" Brian, I totally forgot to call you! Nick is in the hospital, he's in ICU, Brian, you need to get down here fast!" AJ said, crying.

" I know. I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm gonna take Leigh to her parents so if she has the baby, she can have it here, not in Florida. Then, I'll take the next flight down there."

" Hurry! The doctor's are saying Nick might not make it."

" Bye."

Brian went over to Leigh. " Leigh, honey, wake up!"

" What? Why?" Leighanne asked.

" Nick's dying, I have to go see him. I want you to go to your parents' house."

" Okay. What about Denise?"

" I'll take her with me. That is, if she want's to go."

" Okay, get her."

" Denise! Get down here!"

Denise came running down the stairs. " What?" Denise asked nervously.

" Nick's dying. He's in Florida. Do you want to come with me?"

" Yeah."

" Okay, we're taking your mom to her parents' house."

" Okay."

Brian helped Leigh into the Explorer and drove to Leigh's parents' house with her stuff. " Baby, I'm sorry we have to do this. I don't want you to have the baby in Florida if you go into labor. Okay?"

" Yeah, I understand. I hope Nick gets better. Bye." Leigh said,

" Bye mom!" Denise said.

" Bye honey!"

" Bye, baby." Brian said.

They drove to the airport. To their luck, they got a ticket for the flight to Orlando that left in ten minutes.

After ten minutes, they were on the plane heading south. Brian knew the ride would only be about an hour. He called AJ every ten minutes. AJ was at the hospital with the others waiting for Brian and Denise to arrive.

At the hospital, AJ was talking to Nick. Nick was unconscious. " Nick, Brian and Denise are going to be here. I'm sure they want to see you awake, not looking dead. Nick, don't die on us, please! We all need you. I don't understand why you took those pills anyway. You know what they do to you!" AJ cried.

" AJ, calm down." Kevin said sounding calm.

" How can you be so calm knowing that he's gonna die?"

" I don't know."

Brian called a taxi to the hospital and arrived there in five minutes. He ran in the doors and onto the elevator, Denise as right behind him. Brian was crying hard. When the elevator stopped, he ran out and was about to open the door. " Dad! Stop!" Denise said.

" What?" Brian asked.

" Calm down! Don't go in there looking like that." Brian's hair was all wet and matted. He had red eyes and a wet face. He fixed it fast and walked in casually. Denise shook her head.

" How is he?" Brian asked.

" Look at him! He's so small, so white, so dead looking." AJ said.

" Oh my God, Nicky. Why did you do that? Why did you take all those pills?"

" Oh my God. Oh my God." Denise said.

Kevin got up and walked over to Denise. He gave her a hug. " Don't cry." Kevin said.

" Blessed, for everything you give me. Blessed, for all the tenderness you show. I'll do my best. With every breath that's in me." Denise whispered over and over. She tried not to cry. After the fifth repetition she started to choke back sobs. She couldn't stand seeing her friend dying like this. Kevin looked at her and smiled.

All of a sudden, Denise broke into song and scared everyone. " Blessed, for everything you give me. Blessed, for all the tenderness you show. I'll do my best, with every breath that's in me." Denise sang. After that, Nick stirred and woke up.

" Holy cow!" Howie exclaimed.

" Denise, you woke him up!" Brian said.

" Nicky!" Denise said. She walked over to his bed. " Are you okay?"

Nick didn't say anything. " Nick? Can you talk?"

" Yes." Nick whispered so softly, you couldn't hear.

" I'm gonna get the doctor. Maybe he can find something out." Kevin said.

AJ was still in his seat, crying his eyes out. He didn't want to continue seeing Nick like this. " AJ, Nick is awake. You don't want to see him?" Howie asked.

" No, not now." AJ said.

" Okay."

The doctor came in. He said that Nick wouldn't be awake for long. Nick had taken so many pills that he was sure to die any minute. The doctor was sure of it. There wasn't a thing in the world they could do. Brian was so mad. He wanted to throw something. He was looking at his best friend. Only, his best friend was pale, and looking small and fragile. He kept fading in and out of consciousness. Brian hated the fact that he left his wife at her parents. He hadn't gotten a call or page or anything. To him, that was good.

" Nicky, you can't die now. I need you." Brian cried.

" Cuz, stop it." Kevin said.

" Stop what? My friend is dying, my wife is gonna have a baby any day now, and my daughter is missing her competition! Kevin, I don't know how much I can take of this!" Brian started to cry.

Denise was sitting in the corner on the far side of the room singing her song that she was supposed to be singing. She knew that she would have won the competition. It didn't matter anymore to her. What mattered to her was Nick and the fact that he was dying. She didn't know how much longer he would live. She was angry at the fact that he tried to kill himself. She wanted to kill herself. She wouldn't dare try but she wanted to so bad.

