AN: THANKS to everyone reviewing/adding! I really appreciate it!
-FortheloveofWrestling

Jeff walked into the restaurant and did a quick search for Mark. Jeff's eyes fixed on Mark, who was sitting at a booth, his head in his hand and shoulders slumped.

"Hey." Jeff said, poking Mark in the ribs.

Mark smiled and lifted his head, "hey."

Jeff smiled and asked the waitress for a glass of orange juice and turned back to Mark.

"Thanks for finally talking to me, Jeff."

"I figured if you could stand being told to fuck off 13 times, you must have something important on your mind." he smiled again as the waitress brought his drink.

"I know, at this point, it doesn't mean anything, but i'm sorry for what I said."

"It's not that I don't care," Jeff said, "I just think it's time we both realize that if after all these years we can't make it work out, it's not meant to work out."

Jeff stretched out his arms so that he could discreetly take Mark's hand in his

"We both know what we sacrificed to try and make it work, there's no point in continuing, just for it to end the like it always does."

Mark nodded his head, he didn't believe a word that Jeff said, but there was nothing he could do about it. They had problems before because they both had individual problems that they brought with them, it was different now. It could have been, if Jeff would have given him a real chance.

"I want to help you, Jeff." Mark finally said.

"Get off of this stuff?" Jeff asked, laughing, "I can handle that myself, thanks."

"No, you can't, Jeff. You and I both know how hard it was the last time you tried. And what ended up happening? You called me and said you didn't know how to stay off of that stuff."

"But that was when I really didn't want to be off of it. I do now though. I'm tired of this." Jeff slumped back against the seat and started to fiddle with the straw in his glass. "Do you know what it feels like to walk around the locker room, knowing that everyone knows how pathetic you are? Or how it feels to lose the respect of everyone around you?" Jeff straightened up and looked directly into Mark's eyes. "I lost it all, Mark. And finally, i'm starting to gain it back. I don't want to lose it again, I can't. I'm serious this time."

"I'm glad to hear you say that because I know that everyone wants you to earn back their respect. Everyone is fighting for you, you don't have to do this alone."

Jeff nodded, "I know I don't. But what if I do ask for someone's help. That means they are going to know that I haven't really stopped, i've just been lying to everyone. I'm going to end up right where I started from."

"But that's my point. Honestly Jeff, I don't know that you can do this by yourself and I know that you aren't going to want to put it out there that you're trying to get clean because people already think you are, when you start needing help, so i'm offering to be that person. Matt can try and help you, but it's hard for him to watch you go through this and if you'd just let me help you, you don't have to worry about someone finding out."

Jeff took a deep breathe and waited a minute before saying anything. Of course it had occurred to him that Matt would have a hard time dealing with it because it was easy for him to get Matt off his back about the drugs. Mark really was the only other person that he knew he could turn to without any questions; he'd be there to help him no matter what. The one thing that did worry him was the fact that he knew if he accepted Mark's offer to help him, they'd be spending a lot of time together, especially because Jeff wasn't messing around, he was serious about getting clean this time. Since he'd given up on the whole 'relationship' thing with Mark, they'd spend a max of a few days together and spend a longer time apart. That's how there were- off and on for the last year and a half. He remembered how the last time he'd been suspended, they were together all the time and it took twice as much effort to keep himself from falling for Mark's charm again.

"Alright." he finally said, resting his head on his folded arms, "but no blow jobs when I get stressed, not this time."

"You sucker punch me in the face and knock me to the ground, and now you make me sound like some dirty old man. Are you trying to destroy my ego or what? I can keep my hands to myself, I swear." Mark laughed as he raised his arms in defense.

Jeff laughed and threw a balled up napkin at him.

"Hey, do you think that maybe we can go upstairs and talk?" Jeff asked.

Mark looked at Jeff, trying to figure out if he was being set up for a joke, "yeah, we can do that."

--

After they had talked for a while in Jeff and Matt's room, Matt joining them after his shower, they three men, mostly Matt, decided that maybe it would be for the best if Jeff and Mark started to room together.

"…so that we can all be sure that everyone is doing their best to help Jeff."

"What the fuck, Matt?" Jeff said, rooming was the last thing he had thought about. He figured since they had been clear on the 'no personal relationship' thing.

"Jeff, you know that I can't handle you when you're going through withdrawal and everything." Matt said defending his suggestion.

While the two brothers argued, Mark tried his best to stay out of it. He couldn't say no because he did think it was a good idea, but if he said anything, Jeff might think that it was just a plan to get him back.

"What do you think, Mark?" Matt asked, much to Mark's dismay.

Mark stumbled on his words, not sure how to answer, "I, uh, I don't know. I mean Jeff's said that he's really serious about it this time so maybe we don't need-"

"Mark, come on, why are you backing down? We talked about this before, i'll end up giving in when he's yelling and shouting and that's not going to help anyone." Matt interrupted because he knew he couldn't have Mark play soft this time around, if anything, he needed to be harder on Jeff now more than ever.

"Yeah, I know, but..." Mark grunted and looked at Jeff, "what do you want to do?"

"Well my fucking brother doesn't trust me or give a shit about how serious I am about this, so I don't even fucking care anymore. Do whatever."

