~ Two Weeks Later ~

“Next stop… Kansas City!” AJ exclaimed as everyone climbed sleepily on the bus.

”How in the h*ll can you be so freaking hyper at four thirty in the morning?” Brian asked, half-asleep as he collapsed into his bunk.

“Nicotine,” Kevin mumbled.

Nick entered the bus, looking almost as terrible as he did during his chemotherapy sessions. Meggie followed and helped him into his bunk, then went back up and sat down beside AJ.

“Yo chick,” He said, flipping through television stations.

“Hey,”

“How come you’re not going back to sleep with the other party poopers?”

“Not tired… I was up half the night with Nick coughing… but I’m just not tired,”

“He’s getting worse, eh?”

“Yeah… I still don’t understand how he performs every night.”

“That’s Nicky for you,”

AJ settled on the morning news as he dropped the remote. He stood up and dug through the small refrigerator.

”Apple juice or orange juice?”

“Apple,”

He pulled out two small juice boxes and handed one to Meggie.

“Cute…” Meggie laughed.

A few hours more of television, and the rest of the guys, including Nick had stumbled into the den to watch TV.

“How you feeling?” Meggie asked as Nick sat down beside her.

“Better now that I actually slept,” He said, offering her a smile.

She rested her head on his shoulder as Howie put in a movie.

“What are we watching, D?” AJ asked.

“Gladiator,”

The guys all cheered approvingly. Meggie closed her eyes as the movie started, and drifted into a deep sleep.

A few hours later, Nick awakened Meggie with a kiss. Startled, her eyes fluttered open. She smiled, once she saw why she was awakened, then kissed back.

“Yo guys… don’t get all mushy mushy here,” AJ said.

“Leave ‘em alone. Not their fault you can’t get any,” Brian joked, running out of the room before AJ could tackle him. The two laughed, ruining their kiss.

“To be continued,” Nick laughed.

“Movie over already?” She asked, looking around.

“Already? Baby… you’ve been out for three hours,”

“Are you serious? Geez…”

Nick stood up, pulling Meggie with him. As they walked out, the bus pulled to a stop. As they got up to the front, they looked out the window.

“Oh yeah baby!” AJ exclaimed. “Got to love truck stop food for brunch,”

Rolling their eyes and laughing, the other five followed him off the bus and into the store while the driver filled the gas tank up.

Within minutes, they had all decided on getting a large box of donuts. Kevin grabbed two gallons of milk and they split the cost of all the food. Once paid for, they went back to the bus. They all settled down, some on the floor, some at the ‘dining room’ table.

“Want kind do you want, Meg?” Nick asked, getting himself a donut.

“Any sprinkles left?”

“Yup… chocolate or regular?”

“Chocolate,”

He poured two glasses of milk, then handed Meggie a glass and a donut on a small paper plate. Carefully, he sat down beside Meggie on the floor.

“How much longer until we get to Kansas City?” Meggie asked, as the bus began rolling forward.

“About two hours,” The bus driver yelled back to them. “We’re exactly in between St. Louis and Kansas City right now.”

“Yup… we’re in Missouri all right,” AJ said, looking out the window. “Nothing but hills and grass.”

“And what’s wrong with that?” Brian asked.

“Hillbillies,” AJ coughed. “Don’t worry Bri, you’re not a hillbilly. You’re a hick.”

Offended, Brian threw the rest of his donut, hitting AJ right in the forehead.

[AN: Don’t be offended by the little hillbilly/hick joke…. Pretty much making fun of myself… ‘cause I AM from Missouri…so don’t take it wrong!]

“No no no…don’t EVEN start a food fight,” Kevin exclaimed, then realized he shouldn’t have said that, as donuts were being pelted at him.

“Hey….. is it illegal to throw donuts at cars?” Nick asked, mischievously.

“Nope…” Brian said, getting the hint.

“NO! DON’T YOU DARE!” Meggie yelled after the two guys, who were already opening the window.

“Great,” Howie said, covering his face. “ I can see it now… Two Backstreet Boys Caught Throwing Breakfast At Passing Cars.”

“I’ll get the Volkswagen… you get the Ford!” Nick yelled.

Upset as they were, they all laughed when they saw the looks on the driver’s faces.

