She woke up, forgetting she was on the bus and, once again, hitting her head on the bunk above her. She climbed out of bed rubbing her head and ran into AJ.

“Morning sunshine. Hit your head?” he questioned.

“Yeah.” she admitted grinning sheepishly. “Where’s Amanda?”

“Still sleeping I would guess.”

“OK. Excuse me for a second, I have to go check on Nick.”

“Alright girl.”

Rayanne slipped past AJ to check on Nick in the bunk across from her. She pulled back the curtain and found him awake.

“Morning sunshine. Hit your head?” he greeted her with a smile.

“Why yes, I did. How ever did you know?” she asked returning the smile.

“Come on in.” he said holding up his arm. She got in his bunk and took her spot.

“You seem to be more chipper this morning, are we feeling better?” she asked.

“Well, now that you ask, I am feeling much better. I slept fine last night and there’s hardly any pain this morning.”

“Good.” she said kissing his forehead. “Does that mean I get my boyfriend back tonight at bed time?” she smiled.

“You can have him back right now.” he said kissing her fully on the mouth.

“Mmm, how I would love that, but how about we get off this bus and go inside. I need a drink and to brush my teeth anyway.”

They gathered up enough clothes to last them the day they would be in the city and headed to check into the hotel with the others. There were a swarm of fans waiting outside the hotel, so the bus had pulled up to the back door, to go unnoticed.

“Gee, I’m glad the bus pulled up back here. Cripes, I just woke up. In my pajamas, hair all over.” she giggled.

“You get used to people seeing you at your finest.” Brian said walking up beside her with LeighAnne on his arm, her head resting on his shoulder.

“She OK?” Rayanne asked.

“Fine, she’s just not a morning person.” he smiled.

After they had checked into their rooms Rayanne and Nick took the elevator up to the 24th floor. He used the card to unlock the door and they threw their stuff on the dresser. Rayanne went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, with Nick following her in to do the same. When they were done they got back in bed. He took his shirt off and felt his stomach gently.

“I thought you said it didn’t hurt anymore?”

“It doesn’t hurt, but it still feels...swollen or something.”

“Let me feel.” she said moving his hand and gently placing hers where his had been. “Does that hurt?” she asked pushing down a little.

“Kinda. Does it feel swollen to you?” he asked.

“Yeah, it does hurt?”

“Sorta, not too bad.”

Rayanne took her hand off his stomach and leaned down and kissed the tender spot.

“Feel better?” she teased as she made her way back up to rest her head on the pillow.

“Oh, yes. It feels unfathomably better.” he smiled and kissed her nose.

“Good, let’s sleep.” she said closing her eyes. “Is that a word?”

“Sounds good. I’m not sure, we’ll just say it is.”

They both fell asleep as soon as their eyes were closed.

Rayanne was dreaming again, but this time about being on the beach. They had taken Nick’s boat to a deserted island and decided to live there. They were building a hut out of twigs to live in and eating coconuts for dinner on a blanket on the beach.

She was startled awake by a loud banging noise in the bathroom. She rolled over to see if Nick had woken up when she realized he wasn’t there.

“Nick! Be a little quieter in there please, I’m trying to sleep!”

She closed her eyes and tried to remember where in her dream she was when she heard a gagging noise coming from the bathroom.

“Oh God.” She jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom. She threw open the door and saw exactly what she had expected to see...Nick on the bathroom floor next to the toilet.

“God, baby, are you OK?”

He lifted his face to look at her. He was ashen, his face washed out and his eyes sunk in.

“Oh my God. Nick, what happened?”

He took a shallow breath and answered her slowly. “I woke up and didn’t feel good. I came in here to take a shower because I could not sleep.”

He paused, and she waited to see if he was done as she reached for a wash cloth and wet it in the sink.

“I didn’t make it into the shower, I got sick. I can’t stop getting sick. I stood up to come out and get you, but I got weak and fell.”

“And then I yelled at you.” she said sympathetically as she placed the cold cloth at the top of his back. She sat down on the floor next to him and rubbed softly.

“I haven’t eaten anything in hours, but it just keeps coming.” he said softly. “What’s wrong with me?”

“I don’t know hun, but we’ll find out. As soon as you feel up to it you’re taking a shower and I’m going to get Michael.”

