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A loud knock on the front door brought him back to reality. “Emergency medical team!!” he heard a deep voice yell. “IT’S OPEN!! OVER HERE!!” he replied. The front door flew open and two men immediately ran over to where A.J. and Nick were, the latter one still unconscious. “Sir, what happened?” the older paramedic said as he knelt down next to Nick, checking his pulse. “We were talking, when he, Nick, suddenly gasped for air and then he collapsed.” A.J. replied, not taking his eyes of Nick as if that could keep the younger one alive.

“Please step aside, sir.” The younger paramedic said while he opened his medical kit.
A.J. didn’t reply or move a muscle, determined to stay by Nick’s side at all times. “Sir! Let us take care of him!” the older paramedic said as he snapped his fingers in front of A.J.’s face. He then lifted Nick from the rebel’s lap and placed his head on the wooden floor of the porch after which he put an oxygen mask on the young man’s mouth. “His bloodpressure is 80 over 50, Derek.” His collague Sean said while he got up to run out of the door to get the bearrier.

A.J. finally stood up, realising he was only keeping the paramedics from doing their job. He sat down on the porch swing, his gaze on Nick, his hands fiddling with his cellphone, but since he was shaking all over, he dropped it, causing the lid to break and fall off. His firm grasp earlier had problably damaged the little hinge. As he looked down to see where it was so he could grab it, he cussed at himself for being so damn stupid. Now he couldn’t call the other guys.. “Shit, the other guys.. Fuck..”

It then hit him, he could use Nick’s phone! As he got up to go look for it, knowing Nick no longer carried it with him all the time, Sean came back in with the bearrier. “Are you coming with us?” he asked as he walked past the rebel who nodded in response. “Then we have to go now!” the paramedic replied as he and Derek carefully placed Nick on the stretcher and secured him to make sure he wouldn’t slip off during the ride to the hospital. After that, they almost ran for the ambulance, which made it perfectly clear to A.J. that Nick’s condition was worsening.

As he climbed in the back of the ambulance, sitting next to Derek while Sean jumped in the driver’s seat, he noticed Nick turned paler and paler each second. While the paramedic kept checking Nick’s pulse and breathing, he cocked his head a little. “So, the person who answered your 9-1-1 call told us Nick has cancer. Can you tell me a bit more about his condition, Mr...” He went silent for a moment, trying to remember the rebel’s name. “I’m sorry, I think I didn’t catch your name.”

“Alex. Call me Alex. He has several cancerous tumor around and in his lungs.” He whispered. This was actually the first time he ever said those words out loud, which made it seem more real for some reason. “I’m sorry to hear that. Has he been receiving treatment?”
The rebel nodded slowly. “Chemo. It wasn’t working at the speed it was supposed to though.”
“Do you happen to know what kind of chemo he received at this moment?”
A.J. looked at Derek, wondering why he had asked him that. “I-I’m not sure..”
Derek gave him a look of understanding. “The names are difficult, aren’t they?” The other men sadly smiled, nodding in agreement. “I think it was something like.. Xio..Xia..”
Derek’s eyes grew wide as he heard A.J. struggle with the name. “Please don’t tell me it’s Xialodac?!”
When A.J. nodded as he looked at him, he noticed the shock written all over Derek’s face and he felt fear coming from him, which scared the man himself. Why was he, a paramedic, so shocked at hearing the name of Nick’s chemo?? He was just about to ask him, when Derek turned towards Sean. “Turn on the sirens and drive faster. He’s being treated with Xialodac.”

They reached the hospital only a few seconds later and AJ was nearly sprinting as he ran aside the paramedics, who were quickly pushing Nick into the emergency room entrance. The doors pratically hit the wall as Derek and Sean ran through them and AJ made to follow, being immediately stopped short by a security guard, who grabbed him by the arm, almost causing the rebel to fall.

