AN: Chapter 7? DONE! Here's the finished product. Again, this is dedicated to Ashura77, who, once again, has inspired me to finish up my chapter and get it done.
I hope you all enjoy this one, it took me a while to finish, but i'm pretty happy with it. Basically, i'm asking you to read and REVIEW!

Thanks,
-FortheloveofWrestling


Mark turned on his side to look at the clock that was sitting on the bed side table.

3:00a.m.

He closed his eyes, hoping that sleep would instantly take over, but after a few minutes had passed and it hadn't taken over, he opened them again.

3:07a.m. Mark sighed.

...again? What in the world did he mean by 'again'? Not once have I ever left that kid. I've always been by his side, no matter what. Not when he had his problems before and not now. Even if he had agreed to stay with Adam, I wasn't going to just drop him off and never look back. We just wouldn't be around each other all the time. 'Again'? Mark had to chuckle to himself. I've never left him.

... except when I left him to be with my family. But I was never leaving him, I was just leaving. I always came back to him.

Mark chuckled again, this time thinking how he'd gotten himself into such a mess. Mark did leave him. He left him all the time back then.

He turned on his side to face Jeff, who was buried underneath a mountain of blankets. A small smile crept on Mark's face when Jeff began stirring at the loose strand of hair that had fallen into his face. The more he watched Jeff sleep, the more he wanted to join him and just lay with him, like he had so many times before. With a sigh, though, he turned on his back and let his eyes close once again, hoping for sleep, if only to get his mind off of Jeff for the time being.

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A few hours later, Mark awoke to the sounding alarm clock. He looked at the time, he'd only been asleep a couple of hours. He let his mind and body rest for a second and then turned to look at Jeff, who was still sound asleep.

"Jeff." Mark called, "Get up."

When he heard no response, he got up and gently shook Jeff's shoulder, "wake up."

"Hm? What?" he heard Jeff mumble.

"Come on, babe. You're going to miss your flight." Mark said, as he sat on the edge of the bed.

He heard Jeff yawn, "it's okay. I'll catch another."

"No, come on. Matt's going to be pissed if you're not there on time." Mark laughed.

"That's what he gets for sticking me with a babysitter."

"Well, the faster you get up the faster you can get rid of me."

"Just a little longer, please?" Jeff said, turning to look at Mark, with a small pout on his lips.

Mark laughed again, "fine. You sleep and i'll get your stuff together for you."

"No, you don't have to do that, Mark." Jeff said, sitting up quickly.

Mark thought for a second, "Why not? Do you have something you don't want me to know about?"

"No, I, uh... actually, you're right. Don't worry about it, i'll get my stuff together in a minute. Thanks though."

Mark quickly thought why that would make Jeff want to get up and the worst reason came to mind. He nodded with a sigh and got up to walk into the bathroom.

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"Mark?" Jeff said, knocking on the bathroom door. "You okay?"

Mark turned his head to the door, "yeah, i'll be out in a second."

He washed and dried his face and then walked out into the bedroom.

"Are you okay? You were in there for like 15 minutes." Jeff asked.

Mark looked at Jeff, "I didn't get much sleep last night, I guess i'm just a little out of it."

"Oh, well, go back to bed," Jeff said, feeling a little relieved, "i'll wake you up before I have to leave."

Mark nodded again and watched Jeff slip into the bathroom and start the shower. He contemplated looking through Jeff's bags, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. If his suspicion turned out to be true, then he wouldn't know how he would react and if he was wrong, then he'd be going through Jeff's stuff for no reason. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if he was caught, it'd destroy the thread that they were barely holding on by.

In the bathroom, Jeff stepped under the stream of water and relaxed, until his mind started to wander off to Mark in the next room.

No, he wouldn't go through my stuff.

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"Alright. I'll call you when I get home, okay?" Jeff said and Mark nodded.

"And if you need me any other time. I was going to give you a big lecture, but lectures never seem to work with you. Just stay out of trouble, okay?" Mark said.

Jeff smiled, "don't I always?"

Mark laughed, the first time all morning. "I'm being serious, kid."

"I know, Mark. I will, I promise. I'm not going to let you down." Jeff said, walking over to Mark.

"So you were clear on the no kissing thing, but how about hugs?" Jeff asked, shuffling his feet, embarrassed to be asking.

Mark smiled, "come here, kid." Mark wrapped his arms around Jeff and Jeff did the same.

"Please, just don't do anything stupid, Jeff. If you need me, call me, anytime. No matter what. Got it?"

"Yeah." Jeff nodded.

"Okay," Mark said, "you better get going, Matt's probably waiting for you."

"Yeah." Jeff said, walking to the door. "Bye, Mark."

