Laying on the couch, Nick tried to find a comfortable position to ease his stomach and the pain that was in his back. Since he had returned from Japan, the nausea had never went away and Nick knew he was running a slight temperature. Instead of heeding the doctor's advice to get himself checked out when he returned to the states, Nick tried to doctor himself and took any and every over the counter medication and home remidie could lay his hands on.

Positioning himself on his back, Nick tried to will the pain to go away.

"Okay, it's going from my stomach towards my back and into the couch," Nick mumbled out loud to one of his dogs that decided to keep an eye on it's master. The dog cocked his head off to one side as Nick mumbled and moaned from the pain.

Annoyed with the pain and the nausea, Nick gingerly sat up and grabbed the cordless telephone from the coffee table. "Dammit, this isn't getting any better!"

Hitting star 5 on the keypad, he waited a few moments for Howie to answer the telephone.

"Howie, this is Nick."

"Hey speak up, I can barely hear you," Howie sharply advised.

Clearing his throat, Nick tried again. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can make it for the cruise."

"What? What's wrong? Why can't you go, we've already had programs made up, people are expecting you Nicky. It's too late to change anything since we leave tomorrow!"

"I know.. I know and I'm really sorry too, but...." Nick hesitated when it came time for the explanation. He debated on telling Howie the truth, the he was sick, but that was getting a little too old. "I.. um, well, there's a family emergency. I'm sorry but I just can't make it."

"Is everything okay?" Howie asked quietly.

Nick could hear the disappointment in his friend's voice. He felt badly for abandoning him with Caroline's charity. He wanted to talk some more, but his stomach was telling him that he needed to be doing something else.

"I'm sorry D, but I gotta go."

Not even waiting for a reply from Howie's side of the phone conversation, Nick shut the phone off and quickly darted to the bathroom before he got sick on the floor.

'God, when is this going to stop?' Nick wondered as he knelt down and waited to make sure he was finished being sick. He tried to think back about when this had all started. The part that scared him the most was that he couldn't remember when he didn't feel sick.

Wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand, Nick slowly stood up and walked towards the bathroom sink. Looking in the mirror at his pale reflection, he noticed the dark circles under his eyes. The mumps were finally gone and his face and neck were back to normal proportions. Splashing cool water on his face, he missed the intended target and a handful of water hit his chest, soaking the front of the tee shirt.

Nick shook his head as he left the bathroom in search of a dry shirt. "Can't do anything right lately," he mumbled as he opened the dresser drawer and pulled a frest shirt out. Slipping it off, Nick caught sight of himself in the full length mirror. The mumps had left, but his stomach still looked swollen and distended.

He thought it was odd that although he had been getting sick everyday 3 or 4 times a day since he can remember back from Japan, he looked like he was gaining weight instead of losing it. "I guess I really need to be really serious about going on a diet," Nick decided as he pulled the shirt on.

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