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Episode 8:

Revelations


AJ looked up from the bar, where he was shoving heaps of empty beer cans into a garbage bag. “What’s wrong?” he asked in alarm, upon hearing Jack’s shrill cry of “Somebody call 911!”

“Justin’s got alcohol poisoning!” Jack exclaimed. “Call an ambulance, quick!”

AJ dropped the bag of cans and grabbed his cordless phone, while Jack and Josh heaved Justin’s body off of the couch and lay him flat on the carpet. Suddenly, a gurgling sound was heard from Justin’s throat, and he began to gag and choke unconsciously.

“He’s vomiting,” Jack cried. “Roll him over, quick, or he’ll choke.” The two men rolled Justin over onto his side, and he threw up all over AJ’s carpet. Doug jumped back, watching in disgust.

When Justin’s vomiting had ceased, Jack knelt down beside him and checked his pulse. It was abnormally slow. “Come on, ambulance, get here,” he muttered, feeling a wave of panic rush over him.

He wasn’t sure exactly how much alcohol Justin had consumed, but it was obviously a dangerously large amount. Alcohol was a depressant, and at this rate, it would continue to slow Justin’s heart until it just stopped beating. Jack was determined not to let that happen. He knew he couldn’t blame himself for Justin’s decisions that night – after all, Justin was an adult and was responsible for his own actions. But he still felt guilty. After all, he had invited Justin to the party that night, knowing he was depressed and upset over Kristine’s death that day. He should have expected something like this; it was one of the number one reasons why people drank - to loosen up and forget their problems. Justin, wanting to fit in with the older, more experienced guys and put his horrible day behind him, had done just that.

I should have watched him more closely, Jack thought. I knew how drunk he was getting, and I should have cut him off from the bar hours ago. He wasn’t Justin’s father or his babysitter, and he wasn’t responsible for Justin’s actions outside of the workplace, but he was one of the only ones Justin knew well at the party, the only “friend” he had to make sure he didn’t get himself into trouble. And as a friend, Jack had failed.

The other men still there had come up to observe Justin. They all just stood there in silence, looking guiltily around at each other, remembering how they had egged a plastered Justin on during his Dr. Dre imitation. But Justin was not rapping now – he was laying on the floor, clammy and ghost-white, his breathing ragged, his heartbeat slowing as the massive quantities of alcohol took their toll.

+++

Kylie McCartney yawned loudly, as Harry Littrell drove the ambulance down the highway. The two, along with their fellow paramedic Allison Brooks, were working the night shift that night. Nights were usually much calmer and less hectic than days, but they were also boring and exhausting most of the time. Kylie was already tired, after a long day of shopping with Addie, and she wished she could just go to bed.

Harry was nearing the station when a call came over their radio.

“Squad 209, come in, over” said the woman from dispatch, her voice muffled over the static of the radio.

“This is squad 209, over,” Kylie replied.

“We’ve got a call at 1004 Dayton Avenue, male in twenties suffering from alcohol poisoning, over” said the dispatch woman.

“We’re on it, over” replied Kylie automatically. “Did you get that address?” she asked Harry. “Dayton Avenue – that’s AJ’s street.”

“That’s right… I was thinking that address sounded familiar,” Harry replied thoughtfully. “Do you happen to know what AJ’s house number is? Alcohol poisoning… God, I hope it wasn’t somebody at the party.”

The color drained from Kylie’s face. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “The party, that’s right! God, I hope it’s not Josh!”

“I hope it’s not AJ!” Harry cried. “You know how he used to struggle with alcoholism…”

“I know,” Kylie said, remembering AJ’s stint in rehab just the year before. “But AJ’s responsible now; he’s been sober for over a year. He wouldn’t do that.”

“Brian was at that party too,” Harry said, thinking of his younger brother. “But I know it couldn’t be him. He’s never been a heavy drinker.”

“I hope it’s not Jack,” Kylie said. “He’s never gone out of control before, but I do know he likes to party.”

The whole ride to the house, they kept tossing names back and forth, worrying about their friends. When they reached Dayton Avenue, Kylie and Allison watched the house numbers flash by on the mailboxes. 1001… 1002… 1003…

“It is AJ’s house,” Kylie said with a sinking sensation as they read the number on the mailbox in front of AJ’s familiar home, which was lit up like a torch, even though it was after midnight.

“Alright, guys, let’s go,” Harry said with a sigh, parking the ambulance on the street, for AJ’s driveway was full with cars of the men still there.

