I woke Mary up at around 10:30 the next morning to give her her medicine.
"You feel any better?"
"A little."
"That's good."
"I guess."
"AJ's coming home today."
"Why?"
"You. We called him and told him you were sick."
"Why did you do that? He's busy!"
"Calm down. The only reason he was coming back tomorrow was because Teen People was interviewing him this morning and then he was gonna go shopping. The interview was done faster than he thought and he already did most of his shopping on Saturday. He'll be home tonight."
She still didn't look pleased after my explanation and I gave her a look.
"You don't want him here?"
"I do, but I didn't want him to come back because of me."
"He's not. He doesn't have a reason to stay up there. So he's coming home. You're only part of the reason."
She sighed.
"So you gonna sleep or you wanna come back out to the land of the living?"
"I don't want Christina getting sick-"
"Christina's not here. She went with Leighanne to a meeting with her agent, then they're gonna go to lunch. There'll be plenty of time for me to decontaminate the living room."
"Alright. I'll be out there in a minute."
"Alrighty." I went on out to the kitchen and put the medicine in the fridge. Mary came out a second later, her hair brushed and pulled back. She was wearing her favorite bathrobe, a long, crimson silk one with a dragon on the back. Kevin had bought it in Japan a couple years back.
She frowned and touched her forehead lightly.
"You okay?"
"Headache. I'll live."
"Alright." I watched her as she walked into the kitchen.
"Are you hungry?"
"Yes and no," she said, grimacing slightly. "The thought of food repulses me for some reason, but my stomach is growling."
"How 'bout some orange juice?"
She nodded. "Sure."
As I pulled the jug from the fridge, I remembered what I'd said last night and the sad feeling passed through me again. I sighed and poured two glasses of juice, one for me, one for her. As I handed her her glass, I heard the TV from the livingroom.
"You think you know, but you have no idea. This is the diary of Mary Richardson."
Frowning, Mary walked into the livingroom. I followed her.
"Why are they showing this?"
"It's only a few months old. We can change it if you want," I said, reaching for the remote. She shook her head.
"No, leave it."
"Alright." I set the remote on the coffee table and sat down beside her on the couch.
The commercials finally finished and Mary's diary came back on. They had filmed her from December of last year to April of this year.
We watched all of us celebrating Christina's fifth birthday. Mary at MTV's New Year's bash. Various publicity and charity stuff in January. Rehearsals for the Grammys in February.
She had Christina with her that day in the studio and the camera focused on Christina, singing into a water bottle and dancing.
It cut to Mary in that confessional-Real World-type thing.
"I love my daughter so much. There just aren't any words to describe it, or her, she's such a sweet little miracle to me and Kevin. I don't think any little girl could be loved more."
It cut back to a shot of Mary and Christina playing around in the studio.
I smiled slightly and glanced over at Mary. She was smiling, her eyes shining.
Back on the TV, it cut to the night of the Grammys. All of us were backstage, Mary getting ready to perform and Kevin preparing to introduce her. Kevin and me came into view.
"Now you see," Kevin began, "this is how a true veteran acts. Notice how she can hook up her mic, have three different people all around her, and still manage to argue with Nick. There'a pro, right there."
"Superstar... no, megastar about to perform here," I said into the camera as Mary walked up.
"What're you two goofballs doin'? Stealin' my diary time?"
"Of course not, baby," Kev said, smiling.
"Nope. We would never do that."
She just gave me a look, her mouth betraying a hint of a smile.
"Okay, I gotta go get set up. I'll see you guys later." She smiled and kissed Kevin.
"Love you."
"Love you, too."
Back to the diary confessional.
"I think that Kevin and I are extremely lucky to have the relationship we do. It's so hard for people in this business to stay together, much less stay married. We really don't worry about a long distance relationship because we both have enough... control over our schedules and most of our breaks are at the same time. Or when I'm tour, he usually isn't, so he'll visit me often on the road. He'll sometimes bring Christina, and I do the same for him. We have an incredibly special relationship... he was my friend, my best friend, long before we even started dating. And he still is. I couldn't ask for a better relationship with a better man."
