Chapter 2

As they pulled onto a main street, Nick turned the radio on. He flipped through the stations mumbling as. Finally he left it on an oldies station.

“Nick, you just passed Eighty-third Street,” B.J. said, looking out the side window.

“I… knew that,” He said, pulling into the Quik Trip parking lot.

He did a u-turn and pulled back onto the street.

Stopping at the Yield sign, he patiently waited for the car opposite of his to go. Then he turned right and pulled into lot to park in for the doctor.

As they stepped inside the large building, a blast of cold air hit them.

“Which floor?” B.J. asked as they stepped into the elevator.

“Fourth,”

He cringed as the doors shut.

“Nicky, it’s an elevator. It’s not going to eat you.”

“You know I’m claustaphobic AND afraid of elevators.”

She offered him a sympathetic smile as the elevator doors opened. Nick lurched for the door as B.J. followed, laughing.

They walked down the long corridor until they reached a light blue door with the names Dr. John Torday and Dr. Henry Garrison sketched into a silver nameplate. He turned the doorknob, causing the door to open. 3 pairs of eyes stared at him as he walked through.

He ignored them and approached the counter. Picking up the pen chained to the desk, he signed his name, the time, and his doctor then laid it back down. He turned around and led B.J. to seats near the window.

He handed her a girly magazine then laughed at her as she shot him a dirty look.

“Nick Carter,” A nurse yelled, sticking her head out the door. Nick stood up and grabbed B.J.’s hand, pulling her with him.

“Scared or something, Nicky?”

“No… but you’re the one that made me come, so you have to come with me,”

She hid her smile as she followed Nick and the nurse into a small room.

“Would you step onto the scale for me, Nick?” She asked, nicely.

Nick obeyed and stepped onto the scale. The nurse adjusted the instrument then wrote something down in the chart.

“Thank you, now why don’t you hop up onto the bed?”

He eased himself up on the ugly brown leather cot.

The nurse took out the thermometer and gently placed it into Nick’s left ear.

“98.9,” She said, writing it down.

After she took his blood pressure, she sat down the stool and wrote it down.

“OK, Nick what seems to be the problem?”

“Well, I’ve been running a fever and I think my gland is swollen,”

She looked at the side of his face, where it was swollen.

“How long has it been like that?”

“About three weeks…”

“Did you go see a doctor about it?”

“No, I was on tour,”

“Alright,”

She stood up and picked the chart up.

“Dr. Torday will be in soon,” She left, shutting the door behind her.

Nick twiddled his thumbs as he waited. B.J. sat in the chair beside the cot, watching Nick.

A knock at the door startled them both. The door opened and Dr. Torday appeared.

“Hey Nick,” He said cheerfully.

“Hi,”

“Is this a girlfriend?” He asked, looking at B.J.

“Nah, she’s my little sister, B.J.”

“Ah, ok. Nice to meet you B.J., I’m Dr. Torday,”

After checking Nick’s heart and pulse, he took Nick’s complaints again.

The doctor placed his hands on both sides of Nick’s face/neck and felt the swollen lump on the right side.

“Well Nick that’s not a gland,”

“Then what is it?”

“It can be numerous things. A cyst, a growth… I’m going to have an X-Ray taken, to rule out some things. Come with me, Nick. B.J., we’ll be back in a few minutes.”

B.J.’s hands began to shake as she waited, afraid for her brother. A few minutes later, Nick came back in the room.

“He’ll be back in a few minutes with the X-Rays,” Nick said, answering her curious look.

They waited in an awkward silence for the doctor to return.

“Sorry that took so long,” He said, walking into the room.

He turned the white board on and placed the X-Rays up onto it.

“This is your esophagus.” He said, pointing to it, “The swollen lump appears to be a tumor,”

“Does… that mean… I have cancer?”

“No. It can be benign, which means not cancer.”

“How can you tell what it is?” B.J. asked.

“We’re going to have to do a biopsy. And as soon as possible.”

“How soon?”

“Are you available tomorrow?”

Nick nodded, reluctantly.