Harry, Kylie, and Allison got out their supplies and their stretcher and hurriedly went up the driveway and to the front door. It flung open immediately, and a grim-faced AJ stood waiting to greet them.

“Who is it?” Kylie demanded, relieved that it was not AJ, but worrying even more about her husband. Like Jack, Josh usually knew when to quit, but also liked to party, and she was worried he had gone overboard.

“It’s Justin Timberlake, Bianca’s med student,” AJ replied.

Kylie tried not to sigh aloud, although she was extremely relieved. She pictured the awkward, curly-haired blonde med student that worked in the ER and felt bad for him, but glad that it was not her Josh.

AJ led the three paramedics down to his basement, where they found an unconscious Justin laying on the floor, a trail of vomit running from the corner of his mouth to a puddle at his side. He was pale and clammy, and his breathing was very ragged and slow.

Kylie caught sight of Josh sitting at his side, but she said nothing to him, just focused her attention on Justin.

“Does anyone know how much he drank?” Allison asked. The men, who were in various states of intoxication themselves, looked around at each other and shrugged guiltily.

The three paramedics immediately set to work, hooking Justin up to IV’s and oxygen and checking his vitals. As quickly as possible, they got him ready for transport and loaded him onto the stretcher. A few of the doctors followed them up the stairs and out into the cool night.

As the paramedics loaded Justin into the ambulance, Jack hopped into the back as well, muttering, “I’m coming with.”

“I’ll call and check up on him later,” said AJ. The others grunted in agreement.

Harry climbed into the driver’s seat and started the ambulance, while the two female paramedics got into the back with Jack. Then, the lights whirling and sirens wailing, they sped down Dayton Avenue and headed straight for Atlantic City Memorial.

+++

Nick Carter wandered down one of the hallways of the oncology floor while taking a short break from his duties. He was working the night shift in the ER, and though it was unpredictable, he needed a break so he decided to pay someone a little visit.

Most of the patients Nick caught glimpses of were sound asleep, for it was well after midnight. But when he came to Bailey Cole’s room, he found the eleven-year-old still up, reading by the light of her dim bedside lamp.

Standing in the doorway of her room, he cleared his throat casually. Bailey’s head jerked up, her concentration ruined.

“It’s a little late to be up, ya know,” Nick said with a smile.

“I can’t sleep,” Bailey mumbled. “Reading helps.”

Nick shrugged. “I’m not much of a reader myself. So, what are you reading?” He cautiously approached her bed.

Bailey Cole was well-known around the ER and now the oncology floor for her quick temper and sarcastic sense of humor. She had been diagnosed with leukemia three weeks ago and had been on the floor ever since. It had saddened Nick to watch her body deteriorate from the chemo treatments she had to undergo; her brown hair, which had once hung down to her shoulders, was rapidly falling out, and her already-thin body was gaunt and bony from the amount of weight she had lost. Still, despite how ill and weak she was most of the time, Bailey was strong on the inside. She kept her wit, her sarcasm, her temper. And as much as she could be a pain in the ass, Nick admired her for it.

“Great Expectations,” the eleven-year-old replied, smugly holding out the thick book for him to see.

Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Dickens, eh?”

“Have you read it?”

Nick had – it had been a requirement for one of his high school English courses – but the only thing he really remembered about it was the parody they had done of it on an episode of Southpark. “Yeah,” he replied, hoping Bailey wouldn’t quiz him over its plot. She most certainly would understand it better than he, even if she was only eleven. It was already obvious to Nick that she was highly intelligent.

Bailey nodded. “Did you like it?”

“Uh…” Nick blushed.

Bailey shrugged. “I don’t think it’s all that great either,” she replied. “A Tale of Two Cities was better.”

“Oh yeah,” Nick agreed quickly. “Definitely.”

Bailey studied him with a smirk, until Nick, feeling her eyes boring into him, glanced quickly at his watch and announced, “Well, I better get going. I’ve gotta get back to work. Goodnight, Bailey.”

“Night,” Bailey replied shortly and went back to her book. Nick turned around, rolling his eyes once his back was to her, and left the room.

+++

When the ambulance pulled up outside the ER, Kylie flung the back doors opened, and she, Allison, and Jack lifted Justin’s stretcher out and set it on the ground. Harry came around back to join them, and the four quickly wheeled Justin into the ER.

“What do we got?” Siara Reily asked automatically, joining the paramedics. She did a double-take as she saw Jack among them. “Jack, what are you doing here? Weren’t you going to that party at AJ’s tonight?”

“That’s where we came from,” he replied, glancing grimly down at Justin.