“Bri… get the one with the teenager in there…”

Brian threw a white powdered donut and hit the side window of a small Geo. The girl jumped, then looked up at the bus. Her eyes widened as she saw five Backstreet Boys laughing at her. For a second, she disappeared. Sitting back up, she rolled the window down, and threw slices of oranges at them.

“God help us all,” AJ muttered.

“THIS MEANS WAR!!” Brian yelled.

For the next half hour, the two vehicles rode side by side, food flying in between them. Then she waved to them, as her car sped up and went past them.

“That was fun,” Nick wheezed as he collapsed into the couch.

“Yes… but you two are cleaning the outside of the bus when we stop!” The driver yelled.

“Nick… are you ok?” Kevin asked, noticing Nick was still short of breath.

“Yeah… just takes me awhile to get my breath back because of the d*mn bronchitis.” He replied, “ Hey Bri… up for some video games?”

“Sure,” Nick gave Meggie a quick kiss as he left the room. Meggie pulled herself up off the floor and sat beside Kevin at the table, watching T.V.

They heard the occasional yelling from the other room, from both Nick and Brian

“Awww gawd… they’re having too much fun without me,” AJ suddenly said. He jumped up and went back into the den with Nick and Brian.

“Didn’t that article in that teen magazine say you guys matured over the past eight years? What are you seeing, that I’m not?” Meggie laughed.

“Well… two fifths of us matured… the other three are stuck,”

The room became quiet as the three became deeply engrossed in a movie on HBO.

“Fifteen minutes to Kansas City!” The bus driver yelled a whole later, startling them all.

They went back to their movie, ignoring the three in the back again. Suddenly AJ ran up to the kitchen area.

“Something’s wrong with Nick,” He said, so fast you could hardly understand him. AJ yelled at the driver to stop at the nearest hospital then ran back with Meggie closely on his heels. Nick lay on the couch, his knees pulled into his chest, wheezing.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Meggie asked, falling to her knees beside Brian, who stood behind the couch.

“Don’t know… hurts to breathe…” He wheezed. As Meggie moved her hand closer to his forehead, she could already feel the heat rising from his head.

“Will somebody get me a cool clothe?” She asked. She rubbed Nick’s back, up and down, hoping to calm him a little.

Howie returned, clothe in hand. He handed it to Meggie, who laid it across Nick’s forehead. She pulled his baseball hat off, exposing his peach fuzz.

“Bob said five minutes till we get to a hospital in Independence.”

“Hold on Nicky… a few more minutes,” Meggie said, her voice soothing him.

After a few more minutes of pure fear and helplessness, they felt the bus come to a stop. Brian and Kevin helped Nick up, only to have him off balance.

“F*ck this,” Kevin said. He took a deep breath, then picked Nick up and carried him off the bus. Meggie ran ahead for help. A nurse appeared with a stretched and helped Kevin lay Nick on it.

“Fill these out and turn them into the desk as soon as you’re finished. You all must stay out here,” She said, as three other nurses rushed Nick into the trauma area.

AJ pulled Meggie into a tight hug, as she began to sob. Brian took the papers and led them all to a secluded part of the waiting room. He began filling them out the best he could. He returned them to the desk, then asked to use their phone. He dialed the number for security and asked them to come to the hospital, for Nick’s safety. Then he went back and waited with the rest. Minutes turned into an hour, as they all waited in silence, for any news on their friend. A man, fully decked out in scrubs, walked into the room and talked to a nurse. She pointed to their group. He nodded and began to walk over. Meggie clung to AJ’s arm, as the man neared them.

“You’re all with Nick Carter?” He asked.

They all nodded.

He took his cap off and sat down, nearest Howie.

“First off, my name is Dr. Tinoil. I believe in being straight with the patient and their families and friends.” He began, making them even more nervous and scared. “When he came in, he was showing signs of severe pneumonia, so I began running tests. The tests came back positive. I began treating him with antibiotics to treat the infection. Usually, this would make it disappear quickly, but in Nick’s case, he hardly has an immune system to fight off infection. Because of this, his organs are beginning to fail him. I’m going to keep him on the antibiotics. Hopefully, it’ll kick the infection. In the meantime, I have him on a ventilator, because he’s unable to breathe by himself. I also have a bypass machine near, so if his heart begins to fail, we can hook him to that.”

