Forty-two year old Doctor Allen Stewart was not a happy man.
Not only had he been on duty for more than 24 hours pulling the graveyard shift, he had to be assigned two high profile rockstars that had been reckless and crashed with their car. There were drugs involved, no doubt, he assumed. The ER chart revealed that there were no illegal subtstances or alcohol involved, but Dr Stewart scoffed at that. He had been in this business way too long to be fooled. Wherever there were rock musicians there was also drugs.
He was way too busy and qualified to play babysitter to two snotty youngsters that were playing with their life. Life in the fast lane. What had him upset was that they were almost half his age and already they had more money than he would earn in his lifetime. These "kids" had no university loan or bills that were swarming over them like flies on a warm day. They also didn´t have three children to feed that demanded the latest stuff all the time and no second mortgages to pay on a house that was way too expensive for their budget.
Instead they could live their life’s happy days, partying, playing around with no worries. Probably never having had a responsibility in life. Allen snorted. He knew their kind. They were living like everyday was their last.
Life wasn´t fair at all.
As if things weren’t bad enough, the hospital was swarming with young teenage girls screaming, wanting to see those rockstars. Shaking his head as he looked at two girls who were crying, mascara running down their cheeks. You would think that they were family to the guys the way they were so very involved in the young rockstar’s well being. Fans as well as media was blocking the hospital entrance and overflowed the front lawn, trying to get the latest information about the star’s health. This irritated Allen to the maximum.
Where was the press when he was patching up that young Hispanic ten year old boy that was a victim of a drive by shooting in a gang crime.....or when he was taking care of the young black woman who had been raped by three college kids on the school yard while people looked without doing anything about it......or when he patched up that bag lady who had been stabbed repeatedly in her stomach with a knife for a simple pack of cigarettes?
Not once had the media shown any interest for his work until today when he happened to be assigned care of two rockstars who had been run into, probably while they were playing king of the road. He snorted.
Life wasn´t indeed fair.
"Excuse me?" one female reporter said running towards him with a writing pad in her hand, "Doctor," she continued. Dr Stewart groaned. This was not something that he thought came with his job description. He stopped momentarily.
"Yes?"
"Is it true that Nick Carter and AJ McLean were admitted here at Tampa General Hospital this afternoon and that you are their assigned doctor?"
"That I know nothing of," Dr. Stewart answered briefly as he started to walk towards the reception desk to pick up charts for his two new patients. His colleague Dr. Blake had been the one that tended to them when they first had come to the hospital, but since Dr. Blake was the lucky one going off the shift, he was the one that was stuck with these two snots.
"Were they tested for drugs? Are they seriously hurt?" The woman was pressing on as he walked with haste away. She was half running beside him, "Is it true that Mr. McLean was acting violent? Threating an orderly?"
"No comment."
"Did Nick Carter seriously hurt his stomach? Was he on drugs?"
"I said No comment." Dr. Stewart walked up to the nurse reception desk, turning his back towards the persistent reporter. "Damn reporters, butting their business into other peoples lives!" He talked as loudly as he could so the female reporter would catch what he was saying.
The reception clerk shook her head, "Is it that bad?"
"Yes, they won´t leave me alone for a second." He sighed, "Poor men, if their life is like that all the time. The press on their asses, I wouldn´t want to trade with them." He glared at the reporter that hastily looked away. With a sigh he ran an tired hand through his short brown hair, "Carol hand me the charts for the patients in room 4 and 5 would you?"
The young woman in the reception, nodded as she snapped her gum. "Here you go." She was taking in the tall handsome doctor for a while before adding, "Dr. Stewart how is your wife doing?" She smiled towards him.
For a moment the doctor felt confused, "My wife?" Then a smile lit up his face, "Yes she is doing pretty well. In fact she is expecting the baby within any week now." He was soon going to be a daddy again. It was his fourth child. To tell the truth he rather spent some time at home with John, teaching him to play baseball and watching Cynthia dress up as a small princess than spending his time babysitting two spoiled rotten rockstars that were born with a silverspoon in their mouth. He would even rather listen to his oldest son, Ron’s heavy metal band than patching up two drugged up rock n´roll stars that the girls were bawling their eyes out over.
