*Trisha*

Due to the sudden media attention once again, Julia and Nate now share a recovery room. Outside the door is complete chaos. It didn't take long for news to leak and we are back to security guarding the door, police escorting intruders out of the hospital, reporters and fans taking over the main entrance of the building, and their faces plastered all over the news. I'm watching it all play out on the tv in disgust. This is gonna be awful publicity for Nate, and Julia can't handle shit.

Me, James, and now Paul are all allowed in the room at the same time. It was too hard for the staff to handle two separate rooms, and they gave up on the one visitor at a time rule when Paul showed up- giving them a piece of his mind. He was already pissed because he had a client he had to give up to another bodyguard, Max, for this.

Nate wakes up, and I'm the only one to notice. James, Julia and Paul are sleeping.

"Incompetent my ass." I walk over to Nate. He can clearly see I've been crying by the way my eyes are puffy and there's no hiding that.

"Now look who's incompetent. By the way, I got everything done on your massive to-do list when you decided to cough up your intestines." I tease.

"Fine." He grumbles. "You win. I'll never call you incompetent again, ok?"

"You sure won't! How are you feeling?" I grab a chair and pull it over to his bedside.

"Awful. Everything hurts. I want this tube out of my nose. What are they saying?" He ticks his chin up to the news.

"They don't know shit yet. Which is your case is good." I glance up at the news reporting live right outside the hospital entrance.

"What about Julia? What are they saying??"

"Not much. They are more focused on you. Media reports she just went into shock. But Nate, everyone in this room now knows there's something more going on. "How many of those pills did she take last night? I heard the two nurses talking and said she mixed it with alcohol today? Jesus!" I exclaim.

"They got it all wrong. She DID take a few pills last night but woke up and felt just fine. I don't know anything about today. I was with you, remember?"

"How could I forget." I give him a look and roll my eyes at our shower shenanigans.

"She had two glasses of wine at my birthday party. That's it." James hears me and Nate talking and sits up to defend Julia. "They gave her Ativan when she went into shock. I don't know how much, but it was too much for her system with everything else she had. I told them what's going on with her, and they changed her medication. She's been sleeping since." James runs his fingers through his hair and looks up at the television to see the news. He slumps back in his chair and pinches the tension at the bridge of his nose.

Nate nods, understanding, but I give a dissatisfied look. Nate glares at me, and I slouch down and look away. I hate to be judgmental, but c'mon. This isn't a teenager we are dealing with. This is a 40 year old grown adult who can't get her shit together. Why don't Nate....or James for that matter.....see this?

"It's not her fault. She can't help it." Nate glares at me longer.

I see Julia's eyes start to open and hear something, but none of us can hear the words. James sits up little when he sees her waking up.

"What, Jules??" Nate furrows his brows, but James seems to know exactly what she said. He jumps up fast.

"She's gonna get sick!" He grabs the puke bucket left on the side of her bed and turns her to her side seconds before she throws up in the bucket. She's still half asleep, which isn't making any of this easier for him. He holds her on her side with one hand and holds the bucket with the other.

"It's ok..." James rubs her back and makes sure her head is tilted enough so she doesn't choke while she gets sick. I may have had to take care of my mom when she had cancer, but my stomach turns the minute Julia gets sick. I rush out of the room, unable to handle anything medical like that.

I pace around for a little bit, but what's the point. It's late, and James and Paul are there with Nate and Julia. I text James to tell him to keep me posted and then decide to head home for a while, knowing tomorrow is going to be a VERY busy workday for me, with this media shit going on.

****

*James*

I help Julia as much as I can, and when she's done getting sick, she starts crying like she always does when she throws up. She's half asleep thanks to all the meds, and I hate that the stress of Nate has caused her to be physically sick. I also wonder if the nurses gave her too much Ativan before realizing her addiction and she's throwing it up.

She finishes and falls back asleep. Nate watches me put the bucket inside the bathroom and shut the door in case they need to monitor what comes out of her. Like instructed, I leave to tell a nurse, who then comes in and takes it. The nurse gives me another pink bucket to leave by her bed. We've been doing this for a while now.

I prop her pillows so she isn't laying flat, fix her head so she doesn't kink her neck, and use a wet face cloth to clean her face. When I'm done, I sit next to her, push her hair away from her face, and hold her hand while praying.

"Sorry for all this, mate." Nate says, and I open my eyes, still holding on to Julia's hand.

"You know I was actually pissed off at her earlier because she took care of you?" I confess and take a deep breath. "She said she will always love you even if she's not IN love with you and will always take care of you. She let your drunken ass fall asleep on her lap while she calmed you down, then carried you to her bed and made sure you were ok. Even made sure your head was situated perfectly so you wouldn't wake up uncomfortable." I'm angry, but don't yell and keep my cool while talking to Hollan- even though I want to punch the guy in the face for making Julia go into shock because of his bad habits.

Obviously, I'd never punch him in the face.... but still. I want to.

