| Chapter 71 Ted walked into Nick's room. He stopped and smiled, Nick and Lyn were curled up together on the bed. Lyn was laying on top of the blanket, while Nick was underneath. Nick was hugging her, almost like a child would hug a teddy bear. Ted walked over and tapped Lyn on the arm. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Morning," he said. "What time is it?" Lyn asked. "It's about 7:30," Ted replied. Lyn slowly eased out from under Nick's arm, hoping not to wake him up. She stood up and stretched, "I don't see how he sleeps in that thing, it's so uncomfortable." Ted laughed, "Well we don't want you getting to comfortable in them, then the patients wouldn't want to leave." She laughed, "Speaking of leaving, when are you gonna release him?" "Well actually I'm gonna run some blood tests today, and if they come back alright, probably this afternoon," Ted said. Lyn smiled, "He will be happy to hear that." "Lyn, he's doing better, but the only way I'm releasing him is because I know he'll be staying here for a while. There's no way that he could make the trip back home right now," Ted said. "I know, he's still awfully weak," she agreed. Ted looked over at Nick, "I'm really impressed with how he's taking all of this. I'm not sure if I was in his shoes that I'd do as well." Lyn nodded her head, "Yeah, I think the rest of us are taking it harder than he is. But he already has some things he wants to do, so I think he'll be OK." Ted looked back over at Lyn, "Honey, I know that you two have bonded over this. Have you thought about what's gonna happen when he does go home?" Lyn looked down at her shoes, "Not really. We'll figure something out I'm sure." "Honey, I don't wanna rain on your parade, but I don't want to see you get hurt either," Ted said. She looked up at him, "Nick would never hurt me." "I hope that's true," he said. "Lyn?" Nick said. Ted and Lyn looked over, Nick was sitting up staring at them. "What are you guys talking about?" Nick asked. Lyn walked over to the bed, "Maybe letting you outta here today." Nick looked at Ted, "Really?" "I'm gonna order some blood tests, we'll see after I get them back," Ted answered. Nick nodded his head. "Do you want some breakfast?" Lyn asked. "Yeah, where'd you get those waffles we had the other day? I liked those," Nick said. Lyn laughed, "OK, waffles it is." "I'll send the nurse in to take the blood, and I'll see you later on today," Ted said heading for the door. "OK," Lyn said, picking up the phone to call in their order. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A.J. reached over and slapped Howie, "Damn it, answer your phone!" Howie sat up rubbing the side of his face, reaching for his cell, "Hello." "Howie, hey it's me," Kira said. "Hey baby, how are you?" Howie asked. "OK, I miss you," she said. "Yeah, I miss you too," Howie replied. A.J. rolled over and pulled his pillow over his head and groaned. "What was that?" Kira asked. "Oh, that's Alex being an ass as usual," Howie said laughing. "Don't tell me you're rooming with him?" Kira said. "Yep, and Kev too, but he's already up," Howie said. "So how are things going?" Kira asked. "Pretty good. We're all learning, it's getting easier," Howie said. "How's Nick?" she asked. "OK, he's still pretty weak, and you wouldn't recognize him from all the weight he's lost. But he's slowly getting better," he replied. "So when do you think you guys will be coming home?" Kira asked. "I'm not sure. We're gonna stay at least until he's out of the hospital, and then I guess we'll play it by ear," Howie said. "Has Kevin talked to management yet?" she asked. "No, not yet. I think that he still thinks that Nick's gonna get better," Howie said. "How much longer can you guys keep this a secret? Especially when he gets out of the hospital, and people see him," Kira said. "I don't know, nothing's leaked out so far. Hopefully Kev will talk to them soon, and we can all sit down and plan how best to announce this," Howie said. "Yeah, I hope so. Listen I gotta get to work. I just wanted to call and see how things were going," she said. "OK, I love you," Howie said. "I love you too," Kira said. Howie hung up the phone. "She had a good point," A.J. said. "I thought you weren't listening," Howie said. "Are you kidding? I always listen," A.J. said smiling, "Maybe we should corner Kev and make him call." "I dunno, we need to do something though," Howie said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kevin sat on the beach. He loved sitting there and watching the sun rise. It was so tranquil, a good place to meditate. He'd been struggling with the fact that he was gonna have to be the one to call management. Why did he always have to be the one to deal with things? Because you're the oldest stupid, he thought to himself. He still couldn't put his mind around the fact that Nick was never gonna hear again. He kept thinking that with all the miracles that they've witnessed, that maybe Nick would suddenly be able to hear, and he wouldn't have to tell