Chapter 3: Nathan

Nathan had arrived at work very early the next morning. He stared at his watch, 6:00 AM it read. It would be yet another hour before the other senators arrived. He continued feeling increasingly restless by the second. Even though he had not gotten any sleep the night before, he didn't feel at all tired. He was awake most of the night worrying about coming into work the next morning. He had decided that with Peter's deteriorating health, he was going to have to take some time off from his work, and in an hour he knew he would have to break the news. He tried to imagine how the other senators would handle it. He really hoped they wouldn't act all sympathetic. Out of all the ways they could possibly handle the news, sympathy would be the absolute worst. He did not want to be made into some kind of charity case. Nathan shuddered at that thought. There was absolutely no way he would be able to handle that. The harder he thought about it, he came to realize that, that was definitely how they were going to handle the news after all, how else were they supposed to act? Nathan continued nervously staring at his watch. Just than one of the other senators arrived. "Well you're here early!" He said to Nathan. "Yes!" Nathan said. "Excellent observation!" He folded his hands across the table and waited for the dreaded question. "So how's your brother?" The other senator asked almost on cue. Nathan held his breath and tried to stay calm. "Listen!" He said. "We'll discuss my brother's health or should I say his lack of health as soon as everyone else arrives." One by one each of the senators started entering the room. "We were so worried yesterday!" One of the female politicians announced. "Is your brother okay?" Asked another male politician, the same one in fact who had expressed his concern the day before.

Nathan buried his face with his hands. It was already seeming like a long morning. As soon as the last couple of senators arrived, Nathan stood up, cleared his throat and began making his announcement. "All right people, listen up!" He said in a loud voice. Everyone's full attention was on Nathan. Already everyone looked worried. "Something big has come up! And that means I'm going to have to take some time off for quite a while" He explained. "A major family issue as you probably already know." He sighed heavily. "My brother is" He tried to keep his voice began breaking. "Well he's real sick; in fact he's…….dying!" The words sounded foreign and bitter on his tongue. He hadn't meant to say that. It had completely slipped out. Suddenly the whole room became quiet, a reaction that Nathan had expected. What he hadn't expected was for everyone to be silent for so long. For about a half an hour no one said anything. "Oh God Damnit people!" Nathan finally snapped. "I can't stand all this silence anymore! God Damnit! Say something!" Than to himself he added, 'bring on the all you can eat buffet of sympathy.' He stared at everyone sharply. "Wow!" Said the person sitting to his right. "Just wow! I'm so sorry!" "Is he okay?" Asked the person sitting on his left. "What do you think is wrong with him?" Asked the person sitting across from him. "What's he dying of?" "Is there anything we can do?" The room that was just a few seconds ago dead silent was now filled with questions.

Just as Nathan had expected they were feeding him an all you can eat buffet of sympathy and he could not for the life of him digest it. Angrily he pounded his fist against the table. It made a loud noise that got everyone's attention. "Listen here people!" He snapped. "I did not tell you this so I could be made into a charity case, and I sure as hell hope that none of you are planning on making any publicity about this." A couple people looked guilty. Nathan assumed that they had been planning on it. "We totally understand why you're upset! We know how you feel" The one on his right said putting his hand on Nathan's shoulder. "Yeah" Everyone else in the room echoed. "Okay!" Nathan started. "Who else here has a younger brother?" Several people raised their hands. "Okay!" Nathan said, "Who else here has a very sick younger brother who is very possibly dying of a mysterious illness?" That time nobody raised their hands. "All righty than! That's what I thought" Nathan said nodding his head slowly. "Basically none of you people can possibly know how I'm feeling. None of you can possibly understand what I'm going through. So you know what? Just shut up! Shut up all of you" A couple of people began whispering to each other. The only word audible words he could hear were 'asshole' and 'jackass' "Do you have something you'd like to share with us?" Nathan snapped "Go ahead then. Spill. As a matter of fact go ahead and you don't have to just say it to my face. Go for it! Tell everyone in this room that you think I'm a jackass and an asshole."

"Okay!" One of the people who had been whispering about him said boldly. "I will be completely straight forward with you." Nathan nodded his head. "All right than bring it" He commanded. "I think you are being a major jackass and a complete asshole, and you don't deserve our pity. You don't deserve our sympathy. I'm not a jerk or anything, I do sympathize with your brother, I'm sure he's a really nice person, but I do not sympathize with you."

