Two weeks had passed, and Ryan was relieved when Dr. Hughes informed her that Justins condition had greatly improved, and that he would be released from the hospital in a couple of days.
Since the episode he had a few weeks ago, Justin had finally begun to follow the doctors orders more closely. He had been resting more, and was not moving around as much as he had been before. He was allowing his body to heal, and because of this, his condition had improved significantly.
His ribs were healing, and the bump on his head was gone. He still experienced headaches from time to time, but other than that, he seemed fine. The cast would not be removed from his leg for another month, so Dr. Hughes had crutches fitted for Justin to use after he was released.
Stepping out of the elevator on to Justins floor, Ryan was surprised to find him standing in the hall by his door.
He was with Dr. Hughes, who was showing him how to use his new crutches effectively. It was so good to see him out of bed, that Ryan almost ran up and hugged him. But with her luck, she would knock him down and broke the other leg.
She stood at the end of the hall, watching him as he listened closely to Dr. Hughes' instructions. Placing the crutches under each arm, Justin began to take small steps down the hall towards her. Dr. Hughes followed along with him, watching closely to make sure Justin was not having any difficulty or experiencing any pain or discomfort.
After walking ahead a few feet, Justin looked over to the doctor, who was smiling at him with assurance "Good, Justin." he said. "Looks like they fit you perfectly. How do they feel?"
"Like crutches." Justin joked. "Hey, ya think I can outrun Doc with these things?"
"In your dreams, froboy." Doc called from his room across the hall. Justin laughed at the old mans feisty attitude before looking up and noticing Ryan.
Smiling at her, Justin began to carefully walk towards her, leaning on the crutches for support. Dr. Hughes watched him closely, but stayed back to allow Justin the chance to go on his own.
Ryan was so proud of Justin for how far he had come. A few weeks ago, she wasn't sure he would ever get over everything that had happened. But now here he was, walking again. Well, sort of.
Since he had been in a bed for the past few weeks, Justins body was weak and tired. He was used to being active all the time, and being stuck in a bed for this length of time was a shock to his system. The doctor assured him that his body would recover quickly, and that he would not feel as tired once he got out and around. Even once he went home, there were still rules that he had to follow, but he was allow to move around and get his body back in to shape.
Stepping up to Ryan at the end of the hall, Justin smiled at her triumphantly. He was so proud of himself, he was beaming.
"Well, look at you." Ryan said as she leaned on the wall at her side.
"Yup." Justin ginned proudly. "Impressed, are ya?"
"Very." Ryan leaned forward and hugged Justin lightly. He wobbled a little, still getting used to being on his feet again. He was unsteady on the crutches, but he would learn to walk with them easily once he had more practice.
Justin turned to head back towards his room, as Ryan followed beside him slowly. He took small steps, stopping to adjust the crutches beneath his arms periodically. By the time they made it back to Justins door, he seemed to be getting the hang of it.
Ryan smiled at Dr. Hughes. "So, has he been behaving himself?" she asked as she looked at Justin.
"Yes ma'am." the doctor replied. "We've only had to break him and Doc up once."
Justins eyes flew open. "That's not true!" he whined. "Ive been good! We haven't even fought at all today!"
"Yes we have." Docs faint voice called from his room again.
"No we haven't! Shut up, Doc! You're gonna get me in trouble!" Justin warned.
Ryan laughed at Justins pouting face. He and Doc had become very close during Justins stay. She had come to visit him many times to find him and Doc playing cards, watching TV or just talking together. Justin had become very attached to the elderly man across the hall, and she knew that he was going to miss him when it came time for him to go home.
Guiding Justin back into his room, Dr. Hughes took the crutches and leaned them against the wall before helping Justin back in to his bed. Justin was glad to be allowed to wear hospital pants and a t-shirt rather than those horrible backless gowns hospitals were known for. He had been forced to wear one for the first few days of his stay, but after he flashed his rear to half the nursing staff when trying to roll over in bed, he had convinced them to allow him to wear less revealing clothing.
Lois had complained that she liked the backless gown, saying that she was going to make it part of the wardrobe for the next tour. They had done the doctors coats; next step, backless gowns. It was only logical, in her opinion. She assured him that they would sell a lot more concert tickets if he showed a little tush. And she had even snapped a picture of him one afternoon while he slept, unaware that the covers had ridden up and his bum was exposed to the room. Trust his luck to have it be Lois that walked in first to see him like that. Knowing her, she would never let him live that down and would probably make copies of the picture to give to everyone she knew.
After checking Justins leg to make sure that he hadn't pushed himself too much with his little travels, Dr. Hughes excused himself from the room.
Ryan sat in the chair at Justins bedside, looking up at him proudly. "You're doing really well." she said.
"Yeah. Probably because I get to leave in a couple days, and now I have incentive to get the hell out of here. If I didn't behave, they wouldn't let me go." he stated as he pulled the covers up around his waist.
Placing her jacket and purse on the floor at her side, Ryan continued. "So I take it your looking forward to going home?"
