AJ said nothing as he grabbed hold of Faith's hand and pulled her back in the direction of the stadium. He pulled his hat down lower as he immersed himself, along with his newfound companion, back into the throng of fans. He pushed past the dozens of hands that reached for him, holding CD booklets and Sharpie markers, among other things. His head turned to look over his shoulder and he yelled back at her, trying to make his voice carry over the screams of the fans, "We're almost there!"
"What?" She shouted back.
He just shook his head. It didn't matter now anyway. AJ stopped and let go of Brooke's hand long enough to swing open the door. He stepped back and allowed her entrance first, then followed her inside.
Faith watched as AJ leaned against the door, his breath heavy and labored. She stepped closer and waited for him to say something.
He looked at her and saw her waiting. He held a finger up at her, signaling her to hold on just a bit longer. He took a deep breath before he spoke. "I'm sorry about that," he said, "it's just that there's a little bit of an emergency back here."
He took her hand again and began to lead her backstage. He continued to talk. "One of my friends hurt his ankle and passed out and we knew there were nurse stations and stuff out there so . . ." he trailed off as they finally arrived at the room he had left not long ago. He opened the door and they stepped inside.
Howie was the only one to look up as they entered. Brian still had Kevin's head cradled in his lap and was still talking to him, smoothing his hair and telling him that it would be okay. Nick looked on, wrapping his arms around Brian whenever it was necessary.
Howie walked over to them and introduced himself. "Hi," he said, extending his hand to Faith, "I'm Howie."
"Faith," she replied, taking his hand. "AJ, you're name's AJ, right?" She asked suddenly, turning back to AJ. When he nodded, she continued, "Well, AJ said your friend here," she paused and nodded to Kevin, "hurt his ankle." The statement was almost a question, one that required verification of sorts.
"Yeah, Kevin," he said. "We think it's broken." He reached behind her, placing his hand on her back, and led her to where Kevin lay.
No words were said as Faith kneeled down at Kevin's feet. Her eyes drifted to each of them, lingering on Brian for a time. She looked softly at him, listening to the comforting words and reassuring whispers. She followed his gaze down to Kevin's face. The muscles there were relaxed and his expression was peaceful. Thank God for Brian.
Faith felt Howie poke her a little. She snapped her head back to look at him. He wore a desperate, pleading look on his face and nodded at Kevin. Faith looked back at Kevin, then at Howie. "I'm sorry," she said, and focused on the task at hand.
She looked at his ankle. Broken, definitely. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. She turned to Howie. "There's no doubt that it's broken," she said, "in more than one place, maybe. But I can't be sure until we-"
"It's broken?"
Faith turned her head to where the weak sound had come from. Brian looked up at her, waiting for her answer as he still held Kevin's head.
"Yeah," she said as she nodded. "We need to get him to a hospital. He needs as x-ray and some proper treatment." She scooted over to where Brian was, and, never breaking eye contact, she gently laid a hand on the back of his neck. "That's okay, right?"
He looked back down to Kevin's face. He nodded, then looked back up to meet her eyes again. "That would probably be best. Can we take him now?"
"Sure we can. I'll put a call into the ambulance crew outside. Some paramedics will be here in a few minutes, okay? And we can get him safely to a hospital within fifteen minutes, tops. How's that?" Faith said, leaning close to him. "And," she added, "I could probably get all of you there to be with him in twenty."
"You?" Brian asked. "Can't we go with him? In the ambulance, I mean. We can, can't we?"
She doubted it. "Listen, Brian, why don't I call the crew and we'll see about letting you go with him." She reached into her pocket for her phone, but paused before dialing. "I don't think they'll let you, though. They usually don't let anybody ride with the patient, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. I'm not gonna promise anything, all right?"
They all nodded in understanding.
