"Hey, pal, you OK?"

"Huh?"

Eddie shook himself out of his own thoughts to see Nate squatting in front of him looking concerned.

"You OK? Come on, let's get you out of the floor. "

Eddie looked around the room at where the chaos had come to rest. Elise was sitting on Brodi's bed holding Brodi's hand and stroking his hair. Pierce was busy taking the man's vitals again, and here he was, still sitting on the floor.

"Eddie?"

Nate held his hand out and looked at him pointedly.

"Oh. Yeah Sorry. " He took Nate's hand and allowed the man to pull him up. Nate steered him to the chair and pushed him gently back into it. Eddie reflexively batted Nate's hand away as Nate moved Eddie's head to the side.

"Easy , Eddie. " Nate said . "Hey, Doc! When you're finished with our boy there, I've got another patient for you. " Nate turned his attention back to Eddie. "I think you hit your head on the bedside table."

"I'm fine." Eddie said, batting Nate's hand away again.

"Uh-huh. All the same, just chill for a minute."

"Shouldn't you be worried about Brodi?"

"We've got Brodi covered . " Nate said as Pierce finished up with Brodi. "Let the doc look at you. "

Eddie realized he wasn't being given much choice as Nate moved out of the way and Pierce moved in, shining a pen light in his eyes one at a time. " After asking the standard "check for concussion" questions, the doctor declared him OK with the standard "call me if " caveats.

"Now , I've taken a room here for this weekend until the storm blows over. If any of you need anything, don't hesitate to come get me. "

"Don't worry, Pierce. I'll keep an eye on things. You'll know the second we'll need you. "

"Make sure it happens that way. Now , " he fumbled around in his bag some more and pulled out a disposable ice pack. He squeezed the center until it burst and the entire thing started getting cold. "You might want to hold that on that lump, son."

Eddie took it without saying a word, then rather sulky applied it to his injury as he watched Pierce gather his supplies, check his main patient once more, then took his exit.

"How is he? " Eddie asked when Elise meet his eyes.

"He'll be fine."

Eddie looked up at Nate, who was standing in front of him with his arms crossed. "So that. .."

"That is exactly the kind of stuff Brodi was protecting you from, dude . He wasn't trying to push you away. He just stayed to himself when he felt likely to get triggered ."

"So when he feels like he can handle being around people he tries . And my constantly making excuses. .."

"Didn't exactly help, no."

"Gee, thanks. "

Nate shrugged . "You asked.

"I told him. ..I told him I'd rather stay in the dark. Do you think he'll forgive me? "

"Do you still want to stay in the dark? "

Eddie shook his head. "I want to help him. But I don't know how. "

Nate thought for a minute, then turned to Elise. "You think you've got the situation under control, princess ? "

"Yeah. " She said quietly, before kissing Brodi's forehead. Then she stood and walked over to Nate, giving him a huge hug. "Thank you so much for keeping him safe . "

"Hey, he'd do it for any of us. Now, I'm going to get Fuzzy here a drink. Want me to bring you back something?

"No, I'm fine. I'll call if I need something. You two should get some rest, too."

Eddie stood and Nate started pulling him to the door. "Seriously. You need anything. Any. Thing."

"Got it. Now go!"