For Just One More Day with You

18. Falling Back into Place

18. Falling Back into Place

The three of them sat in the chairs lining the wall, and watched as Scott's body slowly untensed. Mitch knew that it was only a matter of minutes before he would feel okay, but they were a long few minutes.

As soon as Scott started to pull his hands away from his eyes and the green tint of his face was fading, Mitch closed the distance and sat at the edge of his bed, taking his hand in his own.

"Hi," Mitch whispered, afraid to speak too loudly.

"Hi," Scott croaked, as Kevin approached his bedside again.

"Good?" Kevin asked. Scott nodded. "I'm only one call button away," Kevin said, and retreated from the room with a reassuring smile.

It was only then that Scott realized that Mitch was not his only company.

"Hi, guys," he said, his voice gravelly and exhausted.

Kirstie stood from her chair, and approached the bedside, with the stuffed dog outstretched. Mitch realized that her eyes were red and puffy. He had been so self-absorbed, he hadn't realized that Kirstie was struggling.

Scott smiled, taking the stuffed animal into his hands. "Thank you. How did you find one that looks just like him?"

She smiled, her eyes fond. "Fate. I might get one for myself." She reached towards him, embracing the blond gently, and Matt stepped forward.

"These are for you, too, man." Matt said. "Real men give other men flowers, you know?" He asked, making his voice as deep and masculine as possible.

Mitch rejoiced when Scott smiled beautifully. "They're lovely... bro."

After a gentle laughter filled the room for a moment, Kirstie and Matt looked at each other, their gaze unreadable, before Kirstie cleared her throat. "We're gonna step out for a minute."

Mitch watched as they left, and he subconsciously squeezed the hand that he was still holding.

"Did I cause it?" Mitch asked, eyeing their clasped hands.

"Come on, Mitch."

"Please don't. Please don't be mad at me anymore. Please don't be cold." Mitch knew that he sounded pathetic. He knew that he sounded desperate.

He didn't care.

"I'm not mad at you," Scott said, his voice softening.

"You were, right before..."

"You can't do that."

Mitch looked up into Scott's eyes, unsure of what he meant. "Do what?"

"You can't blame yourself for any of this. I'm not gonna have a seizure every time I get heated. Sometimes I'm going to have seizures when I'm completely relaxed. You can't make random assumptions. There's no pattern, Mitch. If there was, I wouldn't be laying here, because we would be able to stop them."

He sounded utterly done with this conversation.

"It was a bad coincidence. Okay?" Scott asked, squeezing his hand, but it wasn't as reassuring as usual.

"Okay." Mitch said, rubbing his knuckles. He looked up into his eyes again. "I love you."

Scott smiled. "I love you."

And Mitch felt relieved.

After the three of them had spent most of the morning with Scott, Connie and Rick returned, looking exhausted.