Well, here you go! Sorry it took me so long, but I just had finals, so no time to write. But hey, at least I got some done. Again, this episode is featuring my anonymous friend. This is the last of this part that he's helped write. He'll be popping up again shortly though, I don't know how shortly, but he'll be back soon. So, enough of my blabbering, and now, the words you've been waiting for.. ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!
The whole ride to the hospital, I was worried sick and thinking the worst. Lance was lying against my chest and I was stroking his hair. Melissa came to the back seat with me and was trying to assure me that he would be all right. The mix of worry for Lance, anger at Travis and sympathy for the guys was almost driving me to tears.
"It's ok Rob, he'll be okay." Melissa said rubbing my back.
"I know, it's just... I. I dunno!"
"Shhh, everything's going to be okay!"
"I can't believe that asshole Travis! How the HELL could he even think about trying to send him on stage like this!?" I said whispering harshly. "I bet even those assholes Lou and Johnny would have tried the same thing too!"
"Hey, just remember that they're your bosses too!"
"No they're not! I'm not on TransCon!"
"Since when?"
"Since the beginning!"
"What?"
"I'm on RCA, and my management team is the Firm I think. yeah!"
"But I thought that they were on RCA too?"
"They are, they're on BMG through TransCon, which put them on RCA."
"Ok, I'm confused."
"It's confusing, I'll explain another time, right now let's just get him to the hospital!" I said then looking up at Lew, "Hey Lew! How much further to the hospital?"
"Not much, I can see it from here. You should wake him up now." Lew said thinking about what I had said.
Once at the hospital, me and Melissa rushed Lance into the ER while Lew went around and parked. We checked him in and gave the nurse the papers as the paramedic had instructed. Lance was then taken straight back and placed on an IV.
"I suppose we really should call his parents," Lew said once Lance was settled in.
"Oh, no, I don't want to worry them," Lance said.
"Lance they're gonna eventually hear that you missed the show," Lew told him.
"It would be better if they heard it from us first Lance," Melissa agreed.
"I'll go do it," I said, "be right back."
It was obvious that I wanted to kiss Lance, but I knew that I dare not considering our location, so I merely squeezed his hand. I then stepped down the hall to use my cell.
"Hello?" Diane said answering the phone.
"Diane?" I said.
"Yes... Rob? Is that you honey?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Well how are you? To what do we owe the pleasure of hearing from our favorite son's favorite boyfriend?"
"Diane ... I have some bad news...."
"What is it honey? Are you boys okay?"
"Diane..." I swallowed hard in an effort to choke back my welling tears, "Diane, Lance is in the hospital."
"Hospital, dear Lord, what's happened?" hearing her concern filled voice brought the tears to a point where I could no longer hold them back.
"Diane," I sobbed, "he collapsed backstage earlier ... he's...." I felt a hand touch my shoulder and I turned to find Lew standing there.
"Are you okay?" he mouthed.
I just shook my head, and Lew reached out and took the phone.
"Mrs. Bass?" Lew said into the phone.
"And Mister," Jim Bass said, he'd obviously overheard what was being said and picked up the other extension, "who are we speaking with now?"
"I'm not sure if you remember me or not, I'm Ronald Lewis?"
"Oh, Lew right?" Jim said.
"Yes, sir."
"How is our son?" Diane asked.
"As Rob said, he collapsed earlier, but we're at the hospital now and he's okay for now."
"What happened?" Jim asked.
"As near as they can tell so far, he was dehydrated from a stomach flu that he hasn't been able to shake. They've got him on an IV at the moment to get his fluids back up and they're going to run some tests to see why he can't shake the bug, but he's resting relatively comfortably for now."
"You're sure he's okay?" Diane asked.
"Yes ma'am, I was there when it happened, and he just sort of fainted. He came to shortly afterwards. We just wanted to make sure that you heard what happened from us before you heard it blown up out of proportion somewhere else."
"Thank you so much," she said. "Are the boys okay? Rob sounded really upset."
"It shook them all up, but they're managing. I think Rob just hasn't had time to process all of it yet, and I'm sure the rest of the boys will be in the same boat when they get here."
