Staring at the television, Nick strained to understand the words that were spoken by the cartoon characters that were dancing across the screen. The words that were spoken sounded jibberish rather than words, as if it were some type of foreign language to him.

People been drifting in and out of the room he was laying in ever since he woke up, some people were good, he decided and those were the ones that didn’t touch him. The ones that came right up to his bed were the ones that scared him. They always did something to hurt him touching him or poking him with a needle. He eyed the girl that walked in, with wary eyes.

“Dinner,” she said as she placed what she was carrying onto the stand that was at the foot of the bed. She could have been speaking Japanese as far as Nick was concerned. His comprehension of what she had just said went over his head.

He suddenly realized that she was one of the “good people” and wouldn’t hurt him. He gestured frantically to the television set, wanting the channel changed. Trying desperately to make his wishes known, the words that he was thinking in his brain, however, were not the words that he uttered.

“Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!”

Instead of walking up to help him, the young girl tossed a dirty look in his direction and left the room in a huff. Frustrated that the girl didn’t help him after he asked, Nick settled back into his bed, forgetting the tray that she had brought in.

“Wonder what kind of mood Kaos will be in tonight?” AJ questioned as the group rode the elevator to the nineth floor to Nick’s room. The question hung in the air as each pondered the question. Finally, Kevin broke the silence when the car reached the floor.

“Hopefully he’ll be in a more sociable mood tonight.”

“This wing of the hospital gives me the heebie jeebies,” Howie whispered to AJ as they walked down the hall. AJ nodded in agreement.

Walking into the room they found Nick just the way the had left him earlier in the morning, laying in bed, watching cartoons.

“Hey kiddo, how are you?” Brian smiled as he approached the bed.

Nick’s eyes at first held a fearful expression but quickly softened. He smiled slightly.

Moving his attention over toward the tray on the bedstand, Brian questioned. “Did you have a good dinner?” His question was answered when he discovered that the dinner tray was untouched. “You didn’t eat? Why not?”

Nick looked at the untouched tray, his mouth started watering. He was hungry. Kevin immediately noticed Nick’s excitement when he looked at the dinner tray.

“Were you sleeping when they brought this in?”

“Why don’t you just give the poor kid his dinner and stop with the twenty questions Kevin,” AJ sighed as he reached in to push the tray over toward the young blond.

Kevin placed his hand firmly on the cart, stopping the motion. “It’s ice cold, he needs a new tray and they need to hear from me about this anyway.”

AJ threw his hands up in disgust. “Kev, I’m sure the kid was probably asleep when they brought his food in, don’t make a federal case out of this, geeze!”

Kevin nearly collided with the woman that started to enter the room, recognition was written on her face as well as surprise. “Ohmygod, I’m so sorry!”

“When did he get this?”

“I-I don’t know, I’m just picking the tray up,” the girl stammered.

“I want to speak with his nurse,” Kevin forcefully insisted.

The girl didn’t reply as she quickly turned and left the room.

“Oh, just freak the poor girl out,” AJ muttered as he stared at the tall man. “Give them a break, okay? I’m sure Kaos was probably sleeping when they brought him dinner.”

“I’m not letting this go,” Kevin hissed. “Don’t you remember what Dr. Gracia said the other day? Nick doesn’t have the mental capacity to do things on his own right now--”

“He’s not retarded!” AJ snapped.

Raking a hand through his hair, Kevin sighed. “I know Nick’s not retarded, he just needs to be reminded of things right now until he comes back to us and eating is something he has to be guided on.”

“I don’t think I can handle this...” AJ mumbled as he started toward the door.

Brian stepped between AJ and the door. “So you’re gonna bail on him?”

AJ shrunk back. “No, I’m not gonna bail on him... I’m just..”

“It sure as hell looks like you’re gonna walk, he needs you, he needs all of us right now. I’m sure he’d stick by you if this had happened to you.”

“Well it didn’t,” AJ spat back bitterly.

“Well it happened to Nick and now we have to deal with this and help him through this,” Brian challenged.

Dr. Garcia appeared in the doorway and Kevin immediately started firing questions at the young woman.

“I thought this was a monitored wing of the hospital!”

The doctor looked over at her patient and then back at Kevin. “It is.”

Kevin shook his head. “Well for the third time this week we come back to visit Nick and for the third time we find him with an untouched tray of food!”

“He’s suppose to be guided at meals, I don’t understand why he--”

“It’s obvious that nothing is being guided with him.... period!”

“I can only issue the orders, I’m sorry this has happened. I can make sure this will be the last time---”

“This is the last time! I want him discharged from this circus floor!”

“Kevin, he can’t leave here yet,” Howie interjected.

“Be reasonable, we can’t handle him yet,” Brian agreed.

“What’s to handle? He’s awake and we know that he just needs to be taught the stuff he’s forgotten, how hard is that?”

“You have no idea what you’re saying Mr. Richardson,” Dr. Gracia interrupted. “Nick’s mental status is that of less than a two year old. The coma and the combination of the alcohol and the narcotics have left him with some mental impairments. His cognitive skills are not what they were before this. He needs to be taught everything again, how to eat, how to dress, he has to be reminded of things---”

“But we can do that,” Kevin replied.

Dr. Garcia shook her head sadly. “You think you can do that. I’ve had many patients whose families thought they could deal with this only to bring them back here after less than a month. You are dealing with a six foot, two hundred pound child. He is not the same person he was a year ago.”

“Kevin, please be reasonable,” Howie pleaded. “Nick needs specialized care and we are not emotionally or physically equipped to handle something like this. We’re talking about his life here.”

“Yeah, we could screw him up, don’t you get it?” AJ added.

“There is a place he can be discharged to, but I would have to get his parent’s permission and I’m going to let you know right now, it’s not around here, it’s a rehab facility in Texas.”

Kevin looked over at Nick and then at the rest of his brothers. “If it will give Nick the help he needs to get better, I don’t care if it’s in Bunfuck Egypt, send him!”

“I’ll start the papers to get him transferred to SunValley Hospital.”