Kevin placed a gentle hand on the young teen's shoulder. "Nick, you really don't have any say in this, you need to see a doctor."
"Not an ambulance," Nick whimpered. "I'll go, but not in an ambulance."
"Yeah, I think Kaos is right," AJ rasped.
Kevin Richardson frowned at the tattooed rebel. "How?"
"Well, an ambulance wouldn't be too sneaky and besides you know how fuckin' Lou is about costs and shit," he stated, throwing his hands up in the air for emphasis.
Kevin gestured at his cousin. "Brian, skip the phone call--"
"I just hung up with the hotel---"
"CANCEL IT AND GET A CAB!" Kevin snapped.
Redfaced, Brian picked up the receiver and punched the number for the hotel operator. "Yeah, this is room.....what room...oh, you have it, um, cancel the ambulance and get us a taxi cab, please....yes, that's right....thank you."
"C'mon Nick, lets get you dressed so I can take you to the hospital," Kevin coaxed in a soothing voice.
"I don't wanna go now, I'm fine," Nick whimpered.
"You just told me you'd go if you didn't have to go in an ambulance, c'mon Nick, I don't have time to play games!"
"I'm fine, I just need to sleep..."
"Nicky, you need to have a doctor look you over, this could be something really serious," Brian suggested, as he fumbled through Nick's suitcase.
Nick shook his head. "I'm fine."
AJ grabbed the sports tee shirt from Brian's hands. "Oh for crying out loud people, quit farting around! "Kaos, you're going to the hospital either by cab or my foot in your ass, sit up and put this shirt on.....NOW!"
The tone in AJ's voice caused the hair to stand up on the back of Nick's neck. Slowly, he managed to sit up, reaching for the wrinkled tee shirt.
"Shouldn't we call Lou or Johnny?" Howie wondered outloud.
Kevin offered his arm for Nick to be helped up with. "No, that would only create more problems. I'll phone him when I get to the hospital."
"Whoa....whoa, hold up!" AJ rasped, putting an arm between Kevin and Nick. "You're not thinking about taking the kid all by yourself!"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was."
"What makes you think you can make me stay here?" AJ challenged.
"Or any of us for that matter?" Howie agreed.
"I'm oldest, so I'm responsible," Kevin defended.
"Don't fight," Nick mumbled.
"We're all going and thats that," Brian insisted as he handed Nick his sneakers.
Tears sprung into the teens eyes as he leaned forward to slip the sneakers onto his feet. Brian noticed his young friend's pained expression and quickly kneeled in front of the blond. He looked up at Nick and winked reassuringly. "Here, lemme help you get these on."
"While you help Nick, I'm calling Rich," Kevin said as he pulled his cell phone off his waistband.
"Why do we need detail? I think we can manage going to the hospital without attracting attention," AJ snapped, trying to quash the idea of having a bodyguard tag along.
Kevin rolled his eyes in reply and quickly turned when he was connected with the bodyguard.
Nick laid back onto the bed.
"What are you doing Nicky? We gotta go to the hospital," Brian asked.
"I wanna go to sleep, I'm tired," he mumbled.
"Kaos, c'mon we gotta go to see the doc," AJ encouraged as he grabbed Nick's hand.
"In the morning," he sleepily replied.
"Morning my ass," AJ spat as he tugged on the teens hand. "Dude we gotta go."
This time the Latino stepped in. "Yes Nick, lets go get you checked out and then you can lay down and sleep."
"Yeah Nick, listen to what Howie said, maybe you can sleep on the way to the hospital," Brian agreed.
"No....I wanna sleep here," Nick protested.
"Dude! Your brain is frying with the fever, we gotta get you in so you can cool down man," AJ spat as he pulled harder on the teen's hand.
"OUCH...... that hurts!" Nick yelped.
"Okay, lets get going, Rich is meeting us in the hall right now," Kevin said as he clapped his hands together. He looked at the three men gathered in front of the bed. "I said lets get going!"
"Nicky don't want to go," Howie said.
"Well Nicky is going to get up and go," Kevin replied.
Gingerly, Nick eased himself to a sitting position, cold sweat dotted his forehead and upper lip. His breathing was becoming labored.
Brian managed to exchange a worried glance toward his cousin. "I really think an ambulance would have been a better option."
"No ambulance," Nick panted.
Ignoring Nick and Brian, Kevin snapped at AJ. "Help me get Nick to stand up."
