Nick looked up at his older brother, puzzled expression on his face. "Huh?"
"I asked what exactly did Lou Pearlman do to you this morning?"
The blonde teen looked around the room as if he were searching for an answer to Kevin's question. Kevin sighed as he watched the younger band member's look of confusion.
Kevin sighed as he rubbed the young man's shoulder. "I take it you're not quite awake yet."
Nick bit his lower lip, shaking his head. "Not really," he admitted, voice thick from sleep. His eyes fell on the lunch tray setting on the bedstand in front of him.
"Do you feel up to eating something for lunch?"
"Yeah, I guess I could.....is it anything edible?"
Kevin snickered at the comment. "Depends on how hungry you are, little man." Pulling the tray closer to Nick as he raised the head of the bed up, he dramatically lifted the dark blue lid from a bowl. "Looks like you're getting chicken broth and lime green jell-o."
"That sucks," Nick muttered as he looked at the lunch tray.
"It may suck but at least it's something you can put in your mouth and taste. You have to do this slowly, remember, they were up to their elbows inside of you!"
Running his hand over his face in a tired gesture, NIck rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me," he groaned.
AJ watched in disgust as Brian meticulously squirted mayonnaise from a condiment packet. "Are you gonna make love to that sandwich?"
Brian met the rebel singer's glare. "Leave my sandwich alone!"
"I'm just saying you take way too much time dressing up meat."
"I like to eat something that doesn't look slapped together like some people do!" Brian muttered as he picked up a plastic knife and proceeded to smear the mayonnaise.
AJ watched the Kentuckian's deliberate, slow passes over the sandwich meat. "What the fuck point is that for?"
Finally Howie stepped into the conversation. "AJ eat your sandwich and let Brian eat his alright?"
AJ pushed his body further into the booth. "I'm just saying that years of watching him making a sandwich has irritated me to no living end."
"Then don't watch!" Howie and Brian suggested in unison.
Leaning forward, AJ pulled the glass ashtray to him. Howie quickly reached out and grabbed his forearm. "Don't you even think about lighting up.....Brian and I are still eating."
"Jesus....what is it with you two? You are too anal I swear....." he started moving over to slide out of the booth.
"You stay put!" Howie snapped.
"I'm going out for a smoke."
"You can't go anywhere," Brian pointed out, adding, "Kevin said so."
"Kevin said so," AJ echoed in disgust. "Well I don't see Train around here so lemme go."
Howie didn't move.
This time the scrawny rebel pushed against Howie with both hands, sending the Latino crashing out of the booth onto the floor.
AJ stepped over Howie as he exited the booth. "I asked you once," he smirked as he headed toward the exit.
Brian shook his head as he watched AJ walk out of the cafeteria. "I'm only glad we were asked to keep an eye on Nick, I think Jay would be more of a challege to keep tabs on him and out of trouble 24/7."
Howie nodded in agreement. "Speaking of Nick, I wonder if he's awake yet?"
Brian shrugged his shoulders as he thought for a moment. "Don't know but gosh whatever Kaos got really knocked him out. I feel sorry for the kid."
Picking up his coffee cup, Howie took a small sip of the hot beverage. "I wonder if Lou would be that crazy to do a live feed from the hospital..."
"I dunno but it sure as heck looked live to me when we saw it on the television. I would have loved to have called MTV but I guess Kev was right to wait until Nicky wakes up to ask. He'd know more about it than some receptionist at MTV would."
Howie gestured at Brian's sandwich. "You are going to eat that now, aren't you?"
Brian looked down at the untouched sandwich, shoving the plate away. "I'm not really that hungry," he grinned before adding, "I just like to watch AJ get irritated when I was putting the mayo on."
The Latino smiled at the memory. "Yeah Bone can get irritated pretty easily......do you think he'll come back in here when he's done pouting?"
Brian shook his head. "Nah....he'll probably head back up to Nick's room.....are you ready to head back up?"
"Yeah, hopefully he'll be awake now."
Kevin waited patiently as Nick slowly ate a few bites of the jello and a few mouthfuls of the clear broth. He felt sympathy for the young man as he watched his hands shake as he lifted the spoon to his mouth. He had to push aside his initial instincts of helping Nick, knowing all-to-well the young man's history of quick anger when someone tried to help him with anything. Kevin's few minutes of waiting finally ended with Nick nudging the tray away and laying his head back onto the pillow, placing a hand gently across his stomach in a protective gesture.
"Full already?"
Nick groaned in reply, rubbing his stomach.
"Well your stomach has been through hell so no doubt you'd be," Kevin replied as he pushed the bedstand toward the foot of the bed and immediately starting fussing with the young teens blankets.
"Kev......you don't have to do that," Nick growled lightly. "You're not my mom..."
"Well someone has to take care of you," Kevin replied in a firm voice. He knew all-too-well how Nick felt about anyone fussing over him. The young blonde had always had an independant air about him; Kevin theorized that it probably came from him being pushed by an overbearing stage mom that never had her priorities in check for her oldest son.
