Kyung stood nervously in the narrow doorway. Suddenly she wasn’t sure what to say. Brian stared at her expectantly. For a moment she was at a loss for words. She had never seen him in person and she never had expected to either. Especially in this state. He looked awful. Much like she did, she supposed. That big grin that she had always seen in pictures was nowhere to be found. His eyes were red from crying and he hair was all disheveled.

“Um, I’m Kyung. Lizz’s friend.” She said hesitantly.

He raised his eyebrows. “Oh wow. She’s here?” He said softly. He stood and shook her hand. Then he gestured to one of the other chairs in the room and she sat down. Kyung smiled tightly at the shocked look on his face. She was probably the last person he expected to see. “How is he?” She asked.

“They are getting him stabilized. How’s Lizz?” Brian countered.

“Scared the crap outta me again. She had just woken up when they called the code. She sort of freaked and ended up passing out. They got her stabilized, but she isn’t awake either.” Kyung replied.

Brian raked his hand through his hair again, making it even more messed up. “Is she going to be okay?”

Kyung looked at the floor and tried to will the tears away. “I don’t know.” She whispered. “Her kidneys shut down. They can’t fix them.”

“Oh god...” Brian put his hand on Kyung’s shoulder. He didn’t know what to say.

“What about Nick? Did they get everything out of his system?” Kyung looked up at Brian.

“I don’t know. He woke up for a while. He got really upset when he remembered what had happened. He kept asking about Lizz and he tried to rip the tube in his throat out. Then his eyes sort of rolled back and the machines started beeping. I don’t know what caused it.” Brian shook his head.

“That’s what Lizz did too. She kept getting all worked up. Saying if anything happened then it would be her fault. Then we heard the code blue and she freaked out.” Kyung was trying not to cry.

“Her fault?! Why on earth would she blame herself?!” Brian demanded.

“I don’t know.” Kyung said miserably. “I am scared to death.” The tears started to fall.

Brian leaned over and put his arms around her. He couldn’t stop his own tears from falling.

“Why did this happen? Why did they do this?” Kyung moaned.

Brian didn’t reply. He didn’t know what to say. This was killing him. Not only was Nick unconscious and who knew what complications he suffered from, but also Lizz had done something equally as stupid. He knew that this was the last thing that Nick needed to go through. He also knew that Lizz had some other health issues and now had failed kidneys to deal with on top of it.

Kyung straightened herself up. She was frustrated that she let her emotions get the better of her. She had been trying to be strong for Lizz, but it was all getting to overwhelming. “Brian there is another potential problem.”

“What?” He asked warily. He didn’t need anything else to go wrong.

“What did you tell the paramedics about what happened?” Kyung asked.

“Um, that he accidentally overdosed on one of his medications.” Brian frowned, wondering where she was going with this.

“One of the paramedics saw Lizz’s computer on and messages flashing. He printed it out and brought it with. People have seen the conversation.”

“Oh god...” He breathed. “How many people?”

“I have no idea. One of the interns I work with told me she knew about it, but hadn’t read it.” Kyung told him.

Brian sighed heavily. “Do you know how bad this could be if it gets out?”

“I know! They are going to connect it all together! Two people brought in to the ER very close to the same time, both from an overdose. Anyone who reads that conversation is going to connect Lizz and Nick.” Kyung said in frustration.

“So, what do we do?” Brian rubbed his eyes.

“I am doing what I can to get a hold of it and find out who knows what.” Kyung replied.

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Brian muttered. “Me neither.” Kyung agreed. Her pager went off. She read the message and her face lit up at what she saw. “She’s awake!”

Brian smiled. “Are you going back?”

“Yeah, want to come?”

Brian nodded. “Think she’d mind?”

“Of course not. I bet she will be very happy to see you.”

“I hate to go anywhere without knowing what is happening, but if I don’t can’t tell him how Lizz is, he will just get all upset again.” Brain said.

“We’ll make sure you find out right away when he wakes up.” Kyung promised.

They walked down the hall and stopped at the main desk. Kyung left her pager number with instructions to be paged immediately when Nick was stabilized. They took the elevator to the intensive care unit. Kyung’s heart was flip-flopping, anxious to see if Lizz was okay. Kyung didn’t know how much more she could take. They stopped at the desk before going to her room. Della was sitting at the desk and smiled at Kyung.

“She woke up about ten minutes ago. We took the tube out because she tried to fight it again when she woke up. She’s on oxygen, but other than that she is breathing okay. She is a stubborn thing, isn’t she? Determined to be off the respirator.” Della grinned.

“You have no idea.” Kyung muttered. “Thank you Del.” She called over her shoulder as she and Brian walked to Lizz’s room. She knocked softly and opened the door.

Monica changed her surgical gloves as she prepared to recheck her patient’s set up. Nick Carter and the Backstreet Boys was something Monica was very familiar with. As she set about washing Nick’s face, images of the videos she had seen on Mtv ran through her mind. It was weird to think that she would be caring for him.

“Monica! You’d never guess what I have!”

Monica glanced up to see her friend Terri waving a piece of white paper back and forth.

“What is it?”

“It’s the copy of Nick Carter’s chat from early today,” Terri gushed, evidentially proud of her accomplishment.

Monica was adjusting the breathing tube in Nick’s mouth. “Where did you get that at?”

“I got it from Jen, she was the EMT that was dispatched to his case,” Terri explained. “Oh, and you’ll never guess this in a million years, Nick Carter was trying to kill himself!”

Monica stopped what she was doing and stared at Nick’s face. “No way!”

“It’s true. It says right here, Tidal Wave: I’m tired of living. I took a handful of pills,” Terri slowly read the statement.

“Why on earth would he be tired of living? He of all people that has anything and everything to live for?”

“That’s the weird part. And then there’s this girl, Lizz, she threatened to drink a bottle of albuterol if Nick took the pills. From what I heard she isn’t in very good shape, they are not really sure if she’s going to pull through this yet.” Terri walked up to the bed and stared at Nick laying there. “What about him? Is he going to pull through this?”

“I’m not supposed to discuss this at all Terri, I’m sorry,” Monica apologized.

“Oh come on, we’re best friends, you can tell me,” Terri begged.

“His doctors said that he will make it, but his system was compromised with the meds he took and they are still uncertain if there is permanent damage,” Monica explained.

“What kind of damage?” Terri asked.

“He wasn’t breathing when the EMT’s got to him, oh shit, I’ve already said too much Terri,” Monica started to busy herself with the equipment.

Terri’s mouth dropped open. “Holy shit, you mean he’s got brain damage?”

“I never said that!” Monica defended.

“But you don’t disagree that there’s that possibility?” Terri prodded.

Monica let out a deep sigh. “Terri, at this point anything is possible, okay? Please, just drop it. Anything you and I just said stays in this room, agreed?”

“Sure thing Monica,” Terri smiled. She turned and walked out into the hallway. The only thing Terri could think about was contacting the National Enquirer with this story and giving them the chat conversation. She could use a good chunk of money and never have to worry about her finances ever again.