A Second Chance
By: Jenna

Kevin Richardson sat near a window on the bus, reading a magazine. The Backstreet Boys were on tour again, it had started up in January, the new tour for the release of Black and Blue. It was a dreary, rainy day, so none of the guys on the bus seemed to mind being cooped up.

"Hey Kevy," Nick called out. "Toss me that pillow next to you."

"Sure," Kevin replied. As he grabbed the pillow, pain shot through his hand up his arm. He stopped for a moment and tried again, barely able to grasp it.

"Hey old man, was that difficult for ya?" Nick playfully teased.

"Ha ha," Kevin replied dryly.

He rubbed his hand, trying to take the stiffness out of it. It seemed more and more lately he was having arthritic pains in his joints. He knew the family curse was happening, but he was hoping it would delay until he was well into his forties. He was only twenty-eight and he felt more like he was eighty-eight.

He sighed as thought about it more. There was a genetic trait in his family that caused advanced aging. His Aunt Marian died at the early age of forty-eight, but she looked like she was seventy-five. The curse was primarily in his family, it didn't effect Brian's family even though they were related. Kevin had done research and read hungrily on books of the occult and black magic and found references to his disease and how to do a transference of the disease.

'I can't do this, but I can't stand being this way any longer,' Kevin thought to himself.

The transfer of the illness was only good when it was someone that was young and close to him. Someone he was near constantly. Nick was the only one that Kevin could use and he was getting a little tired of the endless jokes and tricks that Nick would say or play out about the aches and pains that Kevin had. There was always the risk that the transference would escalate the aging process in the victim, but that was just a risk and that's what Kevin was banking on.

Reaching into his carry on bag, Kevin pulled out a box of hot chocolate mix and a small white pouch that contained the medicine that would enable the transfer to take place. He gingerly made his way back towards the kitchenette on the bus and filled a mug with water and placed it in the microwave oven.

"Hey Kev, what ya making?" Nick asked as he stared into the microwave, watching the blue ceramic mug turning.

"Hot chocolate, it's from Germany, want a cup?" Kevin asked. He knew Nick had a terrible weakness for hot chocolate.

"Boy, that does sound good, sure why not," Nick replied as he slumped his body into the booth at the table.

Kevin nodded and pulled another cup out and filled it with water. He pulled the first cup out of the microwave and set the second cup in and punched the timer buttons.

"I'll fix yours first," Kevin stated as he tore open the envelope and dumped the cocoa mix into the mug.

"What's the white stuff?" Nick asked as he watched Kevin pour the magic mixture into the mug.

"Oh, it's a special creamer, it makes the cocoa taste smoother," Kevin lied. "Here you go Nick," he said as he placed the cup in front of his friend.

Nick took a sip of the light brown liquid, a chocolate moustache appeared on his upper lip. "Mmmm, this is really good."

Kevin turned away quickly. He couldn't bear to look at Nick's face. He felt remorseful for what he was doing, but there was no turning back now, nothing could be done to help Nick.

“AJ?” Nick moaned from his bed in the hotel room.

AJ turned away from the sound of Nick’s voice, hoping that he would leave him alone.

“AJ?” Nick persisted.

“hmmm?” AJ mumbled.

“I don’t feel so good,” Nick moaned. “I feel achy all over.”

“It’s gonna go away Nick, it always does once you get up and move around, you’ve just been in bed too long. Go back to sleep,” AJ replied, burrowing himself down deeper under the covers.

Nick laid awake in bed for a few minutes and then decided he would get up and take some tylenol. Getting out of bed proved difficult for him, his back was stiff and once he got to his feet, he walked slowly towards the bathroom, every step felt like his legs were on fire.

He was suprised when he tired to take the cap off the bottle of pills. His fingers barely came together. The pain in trying to take the cap off brought tears to Nick’s eyes. He gave up and took the bottle into the bedroom and tapped AJ on the shoulder.

“AJ,” Nick whispered.

AJ flinched but did not reply.

“AJ, I need you to open this,” Nick whispered again.

AJ rolled dramatically over in the bed. He looked at the bottle Nick was holding and then narrowed his eyes as he roughly grabbed the bottle and popped the top off. Shoving the opened container back, he hissed, “God, you’re being more and more like Kev every damn day, I swear. We’ve been on the road for two weeks and you’re starting to get on my nevers already.”

