A/N I am so sorry this is late! I haven't forgotten about this at all, I have just been crazy busy! Thanks for all the lovely reviews you all rock. Reviews keep me going! On with the story! Oh ps the text in italics is Carlos remembering the conversation between Mrs. Knight, the boys, and the doctor. Oh and even more ps, I'm trying really hard to research all this stuff but bottom line is I'm not even close to a doctor so if I'm wayyyyy off here, please don't hate me but feel free to correct me and help me get my facts straight. I feel like I have been on 15 websites and they all tell me something different lol. Ok, I shall shutty now.

Carlos thrashed his legs and rolled onto his back for the umpteenth time that night. He was no longer tired. All he could think about was Kendall. After only being asleep for an hour, Mrs. Knight and Dr. Johnson had woken him up along with James and Logan to let them see Kendall and to break the news that their friend had suffered a setback. Carlos didn't understand most of what they were talking about. He was told Kendall's fever had gotten so high it could've killed him. The doctors had no choice but to give him an ice bath and he hadn't been awake since.

Carlos shuddered under his blankets and scooted closer to James when he remembered how much sicker Kendall had looked. He really had looked ill this time, not just like he was sleeping, and it scared Carlos. He had tried to pay attention to what Dr. Johnson was telling him, even Logan seemed to be the only one who really understood any of it.

"We don't know too much at the moment," Dr. Johnson had told the boys. "But his fever is down to 104.6 and that's a very good thing. However, we don't know if it's caused any damage until he wakes up."

"Damage?" James had asked, fear and confusion evident in his voice.

"This is the 2nd day in a row Kendall suffered from Hyperpyrexia, and the possibility of brain damage is high."

Carlos had hear Logan gasp, but he had no idea what Hyperpyrexia was. He guessed it was something to do with Kendall's fever.

"What if this happens again?" James asked. "Why can't we keep his fever down?"

"Kendall's body is waging war on itself. He's fighting his infection with everything he has in him." Dr. Johnson had explained. His fever is his natural defense. We put him on extremely strong doses of Acetaminophen to keep his fever from shooting back up again, and we put him on Flucloxacillin, which is a strong antibiotic, as well as upped his dosage of Ciprofloxacin from 200 mg's to 400 mg's. We just performed more bloodwork to see if the infection has spread and the results will be in by the morning. We had the infection contained, but since there was a small time frame when his other antibiotics stopped working his chance of Multiple Organ Damage is greater, but not by much. We just want to be sure."

Carlos blinked out of his flashback. He wished he understood more but it all sounded alien to him. He only knew one thing. All this was happening because of a stupid kidney infection and even though Carlos had only just calmed a guilty Logan last night, he couldn't help but be the guilty one now. Kendall had told Carlos that is back hurt yet he had kept it a secret from anyone who could help. What kind of friend was he?

Carlos sighed. He'd been lying on this blanket for hours. After they visited Kendall, Mrs. Knight took them to the cafeteria for dinner and then made them lay back down in Logan's room before picking up Katie and bringing her home. It was now 1 am and Carlos was too worried and guilty to sleep. He had a feeling in his gut that something was wrong. Kendall was all alone in that dark hospital room. What if he was awake and scared?

"James, wake up," Carlos said, shaking the tall brunette next to him.

"Huh?" James moaned.

"James, my tummy feels weird."

"It was probably the cafeteria food, you'll be fine," James grumbled.

"No, I mean I feel like something is wrong." Carlos waited for a reply but only received silence. Carlos nudged James, who snorted and smacked his lips, having fallen back asleep. Carlos pouted.

"Yeah, you're really 'pretty' when you're asleep," Carlos muttered. He didn't want to walk the big scary hospital halls by himself, but Logan was feeling good and he didn't want to bother him. Carlos sighed. He couldn't just lay here wondering if Kendall was ok. He needed to make sure Kendall was allright. He needed to apologize.

Even though he had already been caught that day, Carlos padded out of Logan's room in search of Kendall. He slowly walked through the empty, dimly lit halls. It was quiet compared to the hustle and bustle of that afternoon, and all the rooms surrounding him were dark.

"Brr," The young Latino said with a shiver, wrapping his duckie pajamas around him tighter. It was cold in the hallways, and the tile floor beneath his barefeet was freezing as he quietly snuck past a nurse's station. Considering the time of night, there was only one nurse at the station and a couple of doctors roaming the floor that Carlos easily ducked and hid from. Carlos stifled a tiny laugh because he was "ducking" from mean people who could send him home while wearing duck pajamas, but quickly focused on the task he had set out to do. Kendall needed him right now.

Carlos crept into Kendall's dark room and started shivering again, not because it was cold but because it felt so eerie in the little room. The Latino could just barely make out Kendall's pale form glowing in the greenish light of his EKG, and it was silent save for the steady beeping of the machines Kendall was attached to.

"Hey Kendall," Carlos whispered, not wanting to wake his friend but unsure if he was already awake. But as he crept closer, he could see Kendall's eyes were closed and his mouth slightly parted. Carlos sighed and sat on the floor next to Kendall's bed, bringing his knees to his chest.

"I'm sorry buddy," Carlos whispered. "You told me you were sick and I ignored it. You were asking me for help and I was so blind to it. It's all my fault you're going through this. I should've told Logan or your mom even though you told me not to. I'm sorry I'm a horrible friend and now you have to go through all this. I wish I could make you better." Carlos got to his knees and carded his hand through Kendall's sweaty hair. "I love you Kendall. Please get better." Carlos curled up on the floor, slightly comforted knowing his best friend wasn't alone, and fell asleep.

Missing. Something was missing next to James. It was there when he fell asleep but now it was gone, and he could sense the empty void in his sleep.

