Faith rolled over, pushing stray locks of her brown hair away from her eyes as she reached for the phone the next morning. "Hello?" she said, sounding as groggy as she felt.
Any thoughts of returning to sleep for a while vanished as a shrieking voice invaded her ear, bringing her down from planet Sleep and back to planet Earth.
"Oh my GOD! Why didn't you call me yesterday?"
Faith sat up, running a hand through her hair to work out some morning knots. She recognized who it was. "Laura?" she said, sounding a little more awake this time.
"Like you couldn't tell," she answered back, the decibel level of her voice decreasing considerably. "How could you not call me?"
"What? What are you talking about? Why would I-"
"What do you mean "what"? You are all over the news!" Faith heard her shuffling through, she was assuming, the morning paper, then heard her speak again. "To quote Ann Harding, reporter and journalist for the Pontiac Times, morning edition. . . "Dr. Summers, a resident doctor at the Pontiac Community Hospital, came to the rescue of Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson and his fellow band-mates yesterday afternoon at the Pontiac Silverdome after Richardson reportedly broke his ankle during rehearsal. Information from other sources says that Summers was summoned and led into the arena by AJ McLean, and was also seen transporting McLean and the remaining members of the band, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, and Brian Littrell, to the Pontiac Community Hospital in her own vehicle."
"Richardson is currently recuperating at PCH and should be released within the next few days." She finally finished, throwing the paper onto her coffee table. "There's more, but, like, that's really all that's important. But, oh my God! I can't believe you didn't tell me!"
"Is there anything else?" Faith asked, fully awake now.
"Well, yeah, but I only read the stuff with you in-"
"No, no, not in the paper. I mean, was there anything on TV or the radio or anything?"
"Not about you, but I think it's safe to say that the whole world knows that Kevin has a broken ankle," she said.
Faith let out a sigh of relief. The last thing she needed was all that publicity, and just for doing somebody one little favor. "Alright, Laura, listen," she said.
"Yeah?"
"Keep your mouth shut about it. About me."
"Fine," she said, too nonchalantly for Faith.
"I'm serious," Faith said, wanting a more sincere response out of her.
"Okay," she said. "I promise I will. My lips are sealed."
"Yeah, they better be," she said, and before she could protest, Faith spoke again. "Hey, Laura, I've got to get going. I've got to be at the hospital at nine-thirty."
"Whoa, you better hurry. It's already nine. I don't know what clock you run by, but it always seems to be a half hour behind everybody else's, so I hear. But, wait," she said and paused her rambling to make room for a sudden realization, "I thought you were going in at ten."
Faith smiled. She had said that yesterday, hadn't she? But that was all before. . . "I think I'm going in a little early today."
"Oh yeah?" she said, a sarcastic tone to her voice. "Any reason in particular? Maybe one that starts with a "K", perhaps."
"No reason whatsoever," Faith said as her smile grew. For once, Laura had hit it squarely on the nose.
"Yeah, whatever you say. Hey, talk to you later sometime."
"See ya," she said, and, still smiling, hung up the phone.
Faith leapt out of bed, throwing the covers back, not caring where they ended up. She stood stretching for a moment and thought to herself, 'Okay, it's nine o'clock. I've got time for a shower and, if I have breakfast at the hospital, I'll get there on time.' She strode over to her dresser, pulled out some clothes, and headed off to the bathroom for a shower.
AJ rubbed his eyes, still trying to wake himself up, as he sat stiffly beside Kevin's bed. He was so tired. So were the others, he was sure.
It had taken them forever to convince Brian to leave the night before. And when they had finally arrived back at the hotel, it took them even longer to convince him to get to sleep so he could have his rest.
Yeah, rest. They got anything but rest. Any of them. Management was flooding their phone lines with calls. AJ had hung up on them twice. Nick, once. They had eventually all gotten together and discussed the situation. And had reached some decisions: the two shows were cancelled, and they weren't leaving for Orlando until Kevin did. No if's, and's, or but's about it.
AJ ran a tired hand over his hair, sighing. He shifted in his seat so he could reach his soda bottle that was resting on Kevin's bedside table. 'Nothing like a good dose of caffeine to start your day,' he thought as he took a swig and then set it in his lap. He let out another soft sigh and turned his head to watch a group of doctors swiftly walk past the room and, again, AJ let his thoughts wander.
When they had arrived that morning, Chelsea had told them that Kevin had woken up in the middle of the night and had asked for them, despite his obvious uneasiness in speaking to her. He seemed afraid to know he was alone, but cooperated nonetheless. And he had fallen back to sleep quickly, on his own.
That's how they found him, asleep. In the hour and a half that they had been there, he had stirred a couple times, but hadn't woken up yet. And AJ didn't dare to wake him. Hell, he wanted to sleep himself.
Obviously, so did the others. A small grin broke out on AJ's face as he looked across the room to see Howie and Nick dozed off in their chairs. Brian had been gone for a while, a half an hour, almost, and he hadn't come back yet. He had just walked out a while ago, giving no indication of where he was off to; he just got up and left. None of them had thought anything of it. Why should they?
