Chapter 6

When Dr. Mohammad reached the waiting room, he noticed three young men huddled in a corner with security close by. He noted how anxious they seemed and decided to just go ahead and put them in Dr. Kenneth’s large office where they might feel a little safer and more comfortable. He walked over to the trio, who didn’t seem to notice his approach since they were busy speaking to each other in quiet tones.

“Are you here for a Justin Timberlake and a JC Chasez?” the doctor asked quietly, trying not to attract too much attention from the other people who happened to also be in the waiting room.

The three boys immediately stood up and nodded their heads as their faces registered a variety of emotions that ranged from fear to sadness.

“I’m Dr. Rajeeh Mohammad. I’m in charge of their treatment. Why don’t you follow me? I’m going to take you to Dr. Shannon’s office where you can be more comfortable.”

“Is their condition too serious for you to tell us down here?” hissed a pale Chris. The doctor could see that the other two young men’s faces mirrored the one of the young man speaking to him.

“No,” he said with a sincere smile and reassuring tones. “They are both doing well…very well. Dr. Shannon and I are trying to give you some privacy and a better sense of security that what you might have down here.”

He watched as the three nodded their heads in agreement then motioned for the boys to follow and they made their way to an elevator and entered it. Without speaking, the doctor pushed a button for an upper floor. The silent tension in the elevator was deafening…almost suffocating as they waited for the car to stop and for the doors to open. Once the elevator’s doors had opened, the group exited and Joey, Lance and Chris followed the doctor down several halls before finally stopping in front of a door that was slightly ajar. Dr. Mohammad showed the trio in and they made their way to the couches sitting at the far end of the room.

“Go ahead and sit down and then I’ll explain your friends’ conditions to you,” he said as he motioned toward the leather furniture then watched as the three men warily looked at him before sitting down close together. Once everyone seemed settled, the doctor began speaking.

“As I said earlier, my name is Dr. Rajeeh Mohammad. I am the physician in charge of the trauma unit where your friends are being treated for their injuries. What are your names so that I know who I’m going to be giving information to?”

Chris cleared his throat and began the introductions.

“My name is Chris Kirkpatrick. This is Joey Fatone,” he indicated to the young man sitting to his right. “And this is Lance Bass,” who was sitting to his left.

“Are you family members of the patients?”

“No sir, not directly, but we are just as close as family is going to get right now,” explained Lance in near frustration. He was afraid that the doctor would not tell them anything due to the fact that they were not blood relatives and he knew that the doctor would have a fight on his hands if he decided not to disclose any information.

The doctor recognized the anxious looks that were being thrown his way and he quickly moved to dispel any fears that the young men might have.

“Yes, I understand that and even if that weren’t true, my intentions would have been to inform you of Mr. Chasez’s and Mr. Timberlake’s conditions. Ken…I mean, Dr. Shannon, explained downstairs that their families are traveling right now and may be hard to contact and that you needed to know what was going on. Their families are traveling abroad?”

“Yes sir, but I did speak with Justin’s aunt in Texas and she is booking the next flight here to Orlando. She should be here around midnight or so,” said Chris.

“Good. Good. Let me explain your friends’ conditions.”

The boys felt relief in knowing that they would not have to wait until Jan’s arrival before finding anything out about their friends.

“Let me start with Mr. Timberlake.” The boys nodded and inched a little to the edge of the couch in anticipation of what the doctor might say.

“He was apparently suffering from shock at the scene. The firemen administered an IV and oxygen before transporting which is standard procedure. According to the firemen, Justin did not regain consciousness while en-route to the hospital. He did regain consciousness briefly while in the trauma center, but had a full blown panic attack. We administered Valium and he is resting comfortably at this time.”

‘A panic attack?” asked Lance, in confusion. “He’s never had one of those before.”

“When he did come to, he happened to glance over at Mr. Chasez and that was when the attack began,” the doctor added.

The boys visibly paled with this bit of information causing the doctor to want to know exactly how Justin was involved in the whole incident. The firemen/paramedics had given him details when the boys had first been brought in, but actual bystanders that had witnessed the event as it happened would be of more help to Dr. Mohammad if he was to fully understand the reason for Justin’s panic attack. The doctor watched the three young men sitting across from him. They seemed so completely lost in their own thoughts. The blond, with striking green eyes, had his head leaned against the back of the couch, his face registered very little emotion. The young man sitting on the opposite end of the couch, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to the tears freely streaming down his face. Dr. Mohammad could not tell how the young man sitting in the middle looked since he had bent over, putting his elbows on his knees and buried his face into his hands. The doctor gave the trio a few minutes to get a grip on their emotions before forging ahead with his own questions.

“I need to ask a few questions so that I can better understand Mr. Timberlake’s condition.”

He watched as three faces turned their attention back to him.

“Go ahead doctor,” answered Chris.

“How exactly did the whole incident happen? How was Mr. Timberlake involved?”

Lance cleared his throat and began telling about what had started out as a relaxing afternoon and had soon turned into a nightmare for everyone. “

“We were all over at Justin’s house…outside at the swimming pool,” Lance began with his voice thick with emotion. “We had been having a diving contest of sorts and Justin had just finished doing a forward somersault when it was JC’s turn. Justin chose JC’s dive for him…a backwards flip.” Lance shook his head, as the memory of the incident unfolded itself in his mind. Chris looked at Lance and realized that he was too lost in the memory of the afternoon to continue speaking. Chris began to nervously pick at the seam of his pants as he cleared his throat before speaking.

“We all knew, especially Justin, that JC is a poster boy for the challenged diver,” Chris grinned, “but JC is always into trying any new kind of challenge at least once.” Joey and Lance also wore slight grins as they nodded in agreement in what Chris was saying.