'Carlos?" James asked, sitting upright as he realized at once what was gone. He glanced at the digital clock that read 2 am Carlos was missing in the middle of the night? That was never a good thing. James got to his feet and searched in the most obvious place: the bathroom. When he couldn't find his hyper friend there, he checked the kid's area in the waiting room because maybe Carlos got bored and decided to play a little. James started to panic when an idea dawned on James and he rolled his eyes at himself as he dashed to the I.C.U.

"Carlitos…" James breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a tiny, dark lump on the floor next to Kendall's bed. James checked on Kendall before sitting next to Carlos and shaking him gently.

"Hmm?" Carlos groaned as he stretched out and opened his eyes. "James?"

James sighed. "What are you doing up here, Carlos? We aren't supposed to even be at the hospital let alone up here. If Dr. Johnson catches up here he won't let us stay the night again."

"Dr. Johnson won't be back until the morning," Carlos said, sitting upright.

"You didn't answer my question, why are you sleeping up here?" James leaned in close to get a better look at Carlos. "Were you crying?"

Carlos quickly wiped at the tear streaks left on his cheeks. He guessed he had been crying in his sleep. "Can I tell you something, and you have to promise not to hate me?"

"Carlos, what did you do?" James asked gently. Carlos had that guilty "I chewed on your shoes" puppy dog look in his chocolate eyes.

"This is my fault," Carlos admitted, staring at his feet and absentmindedly playing with his toes. He suddenly felt uncomfortable, afraid that James might yell at him. But Carlos should've known James could never raise his voice at his little buddy.

"What are you talking about, buddy? What's your fault?"

"Kendall wasn't keeping his pain hidden. He told me his back hurt but made me promise not to tell and I didn't want him to hate me so I kept my mouth shut. But if I had just told Logan, he wouldn't be going through this right now. What kind of person just lets their best friend suffer?"

"Oh," James said, a little surprised. But he did not blame Carlos. Kendall was a stubborn butt, and Carlos was naïve and simply didn't know what was happening to Kendall.

"Are you mad?" Carlos whispered. "I understand if you are."

"I'm not mad at you Carlos," James said sweetly. "I'm sorry you have to wear that weight on your shoulders but it's not your fault. How could you have possibly known? You're not a doctor."

"It doesn't take a doctor to see how much pain he was in, James. He was crying one night and I assumed he ate a rotten corndog. How stupid is that? I was killing my hero without even realizing it."

James eyes widened to huge hazel saucers when he heard that. "Hey, no Carlos don't say that. Bad things like this just happen and they're nobody's fault-" James looked up when he suddenly heard a weak cough and a wheeze from beside him. Kendall was staring down at his friends with a sad look in his eyes.

"It's not your fault, Carlos," Kendall rasped. "Listen to James. I don't blame you."

"Kendall," Carlos whispered, hugging the sick boy very gently. Kendall was too weak to hug back, but he managed a small smile. It was nice to have Carlos hold him. Kendall felt fingers brush his forehead, and he looked up to see James feeling for fever and stroking his hair back. Kendall leaned into the welcome touch and closed his eyes.

"How are you, Kendall?" The tall brunette asked.

"Been better," Kendall said. 'Where's mom?"

"At home, sleeping with Katie," Carlos said, glancing at James. He felt sort of like punching Dr. Johnson in the mouth because Kendall didn't seem to be having any mental problems from all the fever. Maybe something was finally starting to look up for them.

"Katie's fine, don't worry," James added.

"Logan?" Kendall asked. He had to go through the list and make sure his loved ones were ok because, well, he loved them.

"Sleeping. He should be feeling better. Are you ok, Kendall? You're breathing sounds kind of labored," James noticed. Kendall seemed to be dragging in each breath slow and heavy.

"S'hard to breath," Kendall said, coughing again, and Carlos called a doctor in. Within seconds, Kendall's EKG started beeping a little more rapidly as he started to panic from the lack of oxygen.

Kendall's substitute doctor, Dr. Miller, came running in along with a couple of nurses who heard Kendall's monitor go off.

"What happened? What are you boys doing here?" Dr. Miller asked, listening to Kendall's heart.

"His BP is dropping fast," a nurse said worriedly.

"He can't breathe," James told the doctor nervously.

"Get him on oxygen and get him a blood analysis," Dr. Miller told the nurse. "This is what we were afraid of…"

"What's happening?" James asked, wrapping an arm around Carlos because the little teenager looked lost and frightened.

"Jamie I'm scared," Kendall said in between gasps for air, and a nurse strapped on an oxygen mask around his mouth while another nurse drew blood from his arm.

'Boys, you need to leave now," Dr. Miller said firmly, trying to push James and Carlos out into the hall.

"No, let us stay," Carlos begged, but Dr. Miller was much bigger and stronger than the 2 teenagers and he easily pushed them out the door.

'What's going on?" Carlos cried, smashing his face against the window so he could watch the commotion around Kendall. The blonde was trying to rip off his mask and push away the nurses in his panicked state. Suddenly, Kendall stopped thrashing around and went completely still and mere seconds later, 4 doctors came running past Carlos and James, pushing a huge machine into Kendall's room.

"What is that?" Carlos asked.

"I'm not sure. Come on let's see what's happening," James said, grabbing Carlos wrist and dragging him into the corner of the hospital room, out of the way of the busy doctors who didn't even notice their presence.

James' heart dropped when he realized what was going on. Kendall was unusually still. The EKG was flatlined. That giant machine the doctors rolled in was a defibrillator. James' legs shook and his head spun dizzily as 3 words crossed his mind.

Kendall was dead.

A/N Whatever you do, don't panic! I love you all. Review if you want to know what just happened. Haha jk I'm not that mean but reviews make me happier than a rainbow and fried corn.