AJ looked back at Kevin, pushing the thought of Brian aside; he'd be back soon enough. He brought his soda bottle up to his lips to take another drink, but was offered no more than a couple drops of liquid. He frowned, seeing the empty bottle and looked around. Everyone was sleeping. They wouldn't miss him if he took a trip down to the hospital cafeteria to get another drink.
He got up quietly from his chair and made his way out of the room. He strode down the hall, digging in his pocket to make sure he had the required eighty-five cents for another beverage, and nearly walked past the elevator and into a newly wallpapered wall. He shoved the bundle of change lying in his palm back into his pocket and looked up at the elevator, noticing a small sign on its doors. And in big black letters, it said: OUT OF ORDER.
"Damn!" he said, as he looked around, searching out a sign for the stairs. It didn't take him long to find one and a few minutes later, he began his descent to the bottom level.
Five minutes and two flights of stairs later, AJ arrived in the cafeteria. He stood in the doorway, scanning the room for a vending machine. "Ah-ha," he said, "there you are." The bright blue Pepsi machine stood in the corner and, quite frankly, couldn't be overlooked.
He walked briskly over to it and stopped there to retrieve his change, his hand fishing it out of his deep pockets. He jingled it in his hand as he bent slightly to study his choices.
"Hmm," he said to nobody in particular. "A good old-fashioned Pepsi sounds pretty nice right now." He put in his change and pushed the corresponding button. After grabbing his drink from the bottom of the machine, he unscrewed the top and, as he began to walk back toward the stairs, took a small refreshing sip, being careful not to spill any on himself.
His efforts went unsuccessful. As he swallowed, enjoying the smooth feel of the cold soda going down his throat, he closed his eyes, and was surprised by a sudden collision with another distracted individual. AJ's eyes flew open on impact, concentrating hard on keeping a grip on his soda. But it slipped and fell to the floor, sending soda onto whoever he had just run into.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" he said, bending immediately to pick up the leaking bottle. "I wasn't looking where I was going! I'm sorry!" He was still crouching over the spill, screwing on the top.
"It's okay, AJ. I wasn't looking where I was going either."
AJ froze. "How do you know-" he stopped mid-sentence when he looked up.
A woman was smiling down at him, her face framed by her long brown hair, as she wiped her hands on her white doctor's coat, staining it.
He stood up with the dripping bottle still in his hands and said, "Faith! Oh God, I didn't know that was you! I'm sorry. I'm-"
"It's okay, really," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
"But I messed up your nice white coat," he said, gesturing to her coat.
"I've had worse things spilled on this coat, don't worry," she said and smiled again. He smiled back this time.
"So you're not mad?"
"Of course not," she said. "But I do have to drop this off at the desk now. Wanna come?" She slipped off her coat and threw it over her arm.
"Sure," he said, nodding. "I was just heading back up to Kevin's room anyway." She smiled and led him out of the cafeteria.
"So how's Kevin?" she asked, starting conversation after they had been walking for a few minutes.
"He woke up last night. Chelsea told us. He still seemed a little wary of her, but he was relaxed enough to say a few words to her. Other than that, he probably just hurts, I guess. Though, he has been sleeping all morning. Thank God for pain pills, huh?" he said, turning his face to smile at her. She was listening intently, caught his attempt at humor and smiled back.
It was quiet again as they continued to walk. AJ started up again, asking a question that had been bugging him since the night before, "When is he going to be able to get out of here and go home?"
Faith sighed. "You'd have to check with Chelsea on that one. I'm not his doctor." She paused, pondering over whether she should say what she was thinking. She didn't even know him, after all, but it was true. She stopped walking and turned to him, refusing to speak until he stopped as well. "I'm just somebody who cares about him."
AJ smiled. "He'd be glad to hear that. He's kind of felt uncared for lately."
They began their walk again, turning a corner into the bottom floor waiting room, the same one that four shook up, concerned friends sat in just one day before. A few steps into the room, a grey-sweatered blur came running over to them, almost stopping to late, but caught itself, preventing a second collision of the day. Then, the blur spoke.
"Faith! AJ! Guys, guess what?"
AJ nearly burst out laughing. "Rok? Is that you? You came back? I mean, finally, at long last, back to your normal self? Loud, hyperactive, wish-I-was-five-years-old- again Brian? Oh, thank-"
"Shut up, Bone," he said, smiling. "Anyway, I've got really good news!"
"What?" AJ said.
"I've worked out a way to get Kevin home!"
Faith spoke up then. "How's that? Didn't Chelsea say he had to stay?"
"Well, it looks like Chelsea's changing her mind! This is how it's gonna work. Kevin could go home with us, but somebody, like a doctor or a nurse or something, has to come too. Like a extended house call kind of thing, or something. I don't know what to call it, but, Chelsea's okay with it. Management is okay with it. We just gotta get somebody to stay with him," Brian said, barely stopping to breathe. He was really excited about this.