"We had our first real fight because of you. She told me I need to have more compassion for you because you can't help it... and went back up to make sure you were ok. Good thing, too." I continue.

"I'm sorry...?"

"No matter what you do or how you sabotage your own life, she will always be there to help clean up your messes. Look where it landed her. In a fucking hospital bed right next to you." I grumble and look up at the tv displaying her face again. I could give two shits if you go down. But don't drag Julia down with you. You need to cut this shit out. I'm serious. You're tearing her to pieces. And now look, she's back on display for the whole world to judge her. She can't handle all this, Nate."

"James stop. Leave him alone." Julia mumbles with her eyes still closed.

"See? She's even sticking up for you in her sleep." I shake my head. "So Frustrating."

Julia moves her position so she flips to the other side, now facing Nate while she sleeps. Nate starts to fall asleep as well which just leaves me awake watching the news on tv. I eventually start to doze off in my chair as well.

When I do finally wake up a little I see Julia with the nurse trying to get her back into bed Shit. Did she try to get out of the bed alone and pass out? My heart races and adrenaline kicks in. I jump up in a panic and rush to Julia.

"Are you ok??"

"Yeah, I had to pee." She takes my hand.

"I could have helped you." I sit back down in another chair closer to Julia.

"So this is James?" Jonah questions, putting two and two together.

"Hey, nice to meet you." I reach over Nate's bed and shake the nurse's hand.

"Nice to meet ya. I'll be taking care of both these crazy addicts every night. I'm their overnight nurse." He pauses. "I knew Nate had some competition but, shit, Julia. You're giving him a run for his money. Literally!"

Ok.... I don't know what to say to this so say nothing at all, giving Julia a strange look. This guy Jonah must be like Kendall. No filter whatsoever. He looks me over and shakes his head.

"Hollan's a damn good looking guy but he doesn't have a chance against this one."

"Oh my God!" Julia says louder and starts laughing. Then the nurse does as well which makes me think I slept through some weird inside joke they had. I look at the tow of them like they are both going crazy.

"Apparently Nate has shared more than I thought." Julia covers her face briefly out of embarrassment and lays back in the bed. "That's so not like him."

"He needed a friend. I can only imagine what it's like to be in his shoes." Jonah says exactly what Julia was trying to tell me earlier. When I hear it come out of Jonah's mouth, it hits differently and I no in agreement.

"Well, breaks over. If you guys are good for a bit, I'm gonna go do my rounds." With that, the tall dark nurse grabs his clipboard and leaves the room.

"He spent his break in here??" I look over at the now empty chair near Nate. Weird for a nurse to do that.

"I guess they became friends the last time Nate was here. I'm glad though."

"He's a funny guy." I look at Julia seriously now. "How are you?"

"Come here." She moves over to the edge of the bed closest to Nate's side and pats the empty space.

"I don't know if I'm supposed-" I start but Julia cuts me off.

"James..." She gives me a demanding look and I let out a sigh.

"Julia.." I recite back, like always, and climb into the bed facing her. She moves her body closer so she's right up against me and hugs me tight. "I'm sorry I keep putting you through all this. This isn't the way I wanted to end your birthday."

"I certainly hope not." I smirk and wrap my arms around her, comforting her for a good fifteen or so minutes.

"I love you." I whisper in her ear as she starts to fall back asleep.

"I love you." She whispers back and it's all I ever wanted to hear.

*****

*Trisha*

James left. Paul waits outside the door. I wait outside the door....Or should I say...pace. Elliott and Richard are in the room discussing shit with Nate. There was a big press conference held first thing this morning. Right in front of the hospital. Elliott did an outstanding job, as always. Setting rumors straight and discussing Nate's health.

He lied the whole fucking way through and did amazingly well at it.

I spent most of last night and this morning rescheduling all of Nate's shit for him. Canceling Austin. Doing all his dirty work. Elliott had his hands full with the press conference and I'm sure Richard is having a few "words" with Nate now, telling him to get his act together.

I can't believe things have gotten so bad Nate drank right through his intestines. It scares the shit out of me. First a heart attack and now the alcohol taking over his body. How long is he going to let this go before he makes a change? A real change? Or he is going to be another statistic of celebrities who die before their time because of addiction.

I start crying.

I don't mean to but I do. I stand there and fucking cry at the door. At first, Paul doesn't know what to do. I feel bad, but I can't hold it in any longer. The two other security guards also notice and glare at Paul to do something since they know he has known me forever. I close my eyes and completely lose it. Then I feel Paul wrap his arms around me. He says nothing. He stands there and holds me while I lose my shit.

I fucking cry for so long and Paul doesn't let go of me until I'm so worn out I don't have any tears left. He drops one arm off me and leans over to grab me some tissues off the small corner table.

"Sorry, Paul. I didn't mean to-" I don't even bother finishing my sentence. He knows what I'm trying to say and nods before sitting me back down in a chair. "I just don't know what to do."

"I know. No one does." He finally says.

And he's right. No one knows what to do.

*****