I was shaking. I did that when I got really really angry. Right now I was livid. The shaking might also have to do with the fact that I was standing up, but I ignored that. I was going to walk over to her and beat the shit out of her, so help me!

Terri just stood there and stared at Brian. Then she tried to look past him and looked as if she was going to dart from the room. Kyung was blocking the door though. I knew for a fact that there was no way that she was going to let her pass.

"I'm waiting." Brian said in that same unnerving voice. It even shocked me to hear him talk like that.

Terri crossed her arms and smirked. "Don't you remember me from the other day? I came in and cleaned up the water that you spilled. Oh, that's right! You looked so pathetic that it makes sense that you didn't recognize me. What's wrong? Pass out a few times yourself?" Brian widened his eyes.

My jaw dropped. "Bitch!" I hissed. I started to take a step forward. At the same time Kyung yelled out "LIZZ SIT DOWN!" I felt a hand grab my arm. It was Nick. I didn't have much of a choice anyway. My legs weren't supporting me anymore. I sank into the chair and tried to suck in the oxygen that I was wearing.

Satisfied that I wasn't going to fall, Kyung directed her attention to Terri. She walked up to her and got into her face.

"You just made a very big mistake. Not only are you going to have a huge lawsuit against your ass, but now you aren't going to have a job to pay all that money. And then to top it off, I am going to knock the shit out of you because you pissed me off.

Terri only grinned. "You're forgetting all the money that the Enquirer is paying me for these pictures."

Without warning, Brian reached over and grabbed the camera from her hands.

"Give that back!" Terri yelled. "Not like it matters anyway. The whole world knows now. There is enough pictures published already and the next edition will have even more. Say 'bye bye' Backstreet Boys! Ya know, even if he lives, she probably won't and then he will feel guilty and just try to kill himself again anyway." She threw her hands towards Nick and I.

I looked at Nick and I could see the anger and misery in his eyes as plain as day. She had just answered the question that was in his eyes. Now he knew about the pictures. "Fuck you." I snapped at her.

"You make me sick. How can you work in a hospital where people are sick and dying and be so cold? Do you have any idea how many people's lives you have affected?! Not just ours, but the millions of others. Did you see the look on his poor mother's face as she is watching this happen to her son? Obviously not, you heartless bitch! Have you seen the hundreds of people that are outside crying their eyes out because someone they look up to and admire is up here fighting for his life?! How can you only think of money, of your own profit, at the expense of so many people's suffering? How can one person be so sick?" Brian asked her. The look on his face said it all. He was heartsick that anyone could be like that. It was almost beyond his comprehension. I understood that because I didn't believe it myself. I knew there were evil people out there, but this bad?

Kyung put a hand on Brian's shoulder. "You're wasting your time even asking her that." She said bitterly.

Brian only shook his head. His anger a few moments ago nearly consumed him and for a time, he couldn't even talk. Now he felt more drained than he could ever remember. "Call security." He said to Kyung.

Everything started to look funny now. Hazy or something. I think I wasn't getting enough oxygen. Nick was still holding my hand from when he grabbed it before. It sorta dawned on me that he had done that. He hadn't made a sudden movement like that since I had been in here. He squeezed my hand and I looked up at him. At least I think I was looking at him. Everything was sort of blurry. "Nick." I whispered. Even my own voice seemed far away. He looked at me with panicked eyes and then at Brian and Kyung who were dealing with Terri. It got harder to breathe and I started to slump over. I couldn't fight it.

Barbara stood and stared at Dr. Minnick for a few moments. She tried to quickly think of something to tell him to suppress his already building anger. She then decided it was foolish to even protect this doctor. She decided now was the time to confront him.

“I was looking in his chart and I found some pretty interesting facts, doctor,” Barbara carefully started out.

Dr. Minnick glared. “Facts?”

“When you were sedating that patient, you used Espediene instead of Experdene. Very similar named drugs except one effects the central nervous system differently,” Nurse McKean explained.

“Yeah, so your point?”

“So? Doctor, you knew about the error several hours after the procedure yet you continued to look the other way!”

“I still don’t see your point in this, nurse,” Dr. Minnick spat.

“The point is that you are making this poor boy suffer needlessly. The longer those meds are in his system, the more permanent the damage will be. You are taking away his lifestyle and slowly killing him. This can be reversed if you allow it to, please I beg you, stop this now!”

“I could lose my license to practice in this hospital, I’m already on probation again,” Dr. Minnick argued.

“Does that really matter? We’re talking about something you can fix if you allow it. The poor kid can’t speak and can’t sit up alone. We’re talking about someone that was in the entertainment business and now he is faced with a life of 24 hour nursing care. If you don’t do something about this, by god, I plan on doing something,” Barbara stated as she attempted to turn and walk away from Dr. Minnick.

Dr. Minnick grabbed Nurse McKean by the arm and turned her to face him. “What exactly are you planning on doing?”

“Going to the administrative board,” she stated firmly.

“Do it and you’re finished,” the doctor warned Barbara.

Barbara jerked her arm out of the doctor’s grasp. “I don’t care.”

Lizz’s face had gone from a pale color to chalky white in a matter of moments. Her lips were tinged blue. I could tell right away that she wasn’t getting any air, I could see her struggling to breathe.

As she collapsed to the floor, all I could do was lay in the bed and watch her fall. I felt so damned helpless at that moment. I couldn’t yell or do anything to stop that from happening. I glanced up at where that girl named Terri was and I could se she was going to make a run for the door. I didn’t bother trying to form the words in my mouth, I just made noises to draw attention back towards the doorway. Thank god Brian realized what was going on.

“Oh no you don’t,” Brian yelled as he grabbed Terri by the arm. “You are staying here until security arrives. Hey we need help in here!” Brian called out to the security officer that was sitting outside the door to Nick’s ICU room.