Looking into the journals he found that the older one, twenty-four year old Alexander James Mclean was suffering from a mild concussion. He had been agitated and a bit disoriented and the Dr. Blake had decided to keep him overnight for observation. The other one, a twenty-two year old male by the name of Nickolas Gene Carter had complained of stomach pain after the car accident. He had a distended abdomen which called for further examination. The man had also shown signs of nausea. He was administrated anti nausea medication for the time being.
Motioning with his hand with the ER charts, "I will be tending to these patients." Receiving a short nod he walked down the corridor towards the rooms were the two celebreties were situated for the time being. To his irritation he noticed that the reporter hadn´t let him out of sight and another one was hanging onto her too. Due to the massive amount of fans that did everything to catch an eye of their idols there had to be security placed out in the corridor to stop fans from running into the department.
All of the 12 years he had worked in ER, he had never been into worse commotion than this. But then he had never been assigned to a high profile case either. He had almost forgotten about the reporter that was running by his side like a shadow when he heard her shrill voice.
"Dr. Stewart are you the boys assigned doctor? Are you going to examine Mr. Carter and Mr. McLean?"
He stopped briefly, looking at the woman with his intense blue eyes, "I thought I made myself clear. No comment!" The tone of his voice was hard, maybe too hard for the situation but he was tired and on the verge of exhaustion. The last thing he needed was to deal with snoopy journalists!
The woman as well as the man that had accompanied her made no sign in stopping, "Dr. Stewart is it true that Nick Carter is suffering from some disease?
Ignoring the journalists he tried to walk as fast as he could, not saying anything. When this didn´t succed Allen felt his temper being tested, "You are interrupting me in my line of duty, now would you excuse me, you are blocking my way." He tried his best to push past the two reporters, but they were blocking his way.
"Just tell me if they are hurt badly," the female reporter was the worst and she grabbed his arm, holding it in a firm grip. She was like a Eagle that refused to let go of it’s game. He felt trapped.
The lack of sleep combined with exhaustion and irritation made Allen lash out, "Listen lady, you are interrupting me in my work and you better move or I’ll call security and I will have you arrested!" There was a threat in the doctor’s voice that made the female back away. Her male colleague backed away too.
"Jeeze talk about grouch," she muttered as she let the doctor pass.
Without a word, Dr. Stewart walked down the corridor. In the corner of his eye he saw the security guard fending the intruders off and he could see them getting escorted towards the entrance. He couldn´t help but grin at the situation. When he came to room number four, he opened the door, walking into the large hospital room. In his opinion it was crazy that just beacuse Mr. McLean was a celebrity he would get one of the largest rooms in the hospital. There were far more people that needed this room than this rockstar.
Upon opening the door he noticed a young, skinny man laying in the big hospital bed, a white bandage on his forehead. He had a goatee and tatooes all over his arms. If Allen hadn´t known better he would have taken him for one of the members in the motorcycle gang Hells Angels. He looked just as drugged up. Shaking his head Dr. Stewart thumbed through the chart. Just as he did this the man opened his brown eyes, still looking a bit disoriented.
"Where am I?"
A brief smiled toyed at the doctor’s lips as he was taking in his patient’s weak appearance, "Good evening Mr. McLean, I´m Dr. Stewart and to answer your question you are at Tampa General Hospital. He held his tone formal and professional.
"Aww shit!" The hand went up to the tatooed man’s head as he felt his bandage. A groan was heard.
Dr. Stewart frowned, "How are you feeling?"
The patient stared at him, "How the fuck do you think I feel?" He groaned again as if his head hurt, "This is the worst fucking hangover I have had in a long time."
Another frown. So it was true than that the men were intoxicated? Well figures. He looked at the charts and was surprised to find out that there were nothing mentioned about alcohol at all. The doctor’s second conclusion was that his patient was still so confused from the concussion that he wasn´t thinking or acting straight at all.
