| Chapter 76 Howie sat in the chair, trying not to fall asleep. He looked over at the clock again, 4:37 am, five minutes after the last time he looked. His two hour watch had only started and he was already nodding off. Stay awake! he told himself. Nick moved a little, causing Howie to jump. He watched as Nick restlessly turned over and settled back down to a peaceful sleep. He got up and walked over to the bed, reaching over and checking Nick's forehead for any sign of a fever. He felt a little warm, so Howie took the thermometer off the nightstand and turned it on, sticking it gently in Nick's ear, so as to not wake him up. It beeped, and he looked at it, 99.1. "Damn," Howie said, "That's not much, but it's still a fever." He was about to go wake up Kevin when Nick looked up at him. "What are you doing?" Nick asked. "I'm staying up with you. The doc said to watch you," he answered. "I don't remember coming in here," Nick said. "We carried you. You fell asleep right after the doc looked at you," Howie replied. Nick noticed the thermometer in his hand, "I'm fine." Howie sat down on the edge of the bed, "No, actually you have a slight fever. I was just about to go get Kevin." "Don't," Nick signed, "I want to talk to you." "Nick, if you get sick again I'll never forgive myself," Howie said. Nick sat up and put his hand on Howie's shoulder, "If you don't stay here I'll be forced to kick your ass." Howie laughed and started to get up. Nick forced him back down, "I'm not as weak as you think." "No you're not," he said, realizing that even as sick as Nick was, he could still kick his ass if he wanted to. "So, what do you want to talk about?" Howie asked. "Well, I was thinking. You and Kira will be getting married soon right?" Nick asked. "Well, yeah, sometime. We haven't set a date or anything yet," Howie answered. "Have you thought about where you guys are gonna live?" Nick asked. "Um, no, not yet," Howie said, "Why?" "Cause I've been thinking about selling my house," Nick said, "And I think it would be perfect for you two." "Nick, why do you want to sell your house?" Howie asked. "Well, it's to big for just me, and besides it would be perfect for you. Kira would be close to her shop, and you and Kev and Brian would be close," Nick said. "So where are you gonna live?" Howie asked. "Um, well...I was kinda thinking about moving here. I don't want Lyn to have to relocate, and her family is here, and there is nothing keeping me in the states now," he said. Howie stared at him, not sure if he was delirious with fever, or if he was truly offering him his house. "Don't look at me like that," Nick said, "I'm not out of my mind." "Nick, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, what if things change?" Howie asked. "If things change, then I'll deal with them when they do. It's just a house, I can buy another one anytime I want," Nick said. "I'll talk to Kira about it when I get home, and I'll let you know," Howie said. Nick smiled, "Good." Howie started to get up again, only to be pushed back down. "Something else you wanna talk about?" Howie asked. "No, but you're not waking Kevin up," Nick signed. "Nick, why are you being such an ass about this? If you get sick...." Howie said. "I'm not sick, check it again," Nick said. "Alright, fine," Howie said, sticking the thermometer in Nick's ear, not so gently. "Ouch!" Nick said. It beeped and Howie looked at it, 98.7. "See," Nick said, "No fever." "Normal is 98.6," Howie pointed out. "When have I ever been normal?" Nick asked smiling. Howie laughed, "Well you do have a point there." Nick yawned, and laid back down. "I'm going back to sleep." "OK," Howie said, standing up and walking back to the chair. He sat down and watched as Nick got comfortable and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he could tell that Nick was asleep. He was now left to fight the sleep demons alone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Howie!" Kevin yelled. Howie jerked awake, and almost fell out of the chair. "What?" he asked. "How long have you been asleep?" Kevin asked. He looked over at the clock, 6:12 am. "Um, I dunno," he said, looking over at Nick. He was still asleep. "Well you can go back to bed, I'm here to relieve you," Kevin said. "OK," Howie said getting up and heading out of the room, glad he didn't get a thirty minute lecture on how to stay awake. Kevin walked over and picked up the thermometer and stuck it in Nick's ear. Nick