"…And they said they're going to evaluate me to see if I need hand controls, but I don't think I'll need hand controls. I stand just fine. Not perfect, but I think it counts."

"It counts," Kit confirmed with a smile, rubbing her left knee. She had tripped in the bathroom earlier, having trouble navigating the wide lip of the tub.

"Yeah," Lex said, nodding mostly to herself, "My cousin's taken me driving and I think I do okay."

Alexandra Sakai was sixteen. She was Asian-American, half Japanese and half Chinese. She had a sandy complexion, smooth and tawny. Her eyes were wide set and dark brown. Her hair was a soft black color, the ends dyed a deep turquoise that looked like the ocean. She wore a pair of ripped white jeans and a dark blue blouse covered with small pink flowers and had flowy sleeves.

She sat in front of Kit's oval-shaped mirror, curling her hair and Kit liked watching the big ringlets spill down the front. It looked pretty.

Kit decided to say so, "Your hair looks really good."

"Thanks," Lex chimed. She beamed, "I can't believe I get to start driving soon!"

"Mhm…" Kit's smile turned bitter, "Is your mom scared?"

"Oh my God," Lex rolled her eyes, "Actually, it's probably my dad that's more scared. I feel bad…his eyes got all red."

"Awww," Kit crooned, "That's terrible."

"Yeah," Lex said, wincing when she held the curling wand too long, "But I told you, he's the crier and my mom's not," Kit nodded and Lex continued with a sigh, "I don't know. I think he's worried about me getting in an accident. Also, it kind of sucks because I'll have to start doing my chair by myself," she made a face.

"That's right," Kit gasped, "But you do it now when Jax drives you."

"Yeah, but he'll help," Lex reminded. She shrugged, "I'm gonna practice of course."

Lex was in a wheelchair. It was a custom rigid manual wheelchair with dual-tube, the frame made of titanium and painted a candy blue color. There were tattoo finishes in the design of flowers, which appeared vertically on the front frame tubes and the spokes were silver. It weighed only 9.3 pounds, making it easy to carry it up and down stairs if necessary.

Speaking of Jax…

From her place on her bed, resting against her fluffy yellow bedrest pillow, Kit looked at her cracked door starting to get worried. Jax had been in the bathroom for awhile.

She and Indigo no longer had connecting bedrooms through the bathroom. No, Indigo's bedroom was right across the hall and the bathroom was in the hallway, too, across from the master bedroom where their parents slept. The other bathroom was downstairs.

A few things had changed in Kit's bedroom.

She had the same queen-sized mattress and same simple white bed frame, but her turquoise sheets, pastel yellow comforter and the matching yellow pillows it came with existed no longer. Her new fitted and flat sheets as well as her pillowcases were white dotted with gold metallic hearts. Her comforter was metallic silver. It featured pleated panels that created a textural look on the top of the bed. There were two decorative pillows, a square one with metallic embroidery and an oblong one with fabric manipulation.

There was no more soft cream-colored carpet, but sleek hardwood that matched the downstairs. She kind of wanted carpet, but had quickly learned that it was easier to clean up things on hardwood than it would be with carpet.

There were no more yellow walls that matched perfectly with her bed set. Instead, her walls were painted a light fifties style pink color.

She had let Indigo pick and it had been worth it to see her little sister light up. Because now, their bedroom walls matched.

Her five drawer dresser was the same as well as her white bedside table. Leaning against the wall was no longer her violin, but her dark gray four-wheel reverse walker which was currently folded.

Her bedroom doorknob had been taken off and replaced with a bright silver dummy doorknob that had no lock whatsoever. She supposed she couldn't complain. She was lucky she got a doorknob, at all.

She voiced her earlier concerns to Lex, "Do you think I should go check on Jax?"

"No," Lex shrugged, leaning forward. She spoke with certainty, "He's probably fine."

"You think so?" Kit asked, "What if it's phantom pain?"

Lex still didn't seem too concerned, "I bet he—" when Kit's door opened, she turned her head, "Oh, see, Kit? There he is!"

Jackson Becker was seventeen, lanky and short for his age, standing at 5'5". He had porcelain skin and a mop top of tousled black hair and tapered bangs in a deep side part that was covered by a dark olive green beanie. He had deep-set, gray-blue eyes. He wore black jeans and a denim jean jacket. It was unbuttoned, showing off a black shirt advertising the band Green Day.

He came in using crutches, balancing heavily on his left leg while his right leg stuck out straight, his foot hovering barely a centimeter off the floor.

"What?" he demanded rudely, moving himself to Kit's bed.

