Nick followed Brian without a word. Brian took his wrist, being careful not to grab the one that had been sliced and guided him. They reached the main desk and Brian looked at him, "Close your eyes."

Nick opened his mouth to argue, but the look on Brian's face told him not to question it. He closed his mouth and his eyes and felt Brian leading him again. Several twists and turns later, he felt himself stop and Brian stood behind him.

"Ok Nick, open your eyes."

Nick opened them slowly, not know what to expect. He saw a normal clinic room, but it was a lot more sparse than his, no flowers, no balloons, no cards. His eyes fell on the bed and he looked at the sleeping form lying there and tried to figure out why she looked so familiar. With a sickening thud of realization inside him, he realized that he was looking at Katya.

Instead of an essence of light like he was used to seeing her, she lay before him in the flesh. He swallowed hard as his eyes roamed over her still figure. He auburn hair lay limply on the pillow surrounding her pale face, her lips were even pale as they lay pressed together, as still as the rest of her. He saw the IV lines running to her arms, then his eyes slid further down to her wrists. There he saw the unmistakable lines of the scars crossing her wrists, raised from her skin like an emotional Braille.

Nick softly walked closer, almost like he was afraid if he made so much as a sound that he would wake her. His finger reached out and trailed over the raised scar on the wrist closest to him. She had been right here all along, right in the same building and he hadn't known it. He closed his eyes and bit back the tears that were threatening to spill over his cheeks. How long had she been here like this? How long had she been stuck in the place he had been?

"Three years."

Nick looked up from his reverie and turned to look at Brian, "What?"

Brian walked closer and put a hand on Nick's shoulder, "She's been here three years. I was wandering yesterday and found her. I'd never been this far down the long term wing before, I couldn't stand it, because in every bed I would see what could have happened to you, but something was calling me down here and before I knew it, I was standing in this room. I asked the doctor and he said that she's been here for three years. She was brought here like this and she's never woken up and she never will Nick."

Deep down Nick knew this, but it didn't make hearing it any easier. He hung his head and squeezed Katya's hand, trying to find some way to draw strength. "Never?"

Brian nodded, "She's dead in every way but physically, Nick. The doctor said that if she were to ever wake up, she would be a vegetable. She lost so much blood and had three different kinds of prescription drugs in her body when they found her. They were able to save her physically, Nick, but everything else is gone. They've nearly lost her a few times, but she stubbornly keeps holding on, it's like she's waiting for something and won't leave until she's ready."

Nick shook his head, clarity raining upon him in that moment. "She wasn't waiting for something, Brian. She was waiting for somebody. Me."

Brian watched as Nick caressed the side of Katya's still face. "She was waiting for you?"

Nick nodded, "Me. How else do you explain all of this? There must have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of people doing what I was about to do that night, but she ended up in that hotel room with me and stopped me. She guided me back to you, back to life. She saved me." He looked up at Brian, his blue eyes meeting that of his friend, "We were connected from the first minute by something neither of us understood and now I think I know what that is."

Nick and Brian were so caught up in their discussion that they didn't notice they weren't alone in the room. From the corner of the room, a man walked towards them, dressed simply in a linen suit, his shoulder length hair shining as it rested against his collar. Both boys turned to face the stranger and were immediately stunned by the overwhelming light coming off of him.

He smiled at them both and looked at Nick, "You do know what your connection is, Nick. It's redemption."

Nick nodded, too stunned to say anything.

The stranger walked over to Katya and placed his hands in hers, lightly holding them. The glow around him got brighter and brighter until Nick and Brian both had to turn away for fear they would be blinded.

Nick chanced taking a peek and saw Katya's body begin to glow and the stranger started to lift his hands and the Katya he was used to seeing started to rise from the body lying on the bed. Nick's jaw fell open as he hit Brian on the arm and watched in wonder. In a matter of seconds, Katya was standing beside the stranger, looking more beautiful to Nick and Brian than anything they had ever seen and she was in crystal clear focus, every radiant part of her.