“Ray, you don-”

“Let me take care of you.” she interrupted. “You’re sick.”

She sat on the floor and rubbed his back for awhile while he was sick. She started to get even more worried because he was so pale and weak.

“Oh man, look at this.” he said after he had finished being sick.

She didn’t exactly want to look at his puke, but apparently something was wrong, so she did. When she looked over his shoulder into the toilet she saw blood, which she knew was bad, and a bright yellow liquid, which she knew was bile.

“Umm, OK. Stay here, I’m calling Michael.”

Before he could protest, she was in the bedroom calling Michael’s cell phone number.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“It’s Rayanne. Nick’s sick, you need to come up here.”

“Tell him to get some rest, he’s wore out.”

“He tried to get some rest, but he’s puking up blood and bile Michael.”

“Fine, I’ll be right there.”

“Thank you.” she said before he hung up.

She headed back into the bathroom and saw that Nick hadn’t even had the energy to flush the toilet, so she flushed it for him and re-wet the wash cloth and placed it on his back.

“Do you want some water baby?” she whispered in his ear.

He made a noise Rayanne assumed was equivalent to a ‘no’.

There was a knock at the door, and Rayanne let Michael and Jeff in.

“Where’s the doctor?”

“Rayanne, please. We came to see what’s wrong. If he needs to see a doctor, we’ll get him to one.”

Michael went into the bathroom to talk to Nick, while Jeff stayed in the room with Rayanne. She told him everything that had happened since Nick told her he felt sick the day before. To her relief, he was more concerned than Michael did.

“He can’t puke if there’s nothing there to puke. Now I realize he is sick, but the show isn’t for another 10 hours.” Michael said walking out of the bathroom.

Rayanne realized she had no idea how long they had been sleeping, so she glanced at the clock by their bed. It read 9:56. She turned her attention back to Michael waiting for him to finish.

“We decided that he’ll rest for the rest of the day, he can skip all the pre-show stuff, but at 8:00 I want him in the back, ready to get dressed.”

“God damn it Michael, NO! I don’t care how worried you are about who’s going to think what if Nick isn’t at that show and doesn’t perform. It has become blatantly obvious to me in the last 12 hours that you don’t care about Nick at all. You want him to get out there and sing and dance. What is he to you? A fucking robot? That might be what he is to you, but he’s my BOYFRIEND and I LOVE him. I understand people will be disappointed if he doesn’t perform, but he’s human Michael, HE CAN’T DO IT ALL, AND I WON’T LET HIM.” she yelled, her voice rising with every word.

Michael just looked at her.

“Ray?” Nick called weakly from the bathroom.

She walked past Michael and in to check on him. She knelt down by the toilet.

“What do you need sweetie?”

With his eyes closed he lifted his head and whispered. “I want to go to the hospital.”

She kissed him on the top of the head. “Whatever you want hun.” She walked back out to face Michael, tears almost overflowing from her eyes.

She squinted her eyes and the tears fell down her cheek.

“You listen to me Michael.” she started, crying hysterically now. “He wants to go to the hospital, and so help me God, you will TAKE him there, and you will do it NOW. He can’t even open his eyes, how can you possibly think he has enough energy to sing and dance for two hours? Are you just that stupid?”

“I will take him to the hospital, but you WILL NEVER talk to me that way again. I can send you home, and don’t you think I won’t. Now get your bed buddy dressed so I can take him to the hospital to get his ‘belly ache’ checked out, and you’re not coming if you’re going to pull that shit in the ER.”

“Asshole. I’m coming.” she said as she picked Nick’s break-away pants up of the dresser and took them in to him.

“Come on blondie, we’re going to the ER.” she joked as she helped him stand up.

He leaned against the wall as she picked up his feet to put them through the pant legs. With no help from Michael or Jeff, she had him ready to go in ten minutes.

When he walked out into the room with his eyes barely open and collapsed in front of the door, Michael and Jeff picked him up and carried him down the hall to the elevator and out the doors to Michael’s Pathfinder. Rayanne rode in the back with Nick’s head in her lap.

The ride to the hospital took about 10 minutes. Michael took care of filling out all the paperwork and processing Nick’s insurance, while Rayanne sat on the bench with him.

