”I DON’T FUCKING BELIEVE THIS! I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING HOME! NOT TO ANOTHER FREAKIN COUNTRY!” Nick yelled as he pounded his fist on the table. Howie was quick to place a hand on the young blonde’s shoulder, trying to get him to calm down.

“Nick, take it easy......I’m not too thrilled about this either, but you don’t want to get Mr. Pearlman angry with you,” Howie warned quietly.

”SCREW THAT ASSHOLE!”

Kevin was next to take action with a stern look directed at Nick. “He’ll be back in here in a minute and I’ll see what I can do about this. Just sit down and be quiet, okay?”

Nick’s complextion was bright red with anger and his eyes were filled with tears. His four band mates looked on, watching him as he shredded the paper napkin that was in front of him. Brian and AJ winced as Nick kept tugging at the napkin, waiting to see what he would set his hands on next to diffuse his anger.

“Nick.....settle down!” Kevin barked as he laid a hand on the blonde’s knee when it bumped the table spilling the coffee from the mugs.

”This is a bunch of bullshit...we should be able to go home,” Nick sputtered through gritted teeth.

“I know and we’re gonna try everything we can to tell Lou that you’re not able to meet his demands and that you need to go to a doctor,” Kevin agreed.

As Pearlman re-entered the room, the tension that filled the air was thick.

“Sorry for the interruption,” he huffed as he plopped his bulk into the chair, “that was our intra-management going over the schedule.”

Nick leaned forward as if to say something when Pearlman pulled out a handerchief to mop his sweaty forehead, but was stopped by Howie’s hand on his shoulder.

“As I was saying earlier, we’ve been asked to fill the shoes of another act that was unable to perform at the festival in Munich and since we will be already there, I’ve made them an offer of doing a concert the following evening so we’ll get some good exposure and not to mention profits,” he chuckled. “Also, we will be doing a charity basketball event.”

Collective groans were heard in the room, but Pearlman acted as if he didn’t hear them. He straightened out the paper in front of him and looked the print over through his dirty glasses. “You will be playing against the new pop sensation, N’Sync and I expect 100% participation!” He paused as his gaze bore into Nick. “No excuses!”

“I’d like to say something to you about this,” Kevin interrupted.

“I am not finished speaking and I don’t recall that I was going to hear any comments from anyone,” Pearlman hissed.

In a surprise move by the oldest member of the group, Kevin leveled his gaze upon the chubby manager. “I didn’t ask for permission and I think you should listen to me for a change.....it’s concerning Nick.”

Pearlman glanced over at the blonde that was sitting hunched over in his chair, his face a shade of dark crimson. “Can’t Carter speak for himself?”

“He is much too sick to be doing anymore of this shit......all of us are sick, sick and tired of being driven like animals for your insane pleasure!”

“That will be enough from you!”

The normally calm Kevin Richardson surprised the room when he raised his voice. ”NO....I WILL NOT SHUT UP. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FAR TOO LONG! NICK IS A HUMAN BEING, NOT SOME PROFIT FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT! HE IS SICK...SICKER THAN YOU WANT TO ACKNOWLEGE!” Kevin paused for a moment, lowering his voice. “And I know about Brian too and that is just wrong what you’re trying to pull!”

“You lower your voice when you speak to me!” Lou growled as he pounded his fist on the table. “I don’t have any idea what you’re saying about Brian and as for Carter, he’s fine, he’s just a baby about everything and he seems to have wrapped you around his finger now.”

“You didn’t give me my messages,” Nick squeaked.

“I what?” Pearlman asked incrediliously.

“M-my messages from home, my mom said she left messages for me with you.”

Pearlman shook his head as he chuckled. “Who fed you that bullshit?”

“My mom.”

“I think you need to clean your ears out boy.....she never left messages with me, in fact I haven’t spoken to the woman for almost a year,” the manager lied.

“Messages aside, Nick is far too sick to be onstage or at a basketball game for that matter,” Kevin interrupted once again.

