"Please God," Kevin whispered. "Please say that he isn’t dead!" There on the floor was Nick. He was curled up into a heap, pale as a sheet, looking more dead than alive. Gasping, the older boy sank down next to his brother, feeling his pulse. It was steady, a bit high which would be expected since he was suffering from a fever. Relief flooded over him. The kid was just asleep, not passed out or even worse dead. But his relief didn’t last long when his hand connected with Nick’s warm skin.
"Oh man you’re really burning up!" he gasped when he felt the fever radiate through his fingers. The kid was hot as a stove. Quickly he scooted on his feet and then ran into the bathroom to get a wet towel. Coming back he placed it over his friend’s forehead only to be met with a small moan seconds later.
"Nick? Nicky you’re awake?" Kevin mumbled softly.
"Mo..Mom? Dad?" The teen opened his glazed blue eyes, looking confused at him. "Brian?"
"No it’s me. Kevin." The older man did his best not to act worried but his furrowed eyebrow told Nick otherwise.
Licking his lips Nick searched for an answer. "What are you do..doing here?"
Ignoring his friend's question the older man did his best not to act worried but his frown told Nick otherwise. "How you doin' little man?" He hadn’t called Nick that for ages.
"No..Not so good,” his friend croaked then coughed briefly, wincing at the pain that radiated through his head. He moaned, "My head hurts and my back and my eyes." Closing his eyes again he mumbled, "Please turn off that lamp. It hurts my eyes so much."
"It does?" Kevin asked, and then quickly did as his friend asked of him. "I guess being sensitive to light has to do with that high fever of yours." He was always trying to find reasonable explanations to everything.
"Mmmm..Maybe." Nick rubbed his forehead.
"You took any medications for that headache recently? Tylenol? Something else?"
"I don’t think so. I don’t remember." Nicks voice was weak. "It wouldn’t help much anyways. It won’t stay down. Nothing’s staying down." He whimpered when another flash of pain shot through his skull like a bullet. "You have no idea how bad this is."
"Is it like when you have those bad migraines?" Kevin asked carefully.
"No worse. Much worse." He coughed, gagging. "I feel sick."
Kevin’s eyes widened. "You gonna throw up?" He rose on his feet to fetch the trashcan.
"No." Nick stopped him with his arm. "There is nothing in my stomach to throw up from. I just feel sick. Dizzy." He rolled to his side again.
"Ok." Kevin watched his friend in silence for a moment, the alcohol making it hard to think straight. "Why are you laying on the floor and not in bed? You passed out?" Concern was evident in his tone.
"I don’t know but don’t think so. "Nick winced while trying to remember why he was laying curled up in a ball, freezing his guts out on the hard stone floor in a hotel room. "I guess I fell asleep or something, you know when I tried to get some help." It was hard to talk; the pain prevented him from thinking clearly.
Kevin furrowed his eyebrows."You´ve actually tried to get help? Real help? Like a doctor?"
"Mmm." Nick nodded but regretted his movement seconds later. "This hu..hurts so badly." He did his best to blink away the tears but it was useless since they kept rolling down his cheek. The teen gasped when another string of hot searing pain struck him, blinding him momentarily.
Upon seeing his friend in such discomfort Kevin felt panic dwell up inside him. . Usually he was the one that could handle emergency situations but today, maybe due to the amount of liquor he had inhaled, he couldn’t think straight and therefore had no idea how what to do. "Heure Buddy," he reached out his hand. "Let me help you back to bed."
The teen yelped when he tried moving him. "Nooo.. Don´t touch me. It hurts and I wanna stay here" He curled into a ball again.
"But you can´t lay on the floor. You’ll get cold and then make yourself sick again.” Kevin reasoned while he making another attempt to get him up from the floor.
"No. leave me alone!" He shrugged the hand off. "It’s so much cooler down here," he mumbled placing his cheek against the floor, hoping for some comfort. "I’m so hot."