"Fine!" Nathan said flatly. "In fact good, because as you know I don't want your sympathy." He breathed heavily. He was worried that if he didn't leave the room he would really start losing it, without any explanation he left the room. By the time Nathan got into the lobby, he began to realize that he felt as sorry for himself as everyone else felt for him. The last thing he wanted was to feel self pity. After all he was not the one who was very possibly dying. Because he was both the healthy one, the older one, that meant he was supposed to be the responsible one. He shuddered at the thought. For about the 50th time in only a matter of two days Nathan wondered who the hell invented genius the concept of younger brothers. He hadn't even wanted a younger brother in the first place. What he really wanted was a cool older sibling like a lot of his friends had. He had fantasized about that quite a lot when he was a kid. He would always listen in envy, as his friends bragged about the cool and admirable things their older siblings achieved. Nathan had nothing absolutely to brag about. He found Peter extraordinarily boring. A lot of his friends who had younger siblings thought they were annoying. Nathan didn't even have that going for him. As far as Nathan was concerned, Peter was just kind of there and was about as interesting as a dried up piece of toast. He had always been so different from Nathan. Nathan had always been extremely popular and outgoing, always one of the cool kids. Always at the very top of the social pyramid. Peter on the other hand had always been very reserved, serious, somewhat withdrawn, and almost always keeping to himself. As for popularity, he was at the way bottom of the social pyramid and invisible to everyone. If Nathan thought about it hard enough, a lot of those personality traits were what made him annoying. And it wasn't just that, it was also the fact that he was often getting into trouble with his powers, ever since he had gotten them it had been virtually one huge disaster after another. Now that he didn't have his powers, it was the fact that he was so sick. Whatever the reason was, Nathan suddenly found Peter to be the most annoying person ever, down right exasperating in fact. In fact he was beginning to start hating him again. Nathan tried to push the negative thoughts about Peter out of his head. As much as he wanted a cool older sibling, or as much as he wanted to be an only child, he knew that, that was not the reality. He knew that the reality was that he had a younger brother, and that his younger brother needed him more than ever. A horrible thought suddenly came over Nathan that he was unable to push aside. Sooner or later it was very possible that Peter really was dying. Therefore it was very possible that Nathan would become an only child, and that would become the reality. What else was going to become the reality? Nathan wondered in complete panic. Was he going to have to become his brother's full time care taker? Would he have to move in to Peter's apartment? Would Peter have to move in with him and Heidi? The possibilities seemed endless and unbearable. The more Nathan thought about the whole thing, the more he wanted to break down and cry. But he knew that that was not a possibility. He was in a public place after all and it really worried him that someone would come into the lobby and see him. If anyone saw him crying they were bound to questions, and the whole situation was something he could absolutely not bare talking about again. Once he told them he'd probably be given even more sympathy. The last thing he wanted or needed was more sympathy. He felt his eyes fill with tears. He would not, he promised himself, allow them to fall. It was too late. Before he knew it the tears started flowing down his cheeks. He tried to snap himself out of it. 'Stop crying you wimp!' he scolded himself. 'You're supposed to be stronger than this' No matter how many times he scolded himself, he could not stop the tears from falling. Pretty soon he had no choice but to let himself give in. He was pretty sure that a few people came into the lobby but he no longer cared. It no longer mattered who saw him crying. At that point, all he wanted to do was wallow in self pity. Soon enough he was literally bawling, in fact, he was crying so hard that snot was streaming from his nose. 'Look at you' he scolded himself once again 'You're so pitiful' He had absolutely no right to be pitying himself, but at the same time he did pity himself and he couldn't stop pitying himself, he could not stop pitying the whole situation. A couple of people were staring at him; they did not ask any questions. But one woman silently offered him a tissue. "No!" Nathan snapped, "No I don't need a tissue. I'm fine! Leave me alone!" She looked so hurt, that Nathan felt almost guilty about being mean to the perfectly nice stranger, but he didn't feel much like apologizing. "I'm fine!" He said, this time trying not to sound like a complete jerk. He wiped his tears. The next thing he knew his phone was going off. Nathan was almost positive it was Peter again. He answered it right away without even reading who it was from. "Nathan!" A stern voice said into the phone, "It's your mother!" Nathan's throat suddenly felt dry. He had to swallow a couple of times before he could finally speak. "Listen!" Angela said. "The reason I called you is because I kept trying to reach your brother, but he hasn't been answering either of his phones. I know he's in a lot of trouble because…" She sobbed. "Because you had one of your prophetic dreams!" Nathan finished off for her. "Yes I know!"

