| Chapter 45 "That son of a bitch!" A.J. said angrily, "I'm gonna fuckin kill him!" "Get in line," Brian said, looking out the window. "I can't believe we didn't see it," Howie said. "Well, Nick's good at hiding things he doesn't want found out," Kevin replied. Just then they met an ambulance as it sped down the road, lights on and siren blaring. Brian looked at Dr. McKenna, "I hope that's not coming from Nicks." "I hope so too," the doctor said. Kevin sped up anyway and they reached Nick's a few minutes later. Police cars blocked the drive and a few officers were taping off the house. "Oh God," Brian said. Kevin pulled up as close to the police cars as he could get. "I'm sorry, you can't park here," an officer said, walking up to the car. "What happened?" Kevin asked. "We're still sorting that out," he replied. "Is Nick or Diane here?" Howie asked from the passengers seat. "I can't say. I know they took someone in a few minutes ago," the officer said. Just then Brian saw the paramedics wheeling someone out in a body bag and placing them in the back of an ambulance. "Christ, who is that?" he asked. The officer shook his head, "I'm not at liberty to say." "Not at liberty?! My best friend was in there! Who the hell do you think .....?!" Brian started, but Dr. McKenna stopped him. "Brian, we aren't going to find out anything here. Let's just go to the hospital and see who they took in," he said. "Good idea," Kevin said, starting to pull out. He stopped when Bob pulled up next to them, "What happened? Where's Nick?" "We don't know, we're on our way to the hospital right now," Kevin yelled through the window. Bob nodded and took off. Kevin pulled out and followed him. It only took them minutes to get to the hospital but it seemed like hours. Once they got there they all ran in. Kevin got to the desk first, "Nick Carter or Diane Houge, were either of them just brought in?" The lady started to search her computer when Howie looked into the emergency waiting room and saw Diane. "Never mind," he said, turning and going in, the others following. "Diane?" Kevin asked as they approached her. She looked up, her face streaked with tears. "Kevin!" she cried, as he pulled her into his arms and held her as she sobbed. "Honey, what happened?" he asked. She shook her head, "Nick ..... John ...fighting ....bastard" "Diane, calm down a second. We can't understand what you're saying," Bob said. Diane tried to calm herself down, taking several deep breaths. A.J. offered her some tissues he'd found on one of the tables and she wiped her eyes and blew her nose. "Diane, what happened?" Dr. McKenna asked. "Nick and John were fighting. John had a knife on Nick and was trying to leave with him," she said, as more tears slid down her cheeks, "He shot him." "Who?" Kevin asked. "John shot Nick. Somehow he got a gun from one of the cops. He was aiming for me, but Nick pushed me out of the way," she cried. Kevin ran his hand up and down her back, trying his best to sooth her. "Where's Nick now?" Brian asked, afraid of the answer. "They took him up to surgery as soon as we came in. Told me to stay here," she answered. The guys looked at each other, somewhat confused. "Honey, if Nick's here, who was killed?" Howie asked. "John," she said, "I shot him." Dr. McKenna and Brian exchanged glances. "You shot him? How?" the doctor asked. "When Nick pushed me, I ran into a cop and we both fell. He lost hold of his gun and I picked it up. John was walking toward Nick, the gun still pointed at him, so I shot him," she explained. "Di, I'm so sorry," Brian said, wheeling himself over and hugging her. "Brian, I'm so scared. Nick was coughing up blood ... he looked so pale," Diane said, still hugging him. "I know," Brian said, "But Nick's a fighter. He'll make it through." At least that was what they all were praying for. Dr. McKenna headed for the elevator, "I'll go see if I can help, and send someone to take you all to a more private waiting room." "Thanks doc," Kevin called after him. "I just don't understand it," she said, "I thought John was his friend. How could this happen?" Brian took her hands and made her look at him, "John was no friend. I don't know the whole story, but John was hurting Nick." "What? How?" she asked. "Baby, John is Tim's son," Kevin said, "He was abusing Nick just like Tim did." Diane's breath caught in her throat, "No, not that." Brian nodded, "Nick drew me a picture and hid a message in it. Me and the doc figured it out. I knew he looked familiar but I never could place him. He changed a lot over the years, and I only hung out with him for a few days." "And the rest of us never really met him," Howie explained, "We were gone on a press