"NICK!"

Oops....spaced out again. "Could you stop yelling?"

Kevin closed his eyes and sighed....Great he only does that when he gets pissed!

"You don't seem to be with me."

This time it was me that closed my eyes and sighed. "I'm on the bus with you...."

"That's not what I mean....you keep spacing out on us."

AJ chuckled. "Well that's pretty normal for Carter.....he is always spacing out!"

"Okay I admit I was thinking while you were staring at me......I always do that when you start to lecture me." Judging by the look on Kevin's face, that wasn't one of the smartest things to tell him. I shoulda said that I was trying not to listen to him cause I knew he was gonna go postal on me. God I can be so stupid sometimes!

"Come on Nicky, lets get you into bed. Rest is the best thing for you right now."

Wow! Kevin didn't get pissed! I gratefully took the suggestion from Kevin and before I knew it, I was tucked back into my bunk.

"There you go little man," Kevin said as he patted me on the leg. It kinda made me miss my mom. She used to do that when I was a little kid. She'd tuck me into bed at night and tell me that there wasn't a boogey man waiting in the dark to crawl out from under the bed and start eating me. I think that happened to that one kid that lived down the block from our old house in Ruskin......

"Nick?"

"Yeah I will." My reply was automatic, I guess it was right because the next thing I knew, Kevin was pulling the curtians shut on AJ's bunk. Wonder what he asked me....

Once the men were back in the living quarters, Kevin pulled out his cell phone, looking through his stored numbers. "I'm getting ahold of either Bob or Jane Carter if it takes me all night....this is insane!"

"S-h-h-h, keep it down, Nick might hear you!" Howie admonished quietly.

"Nick knows how screwed up his family is," Kevin growled as he continued his search for the contact number.

"What if you don't reach them, God knows D has tried," AJ reminded.

"You don't know Kevin," Brian said with a grin. "He gets pretty determined once he sets his mind to it."

"So you get ahold of one of them.....what good is that gonna do?" AJ spat with a sour look on his face.

Kevin threw a dark look. "When I get a hold of them I will be filling them in on how sick their son is!"

AJ stared at him, folding his arms across his chest. "Yeah....and like I said before - what good is that gonna do?"

This time it was Howie that tossed a look over at the rebel. "Don't push him," he warned softly.

"This is so----"

AJ stopped in midsentence when Brian punched him in the shoulder and then motioned toward his cousin. Sure enough, Kevin was talking into the phone, his free hand cupped over his ear so he could hear.

"Can you get your mommy or daddy please?"

"Great this will go well," AJ whispered.

"It might if you keep quiet," Howie whispered back, motioning toward Kevin before placing a finger to his lips.

"Oh for chrissake," AJ sputtered, walking toward the eldest bandmember.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up honey, but I really need to talk to your mommy or daddy."

AJ jerked the phone from Kevin's hand. "Kid, get your dad now!"

Kevin rubbed a hand acorss his face in an effort to calm himself.

"Yeah Bob..."

This time Kevin jerked the phone away from AJ.

"I'm sorry to call you like this but we've been playing phone tag....the reason I called is about your son......well he really is a sick kid and I didn't think that Lou told Jane everything about what happened.....yes sir...yes sir.....well you see he was knocked out and he took a pretty good hit to his head....yes sir....yes sir...well the reason I felt the need to call you was that although Lou cancelled the rest of the tour, he felt the need to have us do some promotional gigs and Nick really isn't fit to be doing this....yes sir.....two more that I know of...yes sir.....no sir he isn't with us....yes sir I will have him do that.....I will tell Nick....."

Howie, Brian and AJ had been standing, watching Kevin as he paced the floor while he talked to Nick's father. The phone coversation on Kevin's side was limited and they didn't have a clue if the older man was able to get through to Bob or not. The conversation ended abrubtly and instead of turning to face his bandmates, Kevin stormed back toward the back of the bus.

"I'm guessin' that call did not go well," AJ growled.