“I have to agree with Kevin,” Johnny Wright stated. “Nick isn’t well, he should at least have a red card for the rest of the tour.”

If looks could kill, Johnny would have been six feet underground at that moment. He shifted nervously in his seat when Pearlman narrowed his eyes at him.

“I don’t recall you being the head manager,” Pearlman sourly stated. “If you want to keep your job, you can keep your opinions to yourself because they aren’t of any use to this business.”

Johnny Wright wanted to defend the young men that held their trust in him, but he was too scared to stand up to Lou. He had obligations of his own to meet and to be fired as assistant manager would be financially devastating as well as place his already shaky marriage to Donna in worse shape. All he could do was nod his head to acknowledge to Pearlman that he understood his comment.

Placing the papers into a large envelope, Pearlman smiled. “I’ve made arrangements for us to be on a charter plane which will be leaving in an hour. You have ten minutes to get your suitcases and be back in the lobby in fifteen minutes.”

“Are you gonna be okay?” Kevin asked as he glanced over at Nick.

“Yup,” Nick lied. ’What difference did it make if he told the truth?’ he wondered to himself. In the fifteen minutes that the manager had allowed them to gather their belongings, Nick had laid on the bed as Howie helped AJ stuff Nick’s personal items into his weathered suitcase. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help them, it was more that he couldn’t help. His body was playing it’s usual games by retaining fluid and his hands were so swollen it hurt to bend his fingers.

“He really looks awful,” Brian whispered.

“I know I look like shit...thanks for noticing,” Nick spat.

“Sorry, I didn’t think you could hear.”

“Guys, the shuttle van is here,” Johnny stated quietly. Walking over to Nick, he extended his arm out toward the suitcase that laid by the young blonde’s feet. “Nick, let me help you with your things.”

Looking up at the dark manager, Nick smiled thinly. “Don’t bother, I got it.”

Stepping away, Johnny watched as the young man tried to grasp the handle to the suitcase, failing miserably with each try. By the time a third try was attempted, Howie had reached over, picking the bag off the floor.

“I got it Kaos, c’mon.”

An uneasy feeling washed over the black manager. He knew he had lost his trust with the young men and he doubted he would be able to regain it....at least right now he couldn’t. He could see it in Nick’s face that the young man was clearly sick; too sick to preform. He needed to be tended to by a real doctor and not some ‘wet behind the ears’ physician that Lou Pearlman had cheaply bought off.

The dark circles under Nick’s eyes conveyed that something was horribly wrong. His eyes, the puffiness of his face and hands as well as his stomach told Johnny that this was something more than the boy getting heavier. This was much more than a bladder infection. But what more could he do without running the risk of losing his job?

“There’s no bathrooms on that plane so Carter, you better ease up on the water,” Pearlman advised as the group took their seats in the van.

Nick ignored the manager, gulping the bottled water down like a man that had been walking for days in the desert.

“Jesus Nick, how many have you drank so far this morning?” AJ questioned with a concerned voice.

Nick replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

This time it was Kevin that was questioning with concern. “How many have you seen so far?”

Rubbing his chin, AJ replied. “Since I’ve been awake I think I’ve seen three or four.”

“That’s alot of water Nick,” Howie remarked.

Brian jerked. “How many again?”

“I’m just thirsty,” Nick defended. “Leave me the fuck alone.”

“That’s enough of the cussing,” Pearlman growled. “Leave the boy alone, he’s going to pay for it with his misery when he needs to piss on the plane and there won’t be a toilet.”

“Okay, that’s at least 48 ounces of water, how many ounces are in a gallon?” Brian wondered outloud.

“God...he’s drank almost a gallon of water in less than three hours,” Howie mumbled.

“That’s not good Nick,” Kevin acknowledged, a tinge of panic in his voice.

“And you’ve been to the bathroom how many times today?”

“Are you the fucking hall monitor? Jesus, leave me alone,” Nick spat.