"Nothing," Kit said. She watched Jackson push himself to sit on her bed, then lean the crutches at the end, "I was getting worried. You look pale."

"He's white, Kit," Lex said, then giggled at her joke, "I'm hilarious."

Kit body jolted once as she tried to hold back a snicker. She pursed her lips, buying time to compose herself when she saw that Jackson was clearly not amused.

"Screw you," Jackson's face screwed up, "I'm not in the mood."

He then reached down and practically ripped off his right leg, letting his prosthetic fall to the floor. His pant leg flopped over his hidden residual limb and he began to massage it.

He wasn't doing well.

"Jeez, I'm sorry," Lex said, turning briefly to look at Jax with sad eyes, "I was trying to cheer you up."

Kit felt bad. She and Jackson attended the same therapy program. She usually finished her therapies five minutes before Jackson started his physical therapy.

"Do you want me to get my mom?" she asked, "She can bring you Tylenol or an ice pack."

"I'm okay, but thanks," Jax pushed himself back until he was on the bed and he crawled over to where Kit was lying, putting space between them as he rested against the headboard.

She stared at him for a long moment and when Jackson closed his eyes, she turned her head to address Lex who had gone back to curling her hair.

"Lex, you're not done, yet?" she asked primly, "Come sit with us."

"I'll be done in three seconds," she said, letting loose another curl, "And then I need to use hairspray. Don't worry, I'll go to the bathroom."

Kit nodded. If Lex used hairspray in her room, the cloud of mist would travel and get into her lungs, sending her into a coughing fit.

"What're you doing all that for, anyway?" Jackson demanded. He was still rubbing his leg, but had opened his eyes.

"It's my sister's 21st, tonight," Lex reminded them, "My parents are taking us all to a fancy restaurant and I'm not going to have time to do this, tonight."

"It looks good," Kit praised, "Tell…" she stopped, "Tell your sister I said Happy Birthday."

She bit her lip, feeling her cheeks flame. Hopefully, Lex hadn't noticed the slip-up, but Kit supposed it didn't matter if she had. It was still embarrassing. Lex had mentioned her sister a million times.

'I'm such a loser,' Kit thought.

Lex cheerfully said, "Yeah, I will!"

"Are your parents letting you bring, Juni?" Jax asked, "Or is Lillian gonna throw a temper tantrum?"

'Lillian!' Kit exhaled softly, 'That's right. Lillian, Lillian, Lillian.'

"She'd probably throw a fit, but I was going to leave Juniper at home, anyway," Lex exhaled an irritated sigh, "It's only for a couple hours and because the restaurant is so fancy, I know they'll make a big deal about it and it's Lillian's birthday."

Juniper or Juni, was Lex's service dog.

Feeling a little nauseous, Kit began to rub her forehead, one of her new habits. She was on a number of vitamins and medications, including immunosupressants. Some, she still couldn't pronounce (regardless, she still hated them) and they all came with their own side affects. Nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, vomiting, e.t.c.

She groaned, covering her eyes with her good hand, "I think I'm gonna throw up," she warned.

"Please don't," Jackson said in a chipper voice, "I'm sitting right next to you."

Kit scooted down, so that she was lying on her back. She tried to take deep breaths, keeping her hand over her eyes. She pressed her lips together.

"Don't lie on your back," Lex instructed, frowning, "Turn over on your side. Trust me, it helps."

Kit did as her friend said and maneuvered herself on her right side, facing away from Lex and towards Jackson. She buried her face in the crook of her right arm, her left arm, hanging over the back of her thighs.

"I can't believe they put you on all that crap," Jackson said, "I thought you said you were getting off some?"

"Nope," Kit groaned into her arm. In fact, it seemed every time she went to an appointment, more meds were suggested.

"Please don't throw up," Jackson begged, "I'll puke if you do."

"He will," Lex confirmed, "It's wild."

Kit could hear Lex setting down and unplugging her curling iron. The scent of her burning hair wasn't helping and the heat of the curling iron had warmed her bedroom.

"I'll be right back," Lex undid her brakes, "Want me to get your mom?"

"No," Kit gasped and made a move to sit up. That was the last thing she wanted, "M'fine."

She swallowed, still feeling sick as she struggled to sit up, reaching out to grip Jackson's shoulder for leverage. Sitting up was usually easier, but not always.

"Ow!" Jax cried when Kit's fingers dug into his shoulder, "You're crushing my bones."

"I am not," Kit snickered and leaned her head back, "Drama queen."

"Okaaaay," Lex sang, pushing herself towards Kit's door, "Be right back," she said again.

