Happy Wednesday, everyone! The week is officially more than half over! To celebrate, read!

Breakdown

Chapter 16: Disagreements

"Did you guys...call my mom?"

Logan, Kendall, and Carlos looked appalled at the question. He'd been in a coma for three weeks; of course his mother had been notified by them.

"Yes, James," Logan replied. "Why would you think we hadn't?"

James shrugged. "I don't know, you just haven't said anything about her. And she isn't here."

Kendall took the responsibility of explaining. "Well, she had just left to go on her week-long business trip to France."

James nodded. The one she'd begged him to accompany her on during their second conversation after she'd received the new of James' disorder.

"She was a mess, of course. Could hardly speak. It took a lot of convincing to get her to stay there and not come here on the first flight out."

"So where is she now?"

"James."

James' head swiveled toward the door. Mrs. Knight stood there, smiling, with Katie by her side, a huge grin lighting up her face.

But James hardly noticed them. His eyes were drawn to the elegant, dark-haired woman who was standing just behind them, her heavily-lined eyes trained on James, whose mouth was agape.

Was this a hallucination? A figment of his imagination?

But when the lady crossed the room and wrapped James up in a warm hug, squeezing so tightly he could barely breath, James knew it was real. It was really his mom.

Mrs. Diamond wiped the tears from her eyes for the twentieth time that hour. It pained her more than any other pain she'd ever felt to listen to her son relay to her the events that made him snap. And then hearing about the overdose, and how he'd been completely numb when he'd done it.

She'd stared at his mouth as he told her this, willing the words to go back in, to not be true. But this was reality. She had to face it. Face the fact that her son had tried to kill himself.

It had been hard enough hearing about his disorder from Kendall's mother. Then she'd spoke to James later that night. He'd sounded horrible. That was even harder.

But this...this really took the cake. Finding out a day after she'd arrived in Paris that her son had attempted to commit suicide...now that she thought about it, Brooke couldn't think of any reason why she shouldn't have come home right away. How had those boys convinced her to stay?

She really couldn't remember. That night had all been a blur. It was hazy in her memory. All she remembered was being a total zombie for her entire time in Paris.

She hadn't even gone back to Minnesota. She'd taken a different flight straight to LA. It had cost her a fortune to get a new airline ticket, but she was getting her butt to LA as soon as she could.

Brooke stared at her sleeping son, looking pale and fragile beneath the white sheets, and she recalled when she'd first walked into his room while he'd still been in the coma.

The other boys and Mrs. Knight had waited respectively in the hall outside his room, giving her some time alone with James.

She'd been hesitant to enter at first. She could see all the machines and tubes from the doorway. Eventually she'd gone closer. She took a good, long look at her son.

That image, that memory, would be imprinted in her mind forever, she knew.

James was as white as the pillow beneath his head. He had a neck brace on to support his head and neck, at least while he was in the coma. An IV dripped the nutrients he couldn't absorb while unconscious into his arm. But the worst part was the long tube that ran from the machine by his bed into his mouth and down his throat. Brooke knew it was supplying him the oxygen he needed, but she couldn't help but cringe at the thought of James being awake and aware when they removed it.

Brooke had been relieved to hear that they had taken it out while James was semi-conscious. He told her he hadn't felt a thing.

Brooke reminiscenced on how she'd felt while seeing James for the first time. Her feelings had been indescribable. Her son was in a coma for God's sakes, how was she supposed to feel? Scared? Sad? Worried? Anguished? None of those emotions were strong enough to depict the burning sensation that had ran through her veins.

Now Brooke watched her son sleep peacefully. He hadn't seemed upset when she'd seen him awake. Not at all what she'd expect from a teenage OD survivor. He'd seem...happy? Of course, he was happy to see her and his friends, but he hadn't even appeared the least bit uneasy or out of sorts. Maybe he had just been trying to put on a strong front for her.

Or maybe it's because his mood is unpredictable and uncontrollable.

Brooke sighed and ran her hand through her hair. It was the nervous habit she had unintentionally passed down to James.

Next Brooke thought about her and James' painful conversation after the others had left her with him. That was when he'd broken down. He hadn't in front of his friends, but once it was just him and his mother, he had began crying out endless apologies, while Brooke held him close and whispered to him that everything was going to be okay.

She'd told him every last thought that had ran through her mind when she'd received the news from his friends. He cried harder.

