Chapter 11 Home, sweet home…
The guys are excited. Today is the day Carlos is released from the hospital. They quickly hurry over to his room, but are soon stopped by the doctor who looks serious.
"Boys, I would like a word with you." She motions for them to sit down in the waiting room. They exchange looks and sit down in the chairs, while waiting for her to start talking.
"Now as you know, today Carlos is released to go home. But we have a problem."
"What is it?" Kendall immediately asks and the boys are on the edge of their seats.
"I'm afraid we still haven't been able to get a hold of his family." The guys look concerned and confused.
"How is that possible? I mean, I'm sure they didn't move that far away." Logan suggests.
"Well, aparantely they have or we would have found them by now. The police is still trying to locate them, but this does mean Carlos will have to go to a group home for now." She tells them.
"Wait, what?" James exclaims.
"What are you talking about? Carlos is 18 now, he doesn't need to go to a group home." Logan tells her.
"Yeah, he can come home with us." Kendall adds and the guys exchange smiles.
"Boys, I'm afraid that's just not an option." Their faces fall at this.
"But, why not? I mean, we're adults, we have jobs. Plus, he's our best friend. We've always done everything together. We can do this together, too." Kendall says, looking confident. The other guys nod in agreement.
The doctor sighs. "Look, I know how much you care about him, I can see it in your eyes. And I can even tell that he recognizes you and that is great. But this situation isn't easily fixable. He is not the same person you know as your best friend. Carlos has been through a lot, things we might never even know. And he is going to need a lot of help." She explains to them.
"We know that. But we're ready for it. Carlos is our best friend and we'll do anything to help him get through this." Logan tells her and the other guys agree once again.
"Boys, I'm very sorry. But I really don't think you know how serious this is. Carlos may never go back to being the person you knew him as. He might stay the way he is now forever."
"Then we will learn to deal with that." Kendall tells her. The doctor stands up.
"I really don't think you understand. Your friend has gone through things he might never recover from. You may be able to handle it for a few days. But for the rest of your lives? There may come the time where you will want lives of your own, have a family. How will that work?" he guys exchange looks.
"But he's our friend. We've never turned our backs on each other." Logan explains.
"We were the only ones who never gave up hope in finding him. His family even held a funeral. We got jobs and our own apartment and even made him his own room. We knew he was still out there and even though he might not be the Carlos we remember, he's still our friend and he is still in there." James adds.
"Boys, please listen.." the doctor starts again.
"No, you listen!" Kendall tells her as he stands up as well. "We have never given up on each other. We have been through a lot together and no, this doesn't compare, but it doesn't mean we should just give up. He is our friend, no, he's our brother. And his blood relatives may have given up on him, but we're still here and we can take care of him!"
"yeah!" Logan and James reply in unison.
"No, you can't!" Mrs. Knight suddenly exclaims from right next to them.
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Kendall asks her in disbelief.
"I'm sorry guys, but you're only 18 years old. You're not responsible enough to handle this. This isn't a pet you're taking in. This might be the hardest thing you'll ever have to do and I'm sorry, but I don't think you're up for it."
"Mom, there's three of us. And we know this is going to be hard, but we're ready for anything."
"Are you ready for screaming night terrors every night? Are you ready for screaming and crying and him trying to fight you every step of the way? Are you ready for the times he doesn't recognize you and might try to kill you again? This process could take months, years. He might never recover. Are you really ready to give up your lives to save his?" The boys look down a little.
"I am." James quietly says. The other guys look at him with little surprise. But then they smile.
"I am too." Kendall agrees.
"Me too. Let's do it." Logan tells them.
"Boys, no." Mrs. Knight says again.
"But Mrs. Knight.." Logan starts.
"I said no. You can't do this by yourself. He needs an actual adult there to take care of him. He needs professional help." She tells them.
"Why can't you move in with them?" Katie's voice makes everyone jump. She looks at her mom.
"Katie, where did you come from?" Katie just raises her eyebrows. "You know I can't do that." Mrs. Knight tells her.
"Why not?"
"Because first of all, their apartment isn't big enough to hold five people. Plus, I have my own life and you to take care of."
"Mom, he needs family. And right now, we're all he has. He needs you." Katie tells her and starts to work up her biggest pout yet. Mrs. Knight tries to look away.
"Katie, stop it!" She yells and Katie lets out a frustrated sigh. "I'm sorry, but this just can't happen."
"So you're just going to let them lock him away in some group home?" Kendall starts as she starts to walk away.
"You're really going to give up on him?" James agrees.
Mrs. Knight and turns back to the boys. It breaks her heart to see the pain in their eyes. "Look, I would love to help him, he's like a son to me. But we can't do this. We have our own lives and he needs professional help, which we can't give him."
"Mom, you promised the other moms when we left for LA that you would take of the other guys like they were your own sons. What if it was me in there? Would you want the other moms to lock me away?" Kendall asks her in all honesty.
"Kendall.."
"Would you?" he asks again.
"I.. There is nothing I would rather do.. Don't you think it hurts me to see him like this? It breaks my heart to think of what happened to him. But he needs more than just his family being there…"
"And we can provide that for him. We could live in one apartment again, like at the Palm Woods." James suggests.
"And we could get him a really good counselor, who can help him and us get through this." Logan adds.
"Please mom, you know the other moms would do it for the rest of us. Don't you care about him?" Kendall asks again.
