“I called this meeting for a reason,” Kevin sighed as he looked at the sober faces of Brian, AJ and Howie. “I want to let you know first off that this wasn’t my idea.”

“Then how come the kid isn’t here?” AJ rasped, scowling.

“Because the meeting is about him,” Kevin replied in a calm voice.

“Great what did Kaos do this time? Steal towels or soap or something?” Brian questioned.

“Bet he pissed off someone in the lobby and we’re getting yelled at about it,” Howie filled in.

“Nah he probably did something really crazy knowing that dork,” AJ snickered.

Kevin rubbed the bridge of his nose as he listened to the younger men debate on what the meeting was about. He didn’t look up until the comments had finally died down.

“C’mon dude, what the hell are we sitting here for? I got things to do with my downtime besides sitting in a freakin hotel room listening to you,” AJ spat.

“I was waiting for y’all to shut the hell up,” Kevin remarked, still rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“We shut up, tell us so we can leave please,” Brian begged.

Kevin looked up at the three men sitting on the bed across from him. “The reason I called this meeting was at the request of Lou, Johnny and Donna---”

“Oh shit,” AJ muttered, getting an angry glare from Kevin tossed his way. “Sorry, go on.”

“The reason I called this meeting was because management wants us to keep a tighter watch on Nick and we all have to take our turns.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Howie questioned.

“What I mean is that since Nick is a minor and he cannot be left unattended because of his past mistakes, we, as a group have to pull together and take turns.”

“Take turns?” AJ questioned the words, a suspicious look in his eyes.

“That’s right, take turns.....I guess you could call it babysitting,” Kevin muttered.

”Babysitting?! No fucking way am I gonna babysit that foul smelling brat!” AJ muttered as he stood up.

”Sit down! You can and you will do it, we’re all going to do it and we will be taking turns doing it,” Kevin growled.

AJ folded his arms across his chest. “Why should I have to be responsible for that dorkhole?”

“Because we are all taking our turns and on the weekends we will do a lottery to see who takes the Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays,” Kevin explained. “And because you’re 18 now, and as much as I hate to say it, that makes you an adult.”

“I’ll take Mondays” Brian offered.

“Tuesdays,” Howie called out quickly, winking as he glanced at a scowling AJ.

“AJ that leaves Wednesday or Thursday up for grabs,” Kevin urged.

“I can’t believe I have to babysit that blue eyed freak of nature.....”

“Okay AJ you get Thursday,” Kevin stated as he wrote on the pad of paper, “and I’ll do Wednesdays.”

“Thursday? You gotta be shitting me!”

“Yeah, you didn’t say a day so I picked one for you,” Kevin smiled. “And I think the best way to determine who does weekend shift, I think we should go alphabetically - by first names, so that means AJ you get this Friday, Brian gets this Saturday and Howie will have this Sunday.”

”Hold on! Someone got the good end of the deal on this!” AJ protested.

“That’s the way things work, end of story,” Kevin snarled. “Well since today is Thursday, you will be on duty today and tomorrow AJ.”

“Okay now this is absolute bullshit,” AJ protested.

“Treat Nick nice AJ, he doesn’t know about this and he won’t know about it so you better be on your best on your days, understand?” Kevin eyed the rebel singer with a glare. “If I hear that you did other than what you’re suppose to be doing, Lou will be getting involved and you could be on full detail Sunday through Saturday until the end of the tour, is that clear?”

“This isn’t in my contract,” AJ sputtered.

Howie clamped a sympathetic hand on AJ’s shoulder. “Just think of Nick as your baby brother.”

“I’m an only child, asshole!”

“Wakey wakey Nicky,” AJ grinned as he softly called to the young blonde sleeping peacefully in the hotel room.

Groaning, Nick threw the pillow over his head, rolling over onto his stomach. “Leavemealone!”

“Rise and shine Kaos....time to get a move on kid,” AJ sing-songed.

A long, boney arm came out from under the blankets, flailing toward the offending voice. “Go away!”

AJ pulled the neatly tucked blankets out from the bottom of the mattress at the foot of the bed. Gritting his teeth, he attempted to pull the covers off of Nick but was met with resistance as the blonde grabbed the covers from his end.

”NOOOOOO LEAVE ME ALONE!

“Listen Nick, you have to get up, it’s not my idea but fatass Lou’s.”

“But why?” Nick whimpered. “I thought we have today off.”

“Yes and no,” AJ corrected.

The blonde finally emerged from under the covers; hair disheveled, eyes red rimmed from lack of sleep. “What does Mr. P want now?”

AJ fanned his face with a hand. “Whew Nicky you stink!”

“I Do not! I showered last night!”

“I wasn’t talking about your body, good god Kaos, did you eat a giant bowl of garlic before you went to bed?”

“Leave me alone or I’ll blow on your face,” Nick retorted.

“Just get yourself up and ready, go hit the john and I’ll get your clothes out for you,” AJ replied as he stepped over the pile of clothes on the floor. “Jesus Nick, don’t you take care of anything you wear?”

“Dammit AJ don’t touch my stuff, get out of here and leave me alone!”

“Calm your whiney ass down a notch!” AJ rasped as he picked up a pair of jeans with the tips of his fingers.

Nick reached out to grab the jeans; AJ stepping aside so all Nick grabbed was air. “Where’s Bri? Why are you in here anyway, this is our room not yours!”

“Room assignment change, you’re gonna be my buddy for the next two days,” AJ replied dryly.

Nick furrowed his brow as he stared at his older brother. “No way, I thought you weren’t suppose to bunk with me, your mom made that clear to management.”

“Unfortunately, things have changed, now get dressed kid.”

“Quit calling me kid, I’m sixteen!”

AJ spun an index finger in the air. “Whoopdedooo, sixteen. Well I’m eighteen and you have to listen to me cause I don’t want to get my ass chewed and I have things I’d like to do today besides being stuck in this hotel room with a whiny sixteen year old pain in the ass.”

Tears welled up in Nick’s eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment. Without hesitating, he stomped off into the bathroom at a fast pace, hoping that AJ didn’t see the tears. God forbid he would be labeled as a crybaby!

“Hurry up cause you have to be with Ruth in a few too,” AJ cackled.

”Shit!” Nick mumbled as he stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. If it wasn’t bad enough that he had to work last night and didn’t get to bed until well after midnight, it was another thing that he had to sit for two hours with his tutor as well and today was geography day - his most hated subject!

“Ah the joys of being a highschool student,” AJ laughed as he threw himself onto the other bed.

After a few minutes of standing in the bathroom, literally ripping the comb through his hair when he was having a stubborness fit, Nick finally emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped tightly around his waist.

“You are alive! I was beginning to wonder if you flushed yourself down the toilet.”

“Can you just go away or something?”

“Nope, can’t do that, we’re bunk buddies, remember?”

Nick stood glued to the carpet, a firm grip on the towel. “Since when does that include rights to watching me get dressed you perv?”

“I am not a homo and don’t you ever think that, you got me kid?”

“Then go someplace besides in here, okay? I can’t get dressed with you laying there staring at me!”

AJ picked up the remote control and turned on the tv. “Satisfied? I won’t take my eyes off the tv.”

Nick scooped the clothes that were laying on his bed and walked back into the bathroom.

“Jeeze, and you think I’m queer?” AJ scoffed when the bathroom door slammed shut.

The breakfast meeting was unusually quiet with Nick picking at his food, sitting slouched in his chair. Kevin couldn’t help but notice that the normally wound up teen was silent.

“Something wrong Nick?”

“No, just tired,” he replied, covering his mouth as he yawned.

“You wouldn’t be tired if you hit the sack after the show instead of foolin’ around with your damned video games,” Lou Pearlman snapped.

“But I didn’t play video games last night, I swear,” Nick defended. “Right Bri?”

Brian held his hands up. “Don’t drag me into this Nick.”

Nick shot a pleading look at Brian, giving his ‘puppy dog eyes.’ Brian tried to look away from the teenager. “Seriously Nick.”

“Well that will stop tonight since he’s bunking with me,” AJ replied, placing an arm around Nick’s shoulders. “Ain’t that right?”

“It never started,” Nick mumbled. “I only played to one level it wasn’t a big deal, I needed to wind down.”

“You need to learn to restrain yourself Carter,” Pearlman sputtered. “That’s the problem with you and I can see it will only cause more problems when you get older if you don’t learn some better habits now.”

Nick jumped to his feet, scooting the chair back. “Oh like everyone else here is the perfect person? I’m outta here!”

“Where do you think you’re going? I didn’t say this meeting was finished!” Pearlman boomed.

”I have classes this morning! Remember? I’m only sixteen.”

“Just let him go,” Denise McLean stated as she shook her head. “He’s a spoiled little brat and he’ll get whats coming to him someday.”

No one made a reply to Denise’s remark, but Brian and Kevin exchanged sideways glances. They knew from prior experiences that Denise’s opinions weren’t something to dispute.

“There is the reason why you boys need to be with Carter 24/7. No one is to leave him alone, is that understood? Alex I am counting on you today and tomorrow,” Pearlman growled.

“Why is my AJ being counted on?” Denise questioned.

“Because we’re taking turns watching Nick,” Kevin explained.

“As far as I’m concerned that Carter boy is nothing but trouble and I really don’t like the idea of Alexander being placed with him.”

“We are all taking turns and Nick is not that bad of a kid,” AJ defended to his mother.

Denise raised an eyebrow in question at her son. “That has yet to be proven otherwise.”

Johnny’s voice shook Nick quickly from his self absorbed thoughts with a jerk. “End of the road Carter.”

Opening his eyes, he was rewarded with the view of the hotel they were staying at but his relief was quickly replaced with anxiety when he noticed the sea of frenzied fans standing at the hotel entrance.

“C-can we go to the back to get out?” Nick stammered.

“What the hell for?” Johnny snapped.

Nick gestured at the window. “All those girls...”

“Since when did you become a sissy about girls? I thought you liked the attention!”

Nick placed a protective hand across his stomach. “Not since I’ve felt like my stomach might turn itself inside out.”

Johnny sighed, shaking his head. “I’ll be with you to protect you from those ferocious teenies, now c’mon kid, lets get moving.”

Reluctantly, Nick inched his body across the bench seat toward the side door of the van, wincing as sharp pains shot through his abdomen. As Johhny pulled the door open, the screams of the young girls pierced the air. Gritting his teeth, Nick braced himself for the pain that he was certain to feel once his feet hit the ground.

“You are really hunched over, I guess I didn’t notice it before,” Johnny said in a sympathetic tone as he took the young man’s arm. “We can try to hurry through the crowd.”

Nick dipped his head in acknowledgement as he tried to keep up with the tall manager’s steps.

“Sorry girls, Nick can’t stop to talk to you,” Wright informed as they made their way past the crowd.

Nick forced a smile on his lips as he struggled to keep walking toward the wanted hotel entrance. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Once inside the elevator, Nick finally let the tears come. He had sucked up this long but he knew that he couldn’t hold it inside any longer. He hurt and he felt homesick for the first time ever.

The black manager couldn’t help but take notice. “Are you feeling that bad Nick?”

Nick nodded in agreement, wiping the tears from his cheeks.

“Do you think it could be the flu? I know there’s a virus floating around here,” Wright questioned.

Nick could only shrug his shoulders in reply.

“Something you ate?”

Again, Nick shrugged his shoulders.

“Did you and Brian punch each other?”

This question produced a smirk from the ailing teen. The thought of he and Brian having a fist fight seemed totally illogical. They loved each other like brothers. Brian was his best friend and best friends never fight.

Johnny seemed satisfied that he got a smile out of the young blond. “Glad to see you thought that was funny....I was starting to get worried that something was seriously wrong with you.”

The elevator finally stopped on their floor and Nick took a faltering step forward, Johnny was quick to grab the young man’s arm.

“Easy there.”

Normally Nick would have resisted assistance from anyone but he was suddenly feeling dizzy and decided it was best to accept the help that was offered instead of finding himself eating the hall floor.

Johnny whistled as he fished around inside his suitcoat inside pocket for the room card. Nick suddenly started to shiver.

“Here we go, jump into bed and cover up,” the manager sternly advised. “I will be checking up on you in an hour or so.”

Nick slowly made his way toward the bed he had earlier claimed as his but quickly decided that his body wasn’t going to allow the travel to the farthest bed and gingerly sat on the edge of the bed that was closest to the bathroom.

“Good thing your bed is close to the bathroom,” Johnny observed as he walked toward the door.

“Um yeah,” the blond agreed, thinking that AJ was going to kick the crap out of him when he came back and found him laying in his bed.

“Get some rest so you can get healthy by tonight,” Johnny advised just as he was closing the door.

Nick sighed in response to the older man’s request. The ache in his stomach went from feeling like his insides were on fire to sharp stabbing pains to a sudden feeling like he was going to puke his intestines out.

“Yeah like I can get healthy in two hours, that would be a miracle,” the blond muttered. Laying over onto his side, he quickly found a comfortable position and closed his eyes. After only a few moments, Nick’s eyes shot open and he quickly clamped a hand across his mouth as he scrambled out of bed to make it in time to the bathroom. In his haste, his feet got tangled up in the bedsheets and he fell on the floor with a hard thud. Kicking at the sheets, Nick crawled toward the bathroom, mentally praying that he would make it before his stomach spewed.

No such luck!

The betrayal of his stomach forced Nick to stop for a few moments and when he got a respite from heaving, he quickly made his way to the bathroom to finish the task. After several minutes of hovering over the bowl did the young man feel it was safe to move back into his bed.

“Yuck,” Nick muttered when he stepped out of the bathroom and saw the remains of the failed trip to the bathroom.

“Yuck,” Nick muttered when he stepped out of the bathroom and saw the remains of the failed trip to the bathroom. Too sick to even think of attempting to clean up the vomit, Nick grabbed a white bath towel and laid it over the mess.

Whimpering, he made his way back to the bed, dragging the discarded blankets up as far as he could without his stomach protesting the movements. He finally opted for the covers on half of his body and half on the floor.

After a few minutes of shivering underneath the partial covers, Nick suddenly felt like he was in an oven and tore at the blankets until he got them off. His eyes drifted over to the phone on the nightstand and he instantly thought of home. He wished he could call his mother and tell her how awful he felt but because of the time difference, he thought he would wake the house up not realizing that it would only be early in the evening hours in Florida.

”JUDAS...WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN HERE?”

Nick jerked awake hearing the black man’s bellowing voice; his face quickly flushed with embarrassment.

“I-I got sick,” he apologized.

“I can see that Carter. How old are you?”

“Huh?”

“It seems like someone your age would know enough to get into the bathroom if they were going to throw up.”

“God, I can’t even touch this......I’m going to call housekeeping,” Wright mumbled, stifling back a gag.

Nick felt embarrassed for the trouble he had caused. “No, don’t do that, I’ll clean it up.”

Before Johnny could say no, the young man slowly made his way from the bed only to drop to his knees when a sudden, sharp pain raced through his abdomen.

“NICK!” Johnny quickly rushed to his side helping him back into bed. “You don’t look so good.”

“I really don’t feel so great,” he admitted.

Johnny placed a hand on Nick’s forehead. “God you’re really burning up! Maybe I should call the hotel doctor.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “NO.....don’t do that I’m sure I’ll be fine I just need to sleep okay? I really don’t want to see a doctor and you know Lou would kill us for even doing that.”

“He would?”

“Yeah you know, the budget?”

The black manager stroked his own chin as he digested Nick’s reasons for not calling the hotel doctor. “Well are you sure you don’t need to see the doctor?”

“I swear.”

“Well then, let me at least call a housekeeper and get this cleaned up, it’s a service of the hotel and I know that at least that is free of charge.”

“But this is just too gross for anyone to clean up, lemme.....”

“Nick you stay put,” Johnny urged as he rested a gentle hand on Nick’s shoulder while he dialed the hotel operator. “Yes......this is room 1412, we need housekeeping up here to clean up an accident by the bathroom......yes someone vomited.....thank you.”

Nick winced and felt his face flush with embarrassment as he listened to Johnny’s side of the conversation.

“Now you close your eyes and rest and hopefully you’ll be asleep with the maid comes in to clean up.”

“My life couldn’t be so lucky,” Nick mumbled as he closed his eyes.

“Honey, I’m home.....” AJ singsonged as he made his way into the hotel room he was sharing with Nick. Entering the room further, he lowered his trademark sunglasses as he inspected the living quarters, his nose immediately assualted with the smell of sickness. His eyes quickly trailed to the unmade bed - his bed!

“Hey dickhead! I thought I told you your bed was by the window....” he quickly stopped his scolding when he heard the sound of someone heaving in the bathroom. “Kaos? You still that sick?”

The only sound coming back in reply was strained dry heaves.

“Phew......this place stinks to high heaven,” AJ muttered as he went to the window and slid it open.

“Close the window!”

“Huh?”

“I-I’m c-cold,” Nick replied through clattering teeth.

AJ whirled around to take a look at how his young brother was dressed. He was surprised to see that he was still dressed in blue jeans and but this time he aparantly layered his upper torso with a bulky sweatshirt and a hooded sweatshirt jacket. Surprise was quickly replaced with concern as he watched the teens stooped posture and his slow, calculated steps. Immediately the rebel singer took action.

“Kid, you need to get out of your street clothes and put on some warm pjs.”

“A-all I-I h-have i-s b-box...”

“Howie has flannel pants I can guarentee it,” AJ interrupted. “Sit your ass down on the bed, lemme cover you up and I’m going to call and see if Howie can bring you some.”

As AJ dialed the room to Kevin and Howie’s he reached over toward Nick and drew the covers up. “Yeah, D it’s Bone, do you think you could spare some flannel pants for Kaos? He’s freezing to death and I know the kid don’t wear anything but boxers and a tee to sleep in......yeah......white as a sheet...yup....you do? Excellent!”

Nick looked over at AJ with watery eyes.

“D’s bringing a pair of his jammies over so you can get warmer,” AJ grinned.

The blond sighed as he shivered.

AJ winked. “Yeah I know, but I’m sure the horses will look good on you.” He looked at the other bed and stripped the comforter and thick blanket and placed them ontop of Nick’s bed.

“B-but...”

“No buts, I’ll call the maid and have her bring up more blankets...”

Nick sighed. “She was here once already today.”

“She was?”

Nick nodded as he burrowed his body further into the blankets, seeking warmth.

“Why?”

His cheeks immedately flushed with embarrassment. “I didn’t make it to the bathroom.”

“Ouch.....well I doubt we’ll get the same one again.....you know you should have the wastebasket by the bed in case you need to get sick again,” AJ decided as he walked into the bathroom.

Nick felt helpless as he watched his older brother play dutiful nursemaid. For as crusty as he acted sometimes, AJ really had a soft side to him.

“Dude....did you know theres a Micky D’s down the road from here?” Brian announced as he came in, arms burdened with white McDonald’s bags.

“Got enough?” AJ rasped as he watched Brian dropping the bags on top of Nick’s bed.

“I got this for all of us, moron,” the young Kentuckian corrected. “I know Nick would appreciate it, starve a cold, feed a fever thing...”

“Not hungry,” Nick mumbled.

“Nick Carter not hungry?” Brian asked with a mock sound of shock in his voice. He reached into the bag and unwrapped a cheeseburger, offering it to the ailing teen. “Sure you are.”

His eyes widened as he quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Rok put that away, can’t you see the smell is making the poor boy sick to his stomach?”

“But it’s just McDonald’s, Nick’s favorite,” Brian protested.

“It’s also greasy food...”

“Please don’t talk about grease,” Nick whimpered.

Brian took the bags and placed them ontop of the vacant bed. “Hey where’s the blankets?”

“Gave them to Nicky, which reminds me that I have to call the maid,” AJ replied as he lifted the receiver on the phone.

Brian stared at the tattooed rebel, one eyebrow arched in question and then looked over at the shivering teenager. “AJ being domestic?”

Nick could only roll his eyes in response, watching as Brian rifled through the McDonald’s bags, pulling out a carton of french fries. The smell wafted into his nostrils and suddenly his stomach immediately protested. Nick grabbed the wastebasket and started heaving into the cylinder.

“Gross!” Brian yelped, throwing the box of fries back into the bag. He quickly jumped up and rushed to the door.

“He really can’t help it,” AJ called after Brian. “You could at least take your smelly food with you!”

Brian darted out into the hallway, bumping into Howie, nearly knocking him over.

“Whoa....Brian, whats the hurry?”

“SomethingisseriouslywrongwithNickyhedoesn’twantMcDonaldsandheneverre fusestoeatanythingevenwhenheissick!”

The Latino gripped Brian’s arms. “Whoa, whoa, calm down I can’t understand you.”

Brian paused for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose to collect his composure. “I think something serious is going on with Nicky. I brought him some hamburgers and he refused to eat anything and he is getting sick right now!”

“Well do you eat when you have the flu?” Howie questioned.

