I sat with Nick till he stopped crying and fell asleep from all the excitement with the nasty nurse and wanting his family so badly. Shifting uncomfortably in my gown and mask, which they made me wear, I turned to Kevin who had worry in his eyes identical to mine. "He's really scared Kevin," I said my voice muffled by the mask.
"I know Brian," he sighed. "His Dad's trying his best to get here, there's only so much he can do."
I nodded. I knew that, I just wished we could get him there faster.
"Listen B-Rok, why don't you go get Howie and AJ and tell them the news about the transfer. I think they'll be moving us soon."
I nodded again and stood up gently getting myself out of Nick's hand grip.. I patted his head, frowning at the ever present heat. "If Nicky wakes up, tell him I'll see him soon."
Kev smiled. "you got it Bro, talk to you later."
"Ok Kev, have a safe trip, don't let Nick get all worked up if you can help it."
I exited, angrily ripping off the gown and mask and throwing them to the floor. Damn this hospital. This new one better know what's going on with Kevin and Nick or I'm taking matters into my own hands!
"Did we have to take a cab? Why couldn't we drive? This is taking forever!"
I closed my eyes and counted to 10 silently. I was smashed in the back of a cab with Howie and AJ, in traffic... and AJ was whining.
"Jay, this will be easier, we won't have to park and get mobbed by fans if there are any in the parking lot," Howie said calmly.
"Well, they don't know we are going there! We didn't tell anyone except Nick's dad!"
"It's better this way just in case, AJ. Now keep quiet, you're giving me and I'm sure Brian a headache."
AJ pouted leaning back against his window. I sent Howie a grateful look and looked out the window. The ambulance that was bringing Nick and Kevin had already made its way through the traffic that we were now stuck in.
"Wish we had lights and sirens," mumbled AJ.
Actually so did I. I leaned over to the front seat and asked the driver if we would be there soon. I got an answer in some other language. All right then. If we didn't get there soon, I was going to jump out and walk, I'd probably make it faster. Suddenly Howie's cell phone rang, making us all jump in surprise.
"Hello?" Answered D. "Oh hi Mr. Carter."
My heart leapt in joy. Maybe he was finally on his way for Nick!
"You got a flight out? Great! Nick will be so happy when we tell him!"
I smiled at AJ, who grinned back. Finally good news.
"Okay so you are leaving Europe in 2 hours? You won't be here till late tonight, early tomorrow morning then. Yeah, I know you're trying your hardest. Okay, well we will give Nicky the news. Call me when you get to the airport. Okay, Bye." Howie turned to me, which was hard considering the position we were in. "Mr. Carter got a flight."
"Thank God," I said softly. "Thank God."
HONK HONK!!!!
"We should have driven!"
Oh brother, here we go again...
The new hospital was very nice. It was one of the nicest ones I'd ever been in, and I've visited a lot of hospitals in my life. I was currently standing in the waiting room suiting up so I could go in and see Nick and Kevin.
"Nice outfit you got there Bri, you gonna perform some surgery?" AJ asked gesturing to my gown, mask and now cap for my hair.
I glared at him as I tied on the mask."Yeah Aje, I'm giving you a brain transplant since the one you have obviously stopped working."
"Oh..Ha ha ha." he responded sarcastically. "That outfit has no style, I should work here. I would create a whole new color line for that boring gown. What the hell kind of color is olive green? It's just downright ugly!"
I finished putting everything on and stared at him. "AJ they perform surgery in these things and patients puke on them, they aren't supposed to be all fun and cheery because being in a hospital sure isn't!"
He stood up and walked closer to me, removing his sunglasses. "At least wear these, that gives it some style."
"AJ, Brian wants to cheer Nick up not traumatize him," Howie chimed in.
"Nick isn't scared of me when I wear them!"
"You sure about that?" Howie asked jokingly.
AJ glared at him and turned back to me. "Dude they should at least make cowboy hats in that material. This way the doctors would look cool, like me."
"Yeah, AJ we all wanna be like you," Howie said rolling his eyes.
I laughed, glad we had our spirits up again despite two of us being sick. I waved to them as I went to see Kev and Nick. We were only allowed in one at a time. They only wanted family in and while that didn't exclude me, it did AJ and Howie. After explaining we were the only thing Nick had, they allowed us access... one at a time.
I entered the room seeing Kevin sleeping and Nick looking scared. They had given him something to sleep for the ride here after his last episode. "Hey Frack," I greeted softly as not to wake Kevin.
"Brian? You didn't leave," he said sleepily.
"Of course I didn't! I wouldn't leave my Frack alone in a new hospital!"
He smiled sadly at me. "Nice outfit."
I rolled my eyes. "You sound like AJ."
"When's he and Howie coming in?"
"After I leave, we can only see you one at a time and don't worry, he gets to wear this outfit too."
He laughed weakly.
"Oh! Your Dad is coming! He should be here tomorrow."
His eyes lit up. "Really!"
I smiled at him. "Really, I would never lie to you."
"Even when you say I'm going to get better?"
I turned his face so he was facing me. "Look at me Nicky, I would never lie to you about anything, you are going to get better, this new hospital has specialists that are going to help you."
He nodded, looking down. I lifted his chin again.
"And I don't want to hear anymore about why you think you got sick because of me. You didn't, it was no one's fault why I had heart problems, especially not yours! And I didn't think for one second it was, you understand? I don't want you beating yourself up over that, because it's Not. Your. Fault. Okay?"
He nodded again, this time looking me in the eyes. "I just want to know why I'm sick Frick," he said tearfully.
"Well, Frack, I don't know the answer to that. But I do want you to know you can talk to me when you feel like something's wrong. Don't blame yourself for everything that goes wrong. There shouldn't be any secrets in our friendship, you got that."
He threw his arms around me. "I got it."
I hugged him back, thinking that the only secret I wanted to know right now was what was making my little brother suffer.