Kevin was rolling to a stop in the driveway when Aaron shoved the door open and jumped out of the car, running up the front steps to the house.
“Aaron! Come back here!” Kevin yelled after the young blond teen, but it was to no avail. With a sigh, he put the vehicle into park and turned off the engine.
AJ reached into the fridge for a can of Coke when he heard the front door slam shut followed by the sound of someone running up the stairs.
“Aaron? Kev? Who’s there?” He waited for a moment and hear the sound of a bedroom door being slammed upstairs. Setting the unopened can of soda on the counter, AJ started to head up the back staircase to confront whoever it was that bounded upstairs, startled when Kevin appeared in the hall.
“Jesus dude, you gotta stop sneeking up on people,” AJ gasped. “So I’m guessing that was Aaron that just stomped in?”
Kevin rubbed his face in a tired gesture. “Yeah, it was.”
“Didn’t the visit with Nick go well?”
Kevin shook his head sadly. “No it was horrible.”
“Aaron still scared of seeing his brother? I thought he had that hashed out before the little squirt took off to go to the hospital,” AJ wondered outloud.
“He was fine for the most part when I went to the room but Nick wasn’t.”
AJ’s eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”
Kevin leaned against the door frame. “Nick’s giving up doing the chemo and he’s serious this time I’m afraid.”
”HE’S WHAT?!”
“Nick said he’s giving up the fight, something about quitting because he thinks he’s wasting everyone’s time and he’s not going to win.”
”NO FUCKIN’ WAY! THAT SONOFABITCH! GODDAMN THAT KID!” AJ yelled as he scooped his car keys off the kitchen counter. “He’s not gonna give up! Not while there’s still a chance!”
“Aje.....where are you going?”
“To the hosptial to pound some sense into Carter’s thick skull....”
”AJ! NO WAIT A MINUTE!” Kevin yelled as he followed the determined AJ out the garage door. He could only watch as AJ quickly got into the sports car and turned the car around in the drive, speeding off.
Rubbing his temples, Kevin sadly shook his head. “Great thats all we need one stubborn asshole trying to talk sense into another stubborn ass.”
AJ expertly smacked the new pack of Marlboro cigarettes against the palm of his hand as he guided the speeding car up the entrance ramp to US 4. Without missing a beat, he lit the cigarette taking a deliberate deep drag, holding it in his lungs longer than normal as he tried to calm himself down.
“What the fuck!” AJ angrily sighed when the highway traffic came to a standstill. After a few moments of impatiently drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, he revved up the engine of the small sports car and pulled to the side of the highway, driving past the stopped cars.
He had made it to the exit ramp only to be stopped by a Florida State trooper. The tall man had an angry expression on his face as he approached AJ’s sports car. “License and registration and proof of insurance sir.”
“Good afternoon officer,” AJ smiled; cigarette dangling from his lips.
“License and registration sir.”
“Okay....okay,” AJ muttered as he leaned over to retrieve the wanted items from the glovebox and his back pocket. “I need to get to my friend he’s really sick in the hospital and well you probably heard about him....”
The officer took the license and registration from AJ as he continued to babble. “I need your proof of insurance.”
“I don’t have it.. I-I mean I have insurance I just don’t have the papers like I thought I did.....”
“Do you know why I stopped you sir?”
“I told you I need to get to my friend at the hospital, he needs to be talked to......”
The officer gave a blank stare while AJ rambled again. “Stay put.”
AJ watched in the rearview mirror as the trooper walked back to his car. ”Stay put,” he mocked in a low voice.
After a few minutes of watching the traffic slowly inch past his stopped car, AJ lit another cigarette, looking back at the police car in his rearview mirror. “Jesus! What the fuck is he doing?” AJ muttered. He sat up in his seat when the officer finally exited the car.
“Mr. McLean, I’m giving you two citations, I am citing you for careless driving----”
”Careless? I had a good reason for driving on the side of the road!”
“And the other is for fail to produce proof of insurance,” the officer stated in a monotone voice.
