“Erica? Erica! Come back here!” Felicia yelled as she banged against the door, thinking Erica would open it and take Felicia with her. She had tried unsuccessfully to open it but it wouldn’t budge, and she did not want to be alone right now, even though her best friend, boyfriend, and brother were in the same room with her. Felicia gave up on hitting the door and tried to turn the handle one more time when it opened. “Finally!” she smiled but soon frowned when she saw the cave was gone now and gasped when she felt Brian and Kevin walk right through her. She turned around when they pulled some chairs up next to Lenni, Nick, and A.J but sat closer to Howie.

“Anything yet?” Kevin asked quietly so he wouldn’t wake Howie up.

Nick shook his head as he held onto Felicia’s hand, moving his thumb around her promise ring.

“How are mom and the Doroughs?” A.J. asked softly, his elbows propped up on his knees and his hands in front of his face, as if he was praying.

“Leighanne, Kristin, and our folks are taking care of them, and Baylee is keeping them occupied,” Brian said. “How are you guys holding up?”

Lenni spoke up for Nick and A.J. “They didn’t even look at the food I brought them.”

“You guys need to eat,” Howie mumbled from his side of the bed, waking up for the first time that day.

Brian smiled at Howie and patted his arm lightly. “He’s right guys. Felicia wouldn’t want you two to not be taking care of yourself.”

Kevin took the food out of the bag and chuckled. “Lenni, you brought them yogurt?” He glanced over at Howie and noticed he was out cold again. The doctors had him on heavy sedatives so he could get a lot of rest and heal faster.

Lenni just shrugged and rubbed A.J.’s back. “I figured it would keep them feeling full, and all of the other food in the cafeteria looked bad.”

Kevin just shook his head. “Come on guys, you need some real food. Brian and I already had something at his house. Aunt Jackie made plenty and would want you to eat it, just like Felicia would.”

“But what if she wakes up? Or what if-” Nick asked softly, not ready to leave Felicia’s side.

“I’ll stay behind,” Brian offered, not wanting Nick to finish that sentence. “If something happens good or bad I will call Kevin right away.”

Lenni patted Felicia’s leg and took A.J.’s hand. “Come on you two, we haven’t left the hospital all week, we need to get out for a little bit.” She turned to Felicia. “Don’t go driving Brian crazy alright? We already have two of you in here, we don’t want to send him to the loony bin.”

Knowing Lenni was right about leaving, A.J. bent down and kissed Felicia’s cheek. “We’ll be back soon,” he said softly and made his way out the door with Lenni, passing right through Felicia who tried to stop them. “Don’t go yet,” she said softly, her eyes welling with tears again. She felt like this was all her fault. “If I just didn’t work on this album, we would all be celebrating the holidays together, instead of this,” she said as she turned back to Nick once A.J. and Lenni were down the hallway, and made her own way to her bed.

Nick gently caressed Felicia’s face and kissed her forehead before bending down to her ear. “When I come back, I want to see those beautiful eyes, okay?” he said tearfully, trying not to break down again like he had this whole week. “I love you so much Felicia Anne,” he said and finally stood up but couldn’t let go of her hand.

His words rang loudly in her ears as her tears finally fell. “Nicky,” Felicia said to herself quietly as Kevin gently lead him out of the room and closed the door behind them, leaving Brian stuck between his two sleeping friends.

Brian sighed and watched Felicia, seeming to sleep peacefully. “You know, you owe me Miss Fe,” he joked softly using one of his nicknames for her, as to not wake Howie up, but not able to deal with all the silence. “You know I don’t like hospitals and yet here I am, staying here by myself to keep you and Howie company. I think the two of you will be doing some babysitting for me once your both feeling better.”

Felicia managed a laugh and wiped away some of her tears.

“Nick will kill me for telling you this, but,” Brian trailed off before heading to the door, making sure no one was coming or lurking out the door. He also checked to make sure Howie was out cold and when he heard his soft snoring he sat back down next to Felicia.

“Alright, so,” Brian started. “Nick loves you. A lot. I know you know that. I don’t know if you can tell how much this is tearing him up inside, but it is. He was going to propose to you Fe. He looked so happy when he showed me and Baylee the ring,” he trailed off, chuckling when he remembered the interaction between Nick and Baylee. “He didn’t mean to tell us, Baylee is just a very attentive little two-year-old. I brought him to Nick to say sorry for drowning his cell phone and Nick had the box out.”

Felicia gasped and covered her mouth when he said Nick was going to propose, not believing he was ready for that.

“But yeah. If you remember that, when you wake up, don’t tell him I told you alright? He wants you to think you’re the first one to know and he doesn’t want you to know before he asks,” Brian smirked then frowned. “Denise was here most of the week, but starting two days ago, Kevin and I have been taking her, Hoke and Paula back to my place. This was actually the first time we could get A.J. and Nick to leave the room since they were first allowed in. They just wouldn’t listen to Denise when she tried to get them to leave. And Lenni only left when she tried to get them to eat something; usually Leighanne or Kristin would bring some food here for us, but other than that Lenni has been trying to keep them sane.” Brian watched the heart monitor throughout his ramble, in hopes there might have been a jump at a name of someone in the group, but nothing happened.

“Kristin and Leighanne brought Baylee a few times. I’ve never seen him this subdued before. Man, I don’t think I’ve seen any of the guys this calm before, even when Jono happened,” he took a deep breath and took her hand. “You have to pull out of this, okay? You just have to.” he said near tears before looking down and sending up a silent prayer.

Throughout Brian’s talk to her, Felicia just let her tears flow. “It’s not like anyone can see me,” she said softly. She remembered when just a few moments ago she nearly forgot these guys, wanting to leave them to be with her parents and sister. “I’m not going to let myself leave the same way my family did” she said and laid down on her body and closed her eyes.

Brian exhaled a deep breath and wiped his eyes with a sleeve of his shirt. He looked at Felicia’s face and thought he saw more color in it, and then felt a slight squeeze in his right hand and saw Felicia’s hand flexing somewhat.

He was just about to page a nurse when one came in to check on Felicia and Howie’s vitals. “She squeezed my hand!” Brian whispered excitedly.

“She did?” The nurse smiled, but she didn’t want to get Brian’s hopes up, as that could have been an involuntary reflex.

“Yeah, look at her hand, its still moving. And she has color back in her cheeks again,” Brian said standing up but not letting go of Felicia’s hand.

“Interesting,” the nurse said as she checked on Felicia’s vitals before shining a light in Felicia’s eyes. “I don’t want to get your hopes up, but overall she is improving from yesterday. Pretty fast too. I’m going to go get a doctor to look at her as well, but things are looking good,” she smiled and left the room in a rush.

Not a minute after she was gone Brian picked up the phone next to Felicia’s bed and dialed Kevin’s number, hoping he wasn’t too far away from the hospital yet, if not still in the parking lot.

“What happened?” Kevin asked immediately, recognizing the phone number as he had it programmed into his own phone

“The nurse said she didn’t want to get my hopes up, but you might want to get back here. Felicia might be waking up,” Brian said, smiling from ear to ear as he continued to feel her hand move.