"Shayla Starks and Kevin Richardson," Brian demanded giving the clerk at the desk the names of the people the ambulance brought in.

"Let me check and see if they....."the girl began.

"Brian!" AJ yelled running to them.

"Bone, where is she? How is she? How's Kev?" Brian asked frantically. Brian had called everyone on his cell on the way to the hospital. AJ lived closest to the hospital and had gotten there first.

"Kev's gonna be ok. I've seen him and he's banged up his knee and some other minor injuries. They've taken him to surgery for his knee but they won't tell me anything about Shayla and they won't let me back there. She was unconcious by the time they got her here and Bobby said she didn't look good. But no one will tell me anything here," AJ said.

"Well they're gonna tell me," Brian insisted looking around for a doctor.

"What happened?" McKenzie asked. AJ could see she'd been crying.

"I don't know. They were on their way to my house and almost missed their turn and I guess from what Kev said she jerked the wheel to hard and flipped her Cherokee. Kevin was thrown from the car and they had to cut Shayla out. I saw the car still on the side of the road on my way here. It was pretty bad," AJ told them.

"Where's Kevin's bodyguard? What about Bobby?" Brian asked.

"He's fine, they're releasing him. He just had a couple of scratches. He tried to get Shayla out of the car but she was wedged in and he didn't wanna try and move her. He said she didn't look good man. I've been going crazy here cuz they won't tell me anything or let me see her," AJ said.

The doctor came out to the waiting room after the clerk had told him Shayla's family was there. "There's the doctor," AJ said.

"Are you family of Ms. Starks?" asked the doctor.

"I'm her sister and this is her boyfriend," McKenzie said pointing to Brian.

"I'm also Kevin Richardson's cousin. I already heard about him. How's Shayla? Is she going to be ok?" Brian asked.

"She's been hurt pretty bad. She has several broken ribs, a concussion and a gash on the side of her head and a broken arm. She's having a great deal of pain in her stomach so we're concerned about internal bleeding and injuries. We're running some tests and then we may need to do surgery," said the doctor.

"Oh my god. Can we see her? Please?" Brian begged.

"Ok but just for a few minutes. She's still a little disoriented and we've given her some medication so she may drift in and out," the doctor said.

"Thank you," Brian said. He and McKenzie followed him to where Shayla was. AJ began to follow to and the doctor tried to stop him. "He comes too," Brian insisted standing firm. The doctor could see it was no use arguing and nodded his head.

"Brian," Shayla said relieved to finally see him.

"Hi baby, how do you feel?"

"Awful, it hurts really bad. Am I gonna die?" Shayla asked.

"No baby, you're not gonna die. It's gonna be ok. You just got banged up real good," Brian said kissing her forehead.

"Hey sweetie," AJ said moving from behind Brian and kissing her cheek.

"Hi 'J', hey Kenz," Shayla said.

"What happened Shay?" McKenzie asked.

"I don't know. We decided to stop at AJ's to pick up some tape and I almost missed the turn so I jerked the wheel and the next thing I knew I woke up and I was upside down and couldn't move and Kev wasn't next to me, and ...... Oh my god, Kev! Is he ok? Where's Bobby?" Shayla asked getting upset.

"Bobby's fine. They took Kevin into surgery cuz he was thrown from the car and he banged up his knee pretty bad, but he's gonna be ok........Shayla! Shayla honey, can you hear me?" Brian screamed.

"Brian what's wrong with her?" McKenzie yelled.

"I don't know, she's unconcious I think," Brian said. He and AJ both started yelling for doctors and nurses.

"Somebody! We need some help here, something's wrong," they yelled.

The team of doctors and nurses came running. "Ok we gotta get her into surgery now. She's bleeding internally."

"Wait, what's gonna happen? Will she be ok?" Brian asked panicked.

"We're going to do everything we can for her son. The nurse will take you to a waiting room on the surgery floor. Now please, give us some room." They began to run down the hall with Shayla with everyone yelling out orders.

"Wait!" Brian ran after them. He kissed her lips. "I love you baby. You can make it. You fight this hard," he said tears rolling down his face.

"We really have to go. Every minute is crucial," the doctor said. Brian nodded, his body numb and let them take her away.

Nick, Howie and Jen were arriving and saw Brian, AJ and McKenzie in the hallway crying.

"How are they? What's going on?" Jen asked shakily. She saw the look on Brian's face and that each of them was crying and knew something was wrong. "Oh god! Are they ok Brian? Tell me?" she screamed.

