The waiting room was silent. There was no sound at all, not even the steady rhythm of breaths, because everyone in the room was holding their breath, waiting for news. Only moments before, word had reached them that Justin and Lance had been attacked in the hospital room. Only moments before, their world had been turned upside down, for a second time in less than 24 hours, when they were told that Lance had flat lined, and that Justin had been drugged.
The seconds on the clock ticked by slowly, each one taking an eternity in itself to pass. Each painful heartbeat forced for the three members of the elite group of friends. Tears silently making voyages down three different faces, the only sign of their bleeding hearts. Hearts that bled for their loved ones. Hearts that ached for an answer to a question no one had been able to answer. "Why?" Minds that screamed for the answer to an even more important question. "Who?"
The only things that they did know for sure: Someone was trying to kill their friend. Someone had gotten into the hospital and, for all they knew, accomplished just that. Those same men had gotten away. Another friend had been hurt in the process, and they had no clue who was doing these things or why.
The silence of the room was broken as the door was opened. Slowly, feet shuffling Justin made his way across the room. The other three in the room stood up immediately upon his entering the room. Justin was surrounded by the three, hugged, until his already bruised and sore ribs cried out in pain. He was released when a small whimper of pain passed through his lips.
"I'm sorry man. I'm just so glad to see you. Are you ok?" Joey asked, releasing the younger blonde.
"Yeah, I'm a little fuzzy, but they said that its because of the sedative I was given. They didn't tell me anything on Lance. Have you heard anything?" Justin asked, looking around the room at his three closest friends.
"No." Chris said, his eyes downcast. "It's been hours, so I guess that's better than if it had only been minutes." Chris said, trying to look on the bright side of the darkest moment in their lives.
"Justin, what happened?" JC asked, moving Justin to a chair by the wall.
"I don't know really. I think I must have fallen asleep. I was so exhausted. Apparently, they injected me with some sedative or something. I was sort of fuzzy, I guess they hadn't taken full effect yet, because I woke up. I heard Lance fighting with someone. I saw them, and hit the emergency button on the Nurse call pad. There were two guys. One was trying to hold Lance down while the other tried to put a syringe full of air into his veins. But Lance was fighting." Justin said, his eyes tearing up. "He was so tired. I could see that, but he was fighting so damn hard." Justin sniffled, wiping the tears from his eyes. Through his tears and sniffles, he relayed the story to his fellow bandmates.
The group listened to the story, so wrapped up in the tale, that they didn't hear the door open and close again. After Justin had finished telling the events of that day, a throat cleared drawing the groups attention.
"I'm a doctor, not a detective, but it sounded to me, when I heard the story, that their intentions were to kill Mr. Bass. The second syringe was a back up. A shot in the dark that we wouldn't be able to save him. They knew what they were doing. The drug they injected him with interacted with the pain medication he was being given, causing the cardiac arrest. Fortunately, we caught it quickly enough, thanks to Mr. Timberlake's fast thinking, that we were able to resuscitate Lance. We've flushed both the pain medications we gave him, and the drug they gave him, out of his system. He's not alert at this point, but he should be just fine." The doctor told them, awarded with sighs of relief.
~*~
"That stupid kid. Why the hell didn't that drug work? It should have worked!" One burly, darkly clad man said, angrily punching his fist into the dash of the car.
"I don't know why it didn't work. I don't even know if we got that damned Bass kid. Those damn nurses had to show up didn't they? Mr. Grisham is not going to be happy about this. Not one damn bit." The other man, in the driver's seat said, hands tight on the steering wheel.
'With the luck we've been having, the damn kid probably made it. I mean, come on! Sean attacked him at his house, and got killed. By a POPSTAR! No less. We shoot up the house and he gets away with a fucking flesh wound. He was probably immune to the damn medicine, knowing out luck." The first man fumed.
"We'll get the bastard. Don't worry about that."