Brian shook his head. “Well I don’t and I guess no one else really does, but we’re talking about Nick here.”

“Well maybe he picked up a good bug,” the Latino assured.

“Yeah but he’s like got a ton of sweatshirts on and blankets and he looks like he’s freezing to death.”

“Flu will do that.”

“I’m gonna go get Kevin. He can tell if something is off with Nicky,” Brian stated as he turned and sprinted toward his cousin’s room.

As Howie started to knock on the door, the hotel maid stopped beside him, carrying several blankets. He acknowledged her presence with a warm smile. “My friend must really be cold,” he commented.

“Yes he seems to be pretty sick, I had been called up here a little bit ago to clean up a mess on the floor.”

Howie furrowed his brow. “Oh?”

Before the woman could explain, AJ opened the door, grabbing the pajamas from his hands. “Thank God D, Nick really needs those.”

Howie turned to the maid. “I can take those for you.”

The woman handed the blankets over. “Thanks, and don’t be afraid to call if your friend needs something else.”

Howie entered the sickroom, finding Nick hovering over the wastebasket, gasping for breaths when the heaving subsided. The young blond was prone to asthma trouble when he had a cold and the Latino was instantly concerned that this may trigger up an asthma attack.

“Nick are you having breathing trouble?”

“Dumbass he just got done heaving his guts what the hell do you think?”

“I was thinking more about asthma AJ,” Howie defended.

Nick waved his hand. “I’m fine.”

“He really has a nasty assed flu bug,” AJ stated. “Nick do you think you could sit up and I’ll help you get out of those clothes?”

“I’m not queer!” Nick snapped as he gingerly laid back on the bed.

“I sure as hell ain’t either!”

“I’m fine I don’t need to get warm,” he retorted as he threw the covers off his body.

“You were freezing a minute ago,” AJ advised.

“Yeah well now I’m burning up!” Nick tore at the hooded sweatshirt jacket pulling it off and then pulling the sweatshirt off his body as well.

“Nick what are you doing?” AJ admonished.

“Tryin to get fricken cool,” Nick muttered.

“You’ll get chilled if you do that,” Howie remarked.

Both Howie and AJ watched in amazement when the kid they knew was so sensitive about anyone seeing his stomach pulled his sweatshirt off and lay back down without caring who saw it.

“I’m starting to wonder now if Brian wasn’t right about this,” Howie said to himself.

“Right about what?” AJ echoed.

As the Latino opened his mouth to reply, Kevin and Brian bolted into the room.

“What the hell! Can’t you people let me sleep?” Nick whined as he rolled onto his side and curled up into a ball.

A concerned Kevin Richardson stood next to Nick’s bed. “Brian’s pretty concerned about you little man.” When no movement came from the figure in the bed, Kevin glanced over at AJ. “What’s been going on?”

“Kaos has been puking his guts out or at least now he’s been heaving his guts and he was complaining about not being able to get warm but that was before he stripped his sweatshirt off and complained about burning up.”

“Kev he really got weird about the smell from the food, I think something is wrong,” Brian said.

“You already told me that,” Kevin calmly replied. “Nick, I need you to roll over so I can talk to you.....please?”

As requested, Nick rolled slowly onto his back. Kevin was shocked at how pale and sweaty the young teen was.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“My stomach hurts really bad,” Nick muttered.

“How much?”

“Like when I walk and move or do anything,” Nick admitted.

The tall Kentuckian’s eyes trailed down from Nick’s face to his abdomen, quickly noticing it was distended but decided not to comment on that issue since he wasn’t sure if it was distended from his ailment or if the teen had been overindulging.

Taking a breath, Kevin decided it was time to check to see if this was serious or not. “Nick, my hands are kinda cold but I need to check to see if it hurts when I do this.....”

Before Nick had time to reply, Kevin pressed a hand into the lower part of the teenager’s stomach.

“Jesus! Your hands are freezing!” Nick gasped.

“Sorry.....does it hurt when I press down?”

“Um a little........OHMYGOD!”

Kevin jumped when Nick yelped. He had just pulled his hand away from the teen’s stomach.

“Brian, call for an ambulance........NOW!”

Kevin placed a gentle hand on the young teen's shoulder. "Nick, you really don't have any say in this, you need to see a doctor."

"Not an ambulance," Nick whimpered. "I'll go, but not in an ambulance."

"Yeah, I think Kaos is right," AJ rasped.

Kevin Richardson frowned at the tattooed rebel. "How?"

"Well, an ambulance wouldn't be too sneaky and besides you know how fuckin' Lou is about costs and shit," he stated, throwing his hands up in the air for emphasis.

Kevin gestured at his cousin. "Brian, skip the phone call--"

"I just hung up with the hotel---"

"CANCEL IT AND GET A CAB!" Kevin snapped.

Redfaced, Brian picked up the receiver and punched the number for the hotel operator. "Yeah, this is room.....what room...oh, you have it, um, cancel the ambulance and get us a taxi cab, please....yes, that's right....thank you."

"C'mon Nick, lets get you dressed so I can take you to the hospital," Kevin coaxed in a soothing voice.

"I don't wanna go now, I'm fine," Nick whimpered.

"You just told me you'd go if you didn't have to go in an ambulance, c'mon Nick, I don't have time to play games!"

"I'm fine, I just need to sleep..."

"Nicky, you need to have a doctor look you over, this could be something really serious," Brian suggested, as he fumbled through Nick's suitcase.

Nick shook his head. "I'm fine."

AJ grabbed the sports tee shirt from Brian's hands. "Oh for crying out loud people, quit farting around! "Kaos, you're going to the hospital either by cab or my foot in your ass, sit up and put this shirt on.....NOW!"

The tone in AJ's voice caused the hair to stand up on the back of Nick's neck. Slowly, he managed to sit up, reaching for the wrinkled tee shirt.

"Shouldn't we call Lou or Johnny?" Howie wondered outloud.

Kevin offered his arm for Nick to be helped up with. "No, that would only create more problems. I'll phone him when I get to the hospital."

"Whoa....whoa, hold up!" AJ rasped, putting an arm between Kevin and Nick. "You're not thinking about taking the kid all by yourself!"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was."

"What makes you think you can make me stay here?" AJ challenged.

"Or any of us for that matter?" Howie agreed.

"I'm oldest, so I'm responsible," Kevin defended.

"Don't fight," Nick mumbled.

"We're all going and thats that," Brian insisted as he handed Nick his sneakers.

Tears sprung into the teens eyes as he leaned forward to slip the sneakers onto his feet. Brian noticed his young friend's pained expression and quickly kneeled in front of the blond. He looked up at Nick and winked reassuringly. "Here, lemme help you get these on."

"While you help Nick, I'm calling Rich," Kevin said as he pulled his cell phone off his waistband.

"Why do we need detail? I think we can manage going to the hospital without attracting attention," AJ snapped, trying to quash the idea of having a bodyguard tag along.

Kevin rolled his eyes in reply and quickly turned when he was connected with the bodyguard.

Nick laid back onto the bed.

"What are you doing Nicky? We gotta go to the hospital," Brian asked.

"I wanna go to sleep, I'm tired," he mumbled.

"Kaos, c'mon we gotta go to see the doc," AJ encouraged as he grabbed Nick's hand.

"In the morning," he sleepily replied.

"Morning my ass," AJ spat as he tugged on the teens hand. "Dude we gotta go."

This time the Latino stepped in. "Yes Nick, lets go get you checked out and then you can lay down and sleep."

"Yeah Nick, listen to what Howie said, maybe you can sleep on the way to the hospital," Brian agreed.

"No....I wanna sleep here," Nick protested.

"Dude! Your brain is frying with the fever, we gotta get you in so you can cool down man," AJ spat as he pulled harder on the teen's hand.

"OUCH...... that hurts!" Nick yelped.

"Okay, lets get going, Rich is meeting us in the hall right now," Kevin said as he clapped his hands together. He looked at the three men gathered in front of the bed. "I said lets get going!"

"Nicky don't want to go," Howie said.

"Well Nicky is going to get up and go," Kevin replied.

Gingerly, Nick eased himself to a sitting position, cold sweat dotted his forehead and upper lip. His breathing was becoming labored.

Brian managed to exchange a worried glance toward his cousin. "I really think an ambulance would have been a better option."

"No ambulance," Nick panted.

Ignoring Nick and Brian, Kevin snapped at AJ. "Help me get Nick to stand up."

Brian hurried over to the empty bed, quickly pulling a blanket off of the mattress, draping it over the young man's shoulders. He looked over at Howie; the worried expression in the Latino's eyes mirrored his own. He couldn't get over how pale and sweaty Nick was.

Nick walked slowly, leaning heavily on Kevin's side as he shuffled his way toward the door. The ever-prepared Latino grabbed the small wastebasket as he followed the guys toward the doorway.

Just as Kevin promised, the black, muscular body guard was waiting for them outside the hotel room, a worried expression quickly replaced his stoic look.

"He's really sick," Rich observed.

"No shit Sherlock," AJ rasped.

"Jay!" Kevin hissed.

"Well it don't take a rocket scientist to see that something is definately up with Kaos," AJ defended.

"Just be nice, okay?"

Nick stopped, AJ and Kevin were starting to drag the teen, not noticing at first that he had stopped moving his feet.

"Nick, we can't get to the elevator without your help, ya know," AJ muttered.

Nick could only shake his head. Shivering, he drew the blanket closer toward his chest.

"C'mon buddy, you're not too far away from the elevator," Brian encouraged.

"I think I can carry him if you want me to," the bodyguard offered.

Howie smiled. "Thanks Rich, but I think that we should consider doing that as a last resort."

"Can I just go back to bed?" Nick mumbled through chattering teeth.

"NO!" the foursome shouted in unison.

The bodyguard had hurried ahead of the group and called the elevator so it was ready and waiting by the time Kevin and AJ managed to get Nick to the car. Stepping into the elevator, Nick leaned his body heavily against Kevin's shoulder, sweat pooling off his face.

"Jesus Nick, you're burning up," Kevin commented.

"I-I f-feel c-cold," Nick chattered.

No words were exchanged during the ride to the lobby, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Nick kept his eyes trained to the floor; eyes pooled with unshed tears. He missed his mother right now and wished more than anything she could be there with him, like Denise was for AJ.

The bell signaled that they had arrived to the wanted lobby. Kevin took a better grip on the young man's arm and leaned into him. "Are you ready?"

Nick gave a slight nod as he took a deep breath, preparing himself for the walk that he was facing.

The group had only walked approximately twenty feet when they were met with management and an obviously drunk Denise McLean.

"Alexander James McLean, where do you think you're going at this hour of the night?" Denise snarled.

"Mom, we have to take Nick to the hospital," AJ casually explained as he tried to step around his mother.

"Who gave you permission to leave?" Lou Pearlman boomed, mopping his forehead with the ever-present handkerchief.

"We didn't ask," Kevin calmly replied. "Please move."

The obese manager refused to budge. "I really don't think you're in charge of Carter."

"I tried to call Johnny but the line was busy and we really didn't have time to mess with trying to ask for permission," Howie explained.

AJ glared at his mother. "Yeah, while you were out getting sauced we were actually taking care of Nick here."

"Don't you dare talk to me that way Alexander!"

Nick started feeling faint and his legs buckled underneath him, nearly taking Kevin and AJ down to the floor.

"See...this is serious, now step aside, please," Kevin asked again politely.

"Richardson, do you realize what trouble you are putting the boy into?" Pearlman wheezed.

"Getting medical attention? I fail to see where that would cause trouble," Kevin sneered. "C'mon Nick, we're gonna go get into the cab."

Whimpering, Nick took slow, shuffling steps alongside AJ and Kevin, Brian and Howie in tow with the bodyguard following closely behind.

The blast of cold air hit Nick's sweaty face, sending shivers racing through his body. A wave of dizziness swept over him and Nick momentarily closed his eyes, trying to clear the cobwebs from his brain. His eyes were burning, not to mention his ears were ringing. The screaming from fans that had been staking out the hotel entrance added to the roller coaster of pain that was ripping through his weak body.

A feeling of panic quickly raced through AJ, Brian, Howie and Kevin and without having to utter a word, Rich quickly scooped up the ailing teen into his arms, the movement threw the blanket off of Nick, causing the sea of frenzied teenaged girls scrambling for the souvineer.

At first Brian was going to go after the fallen object, but the sight of the heavyset teen that had claimed the prize immediately changed his mind. He was certain he would meet with unforeseen injuries if he challenged her for the blanket.

"GET IN.....NOW!" Kevin yelled above the screams to the others as he opened the taxi door.

"Where to sir?" the young cabbie asked after the men crammed into the car.

"The nearest emergency room," Kevin replied in a worried voice. Looking over at Nick, he could see that his color had gone from pale to ashen. "Go as fast as you can.....please.".

Kevin prayed that they would get there before it was too late.

"So you guys tourist or something?" he asked in a thick British accent. "My name is Amos.....Amos Chesterfield."

Kevin sighed quietly, he wasn't interested in exchanging pleasantries with the cabbie, he had far too much on his mind.

"Where did you say you wanted to go to again?"

'This guy must have rocks in his head,' Kevin thought dismally. He leaned forward over Nick, glaring at the cabbie. "I said take us to the nearest emergency room!"

Amos gripped the steering wheel firmly. "Oh yeah, that's what you said, I remember now." He glanced over at the young boy slumped in the seat next to him. "So you the one thats not feeling so great?"

"Just drive, okay?" Kevin asked through gritted teeth.

"Flu, eh? Ya know that's going around right now...this is the cold and flu season...."

"Shut the fuck up and drive faster, asshole," AJ hissed from the backseat.

Amos took his foot off the gas pedal. "Hey no need to use abusive language in here, I was just making small talk."

"Could you drive a little faster, please?" Brian asked quietly.

Amos nodded as he jerked the wheel. "Oops, almost hit that poor little squirrel."

Nick cried out in pain from the sudden movement of the vehicle.

"Take it easy, wouldja?" AJ muttered.

Amos nudged his passenger. "Sorry there chap." Nick cried out when the man's elbow pressed against his side.

"Could you please be a little more careful?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah, sorry.....um do you know for sure where I need to go, I'm pretty new to London, I was raised south of here and I'm really not too up on the territory."

Howie let out an exasperated sigh. "You gotta be kidding!"

"I'll just radio the office, I'm sure they can steer me in the right direction," Amos quickly added, sending the taxi sailing toward a huge pothole.

Kevin tightened his grip on the dashboard, trying his best not to fall into Nick. "Can you watch where you're driving!?"

"Take a left here!" Rich yelled out from the backseat. "Sharp left NOW!"

Amos jerked the wheel, causing the cab to careen over the curb, bouncing the occupants inside. "Sorry fellas but he said sharp left."

The tears slid down Nick's cheeks, unchecked. The pain in his stomach grew worse with every turn the cabbie took. Not only was hurting, he was going from a cold sweat to shivering to clawing at his shirt because he felt like he was burning up.

Kevin could see the tears staining the young man's cheek. "How you doing Nick?"

"I-I feel like I'm gonna puke," Nick mumbled.

Kevin jerked. "Howie.....bucket!"

The Latino quickly handed the small wastebasket from the hotel over the front seat. In a sweeping motion, Nick put his face into the basket, dry heaving immediately.

Awww shit, no puking in the cab...I just got this detailed," Amos muttered.

"He can't help it and I'm sure your driving didn't do much for this either," Kevin defended.

"S-sorry," Nick gasped.

Kevin patted the teen's leg in a protective manner. "Shhhh, Nick, it's not your fault...." His soft spoken manner quickly changed. "Hey didn't you say we were close to the damn hospital?"

"Yeah, what the fuck is taking so damn long?" AJ added.

Amos fumbled with his two way radio. "I didn't say how close we are cause I don't know exactly where we are...."

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE WE ARE?!?!?" This time it was Brian that called out. "Man, he needs to get to the hospital A.S.A.P.!"

With the receiver in his left hand, Amos rubbed the sweat off his forehead. "I-I know....I'm sorry....um, yeah Westshire.....they said Westshire and Packard.....now where is Packard..."

"We're on Packard," Howie calmly stated. "I'll keep an eye out for Westshire."

"What kind of fricken dumbass do they give a hacker's license..." AJ mumbled, looking out the window for the wanted street.

The cabbie slammed on the brakes, jarring the occupants forward. Wordlessly, Amos jammed the transmission into reverse and threw an arm over the backseat, across the ailing boy's shoulder. Stomping on the accelerator, the cab sped backwards, fishtailing on the slick road.

"Slow down! You're gonna get us killed!" the bodyguard ordered.

The threatening tone of the bodyguard's voice startled the driver and he instantly lifted his foot off the gas pedal. "Um, I saw the hospital.....we passed the street!"

Howie narrowed his eyes as he looked at the street sign. "This isn't Westshire, this is Coventon."

Amos slammed on the brakes once again causing the cab to come to a screeching stop and Nick to yell out in pain. "Sorry kid," he apologized quickly as he put the engine into drive. "This is the street, this street I know like the back of my hand!"

Nick decided he couldn't stand the pain anylonger and started sobbing and moaning, causing the driver to panic.

"Kid, you gonna be okay?"

Kevin clenched his jaw. "Like I've been telling you, he needs to get to an emergency room!"

Brian reached over the front seat to rub his best friend's shoulder. "Hold on Nicky, we'll get there pretty soon."

As Nick stared ahead, he noticed that the street lights left an earie glow on the slick pavement. The pain he was feeling in his stomach was making his head spin. Quickly, he closed his eyes, biting his lower lip trying to ward the ill feelings away.

Kevin Richardson noticed the young man's posture. "Hold on little man," he whispered into his ear. He noticed Nick nodding his head ever-so-slightly. "Just hang in there buddy."

Kevin's voice seemed to drift in and out and it sounded thick to Nick, slow as if in slow motion. He felt weird; his brain slipping into overdrive trying to place when he had felt that way before. He suddenly remembered when that was - it was at that record store and he fainted! "Um....Kev...."

His voice was so soft and low, he doubted that the tall Kentuckian heard him. Licking his lips, he tried to clear his throat but that only succeeded in sending more pain through his body.

"Kev...I think I'm gonna..." Before Nick could finish his sentance he did a repeat performance of what happened at the record store. Darkness enveloped him as his body slumped over against Kevin.

Adrenialine raced through the tall man's bloodstream when he realized that the teen had fainted - AGAIN. Lightly slapping Nick's face, Kevin kept yelling at him over and over to wake up. This had Howie, AJ and Brian leaning forward to see what was happening with their band brother.

"Is he alright?" Brian cried out.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know Howie, do I look like a freaken doc?" AJ snarled at the Latino's question.

Kevin tugged a hand through his hair. "Jesus.....can't you get this going any faster?"

The cabbie flinched when Kevin shouted. "God he's not gonna die on us, is he?"

"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT! HE'S NOT GOING TO DIE!" Kevin snapped. He calmed himself down by stroking the sweat-soaked hair away from Nick's forehead. "C'mon Nick, please snap out of it."

"We're here!" Amos announced as he jerked the vehicle into the carport next to the emergency entrance.

With the taxi barely to a halt, the passenger and back seat doors swung open. Kevin quickly reached back into the cab, mentally trying to figure how he would be able to lift Nick's dead weight out of the car.

The bodyguard tapped Kevin on the shoulder. "Sir, let me get him."

Kevin stepped aside, watching helplessly as the burly bodyguard reached in and effortlessly pulled the young teenager from the car. The sight of the sweaty, ghost white complexion of the teen, made Kevin's heart quicken. He was scared for his young brother and was beginning to doubt if this had been a good call not phoning an ambulance.

The quick movements of the bodyguard had the rest of the group rushing behind the man as he carried Nick through the automatic sliding glass doors.

"WE NEED HELP!"

A young doctor was standing at the nurses desk when the group raced in. Grabbing his stethoscope, he pulled it around his neck and rushed over to the young man that was carried in. He instantly lifted one of Nick's eyelids.

"Trauma three," he barked as he started off down the corridor.

Doctor Nigel Andrews quickly led the man that was carrying his young patient to the trauma room. A young nurse rushed around the doctor and quickly pushed a pedal that elevated the stretcher.

Rich, the bodyguard, gently laid Nick onto the stretcher; his focus solely on the young man. The teen's complexion was a ghostly white and his lips seemed to appear void in color.

Brian stood off to the side, wringing his hands his heart skipping a beat as he took in the lifeless form of his best friend.

"Doc, what is wrong with Nick?" AJ anxiously rasped.

The young doctor was getting annoyed as the tattooed stranger approached the bedside of the patient. "Could you please wait over there," Dr. Andrews spat as he pushed AJ aside. "I have to evaluate the patient before I could even guess what his ailment is!"

"GUESS?!" AJ echoed.

"Christina, please fetch William to escort these men to the waiting area!"

"He didn't mean to sound like he was doubting you, doctor, AJ comes off a little rough at times, please let us stay here, you won't even notice us," Howie pleaded.

