Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 07:32:27 BST
From: Ad . <trekster2@hotmail.com>
Subject: Tests of Friendship Chapter 13 (boybands section)

Chapter 13

Well, the story has almost undoubtedly reached an end now I'm afraid.  It's
hurting to do this in a way, it's like saying goodbye to a friend.  I've
loved writing TOF, but, Since chapter 8 I've had 4 emails.  I would rather
continue my efforts on other stories I am working on.  One of them takes a
completely different outlook on events.
In all likelyhood, I'll be ending the story with chapter 14.  I don't want
to drag it on for ever, original things to do are running out now, and one
will only end up doing the same things over and over again.
Legal: don't read if you're under 18.  The story is fiction and implies
nothing about real life events, occurances or people.
Read ahead.  Thanks have to go out to Chris, who proofed this for me.  He's
got a good stoy, 'Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall', as well as a new
friend of mine, Zach, who's got another great story, 'Tearful Dreamer'.  I'd
recommend both of those!  DIdn't I say I was getting on with it:)

Chapter 13:

	Two men in suits were standing on the other side of the door.  "Can I help
you gentlemen?" I asked, pulling the door open and putting it on its latch.
	"Hello sir.  We're from the management company.  Justin told us to come
round and pick you up.  He wants you to be at the chat with him."
	"Er, can I see some form of identification."
	"Of course sir." One of the men said reaching into his inside pocket, but
quickly kicking the door with his foot.  The chain snapped and the door
flung open, hitting me in the face.  I took a step back, rubbing the blood
off my face before I felt someone hit me in my side.  I caught the hit next
time and deflected a blow, while Jonathan was hiding in the background.  I
regained my compusure and tried to throw a few punches at one of the
attackers.  I felt a blow to my back as the other man hit me with a lamp or
something similar.  I fell to my knees and tried to crawl away.  The other
man kicked me in my side, followed by my head.  I tried to cover and protect
myself from the hits, but I was quickly loosing the battle to keep
consciousness.  Blood was running down my face, blurring my vision.  I could
just make out Jonathan make a run for the alarm system and hit the panic
alarm, the sounds of blaring sirens filling the house.  The men hesitated a
second before planting a few more blows in my head and chest.
	"Grab the boy, that's what we came for."
	"Jon, run." I shouted, rather meekly, trying to grab the mans legs.
Jonathan made a dash for the door and just got out the house as the man
stumbled as he tried to grab him  He turned back to me before placing
another sharp kick in my head.  Everything suddenly went blank.

***

	"Thanks for the ri....  What's going on?" Justin shouted as he heard the
house sirens going off and saw the two police cars and ambulance parked
outside his house.  Lance was signalled to stop by a policeman standing in
the road but drove by him, pulling up close to the house.  JC had returned
with Justin after the chat, and ran out with Justin, as Lance quickly
stopped the car and ran after them.  "What happened, where's Simon and
Jonathan?" Justin shouted frantically.
	"And you are?"
	"Justin, Justin Timberlake.  I live here!"
	"Ok.  Someone broke into your house sir.  We found someone seriously
injured.  He had some ID on him which identified him as Simon Williams."
	"Oh God, is he all right?"
	"He's been taken to hospital, but the EMTs said he was seriously injured."
	"And Jonathan?  Where's Jonathan?"
	"We didn't find anyone else sir, just Mr Williams."
	"He must have run off or something, Where is he?"
	"Justin, Lance and me will find Jonathan, I'm sure he's ok.  You go to the
hospital and check on Simon."
	"I... I...  Ok, you find him.  Call me as soon as anything happens!" Justin
said, running towards his car.  As he opened the door he saw Jonathan
crouching on the back seat.  He pulled him out the car into a tight hug.
"Jonathan, what happened?"
	"These men, the broke in and hit Simon, they kept kicking and punching him.
  He tried to hold them back as I ran out the house.  They were trying to
get me, and he stopped them.  I just hid in the car, I was scared."
	"It's ok Jonathan, don't worry.  Everything will be ok.  You stay with JC
and Lance, and I'm going down to the hospital."
	"Sir, we'll take you down.  You're not in a fit state to drive yourself."
One of the police officers offered, or more like ordered.  Justin nodded and
climbed into the passenger seat of the police car, it quickly speeding off,
lights flashing.

