Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 22:37:07 -0400 From: Jennifer Lankford Subject: Just Another Day- Chapter 13 Disclaimer: Don't know, don't own, and we're gonna leave it at that. This includes the Backstreet Boys, and all alligations that I know them is completley false... This is complete Fiction. Just Another Day - Chapter 13 Time passes quickly I realized a week later. Alex had come and gone, with promises of coming back to see me for the family reunion in Jacksonville, Florida in November. To the world the guys were still recouping in Raleigh, where the accident had taken place, but actually they'd already left, and I must say, I was feeling quite lonely. The house was empty. It had gotten to the point where I'd actually invited Kimberly over and helped her with her Biology homework, since it was genetics and all. My mother had been calling constantly, hearing of the accident and all and wondering how the `Boys' were doing and if we needed any help. I didn't have the heart to tell her they were already back in Orlando, working on their next album. I ended up letting Brian take a look at the songs me and Alex had wrote, and he promised he'd see if they could use them on the next album, or at least record them for a present for the family, thanking me for all the help I was. Work seemed only to get harder. Being hounded by the press wasn't fun. So here I sit now, over a cooling cup of coffee in the pediatric ward of St. Mary's. One of the few breaks I've had in days. "Chad, it's your lucky day." Kayla said as she entered the break room. "What?" I asked. "Have I won the lottery and I'm going on a cruise to the Bahamas?" I prayed that was going to be the answer. "Nope, sorry, but a bus load of kids on a field trip just flipped, thought you'd want to handle it, the choppers getting ready to leave." Kayla said and left the room, heading for the roof. It took me a spit second to make my decision, I could stay here, at the hospital, and wait for the kids to arrive, or I could go on site and help. It was an easy answer. I jumped up from the table and ran for the elevator where Kayla was holding the door open for me. "How'd you guess?" I said as the elevator doors closed. "It's your job. You love it." She said and looked at me. She winked and when the doors opened onto the roof we ran out and got on the helicopter, and within 10 minutes, we were over a highway, being lowered, and glancing upon the terrible accident. We were about 20 minutes outside of Raleigh and apparently it was a collision of some kind. Pushing Brian to the back of my mind, I jumped out of the helicopter when it touch the ground and rushed to the bus. Most of the kids were still inside, not knowing what to do, they were cowering together in one of the seats. The bus was flipped over, and it must have been hit 2 or 3 times by another car, making the bus spin on its top. The side was dented, and glass was everywhere. I grabbed a pair of gloves and passed the cops trying to get the kids out of the bus. They had cleared a path, but the kids were too frightened. I got down on my knees and then on my stomach, sliding my way through the broken window. The bus driver had been killed, or so it looked like, but he wasn't my mission. My mission was the kids. Kayla pushed a medical case through the window and then crawled through, kneeling beside me. I looked at the kids, trying to find any obvious injuries. A small voice broke my thoughts. "Dr. Ray?" A little boy asked. I knew that voice, I'd heard it so many times in the last few months. I looked through the still rising dust of the bus and coughed. "Timmy?" I asked. He crawled over to me and clung to me. "Dr. Ray, I want my mommy." Timmy sniffled and knocked me over with the power of his hug. "You know him Timmy?" A little girl asked. He nodded against me. "This is my friend. Dr. Ray, he was the one who made me better when I was in the hospital." Timmy said, almost proud. Kayla had left my side and had moved to the children that were unconscious. She lay the heavy cotton blanket across the window we'd crawled through and was handing the children carefully to Donny, who was on the other side of the window. The crowd Timmy was in, which was about 10 kids, looked at me. "Did you really make Timmy better at the hospital?" Another child asked. I wrapped my arm around Timmy and nodded. "He'd my buddy, I'd do just about anything for him. I have a question, is that okay?" I asked the little girl in a small voice. She was the closest to me. She nodded timidly