"She's such a pest," Jax said to Kit once Lex had gone.

"You love her," Kit accused, "She's your best friend."

She didn't need to look at Jackson to know that he was rolling his eyes at her. Him and Lex were always like that, but she supposed it was just their friendship.

"You sure you're okay?" she asked, stealing a glance at him.

"Yeah," Jackson nodded, "My leg's been…" he sighed, massaging his missing limb through his jeans, "I hate that crappy prosthetic. The blisters are getting bad and I was bleeding yesterday. I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I can't wait to get my custom one."

Kit grimaced. Later, Jax would have to put it back on when he left and he wouldn't be able to use his crutches when he went down the stairs as he did when he went up the stairs.

"Therapy's going well, though," Jax said, lighting up, "Is it weird that I feel like outpatient is kind of harder than rehab?"

"I don't think so," she cleared her throat, "Not if that's what you feel."

They lapsed into silence and Kit closed her eyes. Physical therapy was really hard, but it wasn't her least favorite therapy. She loved everyone on her outpatient team, but—

"I guess," Jackson grumbled loud enough for her to hear, "I do like outpatient better, though. Hey, are you sleeping!?"

"No, I'm listening," Kit's eyes fluttered open and she looked at him, "You just said you liked outpatient better. I heard you."

"Oh," Jax simpered, "Okay, then. Anyway, the therapists are cool and I like my bus drivers. They're all girls, though. Isn't that kind of weird?"

"No," Kit said thoughtfully, "I don't think so."

"Oh," was all Jackson said.

They lapsed into another comfortable silence and Kit was able to hear footsteps approaching. She frowned when her mother came into the room, the home phone at Everly's ear as she spoke happily to the person on the other end.

"She's right here," Everly said with a smile, "Yes, you too, honey. Okay, here she is," she held out the phone, "It's Alice."

"Is that the girl who brings the clothes?" Jax asked.

"Yes," Kit hissed, taking the phone from her mother, "Thanks, mom."

"You're welcome," Everly nodded, "Don't be too long."

"I won't," Kit said. She had guests over and it wasn't polite. She pressed the phone to her ear, "Hello?"

"Hi, Kit!" Alice chimed happily, "How are you feeling?"

'She couldn't just ask "How are you?"' Kit thought.

"Good," she decided to answer, "How are you?"

"Wonderful!" Alice laughed melodiously, "I know you're with your friends, but I'm calling because I want to invite you to Bella's birthday party."

"Oh," Kit said. She felt bad. She couldn't recall when Bella's birthday was, "…When is it?"

"On her birthday, silly!" Alice giggled, "The party's going to be on Tuesday—

"Don't forget to write it down," Jax mumbled, again, loud enough for Kit to hear.

"Oh!" Kit gasped loudly, "Right, um, Alice, wait! I need…" she looked around, then spotted what she needed on her bedside table.

The 4×6 inch post-it notes pad were bright, vivid yellow. So bright, that to Kit it looked like a cross between neon poster board and a high lighter. But they were something that Kit's eyes wouldn't miss and that's exactly why her mother had put it there.

"Oh," she said again, realizing her predicament. Her right hand was holding the phone and at this time, it was the only hand she had, "Um…hold on!"

She felt her cheeks began to flush and set the phone on her legs, reaching over to grab the notepad and pen off the bedside table.

They weren't in her hand for long before Jackson took them from her, mumbling, "I've got it."

Kit sighed in relief and touched Jackson's arm before she took the phone and pressed it back to her ear. He was such a good friend.

"Hey, Alice?"

"Still here!" Alice said happily, "Everything okay?"

"Great," Kit said, "Um…I gave—I have a paper and a pen…?" now, she couldn't recall why she had those things. Obviously, Jackson was going to write something down for her, but she had been so frazzled, she couldn't remember what she and Alice had been talking about.

"Great!" Alice chirped, "Now, Bella's party is on Tuesday at our house," Kit repeated this back to Jackson, "At 7:00PM, but Emmett will pick you up at 6:30PM," Kit repeated this too, "Does that work?"

"Um, I mean, I'll have to," Kit gestured, but Alice obviously couldn't see her, "You know…talk to my parents about it," she bit her lip, but…" she trailed off again, something she did a lot.

Alice didn't seem to mind and still spoke in her trilling, cheerful voice, "Okay, that's fine! I'll see you Tuesday."

"Okay…"

"Bye, Kit! Love you!" and Alice hung up, leaving Kit to listen to the dial tone.

