Chapter 6
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Kevin paced the waiting room of the mainland hospital. The airlift crew had brought Nick back from death once during the short flight and Kevin had been a nervous wreck since that moment. His heart had jumped into his throat when one of the paramedics had hollered that Nick was flatlining. He'd been shoved out of the way and Nick had been surrounded by the medical crew attempting to bring him back to life. Kevin had never felt more useless in his life. He leaned against the side of the copter and sobbed, praying for his friend. As he remembered the moment he stifled another tear. Nick couldn't die. It just wasn't something to even consider. He was young and full of life. Kevin slammed the palm of his hand on the wall in frustration. "Kevin?" He whirled around to see Nick's family and all the guys. "How is he? How is my son?" Jane asked. Kevin looked from Jane to Bob and the children to the rest of his bandmates. What could he say, there was no nice or easy way to say it. "He almost died in the copter. Well, he did die, they brought him back and rushed him into surgery as soon as we arrived." Kevin slumped into the nearest chair and covered his face. "I'm sorry. I don't know..." he sobbed. "No!" Aaron screamed and clutched at his father. "Nick can't die...I need him..no!" Aaron sank to the floor, still clutching his fathers pants leg. BJ moved over to him and tried to hug him and pull him up but he pushed her away. "Thank you for going to be with him." Bob said quietly. "I know he was aware you were with him and it comforted him." "I hope so." Kevin got up and moved to sit beside Aaron on the floor. He pulled the Gameboy out of his pocket and held it out to the younger boy. "Can you watch this for your bro? I found it and he will want it back when he is better. You know he will be ticked to know that I had it." Kevin smiled. Aaron held his hand out slowly and took the game, hugging it to his chest. "Is he gonna get better?" "I hope so, Air-bear, I really hope so. but you gotta pray for him." "I am." Aaron nodded. He climbed into Kevin's lap and hugged him fiercely around the neck, crying into his shoulder. "I love him so much Kev. I don't want him hurt!" "I know, Aaron, I know, but he's fighting, he's a strong one." Kevin rocked back and forth, rubbing the boy's back, wondering who he was trying to convince - himself or Aaron.
"Mr. Richardson?" The doctor stepped into the waiting room, looking slightly confused by the large number of people gazing expectantly at him. "I'm Kevin Richardson, sir. These are Nick's parents and siblings, myself and the others are close friends." Kevin said, pointing at everyone as he introduced them. "Mr. and Mrs. Carter." The doctor shook their hands and stepped back. "Are you comfortable with everyone hearing about your sons condition?" he looked pointedly at Aaron and Angel. "Yes, they are fine, please let us know how he is." Jane said, urgently. The doctor settled into a chair and opened his file. "Your son was quite severely injured. We had to resuscitate him again in the OR, his condition right now is unstable, that's the only way to describe it." Jane reached for Bob's hand and squeezed it tight, her knuckles going white. "He had a severe laceration to the upper chest and interior trauma to the ateries, requiring re-attaching of two arteries." Brian gasped and turned to face the wall, his face pale. The doctor ran his finger down the list. "Broken right femur, broken left wrist, tremendous number of small surface cuts, large laceration to the right cheek, which will require plastic surgery eventually, and.." he paused and turned the page. "Oh yes, we are concerned about his eyes. It appears that something may have exploded or burst into his face, there were quite a few iron pieces that we swabbed out of his eyes. We are not sure if anything was pushed further in to the corneas to cause further damage. We will be examining further of course, our main concern was his heart right now." "Do you mean he might be blind?" Howie asked, shocked. "All I can say is that the eyes are not responding right now. It could be temporary trauma. We will be keeping a close watch." He flipped the pages closed and studied their faces. "Right now, I would say that is the least of his worries. Let's see if he makes it through tonight first." "Can we see him?" AJ asked, pulling on his sunglasses. He didn't know why he didn't want anybody to see him crying, God knew everyone else was teary-eyed. "I'm sorry, only the immediate family, and only two at a time please. His condition is very critical, I can't emphasize that enough." "You go." Bob pulled Jane up. "Do you want to go with mom, Air?" Aaron sniffled and stood up, nodding. The Carters followed the doctor out of the room and left the group behind sitting in shocked silence. Jane and Aaron entered the room, while Bob and the rest of the children waited in the hall. Jane let out a gasp when she saw Nick lying in the bed. She wanted to sit beside him, but her shock held her frozen in place. Aaron climbed up on the bed and carefully held Nick's face in his hands. "Hi Nick." he whispered. "Don't leave me Nick. I need you to show me so much stuff. I love you, Nick." He kissed his brothers lips and climbed down again. Jane had moved next to the bed and tears were running down her face. She held onto his hand and kissed it gently, then unknowingly repeated the comforting rubbing gesture on his arm that both Kevin and the pilot of the small plane had done. Mother and son sat quietly watching over their injured loved one, lost in their thoughts. Nick moaned softly and Jane jumped up. "Honey? Oh Nick, are you awake?" She gazed into his face and his unchaged expression before sitting back down. "Come on son." she urged. "Fight, wake up, come back to us." Nick struggled to open his eyes. They felt so heavy, it was useless, his eyes felt like they had 10 pound weights attached to them. His whole body felt heavy. And he was so tired, so very tired. He tried to remember why he felt so tired, what on earth could have happened to him to cause this feeling, and he couldn't. And now, everything was starting to hurt, a tingly pain, but one that he knew would hurt like a mother later. His head, his legs, his arms, even his toes hurt. His attempt to turn his head resulted in a fresh wave of pain running through his brain. He let out a soft moan and he felt hands on his arm, soothing him. Someone was here with him, but he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing because he didn't know where the hell he was. All he knew was the pain and the darkness. He felt a tear trickle down his face and drip slowly into his ear. He wished he could wake up, that was all he wanted in life at this moment. Just to wake up.
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