"Okay what happend?" the man wrinkled his head like he was in pain, feeling the IV line, "I am in a hospital, but how the hell did I get here?"
"You don´t remember?" Allen wrote down a few notes on the chart. He didn´t like it that the man was still disoriented. He would do some more check ups on this. "You were in a car accident with your friend and a car ran into you and...."
He didn´t get to end the sentence before the skinny man in the bed called out with concern, "Nicky..where is Nick?" His eyes scanned the room for the wanted person.
Walking over to the young man Dr. Stewart sat down on the side of the bed, placing a comforting hand on the young patient’s hand, "Shhh..calm down..he’s fine."
But the man didn´t take notice and instead said with a shudder, "Nick..he is..he is so sick, you´ve go..gotta take care of..hi..him."
"Yes, we will. Now it is you that needs to be fine. You have a concussion and might feel a bit disoriented for a while, but it will go away soon. You need to take it easy and rest." Knowing the type of people he had in front of him, Allen waited for a comment back, a rebellious comment. He didn´t have to wait long before it came.
"Damn," AJ sat up abruptly in bed, sinking back down again when his head hurt too much to deal with the situation. "It´s not ME that you should be concerned about. It´s my little brother, Kaos." There was a hint of despair in his voice. Why, the doctor had no idea about.
' "Okay....okay, but now you need to take it easy and I will be looking at your friend too." He tucked the blanket around the young man. "Try to get some rest. I will call for a nurse that will be here for you in case that you feel dizzy or sick." This was also something out of the ordinary. In reality they were often short of staff and having one extra nurse spending time with one patient without critical emergency need was rare. But this was order from highest supervisor. There was no doubt that his management was kissing ass. Wanting all the positive publicity and in the end money for this whole situation.
"Mhmmm." Upon hearing these comforting words, AJ sank back down on the pillow closing his eyes. Just when Allen thought he had relaxed his eyes shot open, grabbing the doctor’s arm in despiration. "Please make Nick well again."There was panic in his voice, "Don´t let him die."
Surprised over the force that were in the words, Allen released the young man’s grip on his arm, gently. "Shhh calm down, relax, your friend isn´t dying." He whispered as soothingly as he could, shocked over the words that his patient sputtered.
"No.....no you don´t understand." The young man was trashing about, "You don´t understand." There was a choked back sob.
Confused over his patient’s actions, he said, "I will give you a sedative so you can rest for a while." The door opened and the nurse he had called for entered the premises. Nodding silently to the black nurse he said, "This patient is a bit agitated. I will prescribe a sedative, and then I want you to keep an eye on him. Ok?"
"Yes," the nurse turned to AJ, " Mr. McLean my name is Brenda." She smiled as she patted the young mans hand, "just realax." When Allen was satisfield with his patient’s condition he left the nurse tending to Mr. McLean, setting out to the care of the friend that the skinny man had been so concerned about.
Allen had recognized them all from being in the world famous boyband "The Backstreet Boys." Not that he had ever liked their music but he knew that some of them lived here in Florida.
Knocking on the door to the other, not as big room, he was received with a small, "Yeah come in." Walking inside he was met of the sight of a young man, in a hospital gown, laying the bed and IV attatched to his hand. He was laying on his side, his arms wrapped around his stomach like he was in pain. There were something vulnerable about his whole appearance. Something that instantly triggered Allen’s parental instincts. The patient reminded him of his own teenage son, only a bit older.
The young man looked up, his pale features and dull blue eyes looking at him, saying nothing. There was a pang of sadness in the middle aged man’s heart. His heart ached. This young man was from as far away as a popstar could be. People were saying that he was wild and rebellious, always having a bad temper and playing around all the time. There was very little of this characteristic at this point. Instead he looked so young. Almost like a lost child.
"Good evening Mr. Carter," he greeted his new patient as he walked up to the grey faced man, "I´m Dr. Stewart. How are you doing?"
