"Damn," A.J. breathed. "When that boy decides to let cats out of bags, he doesn't do it halfway. What's he getting us into?"
"A whole lot of 'crazy shit', to quote you." Mindi responded. "He's been under more than twenty-four hours now, which means he's back at full strength, even though he's still not awake. Things are going to start getting weird today."
"'Start' she says." he snorted. "I dunno about you Bri, but I think the last twenty-four hours were just too normal. We need some weirdness, don'cha think?"
Brian rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. "Well Bone, considering how often we get to deal with 'normal', 'weird' has become pretty familiar."
"I guess you're right." A.J. sighed dramatically. Suddenly something occurred to him. "Mins, do you have a living will?"
"Hmmm? Oh, yeah." she replied casually. "Nick's helped out last night, right?"
"Yeah, thanks. I think it even knocked some sense into Kevin."
"Good. They taking it any better?"
He shrugged. "Maybe? Right now I think they're both seriously confused."
"Howie doesn't want to deal with it until Nick wakes up." Brian put in.
Mindi frowned. "He's going to have to deal with it if he wants Nick to wake up."
"Woah. Wait. Stop. Back right the hell up." A.J. held up a hand. "You're not saying what I think you're saying."
"No lies, remember? I might hold back now and again but I'm not going to lie to you, Alex. Four quarters to that door handle. Four of you. Two or three doesn't cut it. All four, without any reservations, ready to accept Nick completely, or he stays the way he is."
"Without reservations?" Brian swallowed. "That's askin' a lot."
"Maybe so, but if any of you puts a hand on that handle feeling anger or fear towards him, you'll be locking the door, and I can't promise anyone else will ever have the key."
A.J. looked over at Brian and Kevin as they all stood waiting to go into the day's press conference. It had been a long morning, between Mindi's dire pronouncements, getting Brian and Kevin released, and a few ugly rumours about what had happened the night before circulating in the press.
Brian looked more worried than ever. The possibility of losing his best friend forever was hitting him hard. Kevin wouldn't meet his eyes. He had become very introspective since learning of his new responsibility. If nothing else, he had stopped glaring at the whole world. But A.J. still wasn't sure if Kevin was going to go along with what they had to say. They couldn't exclude him, for one thing it would look bad, for another...
Denise McLean, who was acting as the moderator again, popped her head out of the conference room door, signalling they had five minutes. She was the closest thing to 'management' present, and once again A.J. was reminded why he hadn't called her immediately - she always knew when he was lying to her. If Kevin didn't take the stage with them, his mother would want to know why. If he did, but contradicted anything they had to say, or showed how he was feeling about Nick, things could get very bad.
It was Brian who broke the silence. "Cuz, you gonna be okay in there?"
The reply was a silent shrug.
"Look, all you gotta do is let me an' A.J. take most of the questions."
Finally, Kevin replied in his slow, thoughtful manner. "I'm Nick's guardian. That means I'm supposed to protect him. I will." As his cousin started to grin, he continued. "I don't have to like it, though."
"Good enough for now." A.J. growled. "Let's get this party started."
As usual, the flashbulbs blinded the three guys before they could even sit down. Brian helped Kevin with his crutches, and made sure he was sitting comfortably. Then the room fell silent. A.J. looked over at the Kentucky Cousins and realised they were both waiting for him. He was still spokesperson. *Nothing* was ever going to be normal again.
"Uh... Good afternoon. Thanks for coming. As you can see, I broke a couple of 'em out today, to come face the firing squad with me." This elicited a few chuckles. "Howie wanted to come too, but the laundry cart wouldn't fit three."
"There isn't really much else to say. Howie's on the mend, Nick's still unconscious, we're still worried." he glanced at Brian, who shrugged. "We'd like to thank the fans for their support, the hospital staff and everyone helping us through this... Mom... " wouldn't be an interview without the cheezy nod to Denise, who smiled from the podium. "That's pretty much it. Questions?"
The first one was from one of the MuchMusic veejays, thankfully *not* the sock. "We've uh, heard some disturbing rumours about Nick's family. What's going on there? Want to clear that up?"
Kevin cleared his throat. This, at least, was one he could take. "We've heard some of the rumours going around, and most of them are just wrong. Um... Nick's family has all," he glanced at Denise for confirmation, who mouthed 'B.J.'. "Most of his family has come to be with him. We're not stopping anyone from visiting him. Visitor rules are, um, pretty strict in the ICU, but as far as I know, they are allowed to see him."
"His sister spent some time with him when she arrived last night." A.J. put in.
Entertainment Tonight had a follow-up. "Is it true that you've insisted he stay in Colorado?"
"Not exactly." A.J. replied. "The doctors informed us that, since they haven't figured out just how badly Nick's spine was damaged, it's not a good idea to move him right now. We're just following their advice. All we want is what's best for Nick. If he can get better treatment somewhere else later on, we'll consider it."
"You keep saying 'we'." People magazine pointed out. "Are Nick's parents involving you in their decisions?"
The issue of Kevin's new legal status was something they had wanted kept quiet, but apparently it wasn't going to happen. Kevin spoke up again. "Actually, I'm involving the rest of the group in my decisions. We found out last night that Nick appointed me his guardian, in case anything like this happened." Murmurs went through the room.
"So the rumours of Nick's relationship with his parents..."
"I think we'd better leave that one for Nick." Brian spoke up. "Any questions *not* about Nick's parents?"
"Kevin, has anyone signed your cast yet?"
"Y'know Train... I was wondering what I was gonna do with this here permanent marker..." Brian, followed by A.J., gave the press a few photo ops of both of them signing Kevin's cast.