"Oh hell yeah!" Justin exclaimed excitedly. "Well, I would like to be going home, but my mom is making me stay with her. She says that I will need someone there to help me if I have trouble, and she somehow got the doctor to agree with her." After a little pout, Justin sighed. "But I guess its not so bad. She babys me and makes me macaroni when I don't feel good. So I get the royal treatment for the next couple weeks."
"You always get the royal treatment, Ju." Joeys voice called from the doorway.
Walking in to the room, Joey smiled at Justin before taking his usual seat at the table by the window. Chris followed in behind him, sitting down in a chair by the TV before turning it on and flipping through the channels.
Lois bopped happily into the room, tossing a small bag at Justin before picking up the remote from the table and flicking the channels on the TV from over Chris' head. Every time Chris would change the channel, Lois would turn it back to something else.
"Damn it, Lois!" Chris complained. "Piss off! I wanna watch Barney!"
"Too bad, I wanna watch Pinky and the Brain. And I am the all-mighty Lois, so what I say goes." Lois stated matter of factly before pushing Chris away from the TV to set it on the channel she wanted.
"Lois? What is this?" Justin asked, picking up the bag she had tossed at him.
Pushing Chris' hands away from the remote in her hand, Lois called back to him. "Just open it and see." Finally getting tired of Chris' attacks, she flicked him hard in the middle of his forehead.
"OW!" he whined, grabbing his forehead in pain. "What the hell? Do you have steel tipped fingers or something?"
"Yes." she replied flatly before laughing hysterically as Pinky said 'narf'. "Narf!" she mimicked happily.
Looking down to the bag in his hands, Justin opened it carefully. Pulling out the contents, he stared at the small rectangular object for a moment. It was wrapped in newspaper, with a little blue bow on top.
Justin was a little nervous about opening up the gift. The last time Lois had given him something, it had been a baby toad that peed on his hand. She said his name was Fred, and that peeing on his hand was his way of showing Justin that he liked him. How she had found a baby toad, Justin had no idea. Later that night, he went out to the park across the street from their hotel and released Fred onto the grass while Lois stood beside him singing Born Free at the top of her lungs.
Closing his eyes, Justin braved the unknown and began to unwrap Lois' gift. He took his time, making sure he was careful not to set off any surprises that she may have in store for him. As he pulled away the last piece of newspaper, he looked down at the gift in shock.
His eyes flew up to look at Lois, who was now smiling at him proudly. Looking back down to the item in his hands, he didn't know what to say. What the hell was this?
"Well, you could say thank you, Justin." Lois scolded. "Man, I know your Mama taught you better than that."
"Thank you Lois." he replied softly as he continued to stare confused at the object in his hands. "Um, Lois?"
"Yeah"
"What the hell is this?" Justin asked, raising his eyes to hers again.
"Its a coupon book." she smiled. Standing from her chair, she walked over to his side. As soon as she stood up, Chris jumped up and sat in her chair, regaining control of the TV.
"Remember the time you gave me a coupon for one free hour of Justin-love for my birthday cause you forgot and didnt have time to but anything. So you went and made that cause you saw it on an episode of Friends?" she asked, standing to look over at the small homemade booklet in Justins hand.
"Yeah."
"Well, this is a little Lois coupon book." she stated, smiling down at her creation with pride. "There are no coupons for Lois-love, because boy, you're not man enough for all that is Lois. But I have some other cool stuff in here." Taking the booklet from Justins hands, she flipped it open and held it down for him to see. "Here is a coupon for one free laundry service. By Lois." Turning the page, she pointed to the next coupon. "Here is another for one free home-cooked meal. By Lois." Next page, Lois laughed. "And here is my personal favorite. One free hour of No-Bashing-Justin time." she paused to smiled down at him. "By Lois."
Justin smiled as he took the coupon book from her hands and continued to flip through it. There were coupons for everything in there. There was one saying that she had to clean his room. Another for cutting his grass. Even one that said she had to give him a foot massage.
"Why did you do this?" he asked.
"Well, I know I give you a hard time a lot, so I figured while you're all jacked up and gimpy, the least I could do was help ya out a little." she shrugged. "But don't get carried away, because once the coupons are gone, that's it! There are no duplicates, and no refunds if not completely satisfied with results."
Justin smiled up at her appreciatively before pulling her down for a hug. "Thanks, Lois." he said.
"Anytime, Timberlake."
Picking up the bag that he had removed the coupon book from, Justin noticed another item inside. Pulling it out, his eyes went wide at what he saw.
"Lois!" he screamed, shooting her a shocked look.
Lois only grinned evilly as she grabbed Chris by the ear and pulled him out of her chair before resuming her position to continue watching Pinky and the Brain. Chris whimpered and tried feebily to fight back, smacking her lightly on the shoulder. Pushing him hard with her hand, he fell back on to his butt.
"What is it?" Chris asked as he gripped his throbbing ear.
"Nothing!" Justin said, pulling the small item behind his back quickly.
"Oh no, let me see!" Chris said, rushing over to tackle Justin.
The two began to wrestle for the item, but since Justin was confined to his bed, Chris had an easy victory. As he pulled the object away from Justin, he held it out of his reach.