and I smiled. "Why didn't you go with those people out there? The one's on the other side of the window?" I asked in a small voice, going into a `daddy mode' I used on kids at the hospital. "Cause they was scary, and they just kept screaming at us." One of them said. Slowly they were relaxing and I knew I was on the right track. "Did any of you get any boo boos? I got a bunch of really cool band aids in my carrier. Isn't that right Timmy?" "Yup, some of them glow in the dark to! He snuck into my room one night and showed me." He was proud that he had a glow in the dark band aid. "Cool!" Someone exclaimed. Kayla was back at my side. "Okay, we can start taking the others." She said calmly, as if we were talking about building a puzzle. "Who's she?" Someone asked. "This is my best friend, her names Kayla, isn't she pretty? Like a princess." I said jokingly. The little girls willingly went with Kayla and that left me with the little boys. "Now we have to get out of this bus, ca you show me how brave ya'll are and get out for me? My buddy Donny is on the other side of that window and he's here to help. All the girls went with Kayla, and they trusted him. The kids were a little apprehensive, but they came around when Donny promised them the glow in the dark stickers. I held the kids one by one to Donny, and then slid out of the bus. They were all still scared, but at least they were all okay, that was a miracle. All the kids were gathered in one spot, while the bus driver was taken out, along with the teacher, and the people in the other 2 cars that hit the bus. Traffic was backed up beyond sight, but they would have to wait. "Hey, I got it." Acting like Matt, from the new Blue's Clues episodes, it did help to stay up to date with kid shows. "What?" Some of the kids asked. "Let's play follow the leader." The kids agreed and we went around the blocked off street, and then I slowly led them toward a helicopter, that was going to take them to the hospital. I knew it might not have been the most logical thing, but it was getting the kids to safety. They all sat down, and I started up the Blue's Clue's theme song. They joined me, and I acted dumb, like Steve or Matt would. I leaned down to the door and stuck my head out. "Hey Donny!" I yelled. His head shot up and he gave me a look that gave a "what the hell do you want now?" "You got it covered?" He nodded and a cop closed the doors on either side of the helicopter, while the engine started up. "Where are we going?" A little girl asked. I smiled reassuringly. "We're going to see your mommy's and daddy's, they can't get through all those cars, so we're gonna take them to you. Now lets keep singing so they'll know we're coming." We all started singing again and Phill, the person flying the helicopter looked at me and laughed. We sang all the way to the hospital and then we played follow the leader to the elevator, and we squeezed everyone in. Timmy grabbed onto me on the way down. I lent down, knowing he wanted to tell me something. "Thank you Dr. Ray, you're the best." Timmy said and I laughed. He tugged on my shirt to get my attention back and I lent down again. "Can I have a glow in the dark sticker for the boo boo on my tummy?" I nodded my head. We reached the pediatric ward and I checked on all the kids, sending the serious ones down to emergency, and keeping the ones that were fine physically. I took the kids to the nap room and got them to lie down. That is after I got all their names, so I could contact their parents. What a long day. I stuck around for a few hours, while the parents came to get their children, picking them up, since they were asleep, and giving me their medical insurance and what not for the expenses. After I'd sat back at my desk, and sighed, the phone rang. "Chad, you have a call on line 3, they've been calling for hours now." "Did they leave a name?" I asked, and winced at the tight muscles in my back. "Yes, they left a message from `the boys'." At that my head shot up and my eyes opened. "The Backstreet Boys?" I asked.   Author's Notes: Yes the lack of the Boys isnt supposed to happen, but, hey, something has to happen without them. The next, should be out soon! Stay Tuned! Contact me: silverwings4ever@hotmail.com the site to visit: http://www.angelfire.com/music2/slipupwizshs/index.html Thanks to those who emailed me, and gave me the encouragement, and rode my ass until i got this done. *cough* Mike *cough* But truely, thanks, I've found the inspiration I needed to continue to write this at a daily speed