She dialed quickly, and, after throwing information back and forth, she hung up wearing a rather somber face. She saw all of them looking at her anxiously, waiting for the verdict. "They won't let you go, but," she added hurriedly before they could protest, "I could give you guys a ride. You wouldn't get there as fast, but you'd get there. You'd be able to be with him after they fixed him up a little."
Now it was her turn to wait for the verdict.
They all exchanged questioning glances, unsure of what to do. Brian, having composed himself, took charge and answered, "Thank you. We'd all appreciate that."
Before Faith could answer, the door swung open and the ambulance crew piled in, carrying a long stretcher and surrounded Kevin.
Brian looked on as they lifted Kevin off the floor and onto the stretcher. His eyes stayed locked on his face as they began to wheel him out. He took a few steps forward, going after them. No one was following him.
"Are we going to go or what?" he said, looking at Faith. "I'd like to be there as soon as possible. Where's your car?"
"This way," she said as she stepped in front of them and led them out, behind Kevin, toward the ambulance.
Once outside, a mad rush was made, on the parts of both parties, for a vehicle. Fans seemed to have a telepathic way of knowing when one of their idols stepped foot outside the building and, although none was moving from the front of the arena, this was news that they could wait on announcing to the fans.
Faith stopped in front of her car and searched her pocket for her keys. She fished them out with shaky fingers, the adrenaline pumping through her, and hurriedly unlocked the door. She threw it open and climbed inside. She looked out at the ambulance in front of them, watching the crew position themselves around Kevin, preparing to lift him up inside. 'Take care of him', she thought as she moved the keys up to the ignition, ready to start the car.
"Okay, are we all set to go?" she asked as she gave the key a solid turn, starting the engine.
Howie looked around. No they weren't set to go. "Uh, Faith?" he started, and waited for her to turn around until he continued, "Where's Brian?"
Faith turned back around in her seat. 'Doesn't he understand that we'll get there faster if we all stay together? He's like my son, I swear!' She couldn't see him among the crowd of paramedics. Maybe he was still inside.
Just as she was about to exit the car, she saw him break away from the group as Kevin was lifted into the ambulance. He turned back to look once, then faced her vehicle again and rushed to them. He made himself comfortable in the seat behind her as the ambulance pulled out ahead of them and onto the road.
Faith said nothing as she stepped on the gas and followed, just catching the green light as they headed toward the hospital.
Conversation ceased to exist in the silence of the car during the ten minutes that followed. And only when they got caught in a construction zone, did it begin again.
"I thought you said we could get there in a few minutes," Brian said, his irritation and impatience plainly obvious.
"Yeah, well, I didn't count on the construction," Faith answered back, her tone echoing the same frustration. She sighed and looked back at him in the rearview mirror. "Brian, I'm just as worried about him as you are. And we'll get there. The hospital's just down the road. He's probably there by now."
He sighed and joined AJ, Nick and Howie in fixing their eyes on the scenery out the window.
It was fifteen minutes later when Faith pulled into her parking space in the hospital parking lot. Brian was the first to exit the car, practically leaping out, when the car came to a stop. Faith followed him, along with the others, struggling to keep in step with him as she jammed her keys into her pocket.
Brian was patient enough to wait for her at the front doors, holding one open for her as she approached. She caught up with him, thanked him for his manners in light of the situation, and arrived, the four men gathered around her, in the bottom floor waiting room.
"Now, guys," she said as she looked at each of them, "please just stay here, sit down, while I go and see what's going on, okay?" She motioned them to sit in the row of chairs that lined the wall before she turned to walk away.
"But-" Nick said, but she cut him off.
"Just sit. It won't take long." And she spun around, and made her way over the information desk where a nurse of about thirty-five sat, engrossed in paperwork.
"Excuse me, nurse," Faith said politely, averting her attention from the papers.
"Doctor Summers," the nurse said, standing up to greet her, a smile on her face. "What do you need? I didn't expect you in today. Somebody told me you were working outside the hospital today. Has it ended early?"
