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title>Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Dr. Gaynor was making rounds late today. He usually had been finished in the morning, but there had been a bus accident last night that had kept him busy in the trauma room. As he approached Nick’s room, he was stopped by a fellow doctor that needed his advice regarding another case he was working on. Dr. Gaynor glanced at Nick’s chart and felt that he didn’t really need to go in and see him so he handed the chart back to the nurse when they walked by the station.

“Good, the orderlies are here for shift change and doing vitals, I’m taking a break.” Tiffany sighed. It had been a busy afternoon and she had been on her feet for most of her shift. “Janis, could you do the vitals in room 625?” Tiffany asked the older orderly because she knew she wouldn’t know Nick Carter’s celebrity.

“Sure,” the orderly replied when she grabbed Nick’s chart.

As Tiffany settled back into her chair in the nurse’s lounge another nurse burst through the door.

“Tiff, you need to come and help NOW.”

Tiffany jumped up quickly, she could tell by the urgency in the nurses voice that it was serious.

“It’s your patient in 625, he’s overdosed.”

“Overdosed, that’s impossible.” Tiffany’s mind went over what she did with Nick that afternoon. There wasn’t anything she did that would do that. Then she remembered the injection she gave him earlier. Her mind was running through what she had done, could she had given him too much? Did she forget to chart it and someone else gave him more?

They rushed into Nick’s room. He was pale and his lips were blue. A resident was ontop of him doing CPR. He was barking out orders while he was keeping count. A crash cart came in and the resident jumped off the bed and put the paddles to Nick’s chest. His body arched in response to the jolt that was sent through him.

Everyone in the room looked at the monitor, it jumped, hesitated and drew a flat line. The resident hit Nick with the paddles again. Once again, Nick’s body arched with the surge that went through him. This time, the monitor responded with the familiar beating rhythm.

Dr. Gaynor rushed into the room. “How the hell did this happen?” He was angry and everyone backed off. He took Nick’s chart and looked at the nurses notes.

“Has the blood draw come back yet?” He yelled.

A nurse came through the door with a yellow slip in her hand. “Here it is doctor, just came in.”

Dr. Gaynor reviewed the results. The drug level in Nick’s bloodstream jumped out of the paper. The levels were almost skyrocketed.

“How the hell did he get this combination of drugs?” Dr. Gaynor demanded.

“I gave him 25ml injection of darvodan when he asked for some pain meds this afternoon.” Tiffany answered.

“Where the hell did he get the percocet?” Dr. Gaynor shouted.

No one answered. No one was sure, did Nick try to kill himself or was this accidental.

“You better hope to hell he comes through this, I’m sure with a high profile case on our hands, the media will be having a hellofa time with this one. Dr. Gaynor knew the next step that had to be taken. Anytime there is a suicide attempt, the authorities have to be notified.

“Goddamn you people.” Dr. Gaynor stormed out of the room.

The technicians prepared to move Nick back to ICU. They would keep this room open for him when he got well enough to go back up here.

“Brian, I really want to thank you for helping me out these past few days like you have. I can’t begin to tell you how much it has meant to me.” Jessica said as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

“Jess, you know I wouldn’t be anywhere but here for you and Nick.” Brian gave Jess a squeeze. They sat in the parking space for a few minutes.

Looking out at the front lawn, Brian saw the huge mass of fans.

“Let’s be wild and walk through the middle of them, do you think that would kill ‘em?” Brian asked Jess wickedly.

“I’m game if you are, dude.” Jess smiled.

“Let’s do it.” Brian was ready for a challenge.

As they got out of the car, Brian had put on his Kentucky Wildcats baseball cap and sunglasses. Jess put on her own Wildcats hat and sunglasses also. Brian suggested that they go around to the back of the crowd instead of the front. She giggled as they went to the back of the fans. So far, no one noticed them standing there.

“Have you seen anyone yet?” Jess asked a girl standing next to her.