The group sat in pure shock, before it kicked in.

“Will he make it?” Brian asked, almost inaudibly.

“Right now, he has a fifty-fifty chance. It depends on how his body and the antibiotics fight the infection. It also depends on if his organs continue to fail. We can only keep him alive on the bypass machine for a week, at the most.”

“No transplants will help?”

“No, not in his situation. His body couldn’t handle it. Anything else?”

“Is he awake?” Meggie asked.

”I sedated him in the trauma room, so as of now he’s asleep. But he should be awake within the hour. I just had him moved to the intensive care unit. Would you all like to see him?

They all nodded and grabbed their belongings.

“Only two people can visit at once. You get ten minutes every hour. But in this case, I’ll allow two of you to stay with him, so he won’t be frightened when he awakes.” He said, as they all got into the Staff Elevator. “Do you have security coming? Or should I alert hospital security?”

“They’re coming…” Brian replied quietly.

They went up five floors before the elevator came to a stop. Dr. Tinoil led them down the hall and showed them to a private waiting room.

”Who’s going to stay?”

Everyone looked at Meggie and Brian and they nodded.

They followed Dr. Tinoil down the long corridor until they reached a room at the end. He opened it up, and allowed the two in, before he followed. Meggie began to cry softly. Brian choked back tears as he saw his dear friend lying in the bed.

“I’ll let you be now,” Dr. Tinoil said, then turned and left, shutting the door quietly behind him.

The only light in the room was the dim, overhead light above Nick’s bed.

Meggie turned and cried into Brian’s shoulder, unable to see Nick like that.

“Why Brian? Why him? He already went through enough. Look at him.. lying helpless in that d*mn hospital bed.”

Nick lay motionless, under the thin white sheets. He had a thick blanket, lain across his legs, keeping the circulation moving. A thin, cotton blanket lay over that. Two IV’s connected to the back of his left hand, while a pulse-oxygen monitor clipped his index finger on his right hand. A large, circular tube, came from his mouth. A criss-cross of white tape, kept it attached to his mouth. A few inches away, a metal bar hung the tube, which reached into a large machine on the opposite side of the bed. Seven heart monitor patches clung to his chest, letting them know he was alive. A large, beige band-aid covered the inside of his left elbow, probably from blood tests. Another tube, ran from Nick’s side, down into a small, clear container on the floor, which was half-filled with urine.

Brian helped Meggie sit, in a chair beside the bed. She took his right hand, into hers, carefully not to knock off the pulse-ox monitor. Brian pulled a chair from the end of the bed, up beside Meggie. They eyed the room, looking at the large machines that sat on the other side. There was a bypass machine, along with a dialysis machine.

“Don’t look at those, Meg. They’re not even going to have to use them. He’s going to fight and win this.”

Meggie nodded, not sure what to believe anymore. She then noticed, a movement in Nick’s right hand, which she was holding. She sat up further, in time to see his eyes slowly open. A confused look, then fear, swam in his eyes. The heart monitor began to race.

“Nicky… it’s ok, baby. Calm down. I’m here and so is Brian.” Meggie said, standing up so he could see her face.

The monitor began to calm, and the confused look returned to his face.

“Blink once for yes… and twice for no,” Brian said.

Nick blinked once, then looked at Meggie.

“You’re in the hospital now. Your doctor, Dr. Tinoil, said you have pneumonia now. But they’re giving you antibiotics to help it. The only problem is… your immune system is still down from the chemo.”

A tear slid down Nick’s cheek, and he was quick to pull his hand away from Meggie and wipe it away.

“Hey… it’s alright to cry.” Brian said, softly. “We both have seen each other cry and so has Meg,”

Nick blinked once, just as a nurse walked in.

“Sorry…” She said quietly. “I have to take his vitals. Good to see you’re awake, Nick,”

“Anything changed?” Brian asked, once the nurse was finished.

“No, everything’s the same. I’ll be sure to let you know if there is a change though. If you have any questions or need me, my name is Jane,”

At the sound of her name, Nick squeezed Meggie’s hand.

Brian caught on, and said, “ I’ll call Jane,”

Nick gave him a thankful look as he followed the nurse from the room. Nick’s eyelids fell heavy, and he drifted off to sleep, after a reassuring nod from Meggie.

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