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Chapter 23:

My Liver Will Go On


Hours later, a lone figure sat in a darkened hospital room, his back hunched, his shoulders slumped, his hands wrapped tightly around the limp hand of the man lying motionlessly in the bed next to him.

“Wish you’d wake up, J,” murmured Nick, rubbing the back of AJ’s hand. According to Dr. Flue, the transplant surgery had gone well, but Nick wouldn’t feel reassured until AJ woke up. He’d tried talking to him, poking him, and even singing a few of their songs to him, but even that surefire trick hadn’t worked. AJ remained unconscious. Dr. Flue had said it might take awhile for the anesthesia to wear off, but Nick wanted AJ awake now.

What would be even better is if he, Nick, could wake up… wake up and realize that this whole day had been nothing but a nightmare… wake up and find Brian still alive and AJ still perfectly fine.

Now, in some fanfics, that’s exactly what would happen – Nick would wake up bathed in cold sweat and realize it had all just been a bad dream. But we’re not going to be that idealistic. Unrealistic as this all is, it’s not going to end up being a dream.

I hate you, Nick silently cursed whoever was doing all this to them.

Sorry, Nick. We only do it because we love you.

Speaking of loving Nick, at that very moment, the beeping pattern of AJ’s heart monitor suddenly changed, and Nick’s eyes flew to the monitor over the bed in alarm. The jagged green line running across the screen did not go flat, but it did change. In fact, instead of going up and down with each steady blip, the line was beginning to form… letters?

Nick watched in amazement as words began to scrawl across the screen. He squinted up at it, trying to make out the words before they flew by.

“I… l-l-love… y-you… Nick?” he sounded the message out, cocking his head in disbelief as it processed in his brain. “I love you, Nick?” he repeated. AJ’s heart monitor is in love with me? Damn, I must be one sexy dude if even inanimate pieces of medical equipment have got the hots for me.

“I, uh… I love you too, Ms. Heart Monitor,” he said stupidly, feeling it was only proper to return the sentiment. He just hoped he was correct in identifying the heart monitor as a “Ms.” Because if it was a “Mr.”… well, sorry, but he just didn’t go that way.

He watched as new words began to creep across the screen. … Not the heart monitor, dummy… it’s Brian…

Nick’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Brian?!” he cried. “Nuh-uh… it couldn’t be! Brian’s dead!”

… So you think it’s more probable that it’s the heart monitor talking to you?...

Nick thought about that one for a moment. “Brian?” he asked cautiously, his eyes narrowing at monitor.

… That’s my name, don’t wear it out…

“Brian!” Nick cried happily. “It is you! What’s up, dawg?”

… I’m up… in Heaven…

“Ah, right. How is it up there?”

… Good to be back… catching up with all my old angel buddies…

“Mmm…” Nick smiled, imagining Brian stretched out on top of a soft cloud, surrounded by hundreds of hot angels draped in strategically placed folds of white satin and nothing more. “Nice.”

… Listen Nick, I need to tell you something…

“Hey, whatever you’ve got to say, buddy, say it,” said Nick. “Hey, how are you saying all this stuff to me anyway?”

… Because a part of me is inside AJ…

“Your liver,” Nick specified.

…Yes… my liver…

“But that still doesn’t make sense,” said Nick. “How can your liver talk? How can your liver make these words show up on a heart monitor? How can a heart monitor form letters?”

… Nothing in this story makes sense, Nick… don’t question it…

“Good point,” said Nick, nodding vigorously. “So what were you going to say?”

… I want you to promise that you’ll help AJ go on… that you’ll help him survive… that you won’t let him give up… …Promise me now, Nick… and never let go of that promise…

Nick had missed some of that – the words were going by so fast, and he wasn’t a good reader to begin with – but he caught the end part, so he nodded solemnly, pretending he’d read it all, and whispered, “I’ll never let go, Brian. I’ll never let go.”

With his words, the text on the heart monitor suddenly faded and was replaced by the peaking green line. Nick stared at it in despair. “Wait!” he cried. “But- but, Brian… wait!”

But the words did not return, and all of a sudden, a gravely voice asked, “Who the fuck have you been babbling to, Nick?”

Nick looked down in surprise to see AJ’s eyes open. “AJ!” he squealed happily. AJ was alive, and Brian was… well, sort of alive, through AJ’s new liver and the heart monitor. It was a miracle! At least the fifth one in the story thus far. But of course there would probably be even more on the way.

If only they knew what was to come…

***