| Chapter 3 Lane knocked on the door for the third time, "Nick, are you up? Come on man we're here!" Still, he heard nothing from inside the room. He tried the door, it was locked. He walked back to the front of the bus, his gut telling him something wasn't right, "Go get Kevin, will ya," he asked the driver as he fished around the glove compartment for the key to the bedroom door. The driver left and he found the key, walking back to the bedroom. He unlocked the door and opened it. Nick was still in bed, sound asleep. The room was completely dark except for the small glow of the stars on the ceiling, that seemed to illuminate Nick's face. Lane walked over to the side of the bed and turned on the small lamp, "Nick?" Nick's eyes fluttered open, and he started coughing. Lane noticed how pale he looked and reached out, touching his forehead with the back of his hand, "Damn, you're burning up." Nick shook his head, "I'm cold," he said pulling the blanket closer around him. Kevin stepped onto the bus, "Lane?" "Back here," Lane called, as Kevin came back to join him. "What's wrong?" he asked, then looked at Nick, "Damn." "Yeah, he's burning up with fever," Lane said. "OK, I'll have Henry call in a doc," Kevin said, walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed, "Nick, you think you can get into the hotel?" "We're at the hotel already?" Nick asked. Kevin smiled at him, "Yes, and right now there's not any fans outside. So, we need to go up to our rooms, OK?" Nick sighed, looking up at the ceiling, "Can't I stay here?" he asked, coughing again. "No, we need to go in," Kevin said. Nick groaned but sat up, running his hand through his hair. Kevin found his shoes and handed them to him. Nick's hands were shaking so bad he could barely tie his shoe laces. Lane handed him a thick sweatshirt and his jacket. Nick put them on and stood up, "Whoa." Kevin grabbed the younger man and helped steady him, "You alright?" "Dizzy," Nick said, "I got up too fast." "OK, just hang on to me and we'll be in there in no time," Kevin said. Nick put his arm over Kevin's shoulder and Kevin held him by his waist as they exited the bus and walked into the hotel. They got on the elevator and Nick leaned against the wall, coughing. Kevin watched him with worried eyes, "Nick, has it been this bad before?" "I don't know," he answered, closing his eyes and sliding down the wall to the floor. He pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on them. Kevin glanced up at Lane, seeing the same worried expression on his face. Kevin knelt down facing Nick, "Hey, tell me how you're feeling." "I'm cold, and weak," Nick said, his head still on his knees, "My chest hurts when I breathe ... and I can't take a deep breath without coughing." "Do you think this is your allergies or something else?" he asked. "Allergies," Nick said, "But it's worse than before." "OK, we'll get a doc in to see you as soon we get to your room," Kevin said. Nick nodded, trying to take short shallow breaths to keep from coughing. The elevator stopped on their floor and the doors opened to reveal the rest of the guys waiting in the hall. When they saw Nick sitting in the floor, they all started to panic. Kevin held his hand up to them and gave them a stern look as he and Lane helped Nick up and to his room. They walked in, with everyone on their heels and took Nick to the nearest bedroom, helping him get his shoes off and into bed. Once Nick was comfortable Kevin turned to the guys, "Howie, go tell Henry to call the doc in." Howie nodded and headed out the door to Henry's room. "What's wrong with him?" Brian asked, peering into the room. "It's his allergies, but it's the worse I've ever seen them," Kevin answered. Nick started coughing, getting their attention. "Damn, is he gonna be able to sing tonight?" A.J. asked. "I don't know," Kevin said. Brian walked into the room and sat down next to Nick, "Hey, I told you that you were gonna get sick, didn't I?" Nick smiled, "Yeah, I know. I should've listened to you, huh?" "Yeah, you should have. You know that whole older and wiser thing," Brian teased. Nick laughed, then coughed. "Sorry, I shouldn't make you laugh, huh?" Brian said. Nick shook his head, "It's OK. Bri, can you turn the heat on? I'm freezing." "It is on, but I'll turn it up," he said, getting up and turning it up to eighty. Nick watched as Brian disappeared into