tour and Nick and Brian stayed behind." "Yeah, Nick was um sick and Brian stayed behind with him. Tim flew his son out for a few days while we were gone," A.J. said. "And me and him hung out because we were the same age," Brian said. "We came back the night John left," Kevin said, "I think we met him briefly and took some pics, but that was it." "But how come Nick didn't recognize him?" she asked. Brian sighed, "Like I said, he's changed a lot, and Nick really didn't hang with us. Tim asked me to keep John entertained for him, while he and Nick went over a few things..... God I hate him." "Don't Bri, you didn't know at the time," Kevin said. Brian nodded, looking down at his hands. Just then a nurse came in and asked them to follow her. They all got up and went up a few floors to the surgical wing and occupied a small waiting room. Diane walked over to the window and peered out. This was possibly the worse day of her life. She didn't know what she'd do if Nick didn't make it. He was her life now, her family, her best friend and her lover. How could she live without that? She didn't notice Brian sitting beside her, but looked down when he took her hand in his. "He'll make it," he said, trying to convince himself as much as her. She nodded, squeezing his hand, "He has to." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carter walked into his house and threw his jacket on the couch. He'd had a busy day, and was ready to relax. He sat down at his computer and checked his mail, looking through the junk mail he'd grabbed out of the box on the way in as the computer dialed in. "If it weren't for junk mail, I'd get no mail at all," he mumbled, tossing it in the trash. He watched as his messages loaded, deleting the junk as soon as it appeared. "Oh Nick, I haven't heard from him in ages," he said, clicking on the message. As he read his heart jumped into his throat and he found it hard to breathe, "Oh God ... when did he send this?" he asked himself looking at the time. "Shit, four hours ago! Shit!" he said, grabbing the phone and dialing the hospital. "Marcie, I need you to look up an old client of mine. I need his number," he said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diane, Kevin, and Bob paced the floor. It had been hours since Nick was taken into surgery and they hadn't heard anything. Dr. McKenna never came back, and they were all sick with worry. A detective showed up and questioned Diane on what happened. She told him her story, leaving out the part about who John really was and what exactly was going on. He told her that the officers on the scene all testified that she shot John in self defense and that she needn't worry about charges being brought against her. Diane hadn't even thought about that, but she didn't care. All she wanted was for Nick to be alright, everything else was irrelevant. Bob had called Jane and told her what was going on. She was working on cancelling the rest of Aaron's promotional tour and getting a flight back home. Kevin called Kristin and ended up talking to Leighanne and Jackie over the speaker phone, letting them all know. Leighanne wanted to fly out, but Brian told her to stay at home until they knew something. Bob and Kevin ran into each other, mumbling apologies. Each so wrapped in worry they weren't paying attention to where they were pacing. Diane almost jumped out of her skin when Nick's cell phone went off. She'd forgotten she was even carrying it. "Hello?" "Diane? It's Carter ... is Nick there?" he asked. Tears came to her eyes, "No he's ... there was an accident ..and.." "God I'm to late! Is he gonna be alright?" Carter asked. "We don't know," she answered, "What do you mean you're to late?" "Di, Nick sent me an email today. He said that his speech therapist was blackmailing him and abusing him and that he was going to stop it," he explained. Diane rubbed her face with her hand, "Can I put you on speaker?" "Sure," he said. She walked over to the door and shut it, then put the phone on the coffee table and hit the speaker function, "Carter can you read it?" "Yeah," he said, reading the email. Everyone glanced at one another as Carter read. Diane dropped her head in her hands as he read the part about John threatening her and Aaron, and Nick keeping quiet to protect them. "God it's all my fault," she said under her breath. Brian wrapped his arm around her, "No it's not. You didn't know, you can't blame yourself for this." "I should've known. I was right there, I knew something wasn't right," she protested. He shook his head, "Don't. I did this for years, hell I still do it, but you can't. We didn't know, how could we? We would've never thought in a million years that