	JC looked through the door and saw the blood stains on the tiled
entranceway.  He grimaced at the site, and quickly turned away and stopped
Lance and Jonathan from entering the house.  The forensic people looked like
they had just arrived and had started unpacking their equipment.
	"It's a mess in their Lance, there's a lot of blood on the floor, it looks
bad."
	"Let's keep the spirits up.  He'll pull through, he has to." Lance said,
removing a couple of tears from his eyes.  JC just nodded.  Lynn arrived at
that moment, having been notified by the police.  JC relayed the news to
Lynn, who was as worried as everyone else, before she took Jonathan in her
car to stay at a hotel for a night.  The blood in the house, and the work of
the police made it too destressing to stay at the house.

	The police car pulled up infront of the ER and Justin hopped out and
thanked the officer before running into the hospital and over to the
reception.
	"I'm here about Simon Williams.  He was brought in earlier."
	"Yes sir.  And you would be?"
	"I'm his friend, he was staying over here with me."
	"Well, if your not family you'll have to wait a..."
	"He has no family, they're all dead.  I'm his boyfriend!" Justin almost
shouted at the older receptionist.
	"Ok then sir, I'll get a doctor to come over to you in a minute." She said,
signalling to a nurse who just walked by.  A few nods and words were
exchanged before she walked over to Justin.  By now he was in a miserable
state, his face streaked with tears, his usual glint of youthfulness gone.
	"Mr Timberlake?  I'm Katie Hill, staff nurse."
	"How's Simon?  What happened to him?"
	"Let's go and sit down somewhere slightly more private." She said,
motioning towards a side room.  They went inside and took a seat on a sofa.
"Simon has suffered severe and massive head injuries.  He was repeatedly and
severely kicked in his head several times, as well as his chest.  He's got
several broken ribs.  We think he has some internal bleeding from hits he
took on his stomach.  We're waiting for the CT scanner to become available
and we're taking him straight up for a brain scan."
	"Will he pull through?" Justin asked, sobbing.  The nurse reached out and
pulled him into a hug, trying to comfort him slightly.
	"He's in good care, we'll do our very best."
	"Do whatever you can, call in anyone, I'll pay for it if his insurance
won't cover it, just do everything you can."
	"Ok, we'll do the best we can."
	"What are his chances, be frank with me, please."
	"Not good.  The head injuries are severe, he's arrested since he was
brought in, and is now breathing with the aid of a ventilator."  Justin just
completely broke down at that point, his eyes turning into fountains as
tears streamed down his face, breathless for all the sobbing.  The nurse
just sat their with him, rubbing her hand up and down is back.