"That’s the fever talking. Listen Nick, I know that you feel bad, but you'll just end up feeling worse if you don’t let me help you back in bed." He did his best to get Nick to sit up but when there was no co operation from his friend he simply lifted him up in his arms. Surprised over how light the kid felt he carried him into the bed.
Nick protested widely. "You don’t have to do that Kev. I’m not a baby you know."
"I know Nick. Believe me I know." Kevin chuckled softly. "But you’re too sick to walk and like I said you need to get off the floor. Right now."
"'k." Nick gave up a little too fast for Kevin’s liking, which told him that he was feeling worse than he let on. As soon as he was settled back in bed Nick rolled to his side and then tried to pull the sheets up to his neck. This action failed when his hand was shaking too much to accomplish such a task.
"Let me do that for you," Kevin offered and then pulled the blanket over his sick friend. "Do you know if Brian took your temp before he left?"
"Eh..No idea." Nick looked up with an apologetic expression, like he was feeling embarrassed for not remembering much from the evening.
"That’s Ok." Kevin smiled gently at him and stroking back a strand of sweaty hair from his friend’s face he continued, "You’re really hot. I’m guessing that your fever is pretty high right now with or without a temp to confirm it." He picked up the wet towel and placed it on his forehead. "We need to get it down."
Nick blinked at him. "Kevin?"
"Yes?"
"How come you’re not with them? You know at the promotion dinner?" It was strenuous to talk but his friend seemed urgent to get an answer to his question.
Swallowing hard Kevin tried to think of something to say. "Because..Beacuse I decided to stay in."
"Oh! You did that for me?” Nicks eyes lit up for a second.
Not wanting to spoil the hope that he’d stayed in for him Kevin avoided the answer. "You thirsty? You want me to get you a glass of cold water?" He got up and walked to the bathroom, glass in hand. "I’ll be right back."
When he was in the comfort of the bathroom, all alone, he stared at the mirror. "You’re such a bastard do you know that Kevin?" he said loudly to the reflection in the mirror. Never before had he felt so bad for drinking, but then he was the one that made sure that he never screwed up either. He felt stupid for telling Nick the real reason for him missing out on dinner. That he’d been drunk off his ass!
Coming back with the fresh glass of water he placed it on the bed stand.
Nick, not satisfied with his sudden escape asked, "Why Kev? Why did you stay?" Sniffing in the air he stopped himself. "It smells like alcohol in here." His eyes widened. "You have been drinking haven’t you? That was the reason for staying in!" There was accusation in his tone. "You didn’t do it for me. You’re just being drunk!" He spat out the words with disgust.
The older man swallowed hard. He didn’t like the tone Nick used when he brought up the subject or his disappointed expression when it dawned upon him the real reason why Kevin was there. He hadn’t thought that the teen had noticed the smell, especially not since he had already purged most of the alcohol out of his system. While trying to find something to say Nick whimpered loudly. The attacks were coming closer now.
"It hurts. It hurts..My head..Oh man please make it to stop," he moaned, rocking back and forth trying to sooth the discomfort he was feeling. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he kept whimpering over and over again for the pain to stop.
Not being able to stand seeing his little brother this sick Kevin decided to take action. Picking up the phone he called down to the reception.
"What are you doing?" Nick panted when the worst spell had passed.
"I’m calling the hotel doctor." Kevin was short with his words and when the younger man started to object he held up his hand to stop him, "Hush it’ll be just fine. You'll see." Bedside manner had never been Kevin Richardson’s strong side. Nick didn’t have a chance to respond since the clerk downstairs answered on the other line and Kevin started explaining that he needed to be in contact with a doctor, and fast.
He was told that the hotel doctor would call him as soon as he got in and satisfied with that Kevin hung up.
"Was that Brian?" the teen asked suddenly, acting like he hadn´t listened to a word Kevin had said.
"No. Brian’s still at the dinner. The clerk is going to leave a message for the doctor and then he will call soon." The older man frowned. Nick was acting weird.
"Dinner?" It was like the pain had erased Nick’s memory more than usual.
The question surprised Kevin greatly. "Yes you know the promotion dinner that the fella’s are at this evening." He was doing his best to be patient even if he felt more and more worried over Nick’s strange and erratic behaviour.