“JC had enough height to make the jump work, but he didn’t push out far enough from the board. Somehow, he managed to hit his forehead on the board on his way down and he was out cold before he even hit the water.” Chris shuddered at the memory then took a deep breath, unable to continue with telling the story. Joey realized that Chris had reached the end of his ability to continue with any more details so he took over from there.

“We watched JC hit the water and we were too shocked to even react until we saw him hit the bottom of the pool. That’s when Chris and I jumped in. I dove down to the bottom and pulled JC to the surface. I could already tell that he wasn’t breathing. We got him out of the pool and that’s when Lance and I started CPR while Chris and Justin went inside to call 911.”

“So Justin was quite able to call for help?” asked the doctor.

“Yeah. He did a better job than I could have,” said Chris, defending his friend.

“It wasn’t until he came back out to us that he kind of freaked out on us,” admitted Lance. “He couldn’t seem to look at JC.”

“See doc, you gotta understand something about Justin,” explained Chris. “He’s a pretty tenderhearted guy and when he saw how seriously injured JC was and all he must have started blaming himself for the whole thing.”

“JC made the choice to make that dive and Justin wasn’t holding a gun to his head,” said Lance with frustration straining his voice

“No, just 3 days worth of dirty dishes,” muttered Joey who had remained quiet up to that point.

“What was that?” asked the doctor in confusion.

Joey rolled his eyes as he explained the bet that Justin and JC had decided upon in order to make the attempted dive seem worthwhile.

“Justin bet JC that if he made the dive, he would take care of the dishes for the next three days. If JC didn’t make the dive, he would do the dishes for those three days.”

“I see. So you’re saying that Justin must be blaming himself for the accident.”

Three weary heads nodded in agreement at the doctor.

“Well, that would explain the panic attack.”

“So what do you plan to do for Justin?” asked Chris as he sat back against the couch and leaned against Lance’s shoulder.

“I plan to keep him sedated for at least the next 8 hours to give his body time to recover from the shock. I’ll begin ordering lighter doses of the sedative after the 8 hours and allow him to wake up on his own.”

“What about JC?”

“Well, he’s been taken to CAT scan to see if there are any skull fractures. At this point I believe that he is suffering from just a concussion but we’ll know more once we have the test results. He will also need about 25 stitches for the head wound and that will be taken care of back in the trauma center just as soon as he is finished in CT scan. We’ll also start him on a broad spectrum of antibiotics to ensure that he does not develop pneumonia or infections from the water that he inhaled.”

“How long will JC and Justin need to stay here?” asked Joey as he leaned forward, gazing directly at the doctor.

“I will release both young men in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. It all depends on certain conditions.”

“Such as?” prompted Joey and Lance almost in unison.

“For Mr. Chasez, we’ll be watching for any development of infections or difficulty in breathing. He had an episode in the Trauma Center of labored breathing and we want to have a handle on any problems that might develop.”

“He’s doing better though, as far as his breathing goes, isn’t he?” asked Chris with great concern as he remembered the bluish tint of JC’s lips when they had pulled him from the pool. He knew that that image would remain with him for a very long time.

“Yes, he’s doing fine, Mr. Kirkpatrick. The episode lasted just a minute or two and resolved itself on its own without medications.”

The boys nodded their understanding and the doctor continued speaking.

“We’ll also monitor JC’s condition with the concussion that we suspect he has. We’ll know more when the results from CT Scan come down. Dr. Shannon is with JC at CT and we should know something within the next hour.”

“What will you be looking for with Justin?”

“Well, we want to make sure that this panic attack is a one time occurrence and I want to give Justin the opportunity to rest, hence the sedation.”

“What do we need to do then?” asked Joey as he stood up and made his way to a nearby wall and leaned against it.

“Dr. Shannon and I are arranging a suite room for you here at the hospital so that you can stay with your friends on one condition.” Dr. Mohammad looks very serious as he gazed at the boys.

“What is it?” quizzed Chris. He would jump through rings of fire in order to stay with his friends and he knew, without question, Lance and Joey felt the same way.

“All of you need rest. Once these two young men are released from the hospital, they will continue to need care. You will need to be ready for that.”

“We can do that, can’t we guys,” said Chris as he looked at Joey and then Lance, getting nods in agreement from both young men.

“You need to let the hospital staff do their jobs and they have the final say in whether or not your staying is hampering the healing process of your friends. If that becomes the case, then you will be asked to leave and will not be allowed back until your friends are released from the hospital.” The doctor said this in all sincerity, as he looked at each of their faces. The boys could tell that Dr. Mohammad was very serious and that they had not heard an idle threat.

“Do you agree to the terms?”

“Yes sir,” answered Chris for the trio.

“Good.” The doctor rose from his chair and motioned for the boys to remain seated. “It may be a while before your friends are taken upstairs to a room. Dr. Shannon has asked that the three of you stay here in his office and try to get some rest. One of us will be back up to let you know when we’ll be moving JC and Justin upstairs, and then you can join them.”

“Thank you Dr. Mohammad,” Chris said as he stood and offered his hand toward the doctor. Dr. Mohammad shook the hand offered to him and then the hands of Joey and Lance as they also stood.

“We really appreciate all the help that you’ve been giving Justin and JC,” added Joey.

“Yeah. We know that they’re in good hands,” said Lance.

“Thank you. We’ll keep you informed.”

With that said the doctor crossed the room to the door and partially opened it. “By the way, I’ll send some security up to this floor. I’ll have them stand by the elevator to ensure you some privacy.”

“That would be appreciated,” Chris answered.

The doctor nodded and then left the room, closing the door behind him. Joey, Lance and Chris sat down heavily on the couch to begin playing the waiting game.

Seven