"Sophia, get down here!" I shouted, kneeling down to pick up the glass that surrounded me.

"What the hell is that smell?" she asked, rubbing her eyes as she slowly crept down the stairs.

"I think you know what that smell is," I snapped, annoyed that my hands were covered in vodka.

"Oh my God… what the hell happened here?!" she shrieked, her vision returning to normal.

"You tell me."

"What are you talking about, AJ?"

"I understand that you don't want this baby.  I can handle that.  But I can't handle you putting our baby's life at risk.  Didn't you ever hear that drinking during pregnancy isn't good?" I stood up, letting the glass pieces I was carrying fall to the floor. 

"I didn't do this, AJ."

"So, let me get this straight:  someone broke into our house last night and stole some liquor.  On the way out, he dropped a bottle.  That makes perfect sense," I muttered sarcastically.

"AJ, I promise you, I didn't do this.  Maybe I don't want this baby, but I would never purposely harm it.  You know me," she pleaded.

"I wish I could say I believe you.  But I don't.  Sorry."

I disappeared into the kitchen and grabbed a mop to clean up the living room floor. 

"I can't understand why you won't listen to me.  I was never a big drinker, AJ… why the hell would I start now?"

"Because you hate the fact that you're pregnant.  You hate the baby, I guess," I shrugged. 

"I don't hate the baby.  It's a part of us, you know?  I could never hate something that we created… you have to trust that I didn't drink."

"I know I'm gonna sound like a huge dick here, but I can't believe you until I find out who did this.  I'm sorry…" I murmured, running a hand through my hair. 

She nodded slowly, before turning and heading back upstairs. 

Nick's View

"Brian, open the door!" I shouted, pounding my fists against his door for about the tenth time.  I could tell he was home… the TV was on.  I couldn't remember if we were on good terms or not.  That's how blurry everything has been to me lately… I can't even remember if me and my best friend are fighting or not. 

I peered into his front window again, trying my best to see what was going on in there.  The first thing that caught my attention were tons of empty bottles of liquor lying around on the table. 

"Shit, man, open the fucking door!" I repeated, starting to get worried.

The only thing I could think of doing was to call 911 and get an ambulance over here.  If he had consumed that much alcohol, there was no way he could still be conscious. 

Colleen's View

I'd been sitting in the same position for about an hour now.  I didn't really know what to do with myself.  In this type of situation, I would normally go to Brian's house… or Nick's.  But seeing as how things went with Nick last night, it would be way too awkward seeing him. 

As I picked up the phone, prepared to call Sophia, it rang.

"Hello?"

"Col, it's Nick.  Listen, something pretty bad happened to Brian."

"What happened?" I questioned, my heart beginning to pound furiously.

"He drank way too much last night.  I called an ambulance and they smashed his door open and we found him passed out on the couch.  His breathing was pretty slow and I'm at the hospital with him now.  They're gonna have to pump his stomach."

"Oh my God, what hospital are you at, Nick?"

"The one right by Brian's house… I'm not sure of the name.  You know the one?"

"Yeah.  I'll be right there.  Wait for me outside, ok?"

"Alright."

I hurriedly put down the phone, grabbed my keys, and bolted to my car.  I didn't really have much time to think about why Brian would do something like that. 

"Hey," I shouted, running over to where Nick was waiting for me. 

"Hi, I'm glad you're here," he mumbled, refusing to look me in the eye. 

Things were going to be uncomfortable because of last night, but I put that all behind me… for now.

"When can we see him?" I asked, grabbing him by the hand as we walked into the waiting room of the hospital.

"Don't know."  He quickly pulled his hand away, turning a light shade of red.  "Let me go check it out."

I nodded, as I watched him walk over to the nurse at the desk.  He nodded every few minutes, as the nurse gave him Brian's condition. 