Siara, getting a good look at the patient on the gurney, did another double-take. “Oh my God!” she gasped. “Justin! What happened??”

Ignoring the fact that this was a med-student that worked there in that very ER, Allison rattled off Justin’s information as she did with all her other patients. “Twenty-four-year-old male suffering from alcohol poisoning, unconscious when we arrived on the scene…”

Siara, still stunned, said, “Let’s take him to Trauma 2.”

“Justin?!” cried a shocked voice.

Jack looked up to see that Meghan had come to join them. Allison again gave her Justin’s symptoms and vital signs. Meghan just shook her head. “Shit, Jack, how much did you guys give him to drink?”

She hadn’t been seriously accusing him, but that’s the way Jack took it. He felt even more horrible than before. Still, knowing he couldn’t let his emotions take over, he ignored his guilt and focused on his patient, trying to push the fact that it was Justin out of his mind.

“Let’s order a chem pan and BAL,” Jack said, as the others transferred Justin’s lifeless body from the stretcher to the gurney in the room. Lifting Justin’s eyelids, he moved a penlight back and forth in front of his eyes. “Pupils are sluggish.”

“Uh, Jack, what do you think you’re doing?” Siara asked suddenly.

Jack looked up. “Huh?”

“You’re intoxicated, Jack. I can smell the alcohol on your breath. You can’t be working on patients.”

“What? But, Siara, I-”

“But what? You’ve been drinking, Jack, and it’s illegal for you to treat patients under the influence,” Siara replied matter-of-factly.

“I didn’t have that much to drink!” Jack protested. “Please, I want to help him!”

“We can take care of that, Jack,” Siara said. “If you want to wait for an update, you can go sit in chairs.”

Jack’s mouth opened in surprise, unable to believe that Siara had just kicked him out. But, despite his state of intoxication, he still had some reasoning left, and he knew she was right.

“Alright,” he said with a sigh. “Someone come get me when you’ve got him stabilized. I’ll be in the lounge, okay?”

“Okay, Jack,” Siara said and went back to her work.

Feeling cut off from the activity around him, Jack slowly left the room and walked down the hall to the lounge.

+++

Half an hour later, the door to the lounge opened, and in walked Siara. Jack, who was sitting at the table, sipping black coffee, immediately looked up and asked, “How is he?”

“It looks like he’s going to be all right, Jack,” she replied, pulling up a chair next to him. “He’s stabilized anyway. We won’t know any long-term effects until we run some tests in the morning though.”

Jack nodded, thinking of all the internal organs high quantities of alcohol affected, mainly the liver. He hoped Justin would come out of this lucky and learn something from it.

“Jack, I’m sorry for snapping at you like that in the trauma room,” Siara apologized suddenly.

“What? Oh, it’s okay, Siara,” Jack replied. “I understand. I would have done the same thing if it was you. You did the right thing.”

Siara smiled. “Good. I’m glad you’re not pissed at me about it.”

Jack returned her smile. “You can’t let friendship get in the way of your work. I already learned that lesson a few weeks ago.” He shook his head guiltily, remembering Bianca.

Siara smiled knowingly and nodded. “Well, I need to get back to work,” she said, standing up. “And you, you should go home. You’re working tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Not till noon though. I’ve got a half-shift, thank God,” Jack replied.

“Oh, good. Well, go home anyway. You look like you could use some sleep.”

Jack smiled wearily. “I agree,” he said, both emotionally and physically exhausted after his long day. “Goodnight, Siara.”

“’Night, Jack.”

+++

Josh McCartney was awakened the next morning by a horrible retching sound coming from the bathroom. Disoriented, he pulled herself up and squinted at the clock, unable to read the numbers without her contacts in. Leaning closer, he saw that it was only 5:30. He had hours to sleep before he had to get up for his noon shift.

The retching sounds continued, and concerned, Josh climbed out of bed and left the bedroom, padding down the short hallway of the apartment to the bathroom. The door was closed, and a small strip of light shined through the crack beneath the door, illuminating the dim hallway. Josh knocked lightly. “Ky?” he called softly.

His wife did not answer, and so Josh slowly opened the door and peered in. He found Kylie kneeling on the floor in front of the toilet, holding back her dark hair with one hand as she vomited into the toilet bowl.

Josh hurried into the bathroom and rubbed Kylie’s back as she continued to throw up. When she finally finished, Josh wet a washcloth and handed it to Kylie to wipe off her mouth.

“You okay now, Ky?” Josh asked, looking at Kylie in sympathy.

“I hope so,” Kylie moaned, still looking slightly green. “God, this better not be the flu or something. That’s the last thing I need.”