*********

	Twenty minute later the whole of 'N Sync arrived at the hospital after
Lance called everyone.  Even Chris seemed upset at the news, finally
realising that I meant a lot to Justin.  The receptionist looked up at the
entering group, but the nurse, who had left Justin by himself for a few
minutes signalled the group over.
	"Hello, I'm Staff Nurse Hill.  Mr Timberlake is in a private room, he's in
quite a bad state but wanted to be left alone a while."
	"How's Simon?"
	"He's not doing too good.  He's suffered massive head trauma, as well as
internal bleeding."
	"Will he pull through?" JC asked.
	"Unlikely to be honest.  When he's recovered a little we'll take Justin to
see him."
	"Ok then, thanks nurse.  Can we go through to Justin?"
	"Yes, it's the second door on the right.  I'm just going to get an update
on his condition."
	"Thank you." JC finished before the all walked into the smallish room.
There was another room for all of them, but only just.
	"Hey Justin." Lance said as he sat down next to his friend, putting an arm
round his shoulder.  He was still crying, and Lance wiped the tears from his
eyes.  Justin just cuddled up next to him, holding on tight.  JC sat the
other side of him, not knowing what to best do.  The nurse walked back in
after a few minutes.  "How is he?"
	"His condition hasn't changed much.  He is still extremely critical I'm
afraid.  You can go through and see him if you like, but not all five of
you, only two or three.  I'll warn you though, he doesn't look that good.
Just brace yourselves."
	"Ok.  I need to see him  If he didn't make it, I wouldn't know what to do
if I hadn't seen him."
	"Do you want us to come with you?" JC asked.
	"Yeah.  I hope the rest of you don't mind?"
	"Justin, go and see your boyfriend." Chris spoke up for the first time.
"You're the only family he's got."
	"You go Justin." Lance said, looking him directly in his face, kindness in
his eyes.  Justin and JC followed the nurse to the room where they'd put me.
	"Oh God!" Justin said, turning to place is head onto JC's shoulder.  JC
just put his arm round Justin, not wanting to force him to stay.  I was
lying on the bed, various various IVs connected up to me, a respirator
humming away in the background with pipes going down my throat, an ECG
quietly beeping in the background.  My face was badly cut, bandages covering
the worst wounds.  My whole body was in a similar situation.
	"We're taking him up to the ICU when you're finished here, and from then
he'll have a brain scan." The nurse said, as she just looked over at me
lying on the bed, just having another quick glance at my chart.  Justin was
just looking down at me on the bed, letting the tears freely.  Why did
something like this have to happen?  He thought to himself, comforted by
JC's presence.  The nurse walked over to Justin then, as two others walked
in.  "Mr. Timberlake, we're moving him upstairs right now.  You and your
friends are welcome to come up, and wait up there.  He'll be given a brain
scan first to see how much damage has been done, before we put him into
intensive car."
	"Thank you." Justin just managed to croak out, as they walked out the room,
seeing the other guys standing just down the corridor.  They walked over
when they saw JC come out the room, and JC informed them of what was
happening.  The bed was wheeled down the corridor, and they five young men
walked behind it, stepping into the adjacent elevator to where they pushed
the bed, first asking which floor they needed to go to.

[From this point onwards, for ease of writing for me, I'm switching to a 3rd
person perspective in re to Simon]

	Justin was pacing up and down the new waiting room at the intensive care
ward, while his boyfriend was having the brain scan down the corridor.  He
just hoped everything would be ok, it had to be, Simon couldn't die, could
he?  Just as he had finally found someone, something like this happens.  At
least he'd regained some composure, he'd stopped crying, but inside, he was
still breaking up.  The other guys were hurting as well, for Justin, but
also for Simon, he'd become their friend, he'd even tried to be friendly to
Chris after his initial reaction.
	They were sitting in the room, in near silence, just the sound of the
hospital around them, for almost 20 minutes before a doctor walked into the
room.  "Hello Gentlemen, my name is Doctor John Hayes, I'm the Senior
Neurological Consultant.."
	"What's wrong, how is he?"
	"Well, we've conducted the CT scans of Mr. Williams.  They show a lot of
swelling to the tissue, which is exerting a lot of pressure on the brain.
We're hoping this will go down shortly.  One good thing is that their
appears to be no hemorrhaging at all, which is one thing we were worried
about."
	"And if the swelling goes down?"
	"It's possible their could be some permenant brain damage, but we won't
know that until Mr. Williams regains consciousness."
	"So he's going to wake up?"
	"I can't say that for certain.  He's suffered serious injuries, and his
heart has already stopped once.  He came off quite lucky in some fronts, we
couldn't find any signs of internal bleeding on the scans, just three broken
ribs and a broken arm.  We're slightly more hopefuly than earlier on his
chances of pulling through, but there's a long way to go yet."
	"What would you say the chances are now?"
	"Well, for the swelling to go down, and him having no brain damage, it's
slim I'm afraid.  There is a chance, quite a large one, that is he did
regain consciousness he could have mild to severe brain damage, perhaps loss
of sight, reduced motor control.  In all honesty, we don't know what
condition he'll be in until he regains consciousness.  He's under 24 hour
observation in intensive care right now, and he's still on life support.
When the swelling has gone down a little in a day or so, we hope we might be
able to try and take him off the ventilator."
	"Thank you doctor."
	"I think the best thing would for you to all go home, get some sleep for
the night, and come back tomorrow.  We can call you if there's any change,
just go leave your number at the nurses station." The doctor said, a little
compassion in his voice as he walkd out the room.  The guys exchanged
glances for a second.
	"The doctor's right Justin, it would be best if you come home, you can stay
with me for the night, same for you JC."
	"Thanks Lance.  Come on Justin." JC said, putting his arm round his
shoulder, walking out the room.  Lance went over to the nurses station,
while Justin went to look at Simon one last time for the evening, before
they all left the hospital.

