ONE for the OTHER
"I'm sorry."
She turned from her pudding cup, spoon wavering a few inches from her parted lips. He didn't look up and for a few silent moments, she wondered if he had even spoken at all. She narrowed her eyes and focused on him, legs spilling over the small stool beside her bed, his tall frame looking too big for the cramped hospital room. His face was hidden when he spoke again.
"I'm sorry. I can't bring it back, I can't help you."
She blinked. "You don't need to-"
"Yes I do!" He snapped, jolting up with lines creasing his brow. "I'm supposed to-"
"Joey," she said simply and she put her hand over his with a small smile. "You don't need to do anything now…everything will be fine."
"Stop saying that," he started and flinched when he heard his voice crack, "It isn't fine, this is all wrong. I did it right the first time. I stopped it, I kept you from being blind." He took a deep breath, ignoring her hand squeezing his' in reassurance.
"Stuff happens, bad stuff, to lots of people all the time. I'm not the only one who's got to deal with this."
"I don't care about them," he gritted his teeth. "None of them matter to me."
She paused and slipped her hand off his. "Sometimes, bad news can bring good news, too."
"This one didn't."
She took a breath. "It did for me."
Joey didn't move. She smiled and glanced down at her food tray.
"I used to dream about the days when you'd come back home and we'd have time to hang out." She slid her hands under the sheets and clenched them. "I used to think about how we'd spend the day, going to the arcade maybe, eating at that Chinese place…"
It was suddenly very warm in the room and there was a strange feeling curdling in her stomach.
"I knew you were busy and that's why I didn't bother you. I never once thought you were making excuses, that you were busying dueling in much more exciting places because- it'd be boring to come back here."
He shifted but she didn't look at him.
"I never put the blame on you because you've always done the right thing." He made a small sound in protest but she still refused to look at him, trying her best not to yield to the sting under her eyes, buzzing over her damaged pupils, blurring her already hazy sight. "You saved my eyes. It wasn't the doctors that did it, they tried their best but surgery was complicated and I got these weird things for free."
She gestured absentmindedly to her eyes, the pupils dilated and clouded over. "If it does turn out that I'll be blind after this surgery, then well," her voice steadied and she relaxed her hands, "at least I'll have spent quality time with you."
She finally raised her eyes to him, holding her breath, trying to keep the tears from sprouting over her eyelashes. Joey was staring at her, face wrinkled with an expression she had never seen on him before.
"I'm sorry I'm what you got in return for them," he said quietly, voice strained. He reached over to brush a stray tear away and she suddenly didn't mind that she couldn't see at all anymore, the tears falling freely over her grinning face.
"No, I just lost something that was never meant to be mine in the first place. At least it left me with something I thought I would never have again."