~»~»~»~»~» Chapter 2 «~«~«~«~«~
~~~~~~~~~~» Nick «~~~~~~~~~~
"Nick..." I heard someone call to me as I sat there in the waiting room by myself.
The person called my name a few more times, but I didn’t open my eyes. I was trying too hard to concentrate.
"Kev...Nick’s in here. Arti already went into the room," the voice said again.
"Thanks Meg," Kev replied as he joined us in the waiting room. "We’ll wait here until we’re allowed to go in."
I just sat there and acted like I was asleep.
‘Liz...open your eyes’ I said as I stood by her bed.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me.
‘Do you know where you are?’ I asked her.
‘No’ she replied.
‘Liz, you are in the hospital’ I said.
‘Oh...I remember now...the squealing tires...crunching of the metal...’ she said quietly after a few minutes.
‘Why didn’t you listen to me?’ I asked her in my thoughts.
‘I didn’t remember you telling me’ she answered out loud in a strained voice.
The pain became evident in her face as she closed her eyes again. I knew that she wanted to give up, but I couldn’t let her. She had so much to live for.
‘Please Liz...don’t give up on me.’
She opened her eyes and looked at me.
‘I won’t give up’ she finally said.
‘Good. Take my hands’ I told her.
She set her right hand in my left and her left hand in my right.
‘Now squeeze your right hand’ I instructed her.
She gathered up all her strength and gave my hand a little squeeze.
‘Try it again, but harder this time’ I said.
~~~~~~~~~~» AJ «~~~~~~~~~~
I was sitting in the room with Arti still when I felt something move. I jumped in surprise at the movement, but when I realized what it was, I began shouting and crying for joy. Liz’s hand gave me an extremely weak squeeze, but I didn’t care. Now I knew that she was ok.
"Arti!!!!!"
She looked up at me.
"Did you feel it?" I asked excitedly.
"Feel what?" she asked, totally confused as to what I was talking about.
I looked down at Liz’s hand in mine and I almost jumped through the roof when I felt her squeeze my hand again, a little bit harder this time.
"She squeezed my hand Arti!!!" I exclaimed. "She gave my hand a squeeze!!!"
~~~~~~~~~~» Nick «~~~~~~~~~~
‘Great job Liz’ I told her after she squeezed my right hand again.
She took a few deep ragged breaths while I let her have a quick rest.
‘Ready?’
She nodded her head a little.
‘Ok. Squeeze my left hand now’ I said with a smile.
Once she had enough strength gathered up, she gave my left hand a small squeeze.
‘Come on Liz...I know you can do better than that’ I said as I gave her a sly smile.
She looked up at me with a determined look in her eye and she gave my hand a big strong squeeze.
‘That’s for you, ya booger’ she said in a low voice with a smirk before she closed her eyes again.
I knew that she was completely worn out by just doing those little actions so I let her alone to get her rest...she’d need it.
~~~~~~~~~~» Arti «~~~~~~~~~~
"AJ calm down," I said when he started jumping around the room.
"I can’t!! I’m happy!" he replied.
I was caught off-guard when I felt a weak tug at my hand.
"SHUT UP AJ!" I hollered to shush his excited outbursts.
He stopped and looked at me in shock.
"What? What’d I do?" he asked.
I ignored him.
"Liz...Liz hun. It’s me, Arti," I said. "Can you squeeze my hand again?"
It was a few more seconds before she responded, but when she did, it was a strong squeeze.
"Woah girlie," I said in surprise with a laugh.
When I looked at her face, she looked the same as before. Her hair was kind of all over the pillow, her eyes were still shut, and her face was still a little pale, but I knew that she wasn’t going to give up on us...at least not without a pretty darn good fight.
"AJ...go get Meg for me," I told him. "Now!"
He did as he was told. When she came in the room, I waved her over to the side of the bed. I don’t think she was prepared for what she’d see. She came to the other side of the bed, leaned over the railing, and let tears run down her cheeks as she looked at Liz.
"Meg, she’s going to be ok," I said in a warm voice.
She looked up at me.
"She squeezed my hand...and AJ’s too," I told her. "She’s going to be just fine Meg. She’ll just need some time."
~~~~~~~~~~» A Little While Later «~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~» Bri «~~~~~~~~~~
"Come on Frack...you’re coming with us," I told Nick as Howie and I helped him up from the chair that he was sitting on.
