“Well, I see that some things haven’t changed,” Kevin grumbled as Nick staggered into the living room, leaning heavily onto the arm of the woman he came home with. Taking the woman’s arm off of Nick, Kevin started walking her towards the door. “I think we can handle it from here.”

“Nick, put your arm around me,” Brian directed, his face flushed with embarrassment.

“Hey! She du-dun’t need ta leave,” Nick slurred.

AJ seemed amused by the entire situation and sat on the couch with a smirk on his face. Since Kevin was occupied with escorting the hooker out of the house, AJ decided to get up and help Brian out with Nick. “Nicky, long time no see!”

Howie seemed nervous watching Nick’s slow, clumsy movements. “Nick, how much did you have to drink?”

Nick looked over towards Howie, his head bobbing as he turned. He looked as if he was having a hard time focusing his eyes and as he slowly blinked, they kept rolling towards the back of his head.

AJ snapped his fingers in front of Nick’s face. “Kid? Yo Nick, Howie asked you a question.”

“He was drinking mixed drinks,” the girl offered as Kevin tried to close the door.

“Wonderful,” Kevin sarcastically replied. “What kind?”

“JD and Coke,” she winked, snapping the wad of gum in her heavily lipsticked mouth.

Kevin sighed. “And how many Jack and Cokes?”

“Oh, I dunno, I’d guess maybe six or seven when he was around me,” she smiled as she looked up at Kevin’s face. “Hey, aren’t you that guy with that one group, um, with N’sync?”

“Thanks for bringing him home, bye,” Kevin huffed and quickly slammed the door closed on the woman’s face.

“Wha-why did s-she go?” Nick slurred, then hiccuped followed by a moan.

“She had a prior engagement,” AJ joked. “I thought Nick had a better tolerance than this,” he remarked as he glanced briefly at Nick, watching his head bob to the front and then towards the back. “Do you think we can move lard ass up the stairs or just leave him on the couch?”

“I-I’m gonna puke,” Nick announced.

Nick broke free of Brian and AJ’s grip and fell as he started running towards the bathroom. He quickly pulled himself up onto his hand and knees and half crawled, half walked to the bathroom.

“Now that there’s a Kodack moment,” AJ laughed, only to have a glare from Brian shot back at him. “What the hell was that for?”

“He’s sick,” Brian replied through gritted teeth, angry at the fact that AJ thought this was funny.

“Well, that’s what happens when you drink too much,” AJ shot back.

The sound of Nick throwing up and gagging carried down the hall into the living room. Howie held his own stomach sympathetically, desperately hoping he could control his own nausea. He was usually prone to gagging when someone was sick, having a sensitive stomach himself.

Wordlessly, Brian left the room to go help his friend.

“I’m gonna go out and get some fresh air,” Howie stated as he quickly stood up.

“I’ll go with you, I need a smoke,” AJ remarked as he heaved himself up from the couch.

Kevin decided to go down towards the bathroom where Brian and Nick were. Slowly pushing the door open, he found Nick sitting on the floor, his back against the wall, his pale skin glistening with sweat. Brian was crouched next to him. Another bout of nausea hit Nick again.

“Oh god, just let me die,” he moaned, clutching his stomach.

“It’s gonna be okay Nick,” Brian whispered as he rubbed his friend’s back in small circles.

Kevin stood in the doorway watching Nick push himself away from the toilet and slump back down onto the floor. He looked at Brian with a raised eyebrow. Brian only shook his head sorrowfully, not sure what to say to his cousin.

“Nick, do you think you’re ready to go upstairs and get cleaned off for bed?” Kevin stated in an authoritative tone.

All Nick could do was barely nod his head as he slowly stood up - with Brian’s help, leaning against him as he walked down the hall towards the stairs.

“I think a cool shower will help you out some,” Kevin thought outloud. “I would suggest strong black coffee but I’m guessing you’d throw that right back up.”

Nick’s only reply was a hiccup.

“Yeah, I’m right,” Kevin stated under his breath.

Suddenly Brian remembered the port that was under Nick’s collarbone. If Kevin assisted Nick in getting undressed for the shower, he would be bound to see it. He needed to stall for explainations about Nick for the time being. This was something that would have to come from Nick’s mouth and no one else’s.

“Um, Kev, let’s just skip the shower and I’ll get him ready for bed. You must be tired from the flight in,” Brian suggested.

“No, I’m okay,” Kevin replied as he helped Nick turn towards the bed and lay down onto his back.

Brian’s heart sank.

“No, seriously, I think he’s too sick to be standing in a shower right now. Why don’t you go see if there’s more coffee and bring me a cup while I get Nick out of these smokey smelling clothes.”

Kevin studied his cousin for a moment.

Brian could feel Kevin’s eyes on him as he took off one of Nick’s shoes and quickly looked up, holding Nick’s foot. “What?”

“You haven’t been to bed all night and you want a cup of coffee?”

“I-I just don’t feel comfortable about sleeping with Nick being this drunk,” Brian replied.

