Fix My Feet When They're Stumblin'

Chapter 26

    "Mr. Flowers, I have a visitor for you, if you're feeling up to it before therapy," Mandy announced as she finished adjusting Brandon's bed, having just changed his sheets and provided fresh pillows and blankets. She helped him settle back into the pillows and smiled when he nodded to her. He'd been having a rough morning, troubled by an intense migraine, but the medicine she had given him had begun to take effect, calming the worst of the symptoms. Mandy disconnected the IV and capped the port in his arm so he would be unencumbered by the line and its stand during therapy.

    "I'll go fetch him, I'll be right back," she said brightly, squeezing his shoulder as she turned to leave. A few minutes later, the nurse returned followed by a familiar bearded face and was richly rewarded as she watched her patient's face light up in glee.

    "Ronnie!! F-Finally!"

    "I'm sorry, Brandon, I was trying to give you space, give your family time to visit you," Ronnie said sheepishly, scuffing the floor with one of his crutches.

    "You're - you're my f-family too, Ron," he said quietly, smiling at his friend, a beautiful sight that Ronnie now realized he had missed more than anything the last several days. "Don't you kn-know that by now?"

    Ronnie grinned at that, a lump in his throat as he hobbled closer to Brandon's bed. "Guess I'm just a dumbass, I'm sorry I took so long. Sorry, Mandy, do you mind...?" He asked, waving a crutch at the chair sitting against the wall.

    "Oh, of course!" She moved the chair to Brandon's bedside and stepped back again, melting into her usual place against the bathroom wall as Ronnie sank gratefully into the chair and leaned his crutches against the side of Brandon's bed.

    "Your kids turned my cast into a masterpiece, Bran, did you see?" He smiled at his friend and lifted his leg up so he could see, supporting his calf from beneath with both hands.

    "Oh, a Ronnie V-Vannucci Jedi - yeah, those are my kids," Brandon beamed back at him, examining the art. "They're sweet."

    "They really are. It feels so good to see you actually awake, brother, you've got no idea...I thought we were both goners for a while there," Ronnie said softly, lowering his foot back to the floor.

    Brandon sighed. The joy melted from his face as quickly as it had come, replaced by confusion and a sadness so profound that Ronnie ached to hold him. "I d-don't remember anything," he whispered, staring down at Ronnie's feet.

    "That's alright, it's probably a good thing." Ronnie reached out and squeezed Brandon's shoulder, leaving his hand resting there lightly. "I wish I could forget it, honestly," he added, his eyes glazing over. "It was easily the worst couple of days of my life."

    "I never...I never thanked you," Brandon said quietly. His eyes, brimming with sparkling tears, were fixed on the drawings of superheroes and the giant message from Ammon scrawled across the plaster cast: "THANK YOU FOR SAVING OUR DAD, UNCLE RONNIE!!"

    Ronnie followed his gaze and scoffed, massaging Brandon's shoulder. "Ah, I didn't save you, B. You saved yourself. I don't know how you did it, I guess we'll never know, but you climbed up that fucking cliff and walked all the way back to me, with all of...this," he said, waving his hand vaguely at Brandon. "Your head split open, your arm supremely fucked, and no pain meds or nothing! You might not remember what happened up there, but I do. I'm not Superman, you are. Extra badass Superman; he wishes he was half as incredible as you are."

    Brandon smiled weakly at that, but Ronnie could tell he didn't believe him, and it broke his heart. "Hey, really, Bran. You know I'd never lie to you, you know. Look at me, please?" His tone was beseeching, his voice quiet and tight with emotion.