"Have you been able to reach him?" Angela asked, her voice sounding very tense. "As a matter of fact yes!" Nathan said. "I was actually the first person he thought of calling. He insisted that he needed me. So I came over" "I can't believe he didn't think of calling ME! I can't believe he didn't insist that he needed me." Angela said, her voice was filled with hurt. "Look mom!" Nathan said biting down on his lip. "Don't you think it would be a lot easier if we had this conversation in person rather than over the phone?" "Well yes!" Angela said. "I think that sounds like a great idea. Why don't you go ahead and come on over?" "I'll be right over than" Nathan said grudgingly. Angela was very busy in the kitchen when Nathan arrived at her house. She must have gotten up extra early that morning to make all that food. The overwhelming aroma of Italian food was making him practically dizzy with hunger. Already he knew that all that food was for Peter, and that he was not allowed to have any of it. It was pure torture. "Come on in" She instructed. Nathan reluctantly stepped into the kitchen. "Seriously mom!" Nathan said. "All of this food for just one person? That sure isn't healthy." Since Angela's back was turned Nathan decided it would be a good opportunity to steal some of the food. He began cutting himself a slice of lasagna, hoping that his mom wouldn't notice. Angela slapped his hand. "No!" She snapped "Not for you! You don't need it!" Nathan sighed in exasperation. "Answer me this Nathan!" Angela said. "When you last saw your brother how did he look?"

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked. "You know what I mean!" Angela snapped. "Do you think he's been eating? Was he particularly skinny? I mean any skinnier than usual?" Nathan couldn't resist. "He's like a tooth pick almost, I could practically see his rib cage." Angela looked horrified. She put her hand over her mouth. "Well that is just NOT okay!" She snapped. "No" Nathan said "I suppose it's really not okay! But it's not his fault." "Thankfully that problem can be solved" Angela said. "So Nathan" She continued. "How else did he seem? Is there anything else I need to know about? My prophetic dream was actually very vague, not too specific at all."

"He's very weak" Nathan explained. "I asked him to explain his weakness for me and he compared it to the effects of muscle relaxants." Angela looked confused. "Okay listen" Nathan said. "Before you say anything, I'd like to make it clear to you that he did not actually take any muscle relaxants, so you don't have to worry that he's a drug addict or anything" "Of course he's not a drug addict! That's just not who Peter is." Angela said indignantly. Nathan rolled his eyes. "Well ANYway!" He said. "He also has a very low body temperature. About 90.0 degrees."

"I see!" Angela said nodding her head very slowly. Nathan half expected her to freak out about that piece of information, though he wasn't sure why he half expected that. It was almost exasperating how calm she was being about the whole thing. "I can't believe this mom!" He snapped. "Aren't you worried about this at all? Aren't you worried that there could be something really wrong with him?" "Well" she said thoughtfully, "By the way you're describing his symptoms, it sounds like he's obviously clinically depressed. I mean obviously, he's not eating, he's weak…." "Well try explaining his very low temperature, how does that possibly relate to Clinical Depression?"

"Well obviously!" Angela said. "It's because he's not going outside enough he's obviously not getting enough sun." "Oh Puh'Lease!" Nathan said rolling his eyes. "You do understand that he's not cold blooded." Now it was Angela's turn to roll her eyes. "He also doesn't have his powers anymore!" Nathan blurted out. "They're gone!" "Well I'm sure they're not gone!" Angela said. "He probably hasn't even tried using them."

"Believe me mom" Nathan said, "He has been trying, he really wants to heal himself. He's been suffering from so much pain and so much weakness lately." "Probably emotional pain if anything" Angela said. "You know how Peter is. You're going to have to admit that brother's just not a very happy person. Never has been really. He has kind what I like to refer to as a depressive personality. Do you know what I mean?" Nathan tried to think about what his mother meant by a depressive personality. He thought very hard about Peter's personality traits. A lot of different words came to mind; quiet, reserved, monotoned, serious, emotional, sensitive, all of those qualities seemed a bit depressive, but up until that moment Nathan had never really thought about it in that way. "Yes!" Nathan said, "I suppose I know what you mean."

