Michael fought to keep his temper in check, his anger growing as he watched Nick pull Ellie closer to him, "You know, it's been a long day, why don't we discuss the tour later...after all Nick, we wouldn't want to bore you with the details." Nick raised an eyebrow, "I don't find anything that has to do with Ellie boring Michael, I think you know that...let's talk now...or is there something I'm not supposed to hear?" Michael's eyes narrowed at the tone in Nick's voice, wondering if perhaps he had slightly underestimated his young adversary, "Fine. Elise, the tour starts in 6 weeks...but I need you back in Toronto now so that we can prepare and rehearse," he continued bluntly, ignoring Ellie's gasp of surprise. "Six weeks? Michael I thought you said it would be at least 3 months before the tour began!! I can't come home now..." she responded, looking at Nick, whose eyes had widened at the news. Michael smiled, "I'm sorry sweetheart, but you're in incredible demand right now thanks to your duet...I received so many requests to move the tour up that I simply had to. I need you home with me right now." Nick flinched at Michael's possessive tone and words, causing Ellie to look up at him in concern, "Nick?" Nick ignored her, looking right at Michael, "Does she have any say in this at all?" Michael smiled in satisfaction, "You know the drill Nick...the promoters are the ones who call the shots...Elise, I really do need you home." Nick fought to maintain his calm exterior, all the while wanting nothing more than to beat Michael's head in, "I think Ellie and I need to talk about this before WE can make a decision about this," he stood up, pulling Ellie up with him, "Goodnight Michael..." With those words Nick and Ellie exited the restaurant, leaving a stunned and very angry Michael staring after them.
Ellie and Nick rode up to Nick's suite in silence, Ellie covertly watching Nick out of the corner of her eye. Nick's air of calm detachment confused her and she had the feeling there was something he wanted to say to her. When they got inside the suite she was the first to speak, "Nick...did you mean that? About us making the decision...you and me?" Nick remained silent, staring out the window instead of looking at her. "Nick?" He turned to look at her, "Ellie, why didn't you tell me that Michael asked you to marry him...why didn't you tell me things were that serious between the two of you?"
PART 32
Ellie stood there speechless, "Michael told you..." "Ding ding ding, give the lady a prize. Do you have ANY idea how hard it was to hear that from him?" Nick retorted, "It's not so much that you were so serious...I didn't even know you then...it's that I had to have him throw that piece of info in my face. He wants you back, you do realize that don't you?" Ellie stared at him, "N...no he doesn't." Nick shook his head, "Deny it all you want Ellie, Michael wants to be more than your manager and he's not going to stop at anything to break us up." "Nick, now you're being paranoid. Like I told you before, Michael just wants what best for me." Nick laughed, "I may be paranoid but you're being naive. He told me to my face that he intends to get you back."
Ellie walked away from Nick and sat down on the couch, not knowing how to respond to Nick. Nick walked over to her and sat down on the floor in front of her, his knees drawn up to his chin, "What do you want to do about your tour?" Ellie looked down at him, "What do you want me to do?" Nick sighed, <
Ellie looked away, afraid that Nick would look into her eyes and see the truth <
By the time Nick got out of the shower Ellie was already in bed, too tired and disheartened to do anything but lie there and wait for Nick to lie down beside her and pull her into his arms. She felt the bed sag as Nick sat down and she held her breath, her body aching for his. She was shocked when Nick lay down and rolled over so that his back was against her instead of cuddling against her as he usually did. She silently cried herself to sleep, her need for him almost overwhelming her as she listened to his breathing become deep and rhythmic as sleep overcame him.
Ellie awoke in the middle of the night to Nick shivering against her body. Startled, she sat up and turned on the light, resting her hand against Nick's forehead. She gasped when she realized how hot he was and shook him gently to wake him. "Nicky...how do you feel?" Nick groaned, "Not so good..." he managed to croak out. Ellie climbed out of bed and threw on her clothes before going down the hall to Brian's room. "Ellie, what's wrong?" Brian asked sleepily, his watch telling him that it was only 3 a.m., "Something's wrong with Nick! Hurry!" she cried out before running back up the hall to Nick's room. Brian threw on his jeans and headed to Nick's room. He rushed into the bedroom, his eyes widening when he saw Nick, who lay in the bed both sweating and shivering. "Frack? Buddy?? What's wrong?" He felt Nick's forehead, "Oh god, Ellie he's burning up!! I don't like this...I think we need to get him to a hospital. His test results were so bad...I just hope this isn't what I think it is." Ellie stared at Brian in shock, "Brian, no..." Brian picked up the phone to call Kevin, who was in Nick's room in a matter of minutes. "Security is going to bring the van around front. How is he?" Kevin asked, noting the look on Brian's face, "Bri?" Brian opened his mouth to speak but they were interrupted by Ellie crying out from the other room. Both men rushed in to find Nick in the bathroom throwing up blood while Ellie did her best to hold his shaking body. "Oh shit..." Kevin murmured, "Bri I think we better forget the van and call and ambulance, I don't think Nicky's gonna be able to walk out of here."
*At the hospital*
Brian tried his best to comfort Ellie while Kevin paced back and forth. He looked at his watch and grabbed his cell phone, knowing that he needed to call Rae and fill her in on what was going on but not wanting to scare her. Howie and AJ came back from the hospital cafeteria with cups of coffee for the group, their faces pale with worry. It was several hours before the doctor appeared, a grim expression on his face, "I just got off the phone with Nick's doctor back home. We reviewed his test results and, frankly, both of us are quite concerned." Brian felt Ellie stiffen in his arms and he could feel his heart pounding with fear, "What's wrong with him?" The doctor sighed, "He has some unexplained internal bleeding, we don't know if it's related to his cancer but as I'm sure Dr. Clark told you, Nick's cell counts have been rather bad and we're having some trouble stopping the bleeding. We don't think that he's out of remission but this is not a good sign. We need to be doing everything that we can to minimize any stress that he's under and he's going to have to stay in the hospital until we see some better results on his tests. I want him to put some weight back on and I want to see an improvement in his cell counts before he goes back on the road with the rest of you...if I allow him to go back on tour with you." He looked at the stunned expressions on the faces of Nick's friends, "I'm sorry, I know you were hoping for better news." He went back to check on Nick, leaving the others standing outside Nick's room not knowing what to do or say. The silence was broken by the ringing of a cell phone and with a sigh of frustration Ellie answered, "What?" She groaned under her breath, "Michael, this isn't a good time, Nick's in the hospital...what? No, what do you mean today. My god Michael, last night you said I had a few days still...now you want me to go back with you today? There's no possible way I can do that...I'm not leaving Nick until he's better!! What?? Michael what do you mean I have no choice?"
