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Jennifer sat sobbing quietly in the hospital waiting room, Brian and Leighanne by her side, talking to her softly. They had been waiting for what felt like hours, although her watch claimed it had only been a few hours. Still, how could there be nothing to tell them...after all this time...

The Backstreet Boys and friends filled the small waiting room, everyone anxious for some word. Nick's family had been called, although they would not get there until the next morning.

Kevin and Kristen sat hand in hand in one corner. Kevin had attempted to talk to Jennifer when he had arrived, but an angry glare from Brian had quickly stopped him in his tracks. He didn't know what that look meant, but now was not the time to find out.

"I can't get the image of him out of my mind..." Jennifer whispered, holding her head tightly in her hands. Nick's face ghastly white, the blood around his head a bright, awful contrast, his lips slowly turning a darker color...she kept seeing him like that.

"Don't think about it," Leighanne told her softly, rubbing her back.

"I can't help it..." Jennifer jumped out of her chair when she saw a doctor walking their way, running to him before he could fully enter the room. "Are you Nick's doctor?"

"Nick Carter?" The doctor asked her, his eyes widening when he saw the entire waiting room get up to gather around him. "All of you?"

"Yes," Jennifer said, looking at the doctor eagerly. "Please, how is he?"

"Extremely lucky to be alive," the doctor replied, looking around the room before resting his gaze on Jennifer. "Our immediate concern is the severe concussion he has received. His brain has swollen from the impact, and until that swelling goes down, we cannot fully assess the extent of the damage."

"His brain is swollen?" Jennifer repeated in horror, and Kevin grabbed her as her knees buckled under her. She didn't have the energy to fight him as he held her up so she could hear the rest of the doctor's report. "But he's going to live?"

"Nick is in a coma at the moment. Until he awakens, we cannot be one hundred percent sure that he will survive. The swelling should go down, and he should awaken within a 24 hour period. If he does not, we will need to reassess the situation." The doctor paused for a moment to allow his words to sink in before continuing. "He has also suffered a compound fracture of the right tibia and fibula, which will require surgery. We will need to wait for his concussion to heal before performing the surgery, as anesthesia is out of the question at the moment, and it is major surgery to correct a break this severe."

"Oh my god," Jennifer gasped, wiping at the tears on her face. "Can I see him? Please?"

"One visitor at a time," The doctor warned, but Jennifer was already past him and on her way into Nick's room. He shook his head with a wry smile before looking around at the group. "Any questions?"

"Nick is part of a group, we're on tour at the moment," Kevin said hesitatingly. He was starting to have a major guilt trip over what he'd done. He hadn't really ever intended to hurt Nick, just to get him away from Jennifer. But the opportunity had presented itself, and it had just been so easy...just a little push.

"I would say your tour is over," the doctor cut Kevin off with a look. "Assuming Nick wakes up within 24 hours, we could conceivably do the surgery on his leg as early as a day or two from now, but you're looking at a 6 week recovery period from the operation."

"We'll cancel the tour," Brian said with a nod. "The fans will understand."

"No they won't," Kevin shook his head quickly, looking at his cousin. "Not at this late of a date, not that many shows...that's half the tour."

"We can't do half the tour without Nicky," Howie said to Kevin, amazed the older man would even consider such a thing.

"I'm not leaving Nick," Brian said firmly, "and I doubt Jennifer will either."

"Jennifer will do what her contract tells her to," Kevin said, "not to mention, since when do we schedule our tour around a backup dancer?"

"This is NICK we're talking about here, Kevin, what the fuck's wrong with you?" AJ asked him, poking him in the chest hard. "Don't you care?"

Kevin sighed as his face fell dramatically. "Of course I care, AJ, I love Nicky. But you heard the doc, he's gonna be alright, he just needs some recovery time. Now think about it, if we continue the tour now, when he's healthy, he can just rejoin us and end it up. Otherwise, when he gets better, he'll have a long tour still to worry about, that won't help him any."

AJ frowned, and looked at Kevin. "Ok, you got a point. But I don't want to leave Nicky."

"Nobody's leaving anyone," Brian interrupted, shaking his head. "We'll talk about this later, NOW is not the time. I want to go see Nick."

"Me too," Howie jumped in, looking towards the room. "You think Jen's still in there?"

"Of course," Brian smiled. "We'll just sneak past the doctor, no big deal. I'm good at sneaking around hospitals."

Howie and Brian crept off, leaving Kevin and AJ in the waiting room.

AJ took a seat across from Kevin, looking at him steadily as he considered what the older man had said. Touring without Nick. It was wrong....but if it helped Nick in the long run...maybe Kevin was right?



Jennifer gasped when she saw Nick lying in the hospital bed, his skin appearing near translucent against the stale white hospital sheets. "Oh, Nicky," she whispered, taking his hand in hers and kissing it softly. "Please, wake up," she sat down on the edge of the bed, running her finger along his face before bending down and pressing her lips to his cheek. Unable to fight the need to be close to him, she curled up in the bed next to him, wrapping her arms around his chest and holding him tight. "I hope I'm not on your broken leg," she whispered into his ear, biting her lip at the silence she got in reply. She took a deep breath and ran her hands over his chest, settling in for the wait. No way was she leaving until Nick woke up....she closed her eyes and listened to his heartbeat, thankful for the soothing confirmation he was still alive.

"Hey."

Jennifer woke up with a start, sitting up to see Brian walking slowly into the room. "Oh hey, I guess I fell asleep," she rubbed her eyes as she tried to focus on him.

"He looks pretty awful, huh," Brian's eyes were fixed on Nick as he walked to the bed and sat down in a chair, taking the younger man's hand in his.

Jennifer nodded solemnly, looking at Nick with a sad expression before turning her gaze to Brian. "Brian, Nick...how...."

"Don't." Brian said quickly, cutting her off.

"I mean," Jennifer continued, ignoring Brian. "I fell, but I'm a klutz, and I didn't fall down that way..."

"Jenny, please," Brian practically shouted, his blue eyes widening as he stared at her. "Not now. I can't."

Jennifer opened her mouth to reply and then shut it, something in Brian's eyes warning her off. "Ok."

"You should go back to the hotel, try to get some sleep," Brian said softly, looking at the blond woman holding his best friend tight.

"Not until Nick's awake," Jennifer replied, shaking her head.

"His family will be here soon..."

"They're not here yet, and I'm not leaving him." Jennifer said firmly. Not a chance in hell.

"Ok," Brian stood up, and took a deep breath. "The other guys want to see Nick."

Jennifer shrugged, "I'm not leaving. They can do what they want."

He nodded and left, watching Jennifer rest her head on Nick's chest, her eyes closing. She loved him so much...what the hell was Kevin doing?

And even more important at this point...what the hell was he going to do??

His best friend, or his cousin. They say blood is thicker than water.

He wasn't so sure, anymore.