“Brian, pushing the food around on the plate doesn’t count as eating.” Kyung scolded. He looked up at her and smiled tiredly. “Busted.”

They were sitting in the cafeteria, much to Brian’s protests. Kyung had finally convinced him, telling him that both Nick and Lizz would be out for awhile. Not to mention that Nick’s parents were there and they would also let them know if anything happened with Lizz. Kyung studied him carefully. He was still paler than a ghost and shaky. His eyes looked hollow and tired.

“Have Nick’s parents seen the Enquirer?” Kyung asked quietly.

Brian shook his head. “I can’t imagine what that is going to do to them.”

“I know. That thing only came out this morning and I can already see the damage. I called home to check our messages and there was one on there from Julia, one of our close friends back home. She had planned on coming down to see Lizz. Now she isn’t. I called her back to see what was up. She said that the more she has thought about this, the more that it upsets her and she really doesn’t want to see Lizz right now.”

Brian’s eyes widened. “Does she know how...how bad Lizz is?” He asked carefully.

Kyung looked down. “She knows. I don’t know how to tell Lizz. It’s really going to hurt her.”

“This just keeps getting worse and worse.” Brian muttered as he pushed his food around a little more.

Kyung was on her way back up to check on Lizz. Brian was, of course, back with Nick. Any time during that day that she had a moment’s peace, she went to check on Lizz. Her nurse just paged Kyung to tell her that Lizz was waking up finally.

Just as she was about to go into Lizz’s room a man in scrubs stopped her. Kyung recognized him as Lizz’s doctor.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Saxton. You’re Kyung right?” He stuck out his hand.

Kyung nodded and shook his hand.

“Have you had any luck contacting her parents?” He asked solemnly.

“No, they went on a trip and Lizz doesn’t know the number of where they will be staying. Is something wrong?”

The doctor frowned. “Well, I am a little discouraged by her lack of recovery. The Albuterol she consumed seems to have done more extensive damage then we had previously surmised.”

Kyung wasn’t sure she was following him right. Lizz wasn’t getting better?

“She didn’t take the dialysis very well. Of course she is on the transplant list, but that could take months to years. She doesn’t have that time, I’m afraid. Her health was already in a precarious state and now this may take her over the edge. It is imperative that she get a transplant very soon.” He stated gravely.

Kyung could only nod and mumble a “thanks.” As soon as the doctor left she sank against the wall, tears falling down her face. She didn’t know how she could handle losing Lizz. She had noticed that Lizz didn’t seem to be doing a whole lot better, but she figured that it would just take time. She hadn’t allowed herself to even consider that Lizz could die. She knew she should go in and talk to Lizz, but couldn’t. Not yet.

Instead she walked two doors down and knocked on Nick’s door. The security guard had come accustomed to Kyung and gave her a nod.

“Come in.”

She pushed open the door. Bob and Jane looked up at her with concern, seeing her tear-stained face. Brian was sitting on the edge of Nick’s bed. Nick’s eyes were open, but of course he wasn’t moving or talking. Brian glanced at Kyung and then did a double take.

“What’s wrong?” He asked in alarm.

Kyung started to tell him, but before she could get a word out, she dissolved into tears.

Brian stood up and held Kyung in his arms. She broke down into sobs and he was at a loss as how to comfort her.

“It’s.... it’s Lizz,” Kyung whimpered. “She’s...... she’s not getting ba.... better,” Kyung sighed, her breath sounded shaky.

Brian held her by her shoulders. “Calm down, take a deep breath,” he coached.

Kyung nodded and slowly exhaled. When she felt she was ready, she began to speak again. “Lizz needs a kidney transplant. The albuterol caused extensive damage to her kidneys.”

Brian’s mouth dropped open. He couldn’t believe this was happening. One stupid stunt that Nick had pulled was dragging someone along with him. He took a glance towards Nick, remembering he was awake and wondered if he understood and heard what was being said.

Brian’s heart sank when he looked at Nick. Tears were slipping down his cheeks, indicating that he not only heard about Lizz, but that he understood it as well. Jane kept rubbing Nick’s shoulder, talking to him in a soothing voice, everyone in the room was afraid that this news would produce another panic attack.

Deciding that this was the best time, if ever, to request the group that was present in the room to join hands in a prayer for Lizz, Brian bowed his head.

It was a few hours after I had heard the news about Lizz. I still couldn’t get over it. I had caused this because of my selfishness. There was only one way to fix it, but I couldn’t tell anybody of my intentions because I couldn’t speak. I was beginning to hate this body I was trapped in more and more.

My parents were in the room, sitting by the foot of my bed. They were softly talking so it was hard for me to understand what was being said by them.

A woman entered my room wearing really loud greenish colored scrubs. “Hi, my name is Carol and I’m from speech therapy,” the woman stated in an overly cheerful voice.

My parents attempted to leave the room, but Carol insisted that they stay. She turned her attention back towards me and pulled out big white cards with black drawings on one side of them.

“Okay Nick, we’re gonna try a simple exercise right now, just to test your range capabilities,” Carol stated as she stacked the cards on my bed stand. “I am going to show you a picture on a card and you have to tell me what it is. Are you ready?”

I managed to nod my head ever-so-slightly. The first picture she showed me was a ball. Easy word, I thought to myself. I sucked my lower lip in as I concentrated on the word. “Baaaaaaaawl.”

Okay that sounded close but it didn’t sound like my voice at all. I looked over at my parent’s to see their reaction to my speech. My mother looked upset, she put her hand to her mouth and then she stood up and rushed out of the room, my father was close behind her.

Carol had watched the Carter’s rush out of the room, obviously upset with how their son was doing, but she decided it was best to continue Nick’s therapy. Taking another card from the deck, she held it in front of his face.

Nurse Barbara McKean was walking past the ICU rooms on her way to Dr. Minnick’s office. She paused outside the door of Nick’s room. She could hear the speech therapist working with him. When Nick tried for the third time to pronounce a simple word properly, Nurse McKean knew that something had to be said to someone about what Dr. Minnick had done.

The more she thought about it, the more she was losing courage in doing something. The words about the screw up with Baby Boy Johnson rang in her ears. She clenched her fists and shook her head as if to clear the thoughts from her mind.

“Baaaaaawl.”

“Good Nick, let’s try this one now.”

Nurse McKean closed her eyes tightly; she wanted to shut out the sounds coming from that patient. She knew that this was an unnecessary tragedy.

“Hi, is there something I can help you with?”

A young man’s voice with a hint of a southern accent spun Barbara McKean from her thoughts. She turned around quickly to acknowledge the voice and found herself face to face with Brian Littrell.