Chapter 1 Something's Different...

(A/N Just a small author's note: this takes place around season 6, but Mark's gothic phase never happens.)

Taylor House Detroit, Michigan

Tim and Jill Taylor are home from work. Tim is working in the garage, while Jill has started to cook dinner. As always, Tim is making sure he has enough work to do to be able to avoid smelling his wife's horrible cooking for as long as possible, until he is forced to eat it. Their three sons went to see a movie after school. But that was over three hours ago.

'Hey, Tim?' Jill calls out to the garage.

'Yeah?'

'Have you heard from the boys? They were supposed to be here half an hour ago.'

'Well, honey, they were probably on their way over here, but then they smelled your cooking and ran.' Tim jokes, now standing in the kitchen with a goofy grin on his face. Jill gives him a look and then throws a towel at him. 'I'm sure they'll be here soon.'

The moment he says that, the doorbell rings. He looks confused.

'That's probably them. Maybe they forgot their key.' He walks to the door and opens it. He looks surprised as he greets his mother.

'Hi, honey!'

'Uh, hi mom. What are you doing here?'

'Well, it's nice to see you too, Tim.' She walks in as Tim grabs her bags with confusion. She greets Jill with a warm hug and takes off her coat.

'Wow, you brought a lot of bags.. You didn't tell us you were coming.'

'What, can't a mother come and visit her son without calling first?'

'Mom, that's not what I mean. We just weren't expecting you.'

'I know. I could always stay at a hotel.' Jill gives Tim another look as Lucille Taylor sits down on one of the kitchen stools. Tim sighs.

'No, mom. It's fine. You can stay here.'

'Thank you, dear.' She smiles warmly. 'Where are the boys?'

'They went to see a movie after school. They should have been back by now, but they'll be here soon.' Jill answers, while she makes a nasty face as she tastes her own made pasta.

Meanwhile with the three Taylor boys at the movie theater...

'Come on, Mark. We're late as it is, would you hurry up in there?' Brad asks his youngest brother through the bathroom door.

'I can't believe how long that movie was.' Randy says as he leans against the wall.

'yeah, definitely. We are so late, mom is going to kill us.'

'She was going to do that anyway. She's cooking pasta tonight.' Brad grins at his younger brother. They discuss the movie, when they hear a scream coming from the bathroom.

'That was Mark!' They rush inside and their eyes go wide in shock when they see their younger brother staring into the mirror in shock with bright pink hair.

After their initial stage of shock wares off, both brothers start to laugh as they carefully step towards Mark.

'What the hell did you do?' Brad asks him through laughter.

'Or better: who did this to you? This is one hell of a prank..'

'It's not funny, guys. I didn't do this. One minute I had brown hair and the next I look into the mirror and my hair is pink. Of all colors it's pink!' His brothers burst out into laughter once more. 'Guys, please.. What am I going to do? I can't go outside like this?'

'I was going to say something, but my stomach hurts from laughing so much...' Randy says in between laughter, while wiping the tears from his face.

Mark tries to get water on his hair to wash it out. When he looks back up into the mirror, the laughter stops fast. Mark looks into the mirror in shock as his hair has now turned silver and is slowly changing back to brown.

When his hair is finally back to normal the guys head outside fast without saying a word. Everyone is still in shock over what just happened. As they stand in in front of their house, they gently start talking again.

'Ok, let's just agree to not ever talk about this again. We probably were imagining things. I mean, the movie took very long, so naturally we're tired, right?' Brad suggests nervously. His younger brothers nod nervously.

They open the door and greet everyone. They greet their grandmother warmly with surprise.

'Hi guys, you're just in time for dinner.' They groan as their mother puts a starnge smelling pasta on the table. They start to sit down whent their mother looks at them strangely.

'What?'

'Something's different... Mark, what happened to your hair?' Everyone looks up in confusion and shock whent they see Mark's purple hair.

'Uh, Brad and I played a prank on Mark. Yeah, we put dye in the shower cap this morning. It'll wash right out. Come on Mark, we'll give you some speial shampoo for it.' The boys all head upstairs before anyone has a chance to say anything.

Tim and Jill look at each other in confusion. They turn towards Lucille and look even more confused when they see a smile on her face. When she sees them looking, she quickly makes up an excuse.

'Boys.. When will they ever grow up?' She says with a small smile.

'Don't worry boys, this is all natural. It's finally started and I'll be here to help you along the way. The Taylor family is finally back!' The smile stays on her face for the rest of the evening, while everyone finally settles down for dinner.

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A/N Hi! I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing for anyone. If it was, let me know and I'll explain it. But things should be pretty clear already if you read the summary ;)

Well, looks like something strange is going on with Mark. Which Taylor boy will find out strange things next? Vote for the next chapter :)

Please R&R, bad or good, it all helps! Thank you and Love, Baxxie