“Are you running a fever?” Josh asked.

Kylie pressed her palm to her forehead for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. It’s just my stomach. I’m so nauseous. I woke up like this the other morning too; you were still at the hospital finishing up the night shift.”

Josh frowned. “How did you feel yesterday?” she asked.

Kylie shrugged. “Fine. I don’t know what it is. It’s weird.”

“Could it be morning sickness?” Josh asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kylie rolled her eyes with a grin. “I’m sure it’s not,” she replied.

“Have you had your period lately?” he pressed.

Kylie thought for a moment, counting the weeks in her head. “I had it towards the end of August,” she said slowly. “So I guess it’s a little late, but only by a few days.” She gave him a look. “I know what you’re thinking, Josh. Don’t get all worked up about that yet; I’m sure I’m not.”

He cocked his head at her. “You sound like you don’t want to be. I thought you wanted children.”

“Well, I do, but not now!” Kylie exclaimed in exasperation. Seeing the look he was giving her, she sighed and added, “I didn’t mean it like that… it’s just, we’ve only been married a few months, and I think it’s a little soon. But I’m sure I’m not pregnant anyway.”

Josh nodded. “Yeah, probably not,” he said. Still, he couldn’t help but think maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if she was. The thought of having a baby was definitely a little intimidating, but he was sure they could handle it. Fatherhood would be more than rewarding enough to balance out the extra expenses and stress of having a child, he was sure. At least that’s what Darrin had told him after MacKayla had been born. And with Brandy’s recent death, Josh needed a little joy in his life.

+++

“Damn, Joey, you look like shit,” remarked Melissa Ruffino to her boyfriend, Joey Fatone, as he staggered into the staff lounge.

“Why, thank you, Melly,” he replied with a sarcastic smile, raking a hand exhaustedly through his thick brown hair as he spun the dial on his locker. “I only got about three or four hours of sleep last night.”

“Jeez, how long were you at that party?” she asked in surprise.

“Till about one. But then I couldn’t get to sleep when I got home. You know what happened, right?”

“You mean to that Timberlake kid?”

“Yeah. Okay, so you do know. You have any idea how he’s doing?”

“He’s been admitted for observation and taken upstairs, I think, but it looks like he was lucky.”

“That’s a relief,” said Joey. “I was worried; the poor kid looked pretty bad off last night.”

“Who looked bad?”

The couple looked up to see Mariah Johnson, one of the other ER receptionists, saunter into the room. Hearing the word “bad” and seeing Mariah at the same time, Joey suddenly got a visual of the shapely blonde woman dressed in a tight leather top and booty shorts, singing Willa Ford’s “I Wanna Be Bad”.

Melissa glanced over at Joey and saw him staring directly at Mariah’s surgically-enhanced breasts. She elbowed him hard in the ribs and said quickly to Mariah, “We were just talking about one of the med students who got alcohol poisoning at AJ McLean’s party last night.”

“Oh… which med student? Is it that blonde one?” Mariah asked, arching one of her thin, perfectly-plucked eyebrows.

“Yeah, the one with the ‘fro, right Joey?”

Joey chuckled. “Yeah, the one with the ‘fro,” he echoed, trying not to laugh as he pictured the curly-haired blonde trying to be Dr. Dre. If Justin wasn’t in such a serious situation, Joey knew that story would be spreading like wildfire by now.

“Oh no, poor baby!” Mariah gasped, her lower lip sticking out in sympathy. “Is he here in the hospital?”

“Yeah, he was here in the ER, but Mel said they’ve moved him to a different room,” Joey replied.

“Hmm… well, maybe a visit from Mariah would make him feel better.” Smiling superiorly, she turned and left the lounge, her hips wagging as she walked.

Melissa rolled her eyes and started to make a snide comment about her to Joey, but when she turned to her boyfriend, she found him gazing hungrily at Mariah’s ass as she walked away. Glaring, Melissa gave him another hard jab in the side.

+++

Justin Timberlake weakly raised his head off his pillow at the sound of a knock coming from the closed door of his hospital room.

“Come in,” he called hoarsely, his head throbbing with the sound of his own voice. He didn’t know it was possible to have a hangover so bad. Of course, with the amount of alcohol had had drunken the night before, he should have realized what misery he was going to be in the next morning. He hadn’t expected any of this though; waking up to find himself in the Memorial ER as a patient rather than student was quite a shock to his system.

The door to his room opened and a beautiful blonde woman came in.

Am I hallucinating? Justin thought, wondering how many drugs he had been given.