“Sorry,” Nick replied quietly.

Kevin literally bounced across the stage in Austin, Texas. His body was filled with so much energy, he hadn’t felt this great in months. The fans seemed to eat up his enthusasiam. He jumped around, holding his hands up over his head, encouraging the fans to clap along.

AJ was racing across the stage to join Kevin. He playfully grabbed a ball that a fan had tossed on the stage and decided he would play a game of catch with Nick. This was the part in the show where they would horse around onstage and Nick and he always did this at every venue stop.

He tossed the ball and Nick clumsily caught it. When Nick attempted to throw the ball back at AJ, pain seared up his arm. Instead of whipping the ball at AJ as he intended, it dropped down at his own feet.

“Good one, ace,” Howie teased.

Nick managed a smile. He noticed more so tonight than any other night that it was difficult to master some of the dance moves. It hurt to bend and twist so he managed to do the best he could.

Kevin guiltily could see the stiffness in Nick’s body. He pushed it out of his mind, there was nothing he could do. Although he was grateful at how full of life and energy he now had, he knew that this was being tapped from Nick’s young body. He felt some remorse about it.

"Hey Nick, wait for me," Brian called out.

Nick stopped and slowly turned.

"Are you hurting? You're walking stooped over," Brian commented when he caught up to Nick.

"Not anymore than usual," he replied. The bag he was carrying felt like it weighed a ton. There was a book, some CD's, his walkman CD player and a jacket in it. Nick dismissed it as being tired.

After they got settled on the bus, Brian handed a sheet of paper to Nick. "Hey I wrote some lyrics to that sheet music they gave us last week. See what you think about it."

Nick looked down at the paper and noticed immediately that the letters were blurred. He held the paper closer to his face and then away at arm's length before he could finally read it.

Brian chuckled as he watched Nick's antics. "Funny Nick, you're acting like Kevin there. I could actually see him doing that."

"I think this tour is stressing my eyes out or something," Nick replied as he handed the paper back to Brian. "It looks good."

"Hey, where you going?" Brian asked as he watched Nick head back towards the bunks on the bus.

"I'm gonna lay down, I'm tired," he replied.

"Nick, it's only two in the afternoon, god, you've been taking naps for the last couple of weeks every day, morning and afternoon," Brian pointed out.

"Can't help it, I crave sleep," Nick replied.

Brian waited until Nick laid down before he approached his cousin. "Hey Kevin, have you noticed how Nick's been acting lately?"

Kevin glanced up from the book he was reading. "No, not espcially, why, what do you think he's doing that's different?"

"He's been walking really stiff lately and he complains constantly about aches in his knees and his back and hands. He walks all stooped over and the way he holds the papers away when he reads," Brian listed.

"He's probably tired from touring, we all are," Kevin reassured.

"But there's more though," Brian continued. "He had the volume turned up on the TV in our hotel room really loud last night and he's just been like sleeping all the time."

"Brian, just calm down, like I said he's just tired."

The next morning, coughs from Nick's bunk woke Brian up. He quickly got out of his bunk and drew the drapes back on Nick's bunk. He found Nick laying on his side, his body wracked with coughing fits. His skin looked grayish, his eyes cloudy.

Brian left Nick and ran up towards Ray, the bus driver and asked him to stop at the next city to stop at a hospital. Brian ran into Kevin on his way back towards the bunks.

"Hey Bri, what's up?"

"It's Nick, he's really sick and I told Ray to stop in the next city to get Nick checked out," Brian replied as he brushed past Kevin.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Can't you hear him?"

Almost on cue, Nick started another series of coughs.

"Oh, it's just a little cold, Brian, I swear you're getting a bit paranoid lately," Kevin replied.

Brian frowned. "He's sick Kev, don't you get it? He needs to see a doctor."

Within fifteen minutes, Ray pulled into a hospital parking lot. Brian rushed out and grabbed a wheel chair at the entrance while Howie and AJ helped Nick to his feet and off the bus. By the time they finished making their short trip, Nick was beat and winded.

All the time the group sat in a private waiting room, Kevin paced and kept voicing his opinions that the guys were getting "weird" and making "a mountain out of a molehill."

