Chapter 2

 

"Kevin! Someone's feeling frisky today, isn't he?" Elizabeth smiled at him, her camillion eyes danced with lauphter.
  

"And why shouldn't I?" Kevin asked teasingly.
  

Elizabeth's crystal laughter floated through the room, sending chills of pleasure racing up Kevins spine.
  

"Mmm, Behave, Baby," Kevin said in his best Austin Powers voice. "Or do I have to turn you over my knee?"
  

"Sence when do you become so naughty, Mr. Richardson? As long as I've known you, you've been the strait, perfect, southern boy!"
  

"Maybe I realised that I can't be what everyone wants me to be, I can only be myself."
  

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up into his clear, sparkling green eyes. "I love you, Kevin. I always have."
  

"I know, Angel. I guess it took me loosing Kristin and having you walk back into my life to realise just how much I was missing in life."
  

"I'm sorry. I honestly didn't know that BITCH lied to you. I would have shown up sooner if I had."
  

"It's all in the past now. Besides, you don't have to think of her as your mother anymore. You know that."
  

"Yea, I just wish they had told me I was adopted sooner."
  

"Don't worry about it, Angel. Before long..."
  

The sound of the telephone ringing cut Kevin off in mid sentance.
  

Looking at Elizabeth apologetically, Kevin picked it up. "Hello?"
  

"Yea, Kev, It's me, Nick. Listen, is AJ over there? He was suppose to call me this afternoon and I haven't heard from him. I'm getting kinda worred."
  

"Have you tried his house? Maybe he slept in. After all, we did have an eventful night last night," Kevin asked, smiling. Sometimes Nick tended to panic for no reason.
  

"What do you take me for? A fifteen year old? Wait a minute, don't answer that. Anyway, yes I called his house. All I kept getting was the answering matchine. Kev, Sarah was staying home all day. Someone should have picked up the phone by now!"
  

"Did you try going over there, maybe they're a little...busy with each other..."
  

"Kevin this is Nick you're talking to, not Aaron. You can say sex, or fucking, or whatever. You don't have to be so God Damn careful with how you say things. And yes, I went over there. Their car's not even in the driveway," Nick's voice rose higher with every sentance.
  

"OK, Nick I believe you. For one, calm down. We need to keep our heads on strait if we're going to find them. Why don't you call the airports, to find out if they took a last minute trip somewhere. I'll have Rok call the police, Howie call the hotels, and I'll call the hospitals. We'll find them, don't worry." Kevins forehead creased with worry. Yea, AJ may be spontanious, and do some pretty stupid things. But he'd never worry Nick needlessly.
  

"Kevin, you don't really think something bad happend to him, do you?" Nick said, panic rising in his voice.
  

"I'm sure he's fine. It just never hurts to try everything ok?" Kevin said, trying to calm Nick down.
  

"OK."
  

After hanging up the phone, Kevin took a deap breath and started dialing. For some reason, he couldn't get the feeling that their lives were about to drastically change for the worst out of the pit of his stomach.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Jennifer walked into the hospital. Her blue eyes sparkling at the prospect of helping other people in a way most people couldn't.
  

"Ah, Ms. Trickel. It's refreshing to see you on time. Many of our vollenteers feel as though they don't have to be here when they're supose to." Dr. Charles MacKenzie said seriously, though his eyes betrade him.
  

Jennifer smiled, "If not on time, then early as I always say."
  

"Well, let get yuo started. What I'd like you to do is a little different then what we have most vollenteers do. I'd like you to sit and spend time with some of the patients. Perferably those in a coma. Some of our patients came in without ID, and so we don't know who to contact. In fact..." Dr. MacKenzie looked over her shoulder, lost in thought.
  

"Dr. Mackenzie?"
  

"Please, call me Mac. Most of the people around here do. As I was saying; last night a young man, about 25 years in age, was brought in. He has a massive concution, several broken ribs, and we may have to do a spinal tap. He's in bad shape. The biggest problem we're facing is his lack of joining us here in the real world. If the swelling in his left brainal lobe doesn't reseed, he may never break the coma he's in. That is, if he doesn't stop going into cardiac arest ever five minutes. I honestly don't know how he's still breathing! If you could care for him, just be a friend, do the nurse thing, you know, the things you've been trained to do, it would be a big help. Maybe we'll be able to find his family, maybe not. But aleast he won't have to suffer alone."
  

"No problem. I vollenteered so I could get some experience, I'll do my best wherever I'm needed."
  

"Great! Let's have you star with our crash & burn John Doe in ICU room 12. That's what I call this young man. That is, until I find out who he is."
  

Jennifer chuckled, as Dr. MacKenzie led her down to the young man's room. When she walked in, she was shocked.
  

The heart monitor he was attached to showed his unusual slow heart beat; the resperator kept him breathing, but just barely; a tube was in his arm feeding him the slowly dripping IV. His head was bandaged, and the cuts and brusing on his face made him look more like one of Dr. Fankenstien's experiments then an actuall human being.
  

Slowly, she made her way over to the side of the bed, tears welling in her eyes. Heart heart went out to this young man, and she didn't even know him.
  

Taking a deap breath, she regained her composier and smilled and the still life-form on the bed.
  

"Hi, I'm Jennifer," she said quietly. "I guess I'll be the one taking care of you most of the time. I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head, "but do you mind if I call you something other then John Doe? That just seems to impersonal. How about I call you Alex? See I have this friend who is one of the greatest, but she insists on being called Alex. She's the strongest woman I know. Do you mind?
  

"I guess I should tell you something about me. Let's see...I'm a vollenteer here at the hospital, today's my first day. Don't worry, I know what I'm diong, but I guess after you're trained you have to start practicing somewhere. I graduated collage two years ago. I guess that would help explain why I'm so young. I'm only 24, but I know what  want to do with my life. I enjoy what I do..."
  

For the next several hours, Jennifer sat by Alex's side. Talking, singing, and joking. Hoping deep in her heart that should could bring him some sort of peace. Even if he never woke up.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

 

"Kevin, he's not anywhere! What are we going to do? Their getting married in four days, if we don't find them, his entire wedding is going to be flushed down the shitter!"
  

"Whoa! calm down, Nick. There's a couple more hospitals I still have to call. Besides, he might be somewhere under an alias. Or he could be at his or Sarah's mom's. We still have a lot of places to look..."
  

For the second time that week, the phone cut Kevin off in mid sentance. "Hello? AJ is that you? If it is so help me God! Nick's been worried sick over you for the past two days. Where have you been?"
  

"Kevin, it's not Alex, it's Dennise," AJ's mom said over the phone. "Kevin you don't know where Alex is either?"
  

"I'm sorry, Dennise, no I don't. You haven't seen or heard from him either?"
  

"No, but I heard form Sarah's mom. Kevin there's been a car accident. Sarah was killed. It was instantaneous. She wasn't in any pain. The only thing is, I don't know where Alex is. She was found in the passenger side of his Expedition," softly, Dennise started to cry.
  

"Oh my God, Dennise. What are we going to do? Nick's freaking out over here and the other guys are looking all over the city for him."
  

"If the accedent was bad enough to kill Sarah, I don't even want to think about what it did to my poor baby..."
  

"We'll find him, Dennise, we have to. His sister..."
  

"Kevin, that's not funny, you know AJ's sister's dead. Maybe he's already with her. Oh, GOD spare me my baby, please!"
  

"We'll find him, I promise. I don't care what it takes."
  

"Please hurry, Kevin. I don't think we have much time..."