“Hi, Justin,” the blonde said softly, smiling, her eyelashes batting furiously over her gray eyes. “Remember me?”

Justin blinked, confused. He wasn’t sure who she was or if she even really existed, for that matter. How many brain cells had all that alcohol killed off anyway?

“I’m Mariah,” the woman said, lingering over her own name. “Mariah Johnson. I’m one of the ER receptionists, but I usually work the night shift. We met a few weeks ago, I believe.”

Justin thought for a moment. His knew some of his memories were fuzzy; he had no idea what had gone on the night before. But as he thought some more and tried to remember, he did recall seeing her before, on one of his first few days at the hospital, when a pregnant woman from a car accident had been brought in, and he’d had to have someone call up to OB. He also remembered she’d had a big streak of bright red lipstick smeared across her cheek, and he chuckled. That was a big mistake, for it sent waves of pain radiating through his head.

“What’s so funny?” Mariah demanded, frowning.

“Nothing,” Justin grunted, groaning in pain. “But yeah, I remember you.”

“Oh.” Mariah smiled, pleased. “Good.” She paused, as if waiting for Justin to say something, but he didn’t, so she went on, “Well, I heard you were here in the hospital, so I knew I just had to come visit you right away!”

I wish you hadn’t, Justin thought, wanting to be left alone, but as his eyes wandered from her face to her chest, which her scrub shirt was pulled tightly over, he decided having her there wasn’t too bad. Her breasts were as big as Britney’s, and Justin liked breasts.

Grinning, despite his pain, Justin replied, “I’m glad you did.”

+++

Kylie’s shift did not start until noon that day, but she left for the hospital at ten. Josh’s suspicions had made her curious… could her nausea and vomiting be something other than the stomach flu? Maybe it was just her being her usual worrywart self, but she decided to go to the hospital early anyway, in hopes she could get in for a quick appointment with her gynecologist before she had to be at the rescue squad station.

Kylie parked in the large visitor lot of the hospital and entered through the main entrance, not the ER entrance, as she was so accustomed to doing. She took the elevator to the fifth floor, the maternity floor, where her OB/Gyn, Dr. Melanie Reyes, had her office.

She stopped at the receptionist’s desk after she got off the elevator.

“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked.

“Yes, is Dr. Reyes working today?” Kylie asked. She suddenly felt stupid, realizing she had taken a chance coming there. She didn’t even know if Melanie was there, let alone if she could find time to examine Kylie without an appointment.

To her relief, Kylie was in luck. “Yes, she’s here,” replied the receptionist. “Do you have an appointment with her?”

“Uh… no. I… uh… I just need to talk to her about something, if she has a chance,” Kylie replied.

“Well, I believe she’s with a patient now, but if you’d like to wait in chairs, I’ll let her know you’re here,” the receptionist said. “Can I get your name?”

“Kylie McCartney,” Kylie replied, thanked her, and went over to the waiting area. She sat down, picked up the Sunday paper, and skimmed through the headlines.

Before long, Dr. Reyes finished whatever she was doing and arrived in the waiting room. “Hi, Kylie,” she said with a smile. Kylie looked up and smiled in return, standing up to greet the doctor. “So, what’s up?” asked Dr. Reyes.

“Well, I was just wondering if – if you have time, of course – you could see me real quick. I, uh…” Kylie glanced quickly around the room, not wanting to reveal everything to the whole waiting room.

Dr. Reyes seemed to understand. “Sure, Kylie, I think I could fit you in,” she said with a nod and a smile. “Wait here for a few more minutes, and I’ll have a nurse come get you.”

Kylie smiled in relief. “Thanks, Dr. Reyes,” she said gratefully.

“No problem,” replied the doctor, returning Kylie’s smile and leaving the waiting room to get back to work.

Kylie waited for awhile longer, watching as a few of the women in the room were called back for their appointments. Finally, a nurse came into the waiting room.

“Kylie McCartney?” she called, and Kylie stood, offering the young nurse a slight smile. “Come on back,” the nurse said and led Kylie down one of the halls to an examining room. She tossed her a gown and said, “Dr. Reyes will be in in a bit.” With that, she left the room.

Kylie changed into the gown and sat on the examining table, anxiously waiting for the gynecologist to come in. She glanced at the clock on the wall, hoping the examination would be done in time for her to make it to the station by noon.

Luckily, Dr. Reyes didn’t seem to be too busy and arrived in Kylie’s room within ten minutes. She sat down on the wheeling stool in the room and said, “So, Kylie, what’s the problem?”

