Chapter 17
"You son of a bitch!"
"AJ, STOP IT!!!!"
"Kevin...."
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!" There was chaos surrounding Nick's bed as the boys fought with AJ and the doctor. AJ had already given the doctor a cut lip and a bruised nose, but now they were wrestling. "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" AJ screamed as the doctor once again reached for the plug that kept Nick alive, the machine that gave him life.
"AJ, please. You really want Nick to be a vegetable?" Kevin asked over the arguing as he tried desperately to restrain AJ.
"Kevin...he....isn't....ready....to GO!" AJ said, struggling. Kevin tightened his grip on AJ and pulled him away from the frightened doctor, who kept throwing dirty looks at them. Brian could be heard crying next to the bed, holding Nick's hand and praying silently.
"Brian calm yourself. This is for the best." Kevin said.
"How can you just let him go? He moved before....you're making a mistake." Brian said, looking up at his cousin with his blue eyes full of tears.
"I didn't see him moving." Kevin replied. All of a sudden, Nick's monitors started beeping crazily and going haywire. The doctor ran to them and the noise was deafening.
"What's happening to him?" Howie asked, covering his own ears above the noise.
"I don't know, this hasn't happened before. It might just be a malfunction" the doctor replied. The beeping stopped and everything finally fell silent once more.
"Everything seems to be okay now." the doctor said, wiping some stray blood from his lip. He said he would go and clean himself up before leaving the room, promising to return. Kevin let go of AJ and slammed him into the wall.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, Alex?" Kevin demanded angrily.
"I'm saving Nick's life." AJ replied, rubbing the newly forming bruise on his forearm. He picked up his sunglasses off of the floor and picked them up, put them on his face and dusted himself off.
"Saving him from what? He is already half dead." Kevin protested. The others stared at him with their mouths gaping in shock.
"Half dead?" Brian said, letting go of Nick's hand and standing up. Kevin looked down at his feet, wishing he had not said that at all.
"Kevin how can you say that?" Brian asked, his face pale.
"He is in a coma and not responding, he may as well be dead." Kevin said. "His heart is still beating, he is alive!" AJ screamed. "AJ...let it go. Nick is going to die. He has been in that coma for almost two months, we can't put this off anymore. His mother signed the papers....I'm sorry." Kevin shouted exasperatedly, not meeting his friend's gaze.
"Kevin, he moved. Just before you came in with the doctor....he moved." Brian said softly, his voice barely a whisper.
"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen him move. Nick is ready to go." Kevin protested, before walking out of the room shaking his head and rubbing it. Howie followed him down the hall, leaving AJ and Brian to themselves.
"I know I saw him move." Brian said, throwing an angry look at the door that Kevin had left from.
"Nick is in there, we have to help him find his way out." AJ said, putting his hands in his pockets.
"How, Jay? He doesn't respond to anything." Brian replied doubtfully, taking Nick's hand and massaging it with his thumb.
"What haven't we tried yet?" AJ asked, pacing the room. The two of them sat in silence for a while before Brian looked up.
"How about singing to him....we haven't done that." he offered.
"That's crazy." AJ said, walking towards the window.
"It's worth a try." Brian told him with half a smile. AJ walked over and took the other chair near Nick's bed.
"What song?" he asked. Brian laughed at the question.
"Nick's favorite is 10,000 Promises." he said, squeezing Nick's hand as he spoke.
"Are you serious?"
"Jay..."
"I'm not singing that to him. It's...."
"It's what?" Brian said with a smirk on his face.
"It's...I can't do it." AJ replied.
"You forgot the words didn't you?" Brian teased, chuckling. AJ's face turned a light shade of red and he looked at hi feet.
"Maybe..."
"Once we were dreamers...dreamers we were, you and I..." Brian sang softly. AJ searched for the next line but his mind was blank.
"Come on, Jay." Brian begged. AJ shook his head.
"I can't." he said in a defeated tone, angry at himself. He knew why he couldn't sing it...he couldn't sing to someone lying in a hospital bed. It was just too awkward.
"This idea sucks, B." AJ told him. Brian looked disappointed.
"Okay, no singing." he said in a defeated tone, looking at Nick's face. His eyelids fluttered and he was still once again.
"AJ! Nick...never mind."
"What? Did he do something?" AJ asked, running over again. Nick was completely still with the exception of his chest rising slowly.
"Just his eyes..." Brian told him as he felt his heart break. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep praying for Nick to wake up. Kevin and the others were set on letting him go, but he and AJ were convinced that as AJ himself put it...Nick was simply lost.
"Come back, Nicky. Prove them wrong...." Brian whispered as he heard the footsteps in the hallway.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I know its been FOREVER since I have posted an update for this. Hopefully you're all still with me and are still reading. Enjoy because there is only one chapter left!