He told her that he never wanted to feel broken or alone or especially numb again. She promised him he never would.

Then James had cried himself to sleep in his mother's arms. Brooke was still sitting in his bed with him when a gentle knock at the door sounded. Brooke spun her head to see Mrs. Knight standing there, offering a small, warm smile.

"We thought you might want some coffee? The boys are heading down to the cafeteria."

Brooke forced a smile back. They were all such considerate young men. They shouldn't have to deal with this...

"A splash of milk and one sugar. Tell them thank you."

Mrs. Knight nodded and moved to leave. She turned back around and stepped so she was just inside the doorway. She didn't want to invade, but Brooke looked like she could use some reassurance, some positive words.

"He's strong, Brooke. Not that you need me to tell you that. He will make it through this. And once he does, it's over with. Not to say he won't think about it now and then, because he will. But James is surrounded by people who love him and care for him more than he'll ever know. He's well aware of that, too. And I know that he will put this behind him. Because he has the rest of his life to live out. He's going to get famous, and marry Nicole Scherzinger, and have five houses. Because he can. Because we believe in him."

Without waiting for a response, Mrs. Knight gave a single nod and left.

Brooke stared at where she had been standing seconds before and took everything that had just been said into consideration. Kendall's mother was truly selfless. Spending her time looking after four crazy boys, plus Katie, when one of them had a horrible disorder. It wasn't fair to anyone.

Brooke's eyes darted back to James. Maybe nobody else realized it, but he was inflicting damage on more than himself. And Brooke couldn't let that happen. She knew what had to be done.

"Why can't we go see James again?"

"Carlos, his mom wants some time alone with him."

"But he's sleeping. She doesn't want to just watch him sleep."

"And you do?"

"I'd wake him up."

Logan and Kendall rolled their eyes at their friend's so called logic.

"Carlos, James needs to rest," Logan explained. He'd been calm the first five times he'd explained it, but now he was starting to get a bit ticked. Carlos didn't seem to understand that they couldn't just kick James' mother out of his room and start jumping on his bed so they could talk. But Carlos was bored and restless. They'd spent the past three and a half weeks practically living at this hospital. Logan had to admit, he was getting a little antsy, too. But at least they wouldn't have to come and go for much longer, now that James was finally out of the coma.

Logan shook his head. It still didn't seem real. He was honestly afraid that tomorrow morning he'd wake up and discover that James waking up had been a dream.

If only this entire thing were a dream, he thought wistfully. But it wasn't. And he was dealing with it. They all were, very well, in fact.

"Come on, lets go bring Mrs. Diamond her coffee," Kendall suggested, breaking in Logan's thoughts. "Then we can see James."

Carlos and Logan agreed, and the three left the cafeteria and headed for the elevators.

Katie and Mrs. Knight were in the room with Brooke when Kendall, Carlos, and Logan entered. Katie raised her eyebrows at the three when she saw them. "You're just in time," she said excitedly. "Things are getting heated."

"What?"

Katie nodded at the two mothers and a now awake James. He was sitting up in his bed, and the other three swore his eyes were shining with tears as he screamed at his mother.

"You can't do this, mom! It's my dream, my life! I already had it taken away once, I won't let it happen again!"

"Brooke, please, be sensible. James loves what he does. He's happy. Aren't you all about what makes him happy?"

Brooke glared at the desperate Mrs. Knight. "This isn't up to you, Jennifer. This is between me and James, who will do as I say, no questions asked!"

A couple of doctors who had heard the shouts from the hall were suddenly rushing into the room. One tried to grab James' arms and calm him down, but James repeatedly shook her hands off and leaning around her to yell at his mom.

"Mom, stop! I know you aren't used to hearing 'no', but you better get used to it, because this is me saying it. No, I'm not going back!"

Kendall finally jumped in, stepping away from the door and further into the room. He planted himself so that he was right in the middle of the commotion.

"What is going on?"

The room went silent very suddenly. All eyes were now on Kendall. He didn't so much as flinch.

"Well?"

Brooke abruptly turned away from her shaking son and toward Kendall.

"I'm taking James back to Minnesota with me the instant he's out of this hospital, that's what's happening."

Nooo! Brooke, you wouldn't!

So...only one or possibly two more chapters left. It's ending! :( But there will be an epilogue, so pretty much there's three chapters but I can't promise the epilogue will be long...so.

Oh, and, what's a Wednesday celebration without reviews? Boring, that's what!