Chapter 25

By Rachel

Hours later, Howie, AJ, and Kevin sat silently in the waiting room, waiting for permission to see Nick and Brian and also waiting for the families to arrive. 

Just as all three were about to give in to their exhaustion and doze off, Dr. Collins suddenly appeared in the door and announced that Brian had been moved from Recovery to the ICU room with Nick. 

Kevin immediately rose up from his chair as Dr. Collins continued with describing what exactly had happened in Brian's surgery, but he immediately fell back down in his seat as a strong wave of dizziness forced him to sit down and hold his head in his hands. 

Dr. Collins immediately noticed and quickly approached Kevin and asked if he was alright and asked him what had happened.  Kevin responded by telling the doctor he suddenly got hit by a strong wave of nausea and was forced to sit down.  Dr. Collins frowned and waited for Kevin to raise his head.

"Have you been checked out since you came in, Kevin?" he asked.  Kevin looked down at the floor and told the doctor he was fine and didn't need to be checked out, only to cause Dr. Collins to order him to have a CAT Scan taken in order to determine if he had any head injuries.

"No!  I'm not going to go!  I have to see Nicky and Brian," said Kevin as he released himself from the doctors grasp and slowly stood up, only to sit down again seconds later when he was hit by another wave of nausea accompanied by a feeling of exhaustion.  Dr. Collins looked at the young man and knew right away that he was dealing with a young man who was stubborn, and he thought of a way to convince Kevin to go get CAT scans done. 

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, Kevin," stated Dr. Collins.  "If you don't go get the CAT Scan done, I won't allow you to see Nickolas or Brian at all so it is your choice.  Either you go get the CAT Scans done and see them later, or you keep being stubborn and not go and not be able to see them at all."  Dr. Collins knew by Kevin's expression that he had him beat and grinned at Howie and AJ as Kevin agreed to get the CAT Scans done.  Dr. Collins excused himself for a second and found a nurse at the ICU nurse's station and ordered her to take Kevin down for CAT Scans.  The nurse agreed and followed Dr. Collins to the waiting room and seconds later led Kevin away towards the testing area.

"Dr. Collins, is everything alright?" asked Howie when the silence in the room became too much. 

"I didn't want to tell Kevin this because I knew he would refuse to get the scans done, but I just checked on Nickolas, and even though we are pumping antibiotics into his body, his condition is getting worse and his fever won't go down.  We will just have to wait and pray that he will make it through this.  As I said before, this is one of the worse cases of pneumonia I have seen in a very long time."  Howie and AJ nodded their heads, and they choked back the sobs that were in the back of their throats.  "You may go see Nickolas and Brian now if you wish," said Dr. Collins kindly. 

"Thank you," said Howie when he finally trusted his voice enough to speak.

"You're welcome.  If you will please follow me I will take you to their rooms," said Dr. Collins as he waited for AJ and Howie to get up from their seats and exit the room.  Just as the trio was about to enter the ICU unit, a voice yelled "Howard!  Alex!"  Howie and AJ spun around and were greeted by the sight of all the parents and even including Brian's brother and Nick's siblings.  After quick exchanges of hellos and hugs, Dr. Collins explained Brian and Nick's condition and also explained what had happened to Kevin. 

The group entered the ICU unit and followed the doctor.  As they neared the room where Brian and Nick were, Dr. Collins suddenly broke into a quick run and barged into the room with the family hot on his heels.  In horror everyone realized the high pitched whining noise was coming from the room where Nick and Brian were held and everything seemed to disappear except for the machine's warning that something had gone terribly wrong.

***

 

 

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