Disclaimer: For the last time, it isn't mine…not even close.
A/N: Can you believe it's been like a month since I last updated? Sorry, I've been really busy and then I got some other plot bunnies and decided it'd be fun to write the sequel to this. It makes me a little sad to say that this will be the last chapter. But it's okay, the sequel will be amazing. I kind of wrote the last chapter already and it's good.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
"Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday Blair and Riley. Happy birthday to you." The group of adults sang to the two little girls, who had just turned one. That meant in about six days, Adam would be one and a few weeks after Ryan, or Coop as they now called him after his middle name, would be the same age. It was odd how quickly the time had flown. It had seemed like just yesterday that Marli had called Mark to be the director for the film that had made them, in more ways then just establishing their careers. It had made them fall in love. It had made them start a family.
"So how are Uncle Roger's favorite birthday girls?" Roger walked over to the twins and smiled at them. Blair responded to the questions by smearing part of the cake given to her to rip apart all over his face. "No Uncle Roger, we don't like you."
"Here." Mimi shoved an anxious Adam into her husband's arms. "Hold Adam, would you? I bet they won't smear cake on my face." She looked over at Roger again and shook her head laughing.
Mark captured this all on his camera. Blair was one. Riley was one. Soon, they'd be sixteen and wanting to break all the rules. Blair, even now, was obsessive and aggressive and had been from the start. Riley was pensive and vivacious. They, despite being identical twins, were two very different girls. And they would grow up to be two very different women. And he would grow older to be one very stressed father.
"So Mark, how does it feel to have one-year-olds on your hands?" Collins put an arm around him, bringing Mark out of his trance.
"Scary. Right now, they're wonderful one, right? But this past year has gone by so fast, which means the next year will as well. Then they will be 'terrible two' or whatever. And by then Marli will want another. So we will have two-year-old twins and probably a newborn, and where does that leave time to work. There is none. Which concludes why I am completely terrified." Mark ran a palm through his blonde hair and sighed. Why did he have to say things like this at his daughters' first birthday celebration, what should be a happy time.
"Dude, get a nanny!" Roger had just come up to talk with the group of men and had apparently been listening intently. He still had Adam in his arms, who was caught in between wanting to get down and walk, and wanting to lick the still-present off of his father's face.
"Please. You say it like you have one."
"Therein lies the beauty, my friends. My job is pretty easy and I'm set for a while. We only have one baby, we aren't planning on having any others, and Mimi doesn't work at all. We don't need a nanny." Roger took a swig of a random drink before realizing that it was some baby juice and spitting it back into the bottle. "Ew."
"Wow, here I was thinking you were going to be so philosophical. But you just blew it after your first sentence." Collins laughed, patting Roger hard on the back.
Marli sat with Mimi, Maureen, and Joanne, playing with the kids, while all the men stood in a corner with Adam. Marli watched the way Roger interacted with Adam and then watched the way she interacted with her girls. She watched the way they all interacted with their kids and realized that they had never thought that they'd be ones to have kids. And here they were, seeming to be good parents.
"Do you guys ever think of having another?" Mimi said pensively. She was playing with Blair and was as infatuated with the little girl as she was with her own son.
"All the time. I really want more kids, but I don't think Mark really does. He's terrified of screwing these two up and terrified of the amount of time they require." Marli handed Riley a small toy that seemed to enthrall the little girl.
"Get a nanny. We think about having more kids all the time, don't we Pookie?" Maureen turned away from Ryan/Coop and looked at Joanne.
"If Keith wants another. I don't want our kids to have different dads. Can you say weird? But hey, you're the one who carries the kid and I'd love to have another." She looked at Maureen who smiled. "Don't get ahead of yourself. If we do we'll wait at least another year."
"I want to, I really do." Mimi said quietly. "But Roger and I have a deal. No more kids. It's too risky. We were so lucky for me to live after all the complications with Adam. We were lucky for him to be completely healthy, no HIV, no blindness, no disorders. We were lucky to have a kid. But having another is too risky. I may not make it through the complications. The other baby may have HIV. When we die, we'll burden you and Mark with two more kids you don't need to have. It's just not a good idea."
"Mimi, listen, if you guys have another kid and then die, you wont be burdening Mark and I…" Marli started but realized Mimi had more to say and stopped.
"Yet, despite all that could go wrong, I really want another. I want a girl. I always have. And when I was pregnant with Adam, I didn't care as long as he was healthy. Adam really is the most amazing baby ever. But I really want a girl."
"Well you can take one of mine!" Marli piped up. "Blair is going to be a brat when she's older, but she seems to adore you! Take her!"
"Ha, very funny Marli." Mimi smiled at Marli gratefully. Marli shrugged.
"Lee! Sorry I'm late!" Mark had just let Alexandria and her boyfriend in. Marli actually felt kind of bad for her boyfriend, Jett, as he was always saddled doing everything for Alexandria, though he never seemed to mind. Today, he was stuck carrying two very large packages for Blair and Riley.
"Whoa Lexa! What in the world did you buy my girls?" She got up and gave her friend a hug and a kiss on the check, then leaned over to Jett, who had been relieved of the presents, and did the same.
"Something they'll like, of course." Alexandria laughed. "Where are the birthday girls anyway? Oh, there they are!" Alexandria went off to go play with the babies, while Jett walked off to talk to the guys.
Mark was still having trouble coping with the fact that his daughters were a year old. Even after everyone had left. It was surreal to him. Soon, they'd be off to ballet lessons and all that jazz. Soon they'd be off to school. Soon they'd be off to college. Soon he'd be giving them away at their weddings. Soon, they'd have kids. Well, actually some of this stuff shouldn't be so soon, but if this year was any indication, the years would fly by quickly.
