"Maybe you can talk some sense into his thick skull Brian, God knows I've tried," Jane Carter remarked as she paced the floor of the hotel suite her husband and she were sharing.

"What exactly did Nick say to you, Mrs. Carter?" Brian questioned as he watched Nick's mother pace.

Jane stopped abruptly and turned to face Brian. "Oh, it was just so crazy, not normal of Nick at all. I'm really worried about him. He was almost fighting us like a wild animal about getting on the plane to begin with."

A slight grin crossed Brian's lips. "Well, you know Nick---"

She interupted, "No, it wasn't a fear of flying fight it was more like an 'I don't want to Aspen' fight. It was like he just simply didn't want to have anything to do with us at all. I just don't understand Nick anymore. And during the entire flight he just gave us almost evil looks and buried his face in either comic books or completely ignored any attempts at conversations with headphones on."

"Again, Mrs. Carter, that's Nick. I honestly don't see anything unusual about this," Brian stated in Nick's defense.

The smile on Brian's face vanished when he saw the tears brimming in the woman's eyes, a look of despiration on her face.

"If you think it will help, I can talk to Nick and see what's wrong," Brian suggested as he started to stand.

"Brian, don't you suspect something is wrong? Am I just being paranoid or crazy?"

"You're not being crazy or paranoid, you're concerned about Nick, as we all are. I have been suspecting something is wrong for a few months, but I haven't really said anything to Nick up to this point."

Jane turned to face Brian. "You have? Are you suspecting drug use too?"

Brian paled when he heard Jane's accusations.

"N-no, not drug use, that thought never came into my mind at all," he stammered.

"Oh god," Jane gasped, "what are you suspecting?"

"Well, I've been worried that Nick might be bullemic," Brian stated quietly.

"Bullemic?" Jane looked at Brian, wide-eyed.

"Well, the pieces kinda fit. I remember Nick starting to throw up on the way to Japan and then I really noticed that he was throwing up more so after eating. Then he said he had the mumps, but gosh, it looked like Nick was gaining weight all over at first and mumps don't make you gain weight." Brian leaned closer to Jane, as if Nick was in the room and he didn't want him to hear what he was saying. "Can't you see how big he's gotten over the past two months? And he's carrying it all in his stomach too."

As she placed her hand over her mouth, Jane nodded in agreement.

"Brian, you should have seen the state he was in when I went to his house after he backed out of Howie's cruise. He looked so depressed, the house was dark and filthy, I'm thinking drugs but yes, he does look like he's let himself go, and it's been talked about in the press too."

Brian pulled Jane Carter into a tight hug. "I'll talk to him, see if I can get through to him, don't worry, okay? It's going to be alright."

"Thanks Brian."

Almost immediately after Brian knocked on the door, it was answered by a worried looking Aaron.

"Hi Brian," he sighed.

"Hey kiddo, I need to talk to Nick in private, is it okay?" Brian asked as he messed up the younger boys hair.

Aaron shrugged his shoulders as he slipped between Brian and the open door. "Good luck, he won't talk to me."

Brian entered the hotel room finding Nick laying in bed, back propped up with pillows, staring at the television set.

"Hey buddy, what's on ESPN?" Brian asked, searching for an opening to a converstation with Nick. The only reply Brian received was no acknowledgement of the question, Nick just slowly blinking his eyes, staring at the screen.

Exasperated, Brian took a chair from the corner of the room, slapped the television set off with the back of his hand. Without missing a beat, Brian took the chair and positioned it directly in front of Nick.

"Okay, something's bothering you and the only way I can help you is to talk to you and you talk to me," Brian stated in a calm voice.

Nick folded his arms across his chest, set his jaw and glared at his best friend.

"Okay, I see you're not going to be easy to get to this time. Please Nick, let me hlep you. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. I'm worried about you," Brian pleaded.

After a few minutes of Brian's begging and practically whining to Nick, he finally was rewarded.

"Mom sent you down here."

Nick's voice was void of emotion, his eyes still contained an angry glare, the arms still folded.

Brian leaned forward. "I'm not gonna lie to you, she hinted, but I offered to come down and talk to you. We're just worried about you buddy, I'm seriously worried sick."

Nick's 'tough guy' mode didn't last long as tears started slipping down his cheeks.

"Aww Nick, come on, please talk, I won't jump to conclusions or make judgements," Brian soothed.

Wiping the tears away from his eyes, Nick sighed. "I-I d-don't kn-now."

Taking a deep breath, Nick tried to calm his emotions. When he got upset, he always stuttered.

"It's okay Nick, I'm listening," Brian said softly.

"Everyone thinks I'm doing drugs. I'm not. Why does everyone think I'm doing drugs?"

"I don't."

Finally Nick toko the hardened glare from his eyes and looked directly at Brian. "You don't?"

Brian shook his head.

"Then what do you think is wrong, cause obviously you must think something's wrong," Nick spat.

That was famous for Nick, put his walls of defense around him if someone came close to figuring out what was bugging him when he was upset or angry.

"You want me to be honest with you, right?"

"No, I want you to lie to me," Nick replied in a voice thick with sarcasm.

"I think you're bullemic," Brian replied, barely able to look Nick in the eyes.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Oh? I wished I was Brian, maybe then I could lose this," he pulled his sweater away from his stomach for emphasis.

"You've been trying to lose weight though, right?"

"No, not really. I mean Bruce yelled about eating lettuce and crap, but I honestly haven't done much of anything about it. I mean, I would love to try but you would think throwing up at least twice a day would have made me thinner and all it's done for me is made my stomach tender and anything I do manage to keep down sticks to my fucking waist. I don't know why. I'm sick and it's got to have something to do with the mumps I got in Japan. No one is listening to me, they just accuse me of being on drugs. I'm sick of fighting with everyone. I just want everyone to leave me alone."

"Aww Nick," Brian reached out to put a hand on Nick's shoulder.

Nick swatted the hand away. "Leave me alone."

"Nick?"

The angry glare was once again on his face, jaw set, arms folded tightly across his chest. The window of getting through to him was once again closed.

Brian stood up and placed the chair back into the corner. "Call me Nick when you're ready to talk again, okay? I'm here to listen to you, alright?"

Reluctantly, Brian left the room. Thoughts were running through his mind as to who could possibly get through to Nick. Someone needed to get him to get the help he was in desperate need of but who could he turn to before it's too late?

Nick swallowed hard as the door clicked shut. "Why didn't I just tell Brian everything?" he wondered. "No one will listen to my problems, Brian wouldn't understand either," Nick mumbled.