Shaking his head, the doctor seemed to ignore Howie's pleas. "Just keep over there," he ordered crisply.

"Like a church mouse," the Latino added quietly, with AJ quickly mouthing the words with a scowl on his face.

Grabbing a smelling salt, the doctor waved it underneath the teenager's nose. "What is his name?"

"It's Nick....Nickolas Carter," Kevin stated quickly.

"Nick? Nick, I'm Dr. Andrews..." the doctor softly stated as he continued to wave the smelling salts. After a few moments, the salts started sending Nick into a burst of quick coughs with his eyelids fluttering open. "Nick, you're at the hospital, I'm Dr. Nigel Andrews, can you hear me?"

Coughing, Nick shook his head in aknowledgement.

"What brings you to Cromwell?"

Nothing seemed to register in Nick's pain-fogged brain at the moment. 'What the heck is Cromwell?'

"Huh?"

"I asked what brings you here to Cromwell Hospital?"

Nick scanned the light green room as he tried to digest what the man had just asked. 'Hospital?'

"Nicky, the doc wants to know whats going on...." AJ suddenly offered from the corner of the room but quickly stopped his words from the quick glare from the doctor.

"Let Nick answer the questions please."

"Where am I?"

"Cromwell Hospital," the doctor stated again, looking at Nick's eyes to see if the words were connecting. "London?"

"London?" Nick croaked.

"You're in England."

"He's on tour," Kevin filled in. "He's in a group."

Nick jerked his head toward the direction of Kevin's voice. "Kev?"

"I'm here buddy."

"What happened to me? Why am I here?"

The doctor looked down at his young patient, concern etched on his forehead.

"I'm wondering if it has something to do with his stomach or something," Kevin suggested as he took a few steps forward.

The doctor took a device from the counter and gently placed it into Nick's ear holding it for a moment until it softly beeped. "Young man, you have got quite a fever."

"How bad?" Kevin asked as he took a few more steps closer toward his band brother.

"40.4 celsius."

"What the fuck is that?" AJ rasped.

"How high is it Dr. Andrews?" Brian quickly asked, praying that the doctor would ignore AJ's choice of words.

"He has a fever of 104.8 degrees fahrenheit."

"Nicky is prone to running high temps," Kevin offered.

"Are you the guardian?"

"No sir, I'm his brother though---"

"Blood relative?"

Kevin shifted nervously on his feet. "No sir, but we are close enough to be considered brothers."

"How serious is this?" Howie asked.

"I have to run tests, but I don't feel too comfortable touching him without permission of his legal guardian."

"What about being an emergency?"

"I don't know without running tests, is there someone we can contact to get permission?"

"Not fatass," AJ spat.

"Can we call his mother? I'm sure she will give permission to treat Nicky," Brian asked.

"If you can get a hold of either one of his parents that would be greatly appreciated," Dr. Andrews stated.

"Don't call my mom," Nick weakly protested.

Dr. Andrews rubbed his patient's shoulder. "Why not?"

"She would get really pissed."

"I'm sure your mother won't be mad with you," Dr. Andrews corrected.

Nick shook his head. "No, you don't know my mom, she would be pissed. I'm not home and I should be and oh God....." his voice trailed off as his eyes welled up with tears.

"Nicky, your mom knows you're with us in England," Howie softly assured.

"Yeah Nick, you just talked to her the other day I think," Brian added.

Nick wiped the tears away from his cheeks. "I did not!"

"Regardless, I really want permission before I do anything," the doctor demanded.

"Where should I go to call Mrs. Carter?" Brian asked.

"Kristina, can you escort this young man to ring Mrs. Carter?"

'It would be easier to call Mr. Pearlman than run the risk of having Jane snap my head off,' Brian thought as he dailed the familiar number to Nick's home. 'Please don't answer....please don't answer.....' he mentally urged as he drummed the fingers of his left hand ontop of the desk.

"H...hello?"

Brian's heart sunk as Jane Carter groggily answered the phone.

"Who is there?"

Make that one angry voice!

"Um, Mrs. Carter?"

"Who is this?" the voice demanded.

"Mrs. Carter, this is Brian---"

"Brian? I don't know any Brians---"

"Nick's friend Brian from the band?"

There was a sigh of recognition on the other end of the connection. "Brian....do you know what time it is?"

"I'm sorry I had to wake you up, but Nick is at the hospital in London and----"

"Oh God, what did that kid do to himself now? Fall off the stage?"

Brian furrowed his brow in confusion. 'Was this woman for real? She sounded so casual about this conversation!'

"Um, no, he is sick and we're not sure what's wrong with him and the doctor needs---"

"Sick? Why on God's green Earth did you drag Nicky to a hospital for crying out loud? Do you realize how much this is going to cost?"

"No Ma'am, Nick is really, really sick--"

"It's that serious?" Jane interrupted.

"Well I'm not sure but he fainted at least twice on us and he looks horrible."

"Could you please at least talk to his nurse and then I'll be sure that someone calls you after we know what is going on with Nick?"

Jane propped herself up onto her elbows. "Where's Lou or Johnny? Why are you asking them...they have our permission to take care of Nick! It must not be that serious if they are not aware of this!"

Brian wiped the sweat that was forming on his forehead. "Why can't you just give the nurse your permission?"

"Because I doubt that it is as serious as you're trying to make this out to be," Jane stubbornly spat.

Brian's posture slumped against the chair as he stared at the phone in disbelief. 'How was he going to get through to this woman that this was a serious situation?'

"I'm going back to sleep, if Nick is as sick as you think he is, you'll let Lou know. Goodnight."

Before Brian had a chance to plead his case with Mrs. Carter, she had abruptly ended the conversation.

"Did you get ahold of her yet?"

Slamming the receiver back onto the cradle Brian buried his face in his hands. "No, that woman is impossible."

"Cuz, let me have the phone," Kevin muttered. "I'll get through to that heartless creature!"

Wordlessly, Brian shoved the phone toward his elder cousin. "Good luck getting through to that ice queen."

Kevin Richardson was only silent for a few moments after he dialed the number to the Carter residence that was written in his address book.

"Jane - Kevin Richardson, we need you to give permission to treat your son at Cromwell Hospital in London......I don't care what you think, you just have to do this and do it now so we can get everything started...I don't give a frogs fat ass what you think, just do it and do it now!"

Brian flinched as he listened to Kevin's end of the conversation. There was no small talk, no pleasantries that he had tried to exchange with the woman, Kevin simply jumped into the heart of the matter. Brian wondered why he couldn't be more upfront and to the point like his cousin. Deep down he knew he why, it was against his nature to be mean. His self absorbed thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

"Stop with the fake crying, just tell this nurse what you have to say and we'll be done!" With that said, Kevin handed the receiver over to the matronly nurse.

His eyes darted from his cousin's anger flushed face to the nurse as she listened to Jane Carter and jotting notes onto the sheet of paper from her clipboard, he wondered what the woman could possibly be thinking of this situation.

Kevin was half-expecting another round of conversation with Jane Carter but was surprised when the nurse hung the phone up after she had finished with her conversation. His curiosty got the best of him and he blurted, "So she didn't want to talk to me again?"

The nurse only replied with a shake of her head as she started off toward the trauma room.

Kevin raked a hand through his dark hair. "Such a bitch," he muttered.

Nick squirmed underneath the warming blanket that had just been placed ontop of him. His fever plagued mind questioned what was taking Brian so long. He knew that his mom would be pissed that someone had called her especially since it was a phone call about him and not Aaron. They probably don't care about him being sick anyway so why should he worry if they weren't gonna worry?

Howie broke into the teen's thoughts. "How you feeling Nicky?"

"Pretty good," he lied. He started to sit up. "Lets just leave."

Howie was quick in placing a firm hand on the young teen's shoulder. "You're not going anywhere Nick, lay back down."

"Ma's gonna be pissed at me," Nick squeaked.

"I'm sure Jane will get over it," AJ rasped. "What the hell is taking Kevin and Brian so fucking long?"

Dr. Andrews glared at AJ. "There will be no cussing in this room!"

A young, big breasted nurse bustled into the room, quickly capturing AJ's hormonal attention. Howie caught his friend's leering gaze from the corner of his eyes and elbowed AJ in the ribs.

"Doctor, I have permission to treat from the patient's mum," she announced as she pushed a slip of paper onto the clipboard.

"My mom is here?" Nick squeaked.

"Dumbass, they had to call her," AJ reminded.

"Have this man removed from the room," Dr. Andrews gestured toward AJ.

"Doc, I'm sorry it won't happen again!"

"You're right young man because you are leaving!"

AJ brushed against Kevin as he passed by in the hall. "Doc made me leave," he spat as he passed. "Make sure you guys come out and tell me whats going on!"

Brian gave a shrug as he looked up at his cousin.

"Must be his mouth got him in trouble again," the tall Kentuckian acknowled with a grin.

With Kevin and Brian barely cresting the entrance to the trauma room, Nick cried out in pain. "STOP! YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

"Easy little man," Kevin soothed with a concern etched in his voice.

"CBC stat draw!" the doctor barked. "Okay son, where does your belly hurt?"

"All over," Nick whimpered as he placed a protective arm across his stomach.

"All over or just here?" the doctor asked as he pressed down, looking at his patient's face for a confirmation. It wasn't until the doctor released his hand from his patient's stomach did Nick reply.

"OH GOD!"

Dr. Adams quickly moved from the patient toward the phone on the wall. "I need Dr. Snyder down in Trauma three, stat."

"What's wrong, doctor?" Kevin asked anxiously.

"I need all of you to go to the waiting area," Dr. Adams snapped.

"I'm not leaving Nick," Brian protested.

"Not until you tell me whats wrong with our little brother!" Kevin demanded.

"Don't leave me," Nick whimpered as he stretched out an arm from under the blanket.

"Appendix," Dr. Adams grunted.

As soon as the doctor gave Kevin the confirmation of what he suspected what was wrong with Nick, the rest of the group that had been allowed in Trauma Room Three were quickly ushered out, leaving Nick crying out for them to stay and not leave.

For some reason, Kevin Richardson felt as if he had let his little brother down in some way and the feelings were evident in the way the older man carried himself down the hall toward the waiting room.

AJ jumped up from his seat in the corner of the room and rushed up to Kevin. "So is something happening with the kid?"

"The doctor said it was Nick's appendix," Howie calmly informed.

AJ stared at Kevin as he slumped down into the nearest seat in the waiting room. "That's all? I mean it looks like Kevin is acting like the kid is gonna die on us or something---"

Brian laid a hand on the tattooed rebel's shoulder. "Jay, this is not the time to joke around, okay?"

"It's just an appendix," AJ rasped.

Kevin placed his head in his hands as he leaned his body forward.

AJ's eyes rivioted from the tall Kentuckian's posture to Howie and Brian's face. "I don't get it," he mumbled as he gestured with his index finger at Kevin. "Why is he acting like the world is gonna end?"

Kevin looked up at AJ and took a deep breath in. "Because I have to call Pearlman and explain to him why we won't be at the promo deal he has set up in the morning," he stated through gritted teeth.

"Oh."

"Yeah big oh," Kevin replied as he raked a hand through his thick hair.

"Well it's just Nicky's appedendix, you know how those things go, I had a friend that was out surfing like the next day," AJ recounted, ignoring Brian's duboius look; one eyebrow arched in question.

Howie shook his head at AJ's lame attempts in trying to make the situation lighter. "Bone, just sit down and keep quiet, I don't think you're helping the situation."

Kevin groaned as he stood up. "I guess I have to call Pearlman sometime."

Brian stood between his cousin and the telephone. "Why don't you wait until after everything is over, then you'll be able to lay out the situation with him."

Reluctantly, Kevin sat back down. "I guess you're right."

"There, there son," a nurse soothed as she laid a cool wet cloth ontop of her young patient's forehead.

Nick resisted the woman's attempts in making him feel better and pulled the washcloth off his forehead, dropping it to the floor.

"You need to have this on you to keep your fever down," the woman insisted as she placed another cool towel onto his forehead.

"Leave me alone," Nick whimpered as he reached up for the cloth again. This time, however, the nurse was quicker than he expected and she placed a tight grip on the young man's wrist.

"Nope, you can't do that kiddo," she scolded.

Nick looked around the room, searching for his friends. "Wh-where did everyone go? They promised they wouldn't leave," he cried.

"Dr. Adams asked them to leave before the surgeon came in for the consult."

"Surgeon?" Nick croaked.

"You're a very sick young man," the nurse replied in a hushed voice.

Nick grabbed the edge of the blankets. "I wanna get outta here!"

The nurse placed a firm hand on the blonde teenager's chest. "Lay back down!"

Nick glared at the young woman. "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

Nick's challenge lit a fire in the nurse. "Listen here young man, you're sick and you need to stay put and you will not be leaving while you are in my care!"

Startled at the nurse's sudden change in her caring attitude scared Nick and tears quickly sprung to his eyes. "I want Brian," he mumbled.

"If I get Brian will you calm down?"

Nick shook his head ever-so-slightly in the affirmative.

"Fine, Fiona, go fetch his friend Brian please."

The young student nurse nodded and quickly left the room.

"When the surgeon comes in----"

"NO!"

"Young man, you need to take it easy," the nurse scolded.

"I wanna go home," Nick whimpered; eyes flashing wildly around the room, looking for someone or something that would comfort him.

"Hey Nicky, I'm here."

Nick's body relaxed a little when he heard the voice of his best friend as he entered the room. He still had his guard up and quickly dipped his shoulder away from his nurse's grip. "Rok you gotta help me!"

Brian cautiously placed a comforting hand on his band brother's shoulder. "Nick, take it easy, no one is gonna hurt you."

Nick looked over at the nurse suspiciously. "She will! She's tried to do stuff to me a lot."

"It's the fever," the nurse stated in a soft voice.

Brian nodded his understanding. "Has the surgeon been in yet?" he whispered.

"No, not yet, but I'm sure he's not too far away. Dr. Penderson is the best in his field so that makes him the most in demand so it does take some time for him to get here.

"Rok.....Bri....."

Just as Brian turned to see what he young friend wanted, Nick's stomach decided an encore was in store for all of the vomiting and promptly spewed down the front of his brother's shirt.

Brian Littrell immediately turned a shade of yellow-green; clamping his hand over his mouth and nose and immediately backed away from the sickly teen.

After a few moments of dry heaves was Nick able to look over at his friend with an apologetic face. "I'm sorry," he replied sheepishly.

Brian could only hold up his free hand and shake his head as if to say 'it's okay, I understand.'

"Let me fetch you some scrubs, I'm sure your clothing is ruined," the student nurse offered while Nick's nurse busied herself with Nick.

The young nurse handed Brian a freshly washed dark blue scrub shirt and pants. "I'm guessing you'd be in between a small or a medium, but I could only find a mediu----"

Brian hasitily grabbed the clothing from the girl. "Medium's fine."

"You can change your clothes over in that room," she gestured toward a heavy wooden door. "There should be a plastic bag you can put your soiled clothes into."

A red faced Brian managed a thin smile as he hurried over toward the room. After a few moments, Brian shed his street clothes and threw them away into the trash can deciding that there was no way any cleaner would want to attempt in washing out "Nick Carter's" puke from his clothes.

When he left the small bathroom, he cornered the young student nurse. "I'm sorry I can't stay in here with Nick, something about vomit--"

"I understand completely, sir."

"Thanks, I'll send Kevin down for Nick, he's much better than I am with all this sick stuff."

With that, Brian quickly left, hoping that Nick was too occupied to notice. He barely crested the thresh hold to the waiting room when he was approached by AJ, smug grin on his face.

"Dr. Littrell! Damn, you look pretty smart there!"

Brian puffed out his chest as he pulled out the front of the top. "Think so?"

The bantering was abruptly stopped by the elder brother. "Why aren't you with Nick?"

"Kev, sorry but you need to go in with Nick, I just can't do it with him getting sick and all and he's in so much pain and stuff, it just bugs me to see him like this and you're much better than any of us---"

Kevin stared down at his cousin. "Nick threw up on you?"

Brian blushed. "Just go, okay?"

Without uttering another word, Kevin quickly left his cousin's side and hurried down to trauma room three. He expected to see Nick thrashing on the table or worse yet, throwing up into a basin and was surprized to find that he was surrounded by several doctors and nurses.

He stood off to the side of the room, not wanting to draw attention to himself and run the risk of being asked to leave the room.

A soft voice drew Kevin's attention from the scene that was unfolding in front of him. "Excuse me sir are you Kevin?"

"Yes?"

"Your friend is very sick."

Kevin folded his arms across his chest. "Yeah, I know."

"Really sick, his blood counts are off the charts, have any of the doctors talked to you yet?"

Alarms went off in the Kentuckian's brain. Just as he opened his mouth, two of the doctors turned away from Nick and approached Kevin. The senior of the two doctors offered his hand.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Bernard Rosenbaum and this is my associate, Dr. Sheila Schmitz. Are you guardian over Mr. Carter?"

Kevin accepted Dr. Rosenbaum's hand. "Yes."

"We have a very sick young man there. We're fearing his appendix may have ruptured but we won't have any way of knowing until we open him up. We're expecting the surgery should take less than an hour and then an hour or so in recovery."

Kevin had stopped listening after the doctor has said that he thought that Nick's appendix might have ruptured and the rest of the words seemed to bounce off his brain. He must have had a blank expression on his face when he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Are you alright sir?"

Kevin blinked a few times before his eyes focused on the gray haired doctor standing in front of him.

"Huh?"

"I said are you alright?"

Kevin raked a hand through his thick, dark hair. "Yeah, sorry I guess I sorta spaced out after you said it might have ruptured. Are you sure?"

"We won't know until we get in," Dr. Schmitz stated.

"Do you have any questions?"

Kevin shook his head.

"If you'd like, you can stay with the patient until he goes into surgery, I think it would be in his best interests," Dr. Schmitz offered.

"Thanks."

Kevin was thankful to see that his young brother was resting when he approached the stretcher. A young nurse scooted up a chair so he could sit down.

"You might as well take a seat, this is going to be a long night I'm afraid."

Scooping Nick's hand into his, Kevin cupped his other hand over the top. "I'm afraid so too," he whispered.

"Mr. Richardson, you can accompany Nick into the operating theatre under he goes under," a young nurse announced as she tapped on his shoulder.

Kevin jerked out of his thoughts, looking up at the nurse, blinking several times. "Huh?"

"We were thinking it would be best to be in the operating room with Nick until he goes under the anestetic, it seems to soothe the patients when they are scared."

Kevin glanced at his sleeping brother. "Well, he seems to be okay right now."

"Until we move him, yes he's resting right now but once me move the cot, he will more than likely wake up. I have some scrubs you can put on and here's a pair of booties you can slip over your sneakers. The doctor will be ready as soon as you are."

Kevin accepted the woman's offer and reluctantly took the scrubs and hurried into the restroom. Quickly undressing, he caught his reflection in the mirror. He could see that the past few hours had already taken a toll. Taking a deep breath, he slipped the booties over his sneakers and opened the door to join Nick.

"That was pretty fast," the nurse complimented.

"Lots of practice changing between sets," Kevin grinned.

"I guess so. You can follow us down the hall."

Kevin obidently followed the stretcher that Nick laid on and true to the nurse's words, Nick moaned as he stirred awake.

"Kevin?"

Kevin rushed up to the side of the bed. "Right here Nick."

Nick looked up at his band brother, eyes wide in shock. "You're doing the surgery?"

Kevin couldn't help but laugh at Nick's innocence. "No little man, I'm just gonna be here with you until you go to sleep."

Nick seemed satisfied with the reply and closed his eyes for a moment. "What do you mean go to sleep? Is it all over?"

"Nick you just asked if I was doing the surgery, close your eyes and rest, everything will be over soon, they haven't started yet," Kevin gently stated.

The stretcher was guided into the small, sterile operating room. It looked much different than the ones he saw on television and in the movies, Kevin decided. The walls were a dark pea green color of tile, large lamps were over a table, stainless steel cabinets were lined against the wall.

"Nick, we need you to scoot over onto the table, do you think you could do that for me?" the male orderly that guided the stretcher into the O.R. asked.

Kevin could see how much pain the young blonde was in when he bit his bottom lip in an obvious attempt to keep himself from crying out as he shifted his body onto the operating table.

"There ya go, good job," a nurse complimented as she quickly covered the young patient with dark green sheets. There were two other people gowned up in surgical scrubs, each taking an arm from Nick and fastening them on either side of his body, outstreched.

"Kevin?" Nick whimpered, his eyes searching the room for his friend.

"I'm right here buddy," he replied from the corner of the room.

"You can come up to talk to him," a man assured as he took a seat above Nick's head.

Kevin quickly walked over to Nick's side, stroking the side of his face. "I'm here Nick."

Tears pooled in the young teen's eyes. "I'm scared," he admitted softly.

"It's going to be okay," Kevin assured.