“Well, this may sound stupid, but I’ve been feeling really nauseated lately, usually early in the morning, and I was thinking maybe it could be morning sickness, instead of a stomach bug,” said Kylie.

Melanie nodded. Repeating Josh’s earlier question, she asked, “And when was your last period?”

“Toward the end of August,” Kylie replied. “Now that I think about it, it should have started last week, but it didn’t. It didn’t even cross my mind until this morning, but it is a few days late. Still, it’s probably nothing. I just wasn’t sure, and I-“

Dr. Reyes smiled and said, “I’ll order a pregnancy test.”

Kylie smiled, a rush of nervousness speeding through her. She tried not to think too much about it, but she couldn’t help but wonder… was it true? Could she and Josh really be having a baby?

+++

Jaela Miller pulled into the parking lot of George Washington Carver Elementary School at approximately four p.m., half an hour after she received the call from the twins’ teacher that their father had not picked them up.

Jaela, at this point and time, had given up on depending on her husband, Paul. This had been the third time in two weeks Jaela had had to leave her job at the hospital as an RN to go pick up Alexandra and Joshua. Of course, she didn’t mind picking up her children, but Paul was supposed to do it when he got off from work early, while Jaela was working. She was very thankful that she worked with such an awesome and understanding team of nurses at the hospital, who always covered for her when she needed to leave early.

Calm down, Jaela thought to herself as she walked across the parking lot to the large brick schools entrance. She walked the familiar path to Mrs. Bishop’s kindergarten class and immediately saw her two blonde children sitting on either side of their teacher as she read them a story. Mrs. Bishop looked up when she noticed a presence in the room and handed the book to Joshua to look at as she walked to the door.

“Mrs. Bishop, I’m so sorry about this. My husband was supposed to pick them up today,” Jaela apologized.

“It is no problem, Mrs. Miller. Things like this happen, and I don’t mind staying with the children. They are a pleasure to be around,” the young teacher reassured Jaela with a smile.

Jaela smiled back at the teacher and after once again thanking the kind teacher, she walked into the room and, a few minutes later, exited with her two young children in tow. When Paul got home, he would have some major explaining to do.

+++

After picking up her two-year-old daughter from daycare, Jaela was now in her kitchen, making a cup of tea. She hoped the warm liquid would somehow calm her nerves. She had come home to an empty house and had received no word from Paul on if he was okay or not. Deep down inside, she didn’t really care, but her love for him overshadowed these feelings, and she was genuinely worried.

As she was sitting at the table, sipping at the tea and going through her mail, the phone rang. Jaela quickly walked over to the phone, ready to pick it up, but withdrew her hand when an unrecognizable name and number appeared on the Caller ID. She picked up the phone anyways, and when she greeted the caller, all she heard was silence.

“Hello?” she said again, becoming irritated with the caller.

“Is Paul there?” the cold voice of a woman asked.

“No, I’m sorry, but he is still at work,” Jaela replied, and before she could ask who was speaking, the caller hung up the phone.

That was strange, Jaela thought as an uneasy feeling stirred from within her stomach.

Not even five minutes later, the phone rang again. This time Paul’s cell phone number was displayed on the screen, and Jaela picked up immediately. After Paul apologized for not being able to pick up the kids and explained he had to work late tonight, Jaela hung up on him, thoroughly disgusted. After almost seven years of a marriage Jaela thought was perfect, her world had come tumbling down.

Paul was cheating on her.

+++

Kylie pulled into the parking lot outside the apartment building, her heart fluttering with excitement. She saw Addie’s silver Beetle parked in its usual spot, her boyfriend Jack’s black Mercury Cougar right next to it.

She shut off her own car and climbed out, eager to get up to the apartment and talk to Addie. She went inside the two-story building and hurried up the stairs to the second floor. Jogging down the hallway, she came to her friend’s apartment and rapped her knuckles lightly against the door. “Addie? It’s me, Ky!” she called.

“Come on in!” she heard Addie yell from within the apartment, and she immediately turned the knob and opened the door, stepping inside. She found Addie and Jack sitting closely together on the couch.

“Hey, Ky,” said Jack, scooting over to make room for Kylie.

Kylie perched on the edge of the couch and fidgeted with anxiety, unable to hold back her excitement for too long. Addie noticed this.

“So what’s up, Kylie?” she asked. “You sure look excited about something.”

“Yeah,” Kylie said with a grin. “Well, I went to see…“ She stopped, remembering Jack was there. Should she tell him the news too or wait until she could get Addie alone? She shrugged; what did it matter if Jack found out now? “…I went to see Melanie Reyes today,” she continued, “and I found out…”

Addie leaned forward in eager anticipation. Kylie could tell by the excitement in her friend’s blue eyes that she had already guessed Kylie’s news, but was waiting for Kylie to say the words.