Howie made his way over toward the seating area. "You don't know that for sure, don't jump to conclusions."

Brian nodded his head in agreement. He looked toward the back of the bus. "Well maybe he went off to talk to Mr. Pearlman."

"Just keep on dreamin Kentucky boy," AJ grumbled as he felt his shirt pocket for his pack of cigarettes.

"He was talking to Bob instead of Jane," Howie pointed out as he watched AJ light up the cigarette. "And you know that Bob is more sensible when it comes to the kids."

AJ flopped into a chair. "I don't think either Carter is sensible when it comes to their kids."

"That's not very nice to say," Brian admonished.

The tattooed rebel took a deep drag from the cigarette, holding it in his lungs before he slowly exhaled. "Well I ain't no authority on parenting but those two aren't what you call caring parents. Personally I think Jane popped out kids just for something to do....more for attention than anything else."

Brian shook his head. "Could you keep your opinions to yourself, please?"

"I can voice my opinions if I want," AJ snorted.

"Those really are opinions that shouldn't be mentioned outloud," Howie added.

God my bed was never this lumpy....oh wait thats cause I'm not in my bed....man I'm really thirsty....

Great! I groaned outloud when a huge wave of dizziness suddenly hit. What the heck did I do last night? I squeezed my eyes shut and took two deep breaths. That should help. When I opened my eyes I found that I had four feet instead of two! What the heck is going on?

Closing my eyes, I shook my head....maybe I just slept too hard.....

Okay just one pair of feet now!

Hanging onto the side of the wall, I made my way slowly down the dark hall, trying my best not to make any sudden moves just in case that was what caused me to see four of my own feet. I definately didn't want that to happen again. I must have really partied last night! I don't really remember last night so that must be it......

Okay now I was out of wall and discovered that Howie, Brian and AJ were already up....the couch was only two feet away. I slowly made it to the leather couch, thinking that no one noticed my presence.

"Yo Nicky!"

AJ's loud voice literally made my head want to explode. I put an arm across my face, not bothering to answer.

"Nick, how are you feeling?"

I could smell the soap so I knew it was Brian that was hovering over me.

"I dunno," I muttered. God talking made my skin hurt. Is that possible? Can your skin actually hurt cause mine did.....

"Sounds like you're not awake yet.."

D is always Captain Obvious......

"He still looks funny to me."

I peeked up at Brian from under my arm. What is he talking about?

"Yeah he actually looks whiter than normal."

Whiter than normal?!? What the hell! "I'm okay...just drank too much last night."

AJ snorted at my little comment. It must have been him that got me drunk last night!

"Drank too much of what Kaos? Gatorade? Water?"

"You know what I meant," I defended quietly.

"I think you're dreaming kid cause the strongest thing I've ever seen you drink is Gatorade!"

I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks in a full on blush....God I hate when I get embarrassed. My face always gives me away! I rolled over and buried my face into the pillow.

"Leave me alone!" I groaned into the pillow.

"God you're such a crab when you wake up.....I think he's fine, just ornery," AJ decided outloud.

Okay I felt like crap and there was no way I was going to lay on this couch and listen to them pick at me. I rolled over and quickly sat up - which I then decided was not a good idea when the room started spinning. I'll just go get my bottled water and go lay back down in my bunk until we get to wherever the hell we're supposed to be going to. I only took about two steps when discovered that my feet didn't necessarily do what I wanted them to do. Hopefully no one noticed.

"Hey Nick what are you doing?"

Or not. Damn Howie!

"I...I was gonna go lay back down but I decided I wanted to take some water back with me."

Great! Now they're watching me! These guys need a life besides watching me! As best as I can, I carefully made my way into the kitchenette and grabbed a bottle of water, uncapping it and taking a quick gulp to show them that this was my intentions. After two tries I finally was able to screw the cap back on and thank God that was with my back to them.

"Wake me when we get there," I mumbled as I started slowly toward the bunks. I made it part way back when suddenly, the worst headache of my life ripped through my brain. Then my world went dark as I fell to the floor.