"Seriously Kev!" Nick warned as he gripped the edge of his blankets.
"Stop acting like a baby," Kevin softly whispered, pulling the blanket out of the young teen's grasp. When his task was done, he eased himself into the chair next to the bed, drawing a hand over his face in a tired gesture. "I'm always worried about you Nicky."
Nick folded his arms lightly across his chest. "I'm not a baby and there's nothing to worry about over, okay?"
Kevin stared at Nick while he decided how he would approach the subject of Lou Pearlman. He decided that blind siding him with a simple question would be the best approach. "So did Lou stop by early this morning? He said something to me in the hall this morning that he was dropping by to see you."
Nick shrugged his shoulders in reply.
"I was kinda wondering if you would have felt up to visitors," Kevin asked.
Again Nick shrugged his shoulders.
Kevin sighed in frustration. Trying to crack into Nick Carter's brain was trying to crack a walnut with your bare hands! "You realize a conversation works better when you talk back to me when I ask you a question."
Finally Nick answered. "You really haven't asked me a question," he pointed out.
Kevin replayed his side of the conversation over in his brain. He suddened realized that he was answering his own questions. Finally he decided to ask Nick point blank. "Was Lou up to see you this morning?"
At first Nick started to shrug his shoulders but stopped midway and forced a yawn to make it appear that he was growing tired. He didn't reply, hoping that Kevin would drop the subject.
Kevin's emerald eyes never left Nick's face. "So?"
"Why is it so freakin important to know if Lou was here this morning?" Nick asked in an edgy voice.
"It's just a simple question---"
"Hey buddy how ya feelin'?" AJ rasped as he entered the hospital room.
Kevin shot an angry glare toward the intruder and snarled, "Weren't you suppose to be down in the cafeteria with Brian and Howie?"
This time AJ shrugged his shoulders and smiled slightly. "I got sick of watching Littrell play with his sandwich."
"Nicky! You're finally awake!" Brian cheerfully announced as he made his way into the room.
Kevin tugged a hand through his dark hair. "Couldn't you guys have taken a little more time?"
"We were gone for almost an hour," Howie pointed out. "Boy Nick your color looks a little off to me...are you feeling okay?"
The blonde grimaced as he moved his legs into a better position. "Yeah I'm fine," he lied.
"You look anything but fine to me," Brian added.
"Listen Nick said he was fine, stop smothering," Kevin growled. "So Nick back to my question, was Lou in here this morning?"
Nick sighed in defeat. "What does it matter?"
"It's just a simple question....can't you at least answer a simple question?"
"Yeah but you act like the answer is life or death to you for some reason."
"So why are you so defensive?"
"I'm not being defensive....I'm tired," Nick whined, gingerly rubbing his stomach.
"Just answer the question Nicky.....was Lou up to see you this morning?"
Brian could see that his best friend was getting agitated by his cousin's constant questioning. "Kev, Nick said he's tired. Why don't you let him rest."
Kevin waived Brian off. "C'mon, just answer the question and I'll let you rest."
As Nick stared at his older brother and the rest of the men in the room, Lou Pearlman's voice echoed inside his head.....'You won't tell anyone about this if you know what's good for you son...' He licked his lips. "I was sleeping so I'm not sure." Nick let the breath out he didn't realize he had been holding. It wasn't really a lie, he told himself. He had been sleeping when Lou came in so in a way that was truthful - kinda.
"Don't bullshit me Nick....I know you're hiding something....just tell me the truth."
Nick feigned a look of surprise on his face. "Are you calling me a liar?"
"Just tell me the truth....that's all I want to hear from you," Kevin pleaded.
Nick found himself in a sticky situation. He wanted to tell Kevin the truth but he was more scared of Lou Pearlman than he was of Kevin Richardson. Now was the time to put his acting classes to good use, he quickly decided.
"I......I......I ca....can't.....b....br.....b...r...e..a...t...h..e....," he gasped as he started to pretend he was hyperventilating.
What Nick was hoping would shake the Kentuckian into dropping the questions backfired.
"Stop with the acting, you're talking to me so you're breathing!" Kevin snapped. "Answer me! Was Pearlman here this morning?"
Nick's mouth dropped open as he stopped the playacting. "I can't believe that you would think I would fake being sick!"
"It's just a simple question Nick. Was Lou here or wasn't he?"
As he prepared to cave in and give Kevin the answer to the question he kept pressing, Nick felt an odd, sharp cramping sensation in his stomach. The cramping was followed by sudden warmth. As he lifted the covers to inspect, he gasped when he saw that the hospital gown had grown bright red, saturated in blood. Nick looked up at Kevin, his face completely drained of color.
The last thing Nick heard before he fainted was Kevin's shocked voice, "Oh God, you're bleeding!"