| Chapter 17 "So she's moving in with you?" Carter asked, surprised. Nick nodded, not able to keep the smile off his face. "And I see you're more than happy about that," he said. Nick blushed, nodding. Carter looked over at Brian, "How cute is that?" "I know, I just love new love," Brian said in a dreamy voice. Carter leaned close to Nick, "How many pain killers did they give him?" Nick laughed, shrugging his shoulders. "Hey, don't talk about me," Brian said, pointing his finger at Carter, "I'll get outta this bed and kick your ass." "I hope you do Brian," Carter laughed. Nick pulled on Carters sleeve, pointing down at the card they were working on. "OK, try and say it," he instructed. Nick took a deep breath, "D-d ohg. Dog." "Very good," Carter said, smiling at him, "See, it just takes some time and patience." Nick nodded, ready to go on to another card. Carter laid down another card. "Kuh kuh at, cat," Nick said triumphantly. "Great, you're getting better," Carter said, "Remember just take it slow and sound out each letter." Nick looked at the next card, staring at it for a moment. He bit his bottom lip and looked up at Carter, a �help me' look on his face. "Having problems thinking of the word that goes with the picture?" Carter asked. Nick nodded. "It's OK, just take your time," he said. Nick sat for several minutes staring at the picture. He bit his lip, traced the outline with his finger, sighed, all the while becoming more and more upset with himself because he couldn't think of the word and he knew he should know it. After a while he pushed the card toward Carter and looked down at his hands. Carter watched him for a few minutes, "Nick, do you want me to say the word for you?" Nick shook his head, still not looking up. Carter felt for him, he could see the frustration and discouragement in Nick's face. "Nick, remember, this takes time. It's not all gonna come to you overnight. But I can say this, you are doing very well. Don't give up alright, you have to keep trying, otherwise you won't ever get better," he said. Nick sighed heavily, looking up at his new friend. He took the card back, looking at it again. Nick pointed at the card, looking at Carter. "Tree," Carter said. "Tah-ree, trah-ee," Nick said. "Try one more time," Carter told him. Nick sighed, "Tree." "See, you can do this," Carter encouraged. Nick still looked disappointed and shook his head. Carter handed Nick his notebook, "Tell me what you're thinking." I'm stupid, Nick wrote. "No Nick you aren't. Why would you think that?" Carter asked. Because I can't even think of the right words, people are gonna think I'm stupid! he wrote. "Nick, they will not think you're stupid, because you aren't. You know this is because of the injuries you sustained during the accident, you can't help this," Carter said. Nick shook his head, looking away from him. "Nick look at me," Carter said. Nick looked over his eyes brimming with tears. "You are working very hard to get past this. You've already accomplished a lot. If anything people are gonna admire you for sticking with this and trying to get your speech back. Don't ever think you're stupid because of this, OK? Cause you're not," Carter said. Nick looked down at his hands, still upset, but Carter's words made him feel a little better. "Do you wanna continue, or stop for the day?" Carter asked. Stop, Nick wrote. Carter gathered his things together, placing a hand on Nick's shoulder before he left, "It's OK to have bad days, just don't give up." Nick nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow," Carter said, walking to the door, "Bye Brian." "Bah Bye!" Brian called, laughing to himself. Nick looked over at his friend, eyebrows raised. "What?" Brian asked, still giggling. What'd they give you? Nick wrote, showing it to him. "Hell if I know, but damn I feel good," Brian laughed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hello?" "Kelly?" Diane said. "Di! Oh my God, it's been days. Tell me what's going on," Kelly said. Diane laughed, "Alright, calm down though, geesh." "I'm sorry, but I've just been wondering how things are. How's Nick and Brian doing?" she asked. "OK. They both started physical therapy," Diane said. "Aww, I feel so bad for them. That must be torture huh?" Kelly said. "Yeah, it pretty much is. Nick has it a little easier than Brian though, but it's still tough for both of them," Diane answered. "How are you doing? You sound tired," Kelly asked. "I am. Nick had a really bad night last night, and then he didn't get the best test results today. That's kinda why I'm calling," Diane said. "Oh?" "Yeah, um Nick asked me to stay with him after he goes home. He has to have someone with him all