“How do you know what side of the hospital he’s on?” Jess wondered.

“He’s in room 62625 which means he’s on this side of the building and the second last window to the north.” The girl had the hospital mapped out.

Jess glanced at Brian when the girl knew which room Nick was in.

“Have you tried to get in?” Jess asked.

“Oh, god no, they have guards everywhere, the only one they let in is that girl that we have seen with the rest of the Backstreet Boys. She sure is one lucky girl.”

“Oh, who do you think she is?” Jess was curious to see what the girl would say.

“I’ve heard that she is either a sister of one of the guys or possibly a girlfriend of Nick’s. I really don’t think she’s a girlfriend though, I heard that he is freed up at the moment.”

Brian laughed, he couldn’t resist. It seemed that as soon as he laughed, someone in the crowd recognized him.

“Ohmygod, are you Brian Littrell?” a girl standing next to Brian asked.

Brian gave Jess the look to leave. She grabbed his arm and held on tight. They made their way through the crowd grabbing at him. Jess had someone pull her hair at one point. Brian didn’t slow his pace down, he was afraid to stop. The crowd was moving them along the way.

They made it into the hospital and onto an elevator. As Brian pressed the number six button, Jess laughed at him. “That had to be one of your dumbest ideas yet. I can’t wait to tell Nick just to see the look on his face.”

Brian smiled as if he was pleased with himself. He enjoyed doing some of the regular things that his fame has limited him in doing so.

They got off the elevator and walked down the hall towards Nick’s room. Brian and Jess both slowed their steps when they saw that there wasn’t a guard standing outside of his room. They glanced at each other both thinking that maybe Nick was in therapy again or having a test or something and that was why the guard was not at his post.

As they walked into his room, they did not see anything unusual to indicate that Nick was not there. Jess asked Brian if she should check at the nurses station to see where Nick was. Brian told her to wait a few minutes and see if he comes back. After about ten minutes had passed, Brian said he would go and check what was keeping Nick.

Brian came back into the room, his face ashen.

“Jess, come with me.”

“What’s wrong?” Jess was scared by the way Brian was acting.

Brian didn’t say anything to her until they got on the elevator and he pressed number four. He turned to Jessica to tell her.

“Nick tried to kill himself this afternoon.” Brian’s voice was thick with emotion.

“What! No, not Nick. Why would he do such a thing, how could he do such a thing?” Jess asked.

“I dunno, we’ll have to wait to talk with the doctor or nurse where he’s at.” Brian replied.

They got off the elevator and stopped at the nurses station in ICU.

“Nick Carter’s room.” Brian asked the nurse.

The nurse looked at them suspiciously. Jessica still had her green badge around her neck for visitation clearance. She lifted it up for the nurse to see.

“He’s in room 4014, down this hall.”

“Thank you.” Brian smiled at the nurse as they turned to go to the room.

When they entered the room, they found Nick again surrounded by IV lines, machines and devices. He was unconscious.

“What happened?” Jess asked the nurse in the room. “How did he do this, how is he?”

“He tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of percocet.” The nurse did not elaborate any more than she had to.

“How did he get the percocet?” Jess demanded.

“As best as we can tell, he didn’t take it when they would give it to him, he would stash it. We estimate that he had taken approximately fourteen tablets. He also requested an injection of pain medication and had that given to him around the same time he had taken the pills. If the orderly had not come into his room to take his vitals, he would not have been around too much longer.”

“Will he be okay?” Jess was afraid to ask.

“Time will tell.” The nurse did not give them anything to go on with his condition. “You’ll have to wait to talk to his doctor.”

Jess went over to the bed and put her hand on Nick’s. His skin was cold and clammy, his face was pale and his lips were blue. “Thank god he isn’t on a respirator again Brian.”

Brian nodded. He was silently praying for his friend.

