Katie felt herself 'snap' back to reality. It only felt like a couple minutes that she was asleep. Her eyelids felt so heavy, she just listened to her surroundings instead, it sounded quiet but different. All these beeping sounds didn't sound familiar at all. "Where am I?" she wondered to herself. She eventually had enough strength to open her eyes, it was dark but yet light enough to see. It must have been around 4am. The sun was just starting to rise. She tried to look around but was just about flat on her back She moved her head to try to get a better view but she could only see machines. She realized where she was; the hospital. "Why am I in the hospital? What happened?" She thought to herself. She tried to recall the last thing she remembered. "I was feeling tired, so I sat down. I've been feeling tired and out of sorts for a little while but I thought it was just work catching up with me." She got caught up in all her thoughts, she didn't notice a nurse come in.
"Oh good you're awake." She said in a whisper. Katie tried to talk to the nurse to ask what was going on but couldn't. It was then she realized she had a tube down her throat and a mask on her face. More thoughts coursed through her mind as the nurse checked different charts and readings. When she had finished, she came back to the bed and peeked down over the side.
"there are going to be a few people who will be thrilled to see you awake." she said with a smile. She pushed a button on the side of the bed that raised the top half of the bed that sat her up slightly. Just enough to see James, Carlos, Logan and Kendall sound asleep around the room. Logan had his feet up on another chair, arms on his lap, fingers entwined and head resting against the wall. James was next to him, head forward, arms folded, legs on the floor. Kendall was laying across a row of chairs on his side. Arms folded with his head on something dark, maybe someone's jacket. Carlos was sitting in a chair laying over the bed. Arms folded underneath him, head resting on his arms.
She tried to reach out to Carlos but was too weak. She inched her hand out towards his little by little. She finally managed to grab his hand and gave it a squeeze. He moaned lightly before turning over and slowly pulling his hand away. He opened his eyes a little bit but wasn't registering what he saw.
A doctor and nurse came in suddenly. They turned on the lights, making Katie close her eyes. She squinted at the medical staff before adjusting to the light. They were moderately quiet as they worked around Carlos.
"Glad to see you're awake. Do you know where you are?" The doctor had asked. Katie tried to nod but had a bit of difficulty. "Your friends are still here, they must care about you a lot. They have been here as much as they could. You're lucky to have such good friends." the doctor continued. He was being quiet but Carlos was beginning to stir, he was a heavy sleeper but it didn't take much to wake him up. Carlos awoke to see the doctor standing above him working over Katie. It took a few seconds before he could speak.
"What's going on? Is Katie ok?" he said sleepily.
"She's fine" the nurse said with a smile.
"Indeed she is, take a look." the doctor said as he took a step to the side. Carlos was a little confused, having just woken up, he looked past the doctor to see Katie staring back at him. His eyes lit up as he stood to his feet. He rushed to the other side of the bed to give her a hug and a kiss on the head. "How are you feeling? Are you alright? Are you in any pain?" Carlos began questioning, worried. She shook her head as best she could. Carlos was happy she was awake. He stayed by her side as the medical team continued with their work.
Carlos held her hand the entire time, only letting go when the doctor and nurse had asked. He stayed quiet as they asked Katie to do different tasks and ask questions. During a pause, Carlos saw Katie look towards the others, still fast asleep.
"Hang on, I'll wake them up" he said with a smile. He got up carefully and went over to the closest which was Kendall. He bent over him and lightly shook him.
"Kendall?" He said. Kendall groaned a response but didn't move. "Come on K-dog, get up." Kendall frowned before opening his eyes. He squinted at the bright light and shielded his eyes to see Carlos standing above him
"Carlos?" he questioned sleepily. "What's going on? 'he continued as he began to move.
"Katie's awake" Carlos replied. Kendall was very confused. He wasn't a quick thinker in the morning.
"….What?…." he asked confused but with an underlying tone of frustration. He was thinking it was a regular day. Why would Carlos wake him up to tell him Katie was awake? Why did that matter?