the time because of his seizures and all, and well, he asked if I would come live with him," she babbled. "Holy shit girl, what'd you say?" Kelly asked. "I said yes," Diane told her, smiling. "I knew it! I can't believe it! My girlfriend is gonna be living with Nick Carter, and she's head over heals for him!" Kelly said. Diane rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, listen though, you can't tell anyone about this. The guys don't want their conditions getting out just yet, and the less anyone knows about me the better alright? Not even the girls in the fan club, promise me Kel, you won't tell a soul," Diane begged. "I promise Di, you know I won't say anything if you don't want me to," Kelly said. "I know, I just needed to make sure. Anyway, can you ship my stuff to Florida?" Diane asked. "Sure hon, you tell me where and it'll be there waiting on you," Kelly said. Diane smiled, "Thanks, it'll be going to Marathon. I'll call back later with the exact address...." Diane looked down the hall, seeing Carter come out of the room, "Listen Kel, I need to go. I'll call soon, OK?" "OK hon, take care," Kelly said. "I will, bye," Diane said. "Bye." Diane hung up the pay phone and walked over to Carter, "He's not having a good day is he?" "Not really, though he's pretty psyched about you going to live with him," Carter said with a smile. Diane blushed, "Yeah, I'm kinda looking forward to it myself." Carter laughed, "To cute, just to cute." "What?" she asked. "You two. You both try and hide how much you really care about each other, and both do a miserable job of it," he laughed. "Yeah well, I don't guess either one of us would make good actors huh?" she said. "Don't think so. Anyway, he's kinda down right now. He's still having trouble thinking of the right words and it's getting to him," he informed her. "OK, I'll go see if I can cheer him up," she said. Carter laughed, "All you gotta do is walk in the room honey, that's all it'll take." Diane smiled at him, "See you tomorrow." "You too," Carter said, walking down the hall. Diane started to go into the room when Leighanne, Kevin and Kristin rounded the corner. "Hey, did you get ahold of your friend?" Leighanne asked. "Yeah, she said she'd ship my stuff as soon as I got the address to her," Diane answered. "Good," Kevin said, "I'm hoping they won't have to stay here much longer." "Yeah, but I'm a little worried about them leaving," Diane said. "Oh why?" Kristin asked. "Well, they've been relying on each other. When Brian's having a bad day Nick seems to be able to cheer him up, and vice versa. How are they gonna do that for each other when Brian's back home in Atlanta and Nick's in Marathon?" Diane asked. "Oh damn, I never thought of that," Kevin said. "You're right. They're gonna have to have some way of communicating with each other," Leighanne said. "But Nick can't talk on the phone, how are they gonna do that?" Kristin asked. Diane thought for a moment, then smiled, "They can IM each other." "IM?" Kristin asked. "Instant message, on the computer," Diane said, "That's how I keep in touch with a lot of my friends." Leighanne laughed, "I dunno bout that. Bri's not real good with the computer. I'm not sure he knows how to turn the thing on." "Well, he can learn, you can teach him," Kevin said. "Yeah, this could work," Diane said, "We all set up accounts and then Nick can talk to all the guys." "Yeah but we'd have to be on the computer at the same time," Kevin said. "Well, we could call if Nick needs to talk to you, then you could get on the computer and talk with him," Diane said. "True," Kevin mused. "What about their Id's though? Won't someone figure out who they are?" Leighanne asked. "Naw, we can set them up with just a user name, no one has to know where they're from or any of that, and....." she laughed, "we could make their Id's something a fan would use." "What do ya mean?" Kevin asked. "Well like you for instance. We could make your Id something like Kevs southern fox or Body by Kev." Kristin burst out laughing, "Body by Kev, oh my God, that's good!" Kevin chuckled, "I dunno bout that, but I see where you're going with it. Good idea." Diane smiled, "Thanks...um I'm gonna go in. Nick didn't have a real good therapy session." "Oh? He OK?" Kevin asked. "Yeah, just needs some cheering up," she said. "Well by all means, go, go," Leighanne said, pushing her through the door with a laugh. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Jesus A.J. that was gross!" Kevin laughed. A.J. smiled, "My best one yet." Leighanne leaned over to Diane, "Men, no wonder we're the stronger sex." Diane laughed, shaking her head. "Hey, no gaining up on us, we're having fun," A.J. said. "Alex, a farting contest isn't really my idea of having fun," Leighanne said. "Which is why we didn't ask you to join in," he smirked. Leighanne rolled her eyes, smiling at Diane, "You see what you're getting yourself into?" Diane smiled, squeezing Nicks hand, "Yeah, I don't mind though." Nick squeezed back, grinning at her. "Alright Nick, beat that one," A.J. smiled. Nick looked at his friend like he'd lost his mind and shook his head. "Come on man, she's gonna be living with you. You can't not fart the entire time, you know it's gonna happen, so just do it now," A.J. laughed. Nick glared at A.J. shaking his head. Suddenly a loud rumbling noise came from across the room. Nick looked over to see Brian smiling at him. "Oh Lord Bri," Leighanne protested, waving her hands in front of her face. Nick burst out laughing, grabbing his notebook: You win, hands down. Brian smiled, "Thank you very much." Howie and Kevin laughed, then looked at Diane as she cracked up. "What?" Howie asked. "I'm just glad you guys didn't do this on the plane, that woulda made for one interesting interview," she laughed. All the guys glanced at one another. "Yup it sure would have. What would we ever do if our fans knew we farted?" A.J. said, in a dramatic voice. Howie reached over and slapped him on the arm, "They already know that thanks to you." A.J. smiled, "Hey, how was I suppose to know he already turned his mic on?" Diane looked confused as Nick and Brian both snickered. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "Oh, A.J. here thought it would be funny to drop something on the way to the stage at a concert about two years ago and have Nick pick it up. When Nick bent down, A.J. farted in his face," Howie said. "Yeah, but Alex didn't know Nick had already turned his mic on," Kevin explained. Diane put her hand over her mouth, "Oh no." "Oh yeah, louder than hell all over the auditorium," Brian laughed. "Promptly followed by Nick's cussing at him," Howie said, shaking his head. Diane laughed, looking over at Nick. He smiled. "Yeah it was hard to explain to the moms that brought their little girls to see us why they heard Nick saying his favorite word about forty times over the PA system," Kevin laughed. "You didn't?" Diane asked, smiling. Nick nodded, "Fuck, fuck, fuck." Everyone chuckled. "Man, I wish I'd seen that," Diane laughed. Leighanne shook her head, "I bout died. Brian came out on stage, his face redder than I've ever seen it. They barely made it through the first song without laughing." "Yeah, those where the days," Brian said, laughing. They all laughed for a moment before they realized just what Brian had said. Suddenly they all took on a somber look. Nick bit his lip, looking at each of his friends and realizing that those times were over. He would no longer be a part of a performance like that ever again. "Nick, it's OK," Diane said, sensing what he was thinking. He sighed, laying down and curling into a ball, clutching a pillow. "Nick, we'll have good times like that again," Howie said. "Yeah man, you'll get your speech back," A.J. said. "And when you do, we'll have all the fun we've had over the years all over again," Kevin said. Nick shook his head, burying his face in the pillow, not wanting them to see him cry. "Nicky, look at me," Brian said, in a somewhat stern voice. Nick sniffed, looking up, blinking away his tears. "You and I are gonna get through this alright? We're gonna get better and we're both gonna be on stage again, understand? We'll help each other and together we'll get there. I'll stand on my own two feet and you'll sing like an angel. I refuse to believe anything less," Brian announced firmly. Nick smiled at his friend as a tear slid down his cheek. "You know I'm right," Brian smiled. Nick brushed his tear away with the back of his hand and nodded, still feeling a great loss, but not wanting to upset anyone. Diane leaned down and kissed his forehead, brushing his hair away from his eyes. Nick took her hand in his, looking at her with sad pleading eyes. She smiled at him, kicking her shoes off and sliding next to him in bed, taking him in her arms. "Shh, it's OK," she soothed as he settled into her arms, feeling better as she held him. Diane gently ran her hand up and down his back, kissing the top of his head when she felt him start to relax. As Nick drifted to sleep in her arms, Diane looked up at everyone. They all smiled at her, thankful she was there. Kevin walked over, staring down at the younger man. He then smiled at Diane, "Thank you," he whispered. "For what?" she asked. "For being here, for helping him and us," he said. Diane smiled, "There's no where else I'd rather be." Chapter 18 |