"Good morning," Brian leaned closer to the mic. Somehow, he was afraid his voice was so low, they just wouldn't hear him. Turning around, he saw Ariadne, their Press liaison, nodding at him. He had to do it. "Four nights ago, Kevin was assaulted." He closed his eyes shut as he heard a couple of gasps. "He was walking down the street with no security whatsoever." Ariadne had told him to say that. They weren't actually sure what Kevin was doing that night. New York was dangerous as it was at night. Kevin, as the rest of the guys, knew better than to leave the hotel without security. "His injuries weren't life threatening and he's recovering as of the moment. We still don't know how long he'll have to stay in the hospital, but the doctors are very optimistic. We appreciate your concern and understanding. The next dates for the concerts will be postpone until Kevin is better." Nodding slightly, Brian looked around the table. That was all they were supposed to say. "I just wanna say that Kevin is fine and that the five of us will be continuing the tour soon enough. Thanks."

Questions were fired as the four guys stood up from the table and walked out of the small conference room of their hotel. Reaching the back room, Brian let himself fall down on the chair.

"Oh God," he could feel tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "God." Brian covered his face with his hands, not wanting the guys to see him break down in the middle of the room.

Howie sat on the couch, taking off the small elastic that had been holding his hair in a low ponytail. Letting his hair fall in front of his face, he placed his hands on either side of his head. Somehow, he had always found it comforting in hiding his face behind his hair.

AJ walked pass the couches and over to the back of the room, where the cooler stood. There were only cans of coke and juice, bottled water and Gatorade. Fuck, what I wouldn't give for a drink now. Rubbing his face with his hands, AJ sighed. He had known there wouldn't be any beer in the cooler. Kevin had made it specifically clear for him and the rest of the guys -- and their technicians and whoever it was that worked with or for them -- that there would be no beer in the coolers in either the dressings rooms or back rooms. Kevin had made sure of that personally. Always. And now, the knowledge that Kevin had always taken upon the responsibility of taking care of the four of them just choked him. His throat tightened at the thought, his eyes filling with tears. This press conference had been the most difficult one in his life and he hadn't even spoken a word.

He shook his head. He wouldn't drink. If not for himself, then at least for fact that Kevin would be down right livid if he found out AJ had had a drink.

Walking into the room with heavy feet, Nick leaned against the wall. His head hung back, hitting the wall with a low thud, Nick focused his eyes on the ceiling. White. The ceiling was as white as most of the ceilings in almost all the hotels he had even been in. There seemed to be a small crack on the side, barely visible and his usual clear view was blurred hence to his tears. Biting his lower lip, Nick tried to stop himself from crying. He didn't need that. Not in the hotel and most certainly not just after the press release.

"Guys?"

It was Ariadne's voice that brought the four of them out of their musings. She was serious; slightly sadden. None of the four -- maybe not even Kevin himself -- had ever seen her showing emotion. Ever. They had always joked about it, saying that maybe it was a job requirement. After all, she was the one who picked up the pieces after one of them screwed up. And that had been many times indeed.

Ariadne sighed. "The conference went well. The hospital had already been advice about their response. We've made it perfectly clear we want everything about Kevin's situation to be private." She didn't need them nodding to know they already had this figured out. They had talked about the same thing before the conference. "The only ones who know Kevin's actual condition are the four of you, Mark, the doctor and me. We thought it'd be better if the crew were told after Kevin's situation was cleared." She didn't want to say After we find out if there is some brain damage or not. She couldn't even imagine putting the words together, let alone telling Kevin's four best friends the same thing.

Howie looked up, trying his best to smile at the girl but failing miserably. How long had she worked for them? He couldn't remember. Long enough to know secrets about the five of them that probably no one beside themselves were aware of. "Thanks."

Ariadne nodded. Checking out her watch, she realized they had been out of the hospital for almost two hours now. That was more than either of them had let Kevin alone; she was sure. "The van is waiting at the back entrance."

That did hit Nick's brain as he looked at his watch. "Damn," he muttered under his breath. "Yeah, thanks." He barely had to look at the other three before they were leaving the room.

When the four singers left, Ariadne sighed. Even though she was having a hard time dealing with the reporters and the events of the last four days, it had to be at least a hundred times worse for them. She knew just how tight the five of them and this had be heart wrenching for them. Shaking her head, she tried to clear her thoughts. Now wasn't the time to worry about that. There were a million reporters who wanted her head at the moment.

*****

AJ started rubbing his eyes. He turned around and looked at a still asleep Nick laying half spread on Kevin's side. The two of them had stayed last night. After the press conference, neither of the four had wanted to leave Kevin for more than just a second. Two hours had been far too much to leave the older man alone.

Checking his watch, he realized it was almost eight am. Brian and Howie would be arriving any minute now. That was the way things had been for the past five days. One or two of them would be staying and the other two would arrive in the morning with some coffee and bagels as breakfast. It had been implied that Kevin wasn't going to be left alone at all. It had also being implied that the pair that had stayed the night before wouldn't leave for the hotel the morning after. Somehow, it had just happened like that.