"When they get there?"
"Yes, sir. They had to continue with the show," Lew let out a little laugh, "your son insisted."
"That sounds like my boy!" Jim said.
"Have you told Lynn or Phyllis yet?"
"No ma'am, not yet. We felt we should tell you first, but we'll call them as soon as we hang up with you."
"Thank you son," Jim said.
"We'll be on our way as soon as we can get a flight out," Diane said. "I'm not sure how many of us will be coming, we'll have to make some arrangements, but at least one of us will be there as soon as we can."
"I understand, just call ... call the Harless' and give them the details when you make the arrangements. We can only use the cell phones in certain areas of the hospital, so you may not be able to reach us here, but tell them and we'll have someone there waiting to pick you up."
"Thank you again Lew," Jim said. "Y'all watch out for our son till we get there?"
"And Lew," Diane said, "give both our sons our love."
"Don't mention it sir," Lew said, looking over at me, "we'll take good care of your son until you get here, and I certainly will Mrs. Bass." They then said their final goodbyes and hung up.
"That was so stupid!" I said from the chair across from Lew. "I probably scared her to death!"
"It's ok, you did fine." Lew said reassuringly.
"No I didn't! I thought I could handle it, but I heard her voice and I just lost it! It's just that, all this is happening so fast, and I still can't believe that asshole Travis! And the guys, I'm sure they're worried sick, and it's just not fair that they should have to stay behind and perform, when they should be here with their brother!"
"It's okay, really. I think you've done pretty well all things considered."
"No I haven't! You're the one! We'd have all freaked if you hadn't taken charge. You just stayed calm and kept us calm and got things done. I don't know how to thank you."
"You don't have to, looking after those guys used to be my job, and I guess I was just trained well for it."
"Bullshit! That wasn't just a job you did!"
Lew thought a moment then said,
"You're right. They're my friends, hell like my little brothers. I'd do anything for them, and I'd never do anything to hurt them ... or you."
"What do you mean?"
"Listen," Lew said, shaking his head, "about earlier...."
"OH! Don't worry about it, I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. You never did anything."
"No, you have to admit it looked pretty bad."
"Well actually I think it looks pretty good," I smiled, "of course, not many of us have had that close a look at it."
Lew's eye grew large as he blushed furiously.
"Oh, man! You were there then? Well you are right, it wasn't that bad looking," Lew laughed, "but I think him puking on me sorta put a damper on appreciating it to its fullest."
"You just remember that the next time!" I laughed.
"Let's hurry up and call Lynn, and get back to check on him."
We called Lynn and explained everything to her and asked her to call Joey and Chris' families to let them know what was going on before it hit the media. The last thing we wanted was for them to find out from the media once the shit hit the fan. Once we were done with that, we made our way back to Lance's room. When we passed by the door that lead to the lobby, me and Lew noticed a shock of bright red near the front desk. We looked at each other and laughed.
"Maybe there is a good side to that hair," Lew said.
"Yeah, I know," I laughed. "Joe! Guys! Back here!" I yelled as quietly as possible, but loud enough to be heard in the front.
The guys came rushing back to where we were. They all looked worried, and Justin's eyes were rather red as if he'd been crying.
"How is he?" JC asked before the others could.
"He's in a room down here resting," I said, leading them down the hall.
"Where were you guys going?" Justin asked.
"We just went to call his folks and yours," Lew said. "We didn't want them to hear about form somewhere else first."
"We were just on our way back to the room when we saw human torch over there!"
"Good idea," Joey told them. "Knew this hair would come in handy!"
"So did everything go alright?" Lew asked them.
"We managed," JC told him.
"But it just wasn't the same," Justin said distractedly.
"I think that was the worst concert we've ever given!" Justin said.
When we reached Lance's room we found Melissa standing outside.
"What's going on?" I asked her.
She shrugged and said,
"I'm not sure, they just came in a few minutes ago and asked me to step out for a few minutes and started hooking up all that stuff to him."
We all looked through the glass in the door. Lance had cables from various machines on his fingers, arms, and chest, plus a second IV. JC happened to glance over toward Lew and saw a strange look come across his face. He started to question Lew about it, but Lew spoke before he could.