“Ok, I’ll call the hospital up and have them arrange for me to have an operating room. Be at the hospital around 6:30 tomorrow morning. The surgery will be at 8:00. It’ll be outpatient surgery, so if all goes well, you can go home probably around 10:00. The surgery will only take about forty-five minutes,”

“Ok. Thanks. See you tomorrow,” Nick said, slightly off in a daze as they left the room.

Nick stopped at the desk and paid the receptionist then B.J. and him left the office.

“Are you ok?” B.J. asked as they neared the elevator.

“Yeah,”

They stepped onto the elevator and rode it down to the first floor, silently.

“Are you going to call mom or the guys?” B.J. asked as they stepped outside.

“Not until I find out what it is. I don’t want anyone to be scared or worried right now. Can we keep this between you and I until we get results?”

“Of course,” She replied.

They got into the car and drove home silently.

“Hungry?” B.J. asked as they walked into the house.

“A little… not sure I can eat much, though,”

“It’s ok, I’ll go fix something,” She said, gently ruffling his hair as she walked off.

He gave her a small smile before collapsing onto the couch with the TV remote. After flipping through channels, he settled on a rerun of ‘The Cosby Show’.

“Nick… dinner’s ready,” B.J. yelled from the kitchen.

Nick turned the TV off then rose from the couch. He followed the aroma into the kitchen where B.J. was setting down a plate of chicken onto the table.

“Didn’t know you could cook so well,” He commented as he sat down.

“It came from a box. I stuck it into the microwave,” She laughed, sitting down across from him.

The rest of the night, they just sat around the house, enjoying the company of each other.

“See you in the morning… bright and early,” Nick said as he went into his bedroom.

“Yeah… good night,”

Next Morning; 4:30

Nick cringed as the ringing of his alarm clock woke him up. He turned it off, trying to remember why his alarm was set in the first place.

Then he remembered. Butterflies began fluttering in his stomach as he crawled out of bed. He took a quick shower then got dressed. As he left his room, he heard B.J. in the kitchen.

“Morning,” He mumbled, walking in.

“Morning. Want some hot chocolate?”

“Sure… don’t think I can eat anything,”

“Me either,” she said, sitting a mug of hot chocolate in front of him.

They talked quietly and sipped their drinks, while watching the sun come up through his large windows in the dining room.

“Hey Nicky… it’s 6:10… we’d better go soon,”

He sighed, the butterflies still flying around inside of him.

He took B.J.’s cup and his and put them into the dishwasher.

He grabbed his keys off the rack and headed for the door.

“You ok, Nick?” B.J. asked as they got into the car. She could see the nervousness in his eyes.

“Yeah… just a little nervous,”

“It’s ok to be nervous. Everyone is before they have surgery,” She said, trying to comfort him.

Once again, the ride was silent, both keeping their thoughts to themselves.

Nick pulled the Durango into the outpatient parking lot and quickly found a spot to park.

As they walked in, the strong smell of sterilizer and medicine hit them.

“Ick,” Nick mumbled.

“I agree,” B.J. said as they approached the desk.

“Can I help you?” The receptionist asked.

“I’m here for Dr. Torday…”

She looked through a few charts on her desk.

“Nick Carter?”

“Yeah,”

“Alright, have a seat, and I’ll have a nurse come get you,”

As soon as they sat down, a nurse walked in a called his name.

“Nick Carter,”

They stood up and walked towards her.

“Can my sister come with me?”

“Sure, she can stay with you until you fall asleep.”

B.J. slipped her hand into his as they walked down a long corridor.

The nurse opened the door to a room and let them in.

“Here’s your gown. Strip down to your boxers,” The nurse said, handing him a piece of material.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

B.J. turned around and stared at the wall.

“Beej, you can look. I’m not getting naked and you’ve seen me in my boxers.”

She blushed and turned around, sitting down in a chair.

Nick pulled off his shirt then slipped the hospital gown on, then slipped out of his jeans.

“Will you tie me up?” He laughed, nervously.

She stood up and tied the strings behind his neck and then the middle of his back.