We helped him out to the parking lot. Once we got him into the Expedition that we rented, Howie hopped into the driver’s seat to drive us back to the hotel that Izzie had arranged for us to stay at.
"What happened?" Howie asked as we pulled out of the parking lot onto the street.
Nick just sat there for a few minutes before he said anything.
"A semi...a semi ran into her bus on the freeway," he said in a hushed voice that we could barely hear.
"Is she going to be ok?" I asked.
"The doctor told us that she lost a large amount of blood and that she’d need a few transfusions...she lapsed into a coma from the loss of so much blood," he replied with a small sigh before he leaned his head up against the glass of the window and closed his eyes.
We didn’t ask him anymore questions because we knew it was hard for him. We all knew that Liz and him were pretty good friends. Once we got to the hotel, we checked in, went up to our room, and let Nick lay on one of the beds in one of the rooms in the double roomed suite while Howie and I talked in the other room.
~~~~~~~~~~» Nick «~~~~~~~~~~
After I collapsed onto the large comfy bed, I closed my eyes and lay there for a few minutes.
‘Why didn’t you listen to me?’ I asked silently.
Her paled body didn’t move...she was asleep, trying to recover her strength. I reached out and stroked her blond hair away from her face. The doctor had just set up the last transfusion so the tube was carrying blood to her body from the pint-sized bag that hung next to the IV. Her face had more color than it did when we first got here, but it still wasn’t back to its original color. I picked up her right hand, carefully sat down on the edge of the bed, and held her hand in my lap. I sat there for what only seemed like a few minutes, but in reality was over an hour. The light in the room was still on, but it was well into the night. I got up from the bed, turned the light off, and walked out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~» Two Days Later «~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~» Howie «~~~~~~~~~~
"Meg...Meg hun...we’re going to the hospital in a little while," I whispered to Meg as she lay asleep on the bed.
Everyone was tired from the few days before so we all came back to the hotel and got some much needed sleep, with the exception of AJ, who stayed by Liz’s side the whole time. When Meg rolled over a little and slowly sat up, she gave me a weak smile, which I returned. She looked like she hadn’t even slept a wink, even though I knew she had at least gotten a little sleep last night due to the circumstances.
"Is AJ still there?" she asked me while she stood up and went over to the dresser to find some clothes to wear for the day.
"Yeah, he is."
Once she heard my answer, she grabbed some clothes, went in the bathroom, and got ready. When she came out again, she looked a little more like her normal self.
"Come on Howard...we have a hospital to get to," she said in a ‘tisk-tisk’ voice that made me chuckle a little.
I grabbed the keys to the Expedition and followed Meg out into the sitting room of the double-roomed suite where the other guys were waiting for us. We headed off to the hospital and then up to Liz’s room.
"Uh...there’s no one in the room," Kev announced after he peeked inside.
We went back to the information desk in the lobby by the elevators.
"Excuse us...can you tell us what happened to the girl that was in room 436?" Kev asked the woman.
The woman looked up and smiled at all of us.
"Yes. Miss Stevens has been moved to room 269," she replied in a warm motherly voice.
"Miss Stevens?" Arti asked in a whisper after the elevator doors closed.
"Yeah," Bri replied. "That’s her alias. Tabitha Stevens...ya know...the little girl from ‘Bewitched’...the old TV show."
Arti nodded. Once we reached the 2nd floor, we all filed off the elevator and went off in search of room 269. Meg found the room, and after she quietly peeked in the door, she closed the door and told us that we should go and get some breakfast.
"They’re both asleep...let’s go get some breakfast and we’ll go in when we come back," she said when she turned around to face us.