Kit hung up and dropped the phone into her lap. She looked over at Jackson, eyeing his handwriting on the notepad.

"Thanks," she said.

Jax flicked his eyebrows up, "Yeah," he held out the notepad for her, "You should have asked."

"I—" Kit took the notepad and pen from him, returning it to her bedside table, "I'm working on it."

She steadied the pen, then returned her hands to her lap. She didn't know what to do now.

"Hey," Lex pushed Kit's door open, rolling herself into the room. When she shut the door, she let herself cruise until she reached Kit's bed, "Sorry I took so long. What's going on?"

"You missed it," there was a smirk in Jackson's voice, "Kit got invited to a party."

.

.

.

.

A couple hours later, when Lex and Jax had left, Kit waited until she heard her mom in the hallway and called Everly into her room.

"Are you okay!?" Everly rushed in, "What's wrong? Does something hurt?"

"No," Kit felt bad and frowned, "I didn't want to get up and I had no other way of calling you," she smiled, another bitter one.

"Oh, I—" Everly tapped both her jean pockets, then her hands went to her butt, "Gosh, honey, I'm sorry," she sat on the edge of the bed, "I thought I left my phone for you."

"That's all right," Kit gave a small smile.

"Well, are you hungry?" Everly asked. She checked Kit's alarm clock, "Did you check your blood sugar?"

"I'm not hungry," Kit replied. Truthfully, she wasn't, "And daddy helped me do it a little bit ago. Right after Lex and Jax left. He took the home phone and I don't need anything, right now. I feel okay."

"Do you want to take a nap?" Everly asked, "I can sit with you."

"I can take one later," Kit exhaled softly, "I'm not that—"

She stopped, glancing upwards when Everly laid a hand across her forehead.

"I feel okay," Kit said again, "Really."

"You sure you're okay?" Everly let her hand drop back down to her lap.

"Yes!" Kit huffed quietly, getting a little irritated, "I feel fi—okay," she bit her lip when her mom frowned, "I feel okay, right now."

Everly still looked concerned when she asked, "Okay, then. What did Alice want?"

Kit shrugged, looking down at her left arm, "Um, she asked if I would come to Bella's birthday party…" she trailed off, looking up to see her mother's reaction.

Everly lit up, "That's great, Kit Kat. When is it? You wrote it down, didn't you?"

She was reaching for the notepad and Kit sighed, rolling her eyes as her mom scanned what Jax had written down.

"7:00PM on Tuesday, that's perfect!" Everly was delighted.

"No," Kit protested quietly, "That's my rest day."

Tuesdays were her "rest days" because it was the only weekday when she usually had no appointments.

"But the day will be over," Everly argued, "You'll be done with school and you'll have plenty of time to rest before the party," she skimmed the note again, "So, if Emmett's coming to get you at 6:30PM…" she nodded to herself, "Yes, then that's plenty of time. You shouldn't be sleeping that late, anyway."

Kit scowled and in her quiet, mousy voice, she asked, "What if I don't feel well? What if I get a fever?"

Everly looked wane, "Then you'll have to stay home. I'm sure they'll understand, but you should still get Bella a present. It's Saturday, so, we'll have to go shopping, tomorrow. Tomorrow's Sunday."

Kit's face turned sour. In terms of her kidney, Sundays were hard for her, but she survived.

"We can go early in the morning before you take your meds," Everly suggested, "Or we can go later in the afternoon. Maybe once you've rested a bit?"

"I have to go?" Kit made her eyes wide, pointing to herself, with her right hand.

"Yes, Kit," Everly nodded, "I can't go by myself. I don't know what Bella likes."

"Well, I can't just tell you?" Kit didn't mean to sound so whiny.

"Honey," Everly placed a hand on Kit's knee, "Do you not want to go to the party?"

Kit brought her thumb to her mouth, gnawing on her nail, but not biting it.

After a long moment of silence, she shook her head.

"No?" Everly's eyes widened, "Why not? You just saw everyone the other day."

Kit pulled her nail out of her mouth and wiped it on her leggings. She began to drum her fingers on her knee, then stopped and took a breath through her nose.

"It'll be so much fun," Everly added, "It's going to be Bella's big eighteenth and if she really wants you there, then I think you should go."

"Mom, I—" Kit began to rub her forehead, "I don't—I mean, I don't want to…"

"Take your time," Everly murmured.

"I just mean—what if I faint or something?" she demanded. The fact that this should have been common sense, was clear in her tone.

"Carlisle will be there," Everly reminded, but Kit had known that, "If you start to feel faint, then you can take a seat, have a piece of candy and take it easy. I can give Emmett the Ativan. Just try not to burst into flames."