"You guys, this is just crazy, it's only a cold," Kevin tried to convince them of it, but he was really trying to convince himself that was all it was.

Finally, after a few hours had gone by, a tall man wearing a white lab coat entered the room.

"Friends of Nick Carter?"

"Yes," Brian spoke for the group. "Is he okay?"

The doctor shook his head as he looked down at Nick's chart. "I have never seen anything like this in my life. You did tell me that he was healthy up until a few weeks ago, right?"

"Right, only for some body aches, he was fine," Brian replied. "What's wrong?"

"What isn't wrong is the question. I have never seen anything like this in a twenty year old man or a twenty year old woman for that matter."

"Quit dicking around and tell us, man," AJ spat.

Brian winced at AJ's choice of words.

"I reviewed all the tests and I actually had to verify that the films weren't mislabled for another patient's. Nick has congestive pulmonary disease, an enlarged heart, osteoporosis, arthritis, hardening of the arteries and cataracts. In other words, his body is that of an eighty year old man's, not a twenty year old's," Dr. Taylor stated.

"How can this be? This can't be true! He looks the same!" Brian cried.

"It is true, I can't explain it, but it's true," Dr. Taylor replied.

"He'll be okay, right? This is something you can fix, right?" Brian begged.

"We could take care of the cataracts, but I doubt he would make it through surgery. The rest of his symptoms can only be treated with pain medications and around the clock oxygen, I'm sorry," the doctor replied.

"But he's only twenty!" Brian shouted, collapsing against his cousin's side.

Brian softly knocked on the door to Nick’s room. He had been in the hospital for over a week now and his condition was getting worse instead of better. The tour had been post phoned indefinately and Brian hung on to the hope that Nick would be getting better.

He found Nick sleeping in bed, the television set blaring. He quietly reached over and turned the TV off, glancing at his best friend sleeping. He was shocked when he noticed that Nick’s shiny head of hear was now dull and thinning, his breathing was labored, the fingers on his hands looked stiff and painful.

Brian accidentally bumped the bed, waking Nick up.

“Hey buddy, how ya feeling?” Brian asked quietly.

Nick knotted his eyebrows. “What?”

Brian winced at how loud Nick spoke. He cleared his throat and spoke up a little louder. “How are you feeling?”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

Again Nick shouted at Brian. Even though he was yelling at Brian, his voice sounded weak and skaky. Brian had no other choice but to shout back at him.

“I SAID, HOW ARE YOU FEELING?”

“LIKE SHIT,” Nick shouted in reply.

That brought a bit of a smile to Brian’s face. Nick still had his was of stating the obvious in blunt sentences.

“WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?”

Brian shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Howie and AJ entered the room, taking Nick’s attention off of him for a moment.

The words that Nick spoke next made Brian’s heart sink.

“WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

AJ and Howie stopped short of their approach towards Nick’s bed, stunned. After a few moments, when they decided on trying to talk to Nick, his nurse entered the room with his breakfast tray.

“Do we need to leave?” Brian asked.

“No, you can stay if you wish,” the nurse replied as she set the tray down on the bed table.

Brian, Howie and AJ watched in astonishment as the nurse proceeded to take a large napkin and tuck it into the collar on Nick’s gown. She then uncovered a bowl of oatmeal and spooned a small amount out and placed the spoon to Nick’s mouth. He did a poor job of eating as most of it ran down his chin, the nurse having to scrape it off his face with the spoon, like an infant.

As the nurse continued to feed Nick, his doctor entered the room.

“What the hell is going on?” AJ demanded. “He’s regressing, he’s not getting better! He doesn’t know us!”

“He has the middle stages of Alzheimer’s Disease,” the doctor replied.

“What?” AJ asked, stunned.

“He is slowly losing his cognitive skills, he can’t remember people, places how to dress, it’s all part of the disease.”

“But he was fine three days ago,” Howie protested.

“I can’t explain this, I don’t understand this myself,” the doctor defended.

“Why isn’t Kevin here?” AJ spat, "he seems to have copped a non-caring attitude lately.”

As Kevin stood at the foot of Nick’s bed, his mouth dropped open. He was shocked to think that the aging process had hit Nick with such swiftness.

