| Chapter 8 Diane rolled over and opened her eyes, meeting a pair of blue ones. She stretched a little and looked around, everyone was asleep except for her and Nick. He was laying on his side, staring at her in the darkness. Diane moved to the space between their beds and sat down, taking his hand as he rolled onto his back, looking up at her. She could see the glimmer of tears in his eyes. "Are you hurting?" she asked. Nick shook his head no, then paused and nodded. "You're hurting but that's not why you're crying?" she asked. He nodded, his eyes boring into her soul. She could see his emotions, clear as day. He was scared and confused and worried. Nick opened his mouth to try and say something, only becoming frustrated when nothing came out. Diane's heart broke for him, the look on his face tarring it to pieces. She reached up and wiped a tear away, "I'll be right back." Nick gripped her hand, not wanting her to leave. "It's OK, I'm just gonna go get something from the other tent," she said, standing up and quietly leaving the tent. Nick waited for her to return. He could see her rummaging through a bag and bringing something back. He looked at the sky, noticing the moon was almost full. It was a clear night, the moon so bright it was casting shadows. He pulled his gaze away from the sky as she came back into the tent and sat down next to him. "Here, maybe you can write what you want to say," she said, holding a notebook and pen in her hand. Nick smiled at her, trying to sit up. He got about half way up and decided it wasn't a good idea, his head was spinning. Diane grabbed her pillow and placed it underneath his head, propping it up, "Here, is this better?" Nick settled into the pillow and took the notebook from her, nodding as he opened it. Diane handed him the pen and watched as Nick fumbled with it in his hand. He couldn't seem to hold on to it very well. He looked at her, a new worry in his eyes. She thought for a moment, then took the pen from him, taking his hand in hers, "Nick, squeeze my hand as hard as you can." He did, then watched as she took his left hand asking him to do the same thing. She bit her bottom lip, noticing a remarkable difference in strength between his right and left hands. She looked back to him, "Your right side is weaker than your left." Nick sighed heavily, looking down at the notebook that was laying on his stomach. "Can you write with your left hand?" she asked. He shook his head and reached for the pen again. Diane watched as Nick gripped the pen the best he could and started writing. It was a slow process, almost as if he was having to think about each word before he wrote it. He flipped the notebook over so she could read it, What's wrong with me? She looked at him, having to fight the tears that where on the verge of coming, "I don't know. You have a bad head injury and you where unconscious for the first two days we where here." Nick wrote another question, Two days? How long? "How long have we been here?" she asked. He nodded. "It will be four days in the morning," she answered. A look of shock went across his face as he wrote, Find us? Diane gently touched his cheek, "They'll find us, don't worry. We just have to be patient, that's all." Nick sighed, looking over at Brian. He carefully reached over and touched the door Brian was strapped to, looking back at her. Diane wasn't sure if she should tell him what was wrong with Brian or not. She didn't want to upset him, but she knew if she didn't tell him something, he would get upset anyway. "He hurt his back," she said. Nick stared at her, wanting more of an explanation. She took his hand, "He can't feel his legs." She watched as Nick's mouth dropped open slightly, his eyes widening as tears began flowing down his face. "Nick, listen, you don't need to get upset OK?" she soothed. He shook his head no and started to cry even harder. Diane took the pen and notebook from him, placing them to the side and moved to let him rest his head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair, "Shh, Nick, calm down." He stared up at her, a �why' look on his face. "Nick, I know you're upset and worried, but try and calm down. If you get to upset, I'm afraid it will cause you to have another seizure," she explained. A look of confusion mixed with his tears. "You had a seizure before you woke up. It was pretty bad," she said. Nick wrapped his arm around her, holding her tight as he cried. Diane glanced around, seeing everyone else still asleep. "Nick, do you want me to lay down with you?" she asked, not knowing any other way to soothe him. He looked up and nodded. "OK," she said as he scooted over a bit and she laid down next to him. Nick rested his