Brian looked at his sleeping friend warily. It seemed like it was the sixth nap Nick had taken at the studio today. Each day he napped more and more often, and trying more and more to skip out of lunch break and saying the he wasn’t hungry and would rather rest.

This was all starting to get a little overwhelming to Brian and he felt as if he were being pulled in different directions; Nick on one side and Leighanne on the other. Although her last visit at the doctors office was routine, Dr. Hunter voiced his concerns at any thoughts of her traveling away from the area before she delievered. So now Leighanne was grounded in Georgia and Brian was stuck in Florida.

Brian jerked when he felt a hand on his shoulder. As he turned toward the source he felt his heart pounding hard against his chest. “Kevin, you scared the shit out of me!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Running a tired hand through his tousled hair, Brian let out a shaky breath. “It’s okay.”

Kevin followed his cousin’s gaze towards the corner of the room where Nick laid sleeping on the couch. “He pushes himself too hard,” Kevin observed.

Sighing, Brian nodded in agreement. “I know he does. I’m quoting AJ when I say, Nick’s always been a stubborn jackass.” He smiled in spit of himself and as suddenly as the smile appeared, it quickly faded.

Kevin looked questionably at Brian. “What’s wrong?”

Shaking his head, Brian walked over toward the table where the song sheets laid, busying himself with straightening up the stacks. “If the mixing goese well, this album should be a wrap.”

Kevin placed a hand on the young man’s forearm, stopping him in his task of cleaning up the studio. “Brian, talk to me, tell me what’s wrong.”

Hesitating only for a moment, Brian quickly shook his head and continued organizing the piles. Sensing that his cousin had him fixed in his gaze, Brian finally stopped his work and faced the man with tear filled eyes. “I’m just so worried about Nick,” he said. The strong southern accent was broken up as his voice cracked, betraying him. “Was your father ever this tired when he was sick? I mean, maybe you don’t remember seeing it, but did Aunt Ann ever say anything about him being so tired?”

Kevin shrugged his shoulders. “Every person is different and cancer is so different. You’re his patient advocate, maybe you need to get a little more agressive with Nick.”

Brian shook his head. “I don’t know if he’d want--”

“Brian, Nick made you his patient advocate to make decisions for him when he wasn’t well enough to make them,” Kevin interrupted. “I think now’s the time to start.”

“Well, maybe I could suggest something to him, maybe he’ll listen,” Brian replied.

As Kevin opened his mouth to reply, AJ and Howie pushed their way through the heavy door that separated the sound room from the control room.

“That was so fuckin’ awesome D.... god,” AJ grinned, slapping a hand on Howie’s back as they entered the room.

Kevin tossed a warning glare towards the two men while nodding toward the sleeping Nick.

“Ooops,” AJ whispered. Looking at the blond laying on the couch, he added, “Sorry Nicky.”

The intercom to the recording room clicked on and a deep voice announced happily over the microphone, “It’s a wrap guys. Good job!”

Instead of feeling the usual joy from finishing another cut on the album, each men felt a mixture of finality tinged with sadness. Nick had pushed to finish this album, and now it was growing closer. Their banter after a successful recording session would lead towards when they would start a tour but now only a heavy silence hung in the air, silence that was broken by an occasional soft snore coming from the corner of the room.

Reluctantly, Brian approached the couch, tapping his sleeping brother lightly on the shoulder. “Nick? Nick, wake up.”

As soon as his eyelids fluttered open, Nick stretched his body out in a cat-like manner.

“We’re done recording for the day.”

Rubbing a hand across his eyes, Nick slowly sat up. “No, let’s keep on going, I’m awake now.”

Kevin looked down at the young man sitting on the edge of the couch, sleep still fresh on his face. He could only smirk and shake his head.

“Why on Earth do you want to push yourself, Nick?” Brian questioned as he folded his arms across his chest.

“It’s just something I need to do, I can’t explain it.” As Nick stood up, a wave of dizziness swept over him and he fell back onto the couch.

“See! You’re pushing yourself way too hard,” Kevin admonished.

“I’m fine...really, just stood up too fast I guess and got a head rush,” Nick sheepishly replied.

“Nick, come on, I’ll take you back to the house.”

Nick pulled away from Brian as he reached out for an arm. “I’m fine. Let’s just start recording.” Leaning over towards a box that was situated next to the couch, Nick started shuffling through sheets of paper. “You’re My Baby Girl, wasn’t that the next cut we have to work on?”

“The next cut is called Nick is gonna get his ass kicked if he doesn’t listen to Kev and call it a day,” AJ said pointidly.

Tears of frustration pooled in the young man’s blue eyes.

“Aww, Nicky,” Brian sighed as he quickly placed a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder.

