02

Hospitals have never been one of James' favorite places in the world. He knew that it helped people, but the fact that he had been there so many times from so many hockey games (and the stupid ideas that Kendall roped him into) he thought he wouldn't be in one if he was in a band. Hospitals are where you always get bad news. But this time, the bad news that he received would ruin his and his friends' reputations. And it wasn't even their fault.

The chairs were hard but what was to be expected at a hospital. Nothing was ever really comfortable there. Everything was white, which just made things blinding and reminded you that things had to be clean. People were scurrying back and forth, not answering your questions. Then there were the families that were waiting for the good or bad news. So far, there hadn't been any bad news given around them that was good. They were just waiting on the news that they were going to get about James.

Mrs. Knights at in her chair, reading a magazine, bouncing her leg up and down. It was obvious that she was trying to stay calm for the other three boys, just so she wouldn't alarm them. But she was a mother, so she couldn't hide her shaking fingers or her pale face. It didn't help much that the half hour before she was constantly pacing up and down the hall, barking at anyone that came her way, wondering what was going on.

Carlos stared at the bright light in the ceiling. His eyes burned with a mixture of the light and his own pain for his best friend. Kendall was right beside him yet so far away. Logan was looking at the door at the end of the corridor. The corridor stretched past rooms and a nurse's station. The windows were frosted, so that just made it harder for him to see what was going on. He wanted to be a doctor before, now…he wasn't sure if he could handle the stress of it.

A small cough at the door made them turn to attention. The four turned to look at a nurse and a serious looking doctor. "Mrs. Knight, I presume." She said politely looking at her and then scanning the boys on either side of her. "I'm Richards; the doctor that is treating James."

"Yes," Mrs. Knight said softly. "Is he alright?"

"He had a successful surgery." The doctor paused. "We put stitches in and closed up his wound, we cleaned it up as well."

"Oh, good" Mrs. Knight finally broke into a small smile.

"But there is something else that you need to know." Dr. Richards looked over at the boys before motioning for Mrs. Knight to follow them off down the hall. Kendall, Logan, and Carlos exchanged glances, all wishing they could hear what was being said. Logan slowly shifted his chair down the hall until he was in the perfect position to hear what they were saying.

He moved back when he had heard enough.

"He's going to need to stay overnight so we can be sure that he's ok," Logan relayed to Kendall and Carlos as they sat in the waiting room, after overhearing his doctor, Dr. Richards, and Mrs. Knight talking quietly. "The stab wound wasn't too deep, but he's going to need stitches and be watched in case of infection, vomiting blood, internal bleeding, and distention."

"He's already stayed overnight," Kendall groaned. "Its morning already, he has to stay all day today, too?" He let out a growl of frustration.

"Distention?" Carlos repeated, wrinkling his nose.

"Swelling." Kendall clarified. He rolled his eyes. "All those years listening to Logan babble on and on about doctor stuff and I actually picked something up." He turned and gave Logan a cheesy smile.

Logan rolled his eyes.

Carlos ran his hands over his face and then turned his head to the side, peeking over at Kendall and Logan. They didn't look too bothered by what was going on. Carlos frowned. How could they not care about their best friend who was lying in a hospital bed after being attacked?

"He wasn't attacked, exactly," Logan said, letting Carlos know that he had been thinking out loud. "Maybe someone…" he thought for a moment. "Well, I don't really know what happened. I wasn't there." He rubbed his hands together. "I was already on stage."

"So was I." Kendall agreed. "So I didn't see what happened either." He shrugged.

"Nothing happened," Logan insisted. "He must have fallen into something before he went on stage. There were wires everywhere and not all of them were taped down."

Kendall raised an eyebrow. He didn't want to call Logan out on it, but that seemed really far-fetched and almost impossible. You can't have a stab wound like that after falling onto something when tripping over a chord on the ground. None of the stagehands would have allowed something sharp to poke out of the ground towards them; they took every precaution they could think of when it came to their performances, so nothing like this would happen. But it still did.

So what if it wasn't an accident?

Kendall looked over at Carlos and Logan. He could tell by the looks on their faces that they had the same thought. The wound couldn't have been an accident; he really was attacked by someone. It could have been a random fan, trying to get some of his blood to keep for themselves. It could have been a stalker, they've had about two of those already and their security team had gotten rid of them pretty quickly.

"Let's just say," Logan said slowly. "For the sake of this whole thing, that this wasn't a fan that snuck backstage and got a little bit too excited." Carlos nodded. "Our security is usually pretty good and keeping people that aren't supposed to be backstage from getting backstage, right?"

"Right." Kendall concurred.

"So, what are the chances that the person was supposed to be backstage?" Logan continued.

Carlos gave him a skeptical look. "I thought you said that this was nothing but an accident."

"Well, I can only say that until I have enough proof that tells me that it wasn't." Logan said quickly. "You know, like innocent until proven guilty. Accident until proven-"

"Murder attempt?" Kendall broke in.

"I didn't say it was attempted murder," Logan said quickly. "I just wonder if it was an accident. It could have either been a fan that somehow snuck backstage or it could have been someone that James might have pissed off and wanted to get revenge. It could also be someone that masked themselves as part of our crew, just to get close to him. It happens all the time. It happened with Kirk Cameron."