Brian reached out and hugged her. "Kev is gonna be fine. He banged up his knee real bad and their doing surgery but he'll be ok. Shayla's in bad shape. They just rushed her off for surgery because she's bleeding internally. She also has some broken ribs, broken arm and lots of cuts and bruises."

"Oh dear god," Nick said. Jen fell into Brian's arms both of them crying. Nick noticed McKenzie standing there crying and unable to move or speak. He grabbed hold of her and held her tight as she broke down sobbing letting him hold her.

"Why don't you all let me take you to the surgery waiting area," a nurse said.

Once they got to the room, AJ had a quick conversation with the nurse about who they were and asked her to make sure no information was given out on Kevin and Shayla's condition and to not let anyone know they were there. Not even if they claimed to be family. Any real family would be able to contact them by their cell phones or pagers and if any family came, one of them or would meet them in the lobby with a bodyguard. The nurse agreed and said she would make sure the staff new what to do.

"Bobby! Are you ok man?" Howie asked. The nurse had brought him to the waiting room where the others were waiting.

"I'm fine," Bobby said hugging each of them. "Brian, what about Shayla? How is she? I tried man, I tried real hard but I couldn't get her out," The large man let a tear fall from his eye. These people were like family to him and he guarded their lives every day.

"It's ok Bobby. I know you did everything you could. They've taken her into surgery. She's not doing to good man," Brian said. "She's got some internal bleeding along with everything else."

"Oh man," Bobby said hugging Brian. "Um, I'm sure she's gonna be ok but I promised her something so I'm gonna follow through with it. She was really scared and all while we were waiting for the ambulance cuz it was hard for her to breath because of the broken ribs and the way she was wedged in, so it scared her and she was afraid of not making it and so she made me promise, even though I told her she'd be ok that she wants you to know that she loves you very much." The large man began to cry remembering the scene with Shayla. Brian gave him a big hug.

"You ok Rok?" Nick asked. Brian had suddenly turned pale thinking of Shayla being scared and not able to breath and he started swaying. Nick jumped up knowing Brian was on the verge of passing out. He grabbed onto Brian and sat him down in one of the chairs.

"I'm alright, I just got a little dizzy for a second. I gotta keep it together," Brian said.

"You need to sit down for a while. You've just been through a huge shock. Just sit for a while," Jen told him.

"I'm scared," McKenzie said suddenly. Nick realized he'd left her alone and Brian realized he'd forgotten about her. She had to be as torn up as him.

"Oh Kenzie, I'm sorry. She's your sister, you must be just as upset as I am. Have you called your mom yet?" Brian asked taking her in his arms. Nick wanted to be the one comforting her but figured under the circumstances it was better if he didn't.

"No I guess I need to give her a call," McKenzie said.

"You want me to do it?" Brian asked.

"No I can do it. I'll be right back," McKenzie said getting up.

"I'll come with you," Jen told her. McKenzie nodded and Jen followed her down the hall.

"Do you want us to get you anything Rok? You want some coffee or something?" AJ asked.

"Yeah whatever," Brian mumbled beginning to cry again. "What if she's not ok? I can't live without her." He looked up at AJ, Nick and Howie. "It was my destiny to meet Shayla before I could marry Leighanne so I would realize she was my soul mate. I love her so much. I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to her."

Nick sat down on one side of Brian with AJ on the other and Howie knelt in front of him as they all hugged him.

"She's gonna be ok buddy. You have to keep the faith in that for her sake ok," Howie said.

"Yeah, Shayla's a tough chick. She may be little but she's tough. She can pull through this," AJ said.

"Let's say a prayer for her ok," Nick suggested.

"Ok," Brian said. They stayed in their embrace and each one prayed that Shayla would pull through and they prayed for Kevin too.

Jen and McKenzie came back just as they finished. "My mom's on her way up here," McKenzie said.

"I need to give my mom a call and let her know what's going on so she can start fielding any press questions. She'd want to know anyway," AJ said. "And I'll get ya that coffee B."

"I'll help ya," Howie said.

"I should probably call my mom too. I kinda just tore out of the house with no explanation," Nick said.

McKenzie sat down next to Brian and he put his arm around her with her head on his shoulder both of them trying to comfort each other.

About an hour later AJ's mom and Nick's mom arrived at the hospital. AJ and Nick met them in the lobby and brought them to the waiting room. Just as they arrived the doctor came in who had been operating on Kevin and told them they could go see him now.

Jen went straight to Kevin's side taking his hand and hugging him gently. "How are you feeling? I was so worried," she said kissing him.

"I'm fine sweetie," Kevin said. He looked a little beat up and his leg was in a brace but other than that he seemed ok. "What about Shayla? Is she ok? Bobby told me at the accident she was in bad shape," he asked seeing the worry on their faces. He could tell from Brian's something wasn't right.