"Okay son, I'm going to put this over your face and you need to breathe slow, deep breaths and count from one hundred backwards, can you do that for me?"

Nick nodded yes and did as the man instructed, barely making it past ninety-seven. Kevin kept his eyes trained on Nick's face as he concentrated on counting backwards. His eyes fluttered shut and the instant the anestic took effect, his body went eerily limp.

"He's going to be just fine, Mr. Richardson," a nurse stated as she took Kevin by the arm. "Lets take you back to the waiting room."

Kevin couldn't shake the image of Nick as he fell into the drug induced sleep. "Will he be okay? I mean, he looked like he stopped breathing."

"The muscles relax when you're put under and he is getting a tube to help him breathe during the surgery, it's normal, nothing to be concerned over."

Nodding slightly, Kevin tried as best as he could to erase the image of his baby brother laying on the operating table.

"Mr. Richardson? Are you going to be alright?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine," Kevin quickly replied.

"You're looking pretty pale," the nurse stated as she led him over to a set of chairs that lined the hall. Kevin immediately balked at the idea of sitting out in the hall. The nurse sensed his reluctance. "I really think you should sit down."

Running a tired hand over his face, Kevin shook his head no. "I really need to get back with my friends in the waiting room, I'm sure they're worried about Nick."

"We can once you take a seat for a few moments here," the nurse directed in a firm voice as she led Kevin toward the seats.

Reluctantly, Kevin gave in and slowly sat down. He fidgeted the entire time he was sitting and he couldn't help but think of Nick when he realized he was bouncing his leg up and down. Stopping the movement, he smiled to himself thinking how much he could be like Kaos at times.

"Seriously, I'm fine, I just need to get back with my friends."

"You Yanks are always in such a hurry," the nurse mumbled as she stood up with the tall singer.

Kevin barely crested the threshold of the waiting room when Howie, Brian and AJ rushed up to him.

"Jesus, I was beginning to wonder if you were doing the surgery or something," AJ snapped, looking at the tall Kentuckian in the surgical garb. "Or did you?"

Howie cast a dark look at the rebel. "How's Nicky?"

"Why were you gone so long?" Brian asked.

"I don't know how Nick is yet, I just left him---"

"You've been gone for almost an hour!" AJ interrupted.

Kevin's cheeks grew hot. "Yeah thats cause the nurse thought I was going to faint or something."

Brian placed a comforting hand on his cousin's arm. "Are you okay?"

Kevin shrugged his shoulders. "Brian, I'm really worried about that kid."

"We all are Kev."

"No, I mean I'm really worried about him, he's so damned sick," he sighed as he sat down, folding his hands between his knees. "I've never seen the kid look as bad as he did."

"Well you know Nick, he can really over-do on the sick part, I'm sure he's gonna be fine."

Kevin smiled slightly. "Lets hope so."

Dr. Bernard Rosenbaum was a no nonsense surgeon. He held high medical standards and expected only the best from his surgical staff. All of the surgical team was hand picked by Dr. Rosenbaum from the scrub nurse down to the attendant that wiped the doctors brow during surgery. He expected the tools in his hands as soon as the orders left his lips, snapped into his gloved hands with a swift, crisp motion.

"Scapel!"

"Lap sponge!"

"Gauze!"

And so it went for the first ten minutes of Nick's surgery. Except for the pinging of the heart monitor and the respirator, there was thick silence in the air.....until:

"Goddamn."

"Doctor?"

"This kid has peritonitis, why did they wait so long to prep him for surgery?" Dr. Rosenbaum barked. "Suction!"

The anesthesiologist positioned the breathing tube on his young patient and injected more anesthetic into the patient's bloodstream. He knew that when the appendix was ruptured it would require more time on the table.

"I want an irrigation of normal saline, stat!"

The doctor worked feverishly on his young patient, barking out orders to the staff, packing the young man's abdomen with gauze packs and flushing the area several times with saline soloution. After almost an hour of working on Nick, Dr. Rosenbaum was finally satisfied.

"Dr. Schmitz, you may close."

Wordlessly, the older man made his way from the sugical suite toward the scrub room, snapping the latex gloves off and throwing them hap-hazardly into the biohazard trash bin.

A young nurse poked her nose into the scrub room. "Dr. Rosenbaum?"

The doctor never took his eyes from his soapy hands. "Yes?"

"Would you like me to notify the family?"

"Give me a few minutes, please."

The three men gathered in the small consulting suite, waiting for the surgeon to come in and talk with them about Nick. The surgery took over two and a half hours, a far cry from the forty minutes they were originally promised before Nick went in.

"What the hell do you think too them so long?" AJ rasped as he toyed with the box of kleenex sitting on the coffee table.

"I'm sure there was a good reason," Kevin quickly stated.

"What fuckin' kind of good reason would there be if it took over two freakin hours?"

"I don't know!" Kevin snapped.

"Jay, just wait until the doctor comes in, he'll tell us everything," Howie soothed. "We won't know anything until we talk to him, so stop trying to second guess everything, okay? You're just making it worse by asking questions we don't know anything about."

"I'm sure he'll come in and tell us that Nick is fine and that there was a problem with their equipment or something," Brian said absently.

"These foreign hospitals suck ass," AJ muttered.

"AJ! Kevin admonished. "There is no difference here than back in the states. Nick would be treated the same either place."

Dr. Rosenbaum entered the consulting suite, wearing clean scrubs and a white lab coat. "I'm Dr. Rosenbaum, which one of you are Richardson?"

Kevin quickly offered a hand out for the doctor to shake. "I'm Kevin."

The surgeon didn't accept the hand, narrowing his eyes. "Well, we have a very sick young man. Can you tell me why he didn't get checked over?"

"We brought him in as soon as we knew he was sick," Kevin defended.

The surgeon didn't accept the explanation. "I believe this has been going on for quite some time. His appendix had ruptured---"

"Which you thought before you even took him into surgery!" Kevin interrupted.

"But the infection was massive in his peritoneum. It took plenty of irrigation to flush out his abdomen."

"You didn't seem to be in a such a big hurry before surgery," AJ rasped.

"I'm in no position to argue with any of you! Whoever is guardian over this child is not doing a good job and I have half a notion to report this to the government--"

"Please, don't do that. We have had some problems with our managers and well, Nick is the type of person that complains a lot of the time about being sick with this or that, so I guess it's my fault we didn't take him seriously in the beginning," Kevin quickly apologized.

"Needless to say, we could have lost him if we had put this off any longer."

"He's going to be okay, right?" Howie asked.

"He will be pretty sore for a few weeks, but it is my belief that he will come out of this okay."

"How long will he be in the hospital?" Kevin questioned, hesitantly.

"That all depends on the patient and if I got all of the infection out of his abdomen. He will be on IV antibiotics for several days so we will be watching for signs of fever and other indicators of infection. You may go see him when the nurse comes back. Good day."

With that, the surgeon quickly stood up and left the room, ending further conversation.

"Asshole," AJ muttered as he wagged his middle finger at the closed door.

"That asshole saved Nick's life," Brian pointed out.

"Yeah, but he was a jerk!"

Kevin dragged a tired hand through his hair. "Well, not only do I have no idea how long Nick is going to be in here, but what am I going to tell Lou when he asks when we can start work up again?"

"That is not important right now," Howie stated. "What's important is Nicky's health and if Mr. Pearlman can't understand that, then we will have to get someone involved that can."

"Thank you mister positive," AJ mumbled.

Howie flashed a nervous smile at the rebel singer. "Why thank you."

"I'm going to wait until I see Nick before I call Lou," Kevin sighed. "Perfect ending to a perfect day."

Minutes seemed like hours to Kevin as he waited for a nurse to come to the waiting room to let someone know that Nick was out of recovery and back into a room. It didn't help matters that his skull was pounding, no doubt a tension headache that won't be going away until their tour was over.

"Mr. Richardson? Nickolas is in his room now. You may go visit him if you'd like."

Kevin looked up at the matronly nurse that stood in front of him. Blinking his eyes several times to clear the cobwebs, he slowly stood up.

"Thanks, what room?"

"He's down the hall third door on the left, room seven ten."

"Thanks." Kevin thought about waking the others but opted to let them sleep. It had been a rough day and he decided that at least someone should get some rest.

Upon entering Nick's room, he found the young teen resting in the hospital bed; his cheeks flushed with fever; assorted IV fluids hanging on the pole beside the bed. Moving a chair from the corner of the room, Kevin positioned it next to Nick's bed. The movement aparantly woke Nick as he started to stir and softly moan. Kevin lightly rubbed the uncovered hand.

"Hey little man, its over," he soothed.

Nick's eyes fluttered open; a look of confusion etched on his face.

"You're in the hospital, you had appendicitis," Kevin filled in.

Nick furrowed his brow for a moment and then softly responded with, "Oh." He licked his parched lips. "I'm thirsty."

Kevin took the cup of ice chips that was on the night stand and scooped a small amount onto a plastic spoon. "Here."

Nick eagerly took the offered ice, letting the tiny chips melt on his tongue. "More," he mumbled.

Spooning more ice to his young brother, Kevin looked into Nick's glassy blue eyes. "How are you feeling?"

Nick thought for a moment as he let the ice chips melt. "Tired," he admitted. Tears started to well up in his eyes. "Kev, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I got us in trouble again," he tearfully whispered.

"Awe, little man, you didn't get us in trouble. This was something you couldn't help," Kevin replied, rubbing the ailing teen's shoulder.

"I'm one big fuck up."

"Watch the language," Kevin admonished.

Nick closed his eyes for a moment. No matter what the situation was, Kevin was constantly on guard for proper language and manners. Nick smiled at the thought.

Kevin noticed the faint grin. "You must be feeling better."

Nick opened his eyes again. The medications they gave him after surgery were slowly starting to wear off and his stomach was starting to feel achey. "I hurt."

"Do you want me to get your nurse to get you something for pain?"

Nick nodded.

"Okay I'll get the nurse and you better rest because you've been through quite a bit and you need to get well."

"Hey Kev?" Nick called out, stopping his older brother.

Kevin stopped at the door and turned.

"How long am I going to be in here?"

Kevin shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure, a few days maybe? It all depends."

"So when I get out of here we can go back to work?"

Kevin Richardson sighed. "Don't worry about that right now, just rest up so you can get better."

"Kev?"

Once again, Kevin stopped in the door, his posture stiffened.

"I love you."

Kevin turned around to face his band brother. "I love you too Nick, get some sleep." Without saying anything further, he left the room to talk to Nick's nurse.

"Richardson! Where the hell are you? Do you know what time it is? Do you remember you have a promo set up to do? Do you remember you are under contract for everything you do?"

Kevin pulled the phone away from his ear as Lou Pearlman continued with his verbal beating.

"Lou.....LOU!" Kevin tried to interrupt the obese manager's tantrum but was unsuccessful. He decided it would be best to wait until he finished yelling before he spoke again. The rest of the band members minus Nick were gathered by the phone; AJ anxious to grab the phone and 'take care of fatass,' as he suggested. After several minutes of yelling, Pearlman was finally silent. Kevin wondered if the old man had finally given himself a heart attack.

"Richardson?"

Nope.

"Can I tell you why we're not at the hotel?"

"I've been waiting to hear!"

"You've been running your mouth off," Kevin growled, mentally slapping himself when he realized he was lowering himself to Lou Pearlman's level.

"YOU DO NOT TALK TO ME THAT WAY RICHARDSON!"

"Nick's in the hospital---"

"CARTER IS WHERE?!?" Pearlman interrupted.

"Nick is at Cromwell Hospital in London---"

"TELL CARTER TO GET OFF HIS FAT ASS AND GET BACK TO THE HOTEL....ALL OF YOU!"

"Lou, you're not listening to me. Nick is IN the hospital. He has been admitted to the hospital," Kevin calmly replied.

"NONSENSE!"

"He's very--"

AJ grabbed the phone from Kevin.

"Listen dickhead, Nick is sick and he's in the hospital!"

Glaring at AJ, Kevin grabbed the phone back from the tattooed rebel's hand. "Like I was trying to tell you, Nick is very sick. His appendix ruptured and they had to take it out and he's got a bad infection from the appendix--"

"If he was this bad off, why wasn't I told?"

"We tried to tell you he was sick several times but you just blew us off. We had no other choice," Kevin explained.

"That Carter kid is sick all the damned time, why should I believe you everytime he complains?"

"I agree, Nick usually picks up bugs pretty easily, but this is completely different Lou," Kevin relied.

"Well time is money, get him dressed and get back to the hotel--"

"He can't just jump out of bed! He's had major surgery less than five hours ago! I can't believe you'd expect him to get up and run to your beckon call! He will do what the doctor tells him to do, I'm fighting you on this one," Kevin snarled.

"I'll come up and see for myself then," Pearlman spat.

"Not today, he needs to rest," Kevin growled.

"I can do what I want, you know I'm guardian over that kid while we're overseas and you went over my head Richardson. There will be hell to pay when the boys parents find out about this," Lou threatened.

"They already know and Jane gave permisson. I'm done having this conversation. When you decide to be mature about this, come see me, I'll be back at the hotel trying to get some sleep." With that said, Kevin slammed the receiver back onto the cradle; running a weary hand across his face.

Brian rubbed his cousin's back. "I don't think I would have been as good as you were with handling Mr. Pearlman."

Kevin groaned. "I swear that man is going to make me grow old in a hurry."

"You handled yourself pretty good," Howie agreed.

"Well I would have set the old bastard straight," AJ muttered.

"You would have made the situation worse!" Kevin snapped.

AJ shook his head in digust. "He is one total dickhead and I don't think we have to put up with his stupidity."

Kevin looked at the rebel singer. "We are under a contract with fatass so we have to listen to him until I figure a way out of his grip."

"If he tries to pull anymore shit with Nick, I'll figure a way out," AJ smugly replied.

"Did you want me to call Mrs. Carter and tell her how Nick is doing?" Brian offered.

Kevin shook his head. "That bitch can wait until after we get some sleep."

Nick stirred from a restless sleep as his day nurse entered the room.

"Nickolas, good to see you're awake, it's time to get you up."

Nick's eyes widened in horror at the thought of standing up. Pain was radiating in his stomach, it felt like the doctors hands were still inside, rummaging through his intestines. "Please....can I wait and do it later?" he begged.

The stout nurse shook her head. "No, the sooner you get up the better you'll feel."

"Isn't it bad to do this so soon?" Nick croaked.

"Are you in the medical field?"

Nick shook his head.

"Okay then, lets have you sit up."

"I don't want to stand up," Nick protested.

The nurse snickered as she shook her head. "I wasn't planning on having you stand, lad, doctor wants you to at least sit up. You don't want to get blood clots, do you?"

Relief washed over Nick when the woman clarified that she only wanted him to sit up; a task that seemed easy enough.

Taking his arm, the nurse urged for him to move slowly.

As soon as Nick attempted to move, firey pain raced through his abdomen. Drawing a quick breath in, he cried out in pain.

"I know son, it hurts but the more you do this, the easier it will be for you," the nurse assured.

Sweat beaded up on his forehead as was strongly guided into a half sitting-half laying position. "C-can we stop here?" Nick panted.

"I guess thats good enough for now," the nurse agreed as she pushed the button to raise the head of the bed to support Nick's back. "I'll have you lay back just a bit here. We can't have you laying flat in your bed all day. Your muscles will get cramped."

At that point, Nick didn't care he just wanted to be left alone.

"Did you need me to fetch you anything?"

Nick tossed the woman a pleading look. "Pain pills?"

"I think it might be too early to give you more but I'll check."

"Bitch from hell," Nick mumbled miserably as he watched the woman leave the room. Closing his eyes for a moment as he waited for the nurse to return, he was shocked when he opened them. Standing in the doorway as big as life was the one person he dreaded the most.

Lou Pearlman.

"You look like you're doing well there, son," Pearlman commented as he made his way into Nick's room. "Richardson told me about your little thing that happened to you this morning when I talked to him on the phone. It was the first notice," the manager said with a forced chuckle, "so you realize I wasn't aware of the situation."

All Nick could do was nod mutely. He was scared to death of any confrontations with the man - especially one on one confrontations.

The manager sat in an empty chair next to the bed. "Have you talked to your doctor yet?"

Nick shook his head.

The manager seemed annoyed that Nick only displayed his replies. "So did they surgically remove your tongue boy?"

The blonde swallowed hard. "Um, no sir."

Pearlman smiled. "Thats better. Do you have any idea what they did to you here?"

"Kevin told me they had to take my appendix out."

"Pretty sick kid, eh?"

"Yessir."

"Feeling better now?"

"Yessir."

"I know if I were you I'd feel much better in my own room, don't you agree?"

Nick nodded his head wistfully. "Yeah I sorta wish I could be back home in Florida, that would be great."

Pearlman patted the young teen on the leg. "You wouldn't be earning any money if you were home in Florida though, would you? Your mother depends on you earning money so they can continue to live where they are and buy the things she loves."

Nick nodded.

Lou Pearlman had always been a master at making Nick feel obligated to his family and the fans. The blonde was the easiest to convince in the group to do anything that Pearlman wanted without an arguement. When Nick was feeling his worst, Pearlman kept cracking the whip, explaining to the young man that working through pain and illness made one a strong character and a reliable performer. Nick's personality was a trusting one, which eventually would get him into greater troubles in life as time passed. He always accepted Lou's advice without reservations.

"Alright, you get some rest and I'll be back in the morning."

Nick watched in astonishment as the obese manager waddled out of the room. When he first saw Pearlman in the doorway, he expected the man to go into one of his famous temper tantrums. The visit turned out to be a pleasant one. Maybe the manager had a heart after all. Pulling the blankets closer toward his chin, Nick closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Kevin Richardson's plans for sleep never materialized. His mind was preoccupied with the well being of his youngest band brother as well as the general well being for the entire group. His conversation with Pearlman did little to ease his tension headache and as the minutes ticked by it was developing into a full blown migrane - the ones Nick commonly was the recipent of.

Staring at the red digits on the alarm clock, Kevin decided he might as well get up. Howie, AJ and Brian weren't in the room so he quickly decided that they must have gone out sight seeing or to visit Nick. Leaving the warmth of his bed, Kevin padded across the floor toward the bathroom, softly closing the door behind him.

Catching his reflection in the mirror, he uncharacteristicly stuck his tongue out at himself. He looked like hell, this tour was already taking its toll on him. Too many responsibilities had been laid on his young shoulders Kevin wondered if he was heading for a nervous breakdown. Kevin gently washed his face and brushed his teeth, quickly deciding that his head hurt too much to endure the task of shaving and left the dark five o'clock shadow unchecked.

He made his way back into the room, pulling the sheets and blankets up, making the bed 'Nicky style'. He smiled at the memories of how Nick's housekeeping skills were far and few between. His suitcase never carried anything folded, clothes were always thrown in and pulled out. He wished that Nick would adopt some of the neatness that he prided himself on. When it came to making a bed, Nick seldom co-operated with such a task and would draw the sheets and blankets up only after constant nagging.

Situating the pillows, he laid ontop of the gaudy brown comforter. At least he had finished attending to his personal hygene, Kevin thought as he settled his head back on the plump pillow. Folding his arms across his chest, he closed his eyes only to snap them open when a deafening thud of the door announced that the rest of the guys had returned.

"Dude, I'm telling you her breasts were real!" AJ remarked. Kevin groaned.

"How would you know?" Howie questioned.

"Yeah, what makes you an authority on her anatomy?" Brian drawled.

"Could you guys keep it down to a quiet conversation?" Kevin softly asked as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Whoa, you look like shit," AJ rasped.

"Thanks, I feel like shit," Kevin mumbled.

Brian looked at his cousin with concern. "Whats wrong? Are you coming down with something?"

"Migraine," came the short reply.

"That's Nicky's area," Howie pointed out.

"Well it started with Nicky I guess," Kevin admitted.

AJ threw himself facedown ontop of the other bed. "Something worse happen with the kid?"

"No......just all the crap thats been going on with Nick and Lou finally got to me, I guess."

"You should have let me deal with that friggen asshole," AJ spat. "I would have set him straight."

Kevin rested his hand across his eyes. "I've already got enough problems with Kaos, don't make me have more with you getting into a pissing match with Lou."

"I don't agree with how its always work work work with Lou, he has to let our bodies rest from time to time," Howie added.

Picking up the television remote Brian remarked, "Well I hate to say it, but maybe with Nicky out of comission for a bit, we'll probably get a few days of rest."

The conversation was interrupted with a knock on the door.

"Or maybe not," Brian added as he made his way to the door. He looked into the peep hole to see an anxious Johnny Wright. Placing a forced smile on his face, Brian opened the door.

The assistant manager rushed into the room. "Why are you people down in the lobby?"

"Kaos is in the hospital," AJ replied.

"I know that....why aren't you in the lobby? We have to be at the Tower Record Store in fourty-five minutes!"

