I opened my eyes to see Brian hovering over me, a smile on his face.

"Hey buddy, we’re here," Brian said as he shook my shoulder.

Slowly I sat up, hoping the pounding inside of my head would go away. I knew that this headache would develop into one of those dumb migraines that I would get when I screwed around with my medications.

"Are you okay Nick?" Brian asked, a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah," I whispered. It hurt to talk, hell, it hurt to breathe, but I wasn't going to tell Brian that. He always made a big deal over nothing.

"You sure?"

God how I hated that! I brushed past him grabbing my duffel bag, slinging it over my shoulder. As a wave of dizziness caused me to fall against the row of seats on the bus, I managed to straighten myself up quickly before Brian or anyone else saw that happen.

Michael, one of our managers, stood off to the side of the hotel entrance, clipboard in his hands. I stopped and got my room assignment and the card. Once I got inside the room, I dropped my duffel bag and lay out across the bed.

I started thinking about Lizz and wondering how she was. I thought about calling the hospitals in Oklahoma City to see if she was there, but I knew that they wouldn't give me any patient information. It was my fault and I wouldn't rest until I found out how she was.

A knock on the hotel door took my thoughts about Lizz away for the moment. When I went to stand up, a pain in my back took my breath away and caused me to sit back down quickly onto the bed. I took a deep breath in and stood up to go to the door. I knew I was staggering towards the door, but I blamed it on the headache.

“Took you long enough,” Brian mumbled as he carried his bag, my bag and a laptop computer into the room.

“Yes it did,” I replied slowly, gathering the words like it was a major speech. I must have been doing something I shouldn’t have because Brian was staring at me like I had green skin or something. The last thing I heard was Brian yelling my name and then it went dark.

Kyung paced the hall furiously. Almost as soon as Lizz had gone unconscious, the tiny room became packed with people. She was ushered out of the room, much to her protesting. She was too emotional, they said. Kyung knew they were right, but that didn’t make her feel any better. She wanted to help her best friend. She had stood outside the room and watched helplessly as they worked on her best friend. The next thing she knew Lizz was being wheeled to the OR. No one would tell her anything.

So, now she was in the OR waiting room cursing herself. She wasn’t sure why, but she continued anyway. Her shift was supposed to last until 7pm. Lizz was brought into the emergency room just before 6pm and Kyung’s supervisor had let her off early to go be with Lizz. It was now after 8pm and Lizz had been in surgery for about 20 minutes.

Everything seemed to be happening too fast. Yet, now that Lizz was in surgery, everything was moving too slow. Kyung thought about Lizz’s request for her to try to find out if Nick was okay. She didn’t want to leave the OR, but she knew that it would be awhile before Lizz would be out. She walked down the hall to one of the tech stations and asked to borrow a computer with internet access. She was directed into a corner with a laptop on the desk.

The computer didn’t have aol instant messenger so she had to use the Quick Buddy. She signed on her name and entered Tidal Wave in the information box. A message blinked to tell her that the user was not signed on. A flash of anger rippled through her.

“You’d think he’d be on here to try to see if she is okay. What an...” She stopped herself. That wasn’t fair. If something had happened to him, of course he wouldn’t be on. She still couldn’t squash the feelings of blame towards him even though Lizz insisted it was her own fault. More than anything Kyung was just being a protective friend and the thought of losing Lizz was too much to consider. She sighed and shut down the screen. She thanked the tech that let her use the computer and headed back towards the waiting room. She waited for another hour before someone came out to address her.

“Elizabeth Hulford?”

Kyung rushed over to the man in green scrubs that had just emerged through the double doors. “How is she?!”

The man frowned. “Her kidneys shut down due to the overdose. We tried to repair them, but there was already some scar tissue.”

Kyung’s eyes widened. “I remember her telling me that when she was younger she got a little bit of damage from one of the medications she was on.”

The doctor nodded. “Whenever there is a trauma to the body like with what happened with Elizabeth, it is common for a major organ to shut down. Since her kidneys were weaker than normal, those would be the most likely to shut down.” He explained.

“That makes sense. Were you able to repair them?” Kyung asked anxiously.

“No. Between the scar tissue and what her body just went through, it was impossible. She is going to need dialysis until she can receive a transplant.” He frowned again. “Of course, she may not want a transplant. If she had no desire to live...”

Kyung bristled. “She didn’t want to die. She...” She stopped, not knowing how to finish what she was wanting to say. Of course she couldn’t tell this man what had happened. Then the realization of Lizz needing a transplant sank in. Her eyes filled with tears. “When can I see her?” She whispered.

“Someone will come get you when she is out of recovery.” He told her. With that he turned around and went through the double doors.

“Obviously he didn’t learn the importance of having a good bedside manor.”

Kyung muttered under her breath. She sank back onto the hard couch and let the tears flow. A few minutes later her pager beeped at her.

She went back to the tech station and called the number. It was Laura. She worked with Kyung and was also an intern.

“Kyung! You’ll never believe what I found out!” Her voice sounded excited.

