Kevin knocked on the door. "Damn it A.J. Open the door. We've only got an hour till we go on!" He shouted through the closed door.

"Let me guess," Nick said, "He's ignoring you again?"

"Probably," Kevin said, giving up,"I hate having to act like this. He always complains when I act like the 'Dad' of the group, but if he didn't act like this I wouldn't have to."

"I know, man," Nick said, sympathizing with the older man,"Here let me try."

"Okay. Good Luck," Kevin replied.

"AJ, open the damn door before I burn your whole freaking hat collection and break all your damn glasses! You got that boy?" Nick shouted through the door.

"Okay, leave 'em alone. I'm coming," AJ moaned from inside the room. They then heard a thump and AJ started swearing loudly.

"AJ, you okay in there?" Kevin asked, worried.

"What do you think? When the hell did I leave my bag on the damn floor? It's like freaking lead!" he complained as he opened the door.

"God, AJ, what the hell happened to you?" Nick asked when he saw how pale AJ looked.

"You feeling sick? Maybe we should tell Donna and Johnny," suggested Kevin.

"What the hell is up with you? You're like their god damn lap dog. I wouldn't be surprised if you brought Johnny his slippers at night," snarled AJ.

"AJ, calm down. He was only trying to help," Nick said, when he notice a hurt look cross Kevins features.

"What the hell would you know? You're only a hormone crazed Hanson-wannabe with bleached blond hair," AJ said as he shoved Nick into the wall.

"Okay, what brought that on?" Kevin asked as he helped Nick up.

"I don't know, but for someone who claims to be so peaceful, he sure packs a hell of a punch," Nick moaned as he got up.

"Lets hope he went in the direction of the stage," Kevin said, unsure if that's really what they want right now.

"Yeah! Maybe he can beat up Howie and Brian too!" Nick exclaimed in mock hope.

"Well maybe they could calm him down," amended Kevin.

"Doubt it."

"Do you ever say anything optimistic?"

"I have a rule. If I am slammed into a wall then I have no reason to be optimistic."

"Oh," was all Kevin said as he and Nick headed towards the stage.

When they got to the stage they saw Johnny on the ground with his hand over his eye, Brian was helping Howie up, and Donna and Fatima were just standing there with their mouths open in shock.

"Okay, I didn't mean it when I said beating them up too," Nick joked weakly.

"That's it! When you see that scrawny freak you better tell him to get his butt into my office!" shouted Johnny as he walked to his office with Donna and Fatima trailing after him trying to calm him down.

"What happened?" asked Kevin, praying that he was wrong even though deep down he knew he was right.

"AJ stormed in here and when Howie asked what was wrong he hit him. Johnny jumped in and then AJ hit him too. Then he stormed off swearing all the way," Brian explained.

"He did that to us too," reported Kevin.

Suddenly Johnny stormed out and said, "I'm delaying the concert until tomorrow, so be ready," and with that he left.

"About time you showed up, you little...." Johnny was interrupted by AJ.

"Look, before you start I wanted to apologize. I don't know why I did that but I'm really sorry," AJ said, but something was a little off in his voice.

"Don't worry about it," Brian said, trying to avoid any further arguments, Nick, Howie, and Kevin seemed to understand but Johnny either didn't understand or didn't care.

"Sorry, that's all you can say, is sorry. You gave me a black eye and that's all you can say! I delayed the damn concert by a day, and that's all you're saying? I want an explanation and I want it NOW!!!" Johnny howled angrily.

"Hey, look I said I was sorry. So get off my back about it. I made a mistake, and I admitted to it so give me a break."

"Fine, but give me an explantion."

"Well, screw you. I'm gone," exclaimed AJ as he stormed out the door while Kevin, Brian, Howie, and Nick watched the scene play out before them, shocked.

A few hours later Brian, Howie, Nick and Kevin were watching an old movie, but none of them were really paying attention to it, they were all too worried about AJ and what he would do in his aggravated condition. Suddenly Johnny rushed in.

"Guys, c'mon, we have to get to the hospital!"

"Huh? Why?" Howie asked, confusion in his eyes.

"AJ's in the hospital! They won't release any information over the phone. Denise is already heading over there."

"Then what are we waiting for? C'mon!" Brian said with an obvious note of worry in his voice.

Denise McLean was standing outside AJ's hospital room with Dr. Mathews.

"What happened?" Denise asked Dr. Mathews, her eyes watering once more.

"It looked like a drug overdose, we're not sure yet of what kind of drug yet though. We're still waiting for the results from the lab, but it was definitely a drug overdose," he explained, "You're lucky that you found him in time, he should be fine."

"Mrs. McLean!" Denise turned around to see Brian, Nick, Kevin and Howie race up to her. "How is he? What happened?" continued Nick.

"He's going to be fine. I found him unconscious on the floor and I called an ambulance. They brought him here and they told me that it was a drug overdose," Denise explained, crying, as Kevin gave her a comforting hug.

"We should have realized it. He was so pale and bad tempered." Kevin moaned, blaming himself.

"We can't blame ourselves, we were there for him and he knew it and that's all we could hae done," Howie said soothingly.

"I guess you're right," Kevin sighed, although deep down he wasn't sure if he believed it. "So Dr. Mathews, can we go in?"

"I don't see why not."

In the room they saw AJ lying peacefully on the bed.

"Hey guys," he whispered.

"Hey, how do you feel?" Howie asked quietly.

"Fine, and you don't have to whisper we're not in a library, and as to how I fell, well let me put it this way, there is no shortage of cute nurses around here. I wonder if they'll let me stay a little longer......" AJ smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

"AJ, why did you do it?" Nick asked bluntly.

"I don't know it started as a one time thing at a party to impress this really cute girl, then it went to on the weekends, then to once a day, and finally practically every hour."

"Why didn't you ask for our help, you know you can always count on us, man," Brian asked, hurt.

AJ winced at his hurt expression and answered. "I don't know, I was too embarrassed to let anyone know that a stupid habit was controlling me, I thought that you guys would laugh at me."

"Never, we're like brothers, if you need our help we'll be there for ya," Kevin interrupted, "And you better get that through you're dye infested mind or we'll just have to pound it in there," He finished with a playful grin.

"Okay I give, I'll ask for help next time."

"Uh uh, there won't be a next time now will there Alexander James McLean."

Everybody turned to see Ms. McLean standing in the door frame. AJ responded meekly, "Nope."

"Good."