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AJ was waiting none to patiently in the waiting room, his eyes darting to the clock every few seconds. He had called Brian and Kevin, immediately calling Howie afterwards. That had been almost 20 minutes ago. Where the hell were they?

"AJ!" Howie yelled as he rounded the corner, his brown eyes wide. Jumping to his feet, a small smile broke onto AJ's face, relief washing over him that he was no longer alone. Howie quickly pulled him into a small hug. "Any word?"
"None."
"Bri and Kev aren't here?" Howie asked, looking around the room slowly as he stepped back.
"Not yet. They're on their way." Sinking back down into the chair, AJ sighed, raking a shaky hand through his hair. The older man looked over his younger friend, sympathy and regret washing over him as ge sat down beside the rebel.
"AJ...I'm so sorry we left and didn't say anything. God, I never...." The Latino trailed off, shaking his head slowly. "It doesn't matter Howie."
"I'm sorry we weren't there." Howie pushed on, his brown eyes locking with AJ's. AJ was quiet for a moment, turning his head away as he blinked harshly.

"It's okay to cry Jay."
"No." AJ mumbled, clenching his fists together. He would not break down in front of them. He refused to. "It was....so scary D."
"Yeah?"
"I mean, he just went down." AJ shook his head. "I've never seen....God and when he woke up, he was so fucking weak! If you could have heard the shit he said, Jesus,"
"God, I'm-"
"It rocked me to the goddamn core Howie. I mean, being there with him made me realize how fucking REAL this all is. How, we could lose him anytime now...you know? I mean, I got that when all this started but shit, I-I never really GOT it."
"I know. I know how that goes." Howie sighed, leaning back as his thoughts flashed to Caroline's final days. "All too well."

"But all I could think about when I was waiting for the medics was my relationship with Nick. I mean, I know I haven't been the nicest person to him and I give him so much shit..." AJ trailed off again, silence overtaking him. "What if he never knows how much I really care about him?" The older man looked at his friend, slightly unnerved with the softer side AJ was showing. "I know I always give him a tough time and I've constantly been on his case throughout all of this. Always snapping him back in line but it's just because I'm so terrified Howie. I mean, he's the only baby brother I've ever had...I don't want to lose him. I don't...." A small sob worked its way out of AJ and he abruptly got to his feet. "Shit, I need air." He mumbled before dashing out of the room, leaving Howie alone with his thoughts.
"Oh God," Howie breathed, shutting his eyes as he prayed. "Don't let this be the end."

~~~~~~

Finally the two cousins arrived at the hospital, immediately spotting their friend on one of the benches in front of the entrance. They glanced at each other, knowing things were not going well, since he was crying. They had only seen him crying a few times before when things were really bad. With a sigh, Brian opened the door and climbed out of the car, immediately followed by Kevin. As the walked over to their friend, they could hear him talking to himself.

“..my fault.. I should’ve never yelled at him like that.. God, don’t do this to us..”
Kevin shook his head as he sat down next to him, causing A.J. to jump slightly as he looked at the older men, immediately wiping away the tears. “Finally! The Kentucky cousins arrived.. were you stuck in traffic or something?!” he softly poked Kevin, trying to lighten up the spirit. The other two men didn’t respond as they watched A.J. hold back the tears that were welling up in his eyes again.
Kevin rubbed his tired face with two hands. “I’m so sorry, Alex, I never should have left. I just, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get out, think some things over. I-” he trailed off, thinking of his father, that all of this was way too familair, too much alike, too heavy on his heart. When he was out there on the beach, he had even thought of ways to escape the situation so he wouldn’t have to deal with all of this crap. And even though he liked the idea for more than a split second, he knew he never would.

After A.J. had filled the two cousins in on the situation, apologizies were spoken and declined, after which they decided to head back in the hospital, thinking there might be news on Nick’s condition. As they turned a corner on their way back to the waiting room, A.J. bumped into Derek, the paramedic who took care of Nick on his way to this hospital. “Sorry, Derek.. I-”
“It’s okay Alex.” The older man replied as he looked at Brian and Kevin, wondering if he could trust them. “That’s Kevin and Brian, friends of Nick and mine. This is Derek, one of the paramedics that came to Nick’s rescue.”
“Listen Alex, I need to tell you something, but not here..” Derek whispered, looking around if anyone else was in the hallway. The three young men didn’t quite understand what was going on, but knew it was serious by the way the older man was acting, so the four of them quickly walked over to the waiting room, where they found Howie, pacing up and down. After A.J. had introduced the two to each other, he looked at Derek who had a worried look on his face. The older man seemed to be nervous, extremely nervous.

“Alex, I..-” he trailed off, looking at the other guys, who were standing right behind A.J. in anticipation of what was to come, not sure if he should tell them, if they’d believe him or report his story as ridiculous. “It’s okay Derek. You can trust us.”
He seemed to relax somewhat, but still had his guards up as he began to speak. “Listen, you didn’t get this from me. Me telling you this could cost me my job, but I feel like I have no choice but to tell you. T-the Xialodac, the chemo Nick’s on.. something’s wrong with it. I’m not sure what it is, but.. my collagues and me have seen quite some other patients who have cancer and collapsed out of the blue. Most of them were being treated with Xialodac.”
“But..how.. why? Are you sure that-”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure, Alex, but everytime I came in the day after we brought one of them in, I asked one of the doctors or nurses how those patients were doing and they ignored my questions, when normally I get straight answers. I’m not sure what’s going on, but please watch out for your friend. Be on the doctor’s case when it comes to his treatments. Please do NOT allow them to give Nick Xialodac anymore, because I-”

The door swinging open cut off the paramedic’s sentence and the five men turned around to see who it was. “Derek, we need to go NOW! Another emergency!” Sean yelled as he ran off towards the ambulance after he saw his collague in there. “Coming!” Derek yelled before he turned back to A.J. “Alex, take care of him. I need to go!” He then turned and ran after his younger collague, out to save someone else. The rebel ran after him. “Because you what?!” he yelled, but the likable paramedic didn’t hear him as he turned the corner towards the exit, leaving behind four frightened men.