“Where in hell am I? And why can’t I move my leg?” Nick asked, looking straight up and seeing Brian’s face looking back at him. It had been two days since the truck driver, who incidentally had fallen asleep, slammed the bus Kevin and he were riding on.

            “You’re in the hospital and you can’t move your leg because it’s broken in three places and it’s been immobilized,” Brian said quietly.

            “What happened?” Nick asked, kind of scared to find out.                     

            “You’re bus was hit head on by a tractor-trailer. The driver fell asleep and slammed right into you all,” Brain said.

            “Oh my God! Chris, Justin! Are they okay?” Nick asked frantically, thinking he had already made the switch onto that bus.

            “ Nick, they’re fine. Um jeez, Nick you hadn’t switched buses yet,” Brian said quietly.

            It was several minutes before Nick realized what that meant. “Please, Brian. Please tell me he’s okay,” Nick said desperately.

            “Well, I can’t tell you he’s okay,” Brian said and when he saw Nick’s face fall he quickly added, “But he’s alive. He’s not awake yet though. He’s in a coma, Nick. He was thrown from his bunk pretty hard then the bus kind of collapsed on him. It took them 17 hours to get him out. He’s got a whole host of scrapes and bruises, plus a nasty cut on the left side of his forehead, and his right leg was crushed. They replaced the kneecap and put a rod in it yesterday. But the most serious thing is that he hasn’t woken up yet,” Brian said near tears, not only from the possibility of loosing Kevin, but from the sheer torture Nick looked to be in.

            “I have to see him, Brian. I have to let him know I love him,” Nick said desperately, trying to sit up despite the mass amounts of pain that he was in.

            “Hey there, buddy. You can get up. Let me go get your doctor and we’ll figure this out. Just don’t move,” Brian said, getting up quickly to go find Nick’s doctor, who was just walking towards the room to check on him.

            “Hello there. I see you’re awake. I’m Dr. Bell,” a women about 5’8” with long blond hair and bright blue eyes said.

            Nick ignored her introduction. “I have to see Kevin. I have to make sure he’s okay. Brian, tell her,” Nick said desperately.

            “Okay first of all, calm down. Let me check your vitals and we’ll chat for a few. Then if your feeling up to it, I’ll have a nurse bring you to him. I don’t really want you up and about, but it seems to me, you won’t have it any other way,” Dr. Bell said smiling as she went about checking his vitals.

            After Nick and Brian talked with Dr. Bell, a nurse came in to help Nick into a wheel chair. Then he and Brian went to see Kevin, who was down the hall. Brian came in with Nick for a few moments to explain further Kevin’s condition. Then he left Nick to be alone with Kevin while he called their hotel to let Howie, AJ, and Leighanne know that Nick was awake and they should come down. Then he called Chris and Justin in their room to let them know.  After talking with Chris, who said that he and Justin would be down later on in the day, and after doing a couple of conference calls, Brian called BJ on her cell phone to let her know the situation with Nick. It had been tough the last few days navigating around Jane’s absolute authority of not letting the kids go and see their brother. Aaron, Leslie and especially Angel had been frantic when it hit the news and since Bob was away on business, no one was there to convince Jane that the kids should be able to go and see their brother.

           

In Kevin’s hospital room

 

            “Hey, it’s me, honey. Kevin, please. I don’t know what exactly happened that night. I don’t remember, and I know things between us are shitty, but you got to wake up. Please. I love you so much, please,” Nick whispered desperately, holding Kevin’s hand in his own. “Please, Kevin, please. I promise we’ll work it out. I don’t care if you can’t talk to me about Ann, but please you have to wake up. I can’t do this. I can’t do life without you,” Nick said as tears streamed down his face.

            Nick sat with Kevin for another twenty minutes before his nurse made him go back to his room and get some rest. He only let her take him back when she swore to God that he would be able to come back after he had taken a nap. Once the nurse had him settled back into his bed, Nick realized just how tired he was and proceeded to fall asleep.

            He woke several hours later to Brian, AJ, Howie, Leighanne, Chris and Justin lounging on the couches and chairs on the other side of his room.