The stranger smiled even more at their wide eyed reaction. "She was waiting for you, Nick. Even if she didn't know it. You are each other's redemption. She showed you the way to fight for your life, your happiness, to redeem yourself for having so little regard for your life and everything that has been handed to you, and you gave her the opportunity at redemption for upsetting the life plan that had been laid out for her to accomplish. "

He looked at the two of them, "And you both have accomplished your redemption with the help of the other, just like we had hoped you would. Nick, you've learned the value of the gift of life and Katya, you've learned that love was something you always had inside, you just were too blinded by your own misery to see it." He turned and faced Katya, cupping her radiant face in his glowing hands, "Come child, let's get you home."

Katya nodded and looked over at Nick, running to him and hugging him fiercely, her senses alive with the feel and smell and sight of him.

He wound his arms around her and held her close, knowing it would be the last time he would hold her like this. He breathed in the scent of her, wildflowers, and memorized the feel of her against him, in his arms. She pulled away a little and looked at Brian, smiling at him, "Take care of Nick for me, ok?"

Brian smiled and nodded, "Always."

Katya looked back at Nick and ran her hand down the side of his face, "You are strong enough to stand on your own Nick, never doubt that. And the times you can't stand alone, you have four brothers to lean on. They are in your life for a reason Nick, and not just singing, it may have been what brought you together, but it's not what keeps you together."

Nick nodded, knowing if he spoke, the sobs that were welled up in his throat would be the only thing to come out.

Katya leaned forward and kissed him softly. Nick closed his eyes and savored it, knowing that the first true love of his life was about to leave him.

When Katya pulled away, Nick opened his eyes and looked into her green ones. She leaned close again and kissed his forehead, "Nick, can you do me one last thing?"

He nodded, his voice barely a hoarse whisper with all the emotion choking it, "Anything for you."

She smiled and mussed his hair a little, "Sing for me. I've never heard you sing. Sing me home, Nick."

Nick bit his lip and nodded. For an audience of only three, this was the most important performance of his life. He closed his eyes carefully choosing the song and opened them when he had made his choice.

Falteringly at first,

I will remember you

will you remember me?

Then with each word his voice got stronger.

don't let your life pass you by

weep not for the memories

remember the good times

that we had

we let them slip away from us

when things got bad

clearly I first saw you

smiling in the sun

wanna feel your warmth upon me

I wanna be the one

I will remember you,

will you remember me?

don't let your life pass you by

weep not for the memories

I'm so tired,

but I can't sleep

standing on the edge of something

much too deep

it's funny how I feel so much

but I can not say a word

we are screaming inside oh

but we can't be heard

I will remember you,

will you remember me?

don't let your life pass you by

weep not for the memories

so afraid to love you

more afraid to lose

clinging to a past

that doesn't let me choose

once there was a darkness

a deep and endless night

you gave me everything you had

oh you gave me life

And I will remember you,

will you remember me

don't let your life pass you by

weep not for the memories

weep not for the memories

As he sang, Nick watched Katya and the stranger look at each other and then at the wall in front of them. Suddenly the room was flooded with light and Katya was walking into it with the stranger.

The last words lingered on his lips as the light swallowed Katya and the stranger and they were left in the clinic room, the only light was that of the rising sun poking through the blinds on the window.

Brian and Nick both had tears streaming down their faces without realizing it and reached out for each other, hugging at the end of the bed that cradled the shell of their friend. The both faced the window and felt the warmth of the rising sun on their faces. They had spent the entire night there and today was the day that Nick was to be released from the clinic.

Nick left Brian's embrace and leaned over to kiss Katya's still lips softly, "Welcome Home Katya."

Silently Brian and Nick walked the long hallway back to his room and waited for their bandmates to come, an unspoken agreement between the two of them to someday tell their story when the other three were ready to listen.

As Nick was walking out of the clinic later that morning, the staff in the clinic were all abuzz. It wasn't because of the five famous friends that had just left them. No, it was because of the patient at the end of the hall in the long term wing. The girl who stubbornly clung to life had finally lost the fight, but that wasn't what had them talking.

It was the smile on Katya's face.

Never, in three years, had anything garnered a reaction from her, but now a smile played eternally about her lips the and secret of what had brought it on locked inside two souls on opposite sides of a great divide who would one day meet again.