the millions of fans the bad news. But as time went on, it became more clear to him that it wasn't gonna happen. And Nick was so positive about the whole thing. How could he be that way? If it was me I'd be having every test done. I'd never stop looking for a cure. But he just sits there and accepts it, how? he asked himself. He stared out at the ocean, knowing he needed to go in and start getting ready. "Kev?" Tara said. He jumped not realizing she had walked up behind him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said. "It's OK," he said smiling up at her, "Pull up some sand." Tara smiled and sat down next to him, "Are you OK?" "Yeah, I'm just thinking about things," Kevin said. "Like what?" she asked. "Like having to call management. I really don't wanna do it," he said. "Do you want one of us to call?" Tara asked. "No, it should be me," he said. "Why? I don't remember bearer of bad news being in your job title," she said. Kevin laughed, "Because, I'm the one that always takes care of things. It's just my responsibility." "Kevin, I think sometimes you take to much on. Just because you're the oldest doesn't mean that your responsible for the other guys. They are four individuals who make their own decisions and their own mistakes. And you feel like you have to be there to fix things. Kevin, you can't be there all the time, and you can't fix everything," Tara said. He looked at her, what she said was true. He did feel like he had to fix everything. "Why don't you talk to the guys about it. Figure out what you wanna tell management together, then one of you can call," she suggested. He nodded, "Yeah, I guess the other guys would like to have some say in how we break the news." Tara stood up and offered him her hand, "You really need to learn to delegate more. You'd be amazed at how much better you'll feel not having all the responsibility placed solely on your shoulders." He took her hand and got up, brushing the sand off of him. "How is it you know just the moment and the right thing to say?" he asked. She smiled, "I've had alot of practice." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everyone arrived at the hospital ready for their lesson. A.J. kept flashing Nick and Lyn silly grins. Nick finally got fed up with them and signed to him that if he didn't stop he was gonna get out of the bed and kick his ass. A.J. laughed, but took it seriously enough to stop. Connie arrived and started the lesson. Everyone seemed to be doing well. They were all able to communicate in broken sentences, of course Nick and Lyn were far past everyone else. While Connie was helping the rest with words that they already knew, they started their own conversation. Just talking about the weather, then about what everyone was wearing. Then it progressed to wondering what Leighanne was gonna look like when she was nine months pregnant. Before they knew it the lesson was over. Lyn told Connie of Nick's possible release, and got her phone number to call her and let her know about tomorrow's lesson. Connie left, and everyone sat around doing various things. Kevin finally spoke up, "Guys, there's something we all need to talk about." "What's that?" Brian asked. "Wait a minute, you guys are forgetting something," Tara said. They looked at her and she signed to them to sign what they were saying. "Oh, sorry," Kevin said. He signed as he talked, "We need to talk about what we wanna say to management." "You haven't told them yet?" Nick asked. "No, not yet," Kevin said, "So how do we wanna do this?" "Well we could tell them and have them release a press statement," Howie said. "Yeah, but that's not very personal," Brian said. "Guys, I don't think I could handle being at an interview right now," Nick said. "No Nick, we wouldn't ask you to," Kevin said. "The rest of us could do one," A.J. said. "Yeah, we could, but how are we gonna explain it?" Howie asked. "Just tell them I had a terrible infection and due to complications I'm now deaf," Nick said. "OK, what do we say about the group? You know they're gonna ask," Brian said. "We say that Nick will always be a part of the group, but that he will no longer be singing with us," Kevin said. "Oh, I got an idea!" A.J. said, "Nick, you could still go with us to perform, but you could sign the songs." "Oh, that's great genus, how's he gonna know when the music starts?" Howie said. "No, I think it could work," Nick said, "All you have to do is lay a couple speakers on the floor." "Yeah, that might work. But we can work all that out later," Kevin said, "So who wants to call?" They all looked at him shocked. "Kev, you're not gonna call?" Brian asked. "Nope, someone else's turn," he said. "Well don't look at me," Nick said. They all laughed. "I'll call," Howie said. They all agreed, and Howie pulled out his cell and dialed the number. Howie hung up. "Well, how'd they take it?" Kevin asked. "James cried for the first ten minutes we were on the phone," Howie said. "Oh, that good huh?" Brian said. "Yeah, he's gonna call back