“Thanks,” He said sitting down on the end of the bed.

B.J. took her seat in the corner and they waited for the nurse to return.

A new person entered the room, pushing a small cart along with her.

“Hi, my name is Annalee. I’ll be your nurse this morning,” She chirped as she shut the door behind her. “I take it you’re Nick?”

“Yeah,”

“You must be his sister?” She asked, looking at B.J.

“Yes,” She replied, shyly.

“Ok,” She smiled, “Well, to start with, I’m just going to do a normal check up.”

She took the stethoscope off her neck and placed the small pieces inside her ears. Then she placed it onto Nick’s chest.

“Take a deep breathe…and let it out,”

She repeated it several times then placed it on his back, doing the same.

She wrote something in the chart then laid the stethoscope back around her neck. Next, she took out the thermometer and placed it in his ear.

“You still have a slight fever,” She said flicking the plastic cover into the trashcan.

She quickly checked his ears and nose and then wrote in the chart again.

“I’m going to put an I.V. in now so we can run some fluid into you before surgery, and then they can keep putting anesthesia in you,”

She pulled a small bag of clean liquid off her cart and hung it on a metal rack beside the bed.

“Will you lie back for me?” She asked.

He nodded and lay back on the pillow. She rubbed alcohol onto the back of his hand with a cotton ball then grabbed a needle off of her cart.

“This might sting a little,”

He turned his head quickly. As she slid the needle into his vein, he flinched.

“Sorry,” She smiled.

She attached a tube to the end of the needle, taped the tube and needle to his arm, and then allowed the liquid to drip into his veins.

“You’re finished until Dr. Torday is ready for you, so I’ll be back when he’s ready,”

“Ok, thanks,”

She left, shutting the door quietly.

“God, I didn’t think you could get more nervous then I’ve been standing backstage at the Grammy’s,” Nick joked, easing the tension.

“I’d say something… but I don’t know what to say,” B.J. replied, a half smile on her face.

There was a knock on the door and Dr. Torday walked in.

“Good morning, Nick. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I can be,” He said.

“Ok, let me get the anesthesiologist,”

He left and returned a few minutes later with a guy in green scrubs following, pushing a gurney and a small machine.

“Nick, can you get over to the gurney?” Dr. Torday asked.

“Yeah,”

Nick scooted himself over until he was on the gurney.

“My name is Ted. I’m going to give you some new medicine in your I.V. to make you sleepy, and then I’ll give you the gas. Could you lie down all the way?”

Nick obeyed, and lied down flat, only a small pillow comforting his head. Annalee came into the room with a small bucket full of tubes and needles.

“I’m going to need to take some blood real quick,” She said to Nick.

He nodded and stuck his arm out to her.

She cleaned it and quickly stuck the needle into his vein. The vial quickly filled with the dark liquid. She slipped the needle out of his arm and replaced it with a cotton ball and band-aid.

“There, all done. See you later,” She said, leaving

Ted added a new I.V. bag to the metal hanger and attached it to the tube connected to Nick’s arm.

Within only a few minutes, Nick’s eyelids began to get droopy.

“Would you like to say goodbye to him before we put him to sleep?” Ted asked.

“Yeah,” B.J. said.

She walked to the other side of the bed and looked at him.

“Nicky, I’ll see you in about an hour, ok? You’re going to be fine, so don’t be nervous.”

“Thanks, Beej,” Nick replied.

She quickly kissed him on the forehead then retreated to the corner of the room.

Ted turned a nozzle on the small machine and lifted a mask up.

“Nick, I’m going to put this over your mouth and nose. Take a deep breath and count to ten,”

He placed the mask over Nick’s nose and mouth and waited for Nick to take a deep breath. As he did, he began counting quietly. Before he even made it to 4, he was sound asleep. Dr. Torday covered his legs and torso up with a blue blanket and put the side rails of the bed up.

“B.J., you can follow us up to the Operating Rooms. There’s a waiting room up there,”

“Ok,”

She grabbed her purse and followed the doctor, Ted, and the gurney with Nick on it.

