Marc closed his bedroom door and went to grab his phone. He dialed Mike's number. "Hey? They're all here."
"What?" Mike was confused.
"Laura, Mercy, Quinn and Marcy. They're all here. I guess Laura and Quinn stayed the night."
"I'll grab Puck and Mal. We'll be right over." Mike hung up.
Marc went to shower, stalling as much as possible. Then he went downstairs. He walked into the kitchen to see his mother finishing up. "Morning, Ma."
"I thought you slept through breakfast." Rose took her dishes to the dishwasher. "There's food left over so just make yourself a plate. I have to go."
He watched as she flitted out and took a seat at the table. He looked at the people there. Mally and Mickey were eating happily as Laura, Mercedes, Quinn and Marcy talked amongst themselves.
"Are you still in a mood or can we say good morning?" Marcy asked.
He narrowed his eyes.
"Mood it is." She rolled hers.
"Marc, what's wrong?" Mercedes had to know. "You've been acting weird."
"I'm fine." He bit off.
Laura rolled her eyes. "Men."
He glared at her.
Quinn pursed her lips. "So Marce, are we going to get to hang out with Pierre today?"
"If you want. He's never been to America before so I've taken him to a couple museums but I want him to experience the full American dream." Marcy finished eating and sipped her coffee.
"Take him to the mall." Laura suggested.
The girls giggled.
The front door opened and Mike, Puck and Mal walked in the kitchen.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" Mercedes was happy to see them.
Mike was tense as she brushed her lips against his and wrapped her arms around his middle. "We came to see you."
"That's nice." Quinn waved Puck over. "Are you hungry?"
Puck declined. Which set off several bells in the girls' heads.
Mal avoided Marcy as he kissed his children hello.
"Okay, what is your guys' deal? You've been wonky for two days. Is there a gas leak somewhere?" Marcy asked.
"Can we talk?" Mike looked down at Mercedes, who had been wondering why he didn't return her hug.
"Sure." She stammered.
He took her hand and led her to the stairs, where he sat down. She sat next to him. He looked at his hands. He didn't know how to start.
Unknown to them, the others had gathered nearby.
"Mikey, what's wrong?" She took his left hand in her own.
He looked at their entwined hands and took a deep breath. "Do I give you what you need?"
"Huh?"
"Am I not enough for you?" He went on.
"Of course you are. Where is this coming from?" She had a bad feeling about this.
"Who is Aaron?"
Her heart stopped. "What?"
"Who is Aaron?" He looked her in the eye.
"How- how do you know about him?"
"Do you love him?"
"No!" Panic had her rising.
"So you're cheating on me with some random guy?" He stood up, too.
"I- I- I'm not cheating on you!"
"Don't lie to me! I heard you say you liked him!"
She covered her mouth. "When?!"
"Does it matter?!"
"I don't know! I'm not doing anything with Aaron!"
"So he doesn't want you to be with him?!"
She choked on her words. "He's just a friend."
"You're going to stand there and lie to my face? I thought you were better than that." His eyes were cold.
"Wait!" Quinn stepped into view. "It's not her fault. It's mine."
"What'd you do? Besides cheat on me, I mean?" Puck walked into the foyer and crossed his arms.
"We haven't done anything." Quinn said straight off. "It was innocent."
"Innocent?!" He yelled. "You're playing me!"
Laura came from the doorway. "Maybe you should all just take a small breath and calm down?"
"Maybe you should be ashamed of yourself?" Marc mocked. "You pretend to be the pillar of morality but you're just like everyone else."
"Marc!" Marcy gaped.
"Like you're better with your pathological need to have sex with whoever's standing next to you!" Mal bit off.
"What are you talking about?!"
"No, that would be Laura who had sex with a stranger." Marc said cruelly.
Laura burned. "How did you find out?"
"Does it matter? You're supposed to be their older sister and all you're teaching them is how to be loose!"
Her eyes burned brightly. "You have a lot of nerve! You sleep with any woman dumb enough to let you trick her!"
"Got you, didn't I?"
"Bet you regret that." Puck bit off.
"Look, I'm sorry but Craig and I are just friends!" Quinn snapped.
"How many "friends" do you have?" Mal glared at Marcy. "Last count was four. Unless you're screwing another guy!"
"Bite me!" Marcy glared back. "I'm not your girlfriend so I don't owe you anything!"
"Why did I think anything would be different?! You're the same old Marcy, just thinking about herself!"
"Like you're some saint! I don't know who the hell you think you are but you are not my father and I don't owe you any explanations!"
"I think you do! I'm slaving over writing you notes every morning while you're messing around with three other guys!"
"Nobody asked you to! And I'm not messing around with anybody!"
"What about Sam?! Your own sister's boyfriend?! What kind of sister are you?!"
