The Carter family.

Three words that Kevin dreaded the most. Yet he pushed his negative feelings for Nick's parents aside long enough to make the call to what he was hoping was anxious parents for news about their son. It was hard for Kevin to fathom that, instead of getting into their car and driving down to the hospital, Nick's parents chose the easier route by sitting and waiting with their cell phone for his update. Granted he had told them to wait until he found out more about Nick's condition but if the roles had been reversed and someone had called him to tell them that Nick had been rushed to the hospital, Kevin knew that there was no doubt in his mind that nothing would stand in his way to get to his young brother's side.

Nick had said in the past how disfunctional his family was but Kevin chose to ignore that comment, chalking it up to a teenager's strong sense of independance and finding fault when he didn't get his way. For a parent to just let their child run all four corners of the world with only his uncle accompanying from time to time and then briefly his father, he just couldn't understand Bob and Jane's parenting skills.

Now it was becoming more and more clear to him. Nick was just a financial resource to them - plain and simple. It was a shame because that kid never had a prayers chance in hell to be in a true family unit. Sad to admit it to himself, but Kevin was beginning to think that these were people that should have never had children.

Sighing, Kevin flipped open his cell phone and hit *9 and waited for one of the Carters to answer. It took almost five rings before Jane Carter answer.

"Jane...this is Kevin."

"Kevin who?"

Kevin groaned audibly when he heard the question.

"Kevin Richardson....you know the guy in the band with your son Nick?"

Jane laughed quietly. "Oh...yes, that Kevin."

Kevin wasn't in the mood to play games with the woman.

"Jane, you need to get down to the hospital ASAP."

"Oh?"

"Your son is in serious condition. You both need to come down here."

"H-how serious?"

Kevin ran a free hand over his face. Why was this woman so hard to get through to?

"Serious enough that he is in the neurology wing of the hospital."

"Neurology? Why can't he be brought up here?"

"Because he is in a good place with good doctors here and I don't think moving Nick around right now would be a good thing," Kevin explained.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"You guys need to come down. Jane, Nicky's been asking for you."

"He has?"

Kevin mentally groaned. Why was this woman so hard to get through to? He took a deep breath in to calm himself before he said something to the older woman he may regret.

"Yes, Nick has asked for you Jane."

"Aww," the woman's tone softened. "He must really be feeling bad. Could you put him on the phone?"

The Kentuckian rubbed a hand across his forehead.

"I'm not with Nick right now. Please, just you and Bob get in your car and come down here okay? I have to get back to Nick's room now. You have my cell number. See you in a few hours." With a click of the cellphone, Kevin ended his side of the conversation. A few hours was generous in his opinion. The Carters should have been down there by now and he shouldn't have had to call them twice!

Roadkill.

That would be the one word I'd use right now to describe exactly how I felt. The last thing I remembered was Kevin telling me that I had a stroke! How could that happen to me? I mean, I'm seventeen clearly in the prime of my life. I don't do drugs and I really haven't drank - well at least I haven't been caught by Kevin drinking with AJ that one time that it was just me and AJ that roomed together in that brown hotel room.

Yeah, I said brown hotel room. That's how I remember places - not by names or countries but by colors. Pretty weird, right? But lets think about it, if I had to remember the name of every city I had been in so far, I would have a headache.

Speaking of which......

"Nick....dude, how ya feelin'?"

Why does AJ talk loud when I have a migraine?

"Could you talk a little softer?"

Howie squeezed one of my feet. "Your head hurt?"

"Uh-huh."

"But other than that, you feel okay, right?"

I looked over at my best friend. "I guess so."

Brian grinned at my response. I could still see concern in his eyes but I didn't really care at the moment. My head fricken hurt!

"Do you remember where you are at?"

Kevin....I wondered where he was.

"Did you call my mom?"

Just me saying that I thought he was going to cry! Did I piss him off by wanting my mom?

Kevin squeezed my shoulder after he approached the side of the bed. "At least you remembered that before the nurse gave you those drugs to get rid of your headache, which I'm guessing didn't work and yes, I got a hold of your mom and they were heading down."

"My head still hurts," I admitted.

"I'll go get your nurse," Brian said as he started to make his way toward the door.

"Brian..."

Kevin's low growl stopped Brian from going any further. Thank God for Kevin! I didn't want to get anything more to make me sleepy.

"How long do I have to be here?"

It seemed like a simple question....at least to me it did but the looks I got from the guys made me wonder, especially the way AJ acted.

"AJ....where do you think you're going?"

Again, Kevin's low growl stopped someone else!

"I need a cigarette."

That has always been AJ's way of dealing with things when they get too intense. I only asked how long I had to be in the hospital, that wasn't a complicated question....was it?

"How long do I have to be here?"

Kevin sighed. Great...this wasn't going to be what I wanted to hear.

"I don't know kiddo, your doctor hasn't said."

Kiddo?? I hate when he calls me that. Next he'll pat me on the top of my head and tell me it's bedtime or something gay.

"Nick, how about you close your eyes and try to get some rest."

Rest?

"I'm not tired," I whined.

"You really should rest Nick," Howie agreed.

"But I'm not tired!"

Brian stepped in, smoothing the blankets on my chest. It was nice that he did that but in front of the guys thats gay!

"Shh, don't argue, if you take a nap, when you wake up, your folks will be here."

All this time, AJ's back was to the room. I decided to plead my case with my older band brother.

"AJ could you please tell them I'm not tired?"

"You need to rest Kaos," his voice cracked. He finally turned around to face me and it was then that I saw he had been crying. "Just take a nap please?"

"Are you crying?"

AJ bit his bottom lip and shook his head and gave me a quick look as if to tell me to drop the subject. AJ had always gave out this tough-guy persona, but deep down, he really had a soft heart.

"Please Nicky, you need to take a nap and you'll feel better when you wake up, okay?"

As much as I wanted to find out what was going on with AJ, I reluctantly dropped the subject. I could see the looks in the rest of their faces that something more was going on and knowing them, they weren't going to say a word to me right now. Maybe if I closed my eyes, they would think I went to sleep and start talking.....Unfortunately my plan had one flaw and it came in the form of someone telling me that I was getting my 2 p.m. medication and it would make me sleepy.

Damn my bad luck!