AJ leaned up on one elbow as he looked over at the Black manager. "What part of Kaos is in the hospital did you not understand?"

"Listen McLean, you guys were scheduled to be at Tower Record Store this morning for an autograph session. The fans expect you to be there and so does Lou."

"But they will also be expecting Nick," Brian stated.

"Well they will have to get over it then I guess. We'll make a short statement that the kid was feeling under the weather--"

"Under the weather?!" AJ boomed, quickly throwing an apologetic look at Kevin when he moaned from the sound.

Johnny pointed at Kevin. "Whats your problem?"

"Migraine headache," Kevin muttered.

"Okay, usually its Nick that had those, what the hell is your problem people? I thought you were the Backstreet Boys not Backstreet Pussies!"

"If you'd stop running us ragged we probably would get sick," Howie responded with a shrug.

"Okay Nick's illness today is valid---"

"TODAY? oh for chrissake we're not machines Wright!" AJ spat.

Johnny waved a hand back and forth. "You know what I meant. Richardson, get dressed. We have to meet the shuttle van in less than ten minutes."

With that said, Johnny left the boys hotel room and leaned his body against the hallway wall. He hated being a hard ass to them but he had his own obligations and debts to pay. Lou Pearlman had his grip on everyone and unfortunately for Johnny, he also didn't have a way to get out.

Brian looked wearily at his cousin. He could see the pain in his eyes but his cousin, always the professional, did not let on to the frenzied fans that his head was killing him. True to his words, Johnny mad some type of an announcement before the autograph session started, saying that Nick was resting in his hotel room feeling under the weather. The next remark that Wright uttered had the foursome seething - Nick will be joining the rest of the guys for the concert at Wembly Stadium tomorrow! Johnny's expression warned the boys not to say or do anything after he made the statement or there would be true hell to pay.

Kevin mechanically scrawled his signature across the CD cover barely making eye contact with the young fan. He felt like crap and his heart wasn't into it. The young fan seemed to pick up on his mannerisms.

"Are you worried about Nick?" the young woman asked.

This jerked Kevin out of his daze. "Huh?"

"You seem preoccupied, I asked if you were worried about Nick."

Kevin managed a tight smile. "Always," he replied, trying to make a joke out the serious situation.

"Ah, well thats what makes him so special," she replied. "Thank you for the autograph."

The endless sea of fans seemed to take longer than anticipated and Johnny wasn't going to give them a break. He kept allowing the crowd of hysterical fans to approach the table; CDs, t-shirts and pictures clutched tightly in their hands. It was AJ McLean that finally decided that enough was enough and pushed himself away from the table.

"Sorry sweetheart, I need a bathroom break," he winked after he stood up.

Johnny rushed over to the tattooed singer. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded in a hushed tone.

AJ held his wrist, wiggling his fingers. "My hand is ready to drop off. I think two fucking hours for autographs is more than enough!"

Johnny watched AJ's movements and then looked at the massive crowd of fans, glancing at his watch. "I suppose so. I'll tell them to give them a five minute warning for you to finish up. We can't just stop it all of a sudden."

Being fooled in the past by Johnny, AJ immediately placed his thumb and index finger into his mouth, letting out a shrill whistle immediately quieting down the crowd.

"Guys, we'd like to thank y'all for coming here today, but I hate to tell you this we have to get going and get back and take care of Nicky." With that said, AJ flashed a cheeky grin at the angry manager.

"You sonofabitch!" he muttered.

"We'll settle this one later Johnny......concert tomorrow night my ass," AJ said as he walked away from the manager toward his bandmates.

The young men only had an hour granted to go to the hospital to visit Nick and much to their disappointment, per Lou Pearlman's orders, Johnny had them wisked away to another autograph session on the other side of town. Although Nick put up a good front during the visit, they knew that their brother still wasn't feeling the best and his painful movements demonstrated their suspicions.

"I can see where we'd be able to do the concert tonight but it would be without Kaos, thats for sure. I don't see fat ass Lou letting us put the tour on hold until Nicky is feeling better," AJ remarked to Kevin as they stood waiting in the green room at the studio.

Kevin shook his head sadly. "I don't think we have much of a choice, Pearlman is always on my back about our contracts. We have to do what he tells us."

"Can't we just remind him that the crowd pays for us as a group? There are lots of Nick's fans out there that will be disappointed," Howie added.

"You have no idea how much I wish I could, but I really can't," Kevin sighed.

Brian shook his head. "This will be weird being onstage without Kaos......who's gonna sing his parts?"

AJ ginned. "The fans?"

"Yeah they know the lyrics better than we do sometimes," Howie snickered.

"I remember when Nickster blanked out on his part during that one concert and judas he wasn't even close to what the words were when he tried to cover it up," Brian recalled with a smile.

"Yeah and Lou was glaring off stage," Kevin reminded.

"Lou can bite my ass...that dickhead," AJ sputtered.

"Watch your mouth McLean," Johnny Wright warned, startling the men.

"Hi Johnny, we didn't hear you come in," Brian said innocently.

"Knock off the bullshit Littrell, you are suppose to be sitting at them damn tables signing your names on crap. Hustle out there! Now!"

"Since when did you start becoming such a hard ass?" AJ grumbled as he headed out of the green room.

"Since I've been left in charge of you lazy asses and you seem to think it's okay to put off your contractual obligations," Johnny replied.

All of the men shook their heads expect Kevin. He knew all too well about the contractual obligations that had been set forth. With him being the designated leader of the group he had the headaches that came with the knowledge of their obligations.

Nick eyed the breakfast tray with digust. Cream of wheat had never been one of his favorites and he wondered how anyone in their right minds could expect a person to eat that! "They should call it cream of shit," he muttered quietly to himself. He pushed a slice of soggy toast around on the plate, watching with childish amusement as the butter oosed out of the bread.

"Good morning boy....I see they brought you breakfast!"

Nick jerked at the booming voice that carried into his room. He looked up to see Lou Pearlman in all his glory approach his bed.

"Hi," he replied in a tentative voice.

Pearlman lowered his bulk onto the hard plastic chair next to the bed. "Has the doctor been in to see you yet this morning?"

Nick shook his head. "No, not yet but probably soon."

Pearlman looked at the untouched breakfast tray. "Is there something wrong with your breakfast?"

Nick shrugged his shoulders, "I guess not if you like cream of wheat and soggy toast."

"You must not be feeling well since you didn't dig into your breakfast, the Nick Carter I know wouldn't refuse any meal good or bad."

The blonde folded his arms defensively across his chest. "People can change."

Pearlman let out a hearty laugh. "You of all people don't change when it comes to food!"

Nick's expression soured. "Why is it always about what and when I eat with you?"

Pearlman patted the young man lightly on the thigh. "You're reading me wrong boy....I was just teasing you."

A man wearing a white lab coat breezed into the room. "Good Morning Nickolas."

The young teen eyed the man warily. "Good morning."

The man sensed that Nick wasn't familiar with him. "I'm Dr. Rosenbaum, I was the one that did your surgery."

Nick smiled sheepishly. "Oh, sorry I didn't know who you were when you first walked in."

"That's quite alright, you were a pretty sick young man when I last saw you. My assistant had been doing the rounds for me the past two days so it's expected you wouldn't be aware of who I am."

"Okay."

Dr. Rosenbaum stared at the man sitting next to his patient's bed. "Are you his father?"

"God no!" Nick cried out in horror.

Pearlman threw a disgusted glare at the young man. He offered a hand to the surgeon. "Lou Pearlman, I'm his manager."

The surgeon didn't accept the Lou's hand. "So you're the reason why this poor boy had gotten so sick that we could have lost him?"

Lou let out a forced laugh. "Carter? No, you're mistaken I doubt that he was ever that bad off," he continued, gesturing with a thumb, "that boy is quite the young actor."

The doctor eyed the manager dubiously. "He may be an actor but I seriously doubt that anyone can fake their own blood tests. I find no humor in how you view the seriousness of the situation here. He had a ruptured appendix and we got to it in the nick of time because his abdomen was full of infection! I think if you were responsible for this child you would have seen fit to see him days before he was finally brought here!"

For a moment, Nick thought that Pearlman had actually been shot down and belittled by the doctor - something only he had been the receipent of. When he waited for an apology from the manager, his mouth dropped open when Pearlman buttered up the doctor.

"Thank God for fine surgeons like yourself that you were able to take charge of this situation when you did. I can only go by what this young man tells me and he is committed to his craft and the fans and he would have performed despite his condition. You don't know the capabilities this boy has!"

Laying the steel chart on the bed tray, the doctor pulled the blankets away from Nick's chest. "Lets have a look at that incision and see how it's healing...sorry if my hands feel cold."

Nick looked down as the doctor drew the hospital gown off to one side, exposing his stomach and the thick bandages that covered the incision.

"I'm going to have to pull the tape so I can look under the bandages," the doctor warned as he gently pulled on the surgical tape.

Nick hissed when the motion pulled at his skin. He looked down at his swollen stomach and rolled his eyes. "How come my stomach looks bigger?"

"Young man, you had quite an infection and I had to irrigate the peritoneum so I would expect marked swelling."

"Just peachy," Nick muttered.

Pearlman raised up from his seat to inspect the incision. "How long will that last?"

The doctor looked at the manager. "I don't think that is really an appropriate question," he snapped.

"You are taking my question out of context and twisting it against me!" Pearlman cried. "I'm simply asking how long the swelling will last because I'm sure Nick is concerned. Can't you see by the look on his face?"

The doctor didn't bother with a response as he pulled the bandage back over the wound and laid the hospital gown back in place. Pulling a pen out of his front pocket, Dr. Rosenbaum flipped the chart open, hastily scribbling down orders in it. "I see you've been passing gas---"

Pearlman interrupted the surgeon with a laugh. "Carter never has had a problem farting!"

Nick blushed at the mention of his bodily functions by the doctor, especially in front of the manager.

The doctor found no humor with the American's manners. He ignored the remark, continuing his attention toward his patient. "I will see that you get an advance in your diet." In a kind gesture, Dr. Rosenbaum patted his young patient gently on the shoulder. "You keep doing what you're doing Nickolas, your last labs are showing some promise with the infection. If there aren't any problems, I'll see you in the morning."

Nick wasn't too upset to know that he would be staying at the hospital for another day. Truth be told, his stomach was still very tender and when his morning nurse had him walk to use the 'loo' - as they so pleasantly call the bathroom, he thought he would pass out from the pain that was racing through his lower abdomen - that or have his stomach rip open and his insides drop out.

A few moments had passed when Nick's day nurse came into the room carrying a small IV bag of antibiotics and hung it on the pole, threading it into the tubing. She handed Nick two brown pills in a paper cup. "Here, take these with the water I brought in," the stout woman said.

Nick peered into the paper cup. "Pain pills?" he asked hopefully.

"No, Fibercon," she replied crisply.

Unsure of what he was putting in his mouth, Nick decided it had to be something that was going to make him better so he swallowed the pills with a generous gulp of water. He twisted his face in digust. "Eww that tasted gross!"

"You were supposed to swallow them Cater, not eat them!" Pearlman muttered.

"I didn't chew them!" Nick quickly defended. "The taste got on my tongue."

"Carter I think laying in bed all day is making you soft," Lou decided. "I'll be back in a few minutes, I have to hit the head."

After roughly ten minutes had passed, Lou re-entered the hospital room, opening up a closet door, pulling Nick's street clothes out and tossing them onto the bed. "Get dressed son, I'm taking you back to the hotel."

Nick's eyes widened in horror. "Huh?"

"I said to get dressed, I got you discharged so you can be cared for at the hotel instead of the hospital."

"I-I thought the doctor wasn't discharging me yet," Nick stammered.

"Well I talked to the medical staff and they said it was okay for you to go home in my care."

"I still hurt."

"They gave me pain pills to take care of that."

Nick stared for a moment at the manager.

"They gave me instructions. Hurry up and get dressed so we can go," he demanded in a hushed whisper.

Leaning forward, Nick gingerly moved his body in an attempt to get into a sitting position.

Pearlman moved closer to the young blonde. "Do you need help with your pants?"

Nick furrowed his brows and glared at the man. "NO! I think I can dress myself!" As he started fumbling with the opening to his jeans, Nick remembered the IV line connected to his left hand. "What about this?"

"That comes out after you get your blue jeans on," the manager barked.

Although the movements made him feel lightheaded, Nick forced himself to sit up; dangling his legs over the edge of the bed. Pearlman seemed anxious to move the process along and helped put the boys legs into the jeans. "Stand up and I'll hold the pants and pull them up for you."

It seemed like a bad idea at the time, but Nick didn't have any choice but to comply with the manager's wishes, sliding off the bed as he stepped into his pants. He suddenly fell foward and his body thankfully came to rest against the flabby manager.

"Whoa boy, I gotcha."

Sweat dotting Nick's forehead as the movements strained his weakened system. As he pulled the sides of his jeans together he suddenly realized that his stomach was too distended to zip the pants up or button them for that matter. "I can't fasten my pants," he cried.

"Just leave that alone, the doctor said you'd be swollen," Pearlman reminded. "Give me your left hand!"

Nick obeyed and then quickly pulled it away when he realized that the manager was going to pull the IV out. "Don't you think a nurse should be doing this?"

"We'd be waiting all day for a nurse to come and do it," Lou growled.

Nick kept his hand away from the manager. "Don't do this! I can wait...why are you in such a big hurry?"

"I'd like to get you back to the hotel where we can properly take care of you," the manager explained.

The young man moved his hand away from Lou. "Go get a nurse to do this then because I don't want you to touch it."

"Would you stop being such a baby? Give me your hand!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

Tears welled up in Nick's eyes. 'Why is Lou acting like this? He said I can go home but he is acting like he's sneaking me out,' the teen wondered. Pearlman seized the opportunity as Nick was spacing out to grab the IV line and yank it out of his hand.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT FOR!" he screamed before Pearlman's hand clamped over his mouth preventing further shouting from the boy.

"Stop yelling," Pearlman hissed. With blurry eyes, Nick stared at the threatening manager. "You gonna shut up?"

Nick nodded.

"If I take my hand off your mouth, do you promise not to yell anymore?"

Again, Nick nodded.

Once the hand was removed, Nick instantly let out a string of obscenities. "Sonofabitch...motherfucker......jesus.."

"Stop the swearing Carter."

"It hurt like a bitch," he defended, looking down at his hand. He gasped when he saw that the hand and sheets were covered in blood. "I'm bleeding!"

This set the manager into action and he made his way over to the sink and grabbed a handful of paper toweling.

"Put your hand on this to stop the bleeding," the older man growled.

"Are you alright Nickolas?" the day nurse asked as she entered the room. "I thought I heard you screaming."

"He accidentally pulled his IV out, kid was anxious to get dressed I guess and forgot about it," Lou lied with a smile.

"Oh and look at how you're bleeding," the nurse stated as she quickly made her way to the linen cupboard, grabbing a white wash cloth and then running it under the tap.

As the nurse went about her task, Lou made sure he made eye contact with Nick and shot him a warning glare to shut up about the IV. Nick nodded quietly, scared of the manager at this point.

"There you go sweetheart," the nurse soothed as she gently scrubbed the blood off his hand with the warm washcloth. The woman looked up at her patient and instantly noticed that his face was the color of chalk. "Are you feeling okay?" Without waiting for an answer, the woman pressed on Nick's shoulder directing him to lay back onto his bed. She looked over at Lou, narrowing her eyes at him. "This is why he should stay here and not go out running all over the countryside. Dr. Rosenbaum is not very happy with you right now," she spat,

"He is not the doctor's concern right now. I'm in charge of Nick, I call the shots," Lou defended.

"Well he almost fainted, or I'm guessing you were fully aware of that since you're in charge?"

"I saw he looked a little pale," Lou admitted.

"He was close to passing out!"

"I'm okay now," Nick mumbled. "Get my shirt and I'll put it on."

"Lad, your shirt got soaked with some of the blood from you hand, I'm afraid you'll have to slip on a fresh gown. you can wear it with your pants."

The nurse didn't hurry fast enough for Lou Pearlman's satisfaction and snatched the garment out of her hands when she approached the bed.

"I'll help him with this, go get the wheel chair so we can go," he hissed.

Just as the nurse turned to retrieve a wheel chair, an orderly entered the room pushing the wanted object. Nick gave the wheel chair an apprehensive look.

"Okay Nick, hop in so we can get out of here!" Pearlman ordered.

"If you read his instructions, you will recall that he will not be hopping, jumping, running or skipping rope for that matter for a number of weeks. He is barely able to cross the room without someone holding onto his arm. I think you're making a huge mistake taking him home."

Pearlman brushed the woman off. "Carter is a fast healer, you don't know the boy, so save your lectures, right Nick?"

Nick swallowed nervously. "I guess."

Jerking an arm with his chubby hand, Pearlman snactched the young man from the bed, practically dragging him over toward the waiting wheel chair, the nurse looking on with disapproval in her eyes.

"You've got enough pain medication to get him through this afternoon but you will have to make sure you fill the prescription as soon as possible along with the antibiotics. It is very important that he takes them as scheduled," she called out.

"Yeah sure thing," Lou grumbled as he glared at the orderly. "He's set, lets move this thing!"

The nurse quickly placed a curved emesis basin on Nick's lap. "Here.....you may be needing this on the ride home."

Clutching the basin Nick gave the woman a worried smile. "Thanks....I hope I don't," he whispered.

Shoving himself back from the table, AJ threw the Sharpie marker down. "Glad this is finally over so we can do something on our own for the next twenty-four," he muttered.

Kevin raked a tired hand across his face.

"I swear my hand feels like it's cramping up," Brian complained as he grabbed his wrist.

Howie reached over and grabbed AJ's discarded marker and lined it up alongside the other pens. "How many fans do you think we signed stuff for today?"

"Too damn many," AJ mumbled. "I say we blow this joint and go up and see how Kaos is doing."

"Yeah he looked pretty crappy when we left the hospital this morning and I bet Lou probably tried to coax him into autographs by the bedside complete with a photo shoot," Brian added.

"Shouldn't we ask Johnny if it's okay to go?" Howie wondered outloud.

"Johnny can kiss my ass," AJ replied as he montioned for his bodyguard to follow him. "C'mon, I'm ready to catch a cab to the hospital."

"Jay, get the hell back here," Kevin called out. The tattooed rebel stalled in his footsteps. "You can wait for the rest of us, maybe we can swing this without having a fleet of bodyguards accompanying us."

Brian looked at his cousin with a puzzled expression. "Kev, do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, we just got done doing an autograph session, don't you think there's gonna be a crowd waiting outside of the buidling?"

"Littrell, quit being such a freakin baby!" AJ rasped. "Do you actually think one of those bad teenies will hurt you?"

Brian thought for a moment. "Well, no but you know.....you were going to bring your bodyguard with you, so I know you're thinking the same thing I am," he defended.

AJ placed an unlit cigarette in his mouth. "No, actually I was thinking I would have my bodyguard Stan along with me for company."

"I doubt that," Brian countered.

AJ stuffed his hands into his front pockets. "Whatever."

Kevin rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Will you two shut the hell up? I'm trying to think here and you two bickering like magpies doesn't help me!"

"Train, it's pretty basic, we get into a van and we go to the hospital, what the hell is there to think about?" AJ questioned.

"He needs to think about how to approach Johnny with what we're planning on doing," Howie replied.

"Okay, let me tell dickhead what we plan on doing," AJ snapped as he started walking toward the office door. He was stopped when Kevin grabbed the man's skinny arm.

"Let's just have detail get the van ready so we can just run."

One of the bodyguards broke into the conversation. "We've already done that Kevin."

"Then what the fuck are we waiting for? The more time we spend standing around here the more time it gives the crowds to grow," AJ hissed.

Without another word being spoken, the bodyguards drew their human shield around the four Backstreet Boys and ushered them out to the waiting van, safe from being touched by the crowd that had gathered.

"Are you going to be okay son?" the orderly asked as he prepared to move the wheel chair. He couldn't help but notice the hunched posture and the trembling white hands clutching to the emesis basin that laid in his lap.

"Carter's okay he just likes being a drama queen," Pearlman replied quickly.

"I overheard the nurses saying that he had surgery a day or two ago---"

"Well those women need better things to do with their lives than to sit around and gossip," Lou growled.

"I still find it hard to believe that they are letting him go home," the young orderly stated.

"Like I've said before, Carter is a fast healer, you don't know the boy so you'd be better off minding your own business and push him out of here, time is money son," Pearlman snapped.

"I don't feel so good," Nick mumbled.

"Once we get in the car, you'll be fine Carter, suck it up," the manager growled in a low voice.

"Would you like me to get your nurse?" the orderly questioned.

"I told you to get things moving, stop babying the kid," Pearlman wheezed as he made an attempt at grabbing the handles on the wheel chair.

The orderly stopped the chair and slipped in front to study the young man. Only after a few moment's observation the orderly sprung into action, reaching for the nurse call button.

