Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Rent, only Jonathan Larson does.

So I finally got an idea for the sequel! YAY! Here, I present, Incomplete, the sequel to Out of Place. It is during Rent for the first couple of chapters, ten years after Bridget left in the original. She and Roger are now both 28; the other characters' ages, you can think up or figure out for yourself.

Chapter 1

The phone ringing jarred Mark out of his thoughts. He was going through his latest documentary, editing footage as he went, in order to send it to Buzzline for his Monday deadline. Roger groaned and opened his eyes, from where he was curled up on the couch with Mimi. He looked over at Mark.

"You gonna get that?" he asked, not moving.

Mark shrugged and turned off his projector. "Sure," he said, and he went over to the phone. "We screen…" he murmured to himself in a sing-song voice.

"Speak."

But then something greatly puzzled Mark. No voice mail. No message. But there was no beep, as the person hung up, either. Mark frowned slightly and picked up the phone. "Hello?" he asked, thinking someone was still there.

At first, there was no response. Then—

"Mark?" A quiet, gentle female's voice.

Mark turned around so he couldn't see the suspicious look Roger was giving him. "Who is this?" he asked.

The answer stunned him. "It's Bridget."

Mark's eyes widened. "What?" he asked, shocked. He frowned. "Come on, Maureen, this isn't funny."

"No, Mark, I'm serious. This is Bridget. I'm sorry I haven't called in so long, but—"

"'So long?'" Mark echoed, and he lowered his voice even more. "Bridget, it's been ten years. Do you have any idea how much has changed?"

"Well… no. But could we maybe meet somewhere and talk?" Bridget asked. "I'm back in town."

Mark shook his head, still trying to soak it all in. He couldn't believe Bridget was back, and that the love of her life was right behind him, oblivious to it all. "OK, well, where do you want to meet?" he asked.

"How about the Life Café?" Bridget asked. "I have to go to work there anyway. We could talk there. Let's have lunch or something. It's on me, OK?"

Mark sighed. "Well, um… OK. OK," he said, "lunch it is. I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes, OK?"

"OK," Bridget said, and she hung up. Mark hung up as well.

"Who was that on the phone?" Roger asked, looking over at him.

Mark whirled around. "I— um— nobody," he stammered.

Roger frowned at him. "Mark, don't lie to me," he said. "Who was that on the phone? Does Maureen need help with her equipment again?"

Mark shook his head. "No, it's not her, it's, um… I have to go, Roger," he stuttered. "I need to go for a walk. I'll be back later, OK?"

Roger shrugged. "OK. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," Mark said, and he grabbed his coat and walked toward the door. Sliding it open, he said, "I'll see you later, OK?"

"OK," Roger said, and he snuggled down closer to Mimi on the couch as Mark went out the door.

Mark made it to the Life Café in record time. He walked into the café and got a table and ordered a glass of water. Anything to calm him down. He didn't know why he was so rattled like this. He hadn't really gotten to know Bridget well when she was in Scarsdale, during their senior year of high school. But he remembered the day she left as though it were yesterday.

Mark knew Roger remembered, too. He knew Roger looked at pictures and films of him and Bridget, and that he had read the letter they'd found so much he had it memorized. Mimi didn't mind. Mimi knew Bridget had been a special girl in Roger's life, and that her leaving had brought on pain and grief. Roger hadn't known how to cope with it, so when he met a pretty redhead named April, and she showed him that heroin could numb his pain and make him forget all about Bridget, he hadn't hesitated to try it. Soon, he found that it was the only thing that could keep him from thinking of Bridget. Then April killed herself, following finding out she and Roger were both positive, and Roger hit rock bottom. Collins had come home from college and helped Mark to get Roger clean.

Not long after April died, he had met Mimi, and they had talked about Bridget sometimes. Their relationship was straightforward, mainly because they were both HIV-positive and didn't have to worry about one giving it to the other. Roger did, however, often struggle to get Mimi to clean up and become heroin-free. That was the only thing that sometimes strained their relationship.

Mark turned around as he heard a gentle tinkling noise, as the Life Café's door opened. He saw a tall young woman with long brown hair walk into the café and indicated to the hostess that she was meeting him there. He walked up to her and slowly took her in. She was thinner than the last time he had seen her, and she was taller, but besides that, it was the same old Bridget. Mark was speechless, so he simply opened his arms and she joined him in a friendly hug.

"Hi," he finally said, looking down at her. "Wow, Bridget, I… I don't know what to say. Does 'welcome back' even begin to cover it?"

Bridget smiled. "It works," she said. "How have you been, Mark?"

"I've been OK," Mark said. "No, I change my mind; 'OK' doesn't begin to cover it."

Bridget looked at him. "What do you mean?" she asked him.

"I mean… well, Bridget, there's a lot that has gone on here, and back home at Scarsdale, since you left," Mark said hesitantly.

Bridget's face fell. "Like what?" she asked.

"Like… look, do you really want to hear it all here?" Mark asked her. "We could go somewhere else more… private… after you're done with work here, to talk about it?"

Bridget shrugged. "If you want to," she said.

Mark nodded. "I do," he said. "I don't want to keep you from your job."

