“Can you please explain to me again why AJ is the first one working with Nick in therapy?” Brian complained, pacing the floor of the private waiting room.

Kevin sighed as he poured his fourth cup of coffee.

“He’s told you something like five times already Brian. Here I thought Nick was the one with the memory problems,” Howie chided.

Brian tugged a hand through his hair. “Yeah, but I thought that Kevin would actually be a more logical choice in this. I mean we’re leaving Nick in the hands of Bone….”

“What the fuck else did you want me to do? Leave him in a one on one with his mother? Nick wanted AJ, there’s nothing else that I could have done, okay? Just drop the subject.”

I’m sure my facial expression mirrored my band brother’s as he sat next to my bed. I guess I shouldn’t be upset with him, I mean I probably called him Howie by accident three times at least. That’s what I keep telling myself - by accident, there’s no way I wouldn’t know my brothers by name? I mean sure, I have trouble calling a fork a fork but Jesus, my own brothers?

“Okay Nicky, lets try this word association game thing the hospital has made up for you to play,” AJ grumbled. “Point to your nose.”

“This is so stupid.”

“I don’t care what it is, you gotta do it…..point to your nose.”

Thank God I obeyed his request! I think the smile on his face told me I did what he wanted correctly.

“Good…..now your mouth.”

I rolled my eyes. “How about you point to your mouth?”

AJ shook his head sadly. He knew that although Nick was trying to be sarcastic when he protested, the flatness of his voice told a different story. “Nick, you know I hate making you do these things but how are you going to get better if you don’t?”

“I don’t know, Howie.”

“AJ,” he corrected as he pointed to himself.

“I know it’s AJ, I was just messin’ with you,” I lied. Why did I keep calling him Howie? I know he’s AJ! Instead of leaving off pointing to body parts, he pointed at himself.

“Who am I again?”

I rolled my eyes. “Is that on the list?”

“Nope but if you call me Howie one more time I swear to God, sick or not, you’re dead Carter.”

“What happened to being nice? Remember, you were told to be nice to me,” I reminded him.

“Who told me that?” AJ asked.

Ooops, me and my big mouth! “You know.”

“Yeah but tell me his name.”

Shit!

“Did you honestly forget the name or are you playin’ with me again Carter?”

“It was dickhead.”

AJ chuckled. “True….that is one of his names, how about I give you his last name….Richardson, does that help you?”

I stared at him as I searched my brain.

“Begins with the letter K…..”

”KEVIN!”

“What are you doing to Nick?”

“We’re you standing out in the hall or something?” AJ asked Kevin as he entered the room.

“No I was actually coming down to take my turn with Nick and I just happened to be outside the door when the kid yelled out my name. So what are you doing to Nick that he yelled my name?”

“I was doing what you told me I had to do,” AJ defended and then smirked. “He called you a dickhead.”

Kevin tugged on the chair AJ was sitting in. “Go back to the waiting room.”

“That’s it? He calls you a dickhead and you throw me out of the room?”

“You probably pushed him into saying that….c’mon you’re wasting my time with Nick.”

I watched as Kevin immediately sat down, a thick book was in his hands.

“So what do you have planned for me?” I asked as I stared at his hands.

“This is something really simple, you’re gonna read to me.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope, I thought maybe we’d start out with something simple and work our way up each time we meet,” he said as he handed the book to me.

I looked at the cover. “Kid’s bedtime stories?”

“I know, it sounds dumb, but it was what the therapist ordered.”

I took a breath in as I opened the book, not sure if reading was affected as well as my memory. I looked up at Kevin and immediately relaxed when I noticed his posture as laid back, his legs stretched out in front of him. “Okay, this is called Two Grey Cats.”

Wow, I could read that first sentence! I looked up and saw Kevin smile, nodding his head.

“Go on.”

“Elizabeth had two cats. Their names were Micki and Minnie. They looked exactly alike. Micki was a grey cat, Minnie was a grey cat…”

“Why are you stopping?” Kevin asked, alarm in his voice.

I shook my head. “I can read….I can read.”

“That’s good, keep it up buddy.”

I did as Kevin asked and when the story ended I was anxious to start reading another story. This was something I could still do! Of all the things that were taken from me, at least I could escape my prison by reading!

“Hey son, how are you feeling?”

My dad’s voice woke me. “Huh?” My eyes darted around the room until they focused on him standing at the foot of my bed.

“I asked how are you feeling? Kevin told me you had a pretty full morning of doing your speech therapy with them.”

I yawned as I remembered all of the stuff each one of the guys were assigned to work with me on. It was funny how Brian’s was to sing songs with me. That had me pretty tired after I had been through all of the other stuff.

“I’m feeling pretty good I guess.”

It wasn’t until I answered my dad before I realized that there was a man in a business suit standing beside him. I immediately felt self conscious. Business suits equaled bad things as far as I was concerned especially if Jane was standing with him.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Daniel Gross, from the law firm your parents hired to handle your financial and business affairs as well as theirs,” the man said as he offered his hand to me.

I ignored the man’s hand. “Why are you here?”

He cleared his throat, seeming instantly nervous by my question. I felt pretty full of myself to be able to make an attorney nervous even though I was laying flat on my back in a hospital bed.

“You haven’t talked with Nick yet about what you’re planning on doing?” the attorney asked my dad, his face turning a dark shade of red.

“Well it really didn’t need to be discussed,” my dad replied. “Just give him the papers and show him where to sign.”

I stared at my dad. Was he for real? He wanted me to sign legal papers? I couldn’t tell him the correct names for things and he expects me to sign something that would be legally binding?

“What are the papers for?” It was a fair question, right?

“Your father asked me to draw up an emancipation petition.”

I felt completely stupid. I had no clue what an emancipation petition was. “What is that?”

“Nick, I had to do this because we are trying to get you guys out of the contract with Pearlman. I’ve seen how badly you’ve been treated and the only way I can do this is have you sign this petition so you can sign your own documents and make your own legal decisions without having your mother involved.”

“I really don’t want to sign anything without talking to Kevin.”

I could tell by the look on my dad’s face I either pissed him off or hurt him. It was hard to tell.

“Why do you have to get him involved?”

“If the papers aren’t that bad, then you shouldn’t mind, I really need someone to look at them with me.”

“Kevin was the one that suggested it,” my dad growled.

“Then you shouldn’t be getting defensive,” I replied.

“I’m not getting defensive….”

“Maybe we should come back at a better time,” the attorney suggested. “I can leave the papers here and Nick can look at them with Kevin.”

“I guess that’s a good idea,” my dad’s tone of voice hinted at irritation rather than acceptance. “I’ll get a hold of Richardson and I’ll bring the papers back after Nick signs them.”

You mean after you sign them I thought darkly. Both of my parents had forged my name on documents before and I wouldn’t put it past him right now. He seemed anxious to get this stuff signed for some reason.

“I will have to be present when Nick signs the documents. They have to be witnessed.”

That attorney didn’t seem to be so bad after all. He was thinking exactly the what I was! My dad got uncomfortable right at that moment.

“Lets go down and call Kevin then, I’m sure he’ll come right up,” my dad suggested as they left the room.

I stared at the big envelope they left beside me on the bed. I didn’t have the energy or the desire to look at them right at that moment. I’ll wait for Kevin. He always knows the right thing to do. That was the last thought on my mind as I closed my eyes, seeking the peace of sleep.