The girls were asleep quietly in their room, tucked safely into their brand-new "big girl" beds. Marli came up to him, snuggling into him on the big and plush couch. "Hey Mark?"
"Mmhmm." He looked at her, tired beyond words.
"Do you ever think about having more kids? Not now, but eventually?"
"Sure. I think about it all the time. Eventually, it's something I want. What about you?"
"Well, I honestly hadn't given it much thought until today. I was talking to Mimi and Maureen and Joanne, and it made me realize I want another. Not another set of twins, just one more kid. Not yet, but maybe around the time that the twins are two or three."
He smiled at her, stroking her flaxen hair. "You do realize that you can't control how many you have right?"
"I thought you said you wanted more kids!"
"I do. It's just you say it like you control the amount of kids you get pregnant with. But, if you want more kids, I'm game when you are. Please, let's just wait a while. No need to rush into having more kids. I mean the twins are only one."
"I know. I just wanted to make sure it was something you wanted too. I guess this means in a few years we'll have another little terror running around, huh?"
"So help us." He gave his wife a small kiss and smiled down at her.
Meanwhile at Roger and Mimi's apartment…
"Rog, thanks for putting Adam to sleep." Mimi thanked her husband even though she didn't need to. He did it willingly and even offered seeing as Mimi had been acting strangely since the return from the party.
"No problem babe. What's wrong? You've been acting weird since we got home," he observed keenly and with concern.
"It's just…I know we said we didn't want any more kids, but do you sometimes regret that we can't have anymore?"
"Now Meems," he said with a laugh, "what happened to forgetting regret?"
"Not like that loser. I mean it like sometimes do you wish we could have more kids?"
"Well, yes. But Adam is enough. We can't risk it again. We've been over this. I'm happy just having one healthy, happy, wonderful baby. He's perfect. We don't need another. Sure it'd be nice, but it's just not possible."
"I know. I just wish…I had always wanted a girl. Take her to ballet class and watch her do recitals. You know? You have your boy. I wanted my girl. And I know it isn't possible, but hearing Marli, Maureen, and Joanne talk about wanting more kids got me thinking."
"I wish we could have a little girl too. But it just isn't possible. You know that. I don't want to risk that baby being infected. I don't want you to die from the complications this time. It's too risky babe." He looked at her with concern. It was apparent that he wished he could give her what she wanted.
"I know. At least we were lucky enough to have Adam, right? He's amazing."
"That he is babe. That he is."
And with that they shut off the lights and curled up in bed, hoping Adam wouldn't wake them up.
Meanwhile at Maureen and Joanne's…
Maureen sat in her room twirling her hair around her finger. Joanne sat next to her reading a novel. They had the night away from Coop, as he had been take to Keith's place for the night.
"Hey, Joanne. When we were talking about having more kids again today, did you really mean it? Or were you just saying that because I said I did. Because I won't ever bring it up again if you don't." Maureen looked at Joanne, frantically twisting the curls around her fingers, faster and faster.
"No, I really did mean it. I would love another baby. But not yet. And Keith would have to want another since, like I said, our kids will not have two different fathers or anything."
"Cool."
"Cool? That's all you have to say? Honestly, I was expecting some random outburst that involved a lot of dancing and singing."
"Nope. Sorry. Too tired to do that tonight."
"You're not the same person I met 3 and a half years ago Maureen. I think Ryan has calmed you down."
"No. I'm still the same hyper drama queen. I'm just insanely tired from Coop. We don't call him Ryan anymore if you recall. We call him Coop."
"Ryan, Coop, whatever. He's still our little boy."
"I know. Whatever, I'm going to sleep. And they did without another word."
Meanwhile at Collins and Daniel's apartment…
Collins and Daniels were sitting in their living room, arguing over some weird philosophy topic that no one but them would understand. It seemed that their bond was more like a deep friendship than that of lovers. And yet their bond was the same pure one that Collins had to have shared with Angel.
It seemed odd that as a couple they had grown so close in just a little over a year, but yet not at all. When Collins looked at it, he had moved in with Angel after one night. They didn't have all the time in the world and they had to use what time they had to their advantage. They had to trace every moment for forever. And while their relationship was more for comfort and solace then anything, it was still a profound one.
They talked about philosophy and life and death and everything in between. Maybe it wasn't love, but it was company. Neither man could be alone. No man is an island.
Somewhere far above New York City, an angel looked down and smiled. She adjusted her black wig and switched from each friends house to another.
She looked at Marli and Mark. "Well I'm glad he found someone. He deserved someone. They work well together. And they have such adorable little girls," she mused sweetly before moving on.
She looked at Roger and Mimi. "I'm so glad those two worked it out. Who would've ever thought that they'd be married, and with a kid to boot! My Mimi-chica is a mommy! They're all grown up! It's so sweet."
She looked at Maureen and Joanne. "Wow. I had all my money on them being broken up by now. If I were still alive, I'd be broke! Well, I'm glad they're happy and they have that little boy…what's his name? Bryan Scooper? Whatever…"
She finally gazed down at her old lover and his new boyfriend. "I miss you so much. I miss you every single day. I'm so glad you've found happiness baby…so happy." She let a few tears fall from her eyes, knowing that here her mascara wouldn't smear.
She knew that she had done her job all those years ago. And she would continue to protect them. Always.
A/N: That's it. It's really over. It makes me sad, but I love how I ended it, and I'm going to have my sequel up soon. For the last time...please review!