"What do you think you're doing?" the manager snarled.

"Jesus man, he's getting ready to pass out!"the oderly shouted.

The manager didn't budge. "Lower your tone boy!"

Within a few moments, several nurses rushed into the room followed by Kevin, AJ, Howie and Brian. Kevin was the first person that sprung into action, scooping his young brother up into his arms and quickly placed him onto the bed.

A nurse clamped a blood pressure cuff on the young boy's arm, quickly acessing his vital signs, Kevin smoothing sweatty stray stands of blonde hair off his forehead with a gentle gesture. The rest of the group stood off to the side, taking in Nick's chalky, sweaty complexion.

The nurse waved a capsule of smelling salts underneath Nick's nose, causing the teen to cough a few times before his eyes fluttered open.

"How are you feeling?" the nurse asked softly.

Nick thought for a moment, at first he didn't remember where he was or what had happened. "Okay?"

"Hun, you're at Cromwell Hospital, I'm Gladys your day nurse...."

Nick rubbed a shaky hand across his face. "Cromwell? Day nurse? Why would I have a day nurse? Where the hell am I?"

"Sweetheart... you're in London, England, you had your appendix out a few days ago," Gladys explained.

After the woman supplied the information, Nick was finally able to piece together what had gone on up until now. He peered around the woman spotting Kevin's concerned face. 'Oh crap, Kevin's here,' Nick sighed. 'This can't be good.'

It wasn't until Nick was finally fully conscious did his bandbrothers notice that he was wearing blue jeans underneath the hospital gown.

"Nicky, how come you've got your pants on?" Kevin wondered outloud.

The normally unflappable Lou Pearlman shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

Howie looked at the obese manager. "How come he's wearing his jeans?"

"The doctor gave me permission to take Nick back to the hotel to care for him," Pearlman replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Kevin jerked around to look at the manager. "He did what?!"

"I think it was more that this gentleman pressured the staff into letting Mr. Carter out of the hospital," Gladys hissed.

"Carter would be better off laying in the hotel room than in a dirty hospital," Pearlman quickly replied.

With that remark being said, the nurse tossed a dirty glare at the manger. "Cromwell is one of the top rated facilities in the country!"

"Are you fucking crazy Lou? Nick is in no shape to be sent home from the hospital!" AJ rasped. "Hell the doctor said we were lucky he got here when he did! Now you're thinking he's okay to leave? I can't believe you!"

"Does Mr. and Mrs. Carter know about this?" Brian asked.

"Better yet, did they give their permission?" Howie added.

Kevin shook his head as the other others pressed their manager for answers. "Guys! Calm down....."

Another nurse breezed into the hospital room. "Doctor will be up in a few minutes to check on Nickolas." This remark had Pearlman's face turn a deep shade of crimson.

AJ folded his arms across his chest, situating himself between the manager and the exit. "Good....I can't wait to hear what the doc has to say about this."

Pearlman glanced at his watch. "I think you boys will have to talk to him another day, you have a schedule to keep."

"We have the rest of the day off," Howie replied.

"We have a new schedule, didn't Wright give that to you?" the manager questioned.

"Unless you can show me proof of a schedule, I ain't moving one inch!" AJ hissed.

"Lou you can't be serious about this!" Brian cried. "Schedules can be broken...things can be postphoned."

The Latino stared at Pearlman. "Exactly what are you trying to hide?"

Pearlman snorted. "What are you talking about Dorough? I have nothing to hide! People are waiting for you while you're wasting time in here!"

During the argument between the manager and the other band members, Kevin had been focusing his attention on his ailing bandmate. Although Nick could hear the conversation, he felt too weak to add to the commotion. He wasn't too weak to notice or better yet, fear the expression on his older brother's face. At first Nick was thankful that the look wasn't directed at him - there had been too many of those looks where he was in deep trouble in the past. He knew where the anger would be directed and subconsiously braced himself for the outburst that would be coming.

Kevin whirled around. "What exactly are you trying to get out of Lou?"

The fat man pulled a blue handkerchief out of his pants pocket, mopping the sweat from his face. "Don't sound so angry Richardson, there is nothing that I am trying to get out of. I think you need to take a look at Carter there...he's the one that's trying to get out of things, not me." He paused for a moment, throwing in a forced chuckle for emphasis. "If you'd take the time to look around, you'd realize that Carter here, was planning on walking out until I showed up. He was determined to leave without anyone's permission. He is always worried about the fans and he felt bad that he couldn't be there with you guys at the autograph session. That boy has show business in his blood."

Kevin narrowed his eyes at the man. "I seriously doubt what you're telling me is true. How about I ask Nick since he is right here in the room."

Pearlman looked past AJ and leaned over to look around Kevin, making sure he locked eyes with the ailing teen. "Tell them Nick."

Something about the look on the manager's face combined with the deep tone of his voice, set the hair on the back of Nick's neck to prickle up. "Um.....yeah?"

"Tell them that I grabbed you when you fell forward when you stood up," Lou gently demanded.

Nick thought for a moment as he scratched an itch on his forearm. 'Well that part was true, it wouldn't be a lie if I agreed to that,' he thought. "Yeah he did catch me. If he hadn't been there I would have fallen to the floor."

AJ instantly saw through the comment. "Bullshit Nicky! Tell us the truth!"

Nick looked at Lou Pearlman's beady pig eyes and then Kevin's emerald green eyes. "Um, it is the truth, Mr. Pearlman caught me."

Before AJ could continue with a question, Dr. Rosenbaum entered the room, Nick's hospital chart held firmly in his hands. "Nickolas, I hear you had a fainting spell."

Relief washed over Kevin Richardson as he watched the surgeon approach Nick's bedside. He quickly offered a hand to the doctor. Instead of refusing the handshake like he had earlier with Lou, Dr. Rosebaum accepted Kevin's handshake eagerly. "Mr. Richardson, good to see you."

Instead of staying back with AJ, Lou felt the urgency to approach the doctor in a friendly manner. "Dr. Rosenbaum," he cooed as he offered a hand to the man. Again, the doctor refused to shake the manger's hand and quickly directed his attention to his young patient.

"What were you doing when you fainted young man?" Dr. Rosenbaum asked as he studied Nick. "Better yet, why are you wearing your pants?"

Once again, Pearlman decided it was time for him to explain the situation. "Carter here thought he could get up and leave. Thank the lord that I happened to be in here when he started falling forward when he thought he could jump out of bed and leave this fine hospital."

The doctor looked at the manager incredilously. "Thats not what the nurses reported."

The manager's sweaty face turned red. "Oh?"

"Yes, they told me that you demanded Nick to be discharged to your custody."

Pearlman snorted. "Those women will say anything to get back at me. I think they don't like me for some reason. That is so far from the truth."

The doctor ignored the manager's lies as he lifted Nick's hospital gown. "I'm going to check your incision.....oh boy," he sighed, "it looks like you've ruptured some of the sutures open."

"See what you did Carter? Trying to run away from the hospital like that," Lou scolded softly.

"Nickolas could you please tell me what the truth was? Were you trying to leave the hospital on your own like this man is trying to tell me or is it because of someone forcing you to leave?"

The silence in the room was deafening as everyone waited to hear Nick's version of the story. Licking his lips, he looked up at the doctor, then Kevin's face before his gaze finally rested on Lou Pearlman. "I-I don't remember what happened. S-sorry."

Pearlman quietly exhaled the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

Dr. Rosenbaum patted his young patient on the leg. "We'll talk about this later. I'm having the nurse fetch some things and we'll get you patched up again. Back in a jiff."

"I'm going to call Wright and see what is going on with the revised schedule," Lou announced to no one as he made his way toward the door. Kevin Richardson quickly reached out and grabbed the manager by the arm.

"Don't think for a moment that this is over," he growled as he bore his gaze into the manager's eyes.

Pearlman jerked his arm away from the tall Kentuckian. "You don't scare me with your threats Richardson." With that, the manager left the hospital room.

Kevin paced the floor in his hotel room, deep in thought over the events that had played out several hours ago at the hospital. He felt that Lou Pearlman was a greasy weasel and a liar and once again, Pearlman had managed to squeak out of a situation. Kevin saw the fear in Nick's eyes when the manager questioned about the attempt to leave the hospital. He knew that Nick was so scared of the man that he would lie for fear of the repercussions if he admitted the truth.

Pearlman got out of another jam but the question was, how can he catch Louis J. Pearlman in the act?

Kevin's gaze fell onto the cell phone that was laying on the middle of the bed. He could call Nick's parents and tell them what Pearlman was doing to Nick, Kevin thought but quickly decided against it because of the time differences and also that it wouldn't serve any purpose since it was doubtful that he would get a hold of anyone in the Carter household that would side with his version of the situation. Jane was purely business and she had made it clear in the past that Nick was at fault when problems came up. Bob Carter wasn't much better about matters, he would usually duck away from any issue and refer the person back to Jane.

No wonder Nick begged that no one call his parents.

A loud pounding on the door broke Kevin from his thoughts.

"Dude! Anyone in there?"

Raking a hand through his thick hair, Kevin sighed as he made his way to the door. AJ kept his incessant banging on the door making the tall Kentuckian wonder if the skinny tattooed rebel was being mobbed by fans in the hotel hall. He smirked at the thought as he debated on answering the door right away.

"For chrissake open the door!"

The words set Kevin into action, quickly unlatching the chain on the door, barely able to open the door before AJ pushed his way in, slamming Kevin into the wall. "Jesus Bone, take it easy!" Kevin yelped as his body made rough contact with the wall and the open door.

Walking into the hotel room, AJ slammed the door. "Well you took your sweet ass time," he grumbled as he flopped his body ontop of the nearest bed.

Kevin rubbed his shoulder as he approached AJ. "So where's the fire?"

AJ rolled his body to one side as he picked up the television remote control off the night stand. "No fire, just worried about the mob in the hall."

Kevin snatched the remote from the rebel's hand. "You just randomly felt the need to wander the halls and then bother me?"

AJ rolled his eyes "Like you've got a chick in the room."

"Get out!"

"Huh?"

Kevin grabbed AJ's arm. "I said get out!"

"Can't I just be in here and hang out man? What the hell is your problem?"

Kevin's stare could have burned holes into AJ's body. "My problem is that I was trying to figure out a soloution to a problem and you being in here really doesn't help me think."

"Maybe I can help."

Kevin walked away from AJ, raking a hand through his hair. "Doubt it."

AJ cocked a grin on his face. "Why don't you try me? I can be pretty effective in problem solving."

Kevin snorted. "This is more serious than how to get laid."

"Why do you think it's always about sex with me?" AJ questioned, feigning a hurt expression.

"Because ninety-eight percent of the time, it is about sex."

"Well yeah I guess, but this time you've got my full attention and I want to help you with your problem."

Sighing as he sat down on the edge of the opposite bed, Kevin leaned his elbows ontop of his knees.

After a few moments of waiting, AJ finally broke the thick silence. "So?"

Kevin summed his problems up with two words.

"Lou Pearlman."

"What about fat ass?"

"The shit he's pulling."

AJ rolled over to face Kevin. "Pearlman is always pulling shit, nothing new there."

Kevin nodded in agreement. "True, but I've got to figure out a way to catch him in his bullshit and nail his hide and get out of our contract."

Those were the words that grabbed AJ's attention. He sat up and scooched his body to the edge of the bed. "Are you thinking about the deal with Nick at the hospital?"

"Exactly."

"We should call Howie and Brian, they should be in on this with us," AJ urged.

Once again Kevin raked a hand through his hair. "Us? There is no us, I have to figure this out myself."

"Dude just hear me out, we need to do this together, work as a team, comprende?"

This time Kevin laid back on the bed.

"I'll call them and they'll be down here in two seconds," AJ stated as he lifted the phone and automatically started dialing the extension to Howie's room.

Nick burrowed his head deeper into the pillow on his hospital bed. Exhaustion hit him like a lead weight and although he tried his best to close his eyes and get some rest, the nagging pain prevented it. He had asked a nurse a few minutes ago for more pain meds but his request had been instantly shot down, being told that he wouldn't be allowed anymore medication for another three hours. After several tries of falling asleep, Nick finally gave up and clicked the television set on, quickly surfing through the channels until he found something that would interest him.

Three hours waiting for more pain medication would seem like an eternity!

The clattering of metal equipment startled Nick and he quickly realized he had finally dozed off. He blinked his eyes several times to focus on the noise. He grabbed the glasses that were on the night table and slipped them on only to wish he had played dead. His first instinct was that someone had entered his room to serve him lunch was quickly dismissed when he caught the sight of Lou Pearlman standing alongside several people with cameras in their hands - professional cameras at that.

"You can set up over there," Pearlman barked as he swept his arm over to the wanted area. "Nickolas, my boy, glad to see you're awake."

Nick drew the covers closer to his chest as he stared at the scene in front of him in disbelief. Pearlman quickly made his way over to the teenager's bedside, leaning in to whisper, "You may want to close your mouth, you look stupid with it hanging open."

Wordlessly, Nick closed his mouth but continued to stare in disbelief.

"Since you can't go to the concerts, I thought it would be a good idea for the concerts to come to you, figuratively speaking," Pearlman explained. "You seem to be a bit surprised."

"Shocked would be more like it," Nick mumbled.

"This wouldn't have been any better if I had planned it out," Pearlman gushed. "You in the hospital gown, your hair..."

Those words instantly caused Nick to try and rake his definate case of bed hair into place. Pearlman quickly reached up and grabbed the young man's arm to stop the motion.

"You look fine like this, it gives the fans the whole picture."

Nick knitted his brow in confusion. "Fans?"

"Of course the fans, Nate is going to be filming the whole thing and it will be a live feed on MTV."

NIck's eyes widen in horror. "LIVE FEED?"

"Naturally you'd agree to this, you know you are always putting your fans first," Pearlman explained.

"I would be but not like this," Nick grunted.

"Nonesense boy, this is what those kids eat up. Their idol laying in his sick bed!"

Nick narrowed his eyes at the manager. "Does Kevin know about this?"

Pearlman snorted. "You worry too much about Richardson."

"Does he?"

"Sure he knows about this," Lou lied. "I always get things cleared before I do them, I have contracts too."

Scratching the side of his cheek as Nick looked at the photographers, he wasn't sure if the manager was speaking truthfully. This all seemed too extreme - even for Lou Pearlman. Embarassment instantly flushed his pale cheeks when camera shutters started clicking away simultaneously.

"That's it Nick, look over here!"

"Nick, how are you feeling?" A voice asked from the small group of photographers.

"Um, okay I guess, tired?"

"Sounds more like a question than an answer," a male voice chuckled.

Nick threw Pearlman a pleading look, begging the manager to stop the circus. He wanted nothing more than to be left alone, not stared at like a fish in a fishbowl.

"Nick gave us a real scare a few days ago when his appendix burst," Pearlman explained dramatically. "If it wasn't for my quick thinking, we probably would have lost him or so the doctors have told me."

Nick's eyes grew wide when he heard the manager utter those words. He knew that Pearlman had nothing to do with him getting to the hospital in time, in fact it was Pearlman that basically stopped him from seeing a doctor sooner. How could he lie to those people? Pearlman caught the teen's scowl and promptly rubbed Nick's shoulder.

"These kids are like family to me."

Just as Nick started to open his mouth to object to what the manager was saying, he was quickly silenced by the all-too-familiar shut-the-fuck-up-if-you-know-whats-good-for-you squeeze on his shoulder.

Pearlman then handed a folded up letter to the young man. "Nick could you please read this statement to the cameras for the fans?"

Wordlessly, Nick unfolded the letter and scanned it. Lou squeezed Nick's shoulder once again.

Gingerly clearing his throat and wincing when the action caused pain to race through his stomach, Nick started to read the letter outload:

"I'd like to thank all of the fans for their letters, cards and prayers for me during my hospital stay. Because of your kindness, I am getting better each day and am looking forward to singing and performing for y'all." He swallowed hard as he read the words that Lou was literally putting in his mouth. "I would also like to thank my managers for their quick action in taking care of me. Because of them, I am still here today. I would also like to thank the doctors and nurses at the hospital for taking care of me." Nick swallowed once again, looking up at the managed with uncertainty about the last sentence in the letter. Pearlman again squeezed his shoulder and nodded at the letter. Nick knew what he was being directed to do and promptly pasted a smile on his face to read the final sentence on the letter, "I will be seeing you this weekend when I get out. Love you guys."

Kevin paced the room as Howie, AJ and Brian watched their older brother with concern. AJ had only been able to them that Kevin needed them down in his room to discuss an important matter. Each man knew by the older Kentuckian's posture that the issue at hand was causing a lot of mental stress.

Brian's gaze went from watching his cousin to the program that was playing on the television. Suddenly Brian gasped and pointed at the tv. "Kevin," he croaked. "Kev, you're gonna want to watch this."

Sighing, Kevin stopped his pacing. "I don't feel like watching some stupid tv show," he hissed, not bothering to turn around.

"Shit," AJ rasped. "Unfucking believable."

Those were the words that finally grabbed Kevin's attention. When Kevin saw Nick on the television he instantly felt sick to his stomach, his face turning a heated shade of red. "That fucking Pearlman is going to die," he muttered. Without saying another word, Kevin grabbed his room card, slipping into his front shirt pocket and headed toward the door.

Nick watched as a nurse injected a clear medication into a port on his IV line. "There, this should help you rest lad.....you should have told someone sooner that you were having troubles," the woman stated as she finished up with the injection.

As Nick started opening his mouth to object to the statement, Pearlman was quick to again squeeze the young man's shoulder. The manager waited for the nurse to leave the room before he spoke.

"I told them you wanted something to make you sleep," Pearlman explained. "It would be best that you're asleep in case the guys drop in unexpectidly."

"They don't bother me," Nick replied.

"Yes but you need your rest and they will leave you alone if you're sleeping."

"But I really wasn't tired."

Lou patted the young man's shoulder in a soft gesture. "Nonsense boy." He paused for a moment as he noticed that Nick's eyelids were starting to droop. "I wanted to tell you that when you do see them and if they ask about this photo shoot we had today that you don't know what they are talking about. Remember, you don't know what they are talking about and you will keep on saying that if....." he squeezed Nick's shoulder for emphasis, "if you know what's good for you."

Nick managed a slight nod before he fell into the drug induced sleep.

"That's it Nicky, go to sleep," Pearlman growled with a smug grin on his face.

"Can't you make this cab go a little faster?" Kevin spat at the driver as they slowed for a red light.

"Sir, I am going as fast as I am allowed to by law," the cabbie replied in a calm voice.

Kevin squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push aside the anger that was rising. "I need to get to the hospital and I'm in a hurry."

"Dude," AJ rasped from the back seat. "Calm down, he'll get us there as soon as he can."

Brian leaned forward from his seat, placing a hand behind the passenger seat. "Take it easy Kev, I'm sure we'll catch Lou red handed."

"And the cab driver said he's going as fast as he can," Howie added.

The rest of the ride to the hospital was in silence; the driver following every possible law that had ever been created in England or the rest of the country for that matter - much to Kevin's dismay. As the cab pulled into the circular entryway of the hospital, and slowed to make a stop, Kevin jumped from the moving vehicle and bolted toward the revolving front doors.

The driver slammed on his breaks after Kevin leaped from the car, shaking his head as he watched the tall man sprint toward the doors. "You yanks are always in such a hurry!"

"He has a bladder disorder," AJ gnauffed.

Howie's eyes widened in shock. "AJ!"

Brian quickly handed the driver £15. "Sorry about my cousin, he's just a little worried," Brian explained as he exited the cab.

The rest of the men met up with an adgitated Kevin at the elevators. They could tell by his mannerisms that he was clearly not in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment. The others made eye silent eye contact and shrugging of shoulders as their gaze went from Kevin to one another. Tired of the thick silence, AJ spoke.

"What do you think you're gonna say when you get to Nicky's room?"

Kevin only shook his head as a response with a glare directed at the rebel as the elevator stopped on the wanted floor.

"I hate to be on the receiving end of this," AJ muttered as he watched Kevin race out of the elevator.

Brian nodded his head in agreement. "I've never seen Kevin this pissed."

The trio followed Kevin toward the room, lagging a few steps behind, not wanting to get in the older man's way. AJ had a hard time controlling the smirk on his face as he thought about what was going to happen to Lou Pearlman as they neared the room.

"Lou is gonna get it this time," he mumbled.

The anger that had been building up inside of Kevin Richardson quickly dissipated when he stood in the threshold of Nick's room. He was shocked to see that Pearlman and the camera crews were gone and it was only Nick that was inside the sick room. Entering the room, he tugged a hand through his hair. "Fuck," he mutted.

"Where the hell is everyone?" AJ rapsed as he looked around the room.

"Looks like he closed up shop pretty gosh darn quick," Brian surmised.

AJ reached out and smacked Brian on the shoulder. "No shit Sherlock."