~*~
Three guards stood outside the door, their voices muffled through the thick wood. The steady swish of the oxygen mask over the pale face, and the steady reassuring beep of the heart monitors the only sounds inside the room. Four friends, drawing strength from each other, sat quietly around the room. Waiting. That's all they seemed to be doing lately. Waiting, for anything.
Their wait was cut short when a small, painful sounding groan was emitted from the pale face, the sound muffled by the same, reassuring oxygen mask. Before the sound could even die in the room's acustics, there were four friendly and familiar faces gathered around the cold, sterile hospital bed, waiting to see the pale green eyes that they knew they couldn't live without.
"Hey guys." Came the raspy voice, once again muffled by the mask, but music to so many ears. Slowly, Lance opened his eyes, having already known that he would be surrounded by the faces he saw everyday. "Damn, I though I would see a new face. I have to look at all your ugly mugs every day. Is there no reprieve for the ill?" Lance joked, laughing slightly at the looks on his friends faces. He quickly stopped laughing, wincing at the pain in his side.
"I see they got some better drugs this time around." Lance said lightheartedly through his pain.
"Lance, I'm so glad you're ok, that I'm going to ignore those statements." Chris said, laying a steadying hand on Lance.
"Did they catch them?" Lance asked, looking around the group. All eyes were downcast and worried.
"No, they got away, lost them in the halls and stairwells of the hospital. They've doubled security. I couldn't even give a damned description. I was so out of it." Justin said, tears evident in his voice, his shoulders giving away his helpless thoughts.
"You saved my life baby. I can never repay you for that." Lance said raising a shaky hand up to Justin's arm.
"It was purely selfish I assure you. I want you around a little longer." Justin said, a hint of a smile curving his lips.
"Well, selfish or not, thank-you. Are you ok? You were kinda getting muscled over there last I remember." Lance asked, his worry noticeable through his joking tone.
"Yea, a few bruised ribs is all. Got a little drugged myself, but I slept it off." Justin told Lance, knowing Lance would see through a lie.
"We're going to head down to the cafeteria. We'll bring some food back up for you guys." JC said, once again herding the others out of the room, to give Justin and Lance some time to themselves.
"This is getting to be a habit of mine isn't it?" Lance said, a hint of anger in his rasping voice.
Justin was taken aback by the tone of his voice, and confused by his words. "What are you talking about?"
"This, SHIT!" Lance yelled, startling Justin, who flinched at the increased volume. "I tried so hard to protect you guys. I tried so hard to not involve you guys in this. But no, I can't even do that right. I end up almost getting you shot. I get your house shot up. Put you and the other guys in danger. And you almost get killed yet again, today, because of me." Lance said, anger seething from every pore of his body.
Justin recognized that anger. He wasn't angry at him, he wasn't even angry at the guys who had attacked him, not at this point. Right now all Lance was mad at was himself, and Justin couldn't stand that. "Lance, shut up, right now. None of this was your fault. You didn't ask for it. You didn't initiate it. You couldn't have known what they were going to do. You couldn't have predicted any of this. And I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, and neither would the guys. We're going to be right here with you through this, whether you want us here or not."
"I don't want you here!" Lance said vehemently. Seeing Justin's pain filled eyes, Lance amended his words. "I want you safe. All of you. I don't want you to get hurt because of me. Of course I want you with me, but more than that I want you safe. I want to know you're safe and alive. And that can't happen if you're around me right now." Lance said, his eyes pooling with tears and pleading with Justin to understand.
"I do understand how you feel, Lance. I feel the same about you, which is why I'm not going anywhere. The guys aren't going anywhere. We're going to get through this together, and we're all going to come out all right because we're going through this together. Sure, it might be hard. And of course we're all scared out of our minds, but we're not going to leave you Lance, no matter how hard you push." Justin said sternly, leaving no room for argument.
"I love you, Justin." Lance said, not having the energy to fight anymore.
"I love you too Lance. More than I could ever tell you with words. And we're all going to get through this." Justin said, taking Lance's hand in his own and rubbing the hair away from Lance's forehead before placing a soft kiss to the skin there.