Kevin managed to find his way to a chair that he been pushed up into a corner in the room. He found it hard to look at his “little brother,” the guilt was starting to take hold of him. He had prayed that it wasn’t true when Brian called him up and told him about Nick’s slowly slipping away, the doctors losing the battle and they had no clue as to what was happening to him.

He propped his elbows onto his knees and rested his head in his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the vision of Nick laying in that bed, but the continuous hiss of the oxygen mask on Nick’s face and his occasional gasps for air penetrated his thoughts.

Nick was dying and it was all his fault. Simply put. This was definately murder, but only he knew it and no one else knew of this dark secret that Kevin was carrying inside him.

The touch of a hand on his shoulder startled Kevin. He looked up into the face of his cousin, Brian.

“I’m scared too,” Brian said softly.

He looked into Kevin’s eyes and could see the reddened eyes and the fresh tears still on his unshaven cheeks. Kevin was taking this hard, as were all of the members of the group.

“This shouldn’t be this way,” Kevin softly whispered.

Brian tightened his grip on Kevin’s shoulder. “I know, it’s not fair. The doctors are trying everything they can, but nothing seems to work.”

“Is Nick.... is he in pain?” Kevin stammered.

Brian shook his head no. “I doubt if Nick even knows what is happening, let alone where he is or even who he is.”

Kevin gasped. “Oh god, oh god, what have I done” he cried out as he buried his face into his hands, rocking back and forth.

Brian rubbed Kevin’s shoulders, trying to soothe him as best as he could.

“The doctors have told me that they have done all they could for Nick and his family is flying in to do the final paperwork for a nursing home placement,” Brian tearfully stated. “We had a hard time locating them and didn’t get a hold of Nick’s folks until last night. This is going to floor them.”

“A nursing home? This can’t be happening, this isn’t supposed to be happening,” Kevin cried out. “How can I face them? Oh god.”

Kevin bolted from his chair and raced out of the hospital room. Brian tried running after his cousin but lost him when the elevator doors snapped shut. By the time he made his way down to the main lobby, he saw Kevin’s car speeding out of the hospital parking lot.

Kevin started tearing books out of his bookcase and tossing them onto the floor. He searched desperately for the thick, worn leather book with the gold edged pages.

“Shit, it’s gotta be here,” he yelled out.

He turned and stared at the pile of books on the deep brown carpeted living room floor. Kevin ran his hands through his hair, feeling the tears of frustration building in his eyes. He was about to lose hope when his eyes fell onto the book he was looking for, setting on the edge of his dining room table.

Kevin grabbed the book and found the dark blue ribbon that marked the spot he had last read: Nordan’s Disease Transference.

There it was for him, laid out in black and white on the parchment paper of the old book.

“What have I done?” Kevin wailed as he read over the paper listing the ingredients for the white powdered substance he slipped into Nick’s mug of hot chocolate. “He trusted me..... he trusted me,” Kevin repeated.

The vision of Nick drinking the tainted hot chocolate kept popping into his head, trying to dismiss the easy temptation of drowning his problems in alcohol.

“I need to find help, I can’t do this on my own.”

As he picked the book up, a small white business card fluttered to the floor. Setting the heavy book down onto the table, Kevin scooped the card from the floor.

Starrie Journey: channeling and hexes (808) 476 - 5555

“I have to get help,” Kevin mumbled as he looked at the green print on the card. He picked up his cordless phone and dialed the numbers on the front of the card.

~*~*~*~

“So, you’re serious when you tell me that Kev actually came here to see Nicky?” A raspy voiced AJ questioned Brian.

“Yeah, it was hard on him too,” ABrian replied.

“I’m sure it was,” AJ shot back sarcastically.

“Please AJ, we’re all trying to deal with this, it’s been hard on all of us,” Brian defended.

“Spare me the treatment here,” AJ spat back, folding his arms across his chest. “Can you tell me why the hell he’s not here this morning of all mornings?”

Brian shrugged his shoulders and slowly shook his head. This was the day that Nick’s parents were to arrive to formalize the papers that would put Nick in a private nursing home facility.

“I wish I could answer that for you, AJ,” Brian replied.

~*~*~*~

Kevin’s hands shook as he dialed the number from the business card. After five of the longest rings in his life, a sultry sounding female voice that sounded ironically like Anonda Lewis, answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Ah, um, yeah. My name is Kevin Richardson and I was hoping you could help me,” Kevin stammered.

