"If it goes up any higher I am going to take you to the hospital," she told him and then remembered that all of the guys had looked a little pale right before bed time, she went to Kevin's room and knocked on the door. "Kev? Are you in there?"
"Yeah," he said in the same tone that A.J. had said it. "Can I come in?" "Yeah, come in." She opened the door and turned the light on, looking at Kevin, his eyes were red and his face was too. She put her hand on his forehead and saw that he had a temperature, too. She went into the bathroom again and got a bunch of wet towels and put them on his forehead. She took his temperature, it was 103, a little better than A.J., but still pretty bad.
"Kevin, you get some sleep," she said as she covered him in blankets, "I will leave your door open, call me if you need me, he nodded and she went to Brian's door.
"Bri? Are you in there?" "What is it?!" He asked angerly and she opened the door without waiting for him to say to. She looked at him and saw that he looked even worse than the other two, she definitely had her hands full. She had decided a little while ago to postpone college and so had Lauren, thankfully, because she wouldn't be home now if she had started school again.
She ran over to him and frowned. She put her hands on his head and then reached for the phone, but decided to wait another half an hour to see how things went. She took his temperature which was 105, and she kissed him on the cheek and got some towels for his face. She left him and went to Howie's room.
"Howie?" "Yeah, Katie?" he called back at her as if he was expecting her to come. "Can I come in?" "Sure." She walked in and turned his light on, she looked him over and saw that he looked fine. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked him. "Yeah 100%, why?" "Well, Kev, Brian, and A.J. all have fevers. I still have to check on Lauren and Nick." He looked at her and got up and went to visit his friends, and band mates. Katie went to Lauren's room, but there was no answer, she knew why.
She knocked on Nick's door and Lauren answered. "Are you two okay in there?" Katie asked. "Yeah," Nick answered. "Are you sure?" She called back and they told her that they were fine, Katie didn't explain why she asked, she just went back to A.J.'s room.
"How are you feeling?" she asked and took his cloth off and went to get a new one in the bathroom that was adjacent to his room. "Same." He said quietly. Katie went into his bathroom and found some aspirin, which she gave to him. She went to Kevin's room, where she found Howie. She got a new towel and some aspirin and gave them to him.
She then walked back to Brian's room and gave him a new towel and some aspirin, like she did to the others. She walked back and forth between the three rooms, after she called the choreographer that she couldn't come for another couple of days. Kevin and A.J. were fine by 8 o'clock, but Brian's fever refused to go down. She sat by his bed and just stared at him.
"Brian?" she asked, after taking his temperature and realizing that it was going up instead of down. "What?" he asked sleepily. "Get up." "What?" "Get up!" she yelled at him, and held him as he got up, she went into his bathroom and turned cold water on. She pulled his clothing off, but he didn't seem to notice, she left him in his boxers and then she helped him into the tub. She laid him down, he was freezing, but it was the only thing she could do. She then turned the shower on, when Howie came in.
"What in the world are you doing?" He asked, frightened for his friend and not sure that what Katie was doing was right. "The only thing I know how to." She let Brian soke for another five minutes and then she liifted him back up and quickly dried him off with a towel, she gave him some more aspirin and then sat by his bed and waited. She took his temperature again and saw that it was finally going down, within another two hours his temperature was down, but he was still sleeping. Katie went and told everyone that he was doing good and told them she would be down in the studio working on a new number for 'Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)', a song that had meant a lot to her, she agreed with all the lyrics.
She turned on the music and began to dance, working with the steps that she thought were the best, by the middle of the song she could see that Brian had come down and was now singing along with the track. He walked over to the radio and turned it off and began to sing: "Even in my heart I see You're not bein' true to me Deep with in my soul Nothing's like it used to be Sometime's I wish I could turn back time Impossible as it may seem But I wish I could so bad baby Quit playin' games with my heart" "Katie, please give me a chance," he said quietly, but she quickly shook her head, "Come on tour with us, be a back up dancer." "Maybe, I love to dance and it would be a great opportunity..." she said, still thinking it over.
He walked over to her and put his arms around her waist. "Thank you...you saved me today." "No I didn't, you had the flu, I did whatever I could," she said as she turned around and looked into his eyes, he bent down to kiss her, and she let him, she began to kiss him back and then backed away, hoping that he wouldn't do what Tom had done to her the first time they kissed. "I WILL WAIT FOR YOU!" he screamed, making everyone in the house come down and watch. "I WILL NEVER HURT YOU, YOU NEED TO GET THAT INTO YOUR HEAD!" he screamed and ran upstairs to his bedroom. Then she blurted out the first thing that came into her mind as the group stared at her standing in the middle of the studio.
"CHINESE FOOD!" she screamed. "What? Are you okay?" Kevin asked carefully, still exhausted by being sick. "Bad Chinese food, that is what made you guys sick! Howie, Lauren, Nick and I are the only ones who didn't eat it last night, and we are the only ones who didn't get sick!" Everyone looked at her like she was crazy, but they new that she was right. She put on her jacket and went upstairs.
"Where are you going," Howie asked. "OUT!" she yelled and then stood on the doorstep for five minutes, deciding where to go. She heard the door open and saw Kevin come out. "You can come back in," he said with a small smile. "What am I supposed to do Kev? I feel like such an idiot. I feel so bad for Brian, he is just trying to be nice, but I am hopeless." They talked, not realizing that they were standing under Brian's open window, he was watching and listening to everything. On the other side of the door, the rest of the group was watching TV and Lauren was beating Nick at a Playstation game, but they were all thinking about what Kevin was telling Katie.
"You are not hopeless, look how you helped us when we were sick. That showed me that you care about us, you didn't give up. Brian was nearly delirious but you saved him by throwing him into the bathtub, that shows me that you aren't hopeless," he said with a small smile. "Really?" "Really. You saved A.J.'s life, you could have died, but you put someone ahead of you and that shows that you care and that there is still love in your heart, now you have to open up and let someone in, like Brian," he said as he looked up at Brian's window, knowing that Brian was probably listening to the whole conversation, "Now get you butt in there and relax, have some fun and let us help you when you need help."
"Thank you Kevin, you really helped me," she said as she gave him a small hug and then walked back into the door. "Yo Sweet D, I thought I told you to get your butt into the studio and start practicing! CHOP! CHOP!" she said through a burst of giggles. "Yes mam!" He said and got up to go downstairs. "No Howie, I am kidding, I think we deserve a day off...how about some Chinese food?" she said and everyone said NO! at the same time. "Well, I got some business to handle, I will see you guys later." They all knew what she was going to do, so they continued to sit and continue with what they were doing. Howie and A.J. were fighting over the remote and Lauren and Nick were celebrating her victory of Playstation with a making out session.
"Get a room!" Howie and A.J. yelled and Howie grabbed the remote, "A HA! I got it!" Katie walked slowly upstairs and invited herself into Brian's room. "Hey there Mr. Littrell," then she giggled, "Remember when I called you that? I though you were going to punch me!" She said as she stared at his back, he was looking out the window, trying to figure out what to say. "You don't have to say anything," she said as if reading his mind. "I can hold a conversation with myself," she joked. "Okay...I will shut up now," she said, mostly to herself. "Would you really like to tour with us?" Brian said as he turned around, surprising Katie. She nodded with a small smile. "I would be more than honored."