"Jessica" JC said lightly shaking her shoulders. "Jessica, are you all right?"

She was completely still.

The guys peered down on her nervously, seeing anyone in these conditions made them uneasy.

"Jessica, wake up." Lance said patting her on the face.

Her eyes slowly opened and she looked up to see the guys all huddled around her. She was very nervous, and her eyes were tear-filled.

"What’s going on?" She asked confused.

"We got here and you were lying on the floor." Joey explained to her.

"I fainted?"

"Yeah." Chris said.

"Wait…" She said "The last thing I remember thinking was that I was going to fall, so I was going to sit down. I must have fainted before I made it over to the chair."

"I guess so." JC said.

"What’s going on in here?" Kat asked coming through the doorway. "I was coming in here to check up on Katie and to make sure all of her machines were still hooked up properly." She looked around. "Why is everyone sitting on the floor?"

"Jessica fainted." Chris explained.

"Oh, is everything all right?" She asked concerned.

"Yeah, I’m fine now."

"Well, we better make sure. Why don’t you come with me for a minute, just so we can try to figure out why you fainted, and so we can make sure you are ok."

"Really I’m fine." Jessica said.

She went to stand up and nearly fell over. She grabbed onto Lance’s arm for balance.

"Ok, so maybe I’m not all right." She said as Lance walked her over to the doctor.

"We’ll be back in a few minutes." Kat said as they walked out the door.

"Wow." Justin said.
"Wow what?" Joey asked.

"This definitely is new for us. You know, meeting a nice fan, spending time with her and her injured friend, then coming into a room and seeing her passed out on the floor. It sort of gets to you."

"Anytime I’m in hospital with sick or injured kids it gets to me." Chris said.

"I know, that’s how it is with me too. It gets to me every time."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"When was the last time you ate something?" Kat asked Jessica.

"When was the last time I ate? Or when was the last time I ate and it stayed down?" Jessica asked.

"Put it this way, when was the last time you got some food in your system?"

"Uh…yesterday morning…no wait…the night before…I don’t know…one of the two."

"That’s why you fainted. That’s the only logical explanation. You are 100% healthy, you just need something to eat. You are shaking really badly."

"Well, it’s not like I am starving myself. A couple times I just couldn’t eat, but the other times I tried to and I couldn’t hold it down. That’s not my fault."

"I know it’s not. But I think the best thing for you would be to go home."

"I don’t want to go home!" Jessica snapped. "It’s a weekend, I have nothing more important to do, I want to stay."

"Jessica, being here obviously isn’t helping your appetite any. Going home would be the best thing for you."

"You know what? You may be a doctor, but no one can tell me what’s best for me…my best friend is dying, this is the place that is best for me right now."

"No. I will not let you stay here another night. I will call your house if I have to. I am telling you, it is not going to help you any by staying here, I’m sending you home."

"God, you’re just the bearer of good news aren’t you? First you tell me my friend might die, and now you tell me that I can’t stay and visit her."

"I didn’t say you couldn’t visit her, but you can’t stay here this long. Look what it’s doing to you."

She tried to make Jessica understand, but it was no use. As long as Kat was going to be Katie’s doctor, Jessica would never understand where she was coming from. Her best friend was dying in her mind, and that is all she could think about. A doctor’s opinion meant nothing to her, her parents’ opinions meant nothing, her friends’ opinions meant nothing…the only thing that mattered right now was Katie. And until she was up and well again, that is all Jessica would worry about.

"Are you done now?" Jessica asked.

"Yes." Kat said quietly.

Jessica got up and walked out of the room they were in. She was upset with that doctor, Kat only seemed to make things worse for her.

She walked back down the hall to Katie’s room and saw the guys all standing around Katie's bed. They heard her and turned around.

"How’s everything?" Lance asked.

"Ok I guess. She said I fainted because I haven’t eaten. She threatened to call my parents if I won’t agree to go home. She says this isn’t doing me any good."

"You really should go home and get some rest though, you know that don’t you?" JC said.

"I know I need rest, and I know I need to eat. But how is going home going to change anything? I will still be thinking about Katie, it will still make me sick to my stomach, and I’ll probably have nightmares about it. Going home won’t change how I feel."

"We know that Jessica. But listen, the doctors are here to take care of Katie and her parents come here to visit her too. There’s no need for you to make yourself worse by actually seeing Katie like this. That doctor is not saying you can’t come visit Katie. No one can tell you that, but you don’t need to be here all day and all night. Do you understand?" JC asked.

"Yes I do. But I just don’t want something to happen while I’m gone. I want to be here when she wakes up, and I want to be here…to say goodbye if she doesn’t"

Jessica started crying again.

"Don’t cry. Come on…Katie doesn’t want to wake up to you crying. Trust me Jessica, she knows that you’ve been here and she knows how much you want to stay here too. But we all know that you have to go to school Monday, and that you’re making yourself sick here." JC said trying to comfort her.

"Jessica, haven’t you ever heard that when some one is unconscious it helps them to have someone there?" Lance asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, think about how much you’ve helped her already. You’ve been here on the worst couple days…the first ones." He said.

"Yeah. Think about it, if she knows you’ve been here, she’ll know when you come again, and that’s when she’ll want to wake up." Chris said.

"She can’t think about it. It’s not like she’s choosing to stay there, if she was ok she’d wake up now."

"You’re right." Justin said. "She can’t think about it, but they do say people can tell when someone’s with them. And if that’s the case, you’ll most likely be around when she comes out of this."

The door to the room opened and Katie’s family appeared.

"Hi." Her mom said confused.

Anne stood looking around the room, "Mom…Mom…Jess wasn’t lying…they really did come…I knew it…I knew it."

"You must be Katie’s parents, nice to meet you." JC said shaking their hands.

The rest of the guys shook their hands as well, and Katie’s family stood there for a moment.

"Jess, I’m so sorry that I didn’t believe you. I should have, and I’m sorry." Her mom said.

"Don’t worry about it." Jessica said. She then turned to the guys, "I think I’m going to go now."

"Good for you." Joey said.

"Well, I’ll see you when you come back Jess. I’m staying here until Katie wakes up. Now that everything has calmed down a little bit, I’m taking the week off of work to stay here." Her mom said.

"Ok, if I’m not here tomorrow, I’ll definitely see you Monday after school."

"Alright. Take care of yourself."

Jessica and the guys started walking toward the door.

"Wait." Her dad said. "I know it means a lot to Katie that you’re here. Even though I’ve never really appreciated your music, and I’ve nagged her about liking you guys so much in the past…it’s nice to know that you came here just to see my baby girl. And I’m really sorry for not believing you Jess."

"It’s ok, I knew you’d run into them here eventually." She said.

"It was nice meeting you all." Chris said as he patted Anne on the head.

The guys and Jessica walked out of the room and started down the hallway.

"How are you getting home?" Justin asked her.

"You’re not driving are you?" Lance asked.

"No I’m not, my car is being fixed. I’m going to call my parents and have them come get me." She said.

"Don’t worry about it…we can give you a lift." Joey said.

"Are you sure? Isn’t that out of your way?"

"Yes we’re sure, and no it’s not." Chris said.

"Alright." She said.

They continued down the hall and passed Kat on their way out.

"Get some rest Jessica." She said.

"I will."

They walked out the front entrance of the hospital, crossed through the parking lot, and got into the NSync tour bus.