Thank you so much for the reviews and story favourites/alerts on the prologue everyone, they made me happy :)

Ok, here's chapter one, hope you all like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own a thing.

Chapter One

Mimi sat on the couch opposite Collins and Mark, clutching a mug of coffee. She had stopped crying, but she seemed to be in shock.

Mark had been shocked too, but he had calmed himself down to concentrate on Mimi. Helping her was better than thinking about how Roger could've betrayed them like this.

Collins was simply angry. As angry as Mark had ever seen him. It was a deep, simmering anger – it would've been less scary if he'd shouted.

He was hiding it now, for Mimi's sake, but Mark knew Collins. He could see the anger in the clenched fists, the tensed shoulders, the dark flashing of his normally warm brown eyes. When he was angry, they turned black, like obsidian, and he turned from a beaming, friendly giant to the most terrifying man Mark had ever met.

The only other time Mark had seen Collins get this angry was a time when Roger was going through withdrawal, and Collins had come home to find Roger beating the shit out of Mark so he could get out for his hit.

Collins had yanked Roger off the filmmaker and damn near threw him across the room, and Mark would never forget the livid expression on the anarchist's face. It reminded him never to get on Collins's bad side.

"Mimi," Collins spoke gently into the silence, jolting Mark back to the present. "Do you want to talk about what happened? Then maybe we can help."

There was silence for a moment as Mimi stared morosely into her coffee. Then – "I got back early from a shift at the Life. When I went into the apartment, I was about to call out to him, but something – something stopped me. Something felt…wrong. I went into our room…."

She trailed off as her big eyes – Bambi eyes, Roger called them – filled with tears. A jolt of anger shot through Mark, surprising him. Until now he had only felt shock, sadness, disappointment. But now he realised that a part of him was angry. Why did Roger have to spoil everything?

Their lives had been going so well in the year since Mimi's incredible Christmas Eve recovery. Roger had moved in with Mimi, and she had finally gotten through withdrawal and stopped smack. She'd been clean for months now, and had quit her job at the club in favour of a waitressing job at the Life Café.

Collins had got a job at NYU, so he was living in the loft with Mark, and he finally seemed to be recovering from Angel's death.

Maureen and Joanne had got engaged – again – and this time had got through it without breaking up. The ATM machine still hadn't been fixed, so they all had as much money as they needed.

Everyone was healthy. Everyone was perfect. Until now. Now there was another obstacle for their family to overcome.

"I kinda guessed something was up." Mimi started again. "He'd been acting strange – sorta secretive."

Mark nodded; he'd noticed it too. "I was close to just coming out and asking him what was going on. I never thought he'd be…. I never thought…" She stopped, composed herself.

"When I walked in, he looked guilty and sad for like a second, then he just looked…defensive. Like he wasn't doing anything wrong. He didn't even try to explain or apologise, like – like my Roger would. He just started screaming at me. He was unrecognisable. It was horrible." She shuddered at the memory.

Mark was nodding again. The junkie Roger on smack and their Roger were two completely different people.

"What happened then?" coaxed Collins. He was starting to sound like Paul, the leader of Life Support.

"I ran. I ran to the park, and that was when I called Mark. I don't know where Roger is. He's not in the apartment."

Silent tears were now streaming down her face, but she didn't appear to notice. Mark and Collins looked at each other, and then Collins seemed to come to a decision.

"Okay, Mimi. You don't have to talk about it anymore now. You'll stay with us while we sort this out. You can sleep in my room. I would go now," he added, "you've had a hard day. Go get some sleep."

Mimi nodded listlessly and trailed into Collins's room, still clutching her mug. Collins turned to Mark when she had shut the door, and the filmmaker started. The kind, gentle expression was gone, and a cold, hard mask was in its place. "And we," Collins said, "are going to find Roger."

Please review and constructively criticise! Thank you! And Merry Christmas!

xxx