AJ snatched the tickets from the policeman’s hand.
“You have two weeks to make payment on the citations and the courthouse number is listed on the citations. Please be mindful when you are driving on Florida Highways Mr. McLean and exercise good judgement.”
“Yeah yeah,” AJ mumbled as he rolled his eyes.
“Have a pleasant afternoon.”
AJ waited until the officer had walked away before he thrusted the car into drive and sped down the off ramp. “Fuckin’ asshole!”
“What are you doing?” he croaked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Just hanging another IV.”
“Of what?”
“Teniposide.”
“Which is?”
“Something Dr. Andersen ordered for you,” she stated quickly as she adjusted the flow into the IV line.
“What is that for?”
The young nurse sighed. “Why so many questions, it’s the med that you’ve been taking for months Mr. Carter, don’t you know what meds you’ve been on?”
“I know the meds I’ve been on that I take myself but not this......what is this for?”
“It’s the chemo that doctor---”
”Stop it now!” Nick stated loudly. ”Stop it or I’ll pull the line!”
“Mr. Carter....you don’t mean that!”
“Read my chart,” Nick replied in a soft voice. “Stop the IV and go read my chart.”
The nurse turned the dial to stop the medication from flowing into the IV line. “I’ll be back in a minute.” As she turned to leave, she ran into AJ in the doorway.
“Easy there sweetheart,” he rasped as he grabbed her shoulders.
“What part of I want to be left alone didn’t anyone understand?” Nick muttered as AJ entered the room.
Grabbing a chair, AJ situated it next to the bed and sat down.
“Jay, I’m really tired and I don’t feel much like company,” Nick said in a quiet voice.
“That’s okay because I’m planning on you just laying there and listening to me.”
“Listen to you talk? I’m really not up to that either,” Nick scoffed.
“Well you’re gonna listen to me I guess since you can’t do anything you’ll have to listen to me.”
“About what? What do you have to say to me that can’t wait? I’m tired and I’m sick and you aren’t listening to me.....just leave okay?”
“I’m not leaving until you hear me out and you change that damn attitude you’ve copped.”
“Attitude? What attitude? I said I’m tired,” Nick lied.
“Cut the crap Carter you know exactly what I’m talking about!”
“I’m not a mind reader AJ.”
The young nurse re-entered the room taking the IV bag off the pole and pulling the line from Nick’s port. She apologized quickly before she left.
“What was that all about?” AJ questioned.
“Just a mix up with the meds,” Nick lied.
“That’s kind of odd for them to do that with your doc and all and I know she’s ontop of everything,” AJ wondered outloud.
“Well sometimes stuff can get mixed up I guess,” Nick added, not willing to offer anymore information.
After a few minutes of tension filled silence, AJ sighed. “Nick, Kevin told me what you have planned.”
“Oh?”
“What can you possibly be thinking?”
“I thought you said Kevin told you what I have planned!” Nick snapped.
“Yeah and?”
“And so you know so I’m done talking. It’s pointless to continue this conversation when I’m tired.”
”Quit the bullshit Nick! You are playing Russian Roulette with your life and you damn well know it!”
“It’s my life AJ!”
“Well you don’t need to throw it away! What is it gonna take to pound that into your thick head?”
“Butt out AJ! Butt out of my life. I’m done with this stupid conversation.”
AJ grabbed Nick’s hospital gown when he jumped up from his chair. ”Listen here pal........I’ve sat by you through all of this since we found out about it and now you’ve suddenly decide that you’re quitting? Do you have any idea how dumb this is? Do you have any idea of how many people you’re letting down?!” AJ shouted.
Nick visibly shrank back at AJ’s actions. “It’s my life and my choice,” Nick defended.
”It may be your life and your choice but if you saw Aaron’s face I think you would think beyond yourself and quit being selfish!”
“Huh?”