The daytime security officer, assigned to protect Nick, entered the room and quickly surveyed the situation. Without asking, he grabbed the girl that Brian was hanging onto and slapped some handcuffs on her wrists.

Terri kept kicking and cussing, trying to free herself from the police officer. He hung onto her as she kicked and thrashed about like a wild animal.

I helplessly watched as Kyung and another nurse attended to Lizz. I realized that her kidneys were compromised and that she needed a transplant. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach knowing that I played a role in making this girl fight for her life.

As luck and poor planning would have it, the sounds of shrieking from the hallway diverted mine and Brian’s attention towards the door. Suddenly, Brian was caught up in a surge of about fifteen young girls.

“Shit,” Kyung mumbled under her breath. “You girls need to leave this room immediately!”

They didn’t listen to Kyung and soon their attention was drawn towards Nick laying in bed.

Suddenly, they stopped their chattering amongst themselves and started to point at Nick and whisper. All Nick could do was lie in bed and stare back at the girls.

“Nick? Are you feeling okay?”

“That’s enough, out now!” Kyung barked.

“Nick, I want a picture of you,” a girl said as she pulled out a pocket camera.

That was all Brian needed. “GET OUT NOW!” The girls cringed when they heard Brian yell, scared by his sudden change of character and attitude. No one would ever suspect Brian of getting that agitated.

The girls watched as Lizz’s day nurse, Della, push Lizz out the door on a cot to her own ICU room.

“Oh my god, isn’t that the girl that caused Nick to try and kill himself over?”

This time Kyung snapped. “GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE NOW BEFORE I CALL SECURITY!”

The pack of girls seemed almost frozen. Dale, the security guard, was still holding on to Terri so he couldn’t do much of anything.

“Why isn’t he talking?” One of the girls whispered. Another one was staring after Lizz as Della took her to her room. A couple more nurses came to assist her.

“Is she dead?” Came another horrified whisper.

Kyung whirled around and marched over to the girls. “OUT!” She bellowed. They started to scamper away, but stopped when they heard laughing.

“He can’t talk girlies cause he had a stroke. He is never going to be able to take care of himself ever again. And no, that girl isn’t dead, but she is almost there. Sorry kiddies, no more Backstreet and no more Nick Carter.” She sneered.

“Get her out of here!” Kyung barked to Dale. She threw a look at Brian and he looked like he had been slapped. He couldn’t believe that Terri had just said those words. Kyung took in a deep breath and tried to control her temper.

Dale escorted the struggling girl out of the room and her shouts could be heard all the way down the hall.

Kyung herded the girls outside the door and shut it behind her. She sighed. “Look, I don’t know how you all got in here, but you can’t be here. This is the intensive care unit and there needs to be a certain level of control. If there were an emergency, like there was just now, we can’t have a bunch of people in the way.” She explained sternly.

“Is Nick going to be okay?” One of the younger ones asked tearfully.

“He’s going to be fine.” Kyung told her.

“What about the girl he tried to kill himself over?” Asked another.

Kyung sighed again. Her patience was growing thin. “She is going to be fine also.” She wasn’t even going to address the inaccuracy of their information.

“Then what about what that girl said? Why did she say that?” The same girl persisted.

Kyung wanted to say “because she is a flaming bitch that needs to be shot.” Instead she said, “I don’t know. She is sick up here.” Kyung tapped her head.

“What’s wrong with Brian?” A young one that was crying asked. “He yelled.”

“He’s upset. His best friend is sick and he doesn’t like to see him that way. He didn’t mean to sound so harsh okay?” Kyung tried to keep the exasperation out of her voice.

“What is wrong with them? Is that girl really going to die without a transplant? Is Nick never going to be able to function again? Is it true that Brian passed out?” The girl that asked looked like she might have been the oldest of the group.

Kyung shook her head. “That’s all private. I’m sure there will be a press conference and you will know whatever they think you should know. You all really need to leave the ICU now.” She looked over the desk and a couple of nurses came over to usher the girls out. As soon as they returned, Kyung went off.

“That was inexcusable! How the hell did they get in here?! Do you have any idea how bad that was?! Why the hell didn’t someone stop them?!” She yelled. All the anger that she had been trying to hold back just surfaced.

“I’m sorry, I was with my patient. I heard the commotion and came to see what was going on.” One of them explained.

The other one didn’t say anything. She just looked embarrassed.

“Ugh!” Kyung shook her head in disgust before turning on her heel and storming to Lizz’s room. Della was still in there, along with another nurse, Marjorie.

“How is she?” Kyung asked softly. Her energy was spent.

“Her BP is back up, but her sats are still too low.” Della paused and looked at Kyung seriously. “She’s running out of time.” She said quietly.

Kyung nodded and tried to keep her composure. It was really hard. “She’ll be asleep for awhile, won’t she?”

Della nodded. “Are you going to be okay?”

Kyung shrugged. “I’ll be okay when Lizz is okay. Uh, hey, I’m gonna go check on Nick and I’ll be back in a few.”

I’m not going to break down here at work. I’m not! She coached herself as she knocked on Nick’s door before going in. Brian was sitting on the edge of Nick’s bed.

She walked over and stood next to Brian, putting a hand on his shoulder. He looked like the wrath. Nick immediately looked at Kyung with questioning eyes. “She’s asleep. Her oxygen levels are a little low, but other than that...” She trailed off. On one hand she didn’t want to repeat what Della had just told her, but on the other hand what was the point of hiding it.

Brian looked up at her. “Is it bad?” His voice was barely audible.

Kyung nodded, not trusting her voice. She didn’t want to look at Nick either. She didn’t want to see the pain that she knew she would see in his eyes. She knew he blamed himself.