Color

Four

Alex shoved through nurses and sprinted down the hallway to Kirstie's room only to nearly tackle the doctor in the doorway.

Avi was a step behind him, having to grab his shoulder to stop him. "Hey, wait--"

"She's awake, Av--"

"I know, babe, but you need to let them do their job."

"But I..." Alex turned around with a pitiful look on his face. "I just wanna see her..."

Avi quickly wrapped him up in a hug. "I know, baby... But you need to wait a little longer."

Alex pushed away momentarily. "We gotta call Mitch and--"

"I'm sure Kevin took care of it. Her parents will be here any second."

"You're sure? You promise?"

"I'm sure, Lex."

Alex glanced back at the room again, pouting. "I hope she's okay..."

*

Scott woke up to the sound of Mitch on the phone, and he peeked one eye open at him.

Mitch continued absentmindedly stroking Scott's hair, Scott's head on his chest. "As soon as he's up, I promise. I'm trying to give him as much time as possible."

Scott kept blinking at him, not moving at all apart from that.

Mitch finally noticed, and he smiled a little. "I gotta go, Av..."

Scott smiled back. "Hi..."

"How'd you sleep, baby?"

"Pretty well... Still tired though. What's Avi callin' about?"

"An update on Kirstie. We can go see her if you're feeling up to it?"

Scott nodded once, and hid his broken arm against his chest as he used the other arm to push himself up. "Okay, yeah..."

"I think you're due for your pills, but we'll go afterward, okay?"

Scott nodded again, now sitting up as he rubbed his eyes with his good hand. "Okay. That's fine."

"Are you sure you don't wanna sleep a little more? You look like you could use it."

"Isn't that like... Incredibly selfish?"

"I'd say you've earned it, considering it was a selfless thing that got you into this mess."

"Mitchie, I was just trying to--"

"Help. I know. Which is why I'm saying you deserve a break."

Scott was too tired and hyped on medication to understand, and he tilted his head a little as he knelt on the bed beside Mitch. "I took a nap though..."

"But that's not enough. Your body needs more time than that to heal."

"Well I'm not just gonna lay here until it heals, so. Give me my keys and let's go."

"I need to check the pill bottle to see if you're allowed to drive or not, babe."

Scott pouted at him then. "That's dumb. How come my pills get to tell me what to do?"

"Because doctors are really smart, and they're the ones that gave you the pills."

"So you're calling me stupid."

"No. I'm not. But I'm saying you should be smart enough to listen to what a doctor says to you."

Scott looked away from Mitch, one hand fumbling with his cast. "Fine."