The rest of the ride to the airport was in silence with Nick nursing the bottle of Evian and Kevin and the other bandmembers exchanging worried glances over at Nick.

“You’ve got five minutes to use the facilities,” Pearlman growled as the van pulled into the circular drive of the airport. “Carter I would expect you use this opportunity.”

“C’mon Nick, let’s go,” AJ motioned as he made his way into the airport terminal.

“I don’t really hafta go though,” Nick mumbled as he followed.

Brian nudged his friend’s shoulder. “Just c’mon.”

“You know how sick this sounds?” Nick questioned.

AJ grinned as he looked back at Nick. “You’re the one with the sick mind, bro.”

Nick balked when they entered the restroom. He had forgotten that it was a public restroom meaning that he would be standing next to them when he tried to force out what little he could from his bladder and no doubt release a reddish tinged stream of urine if he was successful in his attempt.

Without hesitating, he quickly darted into a stall, opting to shy away from the urinals that lined the tiled wall.

“Since when did you become so shy kid?” AJ questioned when the metal door clanged shut.

“I don’t like audiences, thank you very much,” Nick grumbled.

“I’m not a pervert you asshole,” AJ sputtered.

“Yeah but I know you guys are gonna watch me pee and I’m really not into that kinda crap.”

Nick stood in front of the toilet for a long time trying to concentrait on forcing out any amount of urine from his bladder. He was puzzled that the release wasn’t coming as fast as he hoped. It was starting to worry him a little that he had drank over four bottles of Evian and he, the one who had been labled as the guy with the world’s smallest bladder couldn’t manage to push out more than a small stream of urine.

“Did you fall in?” AJ cackled.

“I’ll be done in a sec,” Nick snapped.

Looking into the bowl, he was happy to see that at least this time the urine wasn’t bloody, it was dark, but it wasn’t bloody. Much to his disappointment, the strong back pain came back.....it seemed to always come back stronger everytime he attempted to empty his bladder. Not that the pain had ever left him to begin with. Nick bit his bottom lip to stifle a cry as his eyes began to water.

“Nick? Are you okay?”

Nick could hear the sound of concern and slight panic that was in Brian’s voice. “Yeah,” he mumbled, quickly flushing the toilet to end the topic.

AJ being the wonderful person he was, tried to make light of the situation when Nick opened the stall door. “Did you catch your little trouser mouse in your zipper?”

Nick smiled paley. “It’s not little and it’s more like an elephant’s trunk.”

AJ lowered his sunglasses as he peered over them. “So you did nick the little fella?”

Nick groaned in reply. “No I didn’t zip anything, it’s kinda hard to do that when I don’t have a zipper.” He lifted his shirt to show the top of his windpants.

“Oops, guess I didn’t notice,” AJ sheepishly replied.

Nick followed AJ and Brian back to the waiting group, walking in a hunched over manner. Kevin picked up on his mannerisms.

“Are you hurting Nick?”

“Not more than usual.”

“Did you take your antibiotics this morning?”

“Yes mom, remember you gave them to me?”

“Oh, yeah that’s right,” Kevin smiled, ignoring AJ’s grin.

“Boys follow me, the plane is waiting,” Lou Pearlman barked as he waddled toward the exit that lead to the tarmack.

Nick stopped. ”That is not a plane.”

Kevin wrapped a fatherly arm around Nick’s shoulders. “It’ll be alright buddy, it’s a quick flight.”

“I’m not going on that thing.”

The three other bandmembers were standing at the bottom of the stairs that led to the tiny aircraft. “What’s the holdup?” AJ yelled over the engine as he looked back.

“Nick’s scared,” Kevin yelled back. He leaned over. “Nick everything will be fine, you can sit next to me, okay?”

“I doubt there’s any seats,” Nick mumbled.

“C’mon, you’ll be fine,” Kevin encouraged as he pushed Nick forward.

“Let’s hope so,” Nick muttered in reply.

Reluctantly, Nick allowed himself to be led toward the small charter plane. His fear of being called a wuss outweighed his fear of a plane crash.