	The three rode back to Lance's place in silence, no words seeming
appropriate for the moment.  One thing playing on all of their minds was
why, why did someone break into Justin's house and beat up Simon, what were
they actually doing there in the first place.  Hopefully the police would
find something, and catch the bastards who did this.
	Lance stopped his car in the driveway, and walked round to let Justin out
of the passenger side.  He seemed in a poor way, not really paying any
attention to what was going on around him, just blindly following Lance.
	"Justin, you should just go upto bed and get some rest.  You can get up
early tomorrow and we'll all go down and see how Simon's doing.  He'll pull
through this, I know he will."
	"Thanks Lance." Justin replied half heartedly, just walking up the stairs
and going into the guest room.  He stripped out his clothes, hanging them up
in the cupboard, before cuddling up into a ball on the bed, lying only in
his boxer shorts, not having anything else to change into.  It just didn't
feel right, sleeping by himself after the past few days of having Simon's
company.


	Justin woke up early the following morning, just before 7am.  JC and Lance
were already awake however, and downstairs eating breakfast.  Justin joined
them, quickly eating his way through a bowl of cereal, before heading back
up to his room and freshening up before going down the hospital.  He just
hoped something good had happened overnight, that Simon had improved some,
or the police had made some breakthrough.  Lance drove the car down to the
hospital, arriving at about quarter to eight in the morning, just before
visiting hours started.  Fortunately the IC nurse had no problem letting
them through to see Simon.
	Justin just looked over Simon's resting form, as he lay unconscious on the
hospital bed, the respirator still breathing for him, the ECG steadily
tracing the graph of his heart's electrical activity.  Justin grabbed hold
of Simon's hand, avoiding the IV lead going off to the drip mounted on a
pole in the corner of the bed.  He moved the hand to his face, gently
kissing it.
	"You know, I was going to do loads of stuff while you were here.  I was
going to take you to Sea World today, I thought you'd enjoy that.  I guess
we won't be making it there though.  Jonathan's ok, thanks to you evidently.
  You tripped the guy up so he could run away.  He hid in my car until we
arrived back at the house.  Why the hell did I have to go out!  If I'd
stayed with you none of this would have happened!" Justin said a little bit
too loudly, causing a nurse to poke her head round the door, shushing at
Justin.  He just nodded in apology, his emotions having got the better of
him.  So much had gone wrong for Simon since they'd got together, two weeks
ago, the head injury, the epilepsy, his brother, and now this.  Couldn't
something go right for once, why couldn't they be left in peace, all Justin
wanted was to be happy, with Simon.  Suddenly Justin almost jumped out his
seat, staring at Simon.
	"Simon, can you hear me?" He said anxiously, kneeling down, their faces
level.
	"What is it Just?" JC asked from his seat on the other side of the room
	"He just squeezed my hand, I felt him squeeze my hand!" Justin replied
excitedly.
	"Are you certain?"
	"Yes!!  I felt him squeeze my hand!" Obviously, overhearing them talking,
Doctor Hayes walked into the room from outside the door.
	"Good morning.  From the last scan's we did of Simon, he couldn't respond
to you, if he can hear you.  His motor functions are non-existant right now,
he can't squeeze your hand."
	"I felt it though." Justin said, a little downcast, beginning to question
whether he did feel it or not.  "I thought I felt him squeeze my hand."
	"It could have been a reflex reaction, not involving the brain.  It's
possible if the IV needle shifted or something like that."
	"Oh."
	"We're going to try taking Simon off the ventilator soon, so he'll be
breathing by himself.If you wouldn't mind waiting outside for a few
minutes?"
	"Ok Doctor." Lance said, comforting Justin by rubbing his shoulder, before
walking out the room.  They sat outside the room while a couple of nurses
walked in, Lance and JC both doing their best to comfort Justin.  JC was
hurting seeing Simon like that, they all were, but he couldn't even begin to
imagine what Justin must be feeling like.  They sat outside for a few
minutes before the doctor walked back out to them.
	"Well, we've taken Mr. Williams off the ventilator, and he's now breathing
fine by himself."
	"That's a good sign isn't it?"
	"Yes, it can be a good sign, but it still doesn't indicate he's going to
recover, he's got a long way to go yet.  I'm finished for the night now,
I'll be back on shift at 3pm."
	"Thanks Doctor." Justin answered, as they walked back inside the room.
Justin was relieved to see Simon without the tube going down his throat.
Justin took his seat up next to the bed again, and lookded at his two
friends, both sitting a little further back on the other side of the bed.
"Could you guys just give me a bit of time by myself?  I really appreciate
you be..."
	"Sure Justin, we'll just go down to the coffee shop and get something to
drink, want anything?"
	"No thanks Lance." Justin said as they walked out the room, turning back to
his boyfriend.  "Simon, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but they
always say to talk to people and everything.  I've not known you that long
really, but I love you.  You mean the world to me, and I don't know what I'd
do if you died on me.  You're going to pull through ok?  You're going to get
better, don't give in." Justin said, resting his head on the edge of the
pillow, holding Simon's hand again.

