A/N This is the final chapter! Thanks for all the reviews! I own nothing!
"Dude, he is out like a light," James said with a laugh. The 4 boys were on their airplane to Texas, and Carlos had only woken up long enough to shower, dress, and shuffle to the plane where he conked back out as soon as he sat down besides James.
Logan turned in his seat to face his friends behind him and smiled. "Poor Carlos. Just let him sleep."
"I wonder if he'll even be wake for sound check," Kendall said from where he was seated beside Logan.
"Right now I'm wondering if I'll be awake for sound check," Logan said with a yawn. He had set his alarm for 3 am last night so he could administer medicine to Carlos, than woke back up at 6 a, so he could pack the sick boys suitcase along with his own. He was just plain exhausted by now.
"Why don't you take a nap than?" James suggested.
"Oh heck no," Logan said quickly. The last time he fell asleep on a plane, he had woken up to find a sharpie unibrow drawn on his forehead, compliments of James. James just smirked and shrugged. It wasn't his fault that he bored easily.
A couple hours later, they arrived safely at the airport and after taking photos with some adoring fans, they headed to the venue they were to play that night.
"Carlos we have two hours until sound check," Logan said in his dressing room. "So you need to lay down on the couch and not say a word until than. You are on vocal rest, got it?"
"Yep!" Carlos said as he sat down. Logan groaned.
"No talking! Here, I made you some chicken broth and tea to heal oyur throat."
"But-"
"Carlos no talking!" Logan said. "Now eat."
Carlos furrowed his brow and took the food from Logan. All he wanted to say was that he wanted to eat something else besides stupid chicken broth.
After he finished eating, Logan gave him some medicine and left him alone in his dark dressing room to get some sleep.
"No bothering Carlos until sound check," Logan said to James and Kendall in the main dressing room set up for them, where their band all hung out tuning their guitars and eating pizza.
Finally it was time for sound check, and Logan was surprised to see Carlos on stage 15 minutes early, fully dressed and smiling though he looked a little pale.
"Carlos, are you feeling better?" Logan asked, and Carlos nodded.
"Much better," Carlos said, though it wasn't very true. The adrenaline he was feeling in anticipation for the concert made him feel a little bit better, but he was still very stuffed up and his chest hurt with congestion.
Sound check wore Carlos out a bit, especially when Gustavo made them practice some of their tricks a few times. His chest was feeling heavier by the minute and by the time the rehearsal was finished, he had a slight wheeze and it was a bit difficult to catch his breath. Carlos went to his dressing room right after sound check and looked in his bags for his inhaler, but than he remembered that Logan had packed his bags so his medication wasn't in there. He almost debated telling one of the guys that he needed to take an inhaler before going on stage, but quickly deciding against it. They would, without a doubt, cancel the show, baby Carlos to death, and possibly take him to the hospital.
Carlos finally decided that he would make it through one show, so he took some more cold medicine and rested until he was called backstage.
"Sure you're good, buddy?" Kendall asked, rubbing Carlos' shoulders. They were all backstage just minutes from show time. His heart was pounding, he could hear their fans screaming, but he was worried for his pale friend who was lacking his usual energy. During their warm-up ritual, the Latino had just sat there completely quiet instead of getting pumped with them. But Carlos gave Kendall a huge grin, showing he was ok.
"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just not going to be all over the stage like I normally am. I'll need you and James and Logan to cover for me."
"Of course," Logan said, putting his headset in and bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was so excited he could hardly take it. "You can count on us, Carlos."
"Yeah, we got your back, buddy," James added. "It's time guys. Let's do this." The 4 band mates and best friends put their hands together and did a quick cheer (1) before being ushered underneath the stage where they were brought on stage by a small lift, their presence hidden until a thick puff of fog cleared off the stage, and the intro to "Boyfriend" blasted through the speakers.
Carlos got through half the set without a hitch. Sure his energy was low and his voice wasn't as strong, but in what he lacked, his band mates made up for so the audience wouldn't notice.
But during his solo in "Famous", Carlos could feel his chest start to tighten painfully. It was getting hard for him to take a deep breath, which made belting impossible, and James was the first to notice his change in voice. He gave Carlos a worried glance, but the sick boy just shrugged and continued best he could.
In between "Famous" and "Til I Forget About You", Carlos went into a coughing fit, and he tried to laugh it off and make a joke about choking when the audience made sympathetic sounds.
"Are you alright?" Logan asked into his headset. Each of the guys wore a headset that were sort of like handless walkie-talkies, so they could hear each other and only each other when they needed to communicate on stage, which was extremely important, because it was impossible to hear anything over their band and the fans.
"Yeah, I'm ok now," Carlos said into his headset, than raised his mic so his fans could hear him. "Sorry guys, have a little cold but I'm good!" The fans all cheered and they started "Til I forget about you", but Carlos wasn't alright. He tried to ignore the signs of an asthma attack. For some irrational reason, he thought he'd be fine, that his asthma wouldn't rear it's ugly head while he was dancing all over a huge stage while he was sick. He should've known, but he forced himself to keep going.
"If I can just get through the rest of the set, 4 more songs. I can do it," Carlos thought, glancing at the set list. But his head started to grow dizzy with the lack of oxygen, his vision slowly starting to grow dim. Logan, James and Kendall noticed immediately when Carlos' voice grew weak and than faded completely. He stood motionless on stage, clutching at his chest, and they could hear wheezes coming from the small boy.
"Guys, I- I can't b-breathe," Carlos whimpered in stragled gasps, and than he collapsed.
'Carlos!" James yelled, rushing to where his best friend lay unconscious. Fans started screaming and paramedics ran onstage and it was all a blur of pain. James, Kendall and Logan were pushed aside and all they could do was watch helplessly as their sick friend turned from ashen gray to a pale blue and they had no idea why. The paramedics strapped an oxygen mask on Carlos and wheeled him away on a gurney, and the guys followed closely behind.