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The whole two days that they had off, Mark spent wondering and worrying about Jeff. He had called when they got home, like he said he would and he even called twice after that, just to see how Mark was. Mark was glad to hear from Jeff, especially after a few minutes of talking and he couldn't sense that there was any problems or that maybe Jeff was high. But after talking for a while, Mark would say something that set Jeff off. That was the one thing that was worrying him about their conversations. One minute Jeff would be fine and the next he was upset about something and becoming angry with Mark. In both calls, Jeff acted that way.

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Although Mark was worried why Jeff acted so strangely over the phone, he hoped that he'd be in a better mood now. Mark thought that maybe he was angry because he thought he had gone through his stuff that morning. If it went through his mind, then it certainly went through Jeff's mind.

"Hey kid."

"Hey." Jeff said, tucking his iPod into his pocket.

"How are you?" Mark asked.

"Not good." Jeff said.

"Why's that? What's up?"

"Don't fucking worry about it, Mark. Can we go to the hotel now?"

Mark looked at Jeff with concern, "yeah, come on. Let's go."

When they arrived to their room, Jeff shot through the door and went straight for the bathroom where he lost what little lunch he had. Mark put Jeff's bags down and went over to him.

"You weren't kidding, were you?" he said, taking a seat on the edge of the bathtub and placed his hand on Jeff's shoulder, rubbing it gently.

"My stomach feels like it's on fire." Jeff said, trying to gather himself.

"Here. Take it easy." Mark said, helping Jeff sit where he was sitting. "Here." he said, handing him a bottle of water.

"Thanks." Jeff said, trying to stand up and walk out of the bathroom.

"Can you make it? Let me help you."

"Yes, Mark. I can. Fuck, get the hell off of me. I'm not a child, I don't need you to hold my hand all the damn time." Jeff snapped.

Mark paused for a moment, having to tell himself that Jeff was just reacting to what his body was doing to him.

"Fine." Mark grabbed his jacket from the table and put it on.

"Are you leaving?" Jeff asked, already feeling bad for snapping at Mark.

"Yeah. You don't need me here." Mark said, turning back to take a quick look at Jeff before walking out the door.

"Bye." Jeff said as the door closed.

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Down at the hotel bar, Mark sat at the bar with Paul, Show and Adam, but Mark couldn't help but think about Jeff the whole time. Every few minutes he would check his phone to make sure Jeff hadn't tried to reach him. After chuckling to himself, Adam asked if maybe Mark had another group of guys waiting for him somewhere else. Everyone laughed and Mark simply shrugged away the comment. After about an hour and a half of drinking and regular bar talk, Hunter asked how Jeff was doing.

"He's been doing okay, but I think it's finally catching up to him. He's finally getting the shit out of his system. When we got here at the hotel, he started getting sick." Mark took a drink of his beer while the other three men stared at him.

"He's sick and you're here?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, I tried to help him a little, but he blew up about me holding his hand all the time so I figured he needed some space."

Adam laughed, "You know, for you being you and him being him, I can't believe you left him up there by himself."

Show nodded in agreement, "He's right, I thought for sure that when this did happen to him, you'd be right there to make sure he got through it and didn't do anything stupid."

"Hey! He's the one who wanted be out of his hair, so I gave in this once. After tonight, i'm going to go right back to being on his case about every little thing he does. It's one night, give me a break. Jeff didn't mind me leaving anyway."

"He said that?" Adam asked.

"No, but he told me to back off and didn't say anything when I left." Mark answered, trying to defend himself.

"And since when do you ever listen to what anyone says." Show asked.

"Back off, guys. Now I know how Jeff feels."

Adam shook his head and looked at Mark, "If you don't feel bad or anything, why do you keep checking your phone for him? It's probably because you're conscience is getting to you for leaving Jeff when he probably really needs you. Why would you just leave him? I thought you were better than that Mark."

Both Paul's laughed when Mark hesitated on what to say.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you're trying to get rid of me, Adam. And trying to make me feel bad for trying to get a while to myself. I spend all my time worrying about Jeff. What do you want me to do, Adam? I can't be with him 24/7. I'm doing the best that I can. What more do you want?" Mark asked, letting himself get a little more angry than he wanted to, and aiming it at Adam, who wasn't the one he was mad at.

Adam sat quiet, the other men staring at him, he wanted to say something, but feeling a little cornered by the Deadman, Adam stood up.

"I'm going to check on Jeff and then call it a night, guys." Adam said, not looking up to meet anyone's gaze.

Mark stayed seated as Adam walked out of the bar, Paul and Show both sat quiet as well.

Finally, Mark took a last drink of his beer and left the table.

Mark met Adam at the elevators, Adam stood waiting with his back to Mark.

"Adam," Mark said, reaching for his elbow to turn him towards him.

"Let go of me, Mark." Adam said, pulling his arm away.

"Look Adam, I'm sorry for snapping like that." Mark said, walking in front of Adam's view.

"Yeah, it's cool. Whatever." Adam said, thankful for the elevator doors opening.

Mark stepped in after Adam, "Come on, Adam. Don't 'whatever' me, i'm trying to apologize to you."