"He's alright, thank God," he stated, taking a seat next to me.  "You don't even want to know how many bottles of crap there were on his table.  It's a good thing I went to his house this morning or he would've died or something.  They pumped his stomach, and he's just gonna stay overnight for observation and stuff.  We can go in whenever we're ready.  He's right down the hall in room 118.  He's still pretty knocked out from all the drugs they gave him, but if we talk he'll be able to hear us."

"Ok… you should go see him.  I'm sure he doesn't wanna see me anyway."

"I'm sure he does," he smiled.  "Go ahead.  I'll be here."

"Nick, I'm sorry for - "

"Shh, go see Brian.  We can talk later or whatever."

I squeezed his hand gently, and headed over to Brian's room.

I quietly opened the door and saw Brian lying there attached to all these strange looking machines.  I pulled a chair over to the bed and sat myself down.  I didn't really know what to say.  I've never really been in this type of situation - talking to an unconscious person.  But this was probably the only way I could communicate with him since he broke off all ties with me. 

I took a deep breath, trying so hard to relax myself.

"Let me ask you something, Bri.  Why exactly did you do this to yourself?  I have this crazy thought in the back of my mind that you did this because of me.  I pray to God that I'm not the reason.  I would never want you to hurt yourself because of me.  I miss you so much, Brian, it's not even funny.  You were my best friend in the whole world and now it's like you're a stranger to me.  I know that you're not dying or anything, and that you'll be out of here by tomorrow… but I still feel like getting all mushy because this is probably the only chance I'll have to tell you how much I love you and care about you.  You mean the world to me, and that's the truth.  Not having you there for me all the time is horrible.  Things don't seem to be as much fun without you around.  Only you and I can have such interesting water gun fights and debates about the stupidest crap.  Don't get me wrong - Nick is great - but he's not you.  I know you felt as though he would take your place as my best friend… he can't.  There's only one Brian Littrell and he can't be copied or replaced.  You probably don't care about any of this anymore.  What, did you think you could get rid of me that easily?  Right now your main concern is probably whether or not the press will hear about this… for your sake, I hope word doesn't get out about this.  They'll make your life a living hell.  Anyway, I'm going to leave now.  I'll send Nick in here but prepare to get it from him.  He's mad at you for doing this to yourself.  You really should've thought twice before you opened up all those bottles, Bri.  You're a smart guy… what happened?  I know we all make mistakes.  I think I know that more than anyone else.  But just try not to make this particular mistake anymore.  Promise me that much, alright?  You don't have to think of it as a friendly promise because I know you don't consider me a friend anymore.  Think of it as a healthy promise.  I'll see you around Littrell."

I brushed my lips on his cheek, and slowly walked to the door.  I couldn't stop the tears from coming as I walked over to where Nick was sitting. 

"You ok?" he asked, flashing me a worried glance.

"I'm fine," I smiled, wiping my eyes.  "Why don't you go in and talk to him.  When you're done, meet me in the cafeteria.  I have some stuff to say to you."

Sophia's View

"You can't be serious, Col.  How stupid could that guy be?"

"I don't know.  He made a mistake, I guess.  I just don't understand where he got all that liquor from."

"Well at least he's gonna be ok.  That's what matters most.  And when Nick sits down at that table with his gorgeous face… tell him exactly what you told me.  Tell him the truth," I laughed.

"I'm gonna try.  Oh my God, get AJ on the phone right now!" she shouted.  "It's an emergency."

"Alright, chill out my dear.  Hold up."

"AJ, phone," I mumbled, letting the telephone fall to the floor so he'd have to bend down and pick it up.

AJ's View

"You're such a sweetie," I muttered, reaching down to pick up the phone.

"I know," she replied sarcastically.

"Hey Col, you want me that bad?"

"Shut up, AJ!  Listen up… I know who robbed your liquor cabinet."

"Do you?  And who might that be?"

"Brian!"

"You know, I never thought of that.  You're quite the genius Colleen.  I'm gonna head over to the hospital and talk to that boy."

"Room 118.  I'm in the cafeteria if you wanna drop by and say hello."