“How did you get my number?” the woman demanded.

“A card, it was from a card that was stuck in a book,” Kevin replied quickly.

“And for some reason you think I can help you?”

“I’m hoping you can help me, I’ll pay anything, anything at all, I just need to fix what’s been done,” Kevin pleaded.

“Okay, were you the person that did whatever was done?”

Kevin was starting to lose patience with the endless questions and wanted to lash out at her just help and not question.

He took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. “Okay, here’s the story,” Kevin began. “I became interested in black magic and witchcraft about a year ago. I found a thick leather book of spells and incantations at an antique store. Your card was in the book.”

“Okay, what did you do?” Starrie pressed.

“Well, er. my family has this hereditary aging disease and I was starting to show symtoms of it. I’m only 28 and I panicked, so I figured by casting a spell, I could buy myself some time. I carefully read the spell and mixed the ingredients as listed and gave them to a 20 year old,” Kevin stated.

“Then the spell was a success and you regret doing it now?”

“Oh god yes I regret doing this. It accelerated and now this kid is fighting for his life. He has literally turned into an old man on the inside and all this happened to him in less than three week’s time. I don’t want him to die, I want this reversed,” Kevin begged.

“I see, what is the name of the book you used?” Starrie asked.

“Lemme check, please, don’t go away,” Kevin requested as he set the phone down on the glass coffee table. He carried the book with him back to the phone. “The name is sort of worn off. Wait a sec, I think it’s called Kashyap’s Incantations and Spells of Witchcraft.”

“And you said it was a transferrence spell of the aging process disease?”

“Yes.”

“Page 2348. I can’t help you, you must do this on your own. Do not call me again or the reversal will not work,” Starrie warned.

Before Kevin could ask her anything more, the connection went dead.

He quickly thumbed through the back of the book to the page Starrie told him about. Running down the list, Kevin was relieved to discover that the items listed were common everyday kitchen items until he came across two ingredients: powdered sea weed algae and ground starling entrails.

“How the hell am I gonna get that shit?”

After scouring the internet looking for the much needed items for the mix, Kevin finally found a local specialty market that made and manufactured them.

Clutching the tiny bag of blue powder and a small bottle of purified water, Kevin walked down the hall towards Nick’s room in the nursing home. He purposely drove to the home at the earliest hours for visitors so that he would be alone with Nick.

Standing in the doorway of the semi-private room, Kevin was relieved to see that Nick was alone.

Kevin stuffed the water bottle and the powder into his jacket pocket. He went up to Nick’s bed and gently brushed the hair that had fallen across his friend’s eyes. He forced himself to look at Nick. It made him sick to see Nick this way. He caused this.

Kevin brushed the tears from his eyes. He decided he wasn’t going to allow himself to cry. Not here, not now.

He took the blue plastic water cup from the bed stand and pulled the water and the mix from his pocket. After he mixed the formula, he again approached the bed and gently touched Nick on the shoulder.

“Nicky, wake up,” Kevin softly commanded.

It was the shaking that woke Nick up, he was unable to hear any sounds now. His eyes fluttered open and darted around the room. Kevin gasped at how cloudy and dark Nick’s eyes looked. When his eyes finally settled on Kevin, he wasn’t rewarded with a look of happiness but rather a true look of confusion and fear.

“It’s me Nick, Kev,” Kevin reassured. Nick’s only response was to draw himself back further into the bed.

“Nick, I need you to drink this for me,” Kevin said as he offered the potion.

Nick clamped his mouth shut, refusing to drink the liquid.

“He doesn’t know what food is,” a female voice called out from behind Kevin.

Kevin turned towards the voice.

“I’m sorry, I thought you knew,” the woman dressed in flowered scrubs continued.

“No,” Kevin replied.

“His condition is worsening with every day that goes by and they are at a medical loss as to what is causing this,” the woman explained.

Kevin drew a deep breath in, looking at Nick’s blank stare and then back at the nurse. “Can he or will he drink this?”

“What is it?”

“Oh, um, this was one of his favorite drinks, I was just hoping that with him drinking it, it would stimulate his memory and hopefully return to us,” Kevin lied.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t think that could happen, but if you want, all you have to do is drink some of it and then hold the cup to his mouth. If Nick’s having a good day, he might copy what you do.”