	Two hours later, JC and Lance having returned, Justin woke up from his
slumber.  "Oh, sorry guys, I must have fell asleep." Justin said, sitting
up, rubbing his eyes.
	"Don't worry, you were asleep when we came back to the room.  Your mum is
coming over soon to see you and Simon, and Joey popped in while you were
asleep."
	"Thanks.  What time is it?"
	"About 11am."
	"Ok.  I'm just going to stretch my legs, I'll be right back." Justin said,
walking out the room, looking for the nearest restroom.  He went toilet, and
by the time he got back to the room, his mum had arrived, having pulled up
another chair next to Justin's.
	"Hi mom." Justin said, running towards her, embracing in a hug.  "Where's
Jonathan?"
	"He's with Chris and Joey, his father is coming to pick him up later."
	"Have the police found anything yet?"
	"No, they've been disecting the house virtually, but haven't come up with
anything.  It looks like the guys were wearing gloves, they've not got any
finger prints other than Simon's and ours.  Jonathan couldn't help, he can't
remember what they looked like, he was watching TV at first then tried to
hide.  They're still looking, they'll find the person who did this!"
	"Didn't the camera get anything?"
	"There was no tape in the recorder, so it didn't record anything.  They'll
find them though."
	"Thanks for bringing some flowers mom." Justin said, noticing the
multi-coloured lage bunch of flowers that had been placed in a glass vase at
the side of the bed.  "Was Jonathan ok?"
	"He didn't sleep too well during the night, we was very scared.  If it
wasn't for Simon, I don't know what would have happened to him.  Well, I've
got to go now, but I'll come back later to check how Simon and you are doing
ok?" Lynn said, rising from her chair, giving Justin a quick kiss and hug,
before leaving the room.


[now back to a little first person!]

	I felt the blow to my head as I went to trip the guy up, and a sharp pain
before everything went black.  I just had disjointed sounds, nothing making
a lot of sense, more like noises.  I think I felt the odd sensation of
touch, it was vague.  After a while I was certain I could make out sounds of
people talking around me, Justin mainly I think.  I couldn't really
understand what was being said, just the sounds of his voice.  I wanted to
speak back, but I couldn't; so I tried to move instead, but again, I didn't
think anything was happening.  Everything was detatched, as if it were
happening to someone else.  I just wanted to wake up and see Justin, but
nothing would work.  I could think, I knew people were around me, but that
was it.

[and back to 3rd....]

