"Nick?" The sound was like music to his ears. She had been out for almost 24 hours. He had stayed with her the entire time, besides when they had first got there and the doctor had to make sure she was OK. He had been fast asleep but his head jerked up when the sound came out of her mouth.
"Megs? You're awake! Oh my God, don't ever do that to me again!"
"I'm sorry."
"It's OK. As long as you are OK, that's all that matters. You have no idea how worried everyone is."
"Well... did I miss anything?"
"Well, besides the fact that Matt came down here, no nothing at all."
"WHAT?!?!"
"We called the police. It's OK, he can't hurt you."
"Well, with guys like you around I wasn't expecting anything less." Nick smiled at her.
"Come here and give me a hug." She smiled at him and sat up. He stood up and hugged her. Once they pulled away Nick started towards the door. "I should probably go and tell the doctor that you are awake. Don't go anywhere."
"I wasn't exactly planning on it." She held up her arm that had her IV in it. Nick smiled at her and walked out the door.
Jane looked up just in time to see her son finish talking to the doctor, right outside the private waiting room that all of the Carters and the remaining four Backstreet Boys had been sitting in for the past four hours. He looked tired, and relieved. In a matter of seconds he was inside the room with all of his friends and family.
"How is she doing?" Bob asked automatically.
"She's awake. The doctor is going to check on her right now."
"That's wonderful!" Jane said, smiling for the first time since Nick and Megan had come to her with the note.
"Nick?" Aaron asked from next to BJ.
"Yeah, buddy?"
"When will Meg be able to come home?"
Nick smiled at his younger brother. "They will probably want to keep her over night, but the doctor said that she will most likely be able to come home tomorrow."
"That's a good thing, right?" AJ asked.
"Yeah, it's a good thing. They only want to keep her to make sure that she is OK."
Everyone looked relieved. They had spent the last four hours worrying and praying that everything would be OK. They had also been a little stressed by Matt's visit.
“Well, when can we go in and see her?” Angel asked.
“Pretty soon. The doctor said that we can all go in and see her in about a half an hour. They are gonna go make sure that everything is OK and then we can visit.”
“That’s good. I miss her.”
“So do I.” Nick said, smiling at his youngest sister.
Megan was sitting in her room waiting to leave the hospital when she turned on the TV. It was the news....
Nick walked in to find her staring at the TV in disbelief. “You ready to go Megs?”
“Um... Nick... look.” She pointed at the screen above him. He turned around to see the front of the hospital they were in on the screen, a mob of at least 300 girls swarming at the front doors.
“Holy crap!”
“No kidding... And listen.” She turned up the volume.
“Yes that’s right. There are literally hundreds of girls out side of that hospital. Why you may ask? Because of the Backstreet Boys. The Boys are there right now, and why we are not sure. The news was leaked early this morning that one of their girlfriends was rushed in early yesterday afternoon and has been there since. We don’t know which one ‘s girlfriend it is, we do know however that all of the guys are friends with her, seeing as our source has said that they took turns watching her all night, and that one of the Boys’ entire family is there. Within an hour of the information getting out girls started lining up outside the facility, hoping, maybe, to catch a glimpse of their idols in this time of trial. We wish the best to them and whoever it may be who is the cause for all this excitement.”
“Um.... We are in deep crap....” Nick said, starting to pace.
“Nick, go get your dad. He’ll know what to do.”
Nick left her room and walked down the hall to where his family was waiting. “We have a slight problem....” He started.
“Yeah I know.... They are all out of Doritos....” Brian said, walking up to him, with a bag of Ruffles potato chips in his hand.
“No, it’s much worse then that.” Nick said, rolling his eyes at his friend. “Have you guys taken a look outside lately?”
“No.... why, what’s wrong?” Bob asked, walking over to the nearest window. “I don’t see anything...”
“Not on that side! At the front of the hospital. There are about 300 girls out there. Someone told the press that we were here and they told everyone. It was just on the news. It doesn’t look good. And there is no way that we are going to get out of here with the security that we have.” Nick explained as his parents walked to the nurses’ station.
“Excuse me...”