"She's in surgery still. She's not doing too well. She's got internal bleeding, broken ribs, broken arm and lots of cuts and bruises. But it's the bleeding that's the problem," Brian said.

"But will she be alright?" Kevin asked.

"They're doing everything they can," Brian said getting choked up again. McKenzie began crying again and Howie pulled her into a hug.

"Bobby's fine. Just some scratches. He's already back to handling security issues outside," AJ said with slight chuckle.

"I'm so sorry Brian. This is all my fault. It's my fault she's hurt so bad," Kevin said letting a few tears fall.

"How could this be your fault honey? Don't think that way," Jen said.

"I'm the one who at the last minute decided to stop by AJ's. If I hadn't made such a hasty decision or had decided sooner so she didn't almost miss the turn, she'd be home and ok right now," Kevin said.

Kev it's nobody's fault that this happened. It just did," Brian said. "She just jerked the wheel too hard and the car flipped. She'll be ok, I know it," Brian said trying to sound reassuring so Kevin wouldn't think it was his fault.

"Well if I hadn't decided to go to AJ's she wouldn't have had to jerk the wheel to try and make the turn," Kevin said.

"Kev it's ok. It's not your fault. We're just glad you're ok. And she will be too," McKenzie said.

"I called your mom. She wanted to come but I told her you were definitely gonna be ok that there really wasn't any need for her to come all the way down here. She wants you to call her ASAP though so she can see for herself," Howie said.

"Ok thanks buddy. There's really no reason for her to come down here. That's it though, I'm getting rid of my 4 runner, ya know. Ya always hear about these SUV's flipping but I didn't believe it was that easy. I know better now. Her Cherokee flipped so easily," Kevin said.

"Yeah I think I'll be getting Shayla a nice safe car now. I always worried about that jeep and the flipping thing anyway. I was always afraid she'd have to out run fans or something and cause something like this. They're nice and all but this isn't worth it," Brian said.

"And I may trade in my explorer now. I don't drive it that much anyway anymore since getting the BMW," AJ said.

"I'd say this has definitely been an eye opener about the SUV's," Jen said.

"You were really lucky though Kev. You really could've been hurt a lot worse or killed since you were thrown from the car. You were lucky it didn't roll on top of you. Bobby said you were inches from where it landed," Nick said.

"I just felt bad that I couldn't try and help Shayla. I couldn't move cuz of my leg and Bobby wouldn't let me try to move cuz he didn't know if I had any other injuries. I could hear her crying before she passed out. She sounded so scared. She kept calling for me and then Bobby and she panicked and started screaming. God, it was killing me that I couldn't get to her. Bobby was so good with her though. He couldn't get her out so he crawled through all the broken glass around the window and laid there next to her. He kept talking to her and stroking her face. He was what calmed her down," Kevin said. He noticed Brian had started crying, picturing Shayla like that, so scared and hurt and he wasn't there for her.

"Oh geez Bri, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you by telling ya that," Kevin said.

"No it's ok. I'm just glad she wasn't alone. I'm gonna have to remember to thank Bobby for that," Brian said.

"Are you in any pain honey?" Jen asked. She saw him wince when he tried to move.

"Yeah it's starting to really hurt," Kevin said.

"I'll go get a nurse," Howie said.

After the nurse gave Kevin something for pain he fell asleep. Jen stayed with him while the others went back to their waiting room to wait on news about Shayla. Jen told them to let her know as soon as they knew something.

Three hours went by before the doctor came in from Shayla's surgery. Nick's mom had been holding McKenzie but she jumped up when the doctor came in.

"How is she?" Brian asked.

"She's doing well. She's in recovery right now," said the doctor.

Everyone let out a big sigh of relief. "Is she going to be ok?" McKenzie asked.

"We had a lot to repair but I think she's going to be fine. We will have to watch her closely though to make sure she doesn't have any complications but she did really well through the surgery. She's going to be in quite a lot of pain for a while because of the broken ribs though. We put about 20 stitches in the gash on her head, but it should heal well. We had a plastic surgeon come in for that to minimize scaring and her hair will cover it so it's not going to even show. She should be up here in about an hour. She'll stay in ICU at least until sometime tomorrow. You can see her when she comes out of recovery," said the doctor.

"Thank you doctor. Thank you for everything," Brian said giving the doctor a hug.

"You're welcome. I'll check with you in a little while to go see her."

They all hugged and cried after he left. AJ went to tell Jen and Kevin the good news.

To Chapter 38
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