	Justin was still talking to Simon, the other two guys had decided to go and
get some fresh air.  He needed to get out the hospital though, he wanted to
go see Jonathan for a start and check up on him, as well as call Simon's
friend Paul in England, he should know what happened.  He kissed Simon on
the forehead and said bye to him, squeezing his hand a little, before
walking out the room.  He smiled to the nurse at the station, and hit the
call button on the elevator.  Walking outside, he saw Lance and JC sitting
on a bench just outside the door, and waved to them.
	"Hey guys.  Lance, could you take me round to my place so I can pick up my
car?  I'm going to see how Jonathan's doing."
	"Sure Justin, is Simon still the same?"
	"Yeah." Justin said, as he walked back with Lance and JC to the car.  Lance
drove Justin back to his house, Justin still seeing a police car parked
infront of the house.  Justin walked into the house, the blood stains having
been cleaned up off the floor now, just one police officer was left,
standing at the doorway, who acknowledged Justin as he walked in.  Justin
was going to get Simon's phone, so as to call Paul, and his car keys.  He
was only inside a few minutes, pausing to look at the carpet where all the
blood was the previous night.  Quickly dismissing the thought, he walked out
and to his car, thanking Lance.  His own cell phone was in the car oh
charge, so he picked it up to call Joey to find out where they were.  It
turned out they were at Chris and Joey's place to catch some lunch, so
Justin headed straight on over.  Before he set off however, he went through
the numbers on Simon's phone, finding Paul's.  He pressed the dial button,
and waited as it rang a few times.
	"Hello?"
	"Hi, is that Paul Loch?"
	"Yes."
	"I'm Justin, Simon's friend."
	"Oh hi Justin.  What can I do for you?"
	"I just thought I'd tell you. There was an accident, Simon's in hospital,
and is very ill.  They are worried he might not pull through."
	"My God.  Oh dear, I'm so sorry Justin.  Thank you for telling me.  Could
you keep me informed of his condition?" Paul said, his concern showing in
his voice.
	"Ok Paul.  Good bye." Justin said, hanging up the phone.  He put it on the
passenger seat, before putting his M class into reverse and backd out his
drive, and headed off.  It took him a good few minutes to negotiate the
traffic and arrive at Chris's place, and Jonathan ran out the door as soon
as he arrived.  He picked his little bro up into a hug, swinging him round a
little, causing a little laugh before Justin put him back down.
	"How are you?"
	"I'm ok thanks.  Chris and Joey have been playing with me all day."
	"Thanks you two, it was a great help for my mom today."
	"No probs Just.  Are you taking him now?"
	"Would it be any trouble if you kept them till my mom comes and picks him
up?  She should be back in an hour or so.  I want to go back and see Simon
again, and I don't want Jonathan to see him.  He's in a bad state."
	"I know, I saw him this morning, he's bruised up, and JC told me that the
doctor's were worried about him."
	"Yeah, he'll pull through though, I know he will." Justin said, forcing a
weak smile.  He stopped talking for a second and ran towards his car,
hearing his mobile.  He picked it up and listened for a few seconds before
jumping into his car and shouting to Joey he had to go.  He sped away in his
car towards the hospital.  The call was Lance -- Simon had stopped breathing,
and his heart had stopped.  Justin was driving like a mad man, skipping some
lights to get to the hospital as quick as possible.  It was a near miracle
he made it there in one piece.  He pulled the car quickly into a parking
space near the front and ran towards the door.

	"Yes dear, I'm on my way back home now.  No, there were no problems at the
hospital.  Don't worry abou... SHIT!" The man in his black BMW screamed as
his foot stomped on the break as the young man run in front of the car.  He
couldn't steer the wheel quick enough with only one hand to swerve out the
way and hit him square on at almost 40 mph.  His foot had barely even been
able to touch the break before he hit, being distracted by the phone
conversation.  He watched helplessly as the man was thrown through the air.


Well, sorry to leave you with a cliff-hanger after such a long time with no
new chapters.  Hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway!  I enjoyed coming back
to write it.  Email me at trekster2@hotmail.com or trekkiead@yahoo.com with
any comments, ideas, thoughts etc. about the story.  Cyas
Ad.