"Oh yeah." A blush crept onto the teens pale cheeks. "I´ve forgotten. Sorry."
"That’s all right." Kevin smiled but deep inside he was worried. Nick acted a bit confused from time to time. More confused than he was usually and he suspected that it had to have something to do with the high fever he ran. "The doctor will be here soon and meanwhile you should try and get some sleep. You sure look like you need it. After tucking Nick in, like he’d done when he was younger and homesick, Kevin sat down in the armchair. The alcohol as well as the day´´ s hectic events made themselves known and he closed his eyes while waiting for the doctor to call. Before he knew it he’d dosed off.
What seemed like seconds but had to be more than half an hour later, judging by the time on the clock, Kevin was awakened by a loud ringing. Confused, disoriented, he looked around in the dark room when he realised it was the phone that woke him up. Fumbling out of the chair he heard a weak voice mumble from the bed, "Phone’s ringing."
Glancing at Nick’s direction he found his friend looking at him, eyes glazed and cheeks red from fever. "You awake?" He murmured, while picking up the phone and answering the call.
"You snore." The word said it all.
Kevin had no time to defend himself since it was the hotel doctor on the other line. At first the doctor didn’t seem too concerned when the older man explained about his Nicks flu like symptoms but when he mentioned the severe headache, sensitivity to light, stiff neck and confusion the doctor told him that he would be up immediately and then hung up.
"That was fast," Nick mumbled when Kevin was done talking. "What did he say?"
"He's coming up straight away." The Kentuckian was short in his words but concern filled his mind. He didn’t like the way the doctor had sounded and he was starting to think that maybe Nick was sicker than he first got the impression of. He was also a bit scared what would happen when it came out that he had been drinking and there was no saying what would happen if the media would find out about this incident.
A loud knock was heard minutes later. ‘That was fast!' He thought while Kevin opened the door. Outside was a tall dark man, dressed in a suit and the only thing that revealed he was a doctor was the bag he was holding in one hand and the legitimation in the other.
"Good evening. I’m Dr Blake," he presented himself; "I presume that you are Mr Richardson?"
"Ye..Yes." Kevin reached out his hand too.
"Good. I’m sorry that I’m coming dressed like this but I was at this dinner party in the hotel when I got the call." Noticing Kevin’s frown he added, "It’s my night off actually but luckily I haven’t been drinking any of the cocktails they served since I’m the driver for the night." He chuckled.
"Ok." Kevin felt a bit uneasy. Did the doctor notice that he had been drinking? Then he decided that if he did he did a good job hiding it and there would probably be no harm done. But one could never be too careful.
Stepping inside with one foot the doctor spared no time in getting down to the point. "Where is that sick young man you were telling me about?"
"He’s over there." Kevin pointed at the bed where Nick lay and the doctor stepped up to the kid.
"Hey there," he said and sat down on the bed next to the teenager. "So you’re the one that is sick tonight huh?" He smiled gently while feeling on Nick’s forehead. "You’ve got yourself quite a fever there kiddo."
Nick nodded quietly. He’d never liked doctors very much. They only tend to ask stupid questions and probe him in places he would rather forget existed.
"I know it most suck, doesn’t it?"
"Yeah."
"Well then Nickolas," the older man started only to be cut off by Nick moments later.
"Nick. It’s Nick!" the teen corrected him. "And that," he pointed at Kevin. "That’s Kev!"
"Ok Nick then," the doctor chuckled. "Kev here..."
"Kevin!" Kevin corrected. He had never liked when anyone called him Kev and certainly not by someone that he hardly knew at all.
"I´m sorry, ok Kevin then." The doctor seemed a bit annoyed but he was doing his best to stay patient. It was probably no fun being dragged from a dinner party to go on a sick call anyway so Kevin didn’t blame him for sounding uninterested. "He told me on the phone that you have been feeling sick all day, complaining of a headache so bad that it makes you want to pass out. Is that correct?"
"I guess."
"Can you then tell me something about the symptoms that you’re experiencing?" The doctor went on.