Tilting his head to the side, AJ looked at Kevin. He was so pale. Kevin's complexion had always been dark, but over the past days Kevin had lost most of his color. Really looking at Kevin, AJ realized that he had probably lost a couple of pounds as well. His face looked tired -- haggard. The heart monitor continued beeping and AJ had never hated a sound so much. He knew he would die if the sound ever stopped, but he just hated the fact that it was a reminder that Kevin wasn't fine at all. One of Kevin's hands was attacked to a saline IV. The doctor had explained them exactly what it was doing, but AJ couldn't remember for the life of him.

And for the first time through the night, AJ realized that Kevin's other hand was clasped tightly on Nick's own. AJ frowned slightly. Nick had fallen asleep around three or four am. He had been holding Kevin's hand all this time? Examining Nick's profile, AJ could see the blond grimacing in his sleep. That was weird.

The door opening brought AJ out of his musings, turning around to see Howie and Brian entering the room as quietly as possible.

"Hey," Brian said lowly, his eyes moving to look at Kevin.

"Hey." AJ accepted the cup of coffee from Howie's hand, opening the cover. Blowing out the vapor, AJ took a sip. He grimaced at the strong flavor.

"He asleep?" Howie asked as he looked at Nick.

AJ nodded. "Yeah. He's been out for a couple of hours now."

As if on cue, Nick started stirring in his sleep. He lifted his face and looked at his three friends. "Hey."

Brian and Howie greeted their friend, AJ doing so after a moment. All this time, Nick hadn't let go of Kevin's had and AJ had most certainly seen this.

Untangling his hand from Kevin's own with a reluctance AJ was able to see, Nick started rubbing his eyes. He stood up from his chair, stretching as his back started complaining about sleeping on a plastic chair.

"Here," Brian walked over to him and gave him his coffee. "I put some milk on it."

Nick nodded. "Thanks." He had never been into coffee all that much. He actually half hated the taste of it, but it worked wonders when you had to be up and about at seven am and you had gone to bed at three. He had actually learned how to bare the taste over the years.

After finishing half the cup, Nick rubbed his face.

Brian looked at Nick, frowning slightly. "Maybe you should go to the hotel for a quick nap."

Nick shook his head forcefully. "I'm staying."

"You look really tired Nick."

We all are Brian, Nick couldn't help but think. I'm sure you know that. "I'm fine B. Really. I just need to wake up a little bit more."

AJ was about to get in Nick's case as well, seeing the blonde's face paler than usual when Howie called the guys attention.

"Guys?"

The three of them turned around to look at Howie before darting their eyes over to who Howie was looking at.

Laying on the bed, face pale and tired, a familiar pair of emerald green eyes were looking back at them.

"Holy shit," AJ muttered under his breath.

Brian gasped. "Oh God."

"Get the doctor." Nick didn't turn around, his eyes still locked with Kevin's unfocused ones. "Someone get the doctor! Now!"

Howie bolted out the door, running over to the nurse station. He was panting by the time he reached the place and a young woman was looking at him funny. "Please," he took a deep breath. "My friend has woken up. Get the doctor."

Before long, the doctor came running down one of the hallways and the two of them, along with another nurse, made their way into Kevin's room.

The guys were standing exactly in the same place Howie had left them, looking as bewildered as Howie felt.

Walking over to the bed, the doctor's eyes widen. "Well, good morning." He smiled softly, trying to calm down the man. Kevin's eyes kept moving from side to side, not really stopping in a same place for more than just a second. Seeing Kevin trying to talk, Dr. Fowler lifted his hand. "Hold on a second. I need to get this off you," he said indicating the respirator. Placing his hand on the tube, he looked up at Kevin. "Now, I need to you cough really hard when I tell you to, ok?"

After Kevin slightly nodding, the doctor continued. "Now." Kevin did his best to cough with the tube down his throat and in a second the older man had the device on his hands. Giving it to the nurse, he turned around and looked at Kevin. "Now, I need you to try and take deep breaths, alright?" Kevin followed the doctor's instructions and Dr. Fowler nodded. "That's good." He picked up a pitcher from the night table and poured Kevin a glass of water. "Drink this."

The doctor helped Kevin to sit up slightly, holding the glass for Kevin as he took a couple of sips.

"How are you feeling?"

The guys looked at each other. This was it. The doctor hadn't said anything, but they knew that this was the point where they needed to know if Kevin was actually fine or not.

"Hurts all over," Kevin's voice was dry and forced.

"That's good," the doctor said softly. And it was. That meant Kevin could still register hurt. "It's going to pass, don't worry." He smiled again. "Now, I need you to answer a couple of questions. Do you remember your name?"

Nick started biting his lower lip, Brian was frowning deeply, Howie run his fingers through his hair and AJ rubbed his eyebrow. They were all waiting for Kevin's answer.