A/N: I'm back, with the long-awaited sequel to my story Viva La Vie Boheme! I decided to do a sequel first, than I will do a prequel to it all. So this will be, come completion, a three-part series. Hello again to all my faithful reviewers, and welcome to any new readers! I would suggest you read Viva La Vie before this one, but I guess it isn't entirely necessary. (It would explain quite a lot, though!)

Diclaimer: I still do not own Rent. Nothing has changed - wait, I do now own the companion book!

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"…And tomorrow the weather will be rainy, with a high of 56 and lows in the 30's, so there may be a little more of that sleet we've been seeing-˝

Mimi Davis sighed and, leaning across the couch, switched the radio off. More wet weather. She hated the rain. Why couldn't the temperature drop a few degrees so there'd at least be snow? All the start of the year had brought so far was rain, rain, rain.

It was January 10th, seventeen days since Mimi had once again found herself in close proximity with death. Roger, back to his normal, overprotective self, had confined her to the apartment building to recover. Since everyone else was at work or school, she was stuck home listening to weather reports. Pathetic.

Mimi sighed and stretched her legs out onto the bare wood floor. She shivered as her bare feet touched the cold surface and recoiled back into the safety of the couch. Her eye caught the bright pink cover of a book Maureen had leant her and she sighed and reluctantly picked it up. A Guide To A Woman's Soul. Whatever that was supposed to mean; Mimi had read the 'About the Author' section, saw that the book was written by a lesbian for lesbians, and hadn't touched the thing since. It was the thought that counted, right?

A knock on the door startled the dancer into dropping the book on her lap.

"Um…come in!" she called.

The door opened and Maureen waltzed into the room, carrying two large bags and beaming like she'd won the lottery.

"Hey Meems, I brought you stuff!" she sang, and promptly slipped on a piece of sheet music and fell on her rear end, causing one of the bags to fly out of her hand and land upside-down in Mimi's lap. Underwear (???) went everywhere.

"You brought me underwear?" Mimi asked incredulously, only half-joking.

Maureen turned red and immediately scooped the lingerie out of sight. "No, that's mine. This," she plopped the other bag onto Mimi's lap, "is for you."

Mimi peered inside and pulled out a few magazines.

"I figured you'd wanna keep up with the latest gossip," Maureen shrugged.

"That sounds like something one of the girls would say," Mimi remarked. When Maureen didn't respond, Mimi looked over to see her beaming at the floor.

"Earth to Maureen?" Mimi called, waving her hand in front of her friend's face.

Maureen jumped. "Oh, sorry Mimi. I was just daydreaming…"

She had a well-known look on her face, like she had a secret, so Mimi asked, "Is there something you wanna tell me?"

"Yes!" Maureen said, as if she was going to burst with excitement, "But no one else knows, and Jo and I were going to tell everyone together…"

"Tell me," Mimi begged.

"Okay – Jo and I – we're gonna adopt a little girl!" Maureen squealed.

"Oh, Mo, that's great!" Mimi grinned, dropping the magazines and hugging her friend. "You must be so excited!"

"I am! We've been thinking about it for a while, but then you got sick, and…well, we put it on hold," Maureen said quickly, "But now we're really going to do it! We just have to fill out some paperwork and they'll pick a little kid for us. We're asking for ages three to six. I wanted to tell you right away, but Joanne didn't want anyone to know ahead of time. Oops!" Maureen didn't look like she felt guilty about going against her girlfriend's wishes. "And we're gonna be mothers! It'll be so cool! I've been waiting for this for practically forever, but the time was never right, and now, finally, it's happening!" The performance artist stopped to take a breath, and in that brief pause they heard what sounded like Rachael and Angie clattering up the stairs.

"Shhh! Don't tell!" Maureen cautioned. She pulled a bottle of nail polish out of the bag and began to talk normally, painting Mimi's fingernails in the hot pink. "So I saw this shade, and I knew it was totally you," she explained, "What d'you think?"

Mimi played along as the door opened and the two teenagers came inside. "I like it. Very girly."

"Hey Mo, hey Mom. How're you feeling?" Angie asked, approaching the two women.

"I'm doing great, hon, thanks. Best I've felt in a long time," Mimi replied. She waved her half-painted fingernails at Rachael, who grinned and waved back. "Maureen brought me a care package. Do you like it?"

"Interesting color choice," Rachael called over.

"Thank you," Maureen resumed her paint job, winking at Mimi.

"Make sure you let me borrow it, kay?" Angie said, "So I can paint Dad's nails while he's asleep."

They all started to laugh, when the door burst open and Joanne came running in.

"Pookie, what's wrong?" Maureen asked.

Joanne took a breath. "It's Mark and Anna. They've been in a car crash."

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A/N: -Evil laugh- Don't you love those cliffys? Review!