As they reached the next floor, B.J. departed to the waiting room as Nick was taken into an operating room.

Hour And A Half Later

B.J. sat in the waiting room, a nervous wreck, watching the hands on the clock slowly move.

Suddenly, Dr. Torday walked into the waiting room.

As he sat down, B.J. watched his every move.

“The surgery went well. We had no complications. But, we had a piece of the tumor taken to the lab and had tests run… it was malignant.”

“That means… cancer?” She asked, afraid to know the answer.

“Yes. I’m extremely sorry, B.J.,”

“Thank you… what happens next?”

“I was going to release him as an outpatient, but with it being cancer, I’d like to keep him here. We need to run a bone marrow test and some more blood tests to find out exactly what kind of cancer it is,”

“Ok… can I see him?”

“Of course. He’s probably just waking up now in recovery. I’ll take you,”

B.J. held back the tears wanting to fall as she followed Dr. Torday down the hallway.

“He’s in the last bed, back there. If you want, I’ll tell him about the cancer. Sometimes it’s easier to hear it coming from a relative, though,”

“Ok, thank you,”

He nodded and walked off, leaving her by herself.

She walked towards the back, ignoring the stares from other patients.

As she got to the last bed, she saw Nick’s blonde hair through the curtain. She pulled the curtain gently and let herself into the small cubicle. Nick laid there, his eyes opened, staring at the ceiling. A large white bandage covered the right side of his neck and part of his cheek. Another I.V. had been put into his arm, dripping a yellow liquid into him.

“Hey,” She said to a groggy-looking Nick.

“Hi,” He whispered. “Can’t talk loud… it hurts,”

“It’s ok. They had a tube down your throat during surgery to help you breathe,” She said, sitting down beside the bed.

“Oh… did the doctor talk to you yet?”

“Yeah,”

“What’d he say?”

“He said the surgery went well…”

“Did they get the results yet?”

“Yeah, they did,” She said softly.

“It’s cancer, isn’t it?”

She nodded, afraid if she talked, the tears would fall.

“This sucks,” Nick replied. “What are they going to do?”

“Dr. Torday said he wants to keep you here, so he can run tests,”

“Great…” He joked, trying to enlighten the mood.

“Hello Nick. I see you’re awake now,” Dr. Torday said, entering the area.

“Yeah,” Nick whispered.

“Did B.J. tell you anything?”

“I have cancer…”

“Yes. Tomorrow, I want to have a bone marrow test done, to see exactly what kind of cancer it is. I’ll let you rest tonight,”

“Ok,”

“I have a private room for you upstairs. Are you ready to go up?”

“Yeah… hey Beej?”

“Yeah?”

“Would… call mom and the guys? I’ll call Meggie,”

“Of course. I’ll meet you upstairs,”

“Fifth floor,” Dr. Torday said.

“Ok,”

She went into the waiting room and watched as orderlies pushed the gurney past her. She gave a weak smile to Nick then dug through her purse for her cell phone. First, she dialed her mother’s cell phone.

“Hello?” Jane answered.

“Hi Mom,”

“B.J.! How are you?”

“I’m ok,”

“And Nick?”

“That’s why I’m calling…”

“Is he ok?”

“He’s been sick for a few weeks, and I got him to go to the doctor yesterday. He has a tumor in his neck, near one of his glands. They did a biopsy this morning to see whether it was cancer or not…”

“Ohmygosh… Beej, please tell me it’s not,”

“It is, Mom…”

“My little Nicky has cancer?” She choked.

“Dr. Torday said he’s going to have a bone marrow test done tomorrow, to see what kind of cancer it is,”

“I’m going to grab the first flight I can,”

“Mom, you know Nick wouldn’t want you to do that. Stay on tour with Aaron.”

“Alright,” She said reluctantly.

“But I’m going to be checking up on him everyday… probably more than once,”

“Ok, I’ll give you the phone number as soon as I get it. I got to go now. I have to call the guys,”

“Bye B.J. Love you,”

“Me too,”

She clicked the ‘end’ button and dialed Brian’s number.

