Chapter 9
A few hours later, the four of them sat at their gate at the
airport, glumly waiting for their flight to be called.
“American Airlines Flight 108 from Atlanta to Tampa, now
boarding,” came an announcement.
“That’s us,” Kevin said, climbing slowly to his feet.
Brian turned to Leighanne.
“Remember, keep checking in with the hospital, and if anything changes,
call me on my cell,” he said.
She nodded. “I will,
sweetheart,” she replied. “I’ll see you
tomorrow morning.”
“Okay. Bye, honey,” he
said, hugging her quickly.
“Bye,” she said back, managing to smile at him as he followed the
guys towards the plane.
***
“And here to sing the National Anthem for you are the Backstreet
Boys!” the announcer shouted, his voice echoing throughout the stands. The crowd cheered wildly, but quieted down
in reverence as the four of them began to sing.
“Oh, say can you see…” they began, trying their best to push their
thoughts of Nick out of their minds and focus on the pride and honor of the
song they were singing.
When the song was finished, the last chords still ringing out
through the crowd, the four Backstreet Boys joined hands and bowed, then left
the turf.
***
As soon as the game was over, the Boys headed back to their hotel,
instead of heading to any of the post-game parties. They had a flight to catch early the next
morning and wanted to get to bed early.
They also didn’t want to have to answer any questions about Nick and why
he was not there.
When morning came, they packed their things quickly and headed to
the airport, glad to be heading back to where they could be with Nick and not
have to worry about the public and the media.
The only thing they had left to do was a press conference, which
had been scheduled for later that day, at a nice hotel in Atlanta. There they would announce the cancellation of
the rest of the tour and explain what had happened to Nick in as little detail
as possible, not wanting to get the fans any more upset than they had to.
The four of them slept most of the flight, for although they
weren’t really tired, it was the easiest way to escape from their fears and put
everything behind them for a couple short hours.
When the plane landed, Leighanne was there to pick them up and
bring them back to her and Brian’s house.
It had already been decided that AJ, Howie, and Kevin would be staying
with Brian for as long as they needed to, as long as Nick was in such a
critical state. Brian was glad they were
staying with him. Even though they
didn’t like to talk about Nick much, for it hurt too much, just being all
together, like they were, provided some comfort to them all.
***
When they got home, it was around eleven in the morning. They ate a quick lunch at home and then
headed to the hospital to spend a few hours with Nick before the press
conference at three that afternoon.
At the hospital, they all went immediately upstairs to their private
waiting room in Neuro ICU. There they
found Jane Carter, looking as if she hadn’t slept all night.
“Jane!” Brian cried, hurrying over to her. “When did you get here?”
“Just a couple hours ago,” she replied, smiling sadly at him. “I got the first flight I could.”
He nodded, then opened his arms to give her a hug. Jane could tell from the expression in his
eyes how hard this ordeal was on him, as well as her, and she wrapped her arms
around him tightly. The hug helped them
both.
The remaining three Backstreet Boys hugged Jane as well, and they
settled down around her.
“How’s Nick doing this morning?” was the first question asked.
She sighed. “From what you
told me last night, nothing much has changed.
He’s in a coma, and his doctor, Dr. Madden, told me that there’s fluid
building up around his brain that’s putting a lot of pressure on it. He said if it doesn’t go down in a few days,
they’ll have to operate.”
Brian’s eyes widened. Operate? On Nick’s brain? Just the thought made him feel queasy with
nervousness.
“Have you gotten in to see him?” Kevin asked.
She nodded. “I just came
back from his room. It… it was so hard…
seeing my baby like that…” Her voice
trailed off, and tears swelled in her eyes.
They were afraid she was going to break down, but she put on a brave
face and quickly blinked back the tears.
“Is Bob or any of the kids here?” Howie asked.
She shook her head. “BJ’s
at a modeling convention, and the other kids have school. Bob’s staying home with them for now, but
they’ll probably fly out next weekend.
We’ll see how things go.”
They nodded, thinking how tough it must be on Nick’s father and
younger siblings to have to stay home in California, so far from Jane and Nick,
knowing that Nick was in such bad shape and not being able to be near him.
Once again, Brian felt relieved to have all the guys around
him. He hoped they could help Jane get
through this, as well as themselves.
***
