| Chapter 15 Kevin woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. He reached over and answered, "Hello." "Kev, it's A.J," he said. Kevin looked at the clock, "A.J., it's six in the morning, what is it?" "Um, I need to talk to you," he said. "About what?" Kevin asked, not liking the sound in A.J.'s voice, "Did you guys hear something?" "No, it's not about Bri, it's about Nick," A.J. said. Kevin sat up and rubbed his face with his hand, "What about Nick?" "Well, we were playing games last night, and I hit him on the head with the jewel case for the game. I didn't mean to, we were just playing and..." A.J. started. "Alex, what happened?" Kevin asked. "Well, I hit him where his scar is, and it hurt him," A.J. said. Kevin took a deep breath, "What do you mean it hurt him?" "He grabbed his head like I'd just punched him or something. He said that it gave him a headache, and he went to his room. Kev, he hasn't said anything to Ted about it. I mean, shouldn't that thing be healed by now?" A.J. said. Kevin thought for a moment, "Well, yeah I think it should. Where is he now?" "Still in his room," A.J. said. "Have you looked in on him?" Kevin asked. "Um, well..," A.J. started. Kevin rolled his eyes, "A.J. go right now and look in on him, I'll wait." "OK," A.J. said. He walked down the hall and to Nick's door. He slowly opened it and stuck his head in. Kevin held the phone away from his ear, it sounded like A.J. had dropped it. He could hear A.J. talking to Nick, then the sound of someone picking the phone up. "Kev, you still there?" he asked. "Yeah," Kevin said. "I think you might want to come over," A.J. said. "Why, what's wrong?" Kevin asked. "I can't wake him up," A.J. said. "I'll be right there," Kevin said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He focused on the fire place, there were some clothes hanging there, drying. He heard what he thought was water hitting the floor behind him. He slowly sat up and turned his head, his mouth dropping open. Aleisha was standing with her back to him, next to the sink. She was completely naked. Brian watched as she ran the wet cloth over her arms and shoulders. Following the water as it ran down her skin and dripped to the floor. He knew he shouldn't be watching, but he couldn't take his eyes off her. He watched as she moved down to her legs, and noticed the tattoo in the small of her back. It was a beautifully colored dragon, with its wings open. Aleisha turned, and locked eyes with Brian. Neither of them said anything, and she made no attempt to cover herself. After a few moments, Brian turned his head, blushing. He stared at the fire, mentally kicking himself for what he'd just done. He looked over to where Angel had been sleeping, she wasn't there. Aleisha walked around the cot, a towel wrapped around her, and sat down next to Brian. He didn't look at her, he was to ashamed. "Brian, it's OK," she said, "I'm not embarrassed." "I am," he said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have...." Aleisha put her finger over his mouth to quiet him, "It's OK." He stared into her eyes, again finding himself getting lost in them. "Um, where's Angel?" he finally asked. "I let her out about an hour ago," Aleisha said. "Oh," Brian said, trying to look out the window. "It's still snowing," Aleisha told him, getting up and checking to see if her clothes were dry. They were, so she grabbed them, looking at Brian, "You wanna close your eyes, or you wanna watch?" Brian blushed, putting his hand over his eyes. "I'm just kidding," Aleisha said, as she put her clothes on, "OK, you can look now." He pulled his hand away, and was relieved to see that she was dressed. "Are you hungry?" she asked. Brian nodded, trying to get situated on the cot. "Here, let me help you," Aleisha said, walking over. Brian let out a small cry, as she accidentally ran her hand over his ribs. "Damn, sorry," she said. "It's OK," he said, looking at her, "They're broke aren't they?" "Yeah, I think so," she said, placing the last pillow behind him. She went to get him something to eat and came back. "Brian, when you get done, I need to undo your bandages and check on your wounds," she said. "OK," he said, as she held the cup up for him to drink from. They both turned their heads when they heard scratching at the door. Aleisha got up and