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Chapter Twenty Six

I had just finished a quick little blog for Sam when AJ's phone rang. In a matter of minutes the whole cabin had gone from total relaxation to totally on edge. I had never seen AJ look so scared in his entire life.

"As soon as I land I'll get a plane out," he said in a strangled voice.

"What's wrong J?" I asked. He looked at me but he either ignored the question or didn't hear it at all. As soon as he hung up he dialed another number. He stared straight ahead until finally he closed the phone again. He looked like he was going to pass out or throw up.

I stood up and leaned over Bri.

"AJ? AJ, talk to me," I said.

He blinked. It was like he had mentally left the plane and was somewhere far, far away.

"What's going on?" Bri asked. His voice was muffled considering I was leaning completely into him. I think the armpit of my Hanes t-shirt was flapping by his mouth.

"I need to go home," AJ said brokenly. "Ro's been in an accident. It's...bad."

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Once we landed, AJ sprinted over to the counter to get the next flight home. Brian and Leighanne were having enough problems keeping track of Baylee and juggling Kay. Howie and Leigh weren't fairing much better with James. I knew AJ needed someone to go with him, and that someone looked to be me.

I headed up to the counter as the man behind the counter listed all of the flight connections and everything. AJ whipped out his credit card and just pushed it on the man.

"I don't care. Just book it."

I handed over my own card. "Make that two."

The guy at the counter looked at his computer. "Only two seats left," he mentioned. AJ looked at me.

"You don't have to do this."

"Bullshit. You're not flying back home alone."

"You should wait with the others."

I snorted. "Why? I don't have anyone but me, myself, and I. It's your lucky day that they have two seats left. One for you, one for me."

I've seen AJ depressed before. As we took off on our first plane towards home, his face conveyed more than depression. There was fear, sadness, guilt, and something else I couldn't put my finger on.

AJ's mom called him again on our path from Pakistan to France. I couldn't do much more than squeeze AJ's arm. I'm not even sure he felt it. I didn't really understand anything more on the status of Ro or the kids from AJ's one ended conversation. After he hung up I looked at him. It took him a minute, but slowly he looked at me. His eyes were like fishbowls of tears.

"I...I have babies," he croaked.

Then he completely lost it.

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I don't even know how many hours it took us in total to get home. I just know that the moment we hit pavement in Tampa that AJ had his game face on.

I hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address for the hospital. We rode in tense silence. AJ didn't come to life until the taxi pulled up to the hospital entrance.

"Call me and give me an update when you can, okay?" I called out as he leaped out of the car. He didn't respond. I leaned back into the crappy seat and sighed. I had spent my fair share of time at the same hospital. I knew the only thing on AJ's mind was family.

"Where to?" the driver called out.

I gave him the address for home. I hadn't called Liv to let her know I was coming home. Somehow it didn't seem right to swap 'I love you's' and kisses when I was sitting next to a guy who's wife might be dying.

The taxi pulled up to the house about a half hour later.

"Hey buddy, do you have the time?" I asked as I handed over some cash.

"It's three a.m. Hope the missus is expecting you," the driver said with a grin.

"She likes surprises," I said. Liv hates surprises.

I got my carry-on bag (my other luggage was coming later) and headed up to the house. I tried to be as quiet as I could but that was pretty impossible with an alarm system that starts giving warning beeps even before you can enter in the passcode.

"Nick?"

Come to find out, I wouldn't have been able to sneak in undetected anyhow. Liv was in the kitchen with Brooke. I dropped my duffel, held out my arms and smiled.

"Surprise!"

"DADA!"

"What's wrong?"

Leave it to a woman to jump right to the point. I sighed.

"I came back with AJ. Ro was in a bad accident, bad enough they had to deliver the babies. That's all I know. I just dropped AJ off at the hospital."

"An accident?" Liv said. "Oh my god..."

"And I'm sorry I didn't call," I said. "But, I was just so focused on AJ and then I thought calling you might upset him and..."

Liv waved me off and picked up Brooke. "Don't worry about that."