Dr. Gaynor entered the room and greeted Brian with a handshake. “Nick is a pretty lucky man to be alive right now. It was fortunate that the orderly went into his room when she did, if it were even ten minutes more, he would be gone.”

“He’s going to be okay, isn’t he?” Jess asked with a shakey voice.

“I have to wait until he wakes up, I don’t know how long his heart had stopped.” Dr. Gaynor replied.

“His heart stopped?” Jessica asked in shock. She looked down at Nick. “Is that why his lips are so blue and he’s so cold?”

“His lips are probably discolored because of the heart stopping but also because of the toxins in his body. As you can see all of the IV’s that are being pushed into his system, we are trying to flush the remainder out of his system. Like I said, we will know more about Nick when Nick wakes up.” Dr. Gaynor told Jess as he patted her shoulder.

After several hours with Brian sitting with her as they kept vigil waiting for Nick to wake up, Jess started feeling angry towards Nick.

“You know what bugs me the most?” Jessica started out. “I have put my life on hold because of this stupid accident, been here and practically lived here and what does Nick do? He tries to take a cowards way out because he doesn’t want to face reality. It would take a lot of time and effort on his part and he didn’t want to cope with it. Everything Nick has done in his life came easy for him up to now. He can’t handle any challenges. I’m sick of this whole damn thing.” Jess stood up as if to leave.

Brian sat listening to Jessica spout off. He knew she was getting stressed by the situation and was hurt that Nick didn’t talk to anyone about how he was feeling.

“You know Brian, he was feeling sorry for himself a couple of days ago before the interview. He never said anything to me but I could see it in his eyes, his face. It’s my fault that I didn’t do something back then.”

“Okay, hold it, now you’re getting stupid. Listen to yourself, no one knows what’s going on in Nick’s head but Nick. After he wakes up, I’m sure there will be a few people that will be helping Nick deal with whatever problems he is having. Don’t beat yourself up on this.” Brian replied.

Nick moaned quietly. Brian and Jess looked over at the bed. His eyes fluttered open and then he looked around the room and at the IV’s hanging from the pole. Nick didn’t say anything he closed his eyes again.

“Nick?” Jess wanted to see if he was alert and awake.

“What?” Nick answered quietly.

“What the hell is going on? What were you thinking about? Don’t you realize how much you’ve hurt me and the other people that love you?” Jessica was firing the questions off to Nick. Brian grabbed her arm to quiet her.

“Just leave me alone.” Nick responded.

“No, I won’t leave you alone. I want you to think about what you did. Damnit Nick, you hurt me.” Jess could feel the tears burning her eyes.

“Get the fuck out of here.” Nick yelled at her. He looked at Brian, “You too, I don’t need anyone in here.”

“Fine, be by yourself, that’s what you want.” Jess angrily took off her hospital ID badge and threw it at Nick. “I won’t be needing this anymore either.” She stormed out the door.

Brian got up and looked at his friend laying in the bed.

“What the hell are you looking at? I told you to leave.” Nick muttered.

Brian knew all of Nick’s moods, but this was a new one to him. Nick was rarely a yeller and treated people with respect, he had never seen his friend act so mean and irrational.

“You got a lot of thinking to do, boy, you just ruined something good.” Brian said as he turned and left. As he was walking out the door Nick started yelling.

“I don’t need anything from anyone. I will be fine, do you hear me?”

Brian found Jessica sitting on the floor against the wall outside of the room. She was crying so hard her body was shaking.

“What is happening to him, to us?” Jess looked up at Brian.

Brian sat down on the floor beside her. “I don’t know what to say Jess. I think he realized what he had done and failed and was now embarrassed to think that he couldn’t even do that right. I think he knows he hurt people, but he is afraid to reach out. We will have to pray for him to get the strength and grace from God that he needs.”

As they sat in the hallway, a nurse walked past them and into Nick’s room. They were both wondering how Nick would treat her. When the nurse walked out of the room after a few minutes they stopped her and asked her.