opened it, letting Angel back in. She padded over to Brian and sat down, wagging her tail. "Hey girl," he said, running a bandaged hand over her head. Aleisha came back and finished feeding Brian his breakfast. Angel watched her like a hawk. "I think someone is jealous," Aleisha said. Brian laughed, "I think so too." "Well, lets get to those bandages, shall we?" Aleisha said, getting up and retrieving the supplies from the medicine cabinet. She came back over, and gently cut the bandages from his arms. Brian gasp when he saw what his arms looked like. Aleisha looked up at him, "Brian, they aren't as bad as they look." He half smiled, not believing her. He knew he was going to have some pretty bad scars from this. Scars that he couldn't hide. Brian watched as Aleisha put some antibacterial cream over all the wounds, then bandaged them. She then did the ones on his chest, finally moving up to his face. "How bad is it?" he asked. "It's not bad," she said. "I wanna see," Brian told her. Aleisha looked at him, "Brian, I don't think that ..." "I wanna see," he said. Aleisha nodded her head, and walked over to the cabinet, pulling out a small mirror. She reluctantly held it up as Brian looked. "Oh God," he said. "Brian, it just looks that way because it's still swollen. There are only nine stitches and I made them really small, the scar won't be that bad," she said, trying to comfort him. It wasn't working. "You don't understand, part of my job,.... I have to look a certain way..., I just can't...." Brian started. "Brian, stop," Aleisha said, putting her hand on his mouth. He looked at her, tears in his eyes. "Brian, I promise you, you'll be OK," she said, "It won't scar that bad, no one will ever notice it." Brian was lost in her eyes, hearing the words she was saying, and somehow, he believed her. "OK?" she asked. He nodded his head, and let her finish dressing his wounds. Angel went back to the fire place and lay down with a heavy sigh. She looked over at Brian and Aleisha and let out a small growl, followed by a whine, then lay her head down and went to sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kevin came through the door, and almost ran into A.J. "What took you so long?" A.J. asked. "I stopped and picked Howie up," Kevin said, as Howie walked in. All three went upstairs to Nick's room, quietly walking in. Nick was laying in bed, his clothes still on, sound asleep. "How long has he been up here?" Kevin whispered. "Kev, you don't have to whisper," Howie said, pointing at Nick's hearing aid laying on the dresser. "Oh good," Kevin said. "It was around four this morning," A.J. answered. Kevin sat down on the side of the bed and looked at Nick, reaching out and gently patting him on the cheek. "Kev," Howie said, handing him a prescription bottle that was sitting on the night stand. "Do you know what this is for?" Kevin asked. Both Howie and A.J. shook their heads. Kevin got up and grabbed the phone, dialing a number. A.J. and Howie watched as he talked, reading the script off the bottle to the person on the other end. After a few minutes he hung up. "Well?" A.J. asked. "It's a medicine they give for severe headaches, like migraines," Kevin answered, "It pretty much knocks you out for a while." "Oh," A.J. said. "I thought he said that he hasn't talked with Ted about this?" Howie asked. "He hasn't," A.J. said. "Then where did he get the medicine from?" Howie asked. "The pharmacy is in LA," Kevin said, looking at the label. "When he wakes up we'll see if we can get some answers from him," Kevin said, getting up. They all left the room and went downstairs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Aleisha, how long has this been here?" Brian asked. "The med station?" she asked. "Yeah, it looks new," Brian said, looking around. "It is. They just got it done a few months ago. As far as I know, we are the first to have to use it," she answered. "Why'd they build it here?" Brian asked. "Oh, well. A couple years ago, some celebrity got lost out here, and almost died. They decided after that, that the ranger stations were to far apart on this trail, and so they built this," Aleisha said. Brian started laughing, "Oh man that hurts," he said holding his side, but he couldn't stop. "What's so funny?" she asked. "Do you know who the celebrity was?" he