As he shook his head, Nick was determined not to let the tears fall. He was embarrassed that his emotions surfaced but he was also angry with the limitations his body had posed with the fatigue from the radiation. He kept thinking he was going to have the side effects of the radiation beat this time around.

The recording manager, Jake clicked on the intercom to the recording room. “Shall I plan on seeing you guys tomorrow morning again?”

“I think Nick needs a couple of days to rest,” Kevin decided outloud.

“No, we’ll be here tomorrow morning, nine o’clock,” Nick protested, his voice waivering.

“Kid, you can barely speak, what makes you think you’ll be better in the morning?” AJ questioned.

“Nick, you can’t keep pushing yourself, you need to rest,” Howie added, concern showing in his eyes.

“I have to do this, okay? We’ll be here tomorrow morning,” Nick repeated, his voice still weak from the overwhelming fatigue.

Music softly playing on the car stereo, AJ guided Nick’s car through the busy Tampa streets. Thoughts were running through his mind. Flipping the visor down to shield his eyes from the unrelenting Florida sunshine, AJ mentally reprimanded himself for forgetting to take his sunglasses with him when he left the stuido this afternoon.

A smile tugged at his lips when ‘I’ll Make Love to You’ started playing over the radio. Nick always had the knack for making dumb comments and he never lived down the remark for stating that Boys II Men was a group of more than two people.

AJ stole a glance at his sleeping brother but his attention was quickly jerked toward the road again when he heard a screech of tires on the pavement.

”FUCK!”

With the steering wheel in a firm grip, AJ stomped both feet onto the brakes, sending the car into a sideways skid as it fishtailed across the lane. The car managed to stop inches from the car infront but AJ’s relief was short lived when a quick screeching came from behind, jerking and pushing their car squarely into the rear of the car in front of them.

AJ’s head snapped towards the side, making contact with the window on the door. His head hit the window so violently, it cracked the glass. Dazed, AJ blinked his eyes several times, trying to clear his blurred vision. Moans from the passenger seat jerked AJ into reality.

“Shit.... Nick are you alright?”

Looking over to the passenger seat, AJ found Nick slumped down in the seat, holding his midsection in a tight grip, tears slipping down his cheeks.

AJ’s head snapped towards the side, making contact with the window on the door. His head hit the window so violently, it cracked the glass. Dazed, AJ blinked his eyes several times, trying to clear his blurred vision. Moans from the passenger seat jerked AJ into reality.

“Shit.... Nick are you alright?”

Looking over to the passenger seat, AJ found Nick slumped down in the seat, holding his midsection in a tight grip, tears slipping down his cheeks.

Ignoring his own discomfort, AJ undid his seatbelt and leaned over towards Nick, his hand hovering over the young man, afraid to touch him fearing it would hurt him somehow.

“Wha.. what happened?” Nick gasped, panting from the pain in his stomach.

“We got rearended.”

The door alarm started chiming when someone opened AJ’s door.

“Man, are you alright? You really got creamed,” a young male voice hollered into the car.

AJ didn’t reply, he kept his attention focused on Nick’s pained expression.

“I think your Mercedes is totalled---”

“That’s the least of my worries right now,” AJ snapped.

Drawing his hands from the car door as if it burned his skin, the man jerked upon hearing AJ’s crisp remark.

“It was your fault ya know,” the man grunted.

Drawing a breath in to calm himself before he exploded, AJ kept his attention on Nick, softly rubbing his shoulder.

“Fuck... aren’t you that one guy? Wait, yeah you’re that one guy from that group... oh shit, I really don’t feel so good now,” the man remarked and then suddenly let out an overacted moan to emphasize his ‘pain.’

“Save it for the courts,” AJ rasped.

Laying his head back against the seat, Nick closed his eyes, trying to will the pain he was feeling out of his stomach. The seat belt had pressed deeply into his abdomen and started the searing pains once again that had started to die down before all this happened.

“Help is coming, I’ve called 911,” an authorative voice announced from Brian’s side. “My name’s Monica and I’m an RN, I’m just going to talk to you until the paramedics arrive, alright?”

Nick coughed lightly and AJ didn’t turn to look at the woman, but replied, “Okay.”

“I want you to keep still and try not to move around too much, alright? Do you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine,” Nick mumbled.

AJ shot a glare at his friend. “The fuck you are.”

“Sh-h-h-h,” the nurse soothed. She gazed into the vehicle at the passenger. Working as a hospice nurse, she could clearly see that the young man that was the passenger was ill from something other than the car accident. Her heart did a leap when she thought she recognized the patient.

Putting her professionalism forward, Monica ignored the possible celebrity status of her patients and focused on talking to them. She worried about the passenger going into shock, he seemed to be in a great deal of pain.

“Honey, can you tell me where it hurts?” she asked Nick softly.