"Dude, Katie woke up. The doctor is working on her now." Carlos said. Kendall rose to his elbow, and looked Carlos in the eyes before fighting the blanket to get up. Carlos backed up in an effort to avoid getting hit. Kendall managed to get free and rushed to the bed. Carlos came out from the wall after Kendall had passed and went to wake up Logan and James.
"Katie!" Kendall said excitedly but full of relief. He bent down to hug her as tightly as he could. The bars of the bed, pushed into his stomach but he didn't care. He held her until the medical team told him to let go. He didn't want to but he let them do their work.
"Guys wake up" Carlos said as he shook Logan and tapped James on the shoulder. Logan was a really heavy sleeper for someone who didn't sleep much. James was difficult to wake up to but not as difficult as Logan. James woke up after a couple taps.
"James Katie is awake" Carlos said. James didn't need to be told twice before he was on his feet. Carlos continued to try to wake Logan. Logan began to move, Carlos hit him on the arm. Logan almost bolted awake.
"Yo, Carlos. What the hell?" Logan began
"Katie's awake!" Carlos said interrupting him.
"She is?"
"Yeah look!" he replied pointing. Logan sprung to his feet and ran to the bed. Carlos joined his friends. The doctor had finished with his work and had moved on to the machines.
"I'm going to take out the tube. When I say three I want you to exhale as hard as you can. Take a deep breath." he said. The machine clicked loudly as she did so. "One. Two. Three!" he counted. He pulled the tube out with care and in a matter of seconds it was out. Katie began to gasp for air and cough. She was to weak to cough hard enough. The guys watched, worried as she struggled. An oxygen mask was placed over her nose. Once she regained her breath, she soon drifted off to sleep. The boys stayed quiet around her bed until the doctor told them to go home.
"She will need some rest for a few days. I'm sure news will travel fast about her waking up, but until we know more and get her on some sort of recovery program, we have to limit visits to 1 person at a time for about 10 minutes. You boys should go home and get a decent meal and a good nights sleep anyway. You can come back in a few days." he said. The boys left reluctantly and headed to the studio to let everyone know. Their phones had died while at the hospital so they couldn't contact anyone. James left his charger in his dressing room anyway.
News indeed traveled fast and Katie had several visitors over the next few days before visiting privileges were revoked temporarily while she recovered. She got stronger each day and had more energy and was more alert and talkative. The doctors said she was doing fantastic. She could breathe on her own with little problem although she would be short of breath now and then after a good laugh. After 2 weeks, the boys were able to visit again. They were thrilled to see her again, they had missed her. They refused to do much work. They shot a couple parts of the show or episodes that didn't have Katie in them but they wanted to spend as much time as they could with her. Just to show her that they cared and would never forget about her. The doctors had finally managed to diagnose her with a simple condition that causes several deficiencies with hormones, chemicals and nutrients. The severity of the condition was why it couldn't be diagnosed right away. The condition is quite common but this was one of the worst cases ever. Most likely due to her current lifestyle. She had it for a while and left untreated it was basically shutting everything down. Its curable but it would take some time. Until then, she would be on a hospital regimen that would limit her acting abilities for a while. She would have to undergo some physical therapy as well to regain basic function after being laid up for so long. She would have to stay in the hospital for a little longer until she was well enough to go home but she would still need some care.
Knowing Katie was going to be alright meant the world to the guys. There was no more uncertainty of their friend. Nothing could have made them any happier and they were going to be with her every step of the way on the road to recovery.

*AN* More on "the Condition": It's something that causes several things to be 'out of whack'. One day you could be lactose intolerant the next day diabetic and the next perfectly healthy. It causes a lot of pain such as headaches, stomach aches, joint and muscle pain etc. This is based of a real condition. The one depicted in this story is an exaggerated version/made-up.

Side note, this will more than likely never appear in any future stories. I may end up giving it a name and just saying the name but I havent decided yet. So now that both the long and short versions of the story are done, I can focus on other stories that will hopefully be a little shorter. I actually have a few other stories in the works/waiting to be published. I may take a bit of a break however, there is much to be done now that Christmas is in just over 24 hours.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays (Merry Christmahanakwanzika ) And Happy New Year. I my see you before then though, but in case I don't. Stay safe Fellow Rushers. :)