“Hello?” Brian answered sleepily.

“Brian?”

“Who’s this?”

“It’s B.J.,”

“Hey Beej! What’s up?”

“Uhm…”

“Spit it out,” Brian teased.

“Nick’s sick,”

“Still? He’s had a virus or something for a few weeks,”

“He went to the doctor yesterday, and they did a biopsy of a tumor in his neck today… and it’s cancer,”

“Cancer? But… how?”

“I don’t know…Dr. Torday is going to run more tests tomorrow.”

“How’s Nick holding up?”

“Ok I guess… he just woke up from surgery a little while ago.”

“Why didn’t he say anything sooner?”

“He didn’t want anyone to worry about him until he had the results.”

“There’s Nick for you,” He sighed, obviously upset. “ I’m going to get dressed and grab some food, and I’ll be down. Hang in there, ok?”

“Ok…see you in awhile,” She replied.

They hung up and she called the other guys, finding them either not home or not answering their phones.

She dropped the phone back into her purse and headed towards the elevator. She pressed the ‘up’ button and waited patiently for one of the three elevators to come.

The middle one chimed and the doors opened. She let herself in and pressed the ‘six’ button. After only a few seconds, the doors glided open and she stepped out. She looked around then walked up to the nurses’ station.

“Excuse me, could you tell me where they took Nick Carter?”

“That’s a high profile case. I’m afraid I can’t give you that information.

“I’m his sister. Dr. Torday told me to come up here after I made calls to family,”

“Normally, I wouldn’t do this, but since you know so much about his case, and you look like him, I’ll let you go. He’s in room six-oh-four,”

“Thanks,”

She walked down the hallway and eventually found room six-oh-four. The door was opened, but a curtain that surrounded the door was closed. She moved it back slightly to see through. Nick still lie on the gurney. Nurses were checking something on his arm.

She walked through and stood by the wall.

The nurse adjusted a blood pressure cuff and took his blood pressure. Then she took the cuff off his arm and laid it on a nearby counter.

“All right Nick, we’re going to move you over,” One of the nurses said, putting the bed rail to the gurney down.

The nurses grabbed the sheet that lay under Nick and slid it over onto the hospital bed, Nick still on it.

A look of pain covered his face.

“Are you ok?” B.J. asked.

“Yeah… just moved by neck,” He replied.

One nurse covered him with a blanket while the other adjusted his I.V.s.

“Nick, if you need anything, just press the red button on the side of the bed rail,” The nurse said, pointing to the side of it. “You can also turn the TV or radio on by that,”

“Ok,”

The nurses disappeared, leaving Nick and B.J. to themselves.

“Did you call everyone?”

“I called mom and told her. She was about to jump on a plane, but I talked her out of it,”

“Thank you,” Nick said, “Don’t want her to have to leave Aaron,”

“And then I called Brian. He’ll be here soon. And the other guys weren’t home or weren’t answering,”

“Ok, thanks a lot, Beej,”

“No problem,”

Nick’s eyelids became droopy, but he fought off sleep.

“Nick, let it go. Get some rest. You need some. I’m going to run down to the cafeteria and grab some breakfast,”

“Ok,”

She kissed his forehead gently then grabbed her purse and left the room.

Fifteen Minutes Later

As B.J. left the cafeteria, she heard her cell phone ring throughout her purse. She quickly unzipped it and hit ‘yes’, placing it on her ear.

“Hello?” She asked.

“Beej, it’s Brian… I’m in the lobby of the hospital. Where are you guys?”

“I’m coming out of the cafeteria. I’ll be in the lobby in a few seconds,”

“Ok,”

She clicked ‘end’ and walked faster towards the lobby. As she entered, she immediately saw Brian’s curly blonde hair.

“Brian?”

He turned around and saw her.

“Hey Beej,” He said, greeting her with a tight hug.

“You ok?” He asked, his voice muffled.

“I think so,”

“If you ever want to talk, I’m here, ok?”

“Yeah, thanks Bri,”