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“Howie, do something!” AJ shrieked, not realizing how ridiculous the command sounded. He stood nailed to the spot, staring with shock-filled eyes at the sight before him. He’d watched in amazement as Nick had suddenly slumped down in one of the chairs like a ragdoll, completely lifeless. He’d wanted to rush to his side, but Howie had stopped him without offering any words of explanation.

“Don’t!” was the only thing he’d hissed.

AJ had frowned, unable to make a lick of sense of the situation. Howie was watching with growing interest and a tiny bit of apprehension. In truth; there was more than one reason he’d dragged Nick back to the hospital after all. The strange, unnamed connection between his two bandmates had fascinated him from the first moment he had found out about it in the ambulance. Of course, he had no idea what it was or if it served a purpose, but if anyone could reach Brian, it was Nick.

Desperate times asked for desperate measures.

Howie watched the two like a hawk, not paying attention to AJ, who had sprinted out of the room to go and get help. He clenched his jaw, feeling the tension grow in the pit of his stomach. Nick’s head was bowed, his brow furrowed in concentration, seemingly in trance. His right hand was clasped in Brian’s with a death-like grip. Howie didn’t know what was going on between them, or if anything even was going on.

It was one of the strangest things he had ever witnessed in his life.

At first, Brian didn’t react at all, but after a minute or so, the injured singer began to move slightly. Howie bit his lip and wondered if he should interfere, if this was even remotely safe. Nick remained as still as before, only wincing slightly when Brian’s grip tightened around his hand. Brian, on the other hand, seemed to get more and more agitated as the seconds ticked by; his breathing speeding to rattling, shallow gasps and his eyelids fluttering wildly. His heart was beating too fast and Howie watched the monitors nervously as he heard the younger man moan in distress around the tube in his mouth.

And just when Howie decided that he had to do something to stop it, it ended. Nick’s head shot up and the youngest band member gasped as if he was waking up from a bad dream. At that moment, AJ rushed back into the room, panting and his face revealing his absolute state of panic. He was closely followed by doctor Ferris, who seemed just as tense.

“Wh-?” AJ gasped, out of breath.

Howie looked at him for one more second before turning his attention back to the bed. Nick sat there, motionless with a dazed and exhausted expression on his face, his hand still trapped in Brian’s. The wounded singer on the bed had calmed down in a matter of seconds, and for a moment, it was like nothing had ever happened at all.

“What is going on here?” Doctor Ferris grumbled.

“They were… we were… and then…” AJ panted, still panicked and unable to decide if he should focus on Brian, Nick or Howie as he pointed his finger in their directions.

“We didn’t do anything,” Howie hissed, “Right Nick?”

“Uhh-,” Nick slowly turned his head as he realized he was being addressed.

“I saw-,” AJ rushed.

“You didn’t see anything!” Howie interrupted.

“I’m not crazy!”

“People, calm down!” Ferris interfered as he raised his hands, “Now, someone tell me why this young man was running through the ICU in complete panic mode,” he demanded, gesturing at AJ.

“Well, we-” Howie began, but was silenced by a sudden choking sound coming from the bed.

He instantly turned around. Brian’s eyes were wide-open; confusion and distress clearly written out in his expression as he gasped for breath in choking coughs.

Nick, who was closest, jumped up from his chair and hovered over his friend, not knowing what to do, other than squeezing their still connected hands and calling out Brian’s name to get him to focus.

AJs face paled as he remembered a similar situation from a few days prior. His bandmate had woken up in panic and tried to pull the breathing tube out of his mouth that was causing him to feel like he was being suffocated. AJ and a few nurses had prevented him from doing that, but hadn’t been able to keep the flailing singer from ripping out the stitches in his leg. AJ shivered as he remembered the blood that had suddenly been soaking the covers on the spot where Brian’s leg…

He shook his head, realizing that it was different now.

Nick and Howie were successful in calming Brian down considerably, while doctor Ferris studied the monitors with a confused frown. He began to talk in a hushed tone and AJ saw Brian nod in understanding a few times.

He felt slightly left out when he saw smiles appearing on both Howie and Nick’s faces.

“What?” AJ called out and stepped closer, suddenly remembering he could move. The other four ignored him completely.

“You,” Ferris pointed at Howie, “I want you to help him sit up as straight as possible, can you do that?”

Howie nodded eagerly, quickly wrapping his left arm around Brian’s shoulders and he propped he younger singer up against him as he sat on the head of the bed.

Brian winced and squeezed his eyes closed at the pain that flared through his body with the sudden movements.

“Alright, Brian?” Ferris stated, trying to get the attention of his patient. Brian opened his eyes and stared back at him questioningly.

Ferris nodded in confirmation, clasping his hand around the breathing tube. “Okay, now I need you to take a deep breath and blow out as hard as you can, alright? Breathing will feel pretty awful the first few minutes, but it will gradually become easier, trust me.”

AJ watched intently as Brian nodded. The older man took a deep breath and Ferris pulled. The first few minutes, Brian was barely able to breath and AJ bit his lip in desperation as he saw his friend gasp and choke and double over in coughing fits. The awful, rattling sounds that accompanied the pneumonia seemed even more pronounced now that the tube was out and AJ could hear Brian wheeze with every breath he took. Then, to his relief, his friend gradually stopped choking and coughing and fell back against Howie, completely exhausted.

Ferris nodded in satisfaction and took a step back.

“You did well, kid,” he said with a smile, “Very impressive. Welcome back.”