when he gets the interview set up," Howie said. "You told him it depended on when Nick gets out of here right?" Brian asked. "Yeah, he said it would be like next week sometime at the earliest," Howie replied. Ted came in the door with Nick's chart in his hand, "Afternoon all." "Hey doc," Brian said, "So?" Ted walked over to Nick, "You're staying in town right?" "Yes," Nick said, hope filling his eyes. "And no overdoing anything. If you're tired sleep," Ted said. "Yes sir," Nick said. "OK, I'll send the nurse in with the paperwork. You should be outta here in about an hour," Ted finally said. "Thank you," Nick said shaking Ted's hand. "Oh, I'll be checking up on you. It's not like I don't know where you're staying," Ted said laughing. Nick blushed. Everyone thanked Ted as he left the room. A few minutes later a nurse came in and removed the IV. Lyn grabbed the gym bag from the closet and handed it to Brian. "There's some clothes in there, why don't you help him get ready," she said. "OK," Brian said and walked with Nick to the bathroom. A short time later Nick and Brian emerged. Nick looked 100% better. He had shaved and washed his hair. His clothes hung on him. "Kev, you wearing a belt?" Brian asked. "Yeah, why?" Kevin asked. "Cause he needs it worse than you do," Brian said. Kevin took off his belt and handed it to Nick. "Thanks," Nick said, putting it on and tightening it up. "Looks like I'm gonna have to go get some clothes," Nick said smiling. Everyone kinda laughed, but it was hard to see Nick so skinny. Tara and Leighanne gathered up all of their things and Brian and Howie took them out to the cars. The nurse came in with some instructions and the paperwork for Nick to sign. He signed everything, and the nurse signed to him good-bye. He smiled at her, and signed thank you. An orderly came in with a wheelchair. Nick got in and they headed down to the cars. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It took about thirty minutes to get back to the houses. The trip wore Nick out. They pulled into Lyn's garage, and Kevin walked with Nick into the house. Lyn had fixed up one of the extra rooms for him and she led him in and turned down the bed for him. Nick sat down on the bed and kicked his shoes off. "I can't believe that little drive tired me out like this," he said. "It's OK, just lay down for a while," Lyn said. Nick pulled Kevin's belt off and handed it to him. Then he laid down. Lyn and Kevin left the room and went to the living room where everyone else had gathered. "Is he resting?" Brian asked. "Yeah," Lyn said. "It's gonna take a long time for him to get back to normal," Kevin said. "Yeah," Howie agreed. "I guess I should go out and get him some clothes that are gonna fit," Lyn said. "I'll go with you," Tara said. "Yeah, me too," Leighanne chimed in. "Uh oh, all the girls are going shopping," Brian said. "Yeah, so you boys play nice while we're gone," Tara said heading for the door. "Oh always," A.J. said with an evil grin. "Yeah, right," Leighanne and Tara said together. The girls headed out the door, and a minute later the car left the garage. "So what are we suppose to do?" A.J. asked. "I dunno, watch TV," Howie suggested. "Have any of you guys been in here?" A.J. asked. "What? In Lyn's house?" Brian asked. "Yeah," A.J. said. "No, we've always stayed in the house next door," Brian said. "Alex, I know what you wanna do and the answer is no," Kevin said. "Oh come on," A.J. protested. "You are not gonna snoop around Lyn's house. It's not nice," Brian said. "You guys are party poopers, you know that?" A.J. said. "Yeah, yeah," Kevin said. "But aren't you guys even at all curious? I mean the girl has more money than God, and this place isn't the most elaborate house," A.J. said. "Man, are you kidding? This house is way better than any of ours," Howie said. "I know, but still. I wonder what's in all the rooms upstairs," A.J. said. "Alex, you take one step towards that stairway and I'll tie you to this chair," Kevin said. "Fine," A.J. said sitting down, "You win. I'll be nice." "Good, now find something to watch," Brian said. A.J. waited a few minutes, then jumped up and ran up the stairs. "Damn it!" Kevin yelled as he, Howie and Brian ran after him. A.J. ran down the hall and to the last room and opened the door, "Holy shit!" The rest of the guys caught up with him and looked in. "Oh my God," Brian said. Howie walked into the room and looked around, "I wonder what all this stuff does?" "Man, I've never seen computers like this," A.J. said. Brian turned on one of the monitors, looking at the icons on the screen. "Looks like she's running some sort of business," he said. "Yeah, clothes," Howie said, pulling some from a box. "Guys, we should leave this stuff alone before we mess something up," Kevin said. They all filed out of the room closing the door behind them. "See A.J., and you thought you were gonna find something freaky," Howie said. "Hey, we haven't looked through all the rooms yet," A.J. said with a smile. Chapter 72 |