Chapter 23

Dr. Shannon placed his hand on the closed hospital room door and glanced at the small sign displaying the name of the patient who was resting on the other side. ‘Joshua S. Chasez...Attending Physician: Kenneth Shannon’.

Dr. Shannon shook his head in disbelief. Once again, he was treating a member of a group of young men that he was beginning to consider as members of his own family. With a deep sigh, Dr. Shannon carefully pushed open the door and stepped inside the dimly lit room. He allowed the door to quietly shut behind him before he walked across the room to the occupied bed.

Dr. Shannon stopped at the bedside and rubbed a weary hand over his face as he looked down at the unconscious figure before him. The side effects of the medications that had been administered in the emergency room 3 hours earlier had been strong. JC had not stirred during any of the tests that had been run and Dr. Shannon suspected, with a quick glance at his watch, he would continue to be out for the count until tomorrow morning.

Without a sound, the doctor pulled his stethoscope from the back of his neck. He carefully pulled the blankets down along with the top of JC’s hospital gown before gingerly placing the warmed instrument upon his chest. Dr. Shannon listened to the strong heartbeat and good breath sounds before replacing the stethoscope back behind his neck. He then pulled the young man’s gown back in place and drew the covers back up over his chest. To finish, he checked the IV line and oxygen flow before taking time to lean upon the bedrail to just watch the sleeping figure.

“JC…what are we going to do with you? You’ve once again put a few more gray hairs on this doctor’s head,” whispered Dr. Shannon as he reached down and grasped a limp hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Dr. Shannon stayed in that same position for several more moments just watching the steady rise and fall of JC’s chest before speaking once again.

“I’m very sorry about this Joshua. I never meant for any of this to happen.” Dr. Shannon gently ran a hand over JC’s hair, pushing some stray strands off his forehead as he contemplated what he needed to do next. After several minutes of staring at JC’s in his unconscious state, the doctor came up with a solution. He cleared his throat and took a hitching breath before sharing the decision with JC.

“When you wake up, you and I are going to discuss having another doctor taking over your case as well as the rest of the boys. This situation…you meeting Emilianne…never should have happened. I was wrong and I’m deeply sorry Josh.” Dr. Shannon’s eyes clouded over with tears and he gave them a quick swipe with the back of his free hand before ending his one-sided conversation.

“I’m going down to my office to speak with everyone, but I’ll be back soon.” Dr. Shannon gave JC’s hand one final squeeze before gently laying it down on the bedcovers. After giving the IV line one more glance and checking to make sure that the oxygen mask resting on JC’s face was still properly placed, Dr. Shannon left the room as quietly as he had entered and headed for the elevators.

Minutes later, the doctor stood outside yet another door. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was just now past midnight and gave a small sigh. He had another 18 hours of a 24-hour shift to go.

‘The shift was to begin after JC’s meeting with Emilianne, not during,’ he thought to himself. With an inward groan, he shook his head. The whole situation was pretty much his fault and he knew it. He had hoped that the meeting would give both his patients someone to speak to with similar experiences. He never would have dreamed that JC’s reaction to one simple question would have been so violent. Not knowing exactly what kind of response he would receive once he entered the room caused the doctor to inwardly shudder. He needed to make the offer to turn JC’s case along with all the records of everyone of the boys over to another physician with the group now…tonight. He had a mental list of physicians who he felt would be able to work well with the group…ones he would trust with his own family if needed. It would be the right thing to do. The doctor shakily drew in a deep breath before placing his hand on the door and carefully, so as not to disturb anyone, slid into the room.

It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the dimly lit room. Once adjusted, Dr. Shannon glanced over at the couches and found that several members of the group had dozed off, but not the one that Dr. Shannon knew needed the most sleep. He shook his head as he looked across the room and observed the individual standing in front of the large window behind his desk. The doctor had received a phone call just 2 or 3 nights earlier from a worried Jan telling him about Lance. Apparently, due to the lack of proper rest, the young man had fallen asleep so deeply, that Joey had been able to carry him over his shoulder without his waking not once, but twice. Jan said that her heart nearly went into her throat as she watched Joey walk through the back door with his limp burden, while the doctor blamed the young man for the new gray hairs he found the next morning while glancing in the mirror. With a shake of his head, Dr. Shannon quietly cleared his throat and watched as Lance turned around to face him.