"I've been trying to get him to read this book." She explained, handing it to Nathan I'm actually planning on giving it to him when I take the food over." Angela said. Nathan stared at it. "The Noonday Demon: Atlas of Depression!" He said reading the title. "Seriously mom?" He asked, "You seriously think this book is going to help? Is that a joke of some sort?" "Of course it's not a joke!" Angela snapped indignantly. "Your brother's Depression is not a joke" Nathan rolled his eyes. Angela was making him do that quite a lot "Do you really think anything you're doing is going to help?" I can promise you he won't eat any of this food. He's like practically appetite retarded or something."

"How dare you say that?" Angela snapped. "Your brother is NOT retarded." Nathan smirked "Really?" He asked, "Are you sure about that?" He wasn't quite sure why he said it, except that for some reason it seemed to him like the right thing to say at the time. Almost instantly Angela slapped him across the face and she did not go lightly at all "Okay I suppose I deserved that!" Nathan said rubbing his cheek. "Damn right you deserved that!" Angela snapped. "What did you mean asking something like that? Where do you get off being so mean?"

"To be honest with you" Nathan said, "I don't know why I said it. I suppose you weren't supposed to hear me say that." "Oh?" Angela asked. "Well nice job with that."

"Look mom!" Nathan said. "I was being dead serious about him being appetite retarded. His appetites in fact even worse than usual. I don't think he'd be very happy with you trying to feed him." "You said he was toothpick skinny" Angela said "Did you not say that? Did you not say that you could practically see his rib cage? Could you not see his rib cage?"

"All right fine!" Nathan said grudgingly. "What's your point?" "Seriously?" Angela snapped. "You seriously can't see what my point is? My point is that he needs to eat no matter how terrible he may feel. Sometimes your brother gets so depressed that he eats even less than usual. Sometimes he refuses to eat at all. We can absolutely not have that happen again." "It's happened before?" Nathan asked. "I don't know if you're aware of this," Angela said huffily "But there was a time that your brother actually stopped eating. It In fact lasted for an entire year." Nathan stared at her blankly. "When he was six." Angela stated "I'm sure you do not remember. You were probably way too busy being cool and popular that you probably didn't even notice. But let me tell you something, it was very traumatic for both me and for your father." Nathan actually did remember that, because it had been one of the only times that Peter had done anything that he truly considered annoying and not to mention bratty. Although he was very popular at school and seemed happy, what Nathan really wanted was for his parents to pay attention to him once in a while. He wanted more than anything to be noticed. But it was always all about Peter. "I was very much aware of that!" Nathan said coming back into the presents. He thought about it even harder. As boring as he thought Peter was, he often couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. The way Angela was always forcing food on him when he obviously wasn't hungry; it was no mystery why his brother all together refused to eat. If Angela had treated Nathan that way, he would probably lose his appetite too. He suddenly realized exactly why Peter didn't call his mom right away to tell her about his symptoms. She was going to try to solve it all with food and with books like The Noonday Demon: Atlas of Depression. Nathan once again felt very sorry for Peter; he had made it clear that he was physically incapable of eating. "Seriously mom" Nathan snapped "leave him alone!"

"I don't think you understand Nathan!" Angela said disapprovingly. "No!" Nathan snapped "I think that you're the one who doesn't understand." He was suddenly feeling his eyes fill with tears again. "Peter's very sick! He may very possibly be dying! And it's not just the fact that he's been dreaming interchangeably about the cemetery and the morgue every night. He said that he actually feels like he's dying." Angela did not look she was buying any of it. "If you don't believe me, you will when you go over there! Trust me mom, you'll see. And I really hope that you feel like a complete idiot when you find out there's something way wrong with him besides clinical depression."

"Well!" Angela said evenly. "Clinical Depression is a huge issue. You do understand that don't you?" Nathan gave out yet another sigh of exasperation. "And by the way you've been describing his things," Angela continued "It sounds to me like that's most definitely wrong with him. I'm not surprised at all that he's having nightmares about the morgue and the cemetery. I do understand Nathan. I understand perfectly well that Peter is sick. You're absolutely right about that. Your brother is very sick. Very VERY sick." Nathan threw back his head and tossed his hands up in the air. "Oh well halleluiah!" He said in exasperation. "Now you understand. Well it's about time. I know how it probably is. You just didn't want to admit it at first, but there is something wrong with Peter."