"Screw you!" She got in his face. "I'm not messing around with Sam! I'm not messing around with Dominic! My boyfriend is Pierre. Pierre! It's not you! It will never be you!" She stomped upstairs and slammed her bedroom door.
Mally climbed up the stairs after her as Mickey buried her face in Mal's legs and raised her arms.
Mal snatched her up and went out the front door, slamming it.
"That's clearly your fault." Marc looked to Laura.
"Why do you care what I do?! I'm not worth your time, remember?!" She shouted.
"They look up to you! You're setting a bad example and turning them into mini yous and I don't want that for my sisters!"
She slapped him. "Go to hell!" She went upstairs and slammed Marcy's door.
He cupped his jaw. "Whatever." He walked out and slammed the front door.
"I know you're mad but I swear I didn't do anything you don't do on a daily basis." Quinn caught the back of Puck's shirt.
"Oh so this is my fault?!" He yelled.
"Don't yell at me! You've done just as much to me as I've done to you so stop acting like a victim!"
"You know what?! play your games by your damn self!" He walked out, leaving the door open.
Quinn slammed it and stomped upstairs to Mercedes' room.
Mercedes chewed on her bottom lip. She didn't know what to do or say to get this to go away while Mike just stared at her like he'd never seen her before. "I'm sorry."
"For cheating on me or getting caught?" His voice was low.
"I didn't mean to."
"Then why did you?!"
She jumped and tears sprang into her eyes. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."
"We weren't supposed to be like everybody else. We were supposed to be honest with each other. We were supposed to be mature."
"He's just some guy!" She cried. "I don't care about him!"
"You don't care about me either."
She caught his hand as he turned. "Mikey!"
He ripped his hand from her. "Don't touch me. Leave me alone. Just leave me alone."
She cried as he left quietly. "Mikey!"
M&MC
"Are you going to see Pierre?" Quinn asked Marcy as she brushed Mercedes' hair gently.
Marcy breathed deeply. "I don't know. I don't know if I can keep my mouth shut and not ruin everything."
"Today could not have gone worse." Laura brushed Marcy's hair away from her face.
Mercedes just sniffled.
They were all in Mercedes' room, sitting on the floor wallowing in their despair. Mercedes was lying on her side with Quinn sitting behind her, brushing her hair. Marcy had Mally lying on her chest as she reclined on Laura. It was barely half an hour after their confrontation.
"Are you still going to see Johnny?" Marcy looked up into Laura's face.
"Yes. I have to. It's too much drama and it's not fair to him."
"I guess that means I should talk to Pierre. The worst he can do is break up with me."
Laura blinked. As much as she hated to admit it, Marc was right. Their sisters followed her blindly. "It's the right thing to do."
"Will you watch the kids or take Mally to Maddie? I'm sure that blockhead went home."
"Sure."
Marcy sat up. "I guess I should go now."
"Do you want one of us to go with you?" Quinn asked.
"Yes but I need to go alone."
They watched as she laid Mally on Mercedes' side and walked out.
Mally popped up but Quinn laid his head down again. "What do you want to do today, Merce?"
"Nothing." She whispered.
Laura laid on her other side and brushed her fingers across her face. "Everything's going to be okay. I promise."
Mercedes just wept quietly.
M&MC
Laura went to the front counter and ordered a chai latte then looked around the coffee shop. She'd changed the meeting from a real restaurant to this establishment because she was sure that when she finished speaking; Johnny wouldn't feel much like eating.
Her order was up and she took it to a seat when she spied him out of the corner of her eye. He was at a tall table, looking out the window forlornly. She went over to him. "Hello, Johnny."
He came to life. "Hi, Liz. How are you?"
"I'm fine." She sat down across from him. "How are you?"
"I'm good." They sat in silence for a while before he cleared his throat. "It's okay."
"Excuse me?" She started.
"It's okay." He repeated. "I know you have a boyfriend."
She gaped at him, wide-eyed. "I don't have a boyfriend, Johnny."
"You don't?" He was surprised. "Aaron and Craig said Vic and Que have boyfriends. I assumed you did, too."
"No. I never would have slept with you if I did. But..."
"But?" He was nervous.
"I just got out of a long-term relationship. A marriage actually."
His nerves drifted away as he tried to soothe her. "I'm sorry your marriage ended."
"It's not your fault. It shouldn't have happened in the first place. I was wrong."
"Weren't you in love?"
"Yes. But not with him." Tears pooled in her eyes.
He tentatively reached for her hand. "You don't have to tell me."
"I want to. You deserve the truth. I was in love with someone else but we couldn't seem to get together so I married my husband out of spite. It was a loveless marriage and I regret it deeply."
He listened sympathetically.
"We divorced recently and you are the first man I've been with since."
