Bob Carter leaned his lanky frame into the worn padded chair with a tired gesture. He had been waiting patiently for someone to come and tell them how his son was doing ever since they wisked him off to surgery several hours ago.
Hours that seemed like years.
Each of the men that had gathered in the lounge had their own ways of dealing with the tension; surprisingly the one Backstreet Boy that seemed the calmest seemed to be anything but calm as he leafed through well-worn magazine after magazine, his knee bouncing quickly up and down as he leafed through the pages.
“Judas Train, you’re giving me a fuckin’ headache with all that goddamn page turning,” AJ grumbled as he reached a hand out to silence the magazine.
“We’re all a little stressed out,” Howie softly defended, “some more than others understandably,” he added as he gestured with a nod toward Bob Carter.
AJ eased his body up from his chair. “Well I’m gonna go out for a----”
“Sit your ass back down,” Kevin interrupted in a threatening tone. “You can stay here and wait with the rest of us.”
Howie made his way across the lounge toward Brian who had been quietly standing by the window, deep in thought. He lightly laid a hand on the Kentuckian’s shoulder. “How are you holding up?”
Brian shrugged in reply, tearing his gaze from the scenery. “It seems to be taking such a long time,” he whispered after he stole a quick glance at his watch.
Howie could only nod in agreement. There wasn’t anything he could add that would lessen the tension in the room.
Four sets of eyes expectantly rivoted toward the door when it swung open. Jane Carter breezed her way into the private waiting room, with Aaron in tow.
“My god, it seemed to take forever to try and get into this godforsaken hell hole of a hospital,” she snapped as she adjusted a stray tuft of hair away from her face.
“Well, I hope it didn’t inconvenience you getting here,” Bob muttered.
AJ rolled his eyes. Kevin, being prepared as always, thrusted an elbow into the tattooed man’s ribs before a remark could be uttered.
Jane looked at the men that were gathered in the waiting room. “How come no one is in with Nicky? I tried to ask some of the help at that desk---”
“Nurses mom,” Aaron interrupted, grinning when he noticed AJ’s eyebrow arched in amusement.
“Nurses, whatever, well I asked them where my son was and they sent me here.”
“Like I’ve said the first four times I’ve called you Jane, Nick isn’t doing very well and they have asked to have the family here,” Bob replied in a low voice.
“Well of course he’s not doing well Bob, he’s got cancer.” Jane remarked in a matter-of-fact type of voice as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Is something wrong dad? Mom wouldn’t tell me anything,” Aaron asked.
Bob ran a hand through his hair. “Your brother was taken into surgery awhile ago.”
Aaron’s eyes widened. “S-surgery? Why? What for?”
Before Bob had the chance to explain, a surgical nurse appeared in the doorway. “Mr. Carter, please follow me to the surgical conference room.”
“Aaron, you wait here,” Jane huffed, carrying her coffee as she followed her husband and nurse out of the waiting room.
After a few moments, Bob Carter returned with Jane’s coffee cup and sat it down heavily on an endtable. “Aaron, you can come with us, you need to hear what’s going on with your brother.”
With mixed emotions, Aaron followed the surgical nurse alongside his father, uncertain of what he was about to hear. He could see it in his father’s face that something definately was going on and it wasn’t going to be good news.
She escorted them into a small office-type room. “Dr. Pendrell will be with you in a few moments,” she stated before she softly closed the door.
“I can’t believe you told Aaron to come with us!” Jane spoke in a harsh whisper to her husband.
“He has every right to hear what is going as much as the rest of us!”
Aaron sat quietly, staring down at his folded hands as his parents faught in front of him.
“He’s too young to hear about all of this nonesense. He should be off recording and not in here,” Jane whispered, shaking her head.
“That so called nonsense is called cancer and I don’t care what you think----”
“Please, don’t fight,” Aaron quietly interrupted. “Please, not here, not now.”
Bob Carter’s mouth dropped open in shame when he realized that he and Jane had been arguing at one of the worst possible moments when they should be showing care and support. He quickly wrapped an arm around his young son.
“God Aaron, I’m so sorry.”
A quiet knock was heard on the closed door before it swung open with a extremely tired looking man, dressed in green surgical scrubs. Quickly sitting in the vacant chair, the man quickly introduced himself as he extended his hand to Jane Carter. “Dr. Pendrell.”
Jane shook the man’s hand and then warily eyed him as she reached over to put a hand ontop of Aaron’s in a “motherly gesture.”
“You have an extremely determined son, Mr. and Mrs. Carter,” the doctor began. “The surgery wasn’t going as I had expected.”
Bob’s eyes widened. “There were complications?”
The man nodded. “Unexpected complications, but we didn’t have any other choice but to operate. Nick’s heart had stopped---”
”Oh my god!” Jane gasped.
The doctor shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment, clearing his throat. “We worked on him for several minutes and I wasn’t sure he would pull through, but somehow he came back.”
“He’s okay?” Bob asked in a hestitant voice.
“He’s stable for now, critical, but stable,” Dr. Pendrell corrected.
“Why on Earth did you operate on Nick in the first place if he didn’t seem to be able to pull through this type of ordeal?” Jane questioned.
“I told you on the phone that Nick had taken a turn for worse with that lung infection.....I told you that they said to call the family in...”
“What? What lung infection? What are you talking about?” Aaron gasped.
Bob Carter locked eyes with his wife. “You didn’t tell him?”
“I felt it would be best not to say anything to the kids about this,” Jane defended crisply.