“Yes Mrs. Carter?” The nurse who had checked Megan in when she had first came in was back on duty and ready to help in any way she could.
“Um Annie, it seems that we may have a slight problem.”
“What would that be Mrs. Carter?”
“Well, someone on the staff has leaked the information of us being here and that has cause the gathering of a bunch of girls at the front entrance. We are going to need as much security as we can get to get Megan out of here.”
“OK Mrs. Carter. We’ll get the security team up here.”
“I’m gonna call Lonnie. Have him and the rest of the security team meet us here.” Bob said, walking over to the pay phone in the lobby. Jane turned to Nick.
“We’ll make sure that she gets out of here safely.”
“I know you will Mom. But no one knows about ‘us’ and I’m kinda scared to know what will happen when they find out.”
“Well they will either deal with it, or freak out and then deal with it. I think that the girls that are out there right now will take it pretty well. You guys just put out your album here so I think that you will be OK. In the rest of the world... Well that’s another matter that you’ll have to deal with when you get that far. But right now we need to get her out of here safely.”
“Your mother’s right, Nick. Those girls out there are just curious, and who knows, once they find out that it is someone that’s close to you they may hope that she gets better.” Annie said
“I hope so. Someone wanting to get between us is what put her in this place to start with.”
“Nick, these girls have been with you from the beginning of your career, but Megan has been with you for a lot longer then that. It’s gonna be OK. Now go make sure that she’s ready to go, cause once we start moving we aren’t stopping.”
“OK...” Jane watched as her son walked away and smiled. He’d come a long way in the past four years. He wasn’t a little boy anymore.
“Are you all ready to do this?” Lonnie asked as he looked around the hospital room. Everyone nodded. Most of the group had left already, leaving only Nick, Bob, Brian and both hospital security and the Boys personal bodyguards. Jane had promised to watch the news to see if there was anything else on about Megan.
The security team had tried to find another way for her to leave the building. Their only real option was the Emergency entrance, and that was out of the question due to the flashing lights for all the eye could see.
“Megan, are you ready to do this?” Lonnie turned his attention to the girl sitting quietly next to Nick on the hospital bed.
“I’m as ready as I’m going to be. I just want to go home, I hate it here.”
Lonnie smiled at her before clapping his hands together. “OK, lets go.”
They all left the room, said goodbye and thank you to everyone who had taken care of Megan while she had been there, and got onto the elevator to make their was down to the lobby. While in the elevator, Bob picked Megan up, Brian and Nick grabbed her things and security began getting into their places, preparing to bare the screaming. They reached the lobby and everyone took a deep breath before the doors opened.
“God help us all.” Megan muttered as the all stepped into the lobby.
The front door opened and everyone jumped out from behind the furniture. “Welcome home!” Megan smiled slightly at the people who had given her so much with out asking for anything out of her. She was tired and all her body wanted to do was sleep.
“This is great everyone, it really is, but I’m so tired, and I have the biggest freaking headache right now. If you don’t mind, I’d really like to go lay down.”
“That’s fine, dear. We just wanted you to know that we’ve happy that you are back home and OK.”
“No one is happier that I’m home than I am. Thanks Jane.” She smiled and hugged the older woman.
“Come on Meg, lets get you upstairs.” BJ said, guiding her friend up the stairs. When they reached the landing BJ headed towards Nick and Aaron’s room.
“Where are you going?”
“Well, I figured that you wouldn’t want to be left alone in our room. And I really don’t think that Nick will mind.”
“OK.” She couldn’t really argue with her, and she didn’t want to. They walked down the fall and the boys’ bedroom. Ten minutes later Megan was settled into Nick’s bed and AJ was wandering around the room.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seem everyone as worried as they were in that waiting room.”
“I’m sorry that I worried everyone.”
“Yeah, well, as long as you don’t do it again, I won’t have to hurt you.” She smiled at Megan before pausing. “You know he loves you, don’t you?” It took Megan by surprise and she nodded a little. “ Meg, I love you to death, but he’s my brother. Please don’t ever scare him like that again. It was frightening to see him like that.”
