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Chapter Twenty

Brian and Jess separated in the parking lot. She told Brian her plan was to approach the crowd and tell her she was a reporter and wanted to interview some of Nick Carter’s fans and what they are feeling at the moment. Brian thought that would be a great idea and while she was gathering fans, he would wait in the lounge on the sixth floor. Jess could bring them there before she took them in Nick’s room.

Jess walked up to the front of the crowd. She cleared her throat hoping that she had the voice to be able to be heard when she talked above the music and the talking.

“Excuse me.” Jess paused for effect to see if she got their attention. “Excuse me, but I am a reporter and I would like to interview about ten or twelve fans of Nick Carter’s. Would anyone be interested in coming with me for about an hour or so?”

Jess looked into the crowd. Quite a few girls ranging in age from twelve to eighteen came forward.

“I can only take twelve of you at the most. I guess I’ll have to pick you guys out.” Jess touched certian ones on the should and told them to stand aside. Once she got her group, she asked them to follow her to the hospital.

“I have the equipment set up inside a room.” She lied to the girls.

They followed her to the elevator. None of them seemed to act like obsessed fans, which Jess was hoping that would carry through when they realized where they were heading.

Before they got to the sixth floor, Jess decided to mention what they were going to do.

“I think it would be a good idea for you to know that I have one of the Backstreet Boys that will be joining us in the interview.” Jessica’s eyes scanned the elevator for the reaction from the girls.

“Who is it?” A few voices piped up.

“I could only get Brian Littrell.” Jess responded and tried to sound appologetic.

“Oh, god, is he really here?” One of the girls from the back asked. “I’ll die if he is.”

“Please, you guys have to promise to be quiet, remember, we are on a hospital floor and they will kick us out and end this interview in a hurry.” Jess asked the group.

They remained quiet when they got off the elevator. Jess walked down the hallway to the lounge where Brian would be waiting. He was feeling as nervous as Jessica was about this. As they entered the room, the girls spotted Brian sitting in the corner wearing a Kentucky Wildcats baseball cap. As he stood up to greet the group, the girls rushed him and knocked him over.

“Ladies, please, what did I say about control?” Jess pleaded with the girls. “If you don’t control yourselves, we will have to go back out. Brian is doing us a favor and he doesn’t need you people to mob him.”

Jess looked at Brian while the girls backed off. She pulled him off to the side. “I’m starting to wonder if this would be a good idea after all.”

“Let’s see, we’ll gradually tell them about seeing Nick and see how they are.” Brian whispered back to Jess.

“Okay ladies, just take a seat and we’ll get started.” Jess directed the group. Brian sat back down in the corner where he was.

After Jess asked them about how they feel about Nick and being hurt, the girls had calmed down. Taking a deep breath, she decided to let them in on why they were on the sixth floor.

“As you probably know from standing outside, Nick is on this floor.” Jess scanned the group for reactions. A couple of the girls put their hands to their mouths. Brian wasn’t helping in the corner, he put his hand to his mouth mocking the girls. Jess shot a dirty look back at Brian which made the whole group turn and look at him.

“Anyway, as I was saying, Nick is on this floor. You have probably heard that he is feeling down right now. He is recovering, but it isn’t as fast as he would want it.”

“Poor Nick, we love him so much we hate to see him hurting. We heard about what he tried to do to himself, that is so sad. We love him no matter what he can do.” One of the girls in the group took it upon herself to be a spokesperson.

“Exactly. I was wondering how you guys would be if you were able to go into Nick’s room to cheer him up?” Jess asked.

The girls started getting excited again, bouncing in their seats.

“I could see if we can do that, but you would have to promise to be calm and act like adults, could you do that?” Jess asked the group.

“Oh yeah, we would behave.” The girls responded in unison.

“Brian, could you go and see if Nick would be up to some visitors?” Jess asked.

Brian nodded and got up and walked out of the room. The girls watched him walk away, their mouths were dropped open in shock. They couldn’t believe that they were so close to Brian.

Brian walked into Nick’s room and found him in bed watching tv and playing with his gameboy.

“Hey buddy, how ya doing?” Brian asked.

“Fine.” Nick replied and didn’t take his eyes off the game he was playing.

“Do you feel up to company?” Brian asked.

“Huh?” Nick replied still not looking up from his game.

“Jess is out in the lobby and----”

“She’s here, oh I want to see her and tell her I am so sorry.” Nick finally looked up at Brian.

“Well, she’s not alone right now, so you would have to wait a bit to talk directly to her.” Brian continued.

“Waddya mean?” Nick was suspicious.

“Well, we took it upon ourselves to gather a small group of your devoted fans and we thought it would be a good idea for them to come in and see you. Nick, I think it would be good for you to see some of them. I never talked to your doctor about this, I’m going out on a limb here, pal. Please say yes.” Brian looked pleadingly at his friend.

“I hate the thought of anyone coming in to see me like this.” Nick said quietly.

“That’s the beauty of it Nick. They don’t care how you look, they just care.” Brian replied.

“Hospital gown and all?” Nick looked at his chest.

“Did you want to put on the clothes you wore in the interview on MTV?” Brian offered.

“No, it would take too long to do that. This will be fine, I am sick afterall. Go ahead and bring them in, I guess.” Nick sighed and turned off the gameboy and laid it on his bedstand.

Brian went back into the lobby area where the twelve girls were standing with Jess.