            “Has he woken up yet?” Nick asked quietly. They all jumped up and came over to talk to him. Brian grabbed his hand.

            “Yeah, man. He woke up an hour or so ago. He was only awake for a few minutes though. He recognized us and Dr. Bell says that’s a great sign. I wanted to wake you but by the time I found her to ask if it that was okay, he was asleep again,” Brian said quietly.

            “But he’s awake like out of the coma? He’s going to be okay?” Nick asked desperately.

            “Yeah, man. He’s out of a coma and awake but he’s not out of the woods yet, “ AJ said.

            “Good,” Nick said, laying back to stare at the ceiling for a few minutes. “God! I’m hungry,” he said, sighing loudly. That got all of them laughing until Brian started crying. The first time in front of anyone since the accident almost three days previous.

            “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I was just struck that I almost lost you two. Oh, God,” Brian said, letting his sentence run off.

            “I know, B, I know. I’m okay though and so is Kevin. We’ll be okay.” Nick said, holding Brian’s hand.

            Just then Dr. Bell walked in the room. “Oh, good. You’re awake,” she said as she proceeded to check his vitals.

            “Yes, I need to go see Kevin. Please,” Nick said, looking at her desperately.

            “That’s fine. He’s been asleep since he woke up a couple of hours ago so he should be waking up again soon,” Dr. Bell said as she buzzed a nurse for a wheelchair.

            Ten minutes later Nick was sitting at Kevin’s side holding his hand. “Hey, it’s me again. They said you woke up, but Kev, I was sleeping so please, please wake up again so I can see those beautiful green eyes. Come on, please!” Nick said, looking down at Kevin’s face. When he didn’t open his eyes, Nick laid his head down on the bed at Kevin’s side and prayed after which, he proceeded to fall asleep.

            Forty minutes later Nick was still sleeping, his hand clutching Kevin’s when Kevin woke up. He had to reorient himself then when he realized someone was holding his hand, he looked down to see Nick peacefully sleeping with Kevin’s hand clutched into his own.

            “What happened?” Kevin asked quietly, but loud enough to wake Nick, whose head popped up like popcorn.

            “Kevin!” Nick said excited and leaned down to kiss him only to have Kevin turn away and ask again what had happened.

            “A tractor trailer hit us. You were thrown from your bunk and then the bus collapsed on you. Brian said it took them 17 hours to get you out,” Nick said quietly, dejected that once again Kevin had turned away from him.

            “What’s wrong with me?” he asked Nick, not looking at his face, but staring off out the window.

            “You banged your head hard. You have a nasty cut above your eye that I’m sure you can feel. You right leg was crushed by the bus. They had to replace the knee cap,” Nick explained quietly.

            “Where’s Brian?” Kevin asked abruptly.

            “He and everyone else are in my room I can get them,” Nick said.

            “Please, I need Brian,” Kevin said, not looking at Nick.

            Nick reached up and hit the call button to have the nurse bring him back to his room. When he got there, he couldn’t help but burst into tears when Leighanne innocently asked how it went. Justin, Chris and Leighanne stayed with him and helped him back into bed while Brian and Howie went after AJ, so that he wouldn’t kill Kevin.

            “You listen to me, Kevin! I stood by and watched you single handedly ruin not only your relationship with Nick, but also himself! It’s taken him a while, but he’s slowly getting better! Then this happens! And he goes to you despite all you did to him and you turn him away again! I won’t let you turn away from him again, Kevin! I won’t!” AJ said vehemently.

            “He doesn’t need me anymore! He has all you and Chris and Justin,” Kevin said petulantly.

            Howie, who had always kept his mouth shut, finally had taken enough. “Oh no you don’t, Kevin Richardson! You need to grow up and swallow your pride and ask for some help from HIM. Nick doesn’t think you want him in your life. You need to show him you do. If you don’t, you ARE going to lose him. Nick’s not going to sit quietly and wait forever, Kevin. He’s smarter than that,” Howie stated with a voice of steel. With that all three of them left, leaving Kevin to think about what he was doing to the best thing that ever happened to him.