“I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt him. I love him too, and I don’t know what I would have done if the roles were reversed.”
“I know you didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I’m just saying to watch your back. You’re like my sister, and none of us want to see anything happen to you.”
Megan smiled. “Beej, can we finish this conversation another time. I’m drained from getting out of that hospital, and I’d really like to get some sleep.”
“OK, someone will come get you for dinner, and you have to see what we taped from the news.”
“Oh joy. I can’t wait. Bye BJ.”
“OK, I can take the hint. Bye.” With that she shut the door behind her and left Megan in the room by herself.
Megan looked around the room. The green walls, the drum set in the corner, the stuffed animals lined up beneath the windowsill. The room belonged to both Carter boys, but it had Nick written all over it.
She let her gaze move to the TV and smiled as she noticed the picture on top of the entertainment center. It was a picture of Brian, Kaytee, Nick and herself at the beach shortly after Kaytee and Brain had become a couple. The strange thing was that you couldn’t tell that she and Nick weren’t together.
She decided that she was going to analyze that thought at a time when she could actually think straight and closed her eyes. Her mind began to wonder to a time when she and Nick could spend time together and not having to worry about anything except a curfew. It wasn’t long before she was asleep, over come by the exhaustion of both the hospital and the hormones of 300 screaming girls.
“She’s in your room Nick.” BJ said after going back downstairs.
“OK. I’ll have to remember that.” Nick said with a grin.
“Have you received any news about the police finding Jackson or Janice?” Kaytee asked.
“No. Nothing since they talked to us at the hospital, but they said that as soon as they were found them, they would call.”
“That’s good.” Brian said, hugging Kaytee to him. He couldn’t imagine what he would be doing if it was her that was getting death threats and Nick was still only 17.
“So... what is going to happen if they don’t find them?”
“Then that means that we are going to have to get security for Megan.” Bob said. “It’s as simple as that. We can’t have anything like this happen again.”
BJ spoke up again. “What if it wasn’t them?”
“What do you mean? Of course it was them.”
“No.... I mean what if it wasn’t. What if Matt teamed up with someone else – someone you don’t know – and was doing this? It’s possible. Olivia said that she saw a girl in the car with him, but she’s never met Janice before... I know that she is obsessed with Nick, but what if he just walked up to some girl on the street and asked if she knew who he was. It could be some psycho fan that is doing this.”
Everyone in the room looked at her for a moment before anyone said anything. “I guess it’s – it’s possible... but do you really think that’s what happened honey?” Jane asked.
“I don’t know. All I know is that it’s possible.”
Sarah had been quiet, but spoke up then. “She’s right. Until the police call us back there is no way that we are sure that it was them. And even she they do find Jason and Junnice or whoever they are.... What is she isn’t the person that Olivia saw in the car with Mark?” Everyone laughed at her slip up on the names.
“Well, for now JACKSON and JANICE are the main suspects and hopefully MATT with talk to the police about what happened.” Nick said, emphasizing the names for Sarah.
“I think that we all need to stop worrying about this right now and go get some sleep. You have to remember that you guys are going on tour in a week.” Jane said, standing up and heading for the stairs. “You can all crash here, I don’t care, but I’m going to bed. The way things are going I could sleep for about three days as long as no one bothered. I know that will never happen around here.” She was rambling on about things that no one could understand as she slowly climbed the steps.
“I think that she has the right idea....” Brian said with a yawn.
“Everyone crashing here?” Nick asked. Everyone looked at him sleepily. “I’ll take that as yes.”
Everyone spread out around the house, sleeping anywhere they could get comfortable, which didn’t take much since they had been awake for the last three days straight.
Once Nick was sure that everyone was taken care of and he had checked on Leslie and Angel he walked down the hall to the room that he and Aaron shared. He opened the door and smiled at what he saw.
Aaron was fast asleep on top of his bed, Brian was passed out on the floor, spread out and taking up, as room as possible, and Megan was asleep in his bed, curled up into tight ball. He quickly changed into more comfortable clothes and climbed onto his bed next to her. He kissed the top of her head and smoothed her hair down before lying down and falling asleep.