“How’s he doing?” Lance whispered as he wiped away a few stray tears from his face.

“Let’s wake everyone up and then I’ll explain things.” Lance noted the strain to Dr. Shannon’s voice and immediately thought the worst.

“Is he alright? You sound upset.” Lance walked up to the doctor and saw that his eyes were slightly red.

“He’s fine. I just want to have to say everything once Lance,” the older man said as he reached out and gave Lance’s shoulder a squeeze. Lance was not completely convinced, but he allowed the doctor to guide him over to the couches to awaken the rest of the group. Once everyone had been awakened, Dr. Shannon began giving the run down on JC’s condition.

“JC is doing well, but he is still unconscious.”

There were audible gasps from the group at the news. Dr. Shannon quickly spoke again in an effort to dispel their fears.

“He’s okay though. He’s out due to the medication that we had to administer in the emergency room when his breathing and heart rate dramatically increased.”

“Like a panic attack?” asked Jan.

“That is a possibility…yes,” answered the doctor.

“Another one?” asked Lance. His _expression spoke of the anguish that he was feeling. Dr. Shannon cleared his throat and nodded his head. “We’ve run a few tests, but everything is pointing to a lack of proper diet and rest.”

“He has been kinda picky with his eating lately,” offered Chris.

“Yeah, and remember Johnny ran him out of the studio a few weeks ago at 3:00 in the morning,” added Justin.

“Didn’t we have a photo shoot the next morning?”

“We did Joey,” Lance answered.

“Guys, let Dr. Shannon finish,” said Jan with a hint of frustration in her voice.

“Sorry doc.”

“That’s okay Chris. JC should be waking up in a few hours…possibly by early morning. His heart rate and breathing are normal. We are monitoring both and administering oxygen to ensure that he gets his rest.”

“Can we see him?” Chris asked, anxious to be near JC for a moment or two. That would be the best reassurance that he was doing okay as far as he was concerned.

“Yes, but only a few at a time. And, I’m sorry, but I can only let just two of you stay with him for the rest of the evening so that he won’t be waking up alone.”

“Why not all of us Dr. Shannon?” Justin’s voice held a small trace of frustration in it. Jan placed her hand on his knee and spoke.

“Give him a chance to explain J.”

“The room that he’s in is in what’s called step-down ICU and it was the only available room that we had at the time that he was admitted. As a rule, there are no overnight visitors allowed in that area, but I was able to make a limited exception with the higher ups. All of the rooms upstairs on the top floor where Justin and JC were before have been closed off due to a diplomatic meeting here in town. Two of the representatives have heart histories and we were ordered to be on stand-by.”

Dr. Shannon watched the group as they seemed to accept his explanation. He took a deep breath and forged on with what needed to be said next.

“There is something else that we need to talk about.” The doctor hesitated briefly and looked down at the floor before returning his gaze back to the 5 people seated in front of him.

“What is it? Is there something else wrong?” Joey inched forward to the edge of his seat and placed his hand on Dr. Shannon’s knee. The emotions brought on by Joey’s gesture threatened to overwhelm the doctor. He took a deep breath and quietly spoke.

“I take full responsibility for JC’s being a patient here. I should never have suggested that JC and Emilianne meet and it was because of that meeting that JC is where he is now.”

There were some protests from the group and the doctor quickly raised his hands in an effort to stop the interruptions.

“Please…let me finish. With your permission, I will be handing over your records to another physician in the morning. I have a list of those doctors that I would send my own family to, if the need ever arose. I’ll have my secretary call you with the list in the morning.” Dr. Shannon began to rise from his seat when it all seemed to hit the fan all at once.

“You will not!” Chris shouted as he stood up quickly.

“What makes you think that’s what we would want?” Justin was able to get out between Chris’ continued ranting and raving.

“It was a fluke…all a fluke,” yelled Joey above the others.