head on her chest and wrapped his arm around her waist. Diane held him to her, gently stroking the hair on the back of his head as he continued to cry. "Shh, I'm right here and I promise I'll take care of you," she soothed, then quietly started humming a lullaby. After a few minutes Nick stopped crying and drifted to sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kevin rolled over and stretched. He sat up, rubbing his face, trying to wake up. He noticed Diane wasn't in bed and looked around, spotting her asleep with Nick. He crawled across the bed and patted her arm, waking her up, "He OK?" She nodded, "Yeah, just upset about everything." Kevin sighed, staring at Nick for a moment before getting up, "I'll go start breakfast." "I'll help," Diane said. "No, you stay here," he said, smiling at her, "He looks to comfortable to wake up." She glanced down at Nick in her arms and nodded, "OK, but come get me if you need help." "I will," Kevin said, leaving the tent. Kevin was finishing their breakfast when A.J. walked up, yawning. "Morning bright eyes," Kevin teased. "Ha ha," A.J. said sarcastically, "You need me to do anything?" Kevin shook his head, "Nope, done. Grab some plates." A.J. picked up the stack of plates and held them as Kevin scooped the latest dehydrated concoction onto them. "Ya know, I never knew you could dehydrate all this stuff and it still taste like food," A.J. mused. Kevin laughed, "Yeah, amazing huh?" "Yup," he said, glancing over at the tent, "Is Nick alright?" "Yeah, I think so. She said he was upset," Kevin answered. "He has a right to be. Can you imagine waking up confused and hurt, and not being able to talk? Damn," A.J. said. Kevin nodded, sighing heavily. "You're worried bout him aren't you?" A.J. asked. "I'm worried about all of us, but yeah. Something is definitely wrong, and the longer we stay out here, the worse it's gonna get," he said. "Shouldn't they have found us by now?" A.J asked. "You would think. I'm beginning to think they're looking in the wrong place or something," Kevin said. "What happens if they don't find us?" A.J. asked. Kevin stared at the younger man, seeing the fear he was desperately trying to hide. "They'll find us, they have to," he said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The rest of the day was filled with the chores of surviving. They boiled their drinking water and filled the bottles, gathered fire wood, etc. The guys had given Nick and Brian a bath and shave as Diane searched through the plane. She was looking for everyone's backpacks they had carried with them. She knew that when they were found they would all need to have their wallets and a change of clothes with them. She had found everyone's packs and most of their wallets and cell phones. "To bad these aren't working," she said, staring at the phone in her hand. She looked up when Howie entered the plane, "You can come back now, we're finished." She smiled, "Thanks. I just don't think I should be seeing them naked, ya know?" Howie laughed, "Yeah, I can see where that would be um awkward to say the least." Diane picked up the bags and headed out of the plane. "What's this?" Howie asked. "Your packs. I figure you'll need them when we're found," she answered. "Cool," Howie said, taking a few from her, "You always seem to think of everything." Diane laughed, "Yeah, well I'm a woman, it's my job." They took the packs back to camp, going through them and sorting out who's was what. They packed a change of clothes and what they wanted to take with them when they left. Kevin glanced over as Diane slipped her CDs into her pack. "So, you're a fan huh?" he asked. She nodded, debating wether to tell him the truth or not. Eventually it would come out, and she thought it better for them to hear it from her, than from some record exec that didn't give a shit to begin with. "Um Kev, I need to tell you all something," she said, biting her lip as she looked up at him. "What's that?" he asked, stuffing his clothes into his pack. Diane took a deep breath, "I'm not a flight attendant." Kevin and A.J. both looked up at her, waiting for the rest. She zipped up her pack and stood up, looking across the clearing, "Let's all go and sit down, it's a long story and I don't wanna have to tell it twice," she said, heading for the other tent, Kevin and A.J. following behind her. "Hey, what's up?" Howie asked as the three walked into the tent. "Diane wants to tell us something," A.J. said, sitting down. All five looked at her as she sat down next to Nick, his hand immediately reaching for hers. She smiled at him and took it, running her thumb over the back of his hand for a second before she spoke. "I'm not a flight attendant. Never