"Uh, guys maybe we should go wait in that little waiting room down the hall." we all started to protest, except for JC, but Lew continued, "Look there's just so many of us, we'd never all fit in there even if they'd let us go in. We can wait down the hall and when they're ready to let us back in we can all take turns."
We all grudgingly agreed with his logic and Lew told me to take them back to the room where they'd gone to make the phone calls, while he went to tell the nurse where we would be when they had finished with Lance.
Once in the waiting room me and Melissa filled the guys in on what the doctors had said and done so far, and about calling their parents. Lew came in a few minutes later and sat down in the empty row of chairs near the door, seemingly lost in thought. JC walked over and sat beside him.
"Penny," he said.
"Huh?"
"For your thoughts," JC smiled.
"Josh, my thoughts are worth much more than a penny now a days," Lew grinned.
"Inflation, huh?"
"That and the loans that funded my masters!"
"No way! You got your masters!"
Lew nodded.
"Yup, finally!"
"Congrats man! Why didn't you tell us?"
Lew shrugged,
"Hell I've been doing the work for awhile now; the degree just added a few extra letters to the end of my name."
"Nice try. But I'm not as gullible as I used to be." Lew looked at him innocently. "I still wanna know what you were thinking so hard about."
Lew laughed,
"No, I guess you're not anymore. Mainly about you guys actually. How are you holding up?"
"Well I think tonight was probably the hardest show I've ever done. Any of us have. But we're dealing."
Lew nodded,
"Figured as much. I know how close you guys are."
JC nodded.
"Now, what else were you thinking about? I saw the look on your face when you looked into the room earlier."
Lew froze for a moment, then said,
"Well how `bout some coffee or something, you guys must be really wiped out from that show."
JC glared at him disapprovingly, he knew that Lew was just trying to avoid the subject.
"I'll go get it if you guys give me your orders," Melissa said, "Josh, you wanna come?"
JC looked at Lew then took her hand and told her,
"Nah, I need to talk to Lew for a few minutes. Why don't you take Jus though, I think he could use the distraction."
She looked at Lew then over to Justin and back at JC then nodded. Leaning into kiss him, she said,
"I love you Josh."
JC wrapped his arms around her then kissed her deeply.
"I love you too Mel." Melissa smiled and grabbed Justin and left the room.
"You're really in love with her aren't you Josh?"
JC smiled and nodded.
"Absolutely, totally and whole heartedly head over heels. Now quit trying to change the damn subject," he grinned.
Lew sighed,
"You're right, you're not a gullible as you used to be."
"Nope!" They both laughed.
"Josh, I'm no doctor. Anything I might be thinking would only be a guess."
"Lew I think more of most of your guesses than I do some other people's facts," JC told him. "You know I used to love it when you were there to help me with my homework and stuff."
Lew smiled,
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, I always knew that no matter what the subject was you'd have the answer, or at least know where to tell me to go to find it. Anything from home ec to physics, you knew it all."
"Josh you make me sound like a rocket scientist or something," he laughed.
"Lew, you work for NASA man!"
"Okay, so maybe I am kind of a rocket scientist," he laughed, "but I'm still no doctor."
"And I'm not a kid anymore, I can handle it."
"No, I suppose you're not. Look, I'd rather not say anything to the others because I don't really know the details, and I don't want to worry them."
"Yeah, I get it."
"It was his EKG."
"The heart monitor?"
"Yeah ... it didn't really look like a normal sinus rhythm."
"Well I know you're not talking about allergies ... sign ... sine wave?"
"Yeah," Lew laughed, "that's where it comes from. The beat wasn't ... regular, I guess. Some were closer together and some were further apart. But now, I didn't get that good a look at it."
"Do you mean there's something wrong with his heart?"
"No! Josh, like I said I'm not a doctor, and I only got a brief glimpse at it, that's why I didn't want to say anything." JC was looking more and more worried. "Look, Josh, when someone gets dehydrated it depletes their electrolytes. That's why I had Joe go get the sports drink, remember?"