jerked awake, shoving the thermometer out of his ear, "Damn it Howie if you don't stop sticking that thing in my ear....." Kevin laughed. Nick opened his eyes, seeing Kevin standing there. "Oh, sorry," Nick said. "It's OK, you feeling alright?" Kevin asked. "Yeah, I feel fine," Nick said sitting up and looking out the windows. "You don't have to get up," Kevin said. "That's OK, I wanted to work on some things anyway," Nick said, getting out of bed. Kevin watched as Nick went into the closet and picked out what he wanted to wear. Then he started into the bathroom, "Um, Kev, you aren't gonna be there when I come out are you?" "No, no," Kevin said holding his hands up, "I'll be out in the living room." Nick turned and went into the bathroom shutting the door. Kevin went out into the living room shaking his head, that boy never ceases to amaze me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lyn woke up and rolled over. She was still tired, but she knew she should get up. Everyone had stayed the night, and they would be wanting breakfast pretty soon. She got up and took a quick shower, got dressed, and walked out into the living room. Kevin was watching TV with the sound off. Howie and A.J were asleep on opposite ends of the couch, and Nick was sitting at his drawing table working on his latest sketch. "Morning," Kevin said, finally noticing her. "Morning," Lyn said, "Where's everybody else?" "Oh, Bri and Tara went back over to the house after their turns last night, and Leighanne and Gary are in the bedroom upstairs," Kevin said. "Oh, OK," Lyn said, walking over to Nick. She walked up behind him and slid her arms around his chest, leaning down and kissing his neck. He smiled and turned around, "I was hoping it was you." She laughed, "And just who else would it be?" "You obviously haven't been around A.J. long enough, or you wouldn't ask that," Nick signed laughing. "Oh, I see," Lyn said. "I have something I need to tell you," Nick signed. "What?" she asked. "Not here," Nick signed, getting up and leading Lyn into his bedroom and closing the door. "Nick what is it?" she asked. "I talked to Tracy last night," he said, seeing the emotion rush into Lyn's eyes. "What'd she say?" she asked. "She told me to tell you that she loves you and she's proud of the person that you've become, and that she's watching," Nick said. Lyn sat down on the bed, "I'm glad she told you that, but I'd rather hear it from her. Why can't she just let me see her like she does you?" Nick sat down next to her, "I asked her that. She said there were alot of reasons, and that she couldn't explain them all to me. But she wants to just as much as you do. She said she would, but she didn't know when it would be." Lyn sat there staring at the floor for a few minutes, until Nick reached over and pulled her face up, looking her in the eyes. "You know the dolphins last night, that was her," he said. "I know, I could feel her there," Lyn said. "Lyn, she watches everything. She knows what you're going through, just talk to her, she'll hear you," Nick said. Lyn smiled at him and reached up and ran her fingers through his hair and around his ear. "Ouch," Nick said reaching up and grabbing the ear she had just touched. "What's wrong?" Lyn asked. "I dunno, Howie jammed that damn thing in to far last night or something," Nick signed. Lyn moved his hand out of the way and looked at his ear. It was red on the inside. She turned his head and looked at the other one, it too was red. "Does this hurt?" she asked, touching the other ear. Nick winced and nodded his head. "Nick, both your ears are red on the inside," she said. "Just don't touch them and I'll be fine," he said. "No, they look like they're infected or something. When uncle Ted gets here he needs to look at them," Lyn said. "Man I just got out of the hospital, I don't wanna go back," Nick signed. "I know you don't, but you need to have that looked at," Lyn said. He sat silent for a few minutes, then looked at her. "Lyn, last night when I was talking to Tracy, I asked her about my hearing. She told me she didn't know what would happen, but when she did she put her hands over my ears. Do you think she did something?" Nick asked. "I don't know," Lyn said. "Guys," Kevin yelled from the other side of the door, "the doc's here." Lyn got up, "Uncle Ted's here." Nick followed her out of the room, sitting down in the recliner. "Morning," Ted said. Lyn gave him a hug, "Morning." "How's our