"Of course I want to," I grinned.

"Ugh, McLean, you're killing me here!" she giggled, before she hung up the phone.

"Baby, I owe you the biggest apology known to man," I said, wrapping my arms around Sophia.

"Yeah, you do.  And I owe you a pretty big one myself.  But you can go first, of course," she laughed.

"Ok.  I'm so sorry for accusing you of trying to hurt the baby by drinking.  I just really want to have this baby, and - "

"So do I," she interrupted.

"And I want you - what's that you just said?"

"I said, so do I."

"Since when?"

"Since now.  We're so ready, AJ," she stated, leaning in to kiss me.

"I've been saying that for a day or two now."

"Why don't you shut your mouth and kiss me, Daddy?"

Nick's View

"Hey," I smiled, sitting myself down across from Colleen.

"How was your talk with Brian?"

"Funny.  He's awake now, actually.  I let him have it.  He feels pretty bad about breaking in to AJ's house… I still can't believe he did that.  The doctors want him to go to rehab!  Can you imagine… Brian in rehab!  That's so crazy.  I explained to them that this was one of the first times I've ever seen him drink.  At first they didn't believe me, but I made them check his records and they saw he's never been in for drunkenness before.  So… alls well I suppose.  I still don't know why he did it… he didn't seem to wanna tell me.  So, Col, what is it that we needed to talk about?"

"I think you know, Nick," she mumbled under her breath.

"Yeah, I think I know.  What's there to say about it.  You kissed me.  I really have nothing to say about it," I replied, looking into her eyes for the first time today.

"Maybe you don't… but I do.  I'm going to start saying things that will sound completely crazy to you.  I need you to keep quiet until I'm done though, promise?"

"Promise," I repeated, my curiosity at an all-time high.

"I remember you told me that all things happen for a reason.  I never really thought about it until this morning when I saw you.  There is a reason why I kissed you last night.  It's something I've been thinking about all of last night and this morning.  You know how I feel about you.  You also know how I feel about us being together.  I honestly think it would be a total disaster.  I'd end up hurting you.  The last thing I want to see is you with a broken heart… again.  But I'm a selfish person, you see.  In the back of my mind, I wanna try things with you, and risk the fact that I might break your heart.  The front of my mind is telling me that I was crazy to kiss you last night, and crazy to be having this talk with you right now.  But sometimes, I feel like telling the front of my mind to screw itself.  The point I'm trying to make is that I love you a hell of a lot.  I wanna try things with you really badly.  I wanna be able to go up to Brian and say to him, 'Hey, this is Nick… my boyfriend.'  But then I get this overwhelming sense of guilt.  I care for Brian so much.  I want him as my best friend, and you as something more than that.  But it's like I can't have both things I want.  If I'm with you, Brian will never consider being friends with me again.  Not only that, but it would totally destroy the friendship the two of you have worked so hard on maintaining.  Despite all of that, I still wanna be with you.  As of right now, I've kind of already lost Brian so it can't really get much worse.  I'm willing to sacrifice it all… and I guess I'm asking you if you're willing to do the same…"

"Whoa, I really wasn't expecting that, Col," I stammered, wondering if this was a dream. 

"I know.  I wasn't really expecting it myself," she laughed, nervously pushing pieces of hair behind her ears.

"I don't really know what to say…"

"Well, you could start off by saying 'yes'," she suggested.

"Can you give me a few hours to think about it?"

"Of course.  Take all the time you need, Nick.  I'll see you around."

I turned to watch her walk off, a huge smile plastered across my face.  I wasn't quite sure what was going on, or how come God decided to give me a break… but, hey, who am I to argue?

Brian's View

Damn, I felt like shit.  However, I was able to put all of that behind me when I thought about what Colleen had said to me.  It had only been a few days of us not being friends, but it was killing me.  It's what caused me to drink so much.  I miss her so much, and now I know that she misses me too.  Maybe we could fix things… again.