Chapter 8 Helping out

The guys immediately went back to Carlos' room after Lucy left, despite her telling them to go to the waiting room. They know they'll only feel more restless, sitting around doing nothing. They want to help him, even thought they don't know how.

They stand in front of the window and watch their once so innocent, happy friend lying in th bed. Still, energy drained from him, staring in the distance. No emotions can be read in his eyes anymore. It's like he closed himself off from the world completely. Catatonic is what Lucy and the doctor said.

It makes them feel angry. He wasn't fine before, in fact, he was far from it. But at least he still showed some emotion. Now, after the examination from the doctor, he was gone. How would they ever have a chance to get through to him now?

"Over here, mommy." They whip their heads to the left in confusion as they see a young girl with blonde hair rushing through the hallway. She clutches her mother's hand, dragging her along as they surprisingly head for Carlos' room.

The guys are too shocked to say anything and the girl is so excited, she doesn't even seem to notice them standing there. She just pulls her mother inside Carlos' room. Then she lets go of her hand and quickly crawls on Carlos' bed.

Their eyes widen at this. What is she doing?

The girl has a big smile on her face as she sits on her knees on his bed and taps him when he doesn't immediately look at her.

He slowly moves his head towards her and her smile fades a little.

"Hi Carlos.. How are you?" He looks down at his hands. "I've missed you!" She squeals and gives him a big hug. He looks scared, but soon a flicker of recognition shows up on his face and he slowly pulls up his arms, gently putting them around the young girl, pulling her closer. They even notice a hint of a smile somewhere, if they look close enough.

"guess what? The doctor told me I get to go home today!" She says with a big smile as she pulls out of the hug. She sits next to him in the hospital bed, leaning against his chest.

The guys notice the girl's mother standing in the doorway, looking at the exchange between the two in amazement.

"Oh, and something else happened! They found my mom and dad." She says, jumping off the bed and heading for her mom. She grabs her hand. "Come on, mom. Carlos, this is my mom. Mom, this is Carlos." Her mother looks hesitant to get closer, but the girl pushes her forward, before getting on the bed again and sitting next to him.

"Uh, hello. I'm Sara Fuller. Melissa told my husband and I all about you. I… I.." She sighs and the guys see she is trying to fight tears. "She told us what you did, how you protected her and all those other children from getting hurt. I just don't know how I could ever thank you.." She says, before the tears start to fall and she starts to sob. Melissa quickly gets off the bed and grabs her mother in a tight hug.

Carlos looks at his hands. The guys can see he's not feeling comfortable with the way he's start fidgeting.

"Sara? Sara, where are you?" A man rushes through the hallway, looking in all the rooms, sighing with relief when he looks inside Carlos' room. "Oh, there you are. I've been looking everywhere."

"Daddy!" Melissa squeals as she lets go of her mother and puts her arms around her father, who picks her up and swings her through the air.

"You ran off so fast, I couldn't keep up. So, what's going on here? Sara, honey, is everything okay?" He asks his wife as he gently puts his daughter back on the floor.

She sniffs and looks at him. As soon as she sees him, she runs over and grabs his hand.

"I'm fine.. This, this is Carlos, the boy Melissa told us about." She says through her sobs, pointing him towards Carlos.

"Oh, you're Carlos? Wow, it's very good to meet you." He holds out his hand, but Carlos only stares at it. Then he looks up more, taking in the man's entire posture. The man is pretty muscular, with strong broad shoulder that stand out in his white, button up shirt. He has a friendly face, with a strong jaw. His hands show rawness from a workingman.

The guys notice with some confusion the sudden turn in Carlos' demeanor. They see his body starting to shake a little and his eyes grow scared. Little by little he tries to move away from the hand that is still in front of him.

The man looks back at is wife and daughter with confusion, before looking back again.

"Uh, you're supposed to shake my hand now." He says, holding it out closer to him. Carlos backs up more and his eyes seem to dart through the room, looking for something.

"He's looking for a way out…" Logan softly says. The other guys look at him.

"What?"

"Carlos. He's looking for a way out of the room, to escape that guy."

"Why would he do that?" James asks.

"I don't know, but I can clearly see it. There's something about that guy that has Carlos feeling scared."

"We should do something." James suggests as he starts towards the doorway. Kendall stops him before he can head in.

"We can't. Remember how he reacted last time?"

"The mark on my neck says I do, thank you." James tells him and Kendall looks down guiltily. "But look at how he reacted to that little girl and the woman. He didn't attack them. And even that guy, he wants to get away, but he's not trying to choke him."

"I want to help him, too, James. But we can't just throw ourselves at him. It's going to take a lot of time for him to trust us enough to let us in."

"But we will try, right?"

"Of course we will. He's our brother."

"Okay, so he's not very well known with courtesies, is he?"

"Leave him alone, Mark. You heard what happened to these kids. He protected them, he protected Melissa. If he doesn't want to shake your hand, just let him."

"Fine." Mark says with a sigh. "I heard about what you did for our daughter. I just want to thank you. Carlos, was it?" He asks. He looks back at his daughter and wife again when he doesn't receive an answer. "Okay, then. Where are your parents, son?" Aagain he is met by silence.

"Daddy, he doesn't talk anymore." Melissa quietly tells him. Mark looks confused.

"He doesn't talk anymore? And why is that?"

