A/N. Okay, honestly? Am I really supposed to avoid my 'Little Hollow' world when there are so many wonderful topics in this challenge? Originally I was going to try to keep from bouncing all over the place with the boys' ages. But then I saw this one and. . . I couldn't resist. I missed my angst. Besides, looking back on it, I feel like C41-43 of 'LH' went by a little too fast. I decided to slow things down a little. End result? I choked on the angst. I don't own anything.

James Diamond had never been in so much pain before in all his life. The sheer panic that gripped his lungs was slowly cutting off his oxygen completely and it tightened his chest. He let out a choked gasp of air and tried to speak but no words came out.

All around him was chaos. At Doctor Walsh's cry of alarm, the room had filed with strange men and women who promptly surrounded the still figure on the hospital bed and went to work trying to save a life. Dimly, James could hear both Kendall and Carlos saying something but he couldn't distinguish words out of all the noise. All his attention was riveted on Logan.

Logan. Logan wasn't breathing. His face was pale, the area around his lips had turned an awful shade of blue. Doctor Walsh had started artificial respiration on him while a team of doctors worked feverishly to set up an oxygen tank and the shock paddles. James got the sense that they were all hurrying even though it looked like they were moving in slow motion.

James had always hated hospital shows. He wasn't like Kendall who got queasy at the sight of a paper cut, he just didn't like watching people die even if it was just pretend. But at that moment, he would have given anything to be sitting at home watching ER, or Grey's Anatomy. Because what he actually was watching was one hundred percent real: He was watching his best friend die.

Suddenly, a burly pair of arms latched themselves around James' frozen form and he found himself being pulled away from the scene, away from Logan. He tried to jerk away but it was like his arms were made of spaghetti because they floundered around uselessly in the iron grip and there was nothing he could do. Still, he struggled and screamed. What he screamed he had no idea but it didn't matter They couldn't take him away from Logan.

Then he found himself out in the hallway with his other best friends and Mrs. Knight and Katie. He took no notice of them and slammed every inch of his tall frame into the closed door. It didn't budge. Instead of trying again, James pressed against the glass window and strained to see Logan amidst the crowd.

There was a tube down his throat and someone was trying to force air back into his lungs while another two pressed the paddles to his motionless chest. James watched as Logan jerked upward then fell back to the bed.

"Come on, Logan." He whispered as if Logan could actually hear him. He shook his head in denial as the doctors repeated the process with the same result.

It was just like a TV show except it was real. It wasn't some actor getting paid millions of dollars to die for five minutes. Logan wouldn't get up, collect his check and leave. Logan was dying right before James' eyes.

He had been dying slowly for months, the cancer eating away at him day by day. The kidney surgery had been a last resort to save him because the doctors hadn't even known if he would survive the operation. But he had and James had found reason to hope. Twenty-four hours later though, his last shred of hope was disappearing with each failed attempt from the doctors to get Logan back.

"Come on, Logan." He repeated. "Please don't leave us now." His legs buckled underneath of him and he slid to the floor, his back against the wall. Tears had blinded him but he could still hear.

"Time of death, 1:34pm."

No. James pressed his hands to his ears and foolishly tried to pretend that he had heard wrong. They couldn't possibly be talking about Logan.

The door opened and a string of dejected looking doctors and nurses walked out, most of them avoiding eye contact with the small group. Doctor Walsh was the last to exit the room and his gaze swept over the boys and Mrs. Knight and Katie. "I'm so sorry."

There was nothing else that anyone could say. James felt like ripping into the doctor, screaming and asking him why he couldn't save Logan. They had failed at their job. But Logan would have been the first to tell James that doctors couldn't save everyone. Why Logan though? Why did Logan have to be one they couldn't save? James couldn't think or feel. He was utterly numb to the doctor's words. Then, Carlos spoke up.

"But we never got to say goodbye." He sounded so lost to James, like part of him refused to accept the fact that Logan was gone.

James couldn't believe it either. Logan couldn't be dead. Not now. Not that way. If Logan was meant to lose his battle with cancer then it should have been in a more peaceful way. They should have been able to say goodbye to Logan.

What were they supposed to do now? Before James or anyone else could ask, Doctor Walsh had turned and nodded to the open door. James stood up slowly and followed by the others, walked slowly into the room. It was like he was in a trance, his legs moving of their own accord to the bed.

Logan looked like he as sleeping except that he wasn't breathing and there was no sign of life at all. The tube had been removed and a sheet had been pulled up to his chin, hiding the marks the paddles had made. James reached out and touched a hand, felt the cold skin, and fell apart.

He dropped into the nearest chair and wrapped his arms around himself, trying to stop the pain that had suddenly blasted throughout his entire body. It literally felt like he had been cut open and something had ripped through his lungs. Huge, wracking sobs shook his entire body and the tears fell so fast that for the moment, he was completely blind and all he could see was darkness. He never knew that a person could cry so hard but he also never knew that losing one of his friends could hurt so badly.

Next to him, Kendall was standing perfectly still, every single muscle rigid. There was a chair behind him but he took no notice of it and he stared at Logan, disbelief in his green eyes. Carlos had immediately flung himself down by Logan and was pleading for him to come back.

