Barbara stormed out of Dr. Minnick’s office, her heart pounding. She was terrified, but at the same time she felt as if a huge weight was lifted off her chest. She was going to lose her job for sure, but at least she did the right thing.

Hopefully now they could reverse the effects that the Espediene on Nick Carter. The damage wouldn’t be immediately undone, but in time he would be okay. She desperately wanted to believe that. He would have a long road ahead of him, regardless.

Before she would call the board she wanted to go back to Nick’s room and see if his friend and that other girl that was with him were in there.

It was a long walk to his room and when she finally made it, she had to stop and pause before she went in. Finally she knocked.

Upon opening the door, Barbara found Brian and Kyung alongside the patient’s bed. She looked at Nick’s face and then quickly looked away not being able to trust herself to tell them what she knew she had to tell.

“I’m sorry doctor shoved you out of his office earlier,” Barbara started out.

’Stop apologizing for him.’ she reprimanded herself.

“There is something I need to tell you regarding Mr. Carter’s condition.”

Nurse McKean paused for a brief moment, trying to think of how was the best way to tell them what she needed to tell them.

She took a breath in. “I believe that the stroke that he suffered was not a true stroke.” Barbara looked into Brian’s eyes. His red-rimmed eyes appeared to question what she was saying. She looked at Nick, his eyebrows were furrowed in a knot of confusion.

“Doctor Minnick was consulted to place Mr. Carter---”

“Nick, his name is Nick,” Kyung corrected the nurse.

“Doctor Minnick was consulted to place Nick into a medically induced coma. He is a specialist in that field and has a high success rate with the recovery of his patients, however, Doctor Minnick made a grave error in the selection of the meds, one the suppresses the central nervous system.

“So you’re saying that he caused Nick’s stroke?” Brian questioned.

Barbara shook her head. “What I’m saying is that the medication that doctor used chemically alters the neurons in the brain, sort of short circuiting the system. What Doctor Minnick did should have never happened. Nick shouldn’t be suffering as he is now.”

Nurse McKean managed to look at Nick’s face again. This time instead of a look of confusion or question, his face was full of anger and hatred.

“Is there anything that can be done for Nick?” Kyung asked, breaking the long silence that filled the room.

“Yes, I believe there is. I am going to the board after I leave here and tell them the whole story. I think there is something that can be given to Nick that will counter act the effects of the Esperdiene medication. I don’t think the cure will be overnight and I think that he will have a long struggle ahead of him, but I think that he will eventually lead a near normal life again.

I stared at the nurse that came in the room with this news. She said near normal, what did she mean by near normal? God, how I wanted to talk and ask questions. I wanted to know how Lizz was doing. I decided I would ask once that nurse left the room.

“I’m glad you told us this, I know it must have taken a lot of courage on your part,” Brian said to Barbara.

The nurse shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll probably lose my job over this, but I couldn’t stand there any longer and see this patient suffer or his family.”

“If there is anything we can do for you to help you keep your job, anything at all, please don’t be afraid to ask,” Brian replied. He looked over at Nick and could see him slightly nod his head.

“Thank you,” Barbara said as she turned to leave the room.

I waited for the door to close before I tried to speak. I licked my lips and got ready to hopefully speak clearly.

“La-iss.”

Both Kyung and Brian turned their heads towards me. I prayed that they understood what I wanted.

“How La-iss.”

“She’s stable,” Kyung replied.

I shook my head no. I knew they were keeping something from me.

“See.”

“No Nick, you can’t right now, she’s sleeping,” Brian replied.

I shook my head no again.

“See her.”

“Absolutely not. Nick, I have no way to get you to her room anyway. You can’t move on your own, you couldn’t go in a wheelchair, forget it, it’s not gonna happen so you might as well rest and try to get better.”

God how I hated it when Brian was reasonable.

“Nick if it will make you happy, I will go to her room and see how she’s doing and come back and tell you, deal?”

I nodded my head yes. It was going to be better than nothing.

I laid in bed half watching some dumb soap opera on the television. I couldn’t move my hands very well to change channels on the remote control and with Brian away, I was pretty much stuck with what was on.

‘God, just let her leave, she’s not worth it.’ I mentally shouted at the TV screen. Soaps were pretty stupid as they seemed to spend more time with the characters staring at each other more than anything else.

A tall man wearing a white lab coat entered my room after briefly knocking on the door. I figured he was in to take more blood from me.

“Hi Nick, I’m Doctor Scott.”

As the doctor was talking, one of my daytime nurses named Denise, came in with an IV bag and hung it up on the pole. She was also carrying a syringe.

“Because of the information that Nurse McKean provided, we are going to be giving you Irisophia through and IV line. This medication will hopefully counter act the Esperdiene that was given to you previously. We will be staring that up along with a steriod injection every four hours into the IV line. I think if all goes well, you should start to be seeing improvements in your condition within 36 to 48 hours.”

Waking up seemed like a big mistake. As soon as I opened my eyes, I was flooded with pain. Go figure, what did I do this time? I could barely even move. “Hey girl, how ya feeling?” Kyung smiled with relief when she saw my eyes flicker towards her. She was sitting on the end of my bed.

“Wha ‘appen?” I whispered. Even talking took energy that I didn’t have.

