Chapter 23:
My Liver Will Go On
Hours later, a
lone figure sat in a darkened hospital room, his back hunched, his shoulders
slumped, his hands wrapped tightly around the limp hand of the man lying
motionlessly in the bed next to him.
“Wish you’d wake
up, J,” murmured Nick, rubbing the back of AJ’s hand. According to Dr. Flue, the transplant surgery
had gone well, but Nick wouldn’t feel reassured until AJ woke up. He’d tried talking to him, poking him, and
even singing a few of their songs to him, but even that surefire trick hadn’t
worked. AJ remained unconscious. Dr. Flue had said it might take awhile for
the anesthesia to wear off, but Nick wanted AJ awake now.
What would be even
better is if he, Nick, could wake up…
wake up and realize that this whole day had been nothing but a nightmare… wake
up and find Brian still alive and AJ still perfectly fine.
Now, in some
fanfics, that’s exactly what would happen – Nick would wake up bathed in cold
sweat and realize it had all just been a bad dream. But we’re not going to be that
idealistic. Unrealistic as this all is,
it’s not going to end up being a dream.
I hate you, Nick silently cursed whoever was
doing all this to them.
Sorry, Nick. We only do it because we love you.
Speaking of loving
Nick, at that very moment, the beeping pattern of AJ’s heart monitor suddenly
changed, and Nick’s eyes flew to the monitor over the bed in alarm. The jagged green line running across the
screen did not go flat, but it did change.
In fact, instead of going up and down with each steady blip, the line
was beginning to form… letters?
Nick watched in
amazement as words began to scrawl
across the screen. He squinted up at it,
trying to make out the words before they flew by.
“I… l-l-love…
y-you… Nick?” he sounded the message out, cocking his head in disbelief as it
processed in his brain. “I love you,
Nick?” he repeated. AJ’s heart monitor is in love with me?
Damn, I must be one sexy dude if even inanimate pieces of medical
equipment have got the hots for me.
“I, uh… I love you
too, Ms. Heart Monitor,” he said stupidly, feeling it was only proper to return
the sentiment. He just hoped he was
correct in identifying the heart monitor as a “Ms.” Because if it was a “Mr.”… well, sorry, but he just didn’t
go that way.
He watched as new
words began to creep across the screen. … Not the heart monitor, dummy… it’s Brian…
Nick’s eyes bugged
out of his head. “Brian?!” he
cried. “Nuh-uh… it couldn’t be! Brian’s dead!”
… So you think it’s more probable that
it’s the heart monitor talking to you?...
Nick thought about
that one for a moment. “Brian?” he asked
cautiously, his eyes narrowing at monitor.
… That’s my name, don’t wear it out…
“Brian!” Nick
cried happily. “It is you! What’s up, dawg?”
… I’m up… in Heaven…
“Ah, right. How is it up there?”
… Good to be back… catching up with
all my old angel buddies…
“Mmm…” Nick smiled, imagining Brian stretched out on
top of a soft cloud, surrounded by hundreds of hot angels draped in
strategically placed folds of white satin and nothing more. “Nice.”
… Listen Nick, I need to tell you
something…
“Hey, whatever
you’ve got to say, buddy, say it,” said Nick.
“Hey, how are you saying all
this stuff to me anyway?”
… Because a part of me is inside AJ…
“Your liver,” Nick
specified.
…Yes… my liver…
“But that still
doesn’t make sense,” said Nick. “How can
your liver talk? How can your liver make
these words show up on a heart monitor?
How can a heart monitor form letters?”
… Nothing in this story makes sense,
Nick… don’t question it…
“Good point,” said
Nick, nodding vigorously. “So what were
you going to say?”
… I want you to promise that you’ll
help AJ go on… that you’ll help him survive… that you won’t let him give up…
…Promise me now, Nick… and never let go of that promise…
Nick had missed
some of that – the words were going by so fast, and he wasn’t a good reader to
begin with – but he caught the end part, so he nodded solemnly, pretending he’d
read it all, and whispered, “I’ll never let go, Brian. I’ll never let go.”
With his words,
the text on the heart monitor suddenly faded and was replaced by the peaking
green line. Nick stared at it in
despair. “Wait!” he cried. “But- but, Brian… wait!”
But the words did
not return, and all of a sudden, a gravely voice asked, “Who the fuck have you
been babbling to, Nick?”
Nick looked down
in surprise to see AJ’s eyes open. “AJ!”
he squealed happily. AJ was alive, and
Brian was… well, sort of alive, through AJ’s new liver and the heart
monitor. It was a miracle! At least the fifth one in the story thus
far. But of course there would probably
be even more on the way.
If only they knew
what was to come…
***