"I don't know.." She quietly says, before starting to crawl on the bed and trying to sit with Carlos again. The guys can tell she too has noticed Carlos' nervousness. But before she can fully reach him, Mark grabs a hold of her.

"Daddy, what are you doing? Let me go." She says, struggling in his grasp.

"I really don't think it's a good idea for you to get on strange boy's laps."

"But he's not a stranger. He's my friend."

"He's not your friend, Melissa, he's 18 years old." He says as he gives Carlos a glare. Carlos seems to duck further into his bed.

"daddy, please!" Melissa pleads as she tries to wiggle out of her father's grasp.

"He may have protected you and I am grateful, but that is it, Melissa. Say goodbye to him, you're not seeing him again." Melissa gasps.

"Mark, why are you acting like this? Just let her stay with him."

"No, Sara. Who knows what they did to these kids and how screwed up his mind is right now. He's 18 years old, it's not normal for an 18 year old to have an 11 year-old sitting on his lap, because they're friends."

"What is going through your mind right now? They are friends, Mark. She was gone for a whole year. We got her back with hardly a scratch on her, because he protected her. He's like an older brother to her!"

"She already has an older brother!"

Carlos' eyes dart to the exits again, when he suddenly looks at the window. His eyes go wide as he sees the three guys standing there. His breathing speeds up as he looks at them.

"Oh no, we're with way too many people. We should go, we're making him nervous." Logan says as he starts to move away from the window.

"No, wait a minute. Look." Kendall says as he keeps looking at his friend in the hospital bed. The parents of Melissa keep on fighting, while Melissa has started to cry and tries to reach her arms out towards Carlos. The guys keep their eyes on Carlos and then nearly gasp as they seem to recognize something in his eyes.

Was he asking them for help?

James puts on a big smile and then rushes inside the room. The others are still dumbfounded, but follow soon.

"Oh, wow, I didn't realize it would be so crowded in here. Uh, we kind of wanted to visit our friend here, but according to the visiting hours, only four people are allowed in at a time." James tells them.

"Awkward…" Kendall agrees.

"Uh, who are you?" Mark asks them.

"Oh, I am sorry. I'm James, this is Kendall and this is Logan. We're Carlos' brothers." Mark looks at them with confusion.

"yeah and we really need to see him now. We've been waiting for so long to see him, so we'd really appreciate it if we could have time with him now." Mark exchanges an annoyed glance with Sara, who shrugs.

"Fine. We'll leave. Come on, Melissa." He says angrily, still holding a crying Melissa in his arms. Sara gives Carlos an apologetic look.

"Oh, wait. Uh, we still have room for one more person." Logan suggests with a smile.

"Yeah, we do. So, how about Melissa stays here and you go get some coffee, you look like you need it." Kendall tells the parents. Mark looks offended, but he is so shocked his grip n Melissa loosens and she immediately wiggles free and runs towards Carlos. Mark looks at her in surprise and wants to head towards her, but Kendall stops him.

"I'm sorry, we'd really like some privacy, if you don't mind. Just come back in half an hour to pick up your daughter, I promise we'll take care of her." He tells the enraged father, before closing the door in his face. Mark looks through the window, pounding on it. The guys just look at him and with their hands make movements telling him they can't hear him. Sara just puts her hand on her husband's arm and gently pushes him forward. Just before they leave, she shoots the guys a thankful smile.

The guys turn their attention back to Carlos and smile as Melissa is lying in his arms, softly crying as he holds her. He's a little afraid it seems, to look them in the eyes. He seems a little uncomfortable again.

Just when James wants to say something, the door opens.

"What is going on in here? Who said he could have any visitors?" Dr. Mack asks as she steps into the room.

"That would be our fault, sorry." Kendall says immediately. "We were just helping him out. We're his friends, I'm.."

"I know who you are. And I understand why you're here, but it's just too soon right now. We're still trying to run some tests on him and he's not ready for regular visitors yet."

"We understand. We'll leave. But, could Melissa stay? She needs him right now and I think he kind of needs her too. Her parents will come pick her up in half an hour." James asks Dr. Mack. She looks at him in confusion, before directing her gaze towards Carlos and the sniffling girl in his arms. Her look immediately softens and she sighs.

"I guess that would be okay. But you boys please go back to the waiting room. I'll let you know if he can have visitors, okay?"

"Thanks, doctor." Logan tells her as they all give her a genuine smile. She smiles back at them.

"Just get out of here." She tells them with a small chuckle. The guys leave the room, but not before looking back at Carlos one more time. They're surprised to see him looking straight at them. And for a moment, they find a new expression in his eyes. He's thanking them. They smile and nod at him, before hurrying away.

"oh my god… That was amazing…" Logan breathes as they round the corner.

"I know. Did you see his eyes? He asked for our help.. That means he really does recognize us." James tells them.

"He totally did, guys, he really did…" Kendall agrees. They smile and cheer out loud. They start to snicker at the doctors and nurses who jumped at their cheers, looking at them like they're insane.

So, what did you think? Liked it? He still has a long way to go, but something is happening already. Their friendship is so strong; they'll pull him through.

Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter. I would like to thank Rockport268 for the ideas in this chapter, your really helped me out, so thanks a lot!

Thanks everyone else for the support and I hope you enjoy reading!

Love, Baxxie