He didn't know how to ask without sounding like a douchebag. "Was it okay?"
"Yes! Oh yes. You weren't- It was very satisfactory!" She hurried to soothe his ego.
He chuckled at her frazzled words. "Good. I'd hate to be bad and make you give up on men."
She smiled. "No, you weren't bad. But I still shouldn't have let things go that far. I don't regret it but it shouldn't have happened. I'm still in love with that first person. We constantly fight but I still love him."
He took a deep breath. "I think I understand."
"Do you? Because I don't. How can I still want him after all these years?"
"How long were you married?"
"Four years."
"I think this is your chance to get back with that other guy. You owe it to yourself to try. If it doesn't work out, I'm here."
She squeezed his hand. "You are amazing. You know that?"
"I've never been in love before so I can only imagine how hard it is to not be with that person."
"How can I make this up to you?"
"Be happy."
M&MC
Mike stared up at his ceiling as he rested on his back on his bed with his limbs crossed. He sighed to himself as he thought about his life. He didn't know what to do. On one hand, he was incredibly mad. On the other, he was incredibly hurt. Now he knew how Artie felt all those years ago.
He thought and he thought hard. Did he ever do anything to deserve this? Did he screw up so badly he needed for this to happen? He hoped not. Maybe he messed up in a past life?
Or maybe there was no rhyme or reason to these things?
He thought about the past few weeks and wondered when she would have met this guy. Was it some place normal like the store or on the street? Or was there extraordinary circumstances? Did she go looking for someone else?
He'd been honest when he asked her if he was giving her what she needed. If he was enough for her. What if he wasn't? Was that why she did it? She was bored or felt their relationship was lacking? It tore him up to think these things but what was he supposed to think? Proof was in the pudding and it was quite clear he was coming up empty.
M&MC
Quinn broke character and made lunch. She really hated cooking but she wanted to make sure Mercedes ate something. She didn't go all out but she made a quick soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
She piled it on a tray with juice and washed fruit before taking it upstairs. She nearly tripped over a mournful Ozzie, who wanted to cheer up his owner. She pushed him out of the way with her foot and set the tray on the floor by Mercedes. "I made food."
Mercedes looked at her, her red rimmed eyes a dark bronze. "I'm not hungry."
"I know but you need to eat anyway. You don't want me to call Momma Rose, do you?"
Mercedes sniffed then sat up. "I deserve to starve."
"You deserve forgiveness."
Mercedes blinked a few times to clear her vision. Though she'd stopped actively crying, tears had stayed in her eyes. "I deserve to be alone."
Quinn wasn't about to argue with her when she was like this. "Just eat, Mercy."
Mercedes played with her soup before stuffing the spoon in her mouth. "Where's Laura? She's been gone a while."
"I can call her." Quinn picked up her phone and dialed her sister's number. "Hey. Where are you? Oh. Okay. Okay, just come on up. We're still in her room. I made us lunch. You might want to go get something."
Mercedes listened with half an ear as Quinn talked.
"Okay, we'll see you. Bye." Quinn hung up. "They're outside."
"Okay." Mercedes continued scooping soup into her mouth.
Quinn pouted. She was really depressed and it showed. "Do you want to watch a movie after this? We can get Marcy to make popcorn and we can sneak soda."
Mercedes' lips twitched. "So we can be in even more trouble?"
"Take a risk!"
"I took a risk. Now I'm out of a boyfriend."
"You don't know that."
"Yes, I do. He doesn't need this, me. Once he realizes just how much trouble I've caused him, he'll leave."
Quinn set her bowl aside and threw her arms around Mercedes. "I'm so sorry! If it wasn't for me insisting nothing was wrong, you would have stopped this a long time ago."
"I'm a grown woman; I knew it was wrong. I just wanted excuses for why it wasn't."
They were quiet until they heard the door open. Both turned to look and saw Marcy and Laura come in with trays. They sat down across from the eighteen year olds. "Hi."
"Hi." Quinn let Mercedes go.
Mercedes smiled wanly. "Hi."
"What'd you get?" Quinn picked her bowl back up.
"I just have crackers, cheeses and meats with grapes and I got juice." Marcy pointed to her tray.
"I got the leftovers from breakfast." Laura shrugged.
Mercedes lifted a brow. "Why?"
"I just felt like having maple."
"I was just telling Mercy that we should watch a movie after this." Quinn said. "What do you say?"
"A movie sounds good. Nothing dramatic though. We got enough of that here." Marcy bit into a piece of cheese.
"Agreed." Laura breathed deeply.
"How did your meetings go?" Mercedes asked.
"Do you want to go first?" Laura asked Marcy, who shook her head slowly.
"Did it go that badly?"
Marcy blinked. "Go, Laura."
Laura sighed. "It went pretty good. I told him about Robert and Marc."
