Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 22:30:53 -0800 (PST)
From: Billy Burrew <billy_burrew@yahoo.com>
Subject: Gift of Love chapters 15

The Gift of Love...
A New Tale of the Magi
By Billy Burrew

Disclaimer: As usual, I would like to comment that this story is purely
fictional and that it is no reflection on the sexual orientation of any of
the members of NSYNC, Backstreet Boys or their estranged manager, Lou
Pearlman.  Please read this and enjoy it for what I intended it to be, an
entertaining story.  There is not a lot of sex, tho there are some adult
situations.  Please be forewarned.  Remember, in the words of Peter
Vincent, the Vampire Slayer in Fright Night, "Forewarned is Forearmed!"
-Billy B

Chapter XV: All Good Things...

The remaining days of September passed quickly for Patrick and Mike as they
began to get back into the routine of their day to day living. Patrick,
true to his word, chatted with all the guys, keeping them up to date on
everything that he and Mike did.  The guys all called and wished Patrick a
Happy Birthday in October, and he and Mike had a grand time out that night.
A few weeks later, Patrick woke up with chills and a fever.  Feeling ill
worried Patrick and he called the doctor and made an appointment to go in a
see him that afternoon.  Patrick called Mike at work and told him what was
going on and Mike immediately came home to take his lover to the hospital.
As Mike entered the house, he was startled to find Patrick lying face down
on the floor, with the phone still in his hand.  Mike immediately checked
for Patrick's pulse and vitals and then called the paramedics.

As he waited for the ambulance, Mike began to cry, "Please don't leave
me...please Patrick."

As he knelt there, looking at his lover, the telephone rang.

"Hello??", Mike said, his voice filled with emotion.

"Mike?  What's wrong?", Justin's voice came through the phone.

"It's Patrick....he called and said he was feeling sick and had a fever and
chills....when I got home he was laying on the floor,
unconscious. Justin....oh god!"

Mike heard Justin's muffled voice as he explained the situation to the
others on his end, then he heard Lance yell out, "NOOO!"

"Mike...Lance, JC and I are on our way!  We'll be on the next flight up.",
Justin said quickly and hung up.

Minutes later, the ambulance arrived and whisked Patrick and Mike off to
the hospital.

Mike sat beside Patrick's bed in the Intensive Care Unit of The North
Carolina University Hospital as the doctors ran dozens of tests to
determine what had happened to Patrick.  After what seemed like hours, the
attending physician sat down with Mike and explained his findings.

"Mr. Morrow has contracted viral meningitis, Mike", the doctor explained,
"Its like a cold, only it's many many times worse.  And with Patrick's
weakened immune system, it's doubly bad.  We will keep him here in the ICU
to monitor his condition."

Mike waited til the door closed before he walked over to the bed, sat down
and began to cry. When he looked up, he realized that JC, Lance and Justin
were standing behind him.

"How is he?", Lance asked, as he walked over to Patrick and gently laid his
hand on his head.

"Not too good, Lance." Mike replied sadly, "The doctors said he's
contracted viral meningitis, like a cold...but ten times worse....and with
his immune system degrading...it's a hundred times worse for him.  They
have asked me whether he had made a will and gotten his affairs
straightened away....so I guess they don't expect any more miracles here."

Lance began to weep, then, softly at first, then more emotionally as he
laid his head down against Patrick's and grabbed his hand.

"Wake up Patrick. We made a deal!  You have to wake up...or you won't know
that I got here in time...that I'm here with you...that we're gonna do this
together like we said.", Lance cried.

JC walked over to Mike and held him as Justin sat down beside Patrick's bed
and wept silently.

A minute later JC's phone rang and JC walked outside to take the call. A
minute later, he walked back in and spoke quietly to Mike who nodded.

"Yeah...I'm sure he'd want them here too!", Mike said quietly, and JC
relayed the approval into his phone.

JC and Justin convinced Mike to go and eat while Lance stayed with Patrick.

