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Making his way down the hallway to the elevators, Brian's eyes wandered from door to door, his curiousity getting the best of him as he peeked into a few rooms, his heart strings being tugged as he noticed a few children scattered amongst the patients. Letting out a long sigh, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, a chill running through him as he shuddered. A frown surfaced on his face and he halted momentarily, half wanting to turn back and double check on the candle he had lit.

Deciding against the thought, he hurried back to the elevators, shoving the button in and arriving on the first floor a few seconds later. His phone rang the second he stepped out of the lift, and he bit back a sigh, tugging it out of his pocket.
"Littrell."
"Bri, you need to get back here." Howie was sighing, his voice sounding tired and strained.
"What happened?"
"Just get back here."
"I'll be there in a sec." Brian disconnected the phone, hurrying back into the waiting room to find his bandmates all talking softly, looking worried, his heart clenching in his chest. "What's going on? Did you guys find something out?" Kevin shook his head slowly,
"Dr. Peterson is on his way." The words were just out of Kevin's mouth when the double doors swung open, Dr. Peterson walking through them looking tired and aged.

"Good afternoon gentlemen." He sighed, standing before them. "Mr. Littrell, if you would?" He gestured for the younger man to take a seat and Brian quickly did so, falling into the chair next to Kevin.
"Is Nick okay?" AJ demanded, his brown eyes narrowed as he tried to keep his patience.
"Mr. Carter is stable but not in the best condition."
"Well what the hell happened?!"
"AJ!" Kevin reprimanded, shooting the younger man a glare before turning his emerald gaze back to the doctor. "I'm sorry, please understand, we're just worried about Nick. I mean, things seemed to be going okay and then this suddenly happens? It doesn't make much sense."

"I'm not quite sure how to say this," Dr. Peterson began, "Okay, see, the medicine Nick was taking was not checked properly by the person administering it-"
"Which would be you?" AJ cut in, earning him a deep prod in the ribs from Howie.
"Shut up and let him talk." The Latino hissed, ignoring AJ's cry of protest.
"No, actually, it wasn't me. The second doctor I have in command is in charge of giving Nick his chemotherapy treatments. For reasons unbeknownst to myself, he failed to cross reference the contents with Nick's medical history records. The added effect of the drug not being tested fully had a backwards effect on Nick. Instead of helping decrease the tumors in his lungs, they caused them to increase. The increase of the tumors interferred with Nick's breathing and the medicine that he was allergic to, threw him into a state of septic shock. "

"I'm sorry," Kevin stated, a large frown on his face. "Let me understand this completely, YOUR doctor didn't make sure the medicine he gave Nick was compatible with his system? And because of that, not only is his cancer WORSE but he now is in some other state of medical peril? Is that correct?"
"Bascially." Dr. Peterson sighed. "Look, this has never happened before in the 35 years I've been here. I can assure you that the person who has made this error has been let go and we are-"
"Look, I really don't think any of us give a damn about the shithole that did this." AJ muttered, shaking his head. "What the fuck does all this mean for Nicky?"
"Jay-"
"Shut UP Brian!" The rebel snapped, leaning forward. "I'll ask you again Dr. Peterson, what does all this mean for Nick?"
"It means that like Mr. Richardson stated, Nick's cancer has unfortunately gotten worse."
"How worse?" Brian whispered, clutching the armrests so tightly his arms were beginning to hurt.
"Not drastically worse but enough to be concerned about."
"And the septic shock?" Howie inquired. "What does that mean?"
"The septic shock caused Nick's blood pressure to severely drop and caused his blood flow to weaken, which would explain his collapse. The shock also caused his lungs, kidneys and heart to temporarily falter in their functioning. We almost lost him but were able to rebalance his system but the onslaught of the septic shock, coupled with Nick's cancer and already weakend system has left him in a state of unconciousness."

