Chapter Nineteen

When Nick woke up, Aurora was gone. Obviously, Julia had taken advantage of the extra key he'd given her as Sadie was still asleep in her own bed. Either Julia or AJ must have snuck in and grabbed her.

Rubbing his eyes, he reached for the ringing phone that had woken him up. "Hello?" he yawned.

"N… Nick?" Aaron sniffled.

Nick shook the sleep from his head, "Yeah… this is he." He was still only half conscience, "Who's this now?"

"It's… me… Nick… something… BJ… BJ's…" Aaron sobbed.

He sat straight up. He couldn't understand a word his brother was saying, but he was crying. "Aaron?" he cleared his throat as his pitch lowered, "Aaron, what's wrong?"

"It's BJ… Nick… she's… she's in trouble again," Aaron answered, trying to calm down.

"BJ?" Nick whispered, "Aaron? What's wrong with BJ? Are you alright?" His concern grew.

Sadie stirred and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She saw Nick, looking almost panicked on the bed. "What's wrong?" she asked softly, but didn't know if he'd heard her.

"Nick… she never came home last night and I went outside this morning… she… she was on the front porch… and… Nick… someone… beat the shit out of her… so I called an ambulance and… I'm at the hospital now. She's in surgery… Nick… Nick, I'm scared," Aaron cried.

"Oh God…" he mumbled, "Oh God… Aaron… are you okay? They didn't… come after you? How the hell did they get through the gate? The only way would be if… they… had the code…"

"Nick… I think she let them in…" Aaron whispered.

"Nick… what's going on?" Sadie said, sitting up in her bed.

Nick felt tears in his eyes, "Aaron, I have a question."

"What?" Aaron asked, nervously.

"Do you…" he paused, "Do you think it's about drugs?"

Aaron nodded, not realizing Nick couldn't see him, "Yeah… I… I think that's what it could be about. But I don't know…"

His eyes closed. His voice cracked slightly as he fought for control, "What did the doctors say, Aaron? Is she gonna be alright?"

"The doctors said there's some swelling around the brain, and some internal bleeding. That's why they took her into surgery, to see if they could correct it. I haven't heard anything new," Aaron whispered as fresh tears rolled down his cheeks.

He heard his little brother getting upset again, "Oh, Air… Stop… It's gonna be okay…" He sniffled, "It's all gonna be okay…"

"What if it's not…?"

Sadie moved so she was sitting on Nick's bed, and facing him.

"It has to be…" he whispered, "It just has to be, Aaron." He glanced up at Sadie and his lips trembled, he turned away, "What do you want me to do, Bro?"

"I… I don't know. What can you do…?" Aaron asked.

Nick sighed, "Aaron… What do you want me to do? Just tell me."

"It doesn’t matter what I want… What can you do?" Aaron insisted.

Sadie just watched him, waiting.

"Anything. Aaron, if you need me there… I'll go. If you want me there, I'll go. If you don't… then… I won't come to you… but I’ll still have to go to BJ. I just need to know what you need. I already know what I'm doing with BJ."

"Well, Jackie's here with me…" Aaron answered softly, looking to his girlfriend and smiling softly as the tears kept coming. But he didn't really answer Nick's question.

Nick look back up at Sadie. His lips formed a half grin, "Mine is too… although the circumstances are a little different."

"What do you mean?" Aaron asked, desperate to get his mind off BJ.

"Never mind. I shouldn't have brought it up…" he shook his head, "Now, answer my question, Bro…"

Aaron wanted his brother there, he was scared. He needed his brother there, "Nick… I… CAN you come home?"

"Yes… I can do anything I want, Aaron," he said lowly, "Aaron, do you need me there?"

He didn't want to seem too childish. "Yes…" he whispered, "I can't do this…"

"It's okay," Nick comforted, "It's alright. I understand. I'll be there as soon as I can, okay? I'll call you when I get the details. Just… you gotta do two things for me, okay?"

"What?" Aaron asked, relieved.

"Find out if there was any," he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Heroine in BJ's system and… call mom and dad." He waited for a reaction.

"WHAT?! I am NOT calling them," Aaron said, but he knew he should.