patient today?" he asked. "You need to look at his ears, they're red and hurt when you touch them," Lyn said. Ted walked over to Nick, "Your ears hurt?" "Only when you touch them," Nick said. Ted got out his light and looked at Nick's ears. Nick winced and gripped the sides of the chair, praying Ted would hurry up. Ted spent several minutes looking, and Nick was about to scream when he finally stopped. Ted stood up and looked at Lyn, "Will you sign to him?" She nodded her head. "Nick, both your ears are infected. I want you to come down to the hospital and have some tests run, and see the specialist again." Nick's face fell at the thought of going back to the hospital, "I don't want to go back." "You won't have to stay," Ted said. Nick got up and walked back to his room, shutting the door. Kevin, Lyn and Ted looked at each other, confused. "I'll go talk to him," Lyn said, heading back to his room. A.J. and Howie were awake now. "What's going on?" Howie asked. "Nick's ears are infected and he doesn't want to go back to the hospital," Kevin said. "Damn," A.J. said. "A.J. go get Leighanne and Gary up, Howie go over and get Brian and Tara. Hopefully Lyn can talk some since into him," Kevin said. A.J. and Howie got up and headed off in different directions. "Doc, did it look serious?" Kevin asked. "Well it looked like a normal infection, but I don't want to take any chances," Ted said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lyn let herself in and closed the door. Nick was standing in front of the window, his back to her. She walked over and stood next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, and she could see the tears in his eyes. "Nick, why are you crying?" she asked. "Lyn, I don't want to go back," he said. "It's just for some tests, they aren't going to keep you there," she said. "You don't know that," he said. "Nick, I don't understand why you're so against this?" Lyn asked. "I don't want things to change," he said. "What do you mean?" she asked. He looked away from her, "I want things to stay like they are now. I don't want to........," he signed. Lyn realized what he was saying. She turned his face around to look at her. "Are you saying you don't want to hear again, and you're afraid that you might?" she asked. He nodded his head as a lone tear streamed down his cheek. "Why not?" she asked. Nick walked over and sat on the bed, she followed him. "Lyn, this whole thing has changed me. I'm not the same person as I was when I could hear, and I like who I am now better. I missed so much of what was going on when I could hear, I don't want to loose what I've gained." he signed. "Nick, even if you do hear again, you wont loose the ability to see what's going on around you. You've learned to see the world a different way, you won't loose that just cause you can hear. And besides, we don't know that this will lead to anything other than some antibiotics," she said. "The guys wouldn't understand how I feel about this," he signed. "I won't say anything," Lyn said. Nick wiped his cheek with his sleeve and stood up. "I guess I'll go," he signed. "I won't let them do anything you don't want them to," she said. "Thanks," he signed, pulling her into a hug. She held him for a long time, not sure if she understood how he felt herself. She didn't know him when he could hear, but she loved who he was now. Nick pulled away, wiping the last of his tears away. He grabbed his jacket and put it on. Lyn took his hand and together they walked to the living room. Everyone was standing in the living room waiting. Nick didn't look at any of them, he just walked out to the car. Ted walked up to Lyn, "Is he OK?" "Yeah, he just didn't want to go back," she lied. "Is that the only reason?" Tara asked. Lyn shot her a look, and Tara just nodded her head, knowing that Lyn would tell her later. They all piled into the cars and headed in to the hospital. Lyn went back with Nick and stayed with him through all the tests. She acted as the interpreter between the technicians and Nick. After two hours of tests, they determined that it was just an infection and gave Nick a prescription of antibiotics and ear drops. He and Lyn walked out to the waiting room where everyone else was. "So?" Brian asked. "It's just an ear infection," Lyn said, "They gave him some medicine and he should be fine in a few days." They all breathed a sigh of relief. "Can we go home now?" Nick asked. Lyn laughed, "Yes." Chapter 77 |