"OK, we'll meet up somewhere later. Do you have a place in mind?"

"Well, how about Tompkins Square Park?" Mark asked. "It's quiet and away from the loft. It's like its own little world inside the city. It's a good place to go, especially if you're new in town."

"OK," Bridget said, smiling, and she went back to work after they had a short lunch.

"So, um, how has Roger been since I left?" Bridget asked Mark, as they sat across from each other on the grass at Tompkins Square Park after she got off work for the day.

"Well…" Mark began. "It's complicated, Bridget."

"How's it complicated?" Bridget asked.

"I don't know how much about Roger, from when you left, he would want you to know yet," Mark said. "I mean, before he even knows you're back?"

"Well, OK," Bridget said, "what can you tell me about him— or anyone else— that's happened since I left?"

"Well, Collins is gay," Mark began, and he searched her face for any sign of judgment, but there was none.

Bridget nodded. "OK," she said, "and is he happy?"

"Yeah, he's great," Mark said. "He came out right after he graduated. He didn't want his parents to know until then, in case something bad would happen once they found out. But to his surprise, they're very accepting of it, so he's much happier."

"That's good."

Mark felt suddenly uncomfortable. "But like I said, you really should talk to Roger, and soon, OK?"

"OK, I will, soon," Bridget said, putting her hand on Mark's. "Calm down, Mark, it's OK. So what about Maureen and Cat? What's going on with them?"

"Cat's gone," Mark said. "She and Benny… well, they had a massive fight once you left… It was really bad. Benny was so pissed that Cat had kept something like that from him, you and the baby and you leaving… he broke up with her after calling her really nasty names and threatening her a lot, and she moved to Tampa. We've only heard from Cat a couple times since then. About two years ago, Benny met a rich girl named Alison Grey and married her for her money."

"Oh no," Bridget said, her hand flying up to her mouth. "Was that my fault?"

"No," Mark said, "not really, anyway. They had been getting tired of each other after a while. It wasn't just you that caused their break-up."

"OK," Bridget said, "so what about Maureen?"

"Maureen?" Mark said. "Oh boy, well… first off, she's still as much of a drama queen as she was ten years ago, only now she puts it into protests against Benny, for taking away her performance space to build flats and recording studios."

Bridget grinned. "That sounds just like Maureen," she said, laughing.

"And she left me for a lesbian."

Bridget's mouth fell open. "What?"

Mark smiled grimly. "She did. Her name is Joanne. She's a lawyer."

Bridget nodded sadly. "I see," she said. "Well, that's… I'm sorry, Mark."

Mark shrugged. "It's OK, I'm over it," he said. "Oh, hey, you should know…"

"What?" Bridget asked.

"Remember Mimi, that little girl you said you used to baby-sit when you were down in Mexico?" Mark asked her.

"Yeah— how'd you find out about Mimi?" Bridget asked.

"Roger told me everything after you left," Mark said, looking down at her. "I hope you don't mind."

"No, it's OK," Bridget said. "What about her?"

"Well, Roger told me you still remembered her last name," Mark said. "And believe it or not… she's here in the East Village."

Bridget's eyebrows rose. "What? No way. Seriously?" she asked excitedly.

"Seriously," Mark said. "You can meet her, um, again, if you want. I can get Mimi and Collins and Maureen and we can get together at the Life Café or something. Oh, and you should meet Angel."

"Who is she?" Bridget asked.

"Well, she is technically a 'he'," Mark answered. "Angel is a cross-dresser, a transvestite."

"Oh, OK," Bridget said. "What's she like?"

"Well, she's… flawless," Mark said, after searching for a moment for the right word, and he smiled serenely. "She's not afraid to live life for today and she doesn't let her HIV get her down. She's Collins' lover, too."

Bridget smiled. "I'm glad he finally found someone," she said.

"So are we," Mark said. "But I suppose we should get going, huh? I'll call you in the next couple of days, and we can get together at the café, OK? That'll give you some more time to settle in."

"OK," Bridget said. "But I don't have much to settle into, Mark. It's just a two-bedroom flat down on Avenue A and Eleventh."

"Really?" Mark asked. "That's only a block away from us. And all this time, we didn't know you were here?"

Bridget smiled grimly as they stood up. "Well, it has been tough to come back," Bridget said. "I looked you guys up, since I knew Roger had always wanted to come here and hazard a guess at rock stardom. But with all that happened… well, it took me a while to even sum up the courage to call."

"I'm glad you did," Mark said, putting his arm around her. "Well, come on, you've got people to meet and ghosts to face."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Bridget said, and she hugged him before they left.

OK, so I decided to quit with all the line and italic stuff for my author notes, because that gets to be too annoying to have to do over and over again... therefore, it's gone, and now I use this. The next chapter will be up ASAP. Bridget will meet Mimi and Angel (yes, she's around, at least for a while; are you amazed that I am actually writing a partly-AU story? LOL), and after seeing Collins again, Bridget will finally get to see Roger for the first time in ten years. Please tune in to see what I have planned next. Chapter 2 will be up ASAP, possibly not for a couple of weeks, though, since I'm leaving tomorrow for two weeks.

Until next time, lots of love,

Renthead07