Kevin slowly nodded. He brought the cup to his mouth, but didn’t allow the contents to touch his lips. He looked at Nick while he did that and then offered the cup to him.

Nick seemed to reject all efforts to drink the blue tinted liquid. Kevin was growing frustrated with each passing minute. All Nick needed to do was drink three or four swallows and the potion would hopefully start to reverse what had been done.

“Come on Nick, I know you can do this, you have to do this for me,” Kevin begged.

“Kevin?”

Kevin froze when Brian’s voice called out.

“Kev, I’m so glad to see you,” Brian started. “I bet Nick is too.”

Brian glanced at the cup Kevin was holding. “What’s in there?”

“It’s a drink I would make for Nick from time to time, I was hoping he’d take it and drink three big gulps for me and I was thinking maybe this would bring him back to us,” Kevin replied.

“I can do it,” Brian stated.

“You can?”

Brian nodded. “I’ve been the only person that Nick seems to respond to.”

He took the cup from Kevin’s hand and turned and put his face directly in front of Nick’s.

“Mornin’ buddy, how are you today?”

Nick’s face seemed to lighten up when he saw Brian’s face.

“I got something for you that you want to drink,” Brian stated, his face still in front of Nick’s. “Here, let me show you,” Brian stated as he put the cup to his own lips.

“NO, BRIAN DON’T DRINK THAT!” Kevin shouted out quickly.

“Ick, what is this stuff?” Brian asked, his face scrunched up.

“You didn’t drink that did you?” Kevin asked.

“Just a sip, chill, there’s plenty of this crappy stuff for Nicky,” Brian assured.

“Don’t drink anymore, just give it to him, please,” Kevin begged.

“Alright, alright, just calm down,” Brian stated as he again held the cup to Nick’s mouth. “Okay Nick, drink this.”

Kevin closed his eyes, too afraid of the outcome.

“There Kev, all gone, do you have anymore? He looks like he’d lik more,” Brian asked.

“No, he can’t have anymore, it would be too much for him,” Kevin stated absently as he stared at Nick’s face.

“So.... how long do you figure before you’ll see a difference in Nick?” Brian questioned.

“I dunno, maybe in a few days, I’m not sure. I’d have to look it up,” Kevin rushed his reply.

“Look it up? Kev, that’s the dumbest excuse I’ve heard from your mouth yet.”

“I gotta go, bye Nicky, see you in a few days,” Kevin said quickly as he stood up and touched Nick’s shoulder.

Nick looked at his surroundings when he woke up. He was confused to find that he was laying in a hospital, he couldn't remember what landed him there in the first place.

Looking over to his left, Nick noticed an old man, laying in a hospital bed. He found that odd that he would have a stranger in his room, but as Nick looked around the room, he noticed that this wasn't an average hospital room. This man had a shelf lined with tons of personal items and pictures. As he looked straight past his feet, Nick took a quick breath in when he noticed that the shelf that was in the wall in front of his bed had pictures of his friends and family too.

Nick wanted to push his nurse call button, but it was laying on the end table next to his bed and out of reach. As he became more aware of his surroundings, he realized that he was on oxygen among other things. Trying to recall his last memory, Nick found that he had none. The only thing that was in his mind right now was the present, the current. He rememembered his friends and family but he couldn't bring up any specific dates or events.

Finally a nurse entered the room. She first walked over to the patient in the other bed, talking to him in a baby like voice telling him to drink what was in the cup she held up to his mouth. Next she came over to Nick's bed, another cup was in her hand.

"Here, I need you to drink this," the girl shouted at Nick, her face inches away from his.

"Where am I and what's happened?" Nick questioned the nurse.

"It's okay sweetie, I know you don't like to drink this stuff, but it's for your own good."

Nick stared at her for a moment. That wasn't what he had said to her, she must not have been paying attention he thought. He tried again.

Nick could feel his heart literally sink when he listened to his voice. No wonder she was answering like that, he thought, it wasn't because she didn't listen it was because she couldn't understand what he was saying. The words came out garbled and slurred.

"Come on Nick, we can do this by your mouth or the other way, now please cooperate with me," the nurse urged.

Hearing her say that, freaked Nick out. He quickly dropped his mouth open and drank the thick, chalky tasting liquid.

