- Text Size +

The next morning Millie entered the hospital ready to face the day. Her coworkers were startled at her new look, her hair had been straightened out, she wore a pair of black trousers, a bright pink silk blouse and a huge smile. “Morning” she beamed.

Benny rounded the corner, not looking as ready to face the day as Millie. “Lord…what happened to Millie?” she teased, removing her sunglasses. “Oh right! Prince charming is coming today.” she chuckled pushing the elevator button “See you at lunch Mill…” she shouted hopping in to the box.

Howie sighed heavily as he looked out the small window, the wings of the plane cutting through the fluffy clouds. He felt a nudge against his shoulder “I know that this interferes with your plans, but…we‘ve got to find him.” Brian tried to think of a reasonable statement.

“It’s alright Brian…I don’t think she’s going anywhere…I hope she’s not!” he gave his band mate a crooked smile “I just hope we can find him quick…what if it takes us all week? Who knows where in London his ass is?” he huffed with annoyance.

Their conversation was interrupted by Nick hovering over them “Yo…you gonna eat your peanuts?” Brian rolled his eyes, amused at Nick’s lack of worry, while Howie flung the small pack of peanuts at Nick’s chest. “Thanks man…” he smiled like a child given candy and slouched back into his seat by Sarah.

“And he wants to get married.” Brian sighed as the twosome laughed.

Millie had passed up the chance to see Elijah, in the attempt to speak to Howie out of the hospital, if he showed. She had been pacing for the past forty five minutes of her lunch. Her stomach was growling. Her throat felt funny after she had tried smoking and which had caused her to break into a cough attack. Then had taken turns sitting, pacing, humming, and lastly talking to random strangers.

She entered the hospital borrowed the information phone and called up to Benny. “Are you sure? Maybe he slipped by…I must have hurt his feelings and he’s not coming back Benny!” she sighed and hung up. She was disappointed in herself. If only she would have asked what he looked like before sending him away. Hadn’t he said he would return everyday?

Full of sadness she headed back to her station, maybe he would come later in the evening. In case he didn’t she still had one more thing to look forward to this day. Elijah, he would be happy to see her, just like he was everyday. Her frown turned to a smile and she busied herself with some paperwork.

The foursome had checked into their rooms and were now gathered in Brian’s room. Nick surfed through the channels, but there was no word of AJ Mclean in London. “There’s no news of him here, there’s none out in California. Did the earth swallow him up?” Nick turned off the TV and flung himself on the bed.

“Who knows, we are going to have to check out the local clubs, bars, music studios…I don’t know where else to look.” Brian shrugged already irritated.

Nick yawned "Tattoo parlors, goth hang outs, the mall, shoe stores, and maybe even a brothel or too. I hurt man needs some ass." he shrugged as everyone looked at him funny. "I'm just saying..." 

Howie sighed heavily, lately that was all he did “How about hotels…he has to be staying in one for now. He just came out here, no way he has a house lined up yet.”

With long and tired faces the group of four headed out on the search for their lost member. They had a deadline to meet and finding AJ would be more difficult than they could imagine.

Nick and Sarah hit all the bars close to their hotel room, stopping to have a drink or two themselves. Chatting away with the friendly people they met on their search.

Brian checked the music studios he had found on google search, but so far had no luck in any of the three he had visited. All he could think about was that he would ring AJ’s neck when he did find him.

Howie had the worst job asking random people if they had seen AJ Mclean and risking being noticed by any fans. Women smiled and gushed about their love for him and if they did see him, they would kidnap him. Others just nodded, responding that they had no clue who the Backstreet Boys were. He sat at a small café and ordered a coffee, as he waited he wondered if Millie had been waiting for him today. If she had changed her mind about seeing him?

Millie walked through the nursery in her scrubs and entered the NICU, another nurse held onto Elijah and smiled as she saw Millie enter. She greeted her and traded places.

“Hi there sweetheart…how are you doing today?” she spoke to him soothingly and watched as his tiny belly moved rapidly up and down with each of his accelerated breaths. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be pale, not his usual peachy color.

“Hey there…” Benny’s face showed her exhaustion and a hint of worry. “How’s he doing?” she asked poking his tiny hand with her index finger, he didn’t grasp it like he usually did. She took her stethoscope plugged the hallow tubes into her ears and placed the cup against his chest. “I was told he had an episode last night. He has RDS, Apnea and his blood pressure keeps dropping.”

“What does that mean?” Millie looked up at her with fear. “He wasn’t breathing…?”

Benny sighed “RDS respiratory distress syndrome, it means that its hard for him to breath…so he struggles, that’s what makes his belly move so fast. When he gets those attacks for breath he gets Apnea which is when his heart rate slows down. All that causes his blood pressure to lower and we have to medicate him and get him back to breathing.”

“But I thought he was doing good…you said he didn’t need help breathing…”

“Millie…he’s a baby fighting for his life still. We could lose him any moment or he could make it through…we never know hun.”

Millie swallowed the knot in her throat “You talk about him like he’s some worn out car…that’s on it’s last putt…putt…he’s a baby…and he’s going to make it Benny. Don’t be so fucking negative.” she glared at the older woman, whom she respected.

“I’m sorry Millie…I’m a nurse, not a therapist. I have to give it to you like it is…”

Just as she was going to answer Benny, the beeping of his heart monitor gradually declined. She looked down at the baby, he had gone from pale to bluish and his chest rose at a fast pace. Benny quickly took him from Millie and placed him back. Calling out for help and pushing Millie out of the room. “You have to go Millie…” she gave her a sympathetic look.

“Benny…please…don’t let him die…” the knot wouldn’t go down and the tears were in her eyes as she was shoved out of the way by the nurses rushing past her.

“Go home Millie. I’ll call you…I promise.” the door closed on her face as she heard commands and different words that she didn’t understand being shouted. The beeping sounded like it would come to a stop any minute. Another nurse escorted her to remove the scrubs and made sure she was out of the nursery.

Howie hung up the phone, and threw himself onto the bed “I can’t believe that his ass is no where to be found. This is going to take days…”

“I know…but we have to be patient Howard! What happened she wasn’t there?” Brian asked, sitting on a lounging chair as he clicked on the control.

“No…she had already gone home. Maybe this is a sign that I shouldn’t bother looking for her, that I should just move on with my life. Forget her.” he closed his eyes, a hammer of pain slowly began to pound on his temples.

Brian chuckled “Yeah right! Maybe your just supposed to have patience and focus on finding AJ first. Millie isn’t going anywhere like you said.”

He sat up “You’ve got a point, we have to fix this first and then I can go back to Millie. How about we go get something to eat…I’m starving.” he grabbed his wallet and keycard from the table and they exited the room.

Millie sat huddled up on the couch, she had been crying since she hopped into the car, drove home and now sat three hours later in front of the loud television. She waited impatiently for her father to get home, the night she needed him and he was late.

Sooner than her thoughts could make an unpleasant turn, the door swung open and there stood her father a startled look on his face. “Millicen are you alright? What happened honey?” he closed the door as he caught his daughter in his arms. “Which one was it?” he pulled away to look at her face.

“The new one…” she choked “He’s already giving me grief. Dad he was blue…and he was barely breathing…and Benny…” she paused with each hiccup “She said that he can still die…then Howie…he didn’t come back…”

He sat on the couch his daughter tumbling next him, her face buried into his shoulder “Oh Millie…don’t cry. Everything will work out, he’s strong. He’s made it past three days I’ve heard thats the critical period. Have faith Millie.” he caressed her hair.

“I don’t want him to die! He can’t die…” she cried.