Mark flinched at those words. Nothing was ever going to change if Jeff thought that Matt didn't care about him and he definitely didn't want to hear Jeff say that he didn't care. He had to care this time or else all this arguing would be for nothing.

"First off, you need to watch your language, Jeff. For the last week i've heard nothing but swearing out of you and i'm tired of it. Second, Matt does care about how serious you're taking this this time, so you need to hear him out and stop acting like no one is consulting you on the issue. And finally, we're here to help you, Jeff, so don't let me hear that you 'don't care anymore', got that? Don't let me hear those words come out of your mouth again." Jeff stepped a little closer to Mark, ready to say something, Mark was ready for protesting and yelling but after a moment, Jeff backed away and said nothing, "I asked you what you wanted to do, we're here to help you, so tell me what you want to do, Jeff."

Jeff was surprised at Mark's words and change of tone, a part of him wanted to lash out at them both, but he kept from doing so. He thought for a minute and then looked to his brother, "you're right, Matty. I used our relationship to get you off my back before, so maybe it is a good idea for me to stay somewhere else, at least for now. But I want you to know how serious I am, I'm not going to mess up again."

Matt sighed, "I know, Jeff. That's why I want to make sure you're in the best position to make it happen."

Jeff nodded and looked at Mark, "I'm sorry, Mark. I do care."

"Good." Mark said, "so after the weekend, when we get back, you can stay with me."

"Can't wait, roomie!" Jeff said, making the other guys laugh.

--

Mark looked at the bed on the other side of the room and laughed.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?" Jeff said, extremely annoyed at Mark's snickering.

Mark moved from the bathroom doorway and took a seat on the edge of his bed, "I told you to watch the language, Jeff."

"Oh fuck! I'm fucking sorry, Mark. Son of a bitch, I didn't even fucking notice that I was swearing. Damn, you'd think that I'd notice that type of fucking shit." Jeff said, moving from the floor where he was looking under the bed, making sure to not look Mark in the face.

"Boy, that better be the withdrawal kicking in." Mark said, laying back. "What are you looking for?"

Jeff sighed and looked at Mark, "my fucking title, so either shut the hell up or help."

"You're title?" Mark asked, turning his head in Jeff's direction.

"No, Mark, John's title. Fuck man."

"Alright, you need to watch your mouth, Jeff. Don't make me have to tell you again."

"Whatever."

Mark rolled his eyes, "how did you lose it?" He got up and started to look around the room as well.

All he got was a grunt of a response.

"SHIT!" he heard Jeff yell. Mark made his way back into the bedroom.

"What?" Mark asked.

"I cut myself." Jeff said, standing up and walking to the bathroom, Mark following him.

"Here, let me see, Jeff. Stop moving."

"It hurts."

Mark looked at Jeff's hand, it was bleeding pretty bad, but the cut itself wasn't bad. He gave Jeff a washcloth.

"Squeeze that and don't move." Mark moved over to his gym bag and took out a small first-aid kit and went back into the bathroom.

"Let me see." Mark said, taking Jeff's hand and throwing the washcloth into the sink.

Mark held Jeff's hand over the sink and poured alcohol over the cut.

"What the hell?" Jeff said, pulling his hand away and holding it to his chest. "That stuff burns, geez. What's your problem?"

"Come on, Jeff. It's just a cut, it can't hurt that much."

"Yes, it does. And seeing as I won't have anything to dull the pain, I don't want it to hurt more." Jeff said, letting Mark take his hand again.

"Well in that case, I'll be careful, you big baby." Mark wrapped Jeff's hand and told him to take a seat.

"Thanks." Jeff said.

"You're welcome." Mark told him, "now, I guess I'll finish looking for your title."

Jeff smiled and took a seat to watch Mark roam around the room looking for the title, mumbling about how he could lose a huge gold title.

Knock.

Mark looked at Jeff, "hey, you told me to sit down."

"And now you listen to me?"

Mark moved to the door and opened it to see a young man standing a bit nervously. Mark noticed the hotel logo and tried not to scare the kid as he handed Mark a piece of paper.

"Thanks," Mark said, handing the kid a bill from his pocket.

"What's that?"

"I don't know, but it's addressed to you." Mark said, handing the paper to Jeff.

Jeff opened the piece of paper and read it.

If you ever want to see her again, you'll follow the directions.

Vince wouldn't want to hear about this.

"What the hell?" Jeff said, passing it back to Mark.

"This rib isn't funny. I'm gonna get fired it Vince hears about this." standing up and starting to look for his phone.

"Who's writing is this?" Mark asked, a little more calm than Jeff.

"I don't know." Jeff said.

"Who are you calling?"

"Adam."

"He didn't do this." Mark said, getting up to try and calm Jeff down.

"No, but maybe he can help me. I'm going to have to go door to door looking for whoever is pulling this."

"Calm down, Jeff." Mark said, chuckling.

"What do you mean 'calm down', i'm fucking going to lose my job."

"It's just a prank, Jeff. Who ever wrote it isn't going to go tell Vince, so just take it easy. Either call Adam to see if he knows or follow the directions."

Not a big fan of this, but oh well. It's a stepping stone to the next chapter which will hopefully be better.
Review anyway! Thanks!