"There hun, that's the way. If I can catch you in time before this works, I'll be back in about two hours so we don't have to change your bed and bathe you like we did yesterday."

It only took a few moments before what she said registered in Nick's head. He was mortified to think that this was or had actually happened.

Looking at the TV set that was hanging in front of him, Nick decided he may as well watch some TV. He commanded his right hand to reach for the buttons and turn the set on. Instead of his arm going directly towards the set, it drifted away from his intended target. After three tries, Nick gave up and closed his eyes.

~*~*~*~

Brian pulled into the parking lot of the home where Nick was being cared for. It had been over a week since he had last visited him. Over two weeks since Kevin had given him that drink hoping that he would come back to them. He sat in the car for a few moments, not wishing to get out and walk into that place. He dreaded every visit because every visit was more of a let down than anything with Nick’s condition failing.

Sighing loudly, Brian turned off the engine and grabbed the book he had bought along to read while he sat in Nick’s room. He clicked the buttons on his key ring and locked the car and then walked up the dark brick sidewalk.

Brian made his usual stop at the information desk, making sure that Nick was still in the same room he had last seen him in.

“He’s still in room 209,” the girl at the desk stated after she looked Nick’s name up in the computer.

Brian nodded and walked down the hall towards Nick’s room, trying to push out the visions of the people sitting in wheelchairs, looking lost or sleeping. Instead of finding Nick in his bed, Brian found a girl from housekeeping making up his bed.

“You looking for Nick?” the girl smiled at Brian.

Brian gave the girl a nod and a slight smile. He was worried that Nick wasn’t in his room.

“They have him down in the recreation room, do you know where that is?”

“Sorry, no,” Brian apologised.

The girl dropped the sheets onto the bed. “Follow me, I’ll show you, it’s not too far from here.”

Brian followed the girl down the hall towards the big, brightly lit room. there were several tables with people in wheelchairs pushed up to it and a television set blaring in one corner with people sitting on couches watching. Brian’s eyes swept over the crowd looking for his best friend.

“There he is,” the girl pointed to a table where Nick was sitting with three other people, an elderly woman and two elderly men.

Nick appeared to be totally engrossed in cutting a piece of construction paper, his tongue slipped out of the corner of his mouth while he manuevered the scissors on the orange sheet of paper.

“Nick?” Brian said cautiously as he walked closer to the table.

A big grin spread over Nick’s face. He wanted to say something to Brian but he knew that his speech wasn’t still perfected. Instead, he set his scissors down and picked up a bottle of glue and lightly dabbed dots of glue on the cut paper.

Brian looked at the sheet of paper. From the person that used to be able to draw beautiful pictures laid a sheet of paper with different shapes that looked more accidental then incidental. As he watched Nick hammer with his fists, another sheet of paper onto the larger one, Brian couldn’t help but feel helpless in the situation and saddened.

Nick’s doctor came over and took a seat at the table next to Brian.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Vanessa Prutill. Nick has been making some miraculous progress. He is steadily getting better and better each day,” the doctor cheerfully stated as she looked at Nick. Has he spoken to you yet?”

Brian shook his head. “No, not a word.”

“I think he will by the end of the week, he is growing stronger each day, I can’t believe his pogress,” Dr. Prutill stated. “Ever since his one friend, the tall one, well, he’s been here everyday and he has been giving Nick his favorite drink, he’s been getting better and better. There isn’t a scientific reason for all of this.”

Brian stared at Nick, watching him glue the pieces of paper as his doctor spoke. He then suspiciously looked at Nick’s food stained tee shirt and his unwashed and uncombed hair. “When was the last time they cleaned him up?”

“He’s been feeding and cleaning himself up, we have been encouraging it,” the doctor explained.

Brian’s face furrowed into a look of disgust and anger. “I really think you can care for him better than this, I mean look at him, this isn’t acceptable. I want to take him out for a drive, can I do that?”

“If you’re on the secured list, I see no reason why----”

“I’m on the list, get the papers around,” Brian interrupted as he pulled Nick away from the table.

Nick managed to yell out, “HEY!” as Brian pulled him away and down the hall.

Leaning in closer, Brian explained to Nick that he was going to take him on a little drive to get some fresh air and sunshine. Nick understood most of it, but he was a little confused as to why he had to leave his artwork behind.