Kevin shrugged his shoulders. “I guess someone should watch him, but I’ll sit in with y’all too.” With that, Kevin turned around and left Brian alone to tend to his sick brother.

Pulling Nick by the arms, Brian struggled to get him into a sitting postion. “God, you’re dead weight, can you help me out Nick?”

Nick slowly pulled at his shirt, trying to unbutton it but failing miserably, giving up. Brian quickly undid the buttons and pulled the shirt off. He decided that he had better get the shirt changed first to ensure that when Kevin comes back to check on them, the port would be covered by a fresh tee shirt.

With all the moving going around, Nick got sick to his stomach again.

“I’m gonna puke Bri,” he moaned, his eyes scanning the room for something to get sick into. Brian came to his rescue, grabbing a small waste paper basket that was lined in a white garbage bag.

“Here Nick, use this,” he stated, shoving the basket under Nick’s chin.

At first Brian wasn’t concerned when he saw the reddish-brownish streaks of blood in the waste basket after Nick had thrown up. He assumed it was from the mouth sores or from straining to throw up so much.

Tossing a pair of boxers on the bed next to Nick, Brian told him to take off his pants and slide those on.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Brian advised as he walked towards the door.

“Brian?” Nick called out in a weak voice.

Stopping at the doorway, he turned to look at Nick laying on the bed.

“I’m sorry I caused more trouble,” he sobbed.

“Aw, Nicky, everything will be okay. Nick, I need to call and cancel your appointment for today, I doubt you’ll be feeling up to it, I’ll come back in a minute, alright? You said it was speed dial nine?”

Nick nodded, closing his eyes. He agreed that there was no way he could face another round of chemo the way he was feeling.

Kevin and Brian sat in overstuffed chairs that were situated in front of a large picture window in the bedroom. Keeping watch over their sick friend had been something that happened a few times during the last tour when Nick had come back too intoxicated for either one’s comfort.

Taking a sip from his green mug, Kevin studied Nick laying on the bed, as he tossed and turned in a fitful sleep. “His color seems off to me,” he observed.

Brian stiffened in the chair. “Huh?”

“Nick’s color, it seems kinda off to me.”

Brian leaned forward, looking at Nick’s face. “Well, yeah I guess, but he’s sick from drinking.”

“No, it’s not that kinda color thing,” Kevin continued in his slow drawl. “His skin almost looks gray, I don’t know, like a yellow gray or something like that.”

“Oh god, he’s starting to suspect something,’ Brian thought to himself. He needed to take Kevin’s mind off of his thoughts. “It’s probably the light in the room Kev.”

Just as Brian spoke, Nick’s eyes flew open and he frantically grabbed the basket to throw up into. Brian jumped up and rushed toward his young friend to help steady him as he threw up. Brian gasped as he saw the bright red blood mixed in with bile.

“Oh god Kevin, we need to get him to the hospital,” Brian panicked.

Kevin shook his head. “For being drunk? No! Absolutely not, Nick can weather this one out!”

“But he’s throwing up blood!”

Kevin strode over to the bedside and peered into the wastebasket. “I’ve seen worse from AJ. That’s what happens when you drink whiskey Brian. It irritates the stomach lining.”

“I-I d-don’t know about it though,” Brian replied. “I don’t feel comfortable with this at all.”

Nick started moaning. “I don’t feel good.”

Brian reached up and softly stroked Nick’s hair away from his sweaty face. A few strands came off in his hand and he quickly rubbed them off on his pants.

Nick sprung up quickly and grabbed at the wastebasket again. He half coughed half choked this time and Brian’s eyes widened in horror was the last round of vomiting was bright red blood.

He didn’t say anything to Kevin as he grabbed the phone off of the nightstand and dialed 911.

“I need an ambulance, he’s throwing up blood,” Brian spat into the phone.

“NO BRIAN... I SAID NO!” Kevin protested.

“He’s stable for now,” Dr. Andersen advised Brian and Leighanne as they stood in the hall, away from the rest of the people that followed the ambulance to the hospital.

“Thank you doctor,” Brian said as he managed a small smile. “Thanks for not saying anything in front of the guys too.”

The doctor nodded. “I understand the circumstances and Nick’s wishes about not involving alot of people and I respect it, but he really needs to start telling his family more than anything.”

“We’re working on it,” Leighanne smiled. “Nick’s a stubborn guy.”

Dr. Andersen smiled a knowing smile. This she discovered almost from the beginning of Nick’s cancer treatments. A stubborn personality was a good trait in fighting this disease, but sometimes Nick stretched the limits on stubborness.

“How long will he be kept in the hospital?” Brian asked.

“I only want him here just for observation. He had been told not to drink because his system is already compromised. His body has been through so much over the past several weeks with the chemo and the radiation. I don’t think anything’s going to happen, but I want to make sure his stomach has calmed down before he goes back home.” She placed a hand on Brian’s shoulder. “You really are a good friend to Nick. He thinks the world of you.”

“And I think the world of him,” Brian smiled.