The blonde looked up with glazed eyes, “Okay." The voice barely a whisper.
"Good," picking up the chart Allen read it through. "You have a pain in your stomach, is that correct?" He peered on the young patient who shifted uncomfortably in bed.
"I guess."
"Quite an accident you went through," Allen smiled gently towards the young man who seemed nervous as well as being in pain. He walked over to his patient, "I need to do an examination of your stomach. Is that okay?"
Nick nodded and Allen lifted up his patient’s gown, revealing a swollen stomach. He pressed on it lightly. It was distened in a way that the trained doctor didn´t like. Looking at his patient he noticed that sweat pearled on his forehead like he was in serious pain. "Does it hurt when I press here?" he asked as he pressed down.
Nick bit his lip. "A bit."
"Okay, and when I press here?" he pushed down once more on the other side of the stomach, not too hard but not too soft either.
"A little." Nicks soft blue eyes were looking at him searchingly, expectantly. "How´s AJ?"
"AJ?" Allen stopped for a moment, thinking. It had to be his friend that he was refering to. A smiled lit up his face, "Oh you mean Alexander. He is doing good. He just has a slight concussion." There was no need to worry the young man any more than neccessary. "He is resting right now."
"Good." His patient drew a deep breathe as he felt the mans distened stomach again.
Feeling the swollen stomach Allen felt something hard. It was like a small lump. "Does it hurt here?" he asked when Nick hissed. He was touching the upper side of the stomach.
"Ye..yeah." Nick was holding his breath.
Looking at his patient, he pressed down a bit harder just to be met with a loud shriek, "Ouuuchh!" There were tears forming in the blue eyes.
"The glands surrounding your stomach are very swollen." Allen felt concerned over his new discovery. The boy had practically jumped out of his skin when he had pressed on the liver. "I want to do some tests."
"Not neccessary," Nick said as he had regained his composure again. Allen frowned. What did the young man mean by this?
"Yes, um.. I have Hodgkins Disease stage 3," the young man whispered, clearing his voice.
"Oh." For once Dr. Stewart didn´t know what to say. It was like all air went out of him, like draining out air from a hot air balloon. This was the last thing he had expected to hear from this young man who had everything; fame, money, a rich life. Everything that Allen knew that he would never gain in his whole life. It was something with this patient that made his soul ache. Maybe it had to do with his own guilt. He felt ashamed for being so judgemental. Thinking that this young man had his whole life in front of him and now the young man was telling him that he was suffering from cancer. Allen’s own sister had died from this cancer so he had seen what the disease did up close.
"Yes," Nick looked the doctor sternly in his eyes, "I have cancer. In my lymph nodes and in my spleen. I´ve been on chemo and now I´m doing radiation. That is why my skin color is a little bit off, a little yellow I guess.” The young man sounded a bit appologetic. He fidgeted nervously; "Ehhh..I have this too." Pulling back on the collar of the hospital gown, he revealed the port. "You know for when I get the injections and stuff."
"I know." The doctor nodded, taking in all information. It surprised him that his collegue hadn´t found this out, but it was clear that young Mr. Carter didn´t want anyone know his ailements. He wrote a few notes down in his chart, visibly shocked even if he was doing his best to hold a cool facade. "Who is your treating doctor?"
"Dr. Andersen over at St. Mary’s Hospital."
"Susan!" Allen jerked when he heard her name being mentioned.
The blonde looked at him with amusement, "You know her?"
If he knew her? They had been classmates over at med school and they had also been dating for the better part of those years. On and off. "She is one of the best," he said with sincerity. That was true since she was the best in the whole year in med school. "You are in good hands," He smiled reassuringly. "But there are still some tests I would like to perform on you."
"What kind of tests?" Nick eyed the doctor suspeciously.
"I´m ordering an X-ray and.." He didn´t get to continue as his young patient interrupted him.
"X-ray? You mean that stuff that you do outside your stomach?"