Denise walked out of the room into the waiting room. She sat down and flipped on MTV. She saw " The One" by BSB and " I Turn To You" by Christina Aguilera. That was her second favorite song of her's that she could sing. " I can't believe I'm in a hospital, in Florida, in the ICU, watching my friend die. This isn't fair!" Denise said to herself. Denise picked up a chair and threw it. She did that with the other chairs and she took the cushions off the couch and threw the remote at the wall. She completely trashed it. That was how mad and angry she was. She knew it wouldn't help Nick any, but she had to do it.

Kevin walked in the waiting room. " Whoa! What happened?" Kevin asked. He looked at Denise, who was standing and crying. " Oh, honey, stop it." Kevin went over and tried to give her a hug but she pushed him away and ran away. " Oh man." Kevin went running after her.

Denise ran to the elevator and pushed the button. To Kevin, she seemed like she wanted to play a game, Denise was running around the hospital. She couldn't leave because she had no money and couldn't drive. She finally came to a dead end in the CCW (Children's Cancer Ward). She stopped and sat down. Kevin ran up to her. " Denise, what is the world is wrong with you?" Kevin asked.

" Leave me alone." Denise snapped.

" No! Tell me." Denise didn't answer. " Is it Nick?"

Denise finally replied after a long pause. " Kevin, why did he do it? What made him take the pills?"

" I don't know. I really do not know. It was probably a personal problem. He's been having trouble with his family lately."

" Really?"

" Yeah, well, you wanna go see him or just stay here?"

" I'll go."

Denise and Kevin walked to the ICU unit and to Nick's room. They had a conversation on the way there about Denise being a big sister of a baby and how she's gonna have to be responsible and stuff.

Kevin walked in. Brian was sitting crying. " Daddy." Denise said as she gave him a hug.

" Hey, honey. Where'd you go?" Brian asked, drying his tears that wouldn't stop flowing.

" Let's just say don't go in the waiting room."

Brian laughed. " Why not?"

" I trashed it, then I ran around while Kevin chased me."

" Why?"

" I was mad. I'm still mad."

" Aw, don't be kiddo. It's not your fault."

" I know."

" Hey, why don't you sing us your song. We'd love to hear it. It's time for your competition now."

" I don't really care about that competition anymore."

" Then, sing it!"

Denise began to sing "Blessed". She sang it with so much clarity and never messed up and always stayed at the same note the whole time, unless she had to change to make it sound better.

Brian was crying when she finished. He was proud of his daughter. If you didn't know she was adopted, you'd think she got her singing from Brian.

The next day, Denise woke up to Brian talking on the phone with Nick's doctor. She got out of the bed. Since she was in AJ's house, she didn't know where anything was, so she followed the sound of Brian's voice. She found him in the kitchen. " Yes doctor. I understand. I will. Okay, see you in a few." Brian said finishing up his conversation. He looked up to see Denise. " Hey."

" What was that about?" Denise asked.

" Nick's doctor said that there must have been a miracle. He's gonna live."

Denise started to cry. " Thank God. I have to have a talk with him."

" We all do." Brian gave Denise a hug. " The doctor said that he's gonna be put on some medication that I have to put in his drinks. I have to give it to him because I'm responsible. When your brother comes, you are gonna have to be responsible."

" I know, I know."

" Okay. Well, we can go see him and we can leave a note." Brian wrote a note. It read " Went to hospital to see Nick. Hurry and come soon. Good news. Love, Denise and Brian."

They called a cab and took off. The hospital was about 5 minutes from AJ's house.

Denise and Brian practically ran to Nick's room. They were stopped by his doctor coming out of his room. " Ah, you're here. I need to talk to the both of you." Nick's doctor led them to his private office. " Nick is gonna be on a few medications. Some you give in his drinks, and some in his food. Since he has had a mixture of pills, I'm sure he'll be tired, groggy, or vomiting at times. It's normal. We believe that there either has been a miracle or Nick didn't take as many pills as we thought. Although, Alexander did say he had a handful and they were aspirin, amoxicillin, and penicillin, and maybe some heart meds. I don't know whose heart meds they are, if you know, I'd like to talk to them."

" They're mine." Brian said.

" Mr. Littrell, how strong are your heart meds? About like aspirin? Maybe make you tired?"

" They make pain go away but they can also make you groggy."

" Ah, okay. Thank you. You can go see Nick. I said he'd have visitors. He will be groggy, I can tell you that much."

Brian and Denise walked to Nick's room. They opened the door. Nick was still pale but he looked better. " Hey, man." Brian said.

Nick looked at Brian. " Hey." Nick said quietly.

" You doing alright?"

" Yeah."

Brian wiped a tear from his eyes. " That's good."

" Hey, Nicky." Denise said.

" Hey. How was your competition?"

" I didn't go. It was yesterday, but I was here with you."

" I know. I heard everything."

" You did?"

" Yeah, you can hear stuff when you're unconscious."

>>>>> 

.