“… I’m pregnant,” she finalized. It was the first time she had heard herself say the words aloud; she hadn’t told Josh yet. It sounded strange to say it, but she was getting used to the idea. She had to admit, though she had been shocked when Dr. Reyes had delivered the news, she was excited now. She had always wanted children, and though she hadn’t expected one so soon after marrying Josh, she was now glad.

Addie let out a high-pitched squeal and threw her arms around Kylie. “Oh my gosh, Kylie!” she cried, bouncing on the spring couch. “Ooh, does Josh know yet?”

“Not yet,” Kylie replied, grinning widely. “I want to wait and surprise him. I thought I’d make it special.” She glanced at Jack and said sternly, “And a certain friend of his better not ruin it by letting something slip.”

Jack chuckled. “You know I wouldn’t do that, Ky,” he said. “And congratulations!”

“Thanks,” Kylie beamed.

“Oh, I can’t believe it!” Addie went on, her eyes flashing animatedly. “And to think, a few years ago, you thought I would be the first to get pregnant!”

Jack eyed his girlfriend. “Well, we need to get going on that then, don’t we, babe?” he asked teasingly.

Addie giggled and smacked him playfully.

Kylie just watched the two of them, a smile playing on her lips. She had a feeling that at the rate they were going, it wouldn’t be long before she was expecting as well.

+++

It was just after one in the morning, a week later, when Elizabeth O’Brien hurried over to the entrance of the ER, as paramedics AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, and Josh McCartney burst through the double doors, wheeling a stretcher. A man and a woman came hurrying in behind them, crying, the woman hysterical.

“Sixteen-year-old male, tried to hang himself in his closet, no pulse on scene,” Howie said quickly.

“Trauma 1,” commanded Elizabeth, hurrying the group into the nearest trauma room. The boy’s parents followed, but Elizabeth stopped them at the door. “I’m sorry, but it would best if you would go wait in chairs until we’re done working on your son,” she told them, pointing to the waiting room.

The parents nodded tearfully. The man wrapped his arm around his wife and led her dejectedly off to the waiting room. Elizabeth, after calling several of the nurses into the room, closed the door and went back to his patient, who had been in cardiac arrest for some time.

Glancing at the heart monitor he had just been hooked up to, she said, “He’s in asystole. Natalie, start CPR. I’ll intubate him.”

Nurse Natalie Spade immediately began giving the boy chest compressions, while Elizabeth prepared to insert a tube in the boy’s throat to help him breathe. Leaning over him, she got a good look at his face for the first time. He looked familiar to her, and she tried to place him. Suddenly, recognizing him, she gasped.

+++

The next morning, Lance Bass entered the lobby of Memorial with a box tucked tightly under his arm and his hat pulled down tightly over his head.

Today he didn’t have to report to work until the evening shift, so he was going to spend his free morning going through his belongings in his locker when he should be sleeping.

He entered the staff lounge and sat the box on a nearby table. With shaking hands, Lance turned the combination lock on his locker, and, after a few failed attempts, he finally got it opened. He uncharacteristically threw the locker back and slightly grinned at the loud bang the sound of metal hitting against metal produced.

Without a second thought, Lance put his arm inside the locker and pushed all the contents into the floor, quickly bending to sort through everything.

It all took just ten minutes for Lance to pack up an important part of his life and shove it into a box, then close it up so no one else could see.

Again setting the box on the table, Lance reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a piece of paper, which he slipped into his friend and co-worker Chris Kirkpatrick’s locker. Then he took one last look across the room as he picked up the box, hoping he wouldn’t see this place again for a long time.

+++

Lance walked quickly through the lobby, lost in his thoughts. Next thing he knew, he had hit something and had fallen on his butt in the middle of the large lobby, his belongings scattered all about him. He looked around, stunned, and scrambled to get up and gather everything that had fallen before anyone recognized him and asked any questions. In all his haste, he had not realized what, or who, he had bumped into, and when he realized, he blushed a deep crimson.

“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” he said sheepishly, embarrassed by his rude behavior.

“It’s all right,” a pretty, red-headed woman said with a shy laugh. “Here, let me help you,” she offered. But before she could reach for the picture and notebook that were within her reach, Lance yelled at her to stop. The woman looked up at him in confusion, but withdrew her hand, which was in mid-reach for the picture.