Brian hurried over to the empty bed, quickly pulling a blanket off of the mattress, draping it over the young man's shoulders. He looked over at Howie; the worried expression in the Latino's eyes mirrored his own. He couldn't get over how pale and sweaty Nick was.
Nick walked slowly, leaning heavily on Kevin's side as he shuffled his way toward the door. The ever-prepared Latino grabbed the small wastebasket as he followed the guys toward the doorway.
Just as Kevin promised, the black, muscular body guard was waiting for them outside the hotel room, a worried expression quickly replaced his stoic look.
"He's really sick," Rich observed.
"No shit Sherlock," AJ rasped.
"Jay!" Kevin hissed.
"Well it don't take a rocket scientist to see that something is definately up with Kaos," AJ defended.
"Just be nice, okay?"
Nick stopped, AJ and Kevin were starting to drag the teen, not noticing at first that he had stopped moving his feet.
"Nick, we can't get to the elevator without your help, ya know," AJ muttered.
Nick could only shake his head. Shivering, he drew the blanket closer toward his chest.
"C'mon buddy, you're not too far away from the elevator," Brian encouraged.
"I think I can carry him if you want me to," the bodyguard offered.
Howie smiled. "Thanks Rich, but I think that we should consider doing that as a last resort."
"Can I just go back to bed?" Nick mumbled through chattering teeth.
"NO!" the foursome shouted in unison.
The bodyguard had hurried ahead of the group and called the elevator so it was ready and waiting by the time Kevin and AJ managed to get Nick to the car. Stepping into the elevator, Nick leaned his body heavily against Kevin's shoulder, sweat pooling off his face.
"Jesus Nick, you're burning up," Kevin commented.
"I-I f-feel c-cold," Nick chattered.
No words were exchanged during the ride to the lobby, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Nick kept his eyes trained to the floor; eyes pooled with unshed tears. He missed his mother right now and wished more than anything she could be there with him, like Denise was for AJ.
The bell signaled that they had arrived to the wanted lobby. Kevin took a better grip on the young man's arm and leaned into him. "Are you ready?"
Nick gave a slight nod as he took a deep breath, preparing himself for the walk that he was facing.
The group had only walked approximately twenty feet when they were met with management and an obviously drunk Denise McLean.
"Alexander James McLean, where do you think you're going at this hour of the night?" Denise snarled.
"Mom, we have to take Nick to the hospital," AJ casually explained as he tried to step around his mother.
"Who gave you permission to leave?" Lou Pearlman boomed, mopping his forehead with the ever-present handkerchief.
"We didn't ask," Kevin calmly replied. "Please move."
The obese manager refused to budge. "I really don't think you're in charge of Carter."
"I tried to call Johnny but the line was busy and we really didn't have time to mess with trying to ask for permission," Howie explained.
AJ glared at his mother. "Yeah, while you were out getting sauced we were actually taking care of Nick here."
"Don't you dare talk to me that way Alexander!"
Nick started feeling faint and his legs buckled underneath him, nearly taking Kevin and AJ down to the floor.
"See...this is serious, now step aside, please," Kevin asked again politely.
"Richardson, do you realize what trouble you are putting the boy into?" Pearlman wheezed.
"Getting medical attention? I fail to see where that would cause trouble," Kevin sneered. "C'mon Nick, we're gonna go get into the cab."
Whimpering, Nick took slow, shuffling steps alongside AJ and Kevin, Brian and Howie in tow with the bodyguard following closely behind.
The blast of cold air hit Nick's sweaty face, sending shivers racing through his body. A wave of dizziness swept over him and Nick momentarily closed his eyes, trying to clear the cobwebs from his brain. His eyes were burning, not to mention his ears were ringing. The screaming from fans that had been staking out the hotel entrance added to the roller coaster of pain that was ripping through his weak body.
A feeling of panic quickly raced through AJ, Brian, Howie and Kevin and without having to utter a word, Rich quickly scooped up the ailing teen into his arms, the movement threw the blanket off of Nick, causing the sea of frenzied teenaged girls scrambling for the souvineer.
At first Brian was going to go after the fallen object, but the sight of the heavyset teen that had claimed the prize immediately changed his mind. He was certain he would meet with unforeseen injuries if he challenged her for the blanket.
"GET IN.....NOW!" Kevin yelled above the screams to the others as he opened the taxi door.
"Where to sir?" the young cabbie asked after the men crammed into the car.
"The nearest emergency room," Kevin replied in a worried voice. Looking over at Nick, he could see that his color had gone from pale to ashen. "Go as fast as you can.....please.".
Kevin prayed that they would get there before it was too late.