Brian jerked away from the tattooed rebel, rubbing his shoulder. "OUCH! What did you hit me for?"

"Sh-h-h-h, Nicky's sleeping," Howie admonished.

Kevin dropped the sleeping boy's hand back onto the bed. "I doubt he would wake up anyway, he's snowed."

Brian looked at his cousin dumbfounded. "Huh?"

"He's pretty medicated," Kevin replied.

"But didn't we just see him on tv less than an hour ago," Brian asked.

"Yeah, live?" AJ added.

Kevin sighed as he looked down at his sleeping brother. "It looked like it was live, maybe it wasn't, I don't know what to think anymore."

"Wouldn't the staff know if this just happened?" Howie questioned. "I could go out and ask one of the nurses."

"As much as I'd like to talk to Nick to find out what happened, I guess we just have to wait," Kevin replied as he pulled a chair up next to the bed.

"I'm going to go down and ask the nurses," Howie stated as he made his way toward the door.

"I'll go with you," AJ said as he followed the Latino out of the room.

Brian quietly approached Nick. He brushed the bangs away from Nick's eyes, grinning when Nick let out a soft moan when he was touched. "That poor kid has been through hell the past couple of days."

Kevin nodded as he stared at his young brother. "Hell and beyond thanks to fucking Pearlman."

"We'll get to the bottom of this once Nicky wakes up," Brian stated.

AJ and Howie re-entered the room, puzzled expressions on their faces. Kevin looked up at the two.

"His nurse didn't know shit about what we saw," AJ muttered. Howie threw his friend a dark look. "Well, she didn't!" he defended.

"We talked to two of the nurses at the desk and neither of them saw Lou or anyone come into NIck's room this morning," Howie explained.

"Maybe that wasn't a live feed," Brian wondered.

"It sure as hell looked live to me," AJ spat. "We could call MTV and find out."

"Or we can wait until Nick wakes up before me call someone and make total fools of ourselves," Kevin snapped as he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ward off the impending migraine he was getting from the stress.

"Yeah that sounds like a better idea," Brian agreed.

"Suck up," AJ hissed.

"No, I think that sounds like a good idea," Howie replied, taking a seat in the corner of the room.

AJ shoved his hands in his front pockets. "I'm gonna go have a smoke."

"Don't you dare call anyone!" Kevin called out as AJ was leaving the room. "D, go out there with him and make sure he doesn't pull something stupid."

Hours had passed with the men sitting around the hospital room watching Nick's nurses come and go and Nick not waking up. AJ had spent the majority of the time leaning by the large window, tossing his lighter in the air and catching it much to the dismay of the rest of the group. "This is definately getting pretty boring," he muttered.

"How much longer is Kaos gonna sleep?" Brian wondered.

Kevin glanced at his watch. "Well, we've been here for probably three hours. I guess it depends on what they gave him. How would I know? Do I look like a doctor?"

"Lets go down to the cafeteria and get some coffee or something to eat," Howie suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," AJ agreed.

Kevin remained sitting.

"Train? Aren't you gonna go down with us for a sandwich or something?" Brian asked.

"I'm fine."

"Dude, it's not like he's gonna go anywhere," AJ remarked.

Kevin waved the group away. "Just go do your thing, I'm fine."

Once the men had left, Kevin stood up and adjusted the blankets on his brother, hoping that maybe it would stimulate Nick into waking. A few moments later a young girl entered the room carrying a tray. Her face grew a shade of red when her eyes made contact with Kevin's.

"Hello," she said quietly.

Kevin smiled at the young girl. "Hi, what's that you've got?"

"It's his dinner tray," she replied as she set it on the bedstand. "Looks like he's sleeping."

Kevin nodded as he stretched his arms out. "Yeah for a few hours."

"Well I'd tell you that you can eat this if he didn't wake up, but I don't think you'd like jello and clear soup."

Kevin chuckled softly. "No thats not on my list of favorite foods. I'll pass."

After the girl left the room, a nurse entered the room with a fresh IV bag.

"You guys must have given him a lot to have him sleep this long."

"Well his friend said he was upset and needed to be calmed down earlier so I suppose he would be sleeping for a while," the nurse stated as she hung the bag on the IV pole.

Kevin stared at the woman. "A friend? Do you know who that was?"

The woman shook her head negatively. "I don't know who he was, I've seen him a few times."

"Was he an older, fat man? Really big and sweaty looking?"

The nurse nodded. "Yes, that would describe him."

"Why was Nick upset?"

"I have no idea, I just remember we had to call the doctor for the order for the sedation. The man left soon after the medication was given."

"Were there other people that were with him?"

"All I remember is that man, I don't recall anything else," the nurse replied quickly.

"No television cameras or reporters?"

The nurse shook her head in digust. "I don't know what you're talking about. You Americans think everyone wants to see you. I think you're being a bit paranoid."

Kevin stood up. "I don't think I'm being paranoid, I saw Nick on television this morning from this room! I know someone had to have seen something!"

"I didn't see anything like you're talking about, now if you don't mind, I have other patients to attend to."

"Could you at least tell me your name?"

"Stella......Stella Fitzpatrick," she snapped as she hurried out of the room.

"Shit!" Kevin hissed as he paced the room. Hearing Nick stir, he stopped and turned around to find that his baby brother had finally woken up from the drug induced slumber. "Nicky.....its good to see you awake."

Nick gingerly rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Huh?"

"You've been out for the past three hours."

"I have?" he croaked.

Kevin nodded. "I have to ask you something."

Nick's clear blue eyes locked with Kevin's emerald greens. "About what?"

"What exactly did Lou do to you this morning?"

Nick looked up at his older brother, puzzled expression on his face. "Huh?"

"I asked what exactly did Lou Pearlman do to you this morning?"

The blonde teen looked around the room as if he were searching for an answer to Kevin's question. Kevin sighed as he watched the younger band member's look of confusion.

Kevin sighed as he rubbed the young man's shoulder. "I take it you're not quite awake yet."

Nick bit his lower lip, shaking his head. "Not really," he admitted, voice thick from sleep. His eyes fell on the lunch tray setting on the bedstand in front of him.

"Do you feel up to eating something for lunch?"

"Yeah, I guess I could.....is it anything edible?"

Kevin snickered at the comment. "Depends on how hungry you are, little man." Pulling the tray closer to Nick as he raised the head of the bed up, he dramatically lifted the dark blue lid from a bowl. "Looks like you're getting chicken broth and lime green jell-o."

"That sucks," Nick muttered as he looked at the lunch tray.

"It may suck but at least it's something you can put in your mouth and taste. You have to do this slowly, remember, they were up to their elbows inside of you!"

Running his hand over his face in a tired gesture, NIck rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me," he groaned.

AJ watched in disgust as Brian meticulously squirted mayonnaise from a condiment packet. "Are you gonna make love to that sandwich?"

Brian met the rebel singer's glare. "Leave my sandwich alone!"

"I'm just saying you take way too much time dressing up meat."

"I like to eat something that doesn't look slapped together like some people do!" Brian muttered as he picked up a plastic knife and proceeded to smear the mayonnaise.

AJ watched the Kentuckian's deliberate, slow passes over the sandwich meat. "What the fuck point is that for?"

Finally Howie stepped into the conversation. "AJ eat your sandwich and let Brian eat his alright?"

AJ pushed his body further into the booth. "I'm just saying that years of watching him making a sandwich has irritated me to no living end."

"Then don't watch!" Howie and Brian suggested in unison.

Leaning forward, AJ pulled the glass ashtray to him. Howie quickly reached out and grabbed his forearm. "Don't you even think about lighting up.....Brian and I are still eating."

"Jesus....what is it with you two? You are too anal I swear....." he started moving over to slide out of the booth.

"You stay put!" Howie snapped.

"I'm going out for a smoke."

"You can't go anywhere," Brian pointed out, adding, "Kevin said so."

"Kevin said so," AJ echoed in disgust. "Well I don't see Train around here so lemme go."

Howie didn't move.

This time the scrawny rebel pushed against Howie with both hands, sending the Latino crashing out of the booth onto the floor.

AJ stepped over Howie as he exited the booth. "I asked you once," he smirked as he headed toward the exit.

Brian shook his head as he watched AJ walk out of the cafeteria. "I'm only glad we were asked to keep an eye on Nick, I think Jay would be more of a challege to keep tabs on him and out of trouble 24/7."

Howie nodded in agreement. "Speaking of Nick, I wonder if he's awake yet?"

Brian shrugged his shoulders as he thought for a moment. "Don't know but gosh whatever Kaos got really knocked him out. I feel sorry for the kid."

Picking up his coffee cup, Howie took a small sip of the hot beverage. "I wonder if Lou would be that crazy to do a live feed from the hospital..."

"I dunno but it sure as heck looked live to me when we saw it on the television. I would have loved to have called MTV but I guess Kev was right to wait until Nicky wakes up to ask. He'd know more about it than some receptionist at MTV would."

Howie gestured at Brian's sandwich. "You are going to eat that now, aren't you?"

Brian looked down at the untouched sandwich, shoving the plate away. "I'm not really that hungry," he grinned before adding, "I just like to watch AJ get irritated when I was putting the mayo on."

The Latino smiled at the memory. "Yeah Bone can get irritated pretty easily......do you think he'll come back in here when he's done pouting?"

Brian shook his head. "Nah....he'll probably head back up to Nick's room.....are you ready to head back up?"

"Yeah, hopefully he'll be awake now."

Kevin waited patiently as Nick slowly ate a few bites of the jello and a few mouthfuls of the clear broth. He felt sympathy for the young man as he watched his hands shake as he lifted the spoon to his mouth. He had to push aside his initial instincts of helping Nick, knowing all-to-well the young man's history of quick anger when someone tried to help him with anything. Kevin's few minutes of waiting finally ended with Nick nudging the tray away and laying his head back onto the pillow, placing a hand gently across his stomach in a protective gesture.

"Full already?"

Nick groaned in reply, rubbing his stomach.

"Well your stomach has been through hell so no doubt you'd be," Kevin replied as he pushed the bedstand toward the foot of the bed and immediately starting fussing with the young teens blankets.

"Kev......you don't have to do that," Nick growled lightly. "You're not my mom..."

"Well someone has to take care of you," Kevin replied in a firm voice. He knew all-too-well how Nick felt about anyone fussing over him. The young blonde had always had an independant air about him; Kevin theorized that it probably came from him being pushed by an overbearing stage mom that never had her priorities in check for her oldest son.

"Seriously Kev!" Nick warned as he gripped the edge of his blankets.

"Stop acting like a baby," Kevin softly whispered, pulling the blanket out of the young teen's grasp. When his task was done, he eased himself into the chair next to the bed, drawing a hand over his face in a tired gesture. "I'm always worried about you Nicky."

Nick folded his arms lightly across his chest. "I'm not a baby and there's nothing to worry about over, okay?"

Kevin stared at Nick while he decided how he would approach the subject of Lou Pearlman. He decided that blind siding him with a simple question would be the best approach. "So did Lou stop by early this morning? He said something to me in the hall this morning that he was dropping by to see you."

Nick shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"I was kinda wondering if you would have felt up to visitors," Kevin asked.

Again Nick shrugged his shoulders.

Kevin sighed in frustration. Trying to crack into Nick Carter's brain was trying to crack a walnut with your bare hands! "You realize a conversation works better when you talk back to me when I ask you a question."

Finally Nick answered. "You really haven't asked me a question," he pointed out.

Kevin replayed his side of the conversation over in his brain. He suddened realized that he was answering his own questions. Finally he decided to ask Nick point blank. "Was Lou up to see you this morning?"

At first Nick started to shrug his shoulders but stopped midway and forced a yawn to make it appear that he was growing tired. He didn't reply, hoping that Kevin would drop the subject.

Kevin's emerald eyes never left Nick's face. "So?"

"Why is it so freakin important to know if Lou was here this morning?" Nick asked in an edgy voice.

"It's just a simple question---"

"Hey buddy how ya feelin'?" AJ rasped as he entered the hospital room.

Kevin shot an angry glare toward the intruder and snarled, "Weren't you suppose to be down in the cafeteria with Brian and Howie?"

This time AJ shrugged his shoulders and smiled slightly. "I got sick of watching Littrell play with his sandwich."

"Nicky! You're finally awake!" Brian cheerfully announced as he made his way into the room.

Kevin tugged a hand through his dark hair. "Couldn't you guys have taken a little more time?"

"We were gone for almost an hour," Howie pointed out. "Boy Nick your color looks a little off to me...are you feeling okay?"

The blonde grimaced as he moved his legs into a better position. "Yeah I'm fine," he lied.

"You look anything but fine to me," Brian added.

"Listen Nick said he was fine, stop smothering," Kevin growled. "So Nick back to my question, was Lou in here this morning?"

Nick sighed in defeat. "What does it matter?"

"It's just a simple question....can't you at least answer a simple question?"

"Yeah but you act like the answer is life or death to you for some reason."

"So why are you so defensive?"

"I'm not being defensive....I'm tired," Nick whined, gingerly rubbing his stomach.

"Just answer the question Nicky.....was Lou up to see you this morning?"

Brian could see that his best friend was getting agitated by his cousin's constant questioning. "Kev, Nick said he's tired. Why don't you let him rest."

Kevin waived Brian off. "C'mon, just answer the question and I'll let you rest."

As Nick stared at his older brother and the rest of the men in the room, Lou Pearlman's voice echoed inside his head.....'You won't tell anyone about this if you know what's good for you son...' He licked his lips. "I was sleeping so I'm not sure." Nick let the breath out he didn't realize he had been holding. It wasn't really a lie, he told himself. He had been sleeping when Lou came in so in a way that was truthful - kinda.

"Don't bullshit me Nick....I know you're hiding something....just tell me the truth."

Nick feigned a look of surprise on his face. "Are you calling me a liar?"

"Just tell me the truth....that's all I want to hear from you," Kevin pleaded.

Nick found himself in a sticky situation. He wanted to tell Kevin the truth but he was more scared of Lou Pearlman than he was of Kevin Richardson. Now was the time to put his acting classes to good use, he quickly decided.

"I......I......I ca....can't.....b....br.....b...r...e..a...t...h..e....," he gasped as he started to pretend he was hyperventilating.

What Nick was hoping would shake the Kentuckian into dropping the questions backfired.

"Stop with the acting, you're talking to me so you're breathing!" Kevin snapped. "Answer me! Was Pearlman here this morning?"

Nick's mouth dropped open as he stopped the playacting. "I can't believe that you would think I would fake being sick!"

"It's just a simple question Nick. Was Lou here or wasn't he?"

As he prepared to cave in and give Kevin the answer to the question he kept pressing, Nick felt an odd, sharp cramping sensation in his stomach. The cramping was followed by sudden warmth. As he lifted the covers to inspect, he gasped when he saw that the hospital gown had grown bright red, saturated in blood. Nick looked up at Kevin, his face completely drained of color.

The last thing Nick heard before he fainted was Kevin's shocked voice, "Oh God, you're bleeding!"

Kevin Richardson paced the floor of the surgical waiting room. It had been well over two hours that Nick had been rushed into surgery and he had yet to be notified as to what was going on. AJ, Howie and Brian sat quietly on the opposite end of the lobby, not daring to cross the path of the older Kentuckian. They knew all too well how Kevin's mood could change when he had something pressing on his mind.

"Mister Richardson?"

All eyes looked at the entrance where a tall man dressed in surgical scrubs stood.

Kevin rushed over toward the man. "Yes, I'm Kevin Richardson," he stated anxiously.

"Your friend has been moved to recovery now. He's not awake yet...."

"What happened?"

The man sighed as he walked into the waiting room and took a seat on one of the hard chairs. "Evidently he had an abscess or I guess you could say a pocket of the peritonitius wasn't caught initially when he was first opened. That infection spread and that was what led to his sutures breaking."

"What!?" AJ snarled. "Are you telling me the doctor fucked up?"

Kevin shot a dirty glare as AJ approached them.

The man wasn't flustered by AJ's actions. "As unexpected as it was, it can and does happen from time to time in any patient," the man calmly explained. "Fortunately, we were able to irrigate his abdomen and we have placed some drainage tubes this time."

"Which should have been done the first time!" AJ rasped.

The man dressed in surgical garb ignored the rebel's comments. "I'll send a nurse down when mister Carter is back in his room." Without saying anything further, the man stood up and left the room.

"I think we should get Nick and get him the hell out of here!" AJ snapped.

"Jay, don't talk like an idiot," Howie replied.

"Yeah, you know he's safer at a hosptial than anyplace else," Brian added.

"Yeah but we should take him back home to get taken care of," AJ defended.

Kevin's eyes bore into AJ's. "Do you honestly think that poor kid could survive a thirteen hour flight?"

"Well.....um.......no, I suppose not."

"Then keep your mouth shut unless you know what you're talking about then, okay?"

This time Brian was the one that offered a comment. "I guess you need to call Lou."

Kevin stared at his cousin. "Why? So he can threaten us about the fact that Nick is sicker now than what he was yesterday?"

Brian shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, I just thought you had to check in with him or something."

"I'll call Lou," Howie stated firmly.

Kevin shook his head. "It's not your responsibility."

"I know but I'm thinking that you've got enough on your mind that you'll make matters worse when you blow up when you talk to Pearlman."

The older Kentuckian sighed as he tugged a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Right now I would really love to bash that fat ass bastard in the face."

"Exactly what I'm talking about," Howie replied as he made his way toward the door.

"D...wait up," AJ called out as he stood up. "I'll come with you."

"Howie...don't let Bone talk to Pearlman and keep an eye on him," Kevin warned.

"I wasn't planning on talking to that fat ass," AJ defended.

"Yeah, whatever....."

The time went by slowly as Kevin and Brian sat in the waiting room. Brian was happy to see that his cousin had at least calmed down and was quietly sipping coffee. At one point, Howie had returned and told them that he left a voice message on the manager's cell phone to return his call and was quick to add that he didn't offer any explanation as to what the call was about to Pearlman.

During the time they waited for Nick to be transferred back to his hospital room, AJ and Howie had come and gone and they were gone when a nurse finally came in to say that Nick was now settled back in his room and they could go back and see him. Kevin quickly stood up from his chair and rushed out of the waiting room, anxious to check in on his young brother. Brian followed a few steps behind.

Entering the sick room, they found their young brother quietly sleeping, his face void of color. He also had numerous IV bags hanging from a pole beside his bed. Kevin didn't hesitate approaching the bed and gently scooping Nick's hand in his. Nick whimpered when Kevin's hand made contact.

"Easy there little man," Kevin soothed. "Everything's gonna be alright."

Nick's eyes fluttered open as he tried to focus on Kevin's voice. "Wha.....what happened?" he asked hoarsly.

"They had to do emergency surgery," the older man stated.

It took a few moments for the information to sink into the young man's anesthesia fogged brain. "Why?"

"I guess you had more infection in your belly than they thought." He paused as he looked at Nick. The young man's features grew consticted with pain. "Do you want me to ask the nurse to give you something for the pain?"

Nick shook his head in agreement silently.

As Brian got a nod from Kevin, he set off to the nurses station. A few moments later, Brian returned with a nurse in tow.

"Sweetie, you have a pump on your chest so you can give yourself some pain meds," the woman stated as she guided Nick's hand to the small rubber button. "It will administer your pain meds when you press it."

Nick's finger weakly followed her instructions and pressed on the device instantly feeling a warmth rush through his body.

The nurse could see that her young patient was getting the relief he needed. "Okay if you need anything else, please press the call button and someone will come in to see you."

A few moments later, AJ and Howie entered the room.

"Thanks for letting someone know that Kaos was back in his room, jackass," AJ rasped as he scaped a chair across the lineoleum flooring.

"Well if you didn't have to go out for a cigarette every twenty seconds you'd been around," Kevin shot back.

"Wow Kaos, you look plastered," AJ grinned.

Kevin looked down at his young brother's face. "Feeling better?"

Nick managed a slight grin. "You betcha."

Staring at Nick for a moment, Kevin wondered if it would be a good time to question Nick about interview he had seen on television. He couldn't help but think that maybe the young man's guard would be down while he was under the influence of the medication. Drawing a breath in, Kevin decided it was now-or-never with the question he so desperately needed to be answered.

"Nicky...I need to ask you something important and then I'll let you rest."

"Okie dokie."

"Okay earlier this morning I saw you on television. You were laying in the hospital," Kevin started slowly, "and it looked like it was live. Did Lou come into the hospital with a camera crew this morning?"

Nick rubbed a hand across his closed eyes. "You mean today?"

"Yes Nick. Did this happen today?"

"Yup....but I'm not to tell you."

"Who said that?"

"Lou said don't say."

"But this did happen this morning?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah he said it was good PR," he slurred.

"Okay Nicky, you're getting tired now," Kevin said as he patted the blonde lightly on the shoulder. "I'll leave you alone to rest for now."

Nodding, Nick burrowed his head deeper into the pillow, letting his eyes close. As soon as they closed, he quickly opened them again. "Kev?"