“You’re gonna be OK hun, I promise. Whatever is wrong, they’ll find it out and you’ll be fine. And I’ll stay with you...you know that.” she tried her best to reassure him.

“I know what it is Ray.” he said as the nurse came over with a wheelchair. She helped him get in and started to wheel him away.

Rayanne stood up and started after her before Michael put his hand on her shoulder. “You can’t go.”

She turned to face Michael, expecting to see anger in his eyes. Instead she saw sympathy. He put his arm around her and sat her down.

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more concerned. It’s not that I don’t care about Nick. I care about each and every one of them. There are things you just aren’t part of, you don’t understand.”

She watched his expression, the genuine hurt in his eyes. “I’m sorry too Michael. But I love him.”

They sat there side by side until the Doctor came out. He took Michael aside for a few minutes before he approached her.

“What’s wrong with him? Is he going to be OK?” she asked nervously. Her palms were cold and clammy.

“You can see him, he would like the opportunity to explain what’s wrong.” he answered her quietly.

Rayanne’s heart sank as she allowed herself to be guided down the hallway to the first floor room they had put Nick in. She thanked the Doctor and walked through the door to see her Nick sitting up in bed. He looked a little better and she noticed an IV tube running into the back of his hand.

She walked over to him and he put out his hand for her to take.

“Sit.” he said.

She sat and held his hand gently, careful not to pull at the needle. He closed his eyes for a minute.

“Just tell me you’re going to be OK.” she said, her eyes pleading with him.

“I’m going to be OK.” he said with a small smile as he opened his eyes.

She let out a sigh of relief and leaned in to kiss him softly.

“Now tell me what’s ... wrong.”

He started slowly. She was barely able to believe what he was saying. Her heart ached as she realized how badly he had needed her, and she hadn’t been there for him...

“I read, a lot...people have been saying...people think...I hadn’t noticed a ...”

“Sweetie...” she calmed him with her voice.

“I’ve heard some people saying that I’m getting fat. I guess putting on more weight than I should. They don’t understand, I do so much Ray. They think that because I am who I am, it doesn’t hurt. I have to have such a thick skin, but it does hurt, it hurts A LOT.”

She realized he was very softly crying. She gently squeezed his hand.

“I got sick of hearing it, I thought maybe they were right, I mean no one says it about the other guys. So because I’m so busy and I don’t have TIME to do it right, I thought if I just took a couple, that I could lose...that people would stop caring about the way I looked. That’s not why I make music.”

Rayanne took a few seconds to let it all sink in before she responded.

“Pills you mean?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t right.

“Yeah.” he said looking down.

“Oh my God, Nick. How long? How many? Oh God, and I didn’t notice.” she said tears welling up in her eyes.

“They say I have to stay for a couple of days.” he said not answering her questions. “This is fluids to build my strength back up for a day or so, then I eat.” he continued, lifting his hand.

“But you’ve been eating. I’ve seen you.” she protested, but as she sat there she quickly realized she’d only seen him eat 2 good meals since she got there.

“Yeah, I have been, but the pills have been flushing it out of me so fast, that my system hasn’t gotten anything from the food at all.”

He waited for her to say something. When she didn’t, he continued.

“My stomach lining is inflamed, or something like that, from lack of food, and the pills have irritated it. So, I’ll be OK, but right now my stomach’s not in great shape.”

He waited again, to see if she was going to say something. She didn’t, so he kept going.

“The Doctor is going to tell Michael I can’t do anything for about a week. We have 3 shows, but I can’t be part of them.”

He waited. Nothing.

“As long as the fluids help and I can eat and keep it down, they said two days is all they have to keep me.”

She sat silently looking at him.

“Then everything will be OK. A week from now it will be like none of this ever happened.”

There was silence for a few moments, before he finally asked her what was wrong.

“Say something to me please Ray. I’m going to be fine, what’s wrong?”

She looked him in the eye for a brief moment before letting go of his hand and leaning in to give him a hug.

“Please just don’t ever do that again. Promise me that.”

“I promise.” he said and kissed the top of her head.

She left her head resting on his chest as she spoke.

“I’m going to stay here with you until they let you go.”

“Thank you.” he said, and even though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was smiling.