"You did?!" The others leaned forward.
"Yeah. I said I used to love Marc and I married Robert instead. I told him I'm recently divorced. Then I told him I still loved Marc."
"You did?!" They repeated.
Laura nodded slowly. "I did."
"So what does this mean?" Quinn was thrown for a loop.
Marcy was reeling, too. "Yeah, are you going to go back to Marc?"
"How did Johnny take this?" Mercedes wanted to know.
They'd fired off the questions so fast, Laura's head spun. "He took it very well. He told me to go after Marc."
"Are you?!" They demanded.
"No."
They all made noises of discontentment.
"He called me a whore!"
"He did." Marcy grimaced.
"Can't get around that one." Quinn added.
"He was wrong for that." Mercedes said.
"I can't be with someone who does the things he does to me. I love him but I love me, too." Laura put a hand to her chest.
"I guess it's my turn to go?" Marcy sighed. "We talked. A lot. And there was a lot of silence."
"What'd you say?" Quinn wanted to know.
"I told him everything about Dominic. I left nothing out."
"Good." Laura said.
"But I didn't say anything about Jr...."
"Good." Quinn said this time.
"Not good!" Laura snapped. "Why didn't you say anything about Jr.?! You were so close!"
Marcy's lips thinned angrily. "I didn't know what to say! He already knows how I feel about Mal!"
"He does?!" The others gasped.
"He knows I'm mad at Mal. I told him we weren't even talking. He thinks we should make up for the sake of the twins but I said no. I don't want to make up with that dink."
"Marcy, I thought you told him how you feel about Mal? How you really feel?" Mercedes sighed.
"I did. I'm really mad. Did you hear what he said to me?!"
"He was just angry."
"Angry enough to elude to the conversation that pissed me off in the first place?! I'm already still sore about that phone call last year and he throws it back up in my face?! He must have meant what he said!"
They understood what was going on now. She was hurt over his words.
Quinn took her hand. "Hasn't he apologized over that?"
"No!" Marcy snatched her hand back.
"He hasn't apologized?!" Laura was outraged. "And he had the nerve to say that to you today?!"
"Thank you!"
"How dare he?!" Quinn snapped.
"Mal's like Marc; he says things he has no business saying when he's mad." Mercedes said.
"And that makes it okay?" Marcy had a chip on her shoulder about the situation.
"Of course not but did you mean it would never be him?"
"Yes. I will never date Mal." She was also stubborn.
"Marcy."
"What?! Like Laura said, I love me."
"She also said she loves Marc. Doesn't that mean you love Mal?"
"No. I don't even like him." She frowned down at her plate.
"That's okay." Laura rubbed her shoulder. She knew exactly how Marcy felt so she knew pushing her feelings out in the open was the wrong way to go. "The rest of us love him."
"Somebody needs to." She muttered.
"What did Pierre say about Dominic?" Quinn changed the subject.
"He said he forgave me. I didn't kiss him so he can find it in him to forgive me. He said he wanted me to be up front with Dominic and that we can go out after. He thinks we're still a good match."
"Do you?" Mercedes asked quietly when she didn't go on.
"I think he's too forgiving."
"Let's hope Mikey and Puck suffer from the same infliction."
M&MC
Marcy decided to meet Dominic at a park to talk. She sat on a bench near the entrance and waited for him. She had no idea what she was going to say but hoped she wouldn't make a worse mess.
It wasn't long before she felt someone approach her from behind. She turned around and saw it was Dominic. She turned back around and waited for him to clear the bench.
He sat down next to her. "Hi."
"Hey." She crossed her legs.
"You want to just be friends, don't you?"
She lifted her brows. "Excuse me?"
"My friends all got the "let's just be friends" speech from your sisters. It's my turn."
She looked down before making eye contact. "I have children."
"What?" He wasn't expecting that.
"Twins. They're a year and a half."
He gaped. "Oh. You probably don't want to date with kids."
"No! That's not it. I just thought I'd start with the big thing. In case you wanted to run."
"I wouldn't run from you." He slid closer.
She slid away. "But I do have a boyfriend. The truth is, it wouldn't have worked out between us because I'm going back to Italy soon. Where he is."
"I don't want to break up a happy family." He deflated.
"Pierre isn't the father of my children. That's someone different and we have a rocky relationship. We're not even talking at the moment."
"So it's complicated?"
"Very. I want to keep the drama away from my kids as much as possible. I may not be a good girlfriend but I'm determined to be a good mother."
"Your kids come first." He nodded. "So you don't want to be my friend?"
She smiled. "Only if you're cool with that."
He took her hand. "I'm very cool with that."
She squeezed his hand before letting go and standing up. "I have to meet Pierre but I'll call you."
He stood up, too. "Don't be a stranger."
"I won't."