Ignoring Bob and Jane, Dr. Pendrell turned his attention to Aaron. “Nick’s cancer is a very difficult cancer to treat and with any cancer it can mestasize and unfortunately, one of the many places it likes to go to is the lungs, bones or brain. I’m not saying that his cancer is in his lungs, but with all that Nick has been through, his system is dealing with one thing after another and the RSV collapsed one of his lungs and we had to fix that so he can get better 02 exchange.”
The doctor paused as he looked at their faces. “If you don’t have any questions, I need to write some orders for Nick and get with some of my other patients.”
“When can I see him?” Jane blurted.
Dr. Pendrell sighed, he couldn’t help but think to himself that the woman appeared to be in extreme denial about her son’s condition. “Nick is in recovery right now, I think it would be best to let him rest today and come back and see him tomorrow.” He shook Bob’s hand firmly and exited the consultation room.
“Well I guess we should go down and tell the others,” Bob sighed as he stood up.
Aaron refused to move, his face etched in stone.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Nick! I had to hear it from his goddamn doctor!”
“Aaron Charles Carter!” Jane quietly admonished.
He narrowed his eyes as he looked over at his mother. “You knew all along that Nick isn’t doing good and you didn’t tell me. Why?”
“I didn’t think it was necessary,” Jane defended.
“Necessary? Mom, we’re talking about Nick here, why didn’t you say anything to me? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to get upset,” Jane replied, running a thumb across Aaron’s cheek to wipe the fresh tears that were spilling downward.
Aaron grabbed his mother’s hand in defiance. “Didn’t want me to get upset? That isn’t fair! I have a right to know!”
“Honey.....I’m sorry but you know it’s not easy on any of us and I just thought this would be better for you this way.”
“But he died mom---”
“Don’t you ever say that! He didn’t die! He’s alive and he’s just fine! In fact Nicky will be up and about recording in no time. I heard that they were planning on being in the studio again in a few months.”
Bob shook his head as he listened to Jane’s words. He realized that she wasn’t seeing the situation clearly and no matter how long they talked she would continue to pretend that this wasn’t happening. As he was opening his mouth to try and smooth over the situation between Aaron and Jane, Aaron’s next words made his blood run cold.
“Now I can see why Nick threw you out.....you want everything your way and you seem to think that nothing is wrong unless it’s with you personally. I can’t believe you! I hope to God that Nick makes it because you will have a hard time living with yourself if he dies.”
Brian softly walked his way down the hall toward Nick’s familiar ICU room. He was growing to become immune to the sights, sounds and the smells that were a part of the ICU wing as well as the rest of the hospital. He had so many thoughts running through his mind as he stood in the doorway to Nick’s room.
Thoughts and promises.
The nurse looked up from the chart she was working on. “He’s still coming out of his sedation, but you’re free to come in if you’d like.”
Brian took a few hesitant steps into the room when the nurse stood up. “I’ll come back later.”
“No, you’re fine, I need to go get some meds for Nick, you stay here, you’re fine.”
Staring down at his best friend, Brian blinked back the tears. Nick appeared lost to him, his skin color matching the whiteness of the hospital linens. The green nasal canula almost appeared to be neon in contrast to pale complexion.
Cupping Nick’s hand in his, Brian stroked the skin for a few moments. “Nick, why did you want to leave? You can’t go yet, we need you,” Brian swallowed hard as he took in Nick’s quiet expression. “Heck, I need you.”
The only reply to his demands was the sound of the monitors; an orchastra of pings and beeps. The squeaking of the nurse’s shoes announced that she had returned and Brian quickly wiped the tears from his cheeks.
“You’re okay where you are hun, I just need to push this in his IV, you’re fine,” the nurse chirped with a Southern accent.
Brian nodded, turning his attention back to Nick. “How long do you think he’s gonna be asleep?”
“Well I hope he rests until tomorrow, he’s been through quite a bit today.”
Brian nodded in agreement. “That’s an understatement.”
Brian and the nurse’s attention was quickly directed to the bed when Nick started softly sobbing.
Brian glanced from Nick to the nurse. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s just coming out of the anesthesia,” she replied non-chalantly. “Every patient does their own thing.”
Brian furrowed his brow when he glanced back down at his friend. “Nick it’s okay, I’m here.”
The nurse leaned her face next to Nick’s ear. “Nick, hun, you’re back in your room, the surgery is overwith.”
Nick quickly squeezed Brian’s hand and then quickly let go, reaching up to his face, he hooked a finger under the cannula and pulled it from his nose. The nurse quickly pulled his hand away and re-adjusted the cannula. “Leave that alone Nick.”
“Nick, it’s okay, you’re alright now,” Brian soothed as he rubbed Nick’s shoulder.
”Oh God,” Nick whispered, causing the alarm to go off on the oxygen monitor.
“Just breathe hun, don’t fight, just breath easy, nice and slow,” the nurse coached.
The nurse appeared calm but Brian on the other hand was quickly becoming panicked as the alarms kept ringing. The nurse could see that he was he getting uncomfortable.
“It’s a common thing when you’ve got a chest tube,” she re-affirmed.
”It hu-hurts,”Nick whispered again.
“Sh-h-h hun, I know it does, let me give you something in your IV to settle that for you.”
“She’ll take care of it, hold on Nick,” Brian soothed as he gripped Nick’s hand in his. His attention was quickly taken off of Nick when a gasp came from the door.
”MY POOR DEAR NICKY!”
