"What's going on?" Howie asked as he entered the room.

"Nick had to have emergency surgery." AJ informed him, glumly.

Howie's legs buckled causing him to sit down quickly. "Pardon? I thought he was doing well, they sent him home?"

Aileen took over. "Brian found Nick unconscious at his house earlier today. Nick's still having the headaches, blackouts too apparently, and didn't tell anyone. The doctor thinks there might be some bullet fragments causing the trouble."

Brian added, "We're just waiting to hear how the operation went."

"Does Kevin know?" Howie asked.

Aileen looked at him, at bit startled. "Um, yeah, but he's resting. I told him I would give him the news as soon as I heard. How could she tell them that Kevin didn't want to come down and didn't really seem to care that Nick was back in the hospital?

The doctor finally entered the waiting room a couple of hours later. Aileen and Brian were dozing, AJ and Howie had gone down to the cafeteria.

"Excuse me, are you the people with Mr. Carter?" the doctor asked tapping Brian on the shoulder.

Brian stood up and shook the doctors hand. "Yes, how is he?" Aileen stretched and stood up beside Brian.

"Well, just as we suspected, there was a fragment of a bullet causing some pressure on the brain. This was causing swelling, which induced the headaches and blackouts. Your friend was very lucky you found him when you did. There's no telling what might have happened if the pressure had continued.

AJ and Howie entered the room then. "He's okay though, right, he made it through okay?" Howie asked.

"Yes, he should be fine now. We'll keep him for observation a bit longer this time, just to make sure there are not going to be any problems."

"Can we see him?" asked Brian.

"Yes, briefly though. He's in recovery room 10."

They all gasped when they saw him. Nick was as white as the sheet he was laying on. Some of his hair had been shaved away and bandages were holding a tube in the hole that had been drilled into his head. Aileen felt weak and put her hand around Brian's waist.

"Oh God, Brian." she whispered. "He's been through so much already. What am I going to do? There's no way I can tell him now, it would kill him. This is such a mess!"

"Aileen, try not to worry. I know that's a pretty stupid thing to say to someone in your position, but it's true. Nick is strong and healthy, he'll get through okay. He needs to know about the baby, you'll know when the time is right to tell him."

She looked at Brian. "You have been so supportive Brian, I really appreciate everything you've done. I hope you're right about this."

"Trust me, it will all work out." he smiled. "Have faith."

Kevin paced about his hospital room. He knew that perhaps he was being irrational, but he didn't know how else to deal with this unexpected turn of events. "Things were so good." he wondered. "How did everything get so messed up so quickly?" He sat down and picked up a magazine, it was quickly tossed aside in frustration. Kevin had always prided himself on his organizing skills, everything planned down to the letter. This just screwed all his well made plans up. He had been meaning to ask Aileen to marry him this fall. He wondered if he would be able to go through with it now, if he would be able to be the stepfather to someone elses child. Nick's child. "How could Nick do this to us?"