Each word out of the younger boy's mouth were like knives continually stabbing James, puncturing his lungs and creating more holes in his heart. He wanted to scream at Carlos to stop talking to Logan, because Logan was dead and he wasn't coming back. Another part of him wanted to join Carlos and plead with Logan, even though nothing could bring him back.

James had no idea how much time had passed. He forgot all about time and he struggled for air in between sobs. It seemed like everything had stopped because Kendall still hadn't moved and Carlos was still pleading to Logan, and he was still crying. They were frozen in time, stuck in the torturous moment.

"Logan?"

He heard Carlos' whisper over his own sobs but the way he sounded like he was actually talking to Logan, expecting a response, make him cry even harder. He couldn't bear losing Carlos too but it seemed like it was already to late for that.

"Carlos-"

Kendall. Kendall broke from his frozen posture to reach out to Carlos who pulled away and cut his friend off in one breathless word.

"Look."

The second time Carlos spoke was different. Before he could stop himself, James raised his head to see what had erased the pain in Carlos' voice. He froze. Logan was breathing. It wasn't at all possible but he was. As James watched, the faintest tinge of color came into the gray face and his eyes even caught the slightest twinge of Logan's fingers.

Doctor Walsh spoke next. James had completely forgotten that he was still there. Suddenly he was close, too close, as he bent to look over the patient he had pronounced dead only a short time ago. James wanted to push him away so that he could see Logan better but he was powerless to do anything watch.

Then Carlos was saying something too, but James still couldn't make out any words. Everything was just a faint buzzing sound in his ear. But then he saw Logan nod ever so slightly in response to whatever Carlos had said to him.

Kendall and Carlos were both saying something, their words increasing the buzzing sound in James' ears to the point where he wondered if he had gone completely insane and he was just imagining that Logan was alive.

But then Logan's eyes opened. At first they only opened a tiny bit and then shut so quickly that the alarm snapped James out of his daze. "What happened?" But already, Logan was trying again and soon James found himself staring at someone who was very much alive.

It was just like the last time they had seen Logan awake. His eyes were filled with pain and sorrow as he took all of them in. But then his gaze found Carlos who was grinning like an idiot and a faint smile crossed his face and seemed to transform the rest of him. "Hi."

It was such a small word and it was spoken so softly that James could just hear it over the buzzing sound of everyone else talking. But it was undoubtedly Logan's voice, something James thought he would never hear again. Contrary to his old belief that a person could only cry so many tears before they ran out, James started crying again at the sound. He heard Logan say Kendall's name and only cried harder.

Through his tears he saw Logan's face crease with worry and he saw Logan reach out to him. He opened his mouth to say something to James but before he could, the door was flung open once again and the same team of doctors trooped in, looking stunned as they tried to keep their composure professional.

"Wait."

James heard Logan speak again before he found himself being dragged out of the room once again. It was like a demented repeat of just a few minutes ago and this time he didn't even bother trying to stand. He let himself fall again to the floor as he tried to absorb what was happening.

"Logan's alive. He's alive. Did you see him? I felt him squeeze my hand and then he nodded and then he opened his eyes and he. . ." Carlos was talking so fast that his words were running together and making very little sense. He paced back and forth in such a frenzy that he attracted the attention of several random strangers as they poked their heads out of their rooms.

Logan is alive. The thought hit James so suddenly and so hard that he would have fallen over if he had been standing. He wanted to believe it but some part of him couldn't. He had just seen Logan die and now he was alive? How was that supposed to make any sense at all?

The door opened then and without waiting for any instructions, they flooded into the room. Mrs. Knight and Katie somehow claimed the first hugs then stepped away to marvel over the miracle. Kendall had sat down next to Logan's bed and was just looking at him with an enormous smile on his face. Carlos was practically on top of Kendall as he rushed over to the bed. He said something but once again the words were lost on James. He wondered if his hearing could have possibly been damaged somehow.

"James?"

But he heard Logan's voice. He wanted to go to Logan and hug him like everyone else had. He wanted to say something to him. But he couldn't. He couldn't move or even think. "You died." He jumped at the sound of his voice and watched Logan with unblinking eyes.

Logan's face grew sad again. "I'm sorry."

How absurd but typical of Logan to apologize for dying. James had no control over his body and let out a short, hysterical laugh before he started shaking. He had lost it. Somehow he had conjured up Logan so that he was alive and talking and saying that he was sorry for dying.

But it wasn't his imagination. It was real. Logan was really alive. Still. "I saw you die." James hated himself for being unable to step across the few feet that separated him from his friends because he wanted that more than anything. However, his legs refused to obey the orders his mind were screaming at him. Was he paralyzed?

"But James, I'm here now."

Logan's eyes had filled with tears and the sight of them was what broke James away from the wall he had pressed his back again. He stumbled over to the bed, nearly falling halfway there. He was steadied by someone, whether it was Carlos or Kendall he didn't know. Then he sank down besides Logan and after a brief hesitation, pulled him into a hug. He felt Logan return his embrace and Kendall and Carlos join in. It was only then that James could breath again.

A/N. My hope is that this wasn't repetitive but I liked it. Please review!