We Come Alive 5

Epilogue: Victor Petrov, Sam Brown, & Daniel "Danny" Williams

Victor Petrov, Sam Brown, and Danny Williams

After the boys left to chase Clover down in Georgia, the three men went back to work to get prepared for another season of football. They were right when the gang did leave though, they kept coming back throughout college. Victor and Sam never admitted it, but they liked seeing the familiar faces come back. The three even gloated to everyone they knew that they worked alongside Jose and Clover when the two were drafted into the NFL.

Danny worked for the Jaguars for three years after the last of the original players he first started working with graduated. After that, he gave his notice to Mateo and moved on to a few hours south to College Station, Texas where he found a job working for Texas A&M. He loved working on the college level, but he didn't forget where his roots were. He did openly admit to Mateo that in college the pay was much better than high school. He continued to work for different colleges until he retired in his 40's with a wife and a few kids of his own.

Five years after Stephen graduated from high school, Victor retired from coaching. Kiara planned his retirement party where he was pleasantly surprised by some of his favorite athletes making a guest appearance.

Victor chuckled as he shook hands and hugged his guests who were celebrating his retirement. He smiled to himself seeing Jose and Ethan leaning against a table talking to one another.

"No big stadiums to play in tonight?" Victor joked. "And you don't have any lives to save tonight?"

Ethan chuckled as he hugged Victor after Jose did. "Don't get all bigheaded, old man. I'm the one who can revive you if you croak."

Victor put his hands up in defense with a smile. "Hey, I'm just happy you got your degree. Congratulations. That's something to be proud of. It's better than just being a jock who runs around a lot."

Jose rolled his eyes, sipping from the cup in his hand. "Whatever. You'll be begging me for tickets in a week when your wife gets tired of changing your diaper."

"Are you drinking?" Victor asked with his eyebrows raised. "I don't think I'll get used to y'all growing older. Where's the rest of your gang?"

Ethan pointed across the room to Andrew and Jacob talking to Sam. "There's the white boy and the Asian. Rocky and Lucky Charms are with Mateo somewhere. And Diego is dropping his kid off with his ex."

Victor felt an arm around his neck and a familiar laugh. "And I'm right here." Stephen's laugh boomed. Victor glanced down at Stephen's tattoo-covered arms around his shoulders seeing his habit of getting tattoos hadn't died since high school.

Jose punched Stephen's shoulder when he got within reach. "You're gonna kill him. He's like 80 now."

Stephen smiled and held his hands up. "Sorry. My fault, I forgot."

Victor looked down and saw a little boy holding onto Stephen's jeans when he let go of his hand. "You're a father." He whispered. "I feel like I'm dreaming."

"Don't go towards the light," Ethan smirked.

"One more old joke and we're taking this outside." Victor crossed his arms, trying to be serious but he couldn't help but smile when they all gave him knowing looks.

Sam continued to work alongside Mateo for a few years after Victor left until he settled down with his newlywed wife and they opened up a bar together. Mateo, Danny, and Victor get under the table discounts when they come and Sam serves them. It's where the men come when they have troubles in their lives that they need to escape since Sam was always the most level headed one of them behind Mateo.

When Loto "Lo" Fatu committed suicide as a result of his CTE, all three men went to his funeral to honor the boy they knew had a bright future.

Danny took several deep breaths as he stood in the back of the funeral home. He could see Lo's parents crying in the front row while people walked by his casket to pay their respects.

Danny felt a presents beside him suddenly. When he looked, it was Sam in a black suit. They didn't say anything, just waited for Danny to gather his thoughts and his emotions. When Danny went to step forward, tears filling his eyes stopped him from moving another step.

"Take your time." Sam comforted. "Take all the time you need."

Danny sniffled and wiped his eyes with his fingers. When he was prepared, he lead them to the casket. The moment Danny saw Lo laying there, his long hair in a bun like it would be sometimes, but his fun and vibrant smile gone and his loving energy disappeared.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Danny cried, leaning into Sam when he wrapped an arm around him. "I'm sorry."

Sam rubbed Danny's back to comfort him as he sobbed. Neither of them had lost a player before, neither of them really knowing how to feel about losing someone they saw every day for years so young and so loved, gone.

"I failed him." Danny cried, turning around and walking out of the room so he didn't cause a scene. Sam followed behind him and soon, Danny was in the men's room with Sam and Victor who had seen them rushing out.

"My one job was to make sure they're healthy." Danny cried, slamming his fist on the porcelain sink. "It's my only job. And I failed him."

"It was all of our jobs," Victor whispered.

Danny whipped around and got in Victor's face. "Your job is to make sure they win games! Your job is to make sure they can run up and down a goddamn field of fake grass! My job is to make sure they're healthy! That they aren't hurt! I'm an athletic trainer! My one goal is to keep these kids safe and I failed him!" Danny's anger faded into sadness. "I failed him, and he knew it. There was nothing I could do."

Danny stepped back from Victor and went back to leaning against the sink, his back to them. "I do this job to save them, to protect them. And...I failed him."

"Lo never got a concussion his senior year." Sam reminded him. "You couldn't have known."

"I studied their charts, memorized their health charts. I should've seen this coming. Done something. Said something." The younger man whispered. "I fucked up so badly. So badly."

Victor put a hand on Danny's shoulder and sighed. "There's no way of knowing. You did nothing wrong. You did nothing wrong. There is nothing that you could have or should have done. For all the reasons you're trying to ask the universe why they would do this, the universe is gonna do what it wants to do. It's fate, Danny. If we have to blame anyone or anything for this, it's fate. He lived a great life and yeah, the ending was sad and painful, but he lived a better life than someone twice his age. He had a loving family, amazing friends, great talent, and was happy. He got to raise his son for ten great years and left a legacy that will always be remembered. Bad things happen to good people all the time, for no reason."

Danny sniffled and slowly turned around to face Victor. "Thank you." He breathed. "Sorry for yelling at you."

Victor shrugged a shoulder. "Not the first time, won't be the last. Don't beat yourself down. Life isn't ranked on how long you lived, but how you lived."

Danny glanced at Sam who was wiping a few tears then dropped his hands to his sides. "Alright, now that we're done sobbing in the boys' bathroom. Let's go."

Victor and Danny chuckled, nodded their heads, cleaned themselves up, and left with Sam to attend the funeral of one of their favorite athletes they got to work alongside.

When ending their careers at Grand Ridge, all three men eventually settled down in or around Dallas. They stayed in contact with each other and Mateo as well as always coaching their favorite year of athletes every year for their annual game.

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