was, never have been. I'm a fan that won a contest," she started. "Contest?" Kevin asked. She nodded, "Yeah, your management set it up. It was one of those, �meet the real Backstreet Boys' kinda things. I was suppose to play flight attendant and then when we got to Canada, I was going to be one of your interviews. I was suppose to base my questions on what happened during the plane trip. There where cameras on the plane, and they where gonna play back some of the parts during the interview. I'm sorry I lied to you," she said, beginning to cry, "I just ... when we crashed I didn't know what to do. I thought if you knew I was just a fan, that things would fall apart." "Why would you think that?" A.J. asked. She looked up at him, "If you could've seen the looks you where giving me .... you all looked so lost, and you where looking to me for direction. I couldn't let you down." Kevin moved next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "I'm so sorry. Our management should have never put you in this position, and neither should we." She looked up at him, "You aren't mad at me?" "Hell no," A.J. said, "You saved our ass's, there's no way we could be mad at you." Diane brushed her tears away, looking at each one, "You're sure. I wouldn't blame you if you where." "No, we aren't mad at you. We should be the one's to be asking if you're mad at us," Howie said. "Why would I be mad at you? You didn't know about any of this," she said. "Yeah, but people who work for us did. We're responsible for this," Kevin added. "It's OK," Diane said, taking a deep breath, "You don't know how good that feels to finally have out in the open." The guys laughed. "So, if you're not a flight attendant, what do you do?" Brian asked. "Well, I was in school until recently," she said. "For what?" Howie asked. "I was going for my nursing degree, but my scholarship ran out and I had to quit," she said. "How much did you like having it?" Kevin asked. "One semester," she said, sighing. "So that's how you know about all this medical stuff," A.J. said. Diane laughed, "Yeah." "So, where are you from anyway?" Brian asked, "It has to be the south." "Accent give me away?" she asked. "Yeah," he said. "I'm from North Carolina," she answered. "OK, you quit school, where you working somewhere?" A.J. asked. "Um .... I got laid off a couple weeks ago. The company I was working for downsized. This was going to be my last fun thing to do for a while," she admitted. "Damn, that sucks," A.J. said. "Yeah, I was in the process of moving out of my apartment. I couldn't afford it anymore after I lost my job," she said. "Where were you gonna live?" Brian asked. "I had some friends that offered to let me stay with them until I found something," she said. "What about family?" Howie asked. Diane looked down at her hands for a moment, "I don't have any left. I was an only child of only children. My parents died a few years ago." Kevin hugged her to him, "I'm sorry to hear that." She smiled up at him, "Thank you." Nick squeezed her hand, getting her attention. He wrote on the notebook, Thank you. "For what?" she asked, confused. For saving me. Howie told me what you did, he wrote. She smiled at him, "I promised I'd take care of you." Nick nodded, staring at her. His eyes conveying what he couldn't say. "Well, who's getting hungry?" Howie asked. Kevin looked out at the setting sun, "I guess it is time to eat." "What do ya say we go fix some supper?" Howie asked. Diane smiled, getting up, "Alright, but no mixing food packets this time." Howie laughed, "Oh trust me, after last time, you have no worries." Nick watched them leave the tent and begin working on supper. Brian reached over and patted his arm, drawing his attention away from Diane. "She's coming back, you don't have to watch her," Brian teased. Nick smiled, blushing a little. "You like her don't you?" Brian asked. Nick turned his attention back to what was going on outside the tent and nodded his head slightly. "Want me to ask her if she has a boyfriend?" Brian asked, smiling. Nick glared at him and rolled his eyes, a smile creeping across his face. Brian lifted his head slightly, "Hey Diane?" She turned to face the tent, "Yeah?" "Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked, to the giggles of everyone but Nick, who was pulling his sleeping bag over his head in embarrassment. Diane laughed, "Um no. Why you looking or something?" Brian laughed, "No, just wondering." "Um, Ohh kayyy," she said, going back to her chores. Brian looked over at Nick, patting his arm, "There ya go buddy." Nick flipped the cover from his face and held up the notebook, I'm gonna kill you. Brian laughed, "I know, I love you too." Chapter 9 |