The next shot showed Mary winning her third Grammy. As she stood, she and Kevin shared a long, sweet kiss.
I smiled slightly, feeling a tear in my eye. I looked over at Mary. Her eyes were teary, too. She looked at me and a tear fell.
"I miss him," she whispered. I nodded.
"Me, too." Then I hugged her, as tight as I could. I didn't care if she was sick. We should've done exactly this days ago. I don't think we'd really done this like we should've. We hadn't even been together when I'd found out. My mom had told me before Mary had and I wondered what was worse, to hear it from my mom or to hear it from Mary. I decided they were equally bad.
After a while, we tired of watching MTV, and changed the channel, but nothing was on, as usual.
"When's AJ coming home?" Mary asked.
"AJ's comin' home now."
We both turned to face the door and saw AJ struggling with his suitcase and backpack.
Mary jumped up, suddenly full of energy, and threw her arms around him.
He laughed and hugged her back. "Man, I should go away more often, just to get this reaction when I come back."
Mary grinned at him.
"How you feelin'?" he asked as he heaved his suitcase on the couch. I bounced a little.
"Kinda crappy. But better than before."
"Good, good." He slapped me on the back. "How goes it, Rok?"
"Peachy keen, jelly bean." I grinned up at him and he stared back at me.
"You're strange," he finally said.
"Thanks."
"How come you're home so early? Brian said you wouldn't be here 'til tonight."
"Well, I got up at the cracka dawn to do the photo shoot and interview for Teen People. The shoot went fine, but the freaks decided to postpone the interview." He sighed. "So I told 'em that when they decide they need me, they can haul their asses down here."
I laughed and helped AJ haul his stuff to his room.
"Where's Christina?"
"With Leighanne."
He nodded. "Babygirl, shouldn't you go back to bed?" His gaze rested on Mary and I turned towards her. She looked tired. I guessed the sudden burst of energy she'd gotten when AJ'd come home had been her energy for the day and she almost looked exhausted. But she shook her head.
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not. C'mon, back to bed." AJ walked past me and gently pushed Mary into her room.
I watched as he took her robe from her and tossed it on the foot of the bed. Mary got in bed and AJ pulled the covers over her.
"You need anything?"
"No, I'm cool."
"Alright. I'll check on you later, okay?"
She nodded, smiling as he kissed her forehead. He closed the blinds, making drastically darker. Then he came into the hallway, closing the door quietly behind him.
We hung around in the livingroom, talking, until Leigh and Christina came home.
Christina was so happy to see AJ that she lept into his lap, throwing her arms around his neck. He laughed and squeezed her tightly, kissing her cheek.
"Hey, baby."
"You're home!"
"Yes, ma'am, I am." He smiled at her and gave her another squeeze.
"Where's mommy?" she asked, her expression suddenly becoming serious.
"She's sleeping."
"Is she better?"
"Not yet. But she will be soon. Promise."
She shook her head, her eyes wide. "Don't say that."
AJ frowned. "Don't say what?"
"Promise."
"Why not?"
"Because. Daddy promised he was coming home, and he didn't. If you promise that mommy's gonna get better, she won't."
AJ exchanged a glance with me and I looked up at Leighanne. Her eyebrows were raised slightly, but other than that, her face was expressionless.
"Okay. I won't promise."
"Good."
Silence hung over the livingroom for a moment until I cleared my throat and stood up.
"Well, since you're home, I think Leigh and I will go back to our house."
AJ nodded. "Alright. Thanks for stayin' with her."
I just shrugged my shoulders. "Her meds are in the fridge."
He nodded. "Thanks."
AJ
After Leigh and Brian left, I looked at Christina.
"What do you wanna do now?"
"I wanna see mommy."
I thought about it for a minute. "Well, she's sleeping right now... I'll tell you what, when she's awake, I'll take you back there and you can say hi and all that good stuff, okay?"
She nodded vigorously, her eyes bright. "Okay!"
I laughed and gave her another hug.