Author's Note: Yes, I am aware that I now have three stories unfinished (four if you include 'Angel, Indeed,' which I'm not even sure is going to evolve into a longer story…but anyhoo. I know you all are going to hate me when you read the events in this story. It's not all kissy-kissy-happy-happy like some of my other stories. It's more intense. Hence the possible R-rating. (I'm going to have to debate with myself over that…) But you get the idea. So, here we go…review, please! Stay beautiful, all of you.

*This story is dedicated to my bitch, Mari, a.k.a Em0xstatic J*

***

Roger's eyes fluttered open at the sound of Mimi jiggling her keys into the lock.

"Hey, baby," he said sleepily, stretching out on the couch as she walked in.

"Hey," she said, giving him a weak smile. "You waited up for me?"

Roger grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry I'm late," Mimi said, kicking off her heels. "Terry made me work overtime at the club tonight. He says he'll pay me extra though, so it's worth it."

"Okay," Roger said, yawning. He slowly stood up and walked across the room and began to rub her shoulders.

"Thanks, babe," she murmured, closing her eyes.

"You know, it's just the two of us tonight," Roger whispered, pressing his lips against her neck. "Mark's going to be in Scarsdale with his folks this week."

Mimi said nothing.

"So…you want to…you know?" Roger asked, slowly.

"Not tonight, baby," Mimi said softly. "I'm really tired. Besides, isn't it like two in the morning?"

"Well, yeah…," Roger said, sheepishly. "Hey, Meems, is something bothering you?"

"No. I'm fine. Why?" she said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"It's nothing…you just don't seem yourself.

"I'm tired. I worked six hours straight," Mimi yawned, turning around to face him. "Besides. You kept me up last night," she said, smiling.

"I kept you up," Roger repeated, shaking his head. "If I remember correctly…"

"Well, we both kept each other up," she cut in, grinning sheepishly. "I'm going to get something out of the fridge. I haven't eaten anything since this morning."

Roger followed her into the kitchen.

"There's nothing in here," Mimi complained, rustling through the scarce contents of the icebox.

"We haven't gone shopping for groceries in weeks," Roger reminded her, placing his hands on her waist.

Mimi sighed. "Shit. We'll have to go shopping in the morning."

"It's no problem," Roger said, shrugging.

Mimi finally found a carton of vanilla yogurt, and peeled back the top and grabbed a plastic spoon from the top of the refrigerator.

"You sure that's not expired?" Roger asked her, before she shoved the spoon into her mouth.

Mimi paused, and examined the side of the carton. "Shit," she grumbled, tossing it into the wastebasket.

"We'll go for groceries tomorrow," Roger assured her, embracing her in a hug.

"Okay," Mimi said, smiling. She stood on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his lips.

"Wanna hit the sack?" Roger asked, after kissing her back.

Mimi smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."

The two of them walked toward the bedroom, side by side. Mimi paused as they reached the bedroom door. "I'll come in in a minute," she said. "I'm just gonna brush my teeth and rinse my face off."

"Alright," Roger said in a groggy voice, disappearing into the bedroom.

Mimi went down the small narrow hall and turned into the bathroom, closing the door gently behind her.

She hovered over the sink and glared at her reflection in the mirror. Grabbing a maroon scrunchie from the sink counter, she wrapped her curly brunette hair in a messy bun and turned on the sink faucet, splashing cold water on to her face.

The cold water was soothing, and momentarily calmed her throbbing head.

She grabbed a towel from in back of her and patted her face dry.

"You coming, Meems?" Roger's voice echoed from the bedroom.

"Yes. I just need to use the toilet," Mimi shouted back. She walked over to the toilet, and sat on it with the lid closed, holding her head in her hands. She waited for what she figured was a reasonable amount of time, and flushed the toilet.

Slouching on the toilet seat, she rolled up the mesh-material of her sleeve to that it was just above her elbow. The spot on the back of her elbow had an ugly purplish tint, almost black. She touched it gingerly with her finger, and winced. The pain was familiar to her. Slide the needle underneath the skin, get a lovely multi-colored bruise the next day.

She'd started shooting up again not even a month ago, but already she was getting used to the feel of it; the light-headedness, the bruising.

She'd thought that she'd stopped for good. Ever since her near-death last year, everyone had thought that Mimi had learned her lesson.

That was until some of the usual men that lurked around the Cat Scratch Club started smuggling in needles. The other dancers passed them around backstage.

"No thanks," Mimi had said, handing it back to one of the other girls.

"Oh, come on," one of them had sneered. "You know how it's done. I've seen you do it."

"I don't anymore," Mimi had murmured, staring at the floor.

"Bullshit," the girl had retorted, rolling her eyes. "Come ON. Just one time. Don't you miss it?"

Mimi nervously looked at the other girls for consulting, but they were all either shrugging their shoulders at her, or had already turned away and were pretending to be absorbed in conversations with each other.

"Alright," Mimi had said slowly, hating herself for giving in so easily. "Just once."

One couldn't hurt.

But then one turned into several more over the course of the next couple of days. Then the days turned into weeks. The dancers would pass them around during break-time, or they had someone sneak one in from outside. Mimi was almost positive that Terry, their boss, knew what was going on. But he never brought it up. And so no one ever felt uneasy when taking part in it.

She was slipping.

Mimi sighed and rolled her sleeve back down, reaching into the medicine cabinet above her head for the bottle of aspirin. She cracked the top open and popped three pills into her mouth, swallowing them dry. She felt a tight feeling in her throat as they slid down her throat, one right after the other.

Her eyes watered as the pills left a bitter taste on her tongue. She hated lying to Roger. He had so much faith in her. He believed in her. And she was letting him down.

Mimi stood up and dug into the medicine box, slapping a band-aid onto the spot on her arm. Just in case Roger saw it, she would say she fell and scraped her arm at the club.

"Took you long enough," Roger teased as Mimi came into the bedroom.

"Must have ate something that didn't agree with me," she shrugged, pulling on a pair of his flannel boxer pants lying around on the floor.

"Ugh. I didn't need to know that," he groaned, tilting his head back against the headboard.

Mimi slid on an old CBGB's T-shirt, which was also Roger's. He never wore it anymore. Mimi had taken the liberty to cut off the sleeves. Silently, she slid under the covers next to him.

Roger rolled over on his side and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips against her bare shoulder. "Your hair smells good," Roger murmured, sleepily.

Mimi snorted. "I haven't showered in forever. God knows what you're smelling."

"Nonsense," Roger teased. "You're clean and pure."

Mimi let out a slow whoosh of air. If only he knew, she thought, sadly.

"You want me to turn out the light?" Roger asked her.

She nodded.

Roger reached over her and clicked off the lamp on the night table.

"Night, baby," he whispered, his voice muffled by her curly hair in his face.

"Goodnight," she said, softly.

Even though she had been ready to surrender immediately to sleep only a moment ago, now she found that she wasn't tired. She turned her head and gazed at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity. Soon, she heard the gentle sound of Roger snoring in her ear.

Mimi squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to sleep.

And then finally she faded, falling into the depths of sleep.

***

Author's Note: Yeah. Told you it's not a happy story. You all are going to kill me in these next few chapters. I should start writing my will. Reviews are almost as exciting as Daphne dying her hair blonde!