Chapter Two

"Ben!" Lance called as he ran into the waiting room seeing his sister's boyfriend sitting in one of the chairs. His sister's assistant, Megan, was sitting next to him. "Have you heard anything?" He asked after he hugged the man.

"They won't tell me anything," Ben growled. "Absolutely ridiculous. I've been dating Rachel for two years - it's not something new - and they still won't tell me anything because I'm not listed as her next of kin. You are."

Michael bit his tongue hearing Ben's tone. It wasn't the time or place to say anything. He was sure Ben was worried about Rachel and rightfully so. "Lance, go and see if you can find out anything."

"Yeah," Lance nodded and walked away from the small group to the nurse at the desk. He forced a polite smile when the nurse looked at him. "My sister," his voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "My sister was brought in here. She was in a car accident. Rachel Bass."

"Right," the nurse sent him a soft smile. "I'll inform the doctor that her next of kin arrived."

"Wait!" Lance's voice rose when he saw the nurse turning to leave. "Do you know anything? How... how is she? What's wrong?" He gripped the counter in his hands.

"Sir," the nurse reached across the desk, patting Lance's hand. "I don't have the information you are looking for. I'm sorry. I will inform your sister's doctor that you are here and he will be with you quickly. That's really all I can say. Trust me, if I could say more I would."

"Thank you," Lance forced himself to relax. If he came off as a hot head no one would help him out. He turned and walked back over to Michael, who had taken a seat across the aisle from Ben and Megan, and sat down next to him.

"Well what did she say?" Ben asked as soon as Lance was seated. "Can I see her yet? Is she going to be okay? She's got so much going on this week and next. Her tour is starting off. What happens if she has to cancel her tour? She'll have to refund all the money from the tickets already sold."

"None of that matters," Lance sent Ben a look. "So what if the tour gets cancelled. I'm sure her fans will understand." He felt Michael take his hand and squeeze. He dropped his head looking at his fingers. "The nurse didn't know anything about Rachel..."

"What!" Ben jumped to his feet. "She told me she couldn't "divulge" that information. You mean she couldn't tell me the reason she couldn't tell me was not that I wasn't the next of kin was because she doesn't know."

"Ben, sit down," Michael stated glaring at him. Ben's outburst had already garnered them looks from the other people in the waiting room with them. "She wouldn't have told you even if she did know."

"Bullshit," Ben muttered but dropped back in his seat.

"Do you know what happened?" Lance looked at Megan. He could see dried tear tracks on the young woman's face. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears.

"I was a light behind her," Megan spoke softly. She wiped at her cheek with the back of her hand. "By the time I got up to the accident, the ambulance and fire trucks were already there cutting..." Her voice cracked and she clenched her eyes shut and took a deep breath. "They were cutting her from the car. I asked a couple people who were standing around... they said the car ran a red light."

"Rachel ran a red light?" Lance felt bile rise in his throat. The only reason Rachel would run the light was because she was hurrying to make his show.

Megan shook her head. "No, the car that hit Rachel. He ran the red light. I don't know all the details."

"Mr. Bass?"

Lance looked up when he heard his name. He quickly stood when he saw a doctor coming toward him. "I'm Lance Bass. How's my sister?"

"I'm Doctor Greg Martin," he shook Lance's hand. "I'm residing over your sister's case. May we go someplace more private?"

"Can we all come?" Lance asked the doctor, motioning toward Michael, Ben and Megan.

The doctor nodded. "If you're okay with them hearing..."

"I'll tell them anyway," Lance said as they followed the doctor down the hall and into a small room that Lance was sure was used for purposes like this. "How's my sister, Doctor?"

"Your sister is in serious, but stable condition," Dr. Martin said and visibly noticed the four occupants relax. "Most of her injuries were actually caused by the safety devices in place to protect her. There is bruising across her chest from the seatbelt. Between the force from the airbag and the seatbelt, one of your sister's ribs fractured and punctured her lung. We have inserted a chest tube to draw out the air in your sister's chest. We are monitoring her oxygen levels and giving her oxygen through the nasal cavity. If this doesn't raise the levels, we will put her on a ventilator. This will help the lungs fill with air while they heal.

"Now the more serious of injuries," Dr. Martin continued. "Your sister hit the airbag with such force that it fractured her skull."

Lance paled hearing the doctor's words. He tried to remember the doctor's words from earlier about Rachel being in stable condition but as the doctor went on about her injuries, he wasn't sure how she could be stable. He feared it wasn't the case. He felt a comforting hand on his back and he swayed into the touch.

"It's caused your sister's face to swell and discolor. I'd describe the discolorations as that of black eyes." Dr. Martin went in to discuss the more intricacies of skull fractures and concussions before getting to his last piece of information. "With the trauma your sister received from her accident, while it's not uncommon, it is rare."

"What is it Doctor?" Lance asked. This time he needed more than the comforting hand on his back. He stuck his hand behind him, blindly searching for Michael's. When he found it, he held tight.

"Your sister suffered damage to her ear drums," Dr. Martin met the eyes of each member in the room. "Right now, she's completely deaf."

~*~

Lance braced himself outside Rachel's room before entering. The doctor told him she looked different, but it was because of the swelling. Once the swelling went down, she would look like her regular self again. 'Who can't hear,' he leaned his forehead against the door and sighed.

'I didn't recognize her, Man,' Ben had told him after he visited her. The doctor had said they could each visit her, one at a time. Ben had created such a fuss that Lance let him go first. He didn't know what it was about his sister's boyfriend, but today Ben was rubbing Lance the wrong way. Lance brushed off his thoughts about Ben. Right now he didn't matter. What mattered most was lying in a hospital bed behind the door. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door revealing his sister staring straight at him.