"Wha-what are you..." AJ panted, his brown eyes darting nervously between the doors and the man before him. "I've got to-"
"You can't go in there sir." The security guard sighed, pointing to a sign on the wall. "Hospital staff only."
"But my baby brother!"
"I'm sorry sir. Family or not, you need to wait in the designated waiting rooms." Noting the fact that he wasn't going to make any ground with the man before him, AJ let out a frustrated groan, his shoulders sagging as he relented.
"Where's the waiting room?"
"Go back down this hallway, turn left and then right."

"Thanks." The rebel muttered, stuffing his hands in his pocket as he trudged down the empty hallways. Peeking into the waiting room, he let out a breath of relief, seeing that it was empty. He was halfway to the chairs when he stopped short in his tracks, bringing a hand up and rubbing it over his face. "Shit." He breathed. "Shit, shit. shit." Looking around, he immediately spotted a reception desk, hurridly walking over. "Excuse me Miss, could you tell me where I can find a pay phone?"
"Down the hall and to the left...." The woman trialed off as she glanced up from her paper work, a surprised look washing over her face.

"Oh my god! You-you're....AJ! You're AJ from the BACKSTREET BOYS! I don't believe it!! Are you hurt? Are the other boys here?" AJ winced at the tone in her voice, trying to keep his patience as he gaped at him, looking feverishly around. Biting back a sigh, he shook his head, pressing a smile onto his face.
"Miss please, please keep your voice down. Listen, I'm here because my friend is sick. I just need to use the phone." She slowly took in a deep breath, nodding slowly.
"Is it one of the other Backstreet Boys?" AJ shot her a frown and she shrunk under his gaze. "I'm sorry. That isn't my place to ask."
"No it isn't but thank you for your concern." Was all AJ said before turning and walking away from the desk and out of the room.

He reached the pay phone a moment later, grabbing some change from his pocket. Shoving it into the phone, he let out a large breath, falling against the wall as he tried to figure out who to call. Turning back to the phone after a moment, he picked up the receiver, slowly punching in the numbers.

~~~

The ringing of a cell phone caused both Brian and Kevin to jump, the duo having yet to move from their spots on the beach, silence still holding both of them captive. Sighing heavily, Brian dragged his phone from his pocket, wincing as Kevin shot him a small glare. "It's AJ." He drawled as he glanced at the caller ID before flipping it open. "Hey AJ. You and Frack fini...what? AJ slow down...I can't understand what you're saying...wait, what happ....no, Kevin is with me. No, Howie went home. No, we didn't plan on.... well we didn't think we needed to te... Nick what?!" Brian cried, causing Kevin to whip around and face him, a worried look eteched into his handsome features.

"What happened?" The eldest demanded, his frown deepening as Brian waved for him to be quiet. "Brian!"
"Shut up!" The younger man snapped, pressing the phone to his ear. "No... Kev was...wait, AJ, I don't....he did? Did he say...oh shit....so he...TWICE? Oh god...oh god..." Brian was scrambling to his feet as he spoke, tugging on Kevin to follow him as he stumbled in the sand, trying to make his way back to the cars as quickly as he could. "What did the paramedics....didn't they...I-I don't...is it bad? Okay, okay...Orlando, right? Okay, oh, god, okay...bye." Snapping the phone shut as he reached the car, Brian dug his keys out of his pocket, trying to unlock the door, the shaking of his hands causing him to drop the keys.

"Brian! What the hell is going on?" Kevin was demanding as he caught up with his younger cousin. "Nick," Brian choked out, cursing as he dropped his keys again. "Dammit!"
"What? What is going ON?"
"Nicky collapsed...twice. He was barely breathing. AJ's at the hospital, he doesn't know what's wrong...FUCK!" The unusual obsenity slipped from Brian's lips as he dropped his keys again, his hands quivering too much to keep them still.
"Alright, enough!" Kevin snatched the key from the floor, shoving them into the lock and yanked the door open, climbing into Brian's car.
"What-"
"Get in, I'm driving. I'll get my car later." Nodding slowly, Brian quickly jumped into the car, gripping the dashboard as Kevin peeled onto the freeway.