Still clutching his stomach, Nick drew a quick breath in. “My stomach.”

The answer was short, almost choked out, followed by a series of light coughs.

Relief washed over the young nurse when the sounds of the ambulance siren approached the accident scene. When she stood up to get out of the way of the ambulance crew, it was the first time she realized the number of people that had gathered along the street, staring at the scene.

Making her way back to her vehicle, she was suddenly ambushed by a few photographers and a reporter. A microphone was thrust into her face.

“Mike Meade, WFLZ, can you tell me who those people are in that car?”

Anger flared up in the young nurse’s body, she brushed past the reporter and the cameras. The man was persistent and followed the woman to her car.

“Is it Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys?”

Monica quickened her pace, only to have the reporters and the camera men keep up alongside her.

“Did he look bad to you? Was he hurt? Were they drinking?”

Monica stopped suddenly, taking the reporter and the camera men by surprise, nearly running into her. She spun around, facing the tall, skinny acne scarred reporter.

“Listen, they were people that were in an accident. That’s it, that’s all I’m going to say to you. You don’t need to know anything else. You have no business asking these types of questions. Why don’t you go find a nice human interest story to cover instead of chasing ambulances and thriving on people’s misfortunes!” With that stated, Monica felt the baggage lifted off her shoulders and turned and continued her walk back to her car.

Motioning for the camera to be shut off, the reporter slung his microphone downwards. “Guess we don’t get anything out of that little bitch,” he quipped.

“I’m fine.... I don’t need to go to the hospital,” Nick moaned in protest.

“He’s going, don’t let that kid bullshit you,” AJ advised. “Nick you gotta go get checked out. You’re holding your belly so I know something’s up.”

“It’s just the seatbelt.... I’m fine.”

“Let’s get you out of the car so I can at least do assessments,” the male paramedic requested.

“Nick just let the man do his job okay? I don’t want to take the rap for not getting you to the hospital. It’s bad enough I crashed your car.”

“Seriously, I don’t need help,” Nick continued his protest as the man placed a strong grip on Nick’s forearm. As he led him over towards the grassy curb, Nick’s legs suddenly gave out.

“Whoa, easy there.”

Embarrassement washed over Nick when he saw the gathering crowd that moved aside to allow the paramedic and him a spot to sit down. Pulling out a penlight, the paramedic flashed the light in Nick’s eyes, checking his how his pupils reacted to light. Throughout the entire assessment, Nick remained slightly hunched over, his hand protectively placed over his stomach.

“Your stomach giving you a bad time?”

Coughing lightly, Nick winced.

Placing a latex gloved hand on Nick’s shoulder, the paramedic urged him to lay back onto the grass. Gently touching his patient’s arm, he slowly lifted it away with soothing words, “I need to check this really quick.”

Before Nick had time to react, the paramedic lifted the shirt up, exposing his bloated stomach. Frantically reaching for the material, Nick snatched the shirt from the man’s hands and shoved it back down over his stomach. “I’m fine,” he growled.

Before the paramedic could be stopped, he suddenly pressed down on Nick’s stomach, causing a loud gasp and a sudden cry from his patient.

“I really want to have you come in to be checked over by the doc, you could have internal injuries.”

Before Nick could refuse, he saw AJ’s face come into view.

“You’re going boy, don’t make me call Brian because he can make you go!”

“You might as well ride along with him to the hospital,” the paramedic stated as he helped Nick to a standing position. With the paramedic on one side and AJ on the other, they led the young blonde toward the ambulance.

As they helped Nick into the back of the ambulance, AJ quickly pulled the cell phone out of his back pocket. “I need to tell them where we will be. Where are we going?”

“Tampa General.”

Nick decision that him going to the hospital was bad enough, but when he realized that they would be taking him to a place that was foreign to his condition, had him upset.

“AJ, let’s just go home, I’m fine,” he weakly protested again before getting struck with a coughing fit.

“After the doc says you can go home Nick.”

“Yeah, if I can go,” he mumbled.

The paramedic glanced up from his chart. “Did you say something?”

Nick shook his head negatively in reply. “Not a word.”

“I’m going to get an IV started before we leave,” the paramedic stated as he pulled out an IV kit. Nick opted to keep his mouth closed, knowing full well that the port could be used for an IV.

The paramedic tried twice before he finally gave up on his patient. “You have some small veins, I can’t get anything started, they’ll have to do it at the hospital.”

The man noticed needle scars on Nick’s arms and thoughts of drug abuse sprung into his head. The shoe fit... rock star, drug users. He never suspected what was really wrong with his patient. To him, Nick’s pasty complexion and overall appearance suggested to him that he was hooked on Heroin or Cocaine.

Cancer never crossed his mind.