I walked into the kitchen. Brooke's arms shot out towards me. I took her. She seemed thrilled that she could actually touch me. Her hands patted my face happily.

"She's still stuffy, but we're almost to the crusty stage. I was suctioning out some big snot balls."

"Do you have big snot balls?" I asked gently. Brooke touched her nose and nodded. Then her head hit my chest and she sighed. I kissed the top of her head and looked over at Liv.

"I've missed you guys," I said softly. Liv walked over and touched my arm. I kissed her softly.

I felt guilty. Here I was standing in my kitchen at three o'clock in the morning with my family while AJ...

While AJ was going through hell.

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I didn’t hear from AJ for about thirty six hours. During that time, I had gotten phone calls from Brian, Howie, and Kevin. I had no news to report except what I had overheard on the plane ride home.

“Hey Nick, it’s J.”

“How are things?” I asked. I was sitting on the living room floor. Noah was lying on the play mat and Brooklyn was batting the play rings above his head causing him to happily spit all over himself. They were both entertained and having a good time.

“Ro was in a head-on collision,” AJ said quietly. “She’s been in an induced coma but they’re taking her out of it today. She’s got some broken ribs and a punctured lung, but they’re being cautiously optimist.”

I wasn’t sure how anyone could be cautiously optimistic with those specs, but for AJ’s sake, I was glad that there was some hope going on.

“The twins are in the NICU. My little girl’s doing pretty well but…they don’t know if my son’s going to make it. His lungs just aren’t developed enough.”

AJ sounded like he might be crying. Given the circumstances, he was doing better than I would have. I knew I’d be sobbing like a baby. I did when I saw Noah in the NICU.

“Is there anything I can do?” I asked. “Anything you need that I can bring you or—“

“Just….just pray, okay?” AJ asked. He’d never asked any of us to pray before. I think we all left that up to Brian a lot of the time.

“Absolutely,” I said.

“Oh…one more thing.”

“Just name it.”

“Can you call the other guys? I just don’t feel up to repeating…”

I cut him off. “That’s no problem. Let me handle it.”

“Thanks, Nick. I—I really do owe you. For everything.”

I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “No you don’t. That’s what friends are for.”

We said a couple more quick exchanges and then we hung up. I had sent Liv upstairs to go take a bath. Being in charge of two small Carters was enough to frazzle anyone. She had done it solo for three weeks straight. I stretched out and called Brian, Howie, and Kevin in turn. Initially, we were going to put U.S. tickets for our July tour on sale at the end of the month. We all agreed that we weren’t going to release any more concert dates until we knew more about the situation. No matter what, we all believe that family comes first.

After I hung up with Kev, I felt stressed. I don’t handle stress or tension well. I set the phone down on the table and crawled over to the play mat.

“Boo!” I said. Brooke giggled and swung a giant plastic ring my way. It hit my forehead and I fell over dramatically. Brooke's giggles broke into full on laughter. I slid back over, rubbing my head.

Noah was looking at me like I was insane. I lifted up his shirt and blew a giant raspberry. He looked stunned for a minute.

Then he smiled.

Liv told me over the phone that she had witnessed his first smile a week ago. Now I was staring at the real thing. It was adorable; however it didn't last long. Brooke took a nearby plastic block and hit Noah on the head with it. He began to wail.

"Brooke, no!" I said. I scooped him up and then picked up the block. I held it up to her face. Her eyes crossed. "No!" I said firmly.

I don't think I've ever spoken to her like that before. Her face crumbled. One minute she was sitting there calm as can be, the next she threw herself down dramatically and wailed for the entire world to hear.

"WHAT'S WRONG?"

Liv's voice was muffled, but I could still hear her call from down the hall.

"NOTHING!" I yelled back.

"I'M GETTING OUT!"

I stood up, rocking Noah. Brooke was a mess on the floor. Her nose was dripping, tears were running down her cheeks and her lower lip was vibrating so much that I expected it to take off and run away. I sighed. I didn't think it could get any more insane.

"NICK!" Liv called out.

"YEAH?"

"HELP!"

I was wrong.