Jan just sat there mystified at what was going on. She had never seen any of them so worked up before. Poor Dr. Shannon was barely getting a word in edge wise with all of the yelling and shouting going on. Apparently, the doctor had not realized how big the proverbial can of worms he had just opened with his remarks would be. Jan continued to watch in amazement until she realized that there was one figure that had not joined in the shouting match. Jan looked over at Lance and saw that he was standing by the window behind the doctor’s desk. She noticed that he seemed to be talking to himself. Jan tried to hear what he was saying, but with all the shouting and yelling going on, it was impossible. She stood up, walked over to Lance’s side and placed her arm around his shoulder. He barely seemed to register her presence as he continued with his rambling monologue.

“I can’t believe doc’s blaming himself. If it weren’t for JC’s collapse we never would have found out what the problem was. JC never would have told us. I don’t think JC even knew himself. He’s just as scared of the water as I was.” Lance paused for a moment and cocked his head slightly as if in deep thought before continuing to vocalize his thoughts.

“Dr. Shannon said that JC is doing fine. I bet the biggest part of the problem, besides JC not talking, was him not taking care of himself. I mean, look what happened to me…Joey had to carry me around like a sack of potatoes for goodness sakes. Dr. Shannon can’t just drop us like this…he can’t. We need him. The others might want someone else, but I don’t. JC needed to talk to Emilianne. It was the best thing. We couldn’t talk to him…we had no idea what he was going through just like he could never understand what we were feeling. This is crazy…”

With his last statement, Lance suddenly seemed to come alive with anger. He quickly jerked himself out of Jan’s grasp and stalked over to where Dr. Shannon was standing, surrounded by 3 young men who had finally calmed down. Lance pushed roughly past Chris, causing him to stumble into Justin. Justin quickly grabbed at Chris, keeping him from falling to the floor. Just as both young men were about to make a comment, they stopped when Lance began to speak, using a tone of voice that no one had ever heard before.

“Dr. Shannon…you will listen to me very carefully because I will only say this once. Do you understand me?” Lance’s eyes narrowed as he pointed his finger at the doctor.

Dr. Shannon nodded his head while the others stood, amazed at the sudden change in Lance’s personality as he continued to speak.

“First, you will not transfer my file to any other doctor. I will not have it. Next, you were right in having JC visit with Emilianne. There was no way that any of us could share in that experience with Jace just as much as he could never share in the experience we had in pulling him from that pool. If it hadn’t been for his collapse, we never would nave known what was bothering him. Finally, I want you to know that you are important to me and I can’t stand the thought of not being able to come to you when I would need to. Have I made myself clear?” The doctor silently nodded. With the doctor’s response, Lance turned around and returned to the window. In stunned silence, the rest of the group stood there and watched.

Without taking his eyes away from Lance, Chris spoke. “You got our answer doc.”

“Yes, I think I did,” he answered.

Without taking his eyes off Lance, Justin quietly whispered to those around him, “Please remind me to never, ever make Poofoo mad…okay?”

Chris rolled his eyes at the remark as Joey gave Justin a thump on the head. The sudden ringing of Dr. Shannon’s phone startled the entire group. He quickly crossed the room and picked up the phone on the third ring. He turned his back to the group and spoke in quiet tones for a few moments before hanging up.

“That was one of the nurses in step down. JC is starting to show very slight signs of waking up. He still won’t be fully alert for several more hours, but he’ll be aware that someone is in the room with him. You need to decide who is going to stay with him on our way down there.” Dr. Shannon quickly led the group out the door and down the hall to the elevators.

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Hi guys!!—Just a quick note… First, I want to thank all of you for the shout outs and wonderful reviews. They really make my day and mean a lot to me. Thanks! I also want to deal with a complaint that I received about the length of each of the chapters that I post. With OIYD, I posted 40+K and that became quite cumbersome. Right now, I’m perfectly happy with the less than 20 or 30K that I’ve been putting out. Makes it much easier for me to keep up with the 3 stories that I have up and it will continue to make things manageable when I begin posting the new stories that I’m cooking up. Sorry if I’m not saying what you want to hear, but that’s the way it’s going to go for now. Keep reading and reviewing. Take care of you…Kathryn

Twenty-Four