As Alex woke up the next morning he made no effort towards even sitting up or towards even moving, but rather thought of Nick. Questions flew throughout his own mind some of which were first if he would be okay, if he was going to live, and last how could he ever face Nick again after what he had done both to him and to his family.
In Alex's mind he had decided that he would never be able to muster up the courage needed to face Nick in the hospital.
Alex was so deep in thought that he had not heard the footsteps of Jack Mcleod just outside of the door until Jack knocked on the door which caused Alex's head to turn so fast that it made a crack. Then the voice of Jack Mcleod asked Alex through the door,
"Alex can I come in?"
"Uh yeah, Jack, come on in," Alex responded with a wince as he just now realized that upon sitting up so fast that he had opened all of the wounds on his back. Causing his own back to start bleeding once again like a fountain as Jack Mcleod walked into the room.
"I figured that would happen," were the very which Jack said to Alex just as Alex took notice of both the bandages and the liniment which he had brought. Alex then after ensuring that the door to the guest room was closed then slowly made towards turning around so that Jack could start bandaging him up.
As Alex was sitting there all the while trying his best not to make a sound due to the pain in his back, he heard Jack say to him
" I want you to take it easy today Alex, I really do mean it, don't overexert yourself today," to which Alex merely nodded in reply. Due to that if he didn't know if he would be able to keep himself from crying out if he even opened his mouth.
"Just a few more minutes Alex," were the next words which Alex heard Jack say to him as he finished bandaging up Alex's back. As soon as Jack was done he told Alex to stay sitting down and then left the room only to return a moment later with some pain medication. Which he then handed to Alex for him to take with the cup of water Jack had also brought with him.
"You're going to be mending fences with me today Alex," were the next words which Jack said to Alex after handing him a darker shirt of Alex's which would help hide the obvious bandages underneath. After nodding in response Alex continued to look downward at his feet which finally caused Jack to walk over and stand in front of Alex.
After kneeling down so that he was face to face with Alex Ryan he used his hand and then grabbed Alex's chin and then lifted his face so that he was looking Jack straight on into the face. Then after taking a breath he said out loud just for Alex to hear,
" Alex look at me, what your father did to you was in no way alright, you did not deserve it, you messed up but you did not deserve to be beaten by your own father."
Then continued on to say " Just make sure that what you did will never happen again, you learned the hard way not to lie, so pick yourself up and keep going like the tough guy I now that you can be," Jack finished with a smile.
"Now get ready to work your but off Alex Ryan, I'll see you downstairs in five minutes," Jack said and then left the room for Alex to get dressed.