this was happening. So we can't do this. Nick wouldn't want us to." Diane took a shaky breath and nodded. Everything Brian said made perfect sense, but her heart wouldn't let her stop. Finally she tuned back into the conversation. Kevin was explaining to Carter what they knew happened. "Jesus, is there anything I can do?" Carter asked. "Yeah, delete the email," Bob said. "The police think this is just a psycho fan thing and that's what the public will hear," Kevin said. "Alright, it's deleted," he said, "But it'll still be on Nick's computer." "I'll take care of it as soon as I can get back into the house," Diane said. "OK guys, please let me know when you find out something," Carter said. "We will man," Brian said, "Talk to you soon." "K, bye," Carter said, hanging up. They all sat quietly, still stunned. The door opened and they all looked up. Dr. McKenna walked in with another doctor. "Guys, this is Dr. Tucker. He did Nick's surgery," Dr. McKenna said. "How is he?" everyone asked at the same time. Dr. Tucker sat down, facing them, "Right now he's holding his own. He's in recovery and will be going to intensive care in another hour or so. The damage was pretty extensive, but we were able to repair it." "What kind of damage?" Bob asked. "The bullet entered his lower left side and ricocheted off one of his ribs. It went through his lung and his heart before it lodged in his sternum," the doctor explained. "It went through his heart?" Brian asked. Dr. Tucker nodded, "Through the bottom of the left ventricle. He's very lucky he even lived long enough to get here." "God," A.J. said, looking at the stunned faces around him. "What's his chances?" Bob asked. Dr. Tucker sighed, "I don't like to give chances, but he's still in a lot of danger. He lost a considerable amount of blood, not to mention that any open heart surgery is taxing on the body. His previous stay here coupled with his medical condition stack the cards against him. We're keeping him sedated, hoping that by doing so we can alleviate his seizures. I'm afraid that if he were to have one now, it would send him into shock and we could lose him." "Can we see him?" Diane asked in a small voice. Dr. Tucker smiled at her, "Once he's in intensive care I'll allow you to go in for a minute, but you will have to suit up. We can't risk him getting sick." "Suit up?" Howie asked. "He means wear the gloves and mask and stuff," Brian explained. "Oh, OK," Howie said. "How long before you let him wake up?" Kevin asked. "We're taking this a day at a time. When his vitals improve and he regains some strength, then I'll look at taking him off the sedative," he answered, "But lets just get through tonight first, OK?" Everyone nodded. Dr. Tucker stood up, "I'll send a nurse in to get you after he's been moved." "Thank you," Bob said, as he and Dr. McKenna left the room. "I'll call Kris," Kevin said. "Yeah, I've got to call Jane," Bob said, walking out of the room. Diane sighed, still overwhelmed by everything. "I'll call Carter," Brian offered. She smiled at him, "Thank you." Brian wheeled himself over and grabbed Nick's phone as A.J. and Howie sat next to Diane. Howie wrapped his arm around her while A.J. held her hand. Howie opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. There was nothing he could say to make this better. So the three sat there in silence, holding one another. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diane walked into the room, shaking like a leaf. In all the time she'd spent in the hospital with Nick, she'd never seen him look so frail. He had two IV's and every monitor known to man attached to him. He was on oxygen and the closer she got to him it seemed the paler he became. Finally she made it to the side of the bed and reached down, taking his hand in her gloved one. She could see the dressing underneath his hospital gown, realizing that he would have a scar just like Brian's when it healed. She rubbed her thumb back and forth across the back of his hand, "Nick, I'm right here OK? You gotta get better baby, cause I can't be here without you. I love you Nick, more than anything. I'm so sorry I didn't see what was going on .... sorry that you went though all that just to protect me. But you don't have to worry anymore. John can't ever hurt you again, I made sure of it." She sighed, willing herself not to cry, "Baby, I have to go, but I'll be right outside. You're not alone, OK? We're all here. Just please ... please don't leave me. I love you baby, with all my heart," she said, reaching up and running her hand through his hair. "As soon as they let me, I'll be back. I love you Nick," she said, turning and leaving the room in tears. Chapter 46 |