Four anxious pairs of eyes stared at the young doctor, waiting to hear the news about Nick’s condition. They quietly watched as the doctor checked Nick’s vitals and charted his findings. When Dr. Bennington took a small pin and pricked Nick’s arm, a soft moan broke the silence.
“That’s good, right?” AJ questioned, glaring quickly at Kevin when he was given a stern look and told to keep quiet.
The doctor wrote some more things into Nick’s chart and then turned to face the men. He sighed before he spoke. “This is a promising sign, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much. Sometimes patients that are comatose only experience what Nick is experiencing, and it doesn’t progress from that point.”
AJ stared at the doctor, his face a mixture of confusion and anquish. “You mean this could be all that Nick ever does ever again? Just moan?”
The doctor nodded slightly. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know what else to tell you. I don’t want to give you false hopes.” Dr. Bennington turned and picked up the chat. “Are there any questions?”
Although each of them had millions of questions running through their heads, no one spoke.
The doctor smiled slightly. “I’ll check back on him tomorrow or sooner if something new develops.”
With that, he left the room.
Tears immediately starting flowing down AJ’s cheeks, the guilt was creeping back into his heart. “Isn’t there anything they can do for him?” he rasped, pointing at the bed. “That doctor’s a fucking jerk! We gotta find a new doc for Nick!”
“AJ, calm down,” Kevin spoke in a calming voice trying to calm the young man down.
”How the fuck can you stand there like that? Didn’t you hear what he said? He said that all Nick will ever do is moan for the rest of his fuckin’ life!”
“He said that’s just a possiblity, AJ,” Howie pointed out calmly.
AJ glared at each of the men standing in front of him. ”So that’s it? You’re gonna accept what that freak of a doctor told us? I say bullshit! Bull fucking shit!”
During AJ’s shouting, Brian was watching Nick. He never said a word to them about what he was seeing. Everytime AJ rose his voice, Nick seemed to flinch and grimace. Nick was hearing what was going on in the room. He didn’t want to point it out to anyone because of the tension that was happening and decided to wait until things settled down later to share what he had seen.
“I’m going to find Nick’s nurse,” AJ announced and jerked the door open and stormed out of the ICU room.
“We better follow his ornery ass,” Kevin stated and grabbed at Howie’s arm.
Brian nodded and walked over towards the bed, taking the seat that had been positioned next to it. “I’ll keep Nicky company while you’re gone.”
The room was finally quiet again with the exception of the heart monitor pinging away. Brian took Nick’s hand in his and squeezed it gently. Leaning back into the chair, he sighed. “Well, at least he’s away from you for a little while.”
Brian looked around the plain white room, his eyes going from the white tiled ceiling down to the speckled, shiny floor and then to the sea green blanket that laid on Nick’s bed. His eyes slowly traveled up from Nick’s feet to his legs, stopping at his stomach and watched it slowly rise and fall with each breath Nick took. Gazing at his friend’s neck, Brian was slightly intrigued as a vein was throbbing, pulsating with the surge of blood that was flowing through it with every beat of his heart.
Finally, his eyes fell upon Nick’s flushed face. He looked like he was sleeping peacefully. His mouth was slightly open, a soft snoring noise escaped his lips occasionally. Brian slightly shook his head, a grin crossed his lips. “And you always denied that you snored.”
Letting go of his friend’s hand, Brian reached up and smoothed the dark blond hair away from Nick’s forehead. It was fluffy today - he had gotten a head-to-toe bath, as his nurse Jim described it.
“Man, your hair is getting really long dude,” Brian smiled, thinking about how long Nick’s had gotten in the past. It was just over the tips of his ears right now, if this had happened post tour Brian knew that Nick’s hair would probably have grown over his ears by now. He lovingly scruffed Nick’s head and a soft moan came from Nick.
Scared, Brian quickly drew his hand back. It startled him. He studied Nick’s face. At first there wasn’t any change in his expression but suddenly he started to grimace.
“You don’t like me messin’ with your hair?” Brian asked, waiting as if he would get a reply.
Nick never liked it when anyone messed with his hair and with him being tall, that rarely happened unless he was sitting down or if Kevin decided to tease. Brian was amazed that even in his comatose state, Nick was still able to relay that he didn’t want anyone touching his head.
Brian’s heart caught in his throat when he saw Nick’s eyelids fluttering.
“Wake up Nick,” he softly coached, staring at his face. “You’ve slept too long, please wake up,” Brian begged, tears forming in his eyes.
For one brief moment a miracle happened. Nick’s eyes opened for a moment, he appeared to look directly at Brian and as quickly as they fluttered open, they slowly closed again.