"Aaron…" Nick's voice was soft. Defeated almost, "Aaron, I can't explain now, but I can't call them. I can't hear their voices." He couldn't call them after everything he'd been reliving the last couple of days.

Aaron sighed, "Okay, I'll call them. Do you want me to call you back if I find out about BJ's blood?"

"Yes… and if you need to talk…" he trailed off.

"Okay…" Aaron said. "I'll call you… later. Um, call on my cell if you are getting on a plane before I call you, okay?"

"Okay," he whispered, "Tell Jackie hi and thank you… and… I'll talk to you later."

"Okay… bye…" Aaron said and waited to hear the click.

"It's gonna be okay, Bro…" he sighed.

"I hope so," Aaron whispered, shakily.

"Not much else can go wrong," he attempted to joke.

Aaron chuckled lightly, "Don’t say that again, you do have to fly out here."

Nick smiled, "Yeah… It'll crash with my luck."

"Stop it and just… get here," Aaron said.

"I'm sorry," Nick apologized, "I didn't mean to scare you… I'll be there soon as I can."

"Okay… I'll see you later, Nick. No goodbyes," Aaron stated simply.

Nick felt his eyes well up as he repeated, "No goodbyes. I'll see you soon."

Aaron, slowly and reluctantly hung up the phone. He walked over by Jackie and sat, taking her hand in his. "He's coming," Aaron stated, locking eyes with Jackie and then laying his head on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him and held on as he sobbed.

***

Sadie watched Nick as he talked to his brother, no longer speaking, but trying to catch whatever details she could.

Nick heard the click and dropped his phone to the bed. He knew Sadie was watching him, but he didn't know what to say. Why couldn't anything ever just work out for them? Why them? Why him? Why Aaron and BJ? He took a long, shaky breath and bit the inside of his cheek.

"Wanna talk about it?" she whispered, not sure how he'd react.

He just stared at the bed, "Aaron found BJ beaten up on our porch this morning. Don't know who did it, but they either had to have been let in or they knew the codes for security. She's in the hospital and that's where Aaron is now… Jackie's with him… Aaron says he thinks it has to do with Heroine."

"Jesus Christ…" Sadie whispered, "I'm sorry, Baby." That last part just rolled off her tongue. ‘I'm sorry, Baby,’ was just the natural thing to say.

Nick just nodded, "Me too. It's not fair."

"What are you doing? Are you going back out there?" she asked, not sure if she should volunteer to go with. Maybe some time apart and not together would do them good.

Nick knew what she was thinking. "You don't have to come with…" he whispered, "I… understand." He hated getting upset, but everything always seemed to come down on him at once.

She tried to be as comforting as possible. "Well… what do you want? I mean, I know things haven't been perfect between us. But if you want me there, as a hand to hold, or a shoulder to lean on, I'll go…" she rambled.

"Sadie," he started quietly, "I can't tell you what to do… It's not my place… anymore. You're welcome to do what you want to do."

"Nick… I'm asking you… what do you want? I'm not going to base my decision on your answer," she lied, "Do you want me there? Or not?"

He glanced up at her and blinked a few times before looking back to the bedspread. He played with a loose thread and gave a tiny nod.

"Then, I'll go. Do you want me to call the airport?" she asked, placing her hand on his knee.

Nick stared at her, "You'll go? You're coming?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "if you want me there."

He seemed a little confused, but pleased too as he gave a small smile, "Yeah… Would you call the airport?"

Sadie nodded. "Is it just us? Or are you going to ask Julia to come along too?" she asked lightly.

"No," he shook his head, "This is family business."

Sadie slightly cocked her head at him, but smiled softly. "Okay, I'll make the call."

Nick didn't respond as he swallowed.

"You okay, Nick?" she asked, worriedly.

He shook his head, "No, I'm not. But I'll be fine."

Sadie stood, moving in front of him and kissing his forehead lightly.

Nick looked at her questionably.

"It'll be okay," she assured him and moved away, picking up the phone.

"That's what I told Aaron," he mumbled before laying back down and pulling the covers over his head. He needed to sleep and escape the world for an hour or so.

Sadie sighed and made the plane reservations for a flight three hours later, she sighed as she hung up. She went to the bathroom for a shower.