~~~~~~~~~~» Liz «~~~~~~~~~~
‘Owwie!’ I thought when my mind finally woke up. My body wasn’t quite responding just yet...probably from all the pain medication they were giving me. My mind reeled with thoughts of the accident...thoughts of my shows that were more than likely canceled...thoughts of AJ. I lay there in darkness for a while before I finally got up enough strength to open my eyes a little. I only opened them a sliver before the brightness of the morning sun stung my eyes. I wasn’t used to the light so I shut my eyes and then opened them slowly after a few minutes to let them adjust to the light. My stomach was weighed down and I winced from the pain coming from the bruised area. When my eyes were adjusted to the light, I looked down and saw AJ sitting next to the bed with his head lying carefully on my stomach. He was asleep and I didn’t want to wake him, but I wanted to touch him...just to make sure that he really was here with me. With all my strength, I lifted my right hand and gently stroked his brown hair. When I saw all the cuts and bruises on my arms, a few tears fell from my eyes as I laid there trying to be strong and not let the pain show. I slowly lifted my right hand from AJ’s head and inspected all the tubes that were stuck in my arm. I never really did like needles, though I’m not particularly scared of them. I couldn’t feel the needles in my arm anyway...the pain from the other parts of my body drowned out the minute pain from my wrist. One of the needles was connected to the IV. Another one of the needles was hooked up to a bag that looked similar to the IV bag, but it had a little amount of dark red liquid in it that I assumed was blood. I continued running my fingers through AJ’s hair, kind of surprised that it wasn’t gelled back as he usually did it. He had his face turned away from me, so I couldn’t see when he opened his eyes as he slowly woke up. Before he started to move his head, I lifted my hand a little so that he could sit up. When he reached his hand up to his head to scratch the spot that I had last touched, his hand collided with mine and he instantly sat up with a surprised look on his face. I winced a little in pain at the sudden movement of the bed when he sat up and the difference in pressure on my stomach where his head had been sitting.
"I’m sorry baby," he whispered when he saw me flinch.
"Aje," I tried to say, but it sounded like I was horribly sick with strep.
"Sh," he said as he placed a finger on my lips before he softly rubbed my cheek with his hand.
My eyes fluttered shut at the mere touch of his hand...his gentle touch had that effect on me. I was happy that he was here with me to help me through this. I opened my eyes again when he carefully picked up my left hand and held it close to his heart.
"Liz...I thought I lost you," he whispered to me as tears glistened in his eyes.
He paused for a second while he gathered his thoughts. He looked down at the ground for a second before he looked back up into my eyes. When he looked up again, tears were on the verge of falling down his cheeks.
"I...I wanna tell you something," he said as he looked deep into my eyes. "Ok?"
I nodded a little, even though it was painful to move my neck because of all the cuts and bruises. He must have noticed the flash of pain in my eyes when I did that, because he reached up and ever so gently put his hand on my cheek. I closed my eyes once again and savored his touch on my face. He rubbed my cheek with his thumb while he continued speaking.
"I’m going to have Nikki cancel the rest of the tour...and I want you to move in with me so I can take care of you until you’ve fully recovered."
When I didn’t move or try to say anything, he stopped momentarily. It’s not that I wasn’t paying attention...I just wanted to hear his voice speaking to me.
"Liz?"
I slowly opened my eyes and looked up into his soft brown ones.
"I love you so much," he said in a hushed voice as he leaned a little closer to me.
When he stopped and looked at me with his loving gaze, I knew that he was at a loss for more words. I pulled my hand away from his chest and carefully reached it up to his cheek.
"I love you more," I replied in a scratchy voice with a small weak smile.
He chuckled a little as tears slipped down his cheeks. He took my hand in his, leaned over, and buried his head into my hair as he carefully gave me a warm hug that I so desperately needed. I hugged him back until all my energy was gone. He must have noticed that I was tired, because he whispered in my ear.
"Go ahead and get some sleep babe. I’ll be here when you wake up," he whispered before he sat up and gave me a smile.
When he saw that I had my eyes closed, he got comfortable in the chair next to my bed as he held me hand. Chills ran up and down my spine when he started singing to me, and I got goose bumps on my arms as my insides melted from his angelic voice.
"
Never...from the first day that I saw your smiling face, honey I knew that we’d be together forever babe. When I asked you out, you said no but I found out darling that you’d been hurt...you thought that you’d never love again. I deserve a try honey, just once. Give me a chance and I’ll prove this all wrong. You walked in, you were so quick to judge, but honey he’s nothing like me. I’ll never break your heart. I’ll never make you cry. I’d rather die than live without you. I’ll give you all of me honey that’s no lie. I’ll never break your heart. I’ll never make you cry. I’d rather die than live without you. I’ll give you all of me honey that’s no lie..."Before he had a chance to finish the song, I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
© Liz Holder 2000