"Uh, no. Well, yes, maybe," Faith paused, slightly embarrassed, taking a second to gather her thoughts. "Actually, something, um, happened, and I came to just inquire about a man who was supposed to have been brought here in an ambulance. His name is Kevin-"
"Richardson," she finished for her, her smile growing bigger. The nurse's gaze drifted over Faith's shoulder, her eyes coming to rest upon the four men that sat still and quiet in the chairs across from them.
Faith turned to glance at them as well, then back at the nurse, puzzled.
The nurse leaned forward and spoke almost in a whisper. "You get to know who they are with an eight year old daughter in the house."
Faith smiled and nodded in understanding. "Yes, I'm sure. But about Kevin?"
"Mr. Richardson arrived about fifteen minutes ago. He's with Chelsea now," she said, her casual tone shifting to a business-like one.
"Any information on whether or not he was unconscious when they brought him in?" Faith continued.
"Conscious. He was," she paused and looked over Faith's shoulder again, "He was asking for Mr. Littrell, and begging not to be taken in." Her voice was changing again, this time to a genuinely worried tone. "He kept insisting he was fine. Chelsea had a hard time with him at first, but she gave him a little bit of a sedative to calm him down so she could at least get a x-ray. They took him to get a cast on him a few minutes ago. And then she-" She was interrupted by the shrill ring of the phone. "Excuse me."
At the mention of his name, Brian had made his way over to Faith and was standing at her side, listening attentively, a concerned look on his face. He leaned forward to hear what the nurse had to say next as she hung up the phone.
The nurse sat back down and wheeled a foot or two over to another desk, typed in some information into a computer, then wheeled back over to her desk, now surrounded by three new members; Nick, Howie and AJ had decided to join them. "That was Chelsea," she said, looking up at them. "The cast is set and he's sleeping. Room 377."
To everyone else, Brian was a blur as he bolted to the nearest hallway. He hadn't even gone fifteen feet when rational thought took over and he skidded to a stop. He turned to them, who had started to approach him and said, not at all embarrassed, "Which way is 377 anyway?"
Faith motioned for the others to follow as she led them past Brian to the end of the hallway.
AJ darted up to her. "Oh, oh! Could I push the button? Please? Please?" He was behaving like a small, hyperactive child; his act was complete with little jumps and handclaps. "I love pushing the elevator buttons, Mummy," he said, batting his eyelashes at her.
Everyone but Brian erupted into laughter. "Just push the button," he said, glaring at AJ, his serious tone of voice causing their laughter to cease. "Or I will."
"Fine, fine, fine," he said and leaned forward to push the UP button.
The wait wasn't long and Faith herded them into the elevator and pressed the button to take them up to the third floor. After another short wait, the doors opened and they piled out, and turned to look at her, waiting for further direction.
She knew what they were waiting for and she was quick to inform. "Eleventh room on the right."
Brian was the first to take off, again, followed in pursuit by Nick. AJ and Howie uttered hastened "thank you"'s before trailing after them.
Faith watched them make their way down the hall, counting off the rooms, and, finally, disappearing into Kevin's room. She started walking, her destination nowhere in particular, as she thought about all that had happened. She stopped and turned slowly as she heard a soft voice call out her name from behind her.
Chelsea stood smiling. They were silent for a second, smiling at each other. Faith waited as she walked toward her and when she reached her, she resumed her walk in Chelsea's company. "How is he?" Faith said, breaking the silence.
"Kevin? He's okay now. He needs some rest. I'm keeping him here for a couple of days."
"How bad was it? The break, I mean."
"Pretty bad. I expected it to be broken in more than one place, but it turned out it was only broken once, though, if he kept walking on it, more may have occurred. I don't know. He's just lucky, I guess," she said.
She stopped, thinking, and continued, "He must not like doctors, or hospitals, or something."
"Huh? Why?" Faith said. "Was he that bad? I mean, I heard he didn't want to go in, but, well, the nurse didn't tell me much."