"Only one of you," A paramedic said when they got to the ambulance, and James and Kendall pushed Logan forward.
"Go- we'll meet you there," Kendall said, and Logan jumped into the back of the ambulance and held Carlos' cold hand.
"He's not breathing!" A paramedic said. "The oxygen isn't helping!"
"He needs steroids, he must be having an asthma attack," A different paramedic said. She dug into a bag and pulled out an inhaler, than put the mouthpiece in Carlos' mouth and pressed down twice, than performed C.P.R to remind him to breathe. Once Carlos gasped for his first breath of air in two minutes, she put the oxygen mask back on him.
"Oh God Carlos, you're ok buddy," Logan said, blinking tears away and squeezing Carlos' hand. 'Just relax and breathe, it's gonna be ok."
Carlos opened his eyes and gave a tiny nod, a couple of scared tears escaping, and they finally arrived at the hospital. Carlos was wheeled away and Logan met James and Kendall in the waiting room.
"Logan! Is he ok?" Kendall asked, engulfing the smaller boy into a hug. He didn't like how pale and scared Logan was looking.
"H-he's ok now, he had an asthma attack," Logan said, trying to calm down. "He stopped breathing but they gave him steroids and oxygen and he started breathing again."
"What?" James asked, shocked. Asthma? Where the hell did that come from? "I didn't know Carlos had asthma."
"Me either," Logan said. "I have no clue what happened. I'm waiting for a doctor to explain why Carlos would have a random asthma attack when he doesn't even have asthma."
"Maybe he just couldn't breathe because he was sick?" Kendall suggested.
"No, his airways were obstructed," Logan said. "Even forced air wasn't helping. But once they gave him steroids, his airways opened up and he started breathing again. That's definitely asthma."
"Hi, are you with Carlos Garcia?" A doctor asked, and the boys all nodded.
"Yes, is he alright?" Logan asked anxiously.
"He's doing fine. He had quite the asthma attack but he's awake and alert. He's taking a breathing treatment, but you can see him if you like." The doctor led the 3 friends to Carlos' hospital room.
"Carlos! Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Logan scolded, wrapping the Latino into his arms. Kendall and James gave Carlos hugs and scolded him as well.
"You have some explaining to do," Kendall said when Carlos finished his breathing treatment. Carlos winced.
"Sorry guys," He said in a hoarse voice. He was worn out ad still a little shocked and he just wanted to go home, but he knew he had to tell them now.
"Carlos the doctor says you had an asthma attack," Logan said. "And you don't look to surprised. You act like you've taken one of these breathing treatments before. This isn't your first asthma attack, is it?"
Carlos stared down at the bed he laid on, suddenly finding the stark-white sheets interesting.
"No," Carlos said guiltily.
"Jeez Carlos, how long have you had asthma/ How many attacks have you had?" Logan's voice was gentle and concerned, but at the same time, there was something in his voice that told Carlos he better tell the truth.
"6 Months, and only one. I've had little flare-ups but not an attack. I thought I had it under control. I thought I could hide it."
"Ok first of all, before you explain why you would ever hide this from us, how did we not know about your first asthma attack? Does mom know?" Logan demanded.
"Yeah, she knows. She thinks I told you guys. Remember that day she bought me Sir Flannigan?"
"Yeah your pet goldfish," James aid, remembering the random goldfish Mrs. Knight had brought home on day. It had died a week later and Carlos cried for 3 straight hours.
"Well she bought me that fish because I had wanted a cat, and I brought one home. You 3 know how allergic I am to animals, and my allergies gave me asthma," Carlos said sadly.
"Aw buddy, I'm sorry. I know how much you love animals," Kendall said. "But why did you keep your asthma a secret? We could've helped you deal."
"I dunno. I was stupid," Carlos said. "I was afraid you'd hate me."
"Hate you? Why would we hate you?" James asked. "You're Carlitos, it's impossible not to love you."
Carlos gave him a weak smile. "Yeah, but Gustavo already says I hold back the band. I'm so slow at learning new dance steps and memorizing songs and I'm always messing up. I figured if I added one more weakness to the already long list, you guys would kick me out of the band."
Logan's eyes widened in shock. 'Carlos, we would never do that!"
"Yeah, Big Time Rush is nothing without you," James said. 'How could you ever think that?"
Carlos shrugged guiltily. 'I just wasn't sure. I'm sorry, guys."
"No, we're sorry," Kendall said. "We obviously made you feel like you couldn't be open with us and that's never going to happen again. So from now on, no more secrets. That goes for all of us." Kendall put his hand in, and James, Logan, and Carlos piled their hands on top of their leaders.
"No more secrets," Carlos said.
"That's right," Kendall said, pulling Carlos into a tight hug. "Or I'll have to slap the stupid out of you with a hockey stick."
"Ooh, group hug!" James said. He never could resist a hug. He pulled Kendall and Carlos into a bone-crushing embrace.
'Logan, get in here!" Kendall demanded.
"No thanks, I'm- ahh!" Logan cried when Kendall grabbed him and pulled him in, and he joined his taller friends in smothering Carlos as a punishment for keeping his asthma a secret. The 3 of them were practically lying on top of a squirming Carlos, laughing their heads off and tickling the younger boy.
"Guys, guys!" Carlos cried through his laughter, trying to push his friends off of him and tickle them back, but he was outnumbered. "Get off me guys, I can't breathe!"
A/N 1: I got to see the boys do their little before-show cheer at their concert and it was too cute! Hope you liked this. Reviews make my heart sing. If there are any requests you'd like me to do, just let me know. I love requests!