"He's in a COMA?!" AJ pratcially shrieked, his eyes going as wide as they could. Brian had lost all the color in his face, his heart feeling as though it had stopped at the doctors explanation. Kevin was sitting ramrod in his seat, his eyes cold and unforgiving as he stared at the man before him, his features set in stone. Howie simply gaped, his brown eyes soft and sad as he tried to process all the information.
"Not a clinical defined coma, no." The doctor corrected, rubbing a hand over his face. "Nick's state of unconciousness is not deep enough to be classified as a coma but the sooner he wakes up, the better. Until then, we have placed him on a respirator because we were unsure he would be able to keep a regular pace in his breathing."
"C-can we see him?"
"One at a time, yes." Dr. Peterson nodded. "He's on the 5th floor, room 525." The doctor made to leave and hesitated for a moment, his eyes regretful. "I'm sorry for all of this. I'm doing everything in my power to fight this." With that, he turned and moved from the room, leaving the four men sitting in a shocked silence, their world slowly crumbling beneath them.

The minutes seemed to crawl by as the four men sat wrapped up in a suffocating silence, all of their thoughts racing much to fast for any of them to comprehend. . It wasn't until Kevin finally shook himself from the stupor, clearing his throat and startling the others back into reality. He slowly got to his feet, moving in front of his three brothers, looking down upon them with a understanding gaze. AJ, Howie & Brian all looked up slowly at the eldest, watching as he assumed a timeless postion, one he had taken before too many times to count.
This was where Kevin emeresed himself in his 'big brother' role, trying desperately to shoulder the burdern and pain his younger friends were feeling. He wanted to do the same to Nick, wished with all his heart and soul that he could sweep Nick's suffering away. But there was nothing he could do. The thought entered his mind as he stood there before them, his mouth running dry. How was he supposed to shelter them? How was he supposed to protect them? Convince them everything would be okay? When he himself was unsure of the possibilities. Letting out a breath, he dragged a hand over his face.

"Fellas," Kevin began slowly. "I know things look bad right now but-"
"Things ARE bad right now." AJ cut in, shaking his head. "You can't use a motivational speech to save us from this one Kev." He sat back slowly in his chair as he shook his head. "This isn't shit with Lou or JIVE, this isn't family problems or girl problems. This is real."
"AJ just let him talk." Howie sighed, feeling exhausted. This was too much for one day.
"Talking isn't going to fix this! Telling us things are gonna be okay isn't going to fix the fact that Nick is practically in a coma with worse cancer than what he came in with!" AJ was on his feet in a second, his temper rising as frustration washed over him. "NOTHING, especially some fuckin speech, is going to fix this!"
"Stop it Jay." Kevin said softly, "Just stop."

"You have to have faith AJ." Came Brian's soft drawl as he sat with his eyes on the floor, hands clasped tightly together.
"Faith? FAITH?" AJ repeated incredulously. "Faith is BULLSHIT!"
"AJ!" Kevin hissed, narrowing his eyes. "Knock it off!"
"How can you possibly still have faith after all of this?!"
"How can you not?" Brian asked quietly, finally meeting his younger friend's angry gaze. "How can you tell Nick to have faith that things will work out but have none of your own?"
"This is crap." AJ muttered, shoving his hands deep into his pocket. "I don't even wanna talk about this." He turned away from the group, slowly making his way out of the room. "Where are you going?" Kevin called after him, as AJ continued to walk away. "AJ!"
"Where do you think Kevin?" The younger man replied as he reached the doorway. "To see Nick."

With that, he left the room, quickly finding the elevators and hopping into one. He bounced rapidly on the balls of his feet as he waited to get to the 5th floor, watching the doors slide open for a moment before stepping out and glancing at the signs.
AJ found Nick's room a second later, a nurse exiting through the door as he approached. She looked up as he got closer and he saw her do a double take, making him wish he had his sunglasses. "Um, are you here to see Mr. Carter?"
"Yeah." AJ's voice was just a whisper, his body feeling as though it was moving in slow motion, his heart pounding in his ears. Trying to shake the feelings off, he cleared his throat, moving closer to the door. "Yeah, I am." A slow smile crossed her face and she gently pushed the door open, waiting for AJ to move, "You can go in." She said gently, "It's okay." AJ simply nodded, finally getting his body to move forward so he was standing half into the doorway. "Uh, thanks." A half-hearted smiled fell across his features and she shruged, beginning to head down the hallway. "No problem." She disappeared a moment later, leaving him alone. Taking a deep breath, he shoved the door open, not even hearing it as it banged shut behind him.