Four sets of anxious eyes were staring at the door waiting for Dr. Bennington to walk in and tell them about Nick.

“What the hell is taking him so damn long?” AJ hissed, folding his arms across his chest.

As if the doctor heard AJ’s question, the door squeaked open. He gave the men a tight smile and flipped open the metal chart he held in his hands. “Well, I checked Nick out and it appears that he is waking from the coma.”

“So how long before he starts to respond to us?” AJ asked hopefully.

“I’m going to have to run a few tests before I can safely give you that answer,” the young doctor stated as he looked into AJ’s face.

“Tests for what?” AJ questioned.

Dr. Bennington sighed. This was always hard to explain to families about patients that are in comas. “Tests to determine brain damage.”

“Brain damage? He wasn’t hit in the head! He drank too much and took some stuff by accident!” AJ pointed out loudly. Brian placed a hand on AJ’s forearm, trying to calm him down.

“Well, the mix of meds and alcohol triggered the coma and when a person goes into a coma, it’s the brain’s way of going into hibernation, I guess you could say it’s protecting itself until it sorts out what went wrong. I really don’t know a good way to explain this,” the doctor searched for words.

“But still, how can you even think brain damage?” AJ demanded.

“From a clincal standpoint, it’s pretty obvious but I need to run tests before I can draw any conclusions, I’m sorry I can’t give you any better answers,” the doctor apologized. The man hesitated for a moment and then quickly added, “I’ll be checking back on Nick again during later rounds.” With that said, the doctor left the room.

AJ sprung from his chair when the doctor left. “I don’t believe that idiot! You talked me out of finding Nick a good doctor but right there is proof! We need to get him someone that knows what the fuck he’s doing.” He looked at each of the men’s faces when he paused. “You agree don’t you?”

“What can we do? I mean we’re not immediate family AJ, our hands are tied on this,” Kevin pointed out.

“Yeah, but we can call Bob and Jane and they can get the ball rolling on this. It’s their son for crying out loud, I’m sure once they get wind of this, they’ll agree with me,” AJ stated in a firm voice.

“Can’t we just wait and see what Nick does for the next couple of days?” Brian asked hesitantly.

AJ shot a glare at Brian. “What for the next couple of days? My god man, how much longer are you going to give this quack time to screw up Nick?”

“AJ, calm down,” Howie pleaded. “We can ask for a consult, that could work out, I mean this is a teaching hospital from what I’ve read in these stupid brochures,” he gestured towards the colored pamplets that littered the tables in the waiting area.

“That’s a good idea,” Kevin agreed. “AJ, since you’re all hell bent on getting Nick a second opinion, you can have the honors of calling the Carters.”

“Fine by me, I’m going out for a smoke and I’m gonna call them,” AJ annouced as he shoved on the waiting room door.

“I’m going back to the hotel and try to get some sleep,” Howie announced, standing up and stretching.

“Sounds like a good idea, Bri you coming along?” Kevin asked his cousin.

Brian shook his head, declining the offer. “I’m gonna stick around with Nick for awhile and keep AJ under control, you go ahead.”

“Are you sure? You should grab a shower dude,” Kevin teased, grinning.

“I’m not that bad yet,” Brian smiled. “I’m gonna go back down to Nick. I’ll call you if something changes.”

With that said, the men separated with Brian heading back down the hall towards the ICU wing. He stopped at the public restroom before going through the double doors that led into ICU. Looking into the mirror at his unshaven face, Brian sighed. This was taking a toll on all of them. He felt as if he looked like he had aged ten years since this all started with Nick.

Shaking his head, he turned the faucet on and quickly splashed the cool water onto his face. The paper towel was rough but Brian had grown accustomed to it. It had been a way of life for the past week or so. Paper towels and quick mouth rinses with cold water followed by wads of Orbit spearmint gum.

Walking out of the restroom, Brian nearly ran into AJ and a woman in a white lab coat.

"Hey, we're heading to see Nick, this doctor said she'd take a look at him and give us her opinion," AJ stated confidently.

Brian sized up the woman, wondering if she was even qualified in neuro care. Almost as if the woman read his mind, she offered a hand out to Brian.

"Dr. Michelle Garcia," she flashed a white, confident smile as Brian took her hand and shook it. As they walked down the hall, Dr. Garcia took a stethoscope out from the deep pocket of her lab coat and hung the purple cord around her shoulders. "Third year resident," she announced to Brian without him even asking her.

"How did you know I was going to ask you that?"

Dr. Garcia smiled. "Experience I guess."

"Speaking of--"

"I work in Neuro," she interrupted.

"Oh," Brian replied, trying to keep up with the tall, gangly doctor. "You won't get in trouble doing this?"

"Not to worry, I talked to the chief resident and explained the situation." She paused for a moment, "besides, I have a particular interest in this case, my niece is a big fan of you guys."

Brian wasn't too sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Don't worry, it's stictly a professional basis that I'm taking a look at Nick," she remarked as they stopped at the nurses station. "I need the Carter file."

A woman dressed in pink flowered scrubs smiled and handed Dr. Garcia the chart without asking any questions.

"Okay, let's go see Nick," Dr. Garcia stated solemly.