the bathroom for a moment, then came back out with a wash cloth in his hand. "Here," he said, laying it across Nick's forehead and laughing when Nick flinched at how cold it was. "I'm cold and you bring me a cold rag?" Nick said. "You've got a fever," Brian replied. "Oh," Nick said, closing his eyes, "I'm tired." "I know, go to sleep. The doc should be here soon," Brian said. Henry and Mark walked into the room with Howie. "How sick is he?" Henry asked. "Pretty sick," Kevin said, "He's got a high fever." "OK, the doc should be here within the hour," Henry said, looking over as Brian came out of the room and pulled the door almost shut. "He's asleep," Brian said, fanning himself, "I couldn't stay in there any longer. He's freezing and it's like eighty in there." A.J. pulled his sweater off, leaving his tank top on, "I'll go sit with him." "Here," Brian said, tossing him a bottled water from the frig, "You'll need it." A.J. smiled, then stepped into the room. The guys laughed when they heard him cuss at how warm it was before he shut the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About an hour later the doctor arrived. The guys watched as he examined Nick, asking him questions. Nick told him about his history of allergies, and how no one could figure out just what he was allergic to. The doctor smiled at him as Nick settled back in the bed, "I think I can help you." "Really?" Nick asked, not wanting to get excited yet. "I think so," the doctor replied, "About a month ago I had a young lady in with the same symptoms as you. She explained that she was allergic to something in the air and knew exactly what to do to treat it." Nick coughed, "I'm willing to try anything." "I'm sure you are," the doctor said, "Let me call my office and have the supplies I need delivered." Nick watched as the doctor made the call. "Alright, as soon as the supplies are here, we'll get started, OK?" he said. Nick nodded, pulling the blankets up as another wave of chills swept over him. Within half an hour the supplies were delivered. All the guys watched as the doctor prepared a shot. "What's in that?" A.J. asked. "Mostly antihistamine," he answered, "It's like a super dose of Benidryl." "What's the oxygen tank for?" Kevin asked. "I'm going to put him on pure oxygen for a while. It seems to help the medicine take effect faster," he answered. Kevin and Howie glanced at one another, not really sure about this at all. "OK Nick," the doc said, "I need you to roll over for me." Nick did as he was told, and the doctor pulled the blankets back and moved his sweats down revealing the top part of his hip. "OK Nick, don't move. I have to give this slow, and it will hurt," he warned. Nick nodded, grabbing the edge of one of the pillows. The doctor inserted the needle and slowly administered the shot. Nick was gripping the pillow for all he was worth as tears sprang to his eyes. "Just a little bit longer," the doctor said, "I know it's painful." Nick was almost at the verge of screaming when the doc finally pulled the needle out. "OK, you can roll back over," the doctor instructed. Nick slowly rolled over, wiping the tears from his face as he did. "Alright, let's put this on," the doctor said, placing the oxygen mask over Nick's face. "I want you to breathe normally. I'll take it off in about twenty minutes, and then put it back on after twenty more," he said. "Why do you do that?" Brian asked. "Yeah, why not just leave it on?" Howie added. "Because pure oxygen can't be breathed for an extended period of time without some side affects," he explained. "You get high," A.J. said. "Exactly," the doctor said. Kevin looked at A.J., "How'd you know that?" "Oxygen bars," A.J. said, "They're all the rage in Cali. You can sit and suck it until you see purple elephants on the ceiling." The doctor frowned, "I've heard of those. It's not a good idea." "Nope, but it makes money, so they have them," A.J. said. "How long will you do this?" Brian asked. "For about three hours," the doctor answered, "We should see some improvement in the first, but it'll take about three to completely take care of the problem." "That's about the time we need to leave for sound check," Henry said. Kevin nodded, watching Nick sleep, "OK, we'll wait and see how he's doing before we make a decision on tonight." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Three and a half hours later Nick was sitting up in bed playing cards with Brian. His fever was gone, he wasn't coughing anymore and he felt better than he had in months. The doctor was packing up his things to leave. "Thanks doc," Nick said, "I can't tell you how much better I feel." The doctor smiled, "You're welcome," he said handing him a piece of paper. "What's this?" Nick asked. "That is the instructions for what I just did. In case you need it again down the road," he said. Nick grinned, "Thanks." The doctor grabbed his things and Mark helped him carry them downstairs. "So, you feel like working tonight?" Henry asked. "Yeah, I feel fine," Nick said. "Alright then, we need to leave in about an hour. That'll give us enough time to do a quick sound check before they start letting people in," Henry said. Nick got out of bed and placed the paper the doctor had given him in his suitcase for safe keeping. He pulled out some clothes and headed to the bathroom to get a quick shower before they left. The guys filed out of his room to do the same. "Isn't that weird," A.J. said, as he and Kevin walked down the hall. "What?" Kevin asked. "Nick's allergic to the air. How many people have that?" he said. Kevin shrugged, "Dunno, but it's a good thing that doc knew what he was doing." "Yeah, it is," A.J. said, reaching his room and going inside. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Henry sat in the dressing room, going over some expense figures with Mark. The guys had a great show, and were in the showers. They were here for a couple nights, so there was no rush to leave the arena. Frank, Kevin's bodyguard knocked on the door, "Mr. Murphy, there's some federal agents here." Henry stood up, "Federal agents? What do they want?" Frank shrugged his shoulders. "Let them in," Henry said, glancing at Mark. Mark looked clueless. A man and woman entered the dressing room. "Mr. Murphy?" the woman asked. "Yes," he said. "I'm Agent Tamara Dawson with the CIA, my partner here is Agent Tom Neely with the FBI," she said. "The CIA and the FBI? What's this about?" Henry asked. "We need to speak with Nick Carter," she said. "Nick? Why, is he in some sort of trouble?" Mark asked. "You could say that," Tom said, "It's urgent that we talk to him." "Does he need an attorney for this?" Henry asked, still wary. "Oh no," Agent Dawson said, "Our agencies have intercepted some threats made against his life. We need to discuss them with him." "Oh my," Mark said. "I'll go get him," Henry said, heading into the large bathroom. "Nick! Nick!" he called. "What?" Nick asked, stepping out of the shower, still drying off. "There's some Feds out here, they wanna talk to you," Henry said. "Feds?" Nick asked, as the rest of the guys walked over. "What do the feds want with Nicky?" Howie asked. "Something about some threats on your life," Henry said. "Oh God," Brian muttered. Nick looked somewhat shocked. Sure all the guys had had their lives threatened at one time or another, but their security always took care of it. The feds were never called in. "Uh OK, I'll be right out," Nick said, hurrying to put his clothes on. "OK, I'll tell them," Henry said, leaving the room. "Do you want us to come with you?" Kevin asked. Nick shrugged, "I dunno. I've never talked to the feds before." "We'll come if you want us to," Brian said. Nick finished putting his shoes on and stood up, running his hand through his still wet hair, "Um no, I'll be alright. It's not like I did anything, right? They'll probably let me know what's going on and leave." "Yeah true," Howie said. "But if it's a threat on your life, why aren't they talking to security?" Kevin asked. "I dunno, maybe they already did," Nick said. "We'll stay close, in case you need us," Kevin told him as they all walked out into the main dressing room. Agent Dawson looked up, glancing between Nick and Brian, "Nick Carter?" Nick stepped up and extended his hand, "I'm Nick." She took it, "Agent Dawson, this is Agent Neely. Can we speak to you in private please?" Nick glanced back at the guys, "Um, yeah sure." He lead them to a smaller dressing room that was attached to the main one. They went in and shut the door. Kevin looked at the rest of the guys, "I don't have a good feeling about this." "Neither do I," Brian said, staring at the closed door. Howie and A.J. exchanged worried glances, as they sat down to wait for Nick. Chapter 4 |