"Not exactly," Kendall spoke up. "Kirk's stalker basically moved his obsession onto the younger…kid, and said that he was going to be on set that day to hurt him, so they had extra security. We just have the regular security that we always get."

All of a sudden their cell phones started to go off with different sounds that acknowledged texts coming in and people calling them. "It must be the others from the PalmWoods," Carlos noted. "Or it's our parents." He added to Logan. "What about James' mom?"

"The Hospital would have called her." Kendall replied. He pulled his phone from his pocket. "I'm going to call Katie and tell her what the doctor said." He told the other two before pushing his way through the double doors and starting to walk down the corridor towards the front of the hospital. As soon as he stepped into the lobby, Kelly pounced on him.

"Hey," She said walking up to him. "Where are you going?"

"For a walk," Kendall replied and then lifted his hand, waving his phone. "I was going to call Katie too, too, to tell her that James is ok." Kelly studied him carefully. He was the leader of the group of friends, so he would try and stay as calm and rational as possible, so the others would stay positive, but she could see it in his eyes. He was close to cracking; he wanted to scream and demand that the doctors fix his friend.

Btu he couldn't do it.

Kelly sighed and gave a short nod. "Well don't go outside." She warned him. "The press is lurking everywhere." She noticed the bags under his eyes. "Did you sleep last night?"

"No"

"Did anyone?"

Kendall shook his head again. He then noticed that he wasn't being yelled at or berated. In fact, there was no yelling at all. His green eyes moved around the lobby before they returned to Kelly once more. "Where's Gustavo?" he asked. "I figured that he would be here…" They were Gustavo Rocque's dogs; nothing would keep him away if something was going on.

"Last he told me, he was answering calls from the press, trying to keep them away from here," Kelly rolled her eyes. "But as soon as something like this happens, you can't keep them away. He said he would be here soon, so I don't know what's keeping him." She reached out and patted Kendall's shoulder. "James is going to be fine." She reminded him.

Kendall smiled and nodded back. He looked up at the TV, a frown coming over his face. It was the local news station, showing pictures of the hospital that they were in. Kendall groaned as he walked closer, running his hands over his face. Through the glass doors at the front of the hospital, he could see camera flashes.

"What can you tell us about what happened, Daniel?" The blonde asked. The screen showed a tall brunette, man standing in front of the entrance to the hospital. It was obvious from the way that he was dressed that he was an off-duty police officer that had been called to help secure the area so no one would get in.

"It's Officer Fallon and, Helen; I can tell you that no one has officially released any details about the incident or James's condition. All four members of Big Time Rush are still inside the building and have not left since last night when James has arrived. But no one except for their friends, family, and the officers that are assigned to this case shall be allowed to enter the premises."

"So you think that this is a case?" The reporter eagerly jumped onto the statement. "You don't think that what happened tonight was an accident?"

"No further questions." Officer Fallon turned and walked off screen.

"Thank you." The reporter gave the camera a tight smile, obviously disappointed with the lack of dirt that she managed to get. "We'll check up on that a little later." Helen smiled. "Back to you-"

Kendall turned away from the TV as he punched in the number for the apartment in to the phone. He was sure that Katie wouldn't be awake that early, she probably didn't even know what happened last night, she had been forced to go home with Jo, Camille, and Stephanie after things fell into chaos. He quickly left a message before turning back to the TV once again, seeing a flash of a picture of him and his friends move across the screen.

"Good morning, it's Friday October 24th. The headlines today for today…." Kendall zoned out for a few seconds, at this point, not caring about what was going on with the rest of the world. He waited impatiently for the news broadcast about him and his best friends. Finally their picture came up on screen once more. Kendall couldn't help but wince at the picture that they had chosen. "James Diamond of the band, Big Time Rush, was stabbed last night before their show in LA could start. The incident occurred offstage before the start of the concert, but James was seen stumbling onstage moments after his name was announced, holding onto his stomach. Witnesses said they quickly spotted blood and became alarmed. This footage was captured at the time."

"What footage?" Kendall asked himself, his eyes growing wide.

The video was shaky; it blurred and cleared over and over again as the camera zoomed in. The screen showed the concert starting, pyro going off and screams erupting all over the place. Then there was a sudden hush as James appeared onstage. He stumbled once, holding onto the side of his stomach. He jerked once and turned his head towards the other three. Kendall watched himself stare in shock as Carlos said James' name. Then it showed Carlos running over to James and catching him before he hit the stage floor, Kendall and Logan moving quickly after that.

Someone moved in the view of the camera and when it came into focus again James was on the floor and people were crowding round him.

The video cut there and the reporter came back on screen.

But Kendall couldn't focus on that news report.

It was the next one that caused his mouth to drop open in shock and his heart to fall to his feet.

A/N: At this point, I'm trying to figure out whether or not to have other characters appear as the story goes along to enhance the mystery, but at the same time, I also think that having BTR as the focus characters would be better so you're definitely surprised by the end. Thanks for all of the reviews for the first chapter; I didn't expect to get 10 so quickly!

Cheers,

-Riles