~*~*~*~

Brian almost immediately noticed the changes in Nick once they left the nursing care facility. It was almost a dramatic change where he was now started to speak, small sentances but he was able to make his thoughts clearer.

He telephoned Nick's parents and requested that he stay with him for a few days, to help bring him out of his shell. They agreed and faxed permission to the nursing home. He had called each of the guys and informed them of Nick's progress and all of them but Kevin appeared within a days time of the phone call.

After a few weeks had passed, Kevin gathered the courage to drive out to Brian's and see Nick for the first time since he had recovered under Brian's care.

Ringing the doorbell, Kevin was suprized to see that Nick had walked over and answered it.

"Hey Kev, god, it's so good to see you," Nick said as he wrapped his arms around him and gave him a tight hug.

"Hey Nicky," Kevin replied as he sized Nick up and down. "How you feelin'?"

Nick held the front door open and gestured him to follow him in. "Pretty good I guess, Brian's gone to town and should be back in a couple of hours, I got his house to myself," Nick replied.

Kevin watched his young friend walk ahead of him with. He seemed to be walking with a slight limp.

"Are you hurting Nick?"

Nick eased his body down onto the leather couch in the living room. "I'm a little stiff, but I'm getting used to it, the doc's are telling me it's some type of arthritis, I guess I'm stuck with it for life, but it's okay, I just am getting used to taking meds everyday."

Kevin could feel the tears well up in his eyes. He caused this. This was something he could never take away, he totally effected Nick's life and this was something he would have to carry with him for the rest of his life.

"Kev, are you okay?" Nick asked as he noticed the tears in Kevin's eyes.

Kevin blinked his eyes rapidly, hoping to clear them before they fell. "Hey, how about a game of Road Rash2, you like to do that."

Nick stared at the Playstation laying under the television set. "My hands don't work like they used to, I have good days and bad days now, today is a bad day, maybe tomorrow," Nick apologised with a smile.

Kevin couldn't take it anymore, this was eating away at his conscience. "Nick, there's something I gotta tell you."

Nick clicked off the television set and leaned forward. "Okay, shoot Kev."

Kevin sighed as he raked his hands through his hair. He was trying to think of the best way to explain the awful thing that he had done to his friend. He knew that he could never be forgiven.

"You know how you were so sick a few months ago and was dying?"

"Yeah, I guess, I don't remember all of it, just the stuff Brian's told me about," Nick replied.

"I caused that to happen to you, god I'm so sorry. We have this family curse and I couldn't take it anymore so I made this drink and I gave it to you and it made you worse, I got better but it made you worse Nick, and, god, I'm so sorry can you forgive me?" Kevin rushed his words.

Nick stared at him for a few moments, absorbing all the things Kevin was telling him. As Kevin waited for the blow up that he was sure Nick would be giving him, he was shocked when a huge smile spread across the blond's face. And then he started laughing.

"Sure Kevin, I forgive you, you know that's the stupidest thing you've ever said to me. There is no way you could cause what happened to me. The doctors said it was a viral infection, plain, pure and simple. They don't know what caused it, they never will, but god Kevin, that's just stupid for you to think that."

"But Nick----"

"But Kev, do I have to kick your ass? I can still do that, I'm a little slow but I can manage a good ass whippin if I need to. Just drop it, okay?"

Kevin slowly nodded.

"I'm gonna go get a coke, you want one?" Nick asked as he eased up off the sofa.

"Sure, thanks," Kevin replied.

As he watched Nick's tall frame walk through the livingroom to the kitchen, Kevin still felt incredibly guilty. This was going to be with him forever. Although Nick had accepted his apologies, he felt deep down that he could have killed Nick and he didn't fully understand that.

He wished he could take all the after effects with him. Kevin was pain free as a result of the transferrence, but Nick would be forever scarred with the aches and pains that Kevin should have had.

Kevin swore to himself that he would always be patient and watchful over Nick. He would never again yell at him for being slow at rehearsals or for being late for anything.

As Nick came back into the living room with the cokes, Kevin jumped up out of his seat and ran up to Nick and gave him a hug, nearly knocking him off his feet.

"Hey, what the heck was that all about?"

"Nothing Nick, I just love you and I missed you," Kevin replied.

"You're weird Kev, but I guess I missed you too."

The End

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