"Sure."
Nick tried sitting up on his elbows but was instantly pushed back by both the doctor and Kevin. "No Nick. You need the rest. Just tell the doctor what hurts the most," Kevin advised.
"Oh Ok." To his surprise Kevin noticed that his friend obeyed easy tonight and this was not something he did very often. As a matter of fact he could be quite a stubborn head from time to time. As well as a pain in the ass!
"I’ve got this mother of a headache." Kevin frowned upon the selection of words but said nothing to stop him. "It’s really bad at sometimes and it feels like my head is about to burst! You know explode!"
"It is?" The doctor frowned while he felt around Nick’s temples. "How would you describe the pain? Does it come and go? Is it sticking like pain or is it a more dull pain?"
"It feels like flashes being ripped through my skull. And it comes in attacks." Nick could be so dramatic when he wanted and he usually did it without an eye twitch.
"That bad huh? Ok then what number would you says it is on a scale from one to ten?" He continued to feel on Nicks head, especially on the base of his skull. "Does it hurt when I put pressure there?" He asked pressing on a spot.
"Not really. It’s kind of numb and on the scale..I don’t now. Sometimes an eight but then it’s a twelve!"
"When would you say it started?"
Kevin felt like he had to butt in.”Nick started to complain about a headache I think around dinner time this evening." He was instantly cut short by Nick who corrected him.
"I’ve had a headache since last night but it only started to get worse this evening."
Kevin felt like a fool. He knew he had been very annoyed with the teen but if he had known that Nick was this sick he would have gone easier on him. But then his friend often complained about one ailment or the other and it was not easy to know when he was really sick, was it?"
After the doctor was done asking about his headache he continued asking other questions. "Are there any other symptoms beside a headache?"
"Yeah." The teen was starting to get tired. He wasn’t very talkative tonight.
”Ok. Can you describe them for me then?" The doctor was doing his best being patient and Kevin admired him for it. It was not an easy task to take on Nick when he was not feeling one hundred percent. He either complained or clamped up like a shell and you couldn’t get out anything from him. Tonight he was doing the shell version.
"I feel nauseous all the time and I’ve been throwing up all evening and then my neck is really sore." Nick paused briefly, "It’s kind of stiff and it hurts when I move. But it can be because I was sitting kind of weird in the plane earlier this morning or maybe because I had to do those stupid dance moves while on rehearsal the other day." He was trying to come up with possible explanations for his on set of symptoms.
The doctor looked confused. "Dance moves? You’re in a circus? A theatre? Dancers?"
Kevin threw him a glare while Nick was too tired to even lift his eyes any more. "We’re in a pop group. The Backstreet Boys, if you ever heard of them," he explained.
"Yeah..That´s right." The doctor smiled at once. "I thought I had seen you guys somewhere. My teenage daughter just loves you. She has your poster up in her room."
"That’s nice." If Nick seemed to like this guy Kevin did not. He was just too annoying and Kevin had never been a fan of annoying people. Nick on the other hand seemed to be drawn to them. The doctor didn’t seem to acknowledge his words instead he concentrated feeling Nicks neck and asking when and where it hurt.
After Nick had told him about how his eyes hurt and Kevin had filled in on that he thought the teen was confused at times not to mention the dizzy spells that he seemed to suffer from the doctor said with a frown. "I think I have a handle on things but I would like to do a brief examination on you as well as take your temperature. You think you can sit up for a bit and take off your t-shirt I want to listen to your chest?"
"Sure." With the help of Kevin Nick did his best to sit up but when he did the throbbing in his head seemed to increase as well as the pain in his back. He made a face that the doctor instantly took notice of
"Your head hurts more when you sit up?"
"Mmmm..A bit.. Yeah..But my..my back hurts too."
"Your back? Ok." The older man picked up his stethoscope and then said, "This will be a bit cold on you but I'll try to make it fast. Breathe in when I say so and then breathe out when I tell you to do that."
"Uh huh." Kevin could see how the teen tensed when the cold object was pressed against his warm skin. Nick shivered slightly.