"Dude, gimme that back!" Justin warned as he reached over to try and retrieve his stolen property.
"Na-uh. Not until I see what's got you all red and embarrassed!" Chris said. Stepping away from the bed and out of Justins strangling range, Chris lowered the item to his face. He stared at it for a few moments, before bursting out in laughter. Chris was laughing so hard he began to wheeze, doubling over before falling on the floor with a thud.
"What?" Joey asked, standing from his chair to take the photo from Chris. Looking it over, Joey eyes rose to Justin before he began laughing along with Chris.
Justins arms crossed over his chest in an angry pout. "I hate you." he whined.
"Here," Ryan stood from her chair, walking over to take the photo away from Joey, who was laughing too hard to fight her.
As she brought the photo to her face, she couldn't figure out what it was at first. It took her a moment before she realized it was Justins butt. Lois must have taken it back when Justin was first admitted to the hospital, when they had him in one of those backless gowns he hated so much. She remembered hearing something about Lois taking a picture of Justins rear, but wasn't really sure if she actually had or not.
Ryan fought not to join in with Chris and Joey in their laugh attack. She found this too funny not to laugh at, but she knew if she did Justin would just pout more. Walking up to him, she handed him the picture. "Here ya go." she said, her lips pulled tight into a firm line.
"Go ahead," he pouted as he took the picture from her. "Laugh. I know you want to."
"Well, if you insist." she said before laughing out loud. This causing Justin to pout more, before picking up a Hersheys Kiss from his night stand to throw at Lois.
It hit her in the side of the head, and she shot him a warning glance. "Watch it, gimpy!" she threatened. "There are no coupons in that book for No-Justin-Ass-Kicking. By Lois." Picking the candy off the floor, she removed the silver foil before popping it into her mouth.
Just when Justin thought things couldn't get worse, Lance, JC and Cheryl entered the room. They looked around at all the hysterical people laughing their asses off before looking over at Justin, who sat in his bed with a pout on.
"Lemme guess," JC said, walking up to Justins bedside. "They're pickin' on you again."
"Aren't they always?" Cheryl grinned before sitting on the floor beside Lois. Looking up at her, Cheryl gave her a questioning look. "What did you do now?"
"What makes you think it was me!" Lois yelled, looking down at Cheryl innocently.
"Because it usually is." she replied plainly.
Turning her attention back to the TV, Lois shrugged. "I took a picture of his bare ass one day in that backless gown, and gave him the picture. Now he's all mad because everyone's seein' his merchandise."
Lance and JC turned to stare at Justin, as Cheryl stood from the floor to match their looks.
Justin closed his eyes, praying that there was a coupon in that book for One-Free-Lois-Ass-Kicking. By Justin.
"I wanna see!" Cheryl exclaimed excitedly as she ran up to Justins side. "Lemme see!"
"Hey!" Justin whined. "No one needs to see my ass, alright!"
"What we talking about asses for?" Docs voice called from the door as he shuffled into the room. He had heard the commotion from his room across the hall, and didn't want to be left out.
"Cause Lois took a picture of Justin's and now he wont show it to us." Cheryl pouted as she looked down at Justin.
"I have a cute rear. Anyone wanna see mine?" Joey called from his spot on the floor beside Chris, who was still laughing too hard to stand.
Lois turned to give him a seductive look. "Whip it out, Fatone."
Joey looked at her frightened before lowering his eyes down to the floor. "Um, no."
"Wuss" Lois said before looking back up at the TV.
"Here," Chris regained his composure long enough to stand up from the floor, and wrestle the picture away from Justin again. As he tore the photo from his hands, Chris smiled down at Justin triumphantly. "Like takin' candy from a baby." he teased.
Throwing his head back against the pillows, Justin pulled the covers over his face. "You're all going to hell, you know that! You're. All. Going. To. HELL!"
Chris handed the photo to Cheryl, as JC and Lance gathered around her. They looked it over before laughing out loud. "Cute little bum ya got there, Ju." Lance said as he slapped Lois on the back. "Good one, Lois."
"Thanks. I'm quite proud of myself." she smiled.
"I wanna see, too!" Doc called as he walked up to Cheryl. Taking the picture from her, he looked at it as a confused look crossed his features. "What is this?"
"Justins butt." Ryan said, smiling down at her embarrassed boyfriend who still hadn't come out from his hiding place behind the blanket.
"Are you sure?" Doc asked, turning the picture around on its side. "I always pictured his butt to be cuter than this."
Pulling the blankets down from his face, Justin gawked at the old man. "What! I do have a cute butt, man!"
"Its okay, but I think mine is better." Doc stately as he turned to try and get a look at his own rear.
"Okay, whoa." Joey said, holding his hands out in front of him. "Of that statement Doc said, you take offense to the fact that he thought you would have a cuter butt than that. But the fact that he was even thinking about your bare ass doesn't faze you at all?"
Justin looked around the room for a moment, as everyone stared at him questioningly. Scrunching his face into a little ball, he pulled the blankets back up over his face before dropping back against the pillows again.
"You guys suck"
The room erupted into another fit of laughter as Justin continued to pout beneath the covers.
