It's been a goddamn month, and Sonny's brain will not stop tormenting him about what the hell 'stable' is supposed to mean.

Does it just mean 'not likely to die'? Does it mean 'he's still got his legs'? Is Clay up? Can he carry on conversations? Because he sure as hell doesn't seem to want to talk to his team.

When Sonny closes his eyes to try to go to sleep at night, half the time he still sees flashes of the blood, the shrapnel, the drifting gaze that couldn't focus on him. The damn sock feet. It's the last glimpse he had of his brother and it's been a month and he doesn't understand why Clay won't just talk to him.

He just needs to see him. Even just once would be okay. He just needs to replace that mental image with the real Clay, the cocky golden boy who always has his back.

Once Mandy finally, finally finds somebody to aim them at, the mission does help. It gives Sonny something to focus on, something that matters, and afterward he has the satisfaction of knowing they took down the people who hurt their boy.

And then. Then they're at the bar, and his phone rings, and it's Clay.

His heart like to jumps out of his chest, but he manages to sound casual when he answers.

Soon as Clay's face pops up on screen, another odd feeling of vertigo washes over Sonny, but in a good way this time, because the kid looks … fine.

He's home, sitting on his bed, wearing his baseball cap backward. He's smiling and alert. There's no blood, no visible scars, nothing. He looks like he could jump up and start running hills.

He looks like the bomb never happened, like they never had to fight so damn hard just to keep him breathing until he could get to a hospital.

Sonny knows it's an illusion, that Clay was hurt too bad to be healed up by now, that he must still have a long way to go, but the band that's been constricting his lungs for the last month starts to loosen up anyway.

Davis said Spenser was strong, that he was a fighter. Seeing his brother looking like himself again, Sonny finally knows, soul-deep, that that's the truth.

It'll take time, but Clay will come back to them. He won't give up till he's back home where he belongs.