"Outside?" The doctor wasn´t quite following the words. Then he realized that Nick was afraid of doing an upper GI. It wasn´t a pleasant procedure but needed to be done. The hardened lumps that Allen had felt was not something that he intended to leave off with. "No I am ordering you an upper GI. I want to look inside your stomach so there are no internal bleedings."
"Bleedings?" Nick sounded worried, "But I think the seatbelt just kinda pushed on my stomach." He froze suddenly, "Are you suspecting something doctor? Something bad?"
The doctor sighed. Suddenly he felt drained, both emotional as well as physically. "I´m going to be honest with you Mr. Carter. I don´t like what I feel when I press on your stomach and the fact that you seem to be in alot of pain don´t want me to rule anything out before I know for sure. I want to take all precautions so that we can find out what is wrong with your body." He tried to talk as lightly as possible.
Nick sneered, "Well there is something bad. I have cancer." The words was spit out at such a furious speed that the doctor could sense the the tension and pain the patient had built up inside of him. He looked at him with compassion radiating from his eyes.
"Did Doctor Andersen order you to do any test regarding the pain in your stomach?"
"No."
"Okay." Allen didn´t question the man more on anything since he knew that this was a touchy subject. His patient looked as guilty as his oldest son had done when he caught him smoking behing the shed. He pressed the call button for a nurse, "Mr. Carter I´m going to send you for an upper GI examination." He could feel his patient tense from fright.
"Is that really neccessary?" Nick mumbled, looking like he wanted to take the nearest escape route.
"Yes Mr. Carter it is. I assure you that everything will be just fine. You’ll get a sedative in your throat so that it will go numb."
"But isn´t that when you eh..stick down a tube down my throat and I get to drink some..um some stuff?" Panic was in Nick´s voice.
"Barium, yes." Allen looked at the blonde, questionlingly "Did you do this procedure before?"
"NO....NOOOO and I won´t do it again either." Nick yelled franetically. " No one is sticking down something down my throat." He sat up, very agitated, one arm wrapped protectively around his stomach.
" Shhh calm down Mr Carter," Allen sat down beside his patient on the bed, patting his comforting on his arm, trying to get him to relax. This was easier said than done. "Mr. Carter I..."
Nick became upset. "My name is NOT Mr. Carter! I´m Nick and I refuse to do this shit." He was flaring with his arms, threatening to kick out the IV line, as he tried to get out off bed. "I won´t do that."
"Calm down I.." The doctor’s voice was once again drowned by Nick’s upset voice, trying to hold the young popstar down.
"I am calm," Nick hissed, "and you can´t keep me here against my will." Nick did another attempt to get up. "Let me be or I’ll sue you for keeping me against my will."
Ouch. This was NOT something he had expected from the sick male. Dr. Stewart backed away. His patient was acting overly stubborn in his opinion, even more than for his own good and he felt it was time to take the young man down to earth again. Even if it would hurt. "No young man you are right," Allen said with a sigh, "I can´t hold you here against your will, you are free to leave anytime you want."
"Good then call me a cab." Nick set down his feet on the floor.
"But I’ll tell you that if it turns out that your cancer has spread further beacuse you have been too stubborn to refuse examinations and could have survived if it was taken in an earlier stage, don´t come crying to me." Standing up the doctor glared irritated at the young man who became silent. "Well I won´t stop you if you want to go home. I have other patients that WANT to get treated and not listening to some spoiled popstar who thinks he can do whatever he want." With that he walked towards the door, turning his back against the young patient he waited for a second before opening up the door.
"No wait!" Nick called out from his bed, desperation in his voice, "I’ll do as you ask. I’ll do the X-ray."
Allen smiled. He had once again succeed over the stubborn nature within one of his patients. "Good," he said still not looking too soft. "I’ll send a nurse in with the Barium drink." He then left the room. Outside he closed his eyes, leaning his aching head against the wall. Nick Carter had been a tough nut to crack.
Now all he could do was hope that he wasn´t too late.