“Hey, don’t you work here?” she asked as she got a closer look at the young man who had moments before plowed her down in the hallway.

Lance stopped what he was doing and looked up. Busted , he thought.

“Yeah,” he said with a short nod.

The young woman smiled at him before extending her hand. “Risha Veers; nice to meet you. I know I had seen you around here before. Plus, it was kind of strange that you were carrying a box full of stuff. Are you planning on leaving?”

“Yeah,” Lance said as he closed up his box and got up off the floor, extending Risha a hand to assist her in getting up. I guess you could say that.

“So do you have a name?” Risha asked with a slight grin, trying to get the young man to open up to her.

“Yeah, Lance Bass.”

Risha looked up at the clock located on the wall in the lobby, quickly noting she only had five minutes to get ready and make it up to her floor before her scheduled time.

“Lance, I need to get going and report to the Surgery Ward. It was nice meeting you. Maybe we can meet one day for coffee or something.”

“Yeah, that would be fun,” Lance said nervously, hopping from one foot to another.

“Good luck in everything, Lance,” Risha said as she headed on past him for the elevators.

Lance watched sadly as the elevator doors closed behind Risha, realizing that she had been the only kind face he had seen since early morning the day before, and it saddened him.

With all that had gone on in his life in the past twenty-four hours, Lance needed a kind person who was willing to listen and he had found that person in Risha.

Too bad it was too late to make any difference.

+++

Entering Lance Bass’s apartment, you would have felt like it was nighttime because it was so dark inside. Every blind in the apartment was pulled tightly shut, not allowing any light from the outside world enter Lance’s dark chamber. All lights but one were turned off, giving the apartment an eerie glow.

Lance was now seated on his bed, unpacking his box of belongings and deciding where to put them. Ever since the call he had received that morning, Lance had turned from his normal, level-headed self to someone who was angry at the world…

It was almost eight in the morning, and Lance, having just gotten home from a twelve-hour shift at the hospital, immediately collapsed in his bed without bothering to undress. Just as he closed his eyes, the phone at his bedside rang shrilly, and Lance groaned, guessing that it was probably the hospital wanting him to come back to work for someone who had called in. He looked at the Caller ID, and his suspicions were confirmed when one of the hospital phone numbers popped up on the screen.

“Hello?” Lance asked as he picked up the phone despite his common sense telling him not to.

“Lance?” a shaky voice questioned. Lance’s face transformed to a look of confusion as he tried to place the voice he knew had heard before.

“Lance, this is James Williams, Oliver’s father.”
Lance shot up out of bed as the caller identified himself - he could immediately tell something was frighteningly wrong.

“Sir? What is wrong?” Lance asked, although he knew deep inside what had happened, but had to feed his curiosity by asking.

“Oliver is gone,” Mr. Williams said softly.

“Oh God…”

“He hung himself in his closet late last night or early this morning. His mother had gotten up and saw his light on.” The man at the other end of the line swallowed heavily before continuing his story. “She went in and Oliver was ha...hanging from his closet, dead. There was nothing the paramedics could do, but they brought his body to the hospital to be evaluated.”

“Was he an organ donor?” Lance asked, realizing how stupid that question had sounded but he needed to know.

“Yes,” Oliver’s father replied. “He was.”

Lance nodded and closed his eyes tightly to fight back the wave of tears that threatened to escape.

Lance and Oliver had become close friends soon after Oliver had been admitted a month earlier, when he overdosed on his father’s medications. Oliver had survived the ordeal, and Lance revealed a similar story, determined to help the young man even though it brought back painful memories. It seemed to have worked for a while, for Oliver’s attitude appeared to have changed, and he was again starting to live life the way it was meant to be lived. He also had frequent counseling sessions with the hospital psychiatrist, and Lance had even been asked to go to one with Oliver to help relate his problems to Oliver’s, which had made Lance happy that Oliver seemed to trust him. Lance remembered the last time he saw Oliver, just the day before. Oliver had seemed down when Lance had first approached him, but Oliver quickly reassured him he was okay and seemed to brighten when Lance challenged him to a game of basketball, which was another one of Oliver’s favorite sports.

As tears flowed down Lance’s flushed face, he came to his senses and held the phone far away, the dial tone hurting his sensitive ears...

Lance took one last look around his bedroom, as if to engrave it in his memory. Before he could change his mind, he opened the nightstand drawer and took out an object that would bring him the happiness he craved.

Surrounded by pictures of his loved ones and the possessions he held so dear, Lance took a deep breath.

A second later, the only sound heard was a loud bang.

And then there was silence.

+++