"Isn't Chelsea gonna do it?" Brooke asked. "She is his doctor."
"Well, no," Brian said, looking at Faith. "I asked, but she says she has to be here. But she did suggest someone else." His eyes never strayed from Faith's.
"Who?" asked AJ.
Brian hesitated before he spoke, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. Then he said, "Well, Faith, she said you'd do it. Would you?"
Faith was surprised. She had never even spoken to him. "Me?" she said. "I don't know. I'd like to. . ."
"But what?" AJ said.
"But, but," she stuttered, then regained her composure, "I've never even spoken to him! He doesn't know who I am!"
"Then you're coming with me," Brian said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him, dragging her in the direction of Kevin's room, with AJ following close behind.
Faith kept in stride with Brian as they neared the room and was surprised when he stopped suddenly. The smile on his face faded as he let her hand slip out of his and his pace started again, keeping it to a slow, steady walk. He turned back to look at AJ and Faith, signaling them to follow, and returned his gaze to the two lonely figures outside Kevin's door. "What the hell is wrong now?" he mumbled under his breath, not caring who heard him or who didn't.
Howie and Nick were standing outside the room, each leaning on either side of the door, heads hung in silence. Howie lifted his head at the sound of their shuffling footsteps, the same sound causing him to slowly turn around to face them. He saw Brian, with Faith and AJ in tow, steadily approaching.
Brian's steps quickened as he saw Howie turn. "What's going on?" he asked, before he even came to a stop in front of his friend.
Nick pushed himself away from the doorframe and, taking his hands out of his jeans pockets, said, "Chelsea's in there. She said she had to wake him up so she could, uh, examine him. Look him over. She said he was complaining about his back and his ribs last night, so she said she was going in to see if she needed to wrap them or anything. You know, fix him up." His eyes never left Brian as he spoke, half expecting him to make a sudden move for the door.
But no sudden movements were made. Brian said nothing as he slowly walked past Howie and pressed himself against Kevin's door, standing on his tip-toes to get a look inside.
He saw the curtain pulled around the bed, restricting any view of him, or Chelsea. He leaned back on his heels and wiped the formed moisture on the window away with his sleeve, then faced the others, his eyes tightly shut. He breathed a heavy sigh, trying hard not to imagine what Kevin was thinking, or how scared he was.
He turned around again and, like before, pressed his body to the cold door, but this time laid his ear against the window, straining to hear something.
And he heard him. He was whimpering softly, barely able to tell her that it hurt, whatever it was she was doing to him. Brian winced as a loud cry escaped Kevin's lips, and he pushed away from the door, taking a few steps back. He could hear Chelsea apologizing, trying to put him back at ease, and he stepped further away, not wanting to hear anymore.
Howie stood behind Brian and was quick to reassure. "He'll be fine, Bri. She won't be much longer in there," he said.
Faith hung back, watching. Howie noticed her standing off to the side, looking uneasy and nervous, and left Brian to move to stand in front of her. "I'm going for a walk," he said. "I'll be back in a little while, okay? I need to think."
She nodded as he turned, looking at her, and started a slow stride down the hallway. She turned her head to see Nick taking off after him.
"Howie! Hey, D! Wait up! I'm coming too!" he yelled and soon joined Howie at the end of the hall.
Faith then turned to AJ. "You going too?"
"I think I'll go outside for a while," he said, pointing over his shoulder. "Care to join me?"
She thought for a second, glancing at Brian. "Uh, I'll be out in a minute," she said, still looking at Brian. He was peeping in the window again. "You go on out."
"Alrighty," he said, nodding in understanding, and then walked away, leaving Faith alone with Brian.
Faith took a couple cautious steps closer to Brian, making an effort to keep a considerable distance between them. She thought about what to say to him. Her mind was blank. She hardly knew any of them and hadn't the faintest idea of what he wanted to hear. After a moment, she said what everyone else had been saying for the past day, "He'll be okay."
He didn't look at her, but kept his attention on what was going on inside Kevin's room. "I'm not worried about whether or not he'll be okay. Chelsea's a good doctor. I know he'll be okay, physically. But I don't think he's," he paused, choosing his words carefully, "comfortable in there."
"Brian," she said as she walked toward him, reaching out to touch him. He leaned away from the door and looked at her, concern flooding his eyes, when she placed her hand softly on his shoulder. "Chelsea wouldn't hurt him."
"I know that," he said, looking away. "But he doesn't. Ever since. . ." he trailed off.
"Ever since what?"
"Nothing," he said. "It's just, something, never mind."
She knew he wasn't going to tell her. And she wasn't going to push him. She stood quietly for a moment, then grabbed both his shoulders and turned him to face her. She held him at arm's length and said, "Brian, with someone like you caring for him, he'll be fine. He knows you love him." So she didn't know that as a fact, but it was what Brian needed to hear. She let her arms fall and opened them up to him.
He gratefully stepped into her embrace, laying his chin on her shoulder. He whispered quietly, "Thank you. You should stick around, Faith. I think Kev just might like you."