"I'm not sure you understand this or anything" Angela said. "But Clinical Depression is an illness, it is a disease. And it is very serious. He may feel like his muscles are weak, he may feel tired, he may be in pain, he may feel like his powers are gone, but let me tell you something Nathan, each and every one of those symptoms are," She pointed to the top of her head. "Up here, in his head." "Say what ever you want mom" Nathan said, "But Peter is not depressed" "He's not?" Angela asked, folding her arms across her chest. "How so?" "He's just very sad. And why shouldn't he be? He's dying."

"Will you stop saying that already?" Angela snapped. "Unless he's planning on committing suicide, which he's absolutely not, not if I can help it, or unless he starves himself to death, which I am also not going to let happen then he's not going anywhere. I'm going to go head over to his apartment, you coming with me or not?" "Not!" Nathan said crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Besides, it's really important that I clear everything out with my family, I'm thinking of taking them out for lunch at It Sounds Italian" Obviously he was still craving Italian food. He took in a deep breath. "You see, the thing is, Heidi doesn't know about Peter yet. And she also doesn't know that I'm taking time off of work." He sighed heavily. "I just think it would be good for me to give her and the kids a heads up. We may have to deal with quite a few life changes. Peter may have to move in with us, I may have to move in with him, who knows what's going to happen? Whatever the case is, it's important that they know."

"Please don't do this Nathan!" Angela said. "You're being completely ridiculous and you know it. You have a perfectly good life. You have so much going for you. You shouldn't throw it all away just because of your bothers illness." Nathan cringed "Mom please!" he said "I really need to make this phone call." "Fine!" Angela said, "Have it your way then!" On his cell phone he instantly punched in Heidi's phone number. She instantly picked up the phone, already she sounded very unhappy. "Nathan, I kept trying to call you yesterday, but you wouldn't answer your phone. The boys had a soccer game last night, their team won; they were both so disappointed that you weren't there for it. I hope you had a good excuse!" She was sounding angrier by the second. "But I'm sure you did not, I'm sure it was something work related. It always is. You always chose your job over our family! Besides you weren't suppose to be going to work you were supposed to be taking it easy." Nathan let out a sigh of exasperation. That was exactly what the doctor had told him after he had recovered from his bullet wound. He did not need Heidi repeating his word for word. Nathan had never been the type of person to "take it easy." He had always been an over achiever by nature.

"Heidi listen to me! There's something really important that I need to talk about with you and the kids. I'd for us all to go out for lunch. I'm thinking we should go to It Sounds Italian maybe at 11:30." "I'm not in the mood for Italian!" Heidi said irritably.

"All right fine!" Nathan said evenly. "We'll go where ever you want to go." "What is this about?" Heidi asked still sounding irritated. Nathan sighed heavily. "It's about Peter" He said. "Oh my god!" Heidi said the irritation in her voice seemed to disappear at once. "Is he all right?" She asked. Nathan was getting so damn sick of that question. No one ever bothered to ask how he [Nathan] was doing. The situation was just as painful for him. It was just like what had happened when Peter refused to eat when they were kids. "No!" He said tightly. "He's very sick. The reason why I couldn't come to the soccer game yesterday was because, he needed me. He needed me to take care of him. I couldn't leave him alone, not in his condition. Listen let's discuss this more in depth when we get to the restaurant" He was starting to feel his eyes tear again.

"I'm so sorry!" Heidi said. "I'm in the mood for Mexican by the way" She added. Nathan couldn't help thinking that sounded banal. "Why don't we meet at the Perez Café?" "Fine!" Nathan said. He couldn't care less where they went to eat, just as long as it served food. Thanks to Angela and her cooking, he was starving." "The Perez Café it is than" Nathan said. "Listen!" Heidi continued. "The boys get done with day camp at 11:00. I'll pick them up and then we can all meet at the restaurant. How does that sound?" "Fine!" Nathan said. "See you then!"