“I’m sorry, I don’t discuss patients with people other than family,” the nurse replied as she walked away.

“She must of thought we were fans or something.” Brian stated. “I’m suprized she don’t call security to have us removed.

“Don’t look now then.” Jess told Brian as she saw a tall man in a police uniform approach them.

“You are going to have to move.” the officer said to Brian and Jess.

“It’s okay, we can be here.” Jess told the man.

“How do you figure that?” The officer questioned.

“We’re on the list to enter his room.” Brian stated.

“Well then, you are either going to have to enter the room or go to the lobby, let me see your identification.” The officer demanded.

Jess was going to show the officer the green badge around her neck but as she was reaching for it remembered that she threw it at Nick. She also did not have her driver’s license on her as it was in her purse which was still in Nick’s room.

“Um, I’m on the list, but my ID is in Nick’s room in my purse.” Jess said to the officer.

“Yeah, sure.” The officer didn’t believe her.

Brian gave the officer his driver’s license. The man looked over his identification and then checked the list.

“Is this true what this girl is saying?” The officer asked Brian as he handed the license back to him.

Brian had a mischevious smile play across his face.

“Brian, tell him.” Jess pleaded, she knew what he was thinking.

“Yes she is cleared to be in there.” Brian replied.

“Okay, but you either need to go back into the room or go to the lobby, we can’t have people sitting in the hall.” The officer turned away.

“Brian, do you think it would be okay for you to go and get my purse out of the room?” Jess asked.

“Are you scared of Nick? I don’t think he can hurt you.” Brian asked.

“Physically, no, but mentally yes. I don’t want to get him riled up again.” Jess said.

“Oh, just go back in and get your purse, you don’t need to say anything to him, I’m sure he’s sleeping again anyway.” Brian replied.

“Will you go in with me?” Jess asked.

“Will you quit being such a wuss and go and get your purse? I’ll be out here if you need me.” Brian winked at Jess. “It will be okay, trust me.”

Jessica swallowed hard as she pushed the door open. She slid through the opening quietly and walked softly over to the chair where she left her purse sitting. She glanced over at Nick out of the corner of her eye and noticed that the top of his hand was bloody. There was blood on the sheets as well. Nick had ripped his IV lines out of his hand!

“Nickolas Gene Carter, what the hell are you doing?” Jessica was so mad at him for avoiding all of the help people were trying to give him.

Nick jerked when she yelled. He turned and looked at her. The look on his face scared her. She had never seen him look at her and then through her at the same time.

“I thought I told you to get the hell out of here. Leave me alone! I don’t need anyone, anywhere. Just leave me alone and let me die.” Nick yelled at the top of his lungs. It was enough to bring Brian into the room and the security guard as well.

Brian saw the blood and left the room to get the nurse.

“Go, see Brian is smart enough to take the hint, LEAVE!!” Nick yelled at Jessica again.

“I was just getting my purse, I’m going.” Jess snapped back, hurt.

The nurse appeared in the room with a syringe. Nick looked at her and started yelling, “You’re not touching me with that thing, get away from me.” He tried to push the nurse away.

The nurse left the room for a moment but then reappeared with three men in hospital scrubs. Jess wasn’t sure if they were doctors, orderlies or what. The men held Nick down as she administered the shot in the first available arm or leg she could get at. Within thirty seconds, Nick’s body started to relax and then went limp.

“Thanks guys.” The nurse told the men as they left the room.

“What did you give him?” Jessica asked.

“Just a little valium to relax him and get him to rest,” the nurse responded.

“He’s so agitated, he’s not himself.” Jessica was growing concerned about Nick’s change in personality.

“There is an order for the psych doctor to come and see him later today. I know he would want to talk with family before he talks to Nick. Are you going to be around for awhile?” The nurse asked Jess.

“I will not leave if I am needed. I want to do whatever I can to help Nick.” Jess replied.

Chapter 19

Backstreet Boys Stories