Lance sat quietly at the head of Patrick's bed, holding his hand while
running a hand through Patrick's hair and across his face. About a half
hour later, the door to the room opened and Kevin, Brian and Nick walked
in.  Lance smiled as Kevin came over and put his arm around him, comforting
Lance and giving him much needed strength.  Nick looked at Patrick's
unconscious form and began to weep openly, turning to Brian and holding
him.  Justin, JC, and Mike appeared a moment later, sighing at the lack of
change in Patrick's condition.  A few minutes later, Nick walked over to
the bedside and sat down beside Patrick, taking his hand.

"We're all here, Patrick. I hope you know you're not alone.", Nick said
through his tears.  Around Midnight, Lance and Nick, on either side of
Patrick, felt his hands twitch once as he drew his last breath.  The heart
monitor began to beep and the room was suddenly flooded with nurses and
doctors.

"Noooooooo!  PATRICK!", Lance called out as they pushed everyone out of the
room.

Minutes later, the attending doctor approached Mike, and pronounced Patrick
as dead.

"I'm sorry Mike, it was just too much for him.", the doctor said as he
squeezed Mike's shoulder.

JC and Justin walked over to Mike and grabbed hold of him, hugging him
tightly and whispering to him as Mike began to weep.  Lance slumped down
the wall he had been leaning against and began to weep loudly.

"He never woke up...He never knew I was there.  I promised him I'd be
there...that I'd be the last thing he saw. I loved him...and I failed him."

Kevin knelt beside Lance and hugged him, consoling him.

Nick and Brian knelt down beside Kevin and Lance and the four cried a while
longer.

"I failed him....I didn't even get to say goodbye.", Lance cried.

Nick began to cry harder and after a few seconds replied, "Patrick didn't
want you to say goodbye, Lance. He said that if you did that it would mean
that he'd be really gone. He said that he'd always be with us in our minds
and in our memories and in the love we kept for him in our hearts.  He's
always gonna be with us, in our hearts, Lance, so there's no reason to say
goodbye to him."

Kevin and Brian nodded and then Nick pulled Lance into a hug, letting the
young blond cry himself out.

The next few days were a muddle everyone with Patrick's family arriving for
the wake and funeral. The ten guys sang together for the first time at the
funeral, for their friend, Patrick, then acted as pallbearers, delivering
Patrick's coffin to its final resting place.

JC and Justin stayed very close to Mike, always close enough to hug or
touch the sad young man.  Mike got up and delivered Patrick's eulogy:

"Patrick...", Mike began, "Patrick was the bravest person I ever knew...the
most compassionate and loving person I have ever known.  He once told me
that he cherished his friends and his family, the people he loved, more
than anything else in the world. A famous scholar once said that if a man
dies, and no one comes to his funeral, he hadn't really lived.  If one or
two people who truly loved him come to his funeral, then he led a good
life.  If more than three people come to his funeral that truly loved him,
than that man was some kind of a saint and had truly lived a rich, full
life.  I think that, seeing you all here today would have made him the
richest, happiest man in the world. Not a day went by over the last few
months that he didn't thank God for being able to know each and every one
of you here today.  He loved you all.

Mike sat back down then, covering his face with his hands as he dissolved
into tears.  JC and Justin put their arms around him to console him.

Patrick's sister Diana sat next to Lance as he crying as he looked at the
picture of himself and Patrick at her wedding.  After a few minutes, she
put her arm around Lance and squeezed.

Lance looked over at Diana and sighed, "I promised him...I'd be
there...that'd I'd be the last thing he saw...cause I loved him and I
didn't want him to die not knowing it."

Tears streamed down Diana's face as she replied, "He knew... He loved you
and Mike so much.  You two were all he talked about.  You sat with him to
the end, right?  He knew you were there for him.  He knew."

Lance and Diana wept silently as Patrick's coffin was lowered into the
ground.

The days after the funeral were spent packing up Patrick's clothes and
effects, as well as the rest of the house.  Mike decided that he was going
to sell the house and move away from NC. Being alone with the memories of
Patrick in the now quiet, empty house were too much for him.  JC called his
lawyers and they were going to take care of all the legalities.  JC and the
rest of the guys insisted that Mike come back to Orlando with them, and a
week later, they all boarded the plane to Orlando.