"That sounds good," the doctor mumbled to himself. "No congestion in your lungs. Have you had a cold recently?"
Nick nodded.
"When doesn’t he?" Kevin muttered from his side. He was starting to get annoyed over the fact that the doctor didn’t say anything of substance and he wanted to know what kind of ailment his friend was suffering from. "Doctor what’s the matter with him? What kind of nasty bug have he caught this time?"
Frowning, the doctor ignored the question and instead said, "Nick, I’m going to feel your glands and then I’m going to shine with this torch." He pulled up a small black flashlight. "In your eyes. I want you to say if it hurts. Ok?"
"'k." Nick did like he said and flinched when the light hit his eyes. "Ouch that hurt." he shielded away.
With furrowed eyes the doctor put the device away and scribbled something down in his note book. "You doing just fine Nick," he said gently. "Now I’m going to take a blood pressure on you since your pulse seems to be a bit raised, but that can be because of the high fever you seemed to be suffering from. Is that ok?" Dr Blake was taking it all very pedagogical and if Kevin hadn’t been so pre occupied with his own thoughts that the doctor would ask him something about him drinking he actually could have thought that he wasn’t too bad..
When the examination was almost over the doctor pulled out a thermometer from his bag. "I’m done soon Nick, and then you can lie down and rest, but first I need to take your temperature. The good thing however is that you can lie down during that procedure." He placed it in the teen’s mouth before Nick had a chance to object. Then they all waited in silence, the doctor scribbling down notes on his pad, Kevin waiting to hear some news and Nick waiting for this whole torture to be over and done with.
Three minutes later the device beeped and the doctor pulled it out of Nick’s mouth. Reading it they could both see a frown etched on his forehead. "Nick, do you know if you have a low or a high temperature normally?"
"Huh?" Nick looked like a question mark.
"I mean do you get high fevers very easily?"
"He’s a low temp I guess.” I think he is rather prone to high temps, aren´t you Nick?" Kev filled in. He felt like a parent giving away all this information. And the only reason for him being able to do that was because he got himself drunk. Life could play its weird game sometimes.
"I don’t know. I don’t remember. My head hurts too much to think." Nick moaned, not wanting to get into a conversation any more than he had to do.
"That’s all right." The doctor smiled. "It’s perfectly understandable since you have a temperature of 103.8."
Kevin gasped. "What?" He thought Nick felt warm but not THAT warm.
Nick on the other hand acted like he hadn’t heard a word that had been said. His eyelids were heavy and they could both see that it was a struggle holding them up. In other words Nick Carter was about to fall asleep.
"It isn’t the flu then is it?" Kevin said with fear in his eyes.
Ignoring the Kentuckian Doctor Blake went on, but this time only turning to his sick patient. "Nick I can tell you feel really sick and judging from what you told me about the headache, the pain in your neck and back and also the high fever I have a clue what you’re suffering from. However I won’t beat around the bush young man and the condition you describe to me sounds like it can be serious."
"Serious? You mean really serious?" Kevin repeated, sounding like a parrot.
This time the doctor looked at Kevin as well. "I don’t want to take any chances and therefore I want you Nickolas to go to the hospital. I’m going to call for an ambulance to take you down there."
Kevin was taking in the words while Nick uttered weakly, "A hospital? You think that’s really necessary? What is he suffering from that can be that bad?"
"Yes I do." The doctor looked sternly at him. "If this is what I think it is, and judging from the symptoms you described it can very well be, you would need to perform some tests and then you might need medical treatment at the hospital depending what the results show."
Nick looked pale, paler then he did before and he swallowed hard. Not knowing what to say Kevin filled in for him, "What do you think it can be then? What are you suspecting Doctor?"
Looking at both of the young men the doctor drew his breath back before saying in a serious tone. "It’s not confirmed with tests so therefore my words can’t be seen as one hundred percent positive and I can be wrong.." He dragged out on his words getting Kevin even more impatient then he used to be.
"Yes?"
”Judging from your symptoms I do believe however that you Nickolas could have meningitis."
