Chapter 7
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Nick's condition didn't chage much over the next few days. He was upgraded to serious but stable condition and remained unconscious. The doctor now allowed the group to visit him as well as the family. Kevin was sitting in the room with Aaron, the rest had gone to grab a bite to eat and Aaron refused to leave Nick alone. "Kevin?" Aaron said quietly. "Yeah, little buddy?" "Is Nick gonna wake up?" Kevin pulled the boy onto his lap. "Nick can hear you, you know. He's awake in there, his body just won't let him open his eyes and let us know because it is healing. He's getting stronger every day." Aaron studied his brothers form in the bed. "He can hear me?" "Sure he can, that's why you have to be postitive and happy for him, no tears." "It's hard not to cry." Kevin hugged the boy. "I know Air, and I have cried too, but do you think Nick will want to wake up to a room full of teary people?"
Aaron smiled and climbed up beside Nick in the bed. "Hi Nick. How are you?" He patted Nick's relatively uninjured left cheek and then grabbed his hand and held it tight. "You know we really want to see you wake up, everybody is sad and we don't want to be sad anymore." He reached into his pocket. "I brought your Gameboy, Kevin found it for you." Aaron set it on the bedside table. "I put it on the table for you and I won't let anybody touch it, okay?" Aaron tipped his head to the side and placed his fingers on his chin, thinking. "Oh yeah, I got an A on my final report, you know that one I was telling you about? An A!" Kevin smiled as Aaron happily burbled out all the details of the last few days. He had a feeling that if he had told Aaron that standing on his head and spitting out quarters would help his big brother recover, Aaron would have tried to do it.
Nick felt the soft touch of fingers on his face and it caused the pain to flare again. He didn't try to move his head this time because it hurt so much the last time. Someone was talking again, the voice was so familar, but he couldn't place it. This was so frustrating to him, he wasn't used to having his body quit on him, he wasn't used to so much pain from any little movement. If only he could remember! The voice soothed him though and he sighed softly. "Nick?" Aaron placed his ear close to Nicks mouth. "What is it Air?" Kevin asked looking over at the bed. "Nick, he, well..." Aaron looked confused. "I guess he didn't do anything really, just kind of breathed." Kevin came over and patted the boy's shoulder. "He's just moaning and sighing I guess, Aaron, his way of telling us he knows we are here." Aaron nodded, satisfied. Nick moaned again. Aaron! He recognized the voice, it was his brother! He thought there was someone else there, but he didn't care about that right now. All he cared about was letting Aaron know that he knew he was there. He struggled to push the word out, and felt stupid when it wouldn't come. One simple word and he couldn't say it. He mentally yelled at himself and felt the pain flare again. "Air?" It was so softly spoken that they almost missed it. "Air?" There it was again. Aaron looked down in shock. "Nick?" He said it louder, "Nick? Are you awake?" "I'm here." Just a whisper, but he did it. Nick sighed and let his body and brain relax, that took a bit too much out of him that time. Aaron clasped Nick's hand to his chest and cried happily. "Kevin! He heard me!" He looked back at Kevin and discovered that he was crying too. Kevin put his hand gently on Nick's shoulder. "Nice to have you back little bro." Jane and Angel came into the room at that moment. "You guys can go eat if you want, we'll take over for awhile. "He talked mom!" Aaron beamed at her. "He talked to me!" Jane looked to Kevin for confirmation. "It's true. He said 'Air' and then 'I'm here'. I was just going to get the doctor." The doctor finished checking Nick's vital signs and turned to the waiting Carter clan. "It looks quite postive, his heartrate is improving, his breathing is stronger. He's still slipping in and out of consciousness but he is much improved from a few days ago." Jane smiled brightly and hugged her husband. "That is wonderful news!" "What about his eyes?" Bob questioned. "There is still no reaction from them. To be quite honest it doesn't look good. We've kept the pads on his eyes to help wash out any other iron or other debris." Bob looked at Jane. "Does this mean he may be blind?" The doctor just nodded. "He was obviously very close to the instrument panel of the plane, at least according to his position in the cockpit. Whatever exploded in his face could have contained glass, iron, steel, any number of things. Any amount of the debris that might have been forced into his corneas by the blast could cause permanent damage." BJ gasped and covered her face with her hands. "When will you know for sure?" Leslie asked, solemnly. The doctor looked at her sadly. "Not until he wakes up and can tell us what he sees. All I can say for sure now is that his pupils don't respond to the light, and that is not a good sign."
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