"He showed a lot of resistance in there. No, not even that. That's being generous. He didn't want to go in, didn't want anyone to touch him, nothing."
Chelsea stopped. Faith had lost track of where they had been walking and was surprised to find herself stopped just outside of Kevin's room. She could hear them talking inside, probably to Kevin. She almost didn't hear Chelsea continue; she had quieted her voice down to a low whisper and leaned in a little closer.
"He settled down eventually, but he just kept pleading with me to leave him alone. God, Faith, he, he was crying," she stuttered. "It's like he suddenly realized where he was and he just froze. It instilled this instant fear in him, and the weirdest thing was. . ."
"What?" Faith said, urging her to go on.
Chelsea took a deep breath. "When I finally got hold of him and got him down on the table for an x-ray, he looked at me and. . .and. . .he asked me not to kill him. I just don't know, Faith. And then after that, he was so scared. He wouldn't take his eyes off of anything, or anyone. I'm a little worried."
"Is that why you're keeping him?"
"Part of it, but mostly because if I let him go, I have a feeling he just won't take it seriously. You know, he won't take care of himself."
Faith nodded. She takes a hesitant step and looks inside the room. Kevin was still sleeping, the covers tucked high up to his chest. Brian had pulled a chair close to his bed and was leaning near to him, whispering to him. Nick was sitting next to Brian, looking on, and AJ and Howie were on the other side of the bed, watching Brian as well.
Faith turned back to Chelsea and said, "What do you say we let them know what's going on, huh?"
Chelsea smiled half-heartedly and walked past Faith. Faith followed her, but stopped only a few feet inside the doorway. She watched as Chelsea stepped forward.
"Excuse me," she said. "I'm Chelsea Banks, Kevin's doctor."
They all nodded, all of them except Brian. His eyes stayed locked on Kevin's face; he had looked up when she had come in.
"I've come to talk to you about your friend's condition. Now he's-"
"Will he be okay?" AJ interrupted.
"He doesn't have to stay here, does he?" Howie chimed in, asking a question that was on all of their minds.
Chelsea sighed. They weren't making this very easy. "Well, yes, but just for a couple days. I think it would be better if he were supervised for a little while. We need to make sure he gets started off on the right road to recovery, and he needs some rest. It'll be better for him."
AJ and Howie nodded their heads. Brian didn't seem to be listening. Nick was just too busy tending to Brian to bother.
AJ stood up and offered her his hand. "Well, thank you, Dr. Banks. You've done a good job and we respect your advice," he said as he shook her hand.
"Your welcome. And feel free to ask me any questions about anything, okay?" Chelsea said, looking to all of them. Again, AJ and Howie nodded, this time twice, as if they were speaking for their two friends.
AJ sat back down as Chelsea left the room.
Faith stayed rooted to her spot in the shadows as Chelsea walked past her, giving her a smile. She looked back to the five men who were now again quiet in the room. They never looked up, and she was finding herself kind of glad to know that they hadn't noticed her.
Brian went back to talking to Kevin. It seemed like his job. She strained her ears to listen and it took her a minute to become accustomed to his soft tone of voice. She stood quietly, listening to his string of comforting words.
"We're all here, Kev," he was saying. "We're all watching out for you, for a change. It's weird when things are turned the other way around. I mean, you are always the one looking out for us, and now, well, anyway. . .we don't want you to be scared." His hand went under the covers, searching out Kevin's hand. "We heard how scared you were. It's okay." He pushed his sheets down and found his hand. He gently pulled it up over the blankets and took his hand in both of his, and started again.
"These people aren't going to hurt you, Kev. They care about you. Those other doctors, they didn't care about Kat. They were screwed up and they didn't care about her. Not all doctors are like that. They didn't care about her, or anyone who loved her. These doctors are different," he paused to gather his breath. He rubbed Kevin's hand gently, still sandwiching it between his, and continued, "Doctor Banks cares about you. I know she does. And Doctor Summers cares about you."