"All right Nathan!" Angela said, "I'm off." She dropped a kiss on his forehead. "Look" She said, "You honestly don't have to do this, you honestly don't have to let Peter take advantage of you. In fact I think you should go back to work and let me take care of your brother." "Goodbye Mom!" Nathan said impatiently, opening the door for her. She turned around. "Don't forget Nathan!" She said. "This is MY house, so you have basically no right to kick me out. I'll be leaving anyway. She stomped outside and slammed the door behind her. Nathan stared at the clock 9:30. He still had plenty of time to kill. He realized that with one important phone call down, he still had two important phone calls to make. He had been thinking very hard about Peter's main complaint which was muscle weakness. He held his breath and then grasped onto the yellow pages. Right away he tried to find a doctor that specialized in disorders of the muscular system. He knew that was going to be very a risky move, but decided he could no longer stand not knowing what was wrong with Peter. He also couldn't stand his mother insisting that he had depression and that was all that was wrong with him. Selfishly he was very excited about proving his mother wrong and making her look the stupid idiot she was being. Nathan immediately began punching in the number. "May I help you?" Asked a female voice. "It's about my brother!" Nathan explained. He's been complaining an awful lot about muscle weakness! I know very well that he's not planning on making his own appointment any time soon, you see, he prefers to keep to himself. So anyway I feel that it's my job as his older brother to make this appointment for him. And also my job as his older brother to make sure he keeps his appointment. Younger brothers" He scoffed "Are just about the worst type of people. They're such a bummer" He knew all too well that he was being judgmental. After all he didn't have anything against younger brothers. He just had something against a certain younger brother that just so happened to be his younger brother. Anyway, he was mostly angry at the situation. How could he possibly be angry at Peter when he was so weak, so vulnerable, so helpless, and so….. Dying? Ironically what made him angriest at Peter was that he couldn't be angry at him.

"Well I wouldn't know about that!" The receptionist said interrupting his thoughts "My younger brother's a very awesome person. Besides I know plenty of terrible people who aren't anyone's younger brother." Nathan sighed heavily, wishing she would shut the fuck up, and stop being so damn condescending. "Listen" He said. "You don't have to argue with me about what I just said. In fact please don't. It's very obnoxious and rude, besides I did not call to make chit chat" He let out another sigh. "I'd really like for you to order some tests." "Then I would be happy to do that for you" The receptionist said. "Just hold on for a minute or so." Nathan nervously sat waiting, with the receiver pressed against his ear. He really hoped that whatever was wrong with Peter could be cured, particularly by the use of healing powers. The next thing he knew, the receptionist was back on the line. "Thank you so much for your patients" She said apologetically. "Would Friday at 1:00 work for your brother?" Suddenly Nathan came to the realization that he hadn't said a word about any hospital, or appointment, or doctors or tests to Peter. It made him feel like a huge idiot.

"I suppose that would work out fine!" He said flatly. Right after hanging up the phone, he realized that he was going to have to call Peter. He groaned inwardly as he began dialing Peter's home number. 'Please pick up' he prayed to himself. It turned out to be Niki who answered the phone. "Oh hello Niki" Nathan said sounding disappointed, "May I please speak with my brother?" "Oh you'd like to speak with Peter?" Niki asked. She sounded slightly nervous. "No Niki I'd like to speak with my OTHER brother!" Nathan said rudely. He tried again "May I speak to PETER? He asked, very rudely specifying it for her. He could hear Niki sigh heavily over the phone "Well" She said, "The thing is he's kind of taking a nap right now. I've got to tell you Nathan he's actually gotten quite a bit worse since you left. But on the bright side, at least I finally managed to some liquid in him." Her voice sounded full of guilt, and Nathan noticed that right away. "What did you give him?" He asked. His voice was rising with panic. Niki fell silent for quite some time. "Why the hell do you sound so guilty?"

"I just mixed him a cocktail of a little bit of whisky, a shot of brandy. And a shot of vodka. But don't worry; I watered it down quite a lot." She continued to sound guilty. "And I suppose I slipped one of my Ambien pills in as well." "So you went ahead and drugged him? You drugged my brother?" "Please don't be angry." Niki pleaded. "Your brother was very agitated; I didn't know what else to do. I panicked okay?" "Well Wake him up!" Nathan commanded. "There's something very important that I need to talk about with him." "Oh what?" Niki asked. "It's none of YOUR business!" Nathan snapped. "Now wake him up this instant. "I really don't think I should wake him up. He needs to sleep." "What part of really important do you not understand? Was it the REALLY part or the IMPORTANT part?" Nathan snapped. "I'll see what I can do." Niki said sounding intimidated.