Kyung groaned. What could there possibly be to get excited about? “What?”

“I just talked to one of the paramedics that went to pick up your friend! You won’t believe this!”

A little warning light went off in Kyung’s head. “Go on.” She said uneasily.

“Okay, well he said that they found her on the floor next to a computer and the screen was flashing messages. He hit print thinking it would give a clue to what had happened. He didn’t type anything back, but took the papers with him. He told me that she was having a conversation with someone named Nick and then someone named Brian got on. He said that the Nick person said he was on a bus and was passing through the city! You know who I think it is?!” Laura could barely contain her excitement.

Kyung groaned inwardly. “Who?”

“I think it is the Backstreet Boys. I know they are on tour right now and it was Nickand Brian! Kyung, the paramedic said the Nick guy was going to kill himself!” She sounded upset when she said the last part.

Shit. “Laura, come on. Why would Lizz be talking to the Backstreet Boys? Isn’t that a little farfetched?” Kyung hoped she sounded convincing. “I bet it’s them.” Laura insisted stubbornly.

“Um, Laura, have you said this to anyone else?” Kyung asked carefully.

“No, you’re the first person I have told.” She replied.

“Good. Don’t say anything to anyone else about this okay? Promise me.” Kyung said urgently.

“Okay. Why not?” Laura sounded skeptical.

“Please just trust me. Oh, and do you remember the paramedic’s name?” Kyung asked. She had to talk to him as soon as she could. If this got out it could be bad.

“I don’t know, but I can find out.” Laura offered.

“Thanks. I’m going to let you go, I have to make some calls.” Kyung was getting anxious.

“Okay, but wait! I almost forgot to tell you. Guess what else?! About Nick...he’s...”

"Nick?!" Brian yelled out as soon as he saw Nick's eyes roll back into his head and him fall to the floor, striking his head on the dresser.

Brian rolled his friend over and immediately felt faint when he saw the blood running down the side of Nick's face from where he hit the dresser. He noticed that Nick's lips were turning blue. Brian pressed his ear to Nick's nose and mouth and discovered he had stopped breathing.

"Shit," Brian shouted as he jumped up and grabbed the phone and dialed zero for the hotel operator. It seemed to take forever to Brian for the operator to answer the phone. When she finally did, Brian skipped the pleasantries and fired into his request.

"Brian Littrell...room number...shit, I don't know...we need an ambulance, he's not breathing!"

There must have been panic in Brian's voice because he could detect the panic relfected in the operator's. All she said was okay and cut him off.

Brian threw the receiver down and went back to Nick. He once again pressed his ear to Nick's mouth and was frustrated to discover that he was still not breathing. Desperately trying to remember what he had learned when he was a cub scout, Brian tilted Nick's head back and started mouth to mouth.

In what seemed like hours but was actually only six minutes, there was a knock on the door with a voice announcing that they were EMT's. Brian jumped up and flung the door open. He stood off to the side and watched the paramedics quickly work on Nick.

Brian watched in shock when he heard a paramedic shout out, "He's coding!" He knew that meant that Nick's heart wasn't beating.

One paramedic quickly straddled Nick's body and initiated CPR. The other paramedic was getting the shock paddles ready and was also on the phone with the emergency room. When the word was given, the paramedic doing the CPR got off Nick and squatted back as the paddles were applied to Nick's bare chest and the shock was activated.

Brian watched and waited, as did the paramedics to see if Nick's heart responded. The green line finally sprung to life and Nick's heart started back up again.

"Okay, what exactly happened?" the dark haired paramedic asked Brian.

"He was standing here talking to me and then his voice got funny sounding and then his eyes rolled back and he fell and hit his head on the dresser," Brian recounted the events for the paramedic.

The paramedic wrote what Brian was relating quickly on a pad of paper.

"Is he on any meds or does he take anything on a regular basis?"

Brian hated to relay any personal information about Nick to the EMT's, but he knew that it was vital information.

"Yes, um, well he takes Seldane for allergies and Ativan for some occasional anxiety problems," Brian replied. He noticed that when he said the words occasional anxiety problems that the EMT paused with his writing.

"Anything else?" the paramedic asked.

Now Brian realized that he had to say something to them. Nick's heart stopped and he quit breathing, it had to be from the meds he took earlier.

"Yeah, he took an accidental overdose a few hours ago," Brian lied. It wasn't accidental, but they didn't need to know that, he reasoned.

Both paramedics looked at Brian. "What did he take and do you remember what time he did this at?"

"I think it was around 3 this afternoon, but I'm not really sure what he took," Brian replied.

"Well, we'll have to have him give us that info through labs then," a paramedic replied.

The paramedics worked together on placing Nick on the cot and then covering his body up with a white blanket and strapping him down.

"Is it okay if I go with you guys, I could probably fill the doctor in on Nick and stuff," Brian asked quietly.

The paramedics acknowledged Brian's request and Brian followed them out the door and down the hall, passing Howie and AJ on the way by.

"No time to explain, I'll call you when I can," Brian remarked as he walked past Howie and AJ.