"It's fine, Mark. Really."

"You were right." Mark said.

"What?"

"About my conscience, you were right." Mark clarified, "I do feel bad for leaving him alone."

"Then why did you?" Adam asked as they stepped out of the elevator.

"I don't know. When he told me that he didn't need me to help him or anything, I guess maybe I took it a little personally."

"You know he didn't mean it. He's going through this and you know how he gets."

Mark nodded, "I know that. When he said it, I knew it, I just..."

Adam turned to Mark when he couldn't finish his sentence, "It hurts to hear someone you care about say things like that."

Mark smirked, "yeah, I think that's it."

"He needs you, so just be there for him. I know you're doing everything you can, we all know you're doing a lot by helping him like this. I know it's hard to see him like this and to have to be the fall-guy, so when he's better, he'll see it. For now you just have to be there for him, no matter what."

Mark nodded as he stopped in front of his room door and opened it.

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"Hey Jeff." Adam said, walking in and seeing Jeff on the couch.

"Hey! What's going on, Adam?" Jeff said, carefully getting up from the couch.

"Heard you weren't feeling too hot, how are you?" he asked, letting Jeff take a seat again.

Jeff flashed a quick scowl at Mark, who was leaning against the wall, looking down, but knowing Jeff was burning a hole through him.

"Nah, i'm doing great. What happens when you eat airline food." he joked.

Adam looked at Mark, "Well hopefully you can get over it pretty soon. I don't you claiming to be all sick or anything when I take that title away from you."

Jeff smiled, "You can try, but it's useless."

Adam laughed and stood up, "Alright, just wanted to swing by and say hi. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Adam walked towards the door with Mark right behind him. They walked out and Mark closed the door behind him slightly.

"So, am I forgiven?" Mark asked, a small pout on his face.

Adam laughed, "yes, you are."

"Really, Adam, I am sorry for talking to you like that."

"Forget about it." he said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Mark nodded and gave Adam a small hug.

"'Night." They both said.

Mark walked back into the room and found Jeff walking out of the bathroom.

"You okay?" Mark asked.

Jeff nodded.

"Are you mad at me again?"

"Why? Because you leave me here while i'm puking my guts out, then I learn it's because you're off telling everyone that i'm puking my guts out?" Jeff said, climbing into his bed.

"I'm sorry for leaving you. I just got a little upset because of wha..." Mark stopped and sighed.

"What? Upset at me? You're the one who fucking bailed on me." Jeff said, ready to jump all over Mark.

Mark shook his head, "No, It's just...I'm sorry, that's all."

Mark stood at the toe of his bed before speaking again.

"You know, first you hated me and didn't want anything to do with me, then we decided to be in this situation where half the time you hate me and the other half you're trying to fool around with me. Part of that is my fault though, I just can't seem to get over you as easily as you got over me. The fooling around part is probably just you trying to get something out of all this; I get it now, it's not genuine between us anymore. And for whatever reasons, Jeff, I know you don't really want me around and on your back about things, I'm sure part of the anger is kind of out of your control, but that's why i'm here, Jeff. You probably think that you can get through everything on your own and you're just putting up with me for Matt's sake, and that's fine. The point is that we're here together and i'm here so I can help you through this, so let's try to make it work. Okay?" Mark paused, thinking and hoping that maybe Jeff would have something to say, but when he didn't, he just continued.

"And this weekend, when you called me, I was worried that maybe something was wrong, but when you didn't say anything, I was happy that you felt comfortable to just call me because you wanted to. Then you got angry with me and upset about something for, to me, was no reason. I'm not sure what you were upset about, but if it had anything to do with you thinking I went through your stuff a couple of days ago, I want you to know that I didn't. I thought about it, but I didn't."

Jeff just looked at Mark. He wasn't quite sure what to say. He knew parts of what Mark said were wrong. He liked having Mark around and it was all the other stuff that was happening that maybe made it seem like he didn't. Other parts that Mark said were very true though, sometimes he did hate Mark. It wasn't for the reasons Mark was talking about though, it was for the reasons he couldn't bring himself to tell Mark about. He wanted to tell Mark why he reacted the way he did about his stuff that morning, but he couldn't. He didn't want to see that disappointed look on Mark's face. As much as he both loved and hated Mark, he never wanted Mark to be disappointed in him.

Mark waited for some type of response, but he never got one. Jeff just gave a small nod and laid back down, his back turned towards Mark.

Mark sighed, "alright, well, i'm going to take a quick shower, i'll leave the door unlocked in case you..." Mark paused as he grabbed his stuff from his bed, "I'll leave it unlocked."

When Jeff heard the bathroom door close, he turned around and smiled slightly. Eventually he'd have to tell Mark the truth. He didn't want to continue lying to him knowing how much Mark still cared about him.


Well, what do you think? REVIEW and let me know! Ch. 8 coming... soon. Hopefully?