“Do you remember being in Nick’s room a little while ago?” Brian asked. I looked to my right and he was sitting in a chair by the side of my bed. I tried to think about what he was talking about, but nothing registered. The blank look on my face must have told him that I didn’t remember. He glanced at Kyung and frowned. “You know who I am right?” He asked carefully.

I grinned and nodded slightly. That was a silly question.

Brian smiled back, then grew serious again. “You got really antsy to go see Nick so Kyung and I took you to his room in a wheelchair.”

Oh my gosh! Terri! It all came back and I widened my eyes in recognition at them.

“You remember now?” Kyung asked.

“Terri?” I whispered. That little bitch. I remembered her saying something about Nick trying to kill himself again and I was about to go off on her. How dare she say something like that?! I was ready to tear into her but by that time I could scarecely breathe and I felt like I was going to pass out. The last thing I remembered was trying to get Nick’s attention.

“She’s been taken care of.” Kyung said simply. I could hear the anger in her voice though.

I nodded. “Nick?” I whispered. “He’s alone?”

“He’s really worried about you. He wanted to come see you, but there isn’t anyway for him to get into a wheelchair or anything. He wanted us to come see how you are and then report back to him.” Brian explained.

I smiled. “Tell him... I am...bouncing... off the walls.”

Kyung and Brian laughed. “Sure you are, ya little punk.” Kyung snorted.

I had to smile. At least I made them laugh.

“Actually, guess what?” Kyung asked. I raised my eyebrows at her.

“Nick’s doctor, Dr. Minnick, screwed up. Bad. He was supposed to give Nick Experdene when they put him in the induced coma. By accident the doctor gave him Espediene which suppresses the central nervous system. Dr. Minnick, apparantly didn’t want to acknowledge his mistake and pretended that he never did anything wrong.” Kyung explained.

My eyes filled with hot tears. “He’s been...suffering...all this time...”

“Lizz, Dr. Minnick’s nurse came forward. She had a very hard time doing so, but she did and she is taking it to the administrative board. Hopefully, they will be able to give Nick something to counter the effects and he will be okay. He will have a long recovery ahead of him, but he should be fine.” Brian continued.

“He’s gonna...be okay?” I whispered. I had been praying for a miracle since Nick had had the stroke. Now, here it was. I basked in the feelings of tremendous relief for only a few moments. There was something else I had been concerned about. I knew that Nick blamed himself for all this, just like I did. I knew that was something that we would never be able to convince each other of. He thought it was his fault for dragging me into this, but I knew that it was mine. If I had been able to get on instant messenger sooner, if I could have said something different. If...if... How was he going to take me getting worse and worse? I knew that my chances of getting a transplant were slim and I also knew that if I didn’t get one very soon, I wouldn’t make it. Would that put Nick over the edge? I shook my head miserably.

Kyung saw this. “What’s wrong sweetie?”

“How’s...he gonna take...me not...getting better?” I whispered, trying to stay in control of my emotions.

“Lizz don’t...” Kyung started with a warning tone in her voice.

“K, please...I know the...circumstances...I don’t want...him to blame...himself.” I begged.

“Hey now, we don’t want to hear that kind of talk. You better not be giving up on us now!” Brian admonished gently.

“I’m not! But I...have to...be realistic. I’m gonna...fight it. But Nick...” A few tears escaped.

Brian chewed his lip. He didn’t want to admit it, but Lizz’s concern had crossed his mind. He was determined that Lizz would be okay, but if, just if, she wasn’t, what effect would that have on Nick? “Lizz, we are going to find you a transplant, but you have to keep faith. Do it for us, for Nick, and for yourself. I know you can do it.” He encouraged.

I nodded. I sure as hell wasn’t going to give into this. I’m just too damned stubborn for that. I vaguely remembered someone calling me stubborn recently. I smiled.

“That’s my girl!” Kyung smiled too.

“Go...tell him... I’m okay.” I ordered. Both of them opened their eyes wide. Kyung made like she was going to smack me one and Brian mock saluted. I grinned at them. “Then...come tell me...that he’s...okay.”

“Will do.” Brian saluted again and Kyung gave me a half hug before they both left. The looks on their faces as I tried to be demanding, was priceless and I smiled in spite of myself.

Once out in the hall, Brian turned to Kyung.

“She’s really...” He started, only to be cut off by Kyung.

“Don’t say it! I am having a hard enough time keeping from crying as it is.”

Brian nodded in understanding.

They let themselves into Nick’s room and were greeted by tall doctor with kind, brown eyes. He smiled and introduced himself as Dr. Scott.

“I’m going to be taking over Nick’s case for Dr. Minnick. As you might already know, his nurse, Barbara McKean, came forward with some information regarding Nick’s case.” He started.

Brian nodded.

“We will be administering Irisophia intraveniously every four hours in hopes of countering the effects of the Esperdiene. We will also be giving him a steroid to aide the process. We are optimistic that we will see results in 36-48 hours.” He repeated all the information that he had given Nick.

Brian glanced at Kyung and saw the happiness written all over her face that he also felt.

Dr. Scott smiled at the look of obvious relief written all over the two young people’s faces that stood before him. “I just gave him his first dose and Denise will be in charge of giving him the rest throughout the night. Any significant changes and I want to be called.” He shook Brian and Kyung’s hands before leaving the room.

Brian immediately went to Nick’s bedside and wrapped his arms around him. “I’m so happy for you buddy.