn't helpful, but it was the truth. "I don't know, but we're going to figure it out. Okay?" Rhoda held her at arm's length, looking into her eyes. "We'll figure it out together."

Mary just absently nodded, as if she weren't even present in the moment, in her body. She was elsewhere entirely.

"Hey, I'm here. Anytime, alright?" Rhoda assured her. "I'm not going anywhere."

Mary nodded again.

"First things first. I'm going to make us dinner and you're going to eat and then I'm going to put you to bed and tomorrow is Friday so you'll go to work – or call in sick if you don't feel up to it – and then we'll sit down tomorrow night and talk it out. But this had been a big shock and we're not going to be able to process it tonight. Okay? Do you want to go shower and I'll start dinner?"

Mary mumbled something and pulled herself up, heading off to her bathroom. "Just don't make a mess." It was Mary's attempt at lightening the mood.

Rhoda smiled, "I won't. Go shower."

Rhoda watched until she disappeared into the bathroom. Once Mary was out of sight she bit her lip, eyes widening. Her heart raced. What was Mary going to do? What did this mean?

Steadying herself, Rhoda found a few ingredients in the refrigerator and whipped up a salad and some leftover hamburgers. She fed a quiet, resigned Mary and then, as Mary brushed her teeth, she made up the bed. Rhoda made sure Mary was comfortable and all tucked in, pressing a quick kiss to her shampoo scented forehead, and then turned to leave.

"Rhoda," Mary whispered.

Rhoda stopped, needing desperately to get away from Mary so that she could release the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Where are you going?" Mary asked shyly.

"To bed," Rhoda rubbed at her cheek, turning to look at Mary laying there. So helpless, so sad, so upset.

"Don't go." Mary pulled the blanket about herself, a fearful look in her eyes.

"Mare," Rhoda sighed.

"Please," Mary's voice broke.

That did it.

"I'm just going to put on pajamas and I'll be right back." Rhoda assured her.

The tears fell as she brushed her teeth, climbed into a nightgown, pulled her robe about herself. She stood in the bathroom and wiped her face clean, piecing herself back together for she had to be strong for Mary now. Mary didn't need to know that she was upset. It wasn't her place to be upset.

Mary took no time at all to snuggle into Rhoda's side once she returned.

Rhoda was fairly certain that neither slept that night and when the sun rose her shoulder was damp from Mary's tears.