Everly smiled, but Kit didn't find this very amusing. She couldn't quite place her finger on what was wrong. She was pretty sure that she felt scared or something akin to that.

"I guess," she muttered under her breath.

"I know it's hard, and it's awkward," Everly sighed softly, "But honey, you can't just sit in your room all the time. You need to get up and get out of the house—

"I get out of the house!" Kit interrupted in a quiet cry, "All the time!"

"Well, then, you need to have fun," Everly said firmly.

"I have fun with Jax and Lex all the tim—

"Fun outside of the house, Kit," Everly sighed loudly. This time, she rubbed her forehead, "You don't get to do this. You don't get to—you don't get to just go to appointments and come home, take meds, and sleep. You're seventeen now, and you're doing a lot better. We have a routine and, well, now it's time for you to get a life."

"I don't want to take meds, anyway," Kit grumbled.

"We're not getting into that, again," Everly said dryly, having heard Kit's grumble, "Not right now."

Kit rolled her eyes dramatically, huffing.

"Why are you rolling your eyes at me?"

"Because, mom, it's…it's…" Kit wanted to roll over and throw herself under her covers and stay there for the rest of her life, "Ugh, you see!?"

She very rarely left the house unless she was going to her appointments. If her mom happened to go to the store or something afterwards, Kit would hunker down in the front seat, low enough so that she could hide behind the dashboard.

"Honey, it's all right," Everly began to rub Kit's knee, "You need to give yourself some credit. You're working hard every single day and I can imagine how frustrating these changes are, but you're doing your best to get used it and sometimes, Kit Kat, that's all you can do. Rome wasn't built in a day."

"I guess," Kit supplied, unable to think of anything else to say.

"I think you're situationally depressed," Everly stated seriously, "Maybe I should talk to Carlisle about your anti-depressant."

"Nooo!" this time, Kit did whine, "I'm trying to get off that!"

"Situational depression occurs when an individual is unable to adjust to or cope with a particular stress or a major life event," Everly recited this very quickly, "And letting Emmett and his family and Bella back into your life is definitely a stress event—a major life event since Emmett's still your boyfriend."

Kit blinked at her mother. She was a walking encyclopedia of medical pamphlets.

"No more medicine," Kit begged, "And I hate the anti-depressant, mom!"

"We'll just adjust it a little," Everly assured her as if she were a doctor, "Social support can be extremely helpful. This is about Bella and no one will be paying attention to you. I think that you should go to the party."

"Okay," Kit said in a small voice if only to stop the conversation. It did sound nice and it was Bella's eighteenth.

Her mom must have heard the uncertainty in her voice because she said, "We'll see how Tuesday goes. Shopping, tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.

"Mmm," Kit looked down at her useless left arm, flexing her fingers, "It…it's a lot of walking, isn't it?"

"We can take your walker?" Everly suggested, "And we'll bring Indi along. Just us girls. It'll be fun. We won't shop in town."

The reassurance was nice, but Kit didn't need to be told that. Because they spent so much time in Port Angeles or Seattle, they rarely shopped in town unless they were in need of milk or aluminum foil. Even then, it was usually her dad who made the quick solo trip to the store.

She really didn't want to go shopping and still didn't understand why her mom just couldn't go. But now, if she said no, she knew it would hurt her mom's feelings and then Kit would feel bad and if Indigo went, then she would want Kit to go and Kit didn't want to hurt Indi's feelings either.

"Um," her words were still weak, "Mom, I—I'd rather go early, I think."

Everly grinned, clapping her hands together. She looked delighted about getting Kit out of the house.

"Great!" she said, "Go to bed early, tonight. I'll have to wake you up early and I'll bring your meds just in case. We'll probably stop for breakfast or lunch. Or just brunch," she laughed at herself.

Kit bit her lip, "We're gonna go out to eat?" nerves laced her tone.

"No, no," Everly shook her head, "We'll stop and get something to go, okay? Just little something to tie us over until we get home."

Kit nodded slowly. She supposed that was manageable, "Okay…"

The beaming smile slowly faded from Everly's face, "Are you sure you're feeling all right? You don't feel nauseous? Is your stomach upset?"

"I feel okay," Kit confirmed. Her stomach felt uncomfortable, but not upset, "It's been a good day, so far."

She closed her eyes when her mom leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"It has been," Everly agreed with a smile, "Want to come downstairs and watch TV, with me?"

Kit nodded, mimicking her mother's smile, "Sure."