"Good morning! Breakfast!"
Nick's eyes fluttered open as the young aide brought in his breakfast tray. From his last day's experiences, breakfast was hardly what he would have called it! Pressing the button on the bed, he elevated himself to a sitting position and then eyed the covered plates suspeciously. He lifted the lid covering a coffee mug and discovered hot tea.....the same beverage that has been served to him for the past few days.
Normally Nick would pass on drinking hot tea but decided that it actually made him feel a little better after he drank it. Besides the hot tea, he also got a glass of apple juice - so far so good, he decided.
For a few minutes he just drank the tea, figuring that underneath the covered lids would be nothing but chicken broth or even worse - cream of wheat! That definately was not one of his favorite breakfast foods. Nick discovered that if he loaded the white substance with tons of white sugar from all of the packets he saved he could at least stomach it.
Taking a deep breath, Nick finally reached up and lifted a lid on the largest plate. His mouth dropped open in shock when he was met with a plate of scambled eggs and three strips of bacon! He figured he had just died and gone to heaven!
He wasted no time in plowing a fork into the eggs, savoring each bite. His happiness was suddenly interrupted when Lou Pearlman entered the hospital room.
"I see they're letting you eat real food, boy," Pearlman said as he neared the bed.
All Nick could do was nod since his mouth was full of scrambled eggs.
"Don't stop eating, this makes for a good photo op," the manager continued with a smug smirk on his face.
Before Nick could ask what Lou was talking about, a group of people entered the room with cameras.
"Go ahead....I can't predict how much time you can have," Lou barked.
As soon as the words were uttered, the photographers set about snapping picture after picture.
"Keep eating Nick, this is what they came to shoot," Pearlman coached.
Nick dropped his fork and shoved the breakfast tray away. "I've kinda lost my appetite."
The action set the obese manager into a rage. "You start eating now!"
Tearfully, Nick obeyed his manager, silently begging himself not to allow the tears that blurred his vision to fall.
"Nick, are you feeling better?" A female reporter asked with a thick English accent.
All Nick could do was nod his head yes in reply. He felt that if he tried to talk it would come off sounding weak and whiney.
"Are you still in pain?" another reporter asked amid the sounds of camera shutters whirling.
"I bet your mum is worried sick about you being so far from home!"
His mom! The one person Nick was sure he hadn't heard from! He missed her and he missed his brother and sisters so much. Why hadn't they called? Did they even know he was sick and in the hospital? The tears that Nick tried to keep at bay finally fell.
Seeing that Nick was crying Lou finally called off the photo shoot. "Thats enough for now! I do not want to see any pictures of the boy crying and if I do, I will find out who did it and there will be charges pressed. Thank you for stopping by."
With that the small group of photographers stopped taking pictures and immediately left the room.
"W-why hasn't my mom called?" Nick sobbed to the manager after the press left.
"She has called but you've been either sleeping or too doped up to talk to her," the manager lied.
"C-can I-I c-call h-her n-now?" Nick stuttered.
"Y-you c-can't t-talk," Pearlman mocked.
Nick took a shaky breath in, trying to calm his voice. "I.....really..... want.... to," he said slowly.
"Time difference right now son. It's four o'clock in the morning in Florida, you'd wake the entire house up and I doubt your mother would appreciate that."
Lou was right, Nick decided. "So I can call her this afternoon?"
"If you're not high as a kite I imagine you can," the manager replied.
His answer satisifed the blonde for the time being as he wiped the tears from his cheeks. He mentally made a note to himself not to ask for any pain meds until he got the chance to call home. Before he could say anything more, a nurse breezed into the room. She took one look at him and then glared at the manager.
"I think you're upsetting my patient, you better leave!"
"What makes you think I'm upsetting Carter?" Pearlman challenged.
"Because he has been crying and he looks upset," the older woman answered as she folded her arms across her chest.
"For your information, he is homesick and misses his family," Lou replied.
The nurse looked at Nick. "Is this true?"
"Yes," Nick replied quietly.
"Well I do not appreicate you parading a bunch of people from the media in to his room. People bring germs and germs can make my patient more sick than what he already is!"
"That my dear, is none of your business or concern," Pearlman spat back in defense.
"It is all rubbish!" the nurse sputtered as she set about her task of checking Nick's vitals. No one spoke in the room while the nurse worked. Before the woman left the room, she threated the manager. "I'm calling the doctor to see what he has to say about all this nonesense and I can almost bet he will not be pleased at all." With that, the nurse stormed out of the room.
"What the hell is that woman's problem," Pearlman asked as he waddled over to the door, closing it softly behind him. Dragging a chair out from the corner of the room, he set it beside the bed and sat down with a huff. "There are a few things I need to discuss with you boy, and since you're coherent it's best to talk things over now."
Nick drew a breath in. The door to his hospital room was closed, Louis J. Pearlman sitting next to his bed and the phrase things I need to discuss with you boy had been uttered. In Nick's opinion, this was not looking like it was going to be a good conversation. Hell, it wasn't going to be a conversation at all - more like Lou talking and him listening, Nick decided. There was nothing he could do in this situation, and he knew that Lou knew that! No witnesses, no place to run.
Exactly the way Louis J. Pearlman always conducted business! In a captive setting.