"Yeah."
"Well, electrolytes are one of the things that govern the way that the muscles work, and the heart's a muscle. So if his electrolytes were low then it could affect the way it was working. I'm sure they just wanted to hook him up to the machines so that they could monitor it more closely." JC looked despondently at his feet. "Josh, I'm sure he's gonna be fine."
JC sighed. "Yeah I guess you're right."
Melissa and Justin entered then with the coffee and began passing the cups around.
"Thanks Melissa, but I don't drink coffee," Lew told her with a smile.
She looked at him strangely as she sat down beside JC,
"But you were the one who said you wanted...."
"I think he was trying to get rid of me," JC smiled, he then put his arm around her shoulders and leaned over to kiss her cheek.
We all sat around the waiting room, eagerly waiting for any sign of a doctor or nurse to come and update us on Lance. After a few minutes, silence fell over the waiting room.
"OH SHIT!" I said breaking the silence, and startling everyone.
"What?!" they all screamed.
"I gotta call that radio station back! They must think I'm some stuck up asshole! I totally blew them off cause I was so worried about Lance!"
There was a collective sigh of relief and some slight chuckling. I pulled out my cell and called my publicist to get the number. After getting the number I called them up and apologized off the air for leaving so abruptly and not being totally into the interview. I explained that there was an emergency and I wasn't all there. They thought it nice that I personally called and apologized instead of having my publicist do it. While I was just about to hang up, a nurse came in and I hung up on them.
"Is anyone here with the Bass family?" The nurse said as all of us stood up and she gave us a strange look.
"Well we kind of all are," JC told her.
"Okay then, the doctor will be in shortly to update you on his condition. He's just finishing up with another patient."
"Thank you," we said simultaneously.
True to the nurse's word the doctor entered not even five minutes later.
"Are you with Mr. Bass?"
"Yes, sir. We all are," JC again said as the group's spokesman.
"You're all related?"
"Well practically," Justin said.
"Hospital policy is for blood relatives only...."
"I'm sorry doctor," Lew said, "his parents are flying in from Mississippi. We could give you their number, but they've probably already left for the airport by now. They asked us to keep an eye on him and take care of things until they get here."
"Does one of you have a power of attorney?"
"No sir," Lew sighed, "nothing formal, but they're all practically his adopted brothers."
"And his significant other, but we can't exactly use that one," Lew thought. "Look, I understand that it's policy, but Lance is 20, so he's legal; if there's any question then you can clear it with him yourself." Lew stated matter of factly.
The doctor considered a moment then looked down at his chart.
"Wait, is there a Rob here?"
I stepped forward,
"Yes sir, right here?"
"Or a Josh?" The doctor asked.
"That would be those two." Lew indicated to Josh and I.
"Okay, I'm sorry. There is a note on his chart that he specified you two as contacts for his family."
The doctor then asked us to all have a seat and began explaining what was going on,
"Lance was severely dehydrated, we put him on some fluids and a new antibiotic. He had an allergic reaction to the ones that the last doctor had prescribed, so they were actually making him worse instead of better. The dehydration has created an electrolyte imbalance, which has disrupted his normal heart rhythm." This news shook us all up and tears began to form in both mine and Justin eyes. "I assure you that he's already beginning to improve since we put him on the fluids. The monitors that you saw are merely a precaution. He should probably be stable enough to move him up to a private room in a few hours, after we get some more fluids into him and the new medicines have some time to start taking effect. He's regained consciousness and has been calling out some names. He's been asking for you, especially Rob," the doctor said.
"Is it okay for us to go back in there now?" Lew asked.
"Yes, but only a few of you at a time, he needs his rest," the doctor said, then excused himself.
"Why don't you guys go," Lew said to me and JC. "I'm sure he wants Rob in there, and Josh, you can check on him then come back out and let Justin go in while we take care of calling Lynn so she can update his folks when they call her."
"Sounds like a plan to me," JC smiled then grabbed my arm and led me out of the room. "Be back in a few."
TBC..
So, what'd you think? Let me know, email me at Papito6187@aol.com. Until next time kiddies!