“Is everything ok with Nick?” Jess asked Brian.

The girls could hardly contain themselves when Jess said Nick’s name.

“Now, girls,” Brian said to the crowd, “If you can’t control yourselves, we’ll call this whole thing off. Nick agreed to have you guys come in, but when I say we leave, we leave. Don’t rush up to his bed or do anything that could hurt him. Are there any questions?”

“He’s, like, not still in a coma or something is he?” A girl from the back of the room asked timidly.

Brian and Jess exchanged glances. Jess rolled her eyes.

“No, he’s awake.” Brian looked puzzled as he answered the stupid question. “Anyway, follow me quietly.” Brian turned and gestured with his hand for the group to come along. They got to Nick’s door and Brian softly knocked on it.

“It’s open.” Nick said from the other side.

The girls gasped when they heard Nick’s voice. A couple of girls kept whispering oh my god over and over.

Jess was at the back of the crowd. Nick saw the girls enter the room and he tried his best to smile. He felt silly laying in bed greeting a bunch of girls. Nick looked past the group of girls when he saw Jess come into the room. His heart skipped a beat. He wanted desperately to talk to her, to tell her how sorry he was for what he had said to her. If he could only take that day back.

Jess looked at Nick. He was starting to look much better, stronger. The black circles under his eyes were almost faded and the color of his face looked healthy again. She smiled at Nick and winked to let him know that everything was okay.

When Nick saw Jessica smile and wink at him, he knew they would talk after this was done. He turned his attention to the group that had surrounded his bed.

The girls stayed for twenty minutes asking Nick questions and wanted pictures or autographs. One of the girls did happen to have a camera with her and asked Nick if she could take a picture of him. Nick didn’t look too thrilled about the prospect of a picture.

Jess thought Nick looked really sweet, his hair was messy and he just had a boyish quality to him at that moment. “Go ahead, Brian will take the picture for you.”

Brian took the camera and the girl stood next to Nick’s bed to pose. Nick decided it would be okay for her to sit on the bed and lean back so that they would be closer together for the picture.

“Comeon, it’s okay, jump up here and sit back.” Nick coaxed her.

Brian snapped two pictures for the girl. When she got off the bed, Brian told them it was time for them to leave. All of the girls gave a sigh saying they wanted to stay longer.

“Nick needs to rest, this has been the most excitement he’s had lately and I’m sure it killed him, eh buddy?” Brian winked at Nick.

Nick gave Brian a weak smile which meant that he was embarrassed and would get back at him later.

“OKAY. Well, follow me ladies.” Brian opened the door and gestured for the girls to go out.

“Brian, I’ll take them back out, you can stay here with Nick, okay? I’ll come back in a few minutes.” Jessica said to Brian.

“Thanks.” Brian held the door for the girls and watched them leave. Most of the girls said thank you to Brian as they walked by him.

Jessica couldn’t get them back out to the front lawn quick enough. She wanted to hurry and go back and talk to Nick. She happened to meet Dr. Gaynor on her way back to the sixth floor.

“Hi Jessica, how are you today?” The Doctor smiled.

“Fine, and you?” Jess asked.

“Good. Have you been in to see Nick yet?” Dr. Gaynor questioned.

“Yup, just took twelve girls to his room. Brian and I thought it would boost Nick’s morale to have some fans come in and see him. I’m sure he’s getting tired of being cooped up.” Jess replied.

“That was a good idea. I was thinking about letting Nick go out for awhile, not be discharged, but be allowed to go out for a ride, go to a park, something along that way. I think it would be an excellent idea for him to get some Florida sun.” Dr. Gaynor was getting ready to get off on the fourth floor and held the door as he was talking to Jessica.

“Oh, that would be wonderful. Are you coming up to see him soon?” Jess asked.

“I’ll be there in awhile.”

With that, Dr. Gaynor stepped away from the elevator and let the doors close. Jess was excited for Nick to think that he could go out for awhile. Her mind raced to think of places he would want to go to. She couldn’t wait to tell him.

Jess walked into Nick’s room to find Brian and Nick watching tv. Brian stood up when Jess entered the room. “I think I’ll go down to the cafeteria for a little bit and give you two some time alone.”

Jess didn’t wait for Brian to leave. She went up to Nick’s bed and kissed Nick. Nick gave her a tight squeeze and kept whispering in her ear that he was sorry.

“It’s overwith, let’s never bring this up again.” Jess looked into Nick’s eyes to reassure him that she was putting that incident in the past.

“Come up and sit with me.” Nick smiled as he patted the empty space in his bed. He wanted Jess to be as close to him as possible.

“How are you doing?” Jess asked Nick as she settled down next to him.

“Same. Physical theraphy sucks. I feel like I am not going anywhere with it. My legs still feel the same, and they don’t seem to be working on it at all, they just want me to do arm and upper body exercises and practice going from the chair to another chair and to a car and to a shower. I’m trying to keep a positive outlook on this but it is getting hard. I know that everything takes time.” Nick sighed.

Jess touched Nick’s hair and smoothed it away from his face. She kissed him on the cheek. “I wish there was something I could do for you, babe.”

“I know you do. It really tears me up when I see you and especially when I see my mom. You know how emotional she can be. I just feel like I don’t have much to offer being in the shape I am right now.” Nick appologized.

“Shhh. Let’s not talk about this now. Let’s just take everything minute by minute.” Jess said as she squeezed his arm.

Chapter 21

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