asked. "No, it was before I started working here," Aleisha said, "Why? Who was it?" Brian smiled at her, "It was me." "You?" Aleisha said, surprised. "Yeah," he said. "Um Brian, don't take this the wrong way, but maybe hiking isn't the right sport for you," she said, laughing. "I guess not," he said, trying not to laugh. "When do you think we'll be able to leave?" he asked. "I'm not sure. It's still snowing," she said. "Oh," Brian said, looking down at his bare chest, "Um, do I have some clothes I can put on?" "Oh yeah, sorry," Aleisha said, going over to his pack and digging out a shirt and a pair of sweats. "You brought sweats?" she said, looking at them. "They're my favorite pair," Brian said with a smile. She laughed, "OK." Aleisha walked back over, and put his shirt on him. Brian swung his legs down to the floor. "Oh I forgot the socks," Aleisha said, going back over and pulling a pair out. She came back, and put his socks on, then put his sweats on him. "OK, you're gonna have to stand up," she said. Brian tried to get up on his own, but couldn't do it. Aleisha helped him up and stood with him until he was steady enough for her to let him go. Then she pulled his sweats up, giving him her hand, to help him sit back down. "No, just let me stand here for a minute," Brian said, trying to overcome his feeling of lightheadedness. "Brian, you look like you're about to pass out," Aleisha argued. "I can't walk out of here if I can't even stand up," Brian said. Aleisha stood there and watched as Brian forced himself to stay standing. "Brian, you aren't ready for this. You're still to weak, now sit down," she said forcefully. He looked at her, then let her help him back down. "I just...," he started. "I know," she interrupted, "But you aren't ready yet. Don't force it, you could hurt yourself more than you're helping." Brian just nodded his head, willing away the dizziness that he was still feeling. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick stirred in bed, and A.J. got up and walked out of the room, leaning over the balcony, "Guys, he's waking up." Kevin and Howie walked upstairs and into the room. Nick slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Kevin was sitting on one side of the bed, A.J. on the other, and Howie was standing at the foot. Nick rolled over groaning, "A.J. you didn't." A.J. tapped Nick on the shoulder, handing him his aid. "I know I don't want to hear this," Nick said, taking the aid and placing it in his ear. "Nick, you need to tell us what's going on," Kevin said. "I got a headache, thanks to dumbass over there," Nick said. A.J. looked down, truly hurt, "I said I was sorry." "Nick, why are you getting headaches?" Howie asked. "I dunno, I just do," Nick said, looking for a place to hide, and finding none. "Nick, when did you start getting them?" Kevin asked. Nick looked down, "When I was shooting the TV show." "In LA?" A.J. asked. "Yeah, I went to a doc there and he set up some tests, but then things happened, and I cancelled," Nick said. "Nicky, why didn't you tell any of us?" Howie asked. "I don't know. I didn't think that much about it. I don't get them that often, so I just let it go," he said. "Nick, you had major brain surgery, even the smallest headache needs to be checked out," Kevin said. "I know that Kev. I just....well when Tara died, I just put it off. The doc gave me the medicine until I could get home and have Ted check me out. I'm gonna have it done," Nick said. "Yeah you are," Kevin said, picking up the phone. Nick reached out and grabbed it, "Kev." Kevin pulled the phone away from Nick's hands and dialed the number. Howie sat down in Kevin's place, "Nick, does Lyn know?" Nick just looked down at his hands. "I take that as a no?" Howie asked. "I was gonna tell her after I had the tests done. I didn't want her to worry if it was nothing you know?" Nick said. Howie nodded his head. Kevin turned around, "OK, get up and get dressed." "What? We're going now?" Nick asked, somewhat miffed. "Yes, right now. I want you downstairs and ready to go in twenty," Kevin said, walking out of the room. Howie and A.J. got up and followed Kevin. "Thanks a lot A.J.," Nick said. A.J. stopped and looked back, "If it prevents you from having some major problem, you're very welcome," and with that he walked out of the room. Chapter 16 |