Everything's Changed

ONE

A/N: I've been umming are ahhing about putting this on here but its a story I wrote back in 2012 which I did enjoy writing. This one is finished and I hope people enjoy this. Be prepared to cry though.

..........

It had been months since their last tour had ended. Gary was now doing his thing on the X-Factor; Howard was doing DJ gigs whenever he could to keep himself busy; Jason was just relaxing at home in front of the TV and making up new routines whenever he felt he had the energy; Robbie was back in LA with his wife, just doing nothing every day. He was in the process of thinking about doing another solo album, but at the moment, he was happy with what he had just done and all he wanted to do for now was relax. And Mark was home with his family. Everything seemed perfect, but that was only to last a short amount of time.

The news that was about to hit them was going to turn their lives upside-down...

...

At first it had been barely noticeable. The boys would meet up once every couple of weeks and go down to the pub and have a drink - well, for Mark and Robbie (when he was in the UK), they would go down to the pub and have a glass of orange juice, but they didn't seem to care about that.

It was only after Gary's second live episode of the X-Factor that the boys really started to notice something. They had begun to notice that Mark was becoming distant and that something was bothering him. He would be late for their get-togethers; he wouldn't talk as much as he used to do and he wouldn't reply to any emails he was sent. But the thing that they really noticed and that told them that there was something going on was the fact that they hadn't seen Mark smile for a while. And by that, they meant smile normally. Mark smiled at every meet, but it never reached his eyes and the brightness had faded.

It was really Jason who had started to notice the changes in Mark first. If Robbie had been around more then he probably would have noticed way before Jason did. And as soon as he told Gary and Howard, they too started to notice that Mark was distant. Howard rang up Robbie and told him that they thought that there was something wrong with Mark and Robbie was back in the UK in a flash. He had been back a couple of times before and had hung out with the boys when he could, but when he was around he hadn't really seen Mark's changes, but as he thought about it, he could see that the signs had been there since the tour had ended. He wasn't drinking again was he?

On their next meeting - which was at Gary's, Mark didn't show. They had all tried to call him and they had all left him numerous texts and emails, but there wasn't a reply to any of them.

Robbie came up with the idea that they go to Mark's and see if he was there. They needed to talk to him; they needed to find out what was wrong with him and if he was having problems at home. But when they got there, it wasn't Mark who opened the door, it was Emma. She looked just as worried as the four of them did.

"Emma, is Mark here?" Gary asked, but Emma just shook her head.

"No, isn't he with you?" Emma asked them, the worry she felt was evident in her voice.

"No, he's not, he didn't turn up." Jason said.

"I thought the meet was yesterday." Emma said.

"No, it was today."

"What? Mark told me that it was yesterday. I assumed he stayed over at yours Gary."

"No, he didn't."

"Oh, God where is he?" Emma said running a hand through her hair. "Come on in." Emma moved out of the doorway and let the four lads in the house. They all went into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Emma put her head in her hands and Jason put a hand on her back.