Faith's eyes were brimming with tears. She couldn't cry. She could give herself away. She wiped away any threatening tears and tuned into Brian again.
"She's the one who brought you here. And she's the one who made sure you got a good doctor. And she made sure we got here so we could be with you. She's got to be a good person if she put up with us, huh, cuz? You'd like her. She cares, Kev. She loves you. And we love you, buddy," he stopped again, letting go of his hand and placing it back underneath the covers. "Just rest, Kevin. We're not going anywhere." Brian stood up. He leaned over Kevin, stopping to look at him, study him. He repeated again, "We're not going anywhere," and kissed his forehead.
God, they were so close. It was almost unbelievable. Faith shifted a little and wiped some more tears away, hoping no one would notice her existence in the doorway.
Kevin stirred a little after Brian had pulled away. He tossed his head to the side and let it rest there, looking away from Brian. And in a voice that was nearly inaudible, his lips moved to form one word that barely made it past them. "Kat," he whispered and turned his head to face the other direction.
Brian put his lips close to Kevin's ear, and, careful not to wake him, keeping his voice soft, he said, "She loves you, too. She's looking after you with us, making sure you heal all right."
Faith watched as he sat back down. Nick's arm went around his shoulders in a comforting gesture. She didn't know who Kat was, and, as much as she wanted to ask, she put her curiosity aside and concentrated on watching the other men, who she had failed to look upon before.
AJ wasn't doing anything interesting. He was fiddling with his baseball cap that was sitting in his lap, his eyes watching Kevin and Brian.
Howie was looking around the room, taking in everything. He studied everything from the wallpaper to medical instruments to the lightbulbs, everything. His eyes finally drifted to the doorway and landed on her and seemed surprised to see her there. He took a look back at the others and, without looking back at her, slowly got up and quietly, so as not to distract anyone, made his way to her.
Faith watched him stop in front of her. His gaze lifted from its spot at the floor and shifted to her. He said nothing and Faith found herself part of an awkward silence.
Finally, he spoke, clearing his throat. "I, well, I mean, I think that they'd like to also, but I know that I, uh," he stopped, realizing that he must sound absolutely ridiculous, and put his thoughts into a simple, understandable sentence, "Thank you for doing all that."
Faith smiled, both at his gratitude and verbal blunder. "It's my job," she answered, trying to take it like it was nothing, as well as trying to cover up how much she had been effected by Brian's display of affection.
He shook his head and answered, "You didn't have to do that. Drive us here and all. Most people really wouldn't do that."
Her smile grew and she pulled him into a hug. Howie was surprised, but found himself hugging her back. Most people didn't exactly do that either.
Still in the embrace, she said, "You guys love him."
"Yeah, we do," he said, and pulled away from her. "But, thanks anyway."
"No problem."
Again, there was a silence. Howie turned back to look over his shoulder at Kevin, then turned to face her.
"Um, you know, I think they would all appreciate it if you stopped by tomorrow. I'm sure they'd like to thank you, but now isn't, uh, the greatest time, so. . ."
"I'll be in tomorrow," she said. "I think I probably would've come by anyway, just to see how Kevin was doing."
Howie smiled. "He'd like that. He needs a little encouragement from doctors anyway."
Faith sensed her curiosity coming back and, this time, she succumbed to it. "Does he not like them or something?" she asked, trying to be vague, but wanting a clue to what had happened.
Howie thought a second, choosing his words carefully. He didn't want to give away much information. The information wasn't his to go giving out, besides. "Let's just say his past experiences with doctors haven't been good," he paused again, and, with added stress, he continued, "At all." He gave her a minute to let that sink in. "As for the rest, I really don't think I'm authorized to tell."
"I understand," she said, her curiosity rocketing. "I'll be sure to stop by tomorrow."
"Thanks again!" he called after her as she turned away to walk down to her car.