AJ released his hold on Nick as he leaned back. “Aaron is crushed. You’re breaking that boys heart giving up. He is so scared Nick and so afraid that he’s losing you. You can’t do that to him, he needs you like you’ll never know. Shit man, you know that he really don’t have much for parents and you’re kinda more like his dad that his brother. He looks up to you and you’re his entire world---”
“Don’t lay that shit on me.....I don’t want to hear that, my mind is made up,” Nick interrupted; eyes glistening with tears.
“You have to listen to me, Aaron is worried sick about you....hell everyone is worried about you....you’ve come all this way to just up and quit everything? Where’s the Nick Carter we know? Where’s Kaos? To just give up isn’t like you Nick. Damn you’re such a damn competitor that I can’t believe you’d just lay down and die. I love you Nick...I always have. This is killing me to see you sick and hurting and as much as I hate to admit it, dying. You need to keep tryin’ I’m not gonna let God take you from me yet, I’ll fight him for you...it’s not your time.”
“Jay I’m tired of being sick all the time.”
“I know you are but just fight it Nicky, you can do this, we need you and you need to be around and get married, be a dad and grow old.”
“I’m tired of fighting a lost cause.”
“Nick you’ve faught harder playing Nintendo goddamn it, you can fight this!”
“Like I told Kevin and AC, my mind is made up....I’m done.”
AJ was quiet for a few moments as his mind frantically raced to come up with something to convince his bandbrother.
“Let me ask you this then Nick.”
“Whatever you have to say to me won’t change my mind.”
“Just hear me out.....what if this was Aaron laying in that hospital bed giving up?”
“It’s not Aaron.”
“Just listen, you remember how pissed you were at me when I was getting shit faced all the time and doing coke? As I recall you were crying on live TV cause you were so upset about me ruining my life.....and you guys told me I had to clean my life up or I would be dead. Hell Nick you punched a freakin wall and broke your hand cause you were so pissed at me thinking I was giving up on myself.”
“I remember and you got the help you needed.”
“Okay now with this cancer, just what if this was Aaron and not you? Would you want him to quit and just leave you? I doubt that I think you’d be in his face telling him to keep on fighting and that’s what Aaron wanted to tell you but you keep pushing him away with your selfishness. Please Nick, just give it one last chance, just try the stuff your doc wants you to do, I think she said this was gonna be a last resort anyway, so you have to at least try.”
Nick stared at AJ for a few moments before he ran a hand across his face as he sighed. “I can stop anytime?”
“After you try what the doctor has planned.”
“But I’m scared about what she wants to do....I read about all the crap that happens when they try to get your body ready for a bone marrow transplant and it freaks the hell out of me. It’s so painful from what they say.”
“Everyone is diffent Nick and you’re pretty tough and we’ll be beside you all the way and I’m sure the doc will be giving you stuff to make it easier on you.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“No Nick, you’re giving me an answer now.....I’m not leaving until you say yes. Hell I got a freakin ticket coming over here to pound some sense into your thick skull.”
“You always get tickets that’s nothing new,” Nick softly chuckled.
“Yeah well, you have to say yes or I’ll make you pay the hellacious fine I’m gonna get from this.”
“Alright....alright, I’ll tell Dr. Andersen that I want to start the treatments up again.”
“No more lying Nick......are you telling me the truth?”
“I swear I’ll start the treatments again.”
“Call your nurse in and tell her then,” AJ insisted.
Nick rolled his eyes. “C’mon AJ I just told you I was going to start the treatment just lemme go to sleep now.”
AJ folded his arms across his chest. “Not until you tell your nurse.”
Nick reached around by his pillow for the call button. AJ quickly grabbed the device and placed it into Nick’s hand. Pressing the button, Nick smirked as the call light didn’t go on. “Must be broke....I’ll tell her later when she comes in.”
AJ pressed the button causing the call light signal to come on. “You need to do your treatments. You’re getting so weak you can’t even press a tiny button for help.”
Within seconds, Nick’s nurse appeared. “Can I help you?”
“Go on,” AJ prodded when Nick looked over at him.
“Yeah, um, can you tell Dr. Andersen that I’m gonna start doing the treatments again?”
AJ clamped a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Thank you Kaos,” he whispered with a smile.