Lance tried to hide his reaction at seeing Rachel. When tears welled in his sister's eyes, he knew he did a terrible job. "Don't cry," he said and moved quickly to her side, letting the door close behind him. He wanted to gather her up in his arms and hold her, but he didn't want to further injure her more. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before resting his forehead against hers as he held her hand tightly in his. He closed his eyes against the tears that threatened to fall. When he lifted his head, he stared into her green eyes, dulled with pain and medication. He opened his mouth to speak before it donned on him that she couldn't hear him. It would take some getting used to. He raised his free hand and tucked his middle and ring fingers down signing, 'I love you'.

A cry broke free before Rachel could stop it. She tightened her hold on Lance's hand, allowing her eyes to drift shut. The movement caused more tears to slide down her cheek.

Lance was at a loss on how to comfort his sister. How was he supposed to communicate with her? He only knew a couple signs and nothing to carry on a conversation. He patted his pocket and grinned when he felt his phone that he barely remembered Michael shoving into his pocket on the way into the hospital. Opening his phone, he pulled up the note section and tapped a few keys. He turned it toward Rachel and squeezed her hand a couple times to get her attention.

Rachel opened her eyes to look at Lance before she noticed the phone being held in front of her. The screen was blurred in front of her. She blinked trying to clear her eyes enough to read.

'Are you okay? Are you in pain?'

Rachel took the phone from Lance's hand ignoring his confused look. She tapped out her reply. 'I'm okay. No pain. Good drugs.'

'You'll need the drugs once you see a mirror.'

Rachel groaned in pain when she read Lance's reply. 'Don't make me laugh. Hurts.'

'Why aren't you talking?' Lance tapped out the question. The doctor never mentioned she couldn't talk. When she read the question, Lance saw a wave of pain cross her face and she wouldn't meet his eyes. 'If you didn't want to be on my show all you had to do was say so. This was kind of drastic.'

Rachel pulled her lips into a small smile, but it hurt so she quickly let the smile fall. 'Not funny. If I didn't want to be on your show, I would have blown you off. Megan would have called.'

'Ouch.' Lance dropped the talking topic for now but he was going to talk with the doctor as soon as he left the room.

'Mom? Dad?'

'I'll call them as soon as my turn is up. Megan and Michael are waiting.'

'Make sure they know I'm okay.'

'Don't worry. I will. You know they'll fly out immediately.'

'You better call now. Media is probably breaking the story.'

'True. I will. I'll send someone else to come and visit.'

Rachel's read Lance's final message. She tapped out her message frantically. 'You can come back right? I don't want to be alone. Please?????'

In his mind, Lance could hear his sister begging; could hear the drawn out please and it brought a smile to his face. 'I'll come back and stay as long as the doc lets me.'

Rachel nodded the barest hint of a smile on her face. She watched Lance walk to the door. Before he left the room, he signed 'I love you' again. Rachel held up her own hand and returned the sign. When the door shut behind Lance, she felt alone. There was sound happening all around her but she didn't hear a thing. It was very disconcerting to hear nothing. Sure everyone thought sometimes they were in absolute silence but that was never the case. There was always some sound that you were so used to you didn't even notice or a distant sound you could barely hear.

She was in complete silence. There were no muffled voices from nurses and doctors in the hallway. She didn't hear the ambulance siren bringing in another victim or the squeaky wheel on the trash can as a member of housekeeping pushed it down the hall. The sounds of car horns and engines were silenced. She felt alone.

~*~

"What do you mean she's not talking?" Michael asked as Megan walked away to visit Rachel.

"That's just what I mean," Lance paced back and forth in front of Michael running a hand through his hair.

"The doctor didn't say she couldn't talk," Michael was still trying to figure out the newest piece of information.

"I know; that's why it doesn't make any sense," Lance sighed frustrated. "I'm gonna talk with the doctor. Did she speak to you?" He asked looking at Ben.

Ben shook his head. "No. She didn't say anything."

"There's got to be an explanation of why she isn't talking."

"What if the doctors missed something and there's another injury they don't know about? The airbag did more damage then they thought? She could have a ticking bomb inside of her that..."

"Lance," Michael grabbed Lance's shoulder and stared into his green eyes. "Calm down. There has to be an explanation for this. Don't freak out until you talk with the doctor."

Lance sighed, his shoulders drooping slightly as he relaxed. He cupped the back of Michael's neck pulling the younger man forward into a hug. He leaned against him, allowing Michael to take some of the pressure. He closed his eyes. "I got to call Mom and Dad."

"Just relax," Michael murmured holding his boyfriend. "Take a moment to get yourself together. You don't need to be stressing out." He held him tight hoping he was helping if even only a little bit.

"She asked me to stay with her," Lance lifted his head. "I have to get the doctor to let me stay here with her. I can't imagine not being able to hear but not being able to hear and being alone..." he shook his head.

"Wait," Ben spoke hearing Lance's words. "Rachel asked you to stay?" It was his turn to be confused. "Why would she ask you to stay and not me?"

"Because I'm her twin," Lance turned from Michael to face Ben.

"I'm her boyfriend," Ben stated, straightening.

"Guys, stop," Michael stepped from behind Lance in between Lance and Ben. "The last thing Rachel needs right now is you guys fighting. What's most important is Rachel and getting her better. If she wants Lance to stay with her, then Lance stays with her. If she wants me, then I'll stay. What we want doesn't matter."

"Yeah, you're right," Lance said. He watched Ben and could tell the man wanted to say something but he wisely let the topic drop. "I need to call our parents. When Megan comes back and you're visiting Rachel I'll help her contact all the people she needs to contact. She's definitely going to earn that paycheck my sister's paying her."