"Kendall, how dare you suggest I don't. Of course I care, I love him like he's my own son… I…" She sighs and looks up. She gasps as they have all put on puppy dog faces now. "Guys, don't." She shakes her head. "God, that reminds me so much of Carlos.. I.. alright.." She quietly adds.
They all put on hopeful smiles. "You mean it?" Kendall asks.
"Really?" James asks.
"Yes." She says with a nod. They all start to cheer loudly and hug each other, jumping up and down with excitement.
"Okay, okay!" She yells and they all stop. "But right now the apartment you boys have isn't big enough. How are we going to get a big enough apartment on our salaries and in such a short amount of time?" The boys exchange looks.
The next day they hold boxes and stand in front of their brand new apartment by the sea. It has an amazing sea view and is quiet, secluded from the area. Perfect for giving them all the time and space they need to help Carlos.
"Thanks again, Gustavo." Kendall says as he leans an arm on Gustavo's shoulder, who brushes him off immediately.
"Yeah, well. It's the least I could do after.. you know. The whole band thing. Besides, Griffin's the one who paid for it. It is his beach house after all."
"Was., Gustavo. Was his beach house. But it doesn't matter that he paid for it, you convinced him to give it to us." Logan tells him and pats him on the back.
"Yeah, all because you missed us." Kendall says and pinches his cheek. Gustavo swats his hand.
"Just don't make me regret it." He grumbles and Kelly suddenly puts a hand on his arm.
"Don't worry, he won't." She tells the boys with a smile as they load in a few more boxes.
"Look who's here, guys." James suddenly exclaims from behind them. They turn around and Kelly gasps while Gustavo just feels uncomfortable.
Right there is Mrs. Knight with Katie and James and behind them a very frightened looking Carlos. His skin is still darkened because of fading bruises an he looks very uncertain.
His eyes keep darting around and his hands play with the hoodie they gave him to wear. It's weird to see him wear it. He's lost so much weight that it looks two sizes two big and is hng around him like a potato sack. The same goes for the jeans, which needed a belt tied around so it wouldn't fall of his hips.
Mrs. Knight already told them it would be best to go shopping for new clothes as soon as possible. But finding out what his right size was now, would become difficult. They can't just measure him, because he doesn't want to be touched. But if they buy the wrong thing, they'll have to go back. But having him come with them would be the worst idea yet. Just imagining him in the mall full of people he didn't know. No, that was not going to happen.
Everyone just stands around in silence, not quite knowing what to say, until Kelly makes a move.
"Welcome back, Carlos.. It's been so weird not having you around.." She moves closer, but makes sure to keep her distance, having been informed by the other guys. She bumps Gustavo, who is still staring at Carlos.
"Huh? Oh uh, yeah, we uh missed you dog." She elbows him again. "I mean Carlos."
Carlos doesn't know how to respond and still fidgets with the hoodie, trying to escape everyone's gazes.
"Come on, Carlos, I'll show you around." Katie suddenly exclaims in an excited voice. "I know you've been here before, but they're letting us change everything. We get to pick out new furniture and everything. I'll show you your room, you've gotta see it. It's not finished yet, but it's going to be totally awesome!" She tells him and gently grabs his hand, pulling him inside.
He looks hesitant and looks at all the others. They give him an approving nod and he slowly lets Katie pull him inside the beach house.
They all smile until Katie and Carlos have disappeared into the house and then let out big sighs.
"My god, he looks so.. so unlike Carlos.. I mean, I knew he would from what you described, but I wasn't expecting this.." Kelly says as her eyes start to tear up. Even Gustavo looks very concerned.
"Is he going to be okay?" He quietly asks. The others look up with some surprise at the concern in his voice.
"we uh.. We don't know. We're going to do the best we can. But he's the only one who can pull through it. We can only be there for him." Kendall explains. His mother is in awe at the maturity in his voice.
"Well, uh. If you need anything else, just uh, just let us know." Gustavo tells them. "Just wanted to let you know, I didn't really need to convince Griffin a lot. When he heard about what happened, he was just glad he could help out in some way."
They smile at him in awe. "So if you do anything else, just say the word. And if you're ever ready to give Big Time Rush another go, the studio will also be open for you."
"Thanks Gustavo.. That, that means a lot." Logan says in a quiet voice. They all nod.
"Yeah, well. Enough with the mushy talk. Let's go, Kelly, we've got work to do." Kelly just hugs each of them one last time, still sniffling before following Gustavo to their limo.
"Well guys, here we go." Kendall says as he puts his arms around James and Logan's shoulders.
"Let's go." James says and Logan nods. They all take one last breath before heading inside.
"I hope you boys know what you're in for…" Mrs. Knight says one more time before following her boys.
A/N Just want to say upfront, I didn't want Mrs. Knight to come off like she didn't care or was mean. Someone had to be realistic here, because I am the writer and I know this won't be easy for any of them.
Now that we have that out of the way Thank you for your support so far. I know this isn't an easy story to read, it isn't easy to write either. I've never known anyone to go through this, so I'm not sure if all the emotions are correct or if their behavior is correct. I'm going on gut instinct here. So if there is anything you guys think isn't right or if I missed something, please let me know
Anyway, hope you still like reading this (even though like might not be the right word), so let me know what you think.
I'll try to update sooner next time. So until next time and Love, Baxxie