“We’ll talk about this...but just not right now, OK? I’m just so happy that you’re going to be alright.”

“OK.”

“So, I only got to see...let me count here...one, two concerts Mr. Carter. Did you bring me all the way to Europe to show me two concerts?” she smiled and finally lifted her head off his chest.

“Oh don’t you worry, you’ll get to see more. But I have an idea I want to tell you about.”

Just then the Doctor stuck his head in the door to see if Nick was awake.

“Guess that’ll have to wait.”

He walked toward Nick and checked his IV. He said he needed to take blood, to see if Nick’s blood sugar level was any higher than it had been when he was admitted 45 minutes earlier. He allowed Rayanne to stay, although she opted not too look as the needle punctured her boyfriend’s skin and extracted his blood.

When he left, Rayanne reclaimed her position on the hard bed next to Nick.

“So what’s your idea brainiac?” She pulled a piece of gum out of her coat pocket. “I feel like my breath stinks. I didn’t even get a chance to brush my teeth before we left.”

“Oh, you feel like your breath stinks, huh? Did you puke all morning?”

“Here, you allowed to have this?”

“Don’t know, give me some though.” He popped the gum in his mouth and threw the wrapper in the trashbin next to his bed.

“So what’s your idea?”

“I can’t do anything until a week from tomorrow, not even go watch the shows. The Doctor wants me to rest, rest, rest. Plus, you’re birthday is in 5 days.”

“Yeah...?” she said confused as to where he was doing with this.

“I was thinking, maybe we could fly back home for the week, we’d have so much fun. Have the house all alone, like we live together, a little couple.” he said chomping on his gum grinning his sideways grin at her.

“We are a little couple you dork.”

“Wouldn’t that be fun though? Then we could really do something for your birthday, not have to be in a hotel room or on that bus.”

She let the idea sink in and started to get excited.

“I would love that!” she said, sincerely excited as she gave him a big hug.

“Owie, still a little sore hun.”

“Oh, shit, I forgot.” she apologized.

“It’s OK, it was worth it to see the look on your face as you flew toward me like that.” he let out a laugh.

“I would love to go home with you.” she said sweetly.

“Let me talk to Michael then and we’ll have everything all planned out in a while.”

“Alright.”

“How about you go get him now? The sooner, the better, right?”

“Yupperz!”

She found Michael in the cafeteria eating a sandwich and watching a small TV perched in the corner of the room. It looked to Rayanne like it was hanging out of the ceiling.

“Hey Michael. Nick wants to talk to you about something.”

“OK, did he tell you about resting for the week?”

“Yeah, that’s what he wants to talk to you about I think.”

She walked back upstairs with him, but waited outside in the hallway while he continued into Nick’s room.

He woke Rayanne up. She had fallen asleep on the chair while she waited. “You can go back in now. I’m gonna go call and make flight arrangements for you two.”

“Thank you Michael.” she smiled up at him.

She walked into Nick’s room and opted for a seat on the windowsill this time.

“So we’re going?!”

“Yup. He’ll come back up and tell us when in a while. I can’t leave here until Monday though, and we’d have to be back here by Sunday, but we’d have 6 days, so we’d be there for your birthday on Thursday.”

She hopped off the windowsill and walked over to the bed. “I know what I want for my birthday.”

“That’s good, but who said I was getting you anything?”

“I did.” she said matter-of-factly.

He smiled. “So, what do you want?”

“You.”

“You already have me.”

“You know what I mean Nick. I want to make love to you.”

He studied her face with his eyes.

“Are you sure?”

Instead of answering she leaned in and kissed him softly and gently. When she pulled away from him, he was smiling.

They talked about what they would do in Florida until Michael came back 40 minutes later. They would fly out of Italy at 6:35 A.M. Monday morning, if everything went smoothly with Nick’s release from the hospital. They would arrive in Tampa Airport at 2:20 A.M. Tuesday morning, Tampa time. That gave them approximately 5 full days at home.

When Michael left Nick lifted up his arm.

“Come on in.”

“Nick, you’re in a hospital bed.”

“Does that mean I can’t want my girlfriend to lay with me?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

She crawled in bed next to him, under his arm, as it seemed she had done so many times in the past few days. It was afternoon already, but they had had a busy morning, and both fell asleep quickly.