"Yeah Nick?"

"Please don't tell him I told."

"Just get some rest little man, don't worry about Lou," Kevin reassured. "I'll worry about him."

Lou Pearlman sat in a restaurant with his assistant manager Johnny Wright, discussing the plans for the next concert. Pushing his plate aside, Pearlman spread out sheets of papers. He pulled a crumpled red handkerchief from his back pocket and mopped the sweat that had beaded across his broad forehead.

"Carter has put my tit in a wringer with this," the obese manager growled as he shuffled through the papers.

"Well, it wasn't something that Nick could have planned," Johnny defended.

Pearlman slammed a chubby fist down on the table, causing the dishes to clatter and some of the other diners to look in their direction. "Bullshit! He makes a big deal out of nothing!"

"Frankly, I don't think you could fake an appendicitis attack," the other manager whispered.

"Well he probably knew this was coming a long time ago and just never did anything about it," Pearlman growled.

Wright just shook his head, unsure if he could persuade the manager to change his mind. "Okay, so what are the plans then? We could post phone those tour stops and reschedule them at a later date."

"Nonsense! We will just have to have the others fill in for Carter. Time is money and we can't go and cancel concerts and refund tickets. That would be ludicrous!"

"But have the others perform for Nick? You know that he has the higher fan base than the others......you know, blonde kid.....blue eyes and stuff."

"We'll just have to satisfy them with impromtu telecasts with the boy like we did the last time. Another live feed from his sick bed."

Johnny shook his head. "I don't really think that's such a good idea, I mean you blind sided the poor kid when you had the media in there. For chrissake Lou, he's had surgery and really isn't feeling the greatest."

Pearlman stacked the papers together. "He's under contract and he has to do what I say.......his mommy signed the dotted line giving me complete control."

"But what you're talking about----"

"Is okay and you'll keep thinking that if you know what's good for you," Pearlman interrupted the black manager with a hiss.

Johnny gestured to the manager's cell phone on the table. "Have you called back Dorough to see what he wanted?"

Lou rolled his eyes. "I doubt it was anything important.....he was probably out of hair gel or something insignificant and had his panties in a bunch."

"I think you should call him back anyway."

"If it was that important he'll call again."

"Have you heard from Mrs. Carter lately?"

Pearlman groaned. "Yeah she left a voice mail on my cell phone."

The black manager stared at Pearlman waiting for more information. After a few moments of silence he was rewarded with the man meeting his stare.

"What?"

"So what did she say when you called her back?"

"I haven't called her back."

Johnny's eyes widened in shock. "You haven't called her back? My God man, you should have called her back the moment you listened to your message."

"I was a little busy and with the time differences and such it hasn't been a good time to return her call."

"Well don't you think you should call her back?"

Pearlman mopped the sweat off his face once again. "I'll call her back when I get back to my room."

Johnny pushed the cell phone toward Pearlman. "How about you call her right now?"

The manager grabbed the phone and promptly tucked into his front shirt pocket. "I said I'll call the woman when I get back to my room."

Not trusting Lou's words, Johnny leveled a hard glare back. "You better because I will find out later if you didn't."

"Listen here, you of all people do not have the right to talk to me that way or even order me around. You're as insignificant to me as a mosquito and I'd squash you just as soon look at you! You are indebted to me and you better keep your mouth shut if you want to keep your house or your pretty little family. Just one word from your mouth and I'll talk!" Pearlman ended the conversation as he pushed his bulky frame away from the table, quickly adding. "Meet me up in my room in an hour."

Wright watched in silence as the manager left the restaurant. He felt helpless in the entire situation once Pearlman had practically pointed out that he literally held his balls in his hands. Lou Pearlman had enough dirt on him to bury him six feet under if he wanted and Johnny was scared of what Lou could do to him if he crossed the line. He knew what the man was doing to those boys was wrong but he had no other choice but to follow the orders of the older man and keep his mouth shut. Sighing, he tossed his napkin on top of the table and made his way back to his own room.

"I'm getting my turn with that fat bastard first!" AJ declared once they had left Nick's room.

Howie grabbed the rebel's shoulder. "Stand in line because I'm going to have a few choice words with him myself!"

AJ slowed his pace. "A few choice words? What the fuck good is that gonna do? Are you going to have a pissing match next to see who can pee the farthest? I swear D....."

"Well I know I'd like to ask Lou a few questions myself," Brian said as he and Kevin flanked AJ and Howie as they walked down the hall. It wasn't until the four men stepped on the elevator did the eldest member of the group speak.

"No one is going to say jack to Pearlman....I'm doing the talking and it would be best that you keep your butts in your hotel room where they belong. I need to have a sit down talk with him one on one. I've been keeping tabs on all the fuck ups that Pearlman has done over the past couple of months and according to my attorney, we have a good case going."

"What the fuck!?" AJ spat.

Kevin's glare bore down on the rebel. "Did you just hear what I said? You are not to go near Pearlman! You of all people will make this far worse than what it already is!" With that, once outside of the hospital, the elder Kentuckian hailed a taxi and they headed back to the hotel, the rest of the guys afraid to utter a word, almost certain they would rile Kevin's anger up more that it already was.

As Louis J. Pearlman shuffled into his hotel suite, the first thing he did was untuck his shirt from his pants. As he tossed the paperwork onto his bed, he reached into his front pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Setting the phone ontop of the king sized bed, the wet bar caught his eyes. Licking his lips, he decided that a stiff drink was in order before he even thought about placing a call back to that Carter woman.

Pulling the stopper out of the bottle of scotch, Pearlman placed three large ice cubes into the stout glass and then poured the honey colored liquor over the ice. Taking a large gulp, his bliss was short lived when his hotel phone started ringing. "Christ," the obese manager uttered as he waddled over toward the night stand. "Yeah?" he growled into the phone.

"Lou?"

Hearing the woman's voice on the receiver made the manager shudder inwardly for a brief moment. Taking another quick drink from his glass, he quickly regained his normal unflappable composure. "Jane.....I was just getting ready to call you---"

"I left several messages for you at the front desk," Jane Carter interrupted.

"..Yes, I know you have, it's just that I've been busy with the boys," Pearlman lied.

"You could have called me right back, I know that my Nicky has had surgery," Jane continued. She wasn't as easlily distracted as Denise McLean had been, Pearlman decided.

Lou cleared his throat and then let out a casual chuckle. "Yes, I know...that Nick was one sick young man but he is on the road to recovery..."

"But I've tried calling my baby and the hospital won't put my calls through!" Jane stated angrily.

"Yes, that was my doin' Mrs. Carter," Pearlman offered.

"But he's my son, I don't understand why you told them I couldn't speak to my own son!"

"Nick needs his rest and with him being over here Mrs. Carter," he started out, chuckling once again, "you don't realize how popular your son is, the people that try calling the hospital pretending to be you is unreal."

"Oh?" Jane's voice started to sound more soothed and Pearlman smiled.

"Why yes Jane, people are fighting to get to Nick and the people in England can get pretty wild...you know how those foreigners are. They all want to be Jane Carter."

"Well I suppose that's true," Jane cooed. "So how is my Nicky doing?"

"Your boy is doing wonderful ma'am. Would you like me to have him call you when I go up to see him today?"

Jane sighed, "If you could I'd really appreciate it."

"No problem, I'll try to arrange it so it won't be too late in the evening for you."

The older woman smiled. "You are always so thoughtful."

"Well after all you put me in charge of your son and I only want to do what's best for the young man," Pearlman smiled in his voice as he looked down at his glass of scotch.

"Thank you. I will look forward to hearing from Nick soon."

"And you will," Pearlman promised. "Talk to you soon Jane." With that being said, Pearlman abruptly ended the phone conversation. Draining the glass of the scotch, Pearlman grunted as he stood up. "Damn I am good..."

His state of being pleased with himself was shortlived when a loud knock was heard on his door.

"OPEN UP LOU....WE NEED TO TALK!"

Lou sighed as he made his way toward the door. "Hold your horses!" Pearlman barely had the door open when Kevin Richardson pried his way into the hotel room. "Richardson, you didn't have to stand out in the hall and yell like a maniac!" the obese manager chastized.

"Cut with bullshit! We need to talk about the shit you're doing to Nick," Kevin said as he locked eyes with the older man.

Nick laid awake in the hospital room, bored out of his mind. He clicked through the channels on the television with little interest. His thoughts drifted from his own misery to the guys, wondering what they were doing. He wondered why no one had been up to see him, not realizing that they had been up several times during the course of the week. Nick was starting to feel homesick and lonely.

Fingering the IV that was attached to the top of his hand, he wondered if he could just get up and leave. "Why couldn't I?" he thought outloud. "I really don't feel that bad....or at least bad enough to be laying in bed." With the sentence uttered, Nick grabbed the IV tube and quickly jerked it from his hand. A hiss escaped his lips when he felt the quick sting as the needle was drawn out of the vein.

"That sucks," he muttered as he tossed the tubing aside. Once his eyes caught the sight of the blood that was pooling off his hand onto the white sheets, Nick instantly regretted his idea when he started feeling faint.

"Awe fuck," he mumbled as he looked away from his bloody hand.

"Nickolas Carter! What in God's name!"

Nick jerked at the voice and discovered a stout nurse standing next to his bed, a hand clamped ontop of the hand that once held the IV. She wasn't there two seconds ago unless he....

"You are bleeding, and you fainted, you must have bumped the IV," the nurse said as she continued to apply pressure to the hand.

'Crap....I fainted,' Nick thought dismally. He looked over to the nurse and quickly looked away when he saw the blood soaked bed linens.

The woman pulled the bloodied cloth away from his hand inspecting the wound. "Looks like the bleeding stopped. You're lucky I came in when I did, you have quite a mess here."

Nick watched the woman with a sheepish expression on his face. He could add this to the list of his ever-growing 'Nick fuck ups.' Fortunately for him though, at least he was the only one that knew about this latest fiasco. AJ would definately have a field day if he knew that he tried to leave the hospital only to faint from the sight of his own blood! Kevin would lecture him until his face turned blue. At least Kevin was good about things like that. No matter how bad he messed up he could always count on a lecture from good ole Kevin Richardson. He rarely teased but often chastized!

The nurse caught the expression on her young patient's face. "Nickolas, is something bothering you?"

Shaking his head no, he sighed. "I guess I miss my friends is all."

She set about her task of washing the blood stains from his hand with a warm wash cloth. "I'm sure they'll be back to visit you soon."

"I wish," Nick mumbled.

The woman patted Nick softly on the shoulder. "They will, don't be so negative."

"It's kinda hard when they haven't even called or stopped up to see me."

"Nonsense! They were up here this morning."

"They were?"

"You don't remember?"

Nick shook his head. "I haven't seen them since they dropped me off."

The woman sighed. "Oh Nickolas.....those drugs the doctor has been giving you for pain has really clouded your mind, hasn't it?"

Hearing the nurse's words had Nick's face turn a shade of crimson from embarrassment.

"They have been up to see you many times and they are very good friends from what I've seen....there is one of your friends though that I do not like and I usually don't say bad things about people unless I know them but that one man is a bad character."

Nick frowned upon hearing the woman. The only person he could think of was AJ. What had AJ done now to piss off a nurse? "Who was it? Was he really skinny?"

The woman shook her head. "No he was an older, sweaty fat man..."

Nick let out a sigh of relief. "Oh that's my manager, Lou."

"He is a sneaky man...he actually paid the nurses to keep quiet about the television show he did the other day....oh now I've said too much!"

"What television show?"

"I have charting to do, is there anything I can get you? I have a call in for the IV nurse to come up and restart your IV....Can I get you some juice or icewater perhaps?"

"No thanks....so what about the television show?"

"I'll check back with you later Nickolas," the nurse stated as she left the room, abruptly ending the conversation.

Sighing, Nick sank his head back into the pillow. He wondered what the television show that the nurse mentioned was all about. As much as he wanted to remember, he couldn't. He instantly chalked it up to being sick and decided he could ask one of the guys when they came up. 'If they come up,' Nick mentally shouted. Although the nurse assured him that his friends had been up to see him, once again, Nick found himself questioning if they truely had been up to see him since the day they dropped him off at the hospital.

He'd be damned if he could remember.

There was one thing that Louis J. Pearlman prided himself on and that was the ability to remain calm in any situation. Even when the situation involved an angry Kevin Richardson. Pearlman calmly walked over toward the wet bar, tossing ice cubes into the stout glass.

"I was just about to have a scotch, would you like anything?"

Kevin trained his emerald green stare at the obese man. "No," he replied crisply.

Pearlman nodded his head to indicate that he heard the man's refusal on the offered drink and slowly poured the liquor over the ice. "So what brings you up to my suite?"

Kevin looked around the room when Pearlman called his hotel room a suite. It was suddenly starting to add up to the eldest band member. They were living out of their suitcases, doing show after show without a break while this man was living it up, expenses weren't an issue for him!

"We need to talk about what you're doing to Nick!"

After dropping his heavy frame onto the plush love seat, Pearlman took a large swallow of his drink. "Doing to Nick? I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

"Cut the shit!" Kevin growled. "You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

Sticking an index finger into the drink, the manager push an ice cube around absently. "I'm not doing anything to Carter."

Kevin stood in front of the manager, glaring down at him. "That poor kid is laying in a hospital because he was too scared to say anything to anyone when he first got sick!"

Pearlman took another sip of the liquor. "Not my fault the kid is stupid."

"Nick is far from stupid Lou! Nick is a very intelligent young man....it's just that you have him so scared that he is afraid of what you'll threaten him with when he does admit when he is sick."

"Carter whines so much you get a little sick of it," Pearlman defended.

"Appendicitis wouldn't be something that any one person would whine about."

"Did he even say anything to you when he got sick?"

"Not at first, but it all made sense to me once he finally admitted to feeling bad I just didn't see the signs and I blame myself for that."

"Quit trying to act like a martyr Richardson. That Carter kid is a hypochondriac and pretty soon we all get sick of hearing how sick he is. Half of Carter's problem is his stomach and what he eats and when he eats it's too much. Nothing but junk food at that."

Kevin dragged a hand through his hair in an effort to try to calm himself. Staring at the fat man sitting in front of him, Kevin wanted more than anything to grab him by the shirt and punch him in the face!

"You are trying to avoid what I'm talking to you about!"

"That Carter whines 98% of the time? I don't think I've been avoiding that topic," Lou replied with an eerie calmness.

"God.....would you just shut the fuck up and listen to what I'm trying to tell you?" Kevin hissed. The words that he had chosen got the manager's attention. It was a rare thing when Kevin would utter the word 'fuck' and this time he said it with emphasis. "I know that you had that poor kid on live television yesterday afternoon!"

"That's absurd!"

"You had the fucking audacity to have a live feed from his hospital room to MTV and you threatened people to keep their mouths shut!"

Pearlman's face grew red. "Who told you that nonsense?"

"It doesn't matter, that fact is I know and I'm going to my lawyer and tell him all about the little games you've been playing since day one! Your hold over Nick is going to end today!"

"You're just going on hearsay and that my friend will not hold up in court," Pearlman replied calmly.

"I have witnesses--"

"Sure you do and I'm the King of England," Pearlman hissed. He motioned with his hand for Kevin to walk away. "Now if you don't mind, I have work to do so please close the door softly on your way out the door."

Kevin shook his head. "You're unbelievable. Didn't you just hear that I said I have witnesses?"

"Do you think that Backstreet is the only band on the face of the earth? All the bands out there have had worse things go on in their little circle. You'd be laughed out of court Richardson." Pearlman struggled up from the loveseat and waddled toward the entrance. "Now you can leave the easy way or I can place a call to hotel security...."

"Don't think this will be the last you've heard about this," Kevin promised as he opened the door.

Pearlman closed the door and smiled as he drank the last of the liquor in his glass. "I wouldn't expect anything else."

"Good morning! Breakfast!"

Nick's eyes fluttered open as the young aide brought in his breakfast tray. From his last day's experiences, breakfast was hardly what he would have called it! Pressing the button on the bed, he elevated himself to a sitting position and then eyed the covered plates suspeciously. He lifted the lid covering a coffee mug and discovered hot tea.....the same beverage that has been served to him for the past few days.

Normally Nick would pass on drinking hot tea but decided that it actually made him feel a little better after he drank it. Besides the hot tea, he also got a glass of apple juice - so far so good, he decided.

For a few minutes he just drank the tea, figuring that underneath the covered lids would be nothing but chicken broth or even worse - cream of wheat! That definately was not one of his favorite breakfast foods. Nick discovered that if he loaded the white substance with tons of white sugar from all of the packets he saved he could at least stomach it.

Taking a deep breath, Nick finally reached up and lifted a lid on the largest plate. His mouth dropped open in shock when he was met with a plate of scambled eggs and three strips of bacon! He figured he had just died and gone to heaven!

He wasted no time in plowing a fork into the eggs, savoring each bite. His happiness was suddenly interrupted when Lou Pearlman entered the hospital room.

"I see they're letting you eat real food, boy," Pearlman said as he neared the bed.

All Nick could do was nod since his mouth was full of scrambled eggs.

"Don't stop eating, this makes for a good photo op," the manager continued with a smug smirk on his face.

Before Nick could ask what Lou was talking about, a group of people entered the room with cameras.

"Go ahead....I can't predict how much time you can have," Lou barked.

As soon as the words were uttered, the photographers set about snapping picture after picture.

"Keep eating Nick, this is what they came to shoot," Pearlman coached.

Nick dropped his fork and shoved the breakfast tray away. "I've kinda lost my appetite."

The action set the obese manager into a rage. "You start eating now!"

Tearfully, Nick obeyed his manager, silently begging himself not to allow the tears that blurred his vision to fall.

"Nick, are you feeling better?" A female reporter asked with a thick English accent.

All Nick could do was nod his head yes in reply. He felt that if he tried to talk it would come off sounding weak and whiney.

"Are you still in pain?" another reporter asked amid the sounds of camera shutters whirling.

"I bet your mum is worried sick about you being so far from home!"

His mom! The one person Nick was sure he hadn't heard from! He missed her and he missed his brother and sisters so much. Why hadn't they called? Did they even know he was sick and in the hospital? The tears that Nick tried to keep at bay finally fell.

Seeing that Nick was crying Lou finally called off the photo shoot. "Thats enough for now! I do not want to see any pictures of the boy crying and if I do, I will find out who did it and there will be charges pressed. Thank you for stopping by."

With that the small group of photographers stopped taking pictures and immediately left the room.

"W-why hasn't my mom called?" Nick sobbed to the manager after the press left.

"She has called but you've been either sleeping or too doped up to talk to her," the manager lied.

"C-can I-I c-call h-her n-now?" Nick stuttered.

"Y-you c-can't t-talk," Pearlman mocked.

Nick took a shaky breath in, trying to calm his voice. "I.....really..... want.... to," he said slowly.

"Time difference right now son. It's four o'clock in the morning in Florida, you'd wake the entire house up and I doubt your mother would appreciate that."

Lou was right, Nick decided. "So I can call her this afternoon?"

"If you're not high as a kite I imagine you can," the manager replied.

His answer satisifed the blonde for the time being as he wiped the tears from his cheeks. He mentally made a note to himself not to ask for any pain meds until he got the chance to call home. Before he could say anything more, a nurse breezed into the room. She took one look at him and then glared at the manager.

"I think you're upsetting my patient, you better leave!"

"What makes you think I'm upsetting Carter?" Pearlman challenged.

"Because he has been crying and he looks upset," the older woman answered as she folded her arms across her chest.

"For your information, he is homesick and misses his family," Lou replied.

The nurse looked at Nick. "Is this true?"

"Yes," Nick replied quietly.

"Well I do not appreicate you parading a bunch of people from the media in to his room. People bring germs and germs can make my patient more sick than what he already is!"

"That my dear, is none of your business or concern," Pearlman spat back in defense.

"It is all rubbish!" the nurse sputtered as she set about her task of checking Nick's vitals. No one spoke in the room while the nurse worked. Before the woman left the room, she threated the manager. "I'm calling the doctor to see what he has to say about all this nonesense and I can almost bet he will not be pleased at all." With that, the nurse stormed out of the room.

"What the hell is that woman's problem," Pearlman asked as he waddled over to the door, closing it softly behind him. Dragging a chair out from the corner of the room, he set it beside the bed and sat down with a huff. "There are a few things I need to discuss with you boy, and since you're coherent it's best to talk things over now."

Nick drew a breath in. The door to his hospital room was closed, Louis J. Pearlman sitting next to his bed and the phrase things I need to discuss with you boy had been uttered. In Nick's opinion, this was not looking like it was going to be a good conversation. Hell, it wasn't going to be a conversation at all - more like Lou talking and him listening, Nick decided. There was nothing he could do in this situation, and he knew that Lou knew that! No witnesses, no place to run.

Exactly the way Louis J. Pearlman always conducted business! In a captive setting.