Braxton House - Day 9
"Hey, Bianca. Has Brax been here by any chance?" Ricky asks as she walks through the door.
"No, is he not at the hospital?" Bianca asks.
"No, Nate said he hasn't seen him since the other day and I've looked everywhere. I was hoping he would have come back here." Ricky sighs as she sits at the dining table with Bianca. "Things got heated with the boys when we went to get coffee for them the other day. You had left with Heath, and I went back to Kyle's room with Emily. It was tense when we got back, something had been said that's caused a rift between the boys. I managed to get more out of Casey and apparently Brax is refusing to live with Tyler and Lucas if Kyle dies." Ricky explains.
"But Tyler doesn't live here?" Bianca frowns.
"I think it was more about them being in Summer Bay. Lucas especially is so much like Kyle in so many ways and he's going to find it really hard having him around if Kyle isn't here. I just wish he'd talk to me when he feels like this." Ricky says.
"I can see where he's coming from with that. If he can't have Kyle around, he wouldn't want them around reminding him of the brother he was closest to." Bianca says.
"Yeah, Casey was telling me how Kyle was Brax's new favourite brother, which he didn't mind. Now this has happened and it's really messed with his mind. I just wish I knew where else to look." Ricky says. "I've been to Reefton Lakes, Yabbie Creek, I even went to Mangrove River and he wasn't anywhere. I asked Cheryl and she wouldn't tell me much."
"Do you think she knows where he is?"
"Maybe, she was acting a bit weird, well weirder than usual." Ricky says. "Where's Heath? I didn't see him when I checked the hospital before coming here."
"I've got a scan today, I was letting him get some more sleep before we needed to leave." Bianca says. "He's taken it hard as well. He really wants Kyle to be an uncle to our baby, he's going to be devastated if the doctors don't give us good news."
"Nate said they'll be reviewing Kyle's vitals and results again in a few days. He didn't sound hopeful that there would be an improvement and it's going to crush Emily and the boys." Ricky says. "I wish there was something we could do to help them."
"I've been thinking of things, but came up blank. Heath has already refused to agree to Kyle's life support off, and I'm guessing the others will as well." Bianca says.
"Yep, Brax will refuse to sign the papers agreeing to it." Ricky nods, already seeing how the conversation will go. "But this has to be their decision, it will be affecting all of them a lot more than us. I was close to Kyle, he was like a brother to me, but I don't want him to suffer."
"We don't either." Heath glares as he walks in.
"I didn't mean it like that, I just think you should all take into account what Nate says in a few days at the next review." Ricky says.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I will take it into account, I just won't ever agree to turning Kyle's life support off. If it comes to the decision needing to be made, it can be done without me." Heath says.
"Will you blame the others if they agree to it?" Bianca asks.
"We'll see when it comes to it." Heath says. "Are you ready to go yet?"
"We don't need to leave for a while." Bianca says as she looks down at her watch.
"I want to pop in and see Kyle before the scan." Heath says.
"Okay, I'll just get my bag." Bianca says, standing up and walking into the hallway to her and Heath's room.
"Have you heard from Brax over the last few days?" Ricky asks him.
"No, why, has he still not showed up?" Heath asks.
"No. I'm starting to worry now, I've looked everywhere." Ricky says.
"Try mum's. Either she'll be lying to you about him being there, or he'll be staying with one of the boys, probably Mickey as they were close growing up." Heath says.
"Cheryl was acting weird when I went there." Ricky mutters.
"Then that's where he'll be. He won't be hiding from you on purpose, he just does this when he's struggling to cope with something. I saw it a lot as a kid, mainly after beatings from dad. He never wanted us to see how bad they were, so stayed in his room and told mum to lie and say he went away somewhere." Heath says.
"But I'm his wife now, he can't do stuff like this to me." Ricky frowns as Bianca walks back out.
"Don't take it personally, you should know him better than anyway, it's a way he tries to cope with things. This stuff with Kyle is enough to make anyone want to escape reality. If it wasn't for Bianca carrying my kid, I would have probably run from it as well." Heath says. "What you've got to understand is Brax got really close to Kyle after finding out he wasn't coping living here. He went to all of his counselling sessions, spoke to him everyday just to make sure he was doing okay, just went out of his way for Kyle. Now everything has been turned upside down and we could lose Kyle for good. I thought I was struggling with this, but if Brax has gone off the radar, it means he's doing worse than we think."
"So it's serious?" Ricky asks, never having seen the worse sides of it when they were kids.
"Maybe. If he's at mum's then maybe she's been able to talk some sense into him, although that's very unlikely." Heath says. "Anyway, we need to go, call if you need help." He says, walking over to Bianca so they could leave.
Northern Districts Hospital
"Who was that other doctor?" Heath asks as he walks into Kyle's room with Bianca, just as Nate and a doctor he didn't recognise were leaving.
"Kyle's blood pressure dropped and they couldn't work out why. Apparently it wasn't anything to worry about, it's now back up to a healthy level." Casey replies. "I tried calling Brax but he isn't answering his phone."
"No, he won't. If anything like this happens again, you call me first. I'm going to be in charge for a bit." Heath says, having had a quick text from Ricky when they arrived at the hospital filling them in.
"Why, what's going on?" Lucas asks, noticing Heath glancing at Casey.
"Nothing for any of you to worry about." Heath says. "You just call me first."
"Why?" Tyler asks. "We have a right to know, we're part of this family now as well."
"Fine." Heath huffs, glancing at Bianca who gives him a reassuring smile. "He's had a bit of a breakdown and Ricky wants him to focus on working through it before needing to worry about Kyle again."
"Is he going to be okay?" Casey frowns, never having expected for his eldest brother to break under this kind of pressure, but then he also knew how much it had affected him.
"He's been staying at mum's since he left the other day, will probably be staying there a bit longer until he's ready to come back and face this." Heath says. "I know this isn't what any of us expected right now, but can you please not make this any harder than it is? I've got enough going on without things being made worse." He says, mainly aiming it at the two triplets.
"You don't need to worry about me, I didn't realise how bad it was actually affecting Brax." Lucas says, feeling bad for how they reacted after Brax went off at them.
"You know I won't cause any problems." Casey says, having thought Brax struggled coping after the beatings he got from their father, he just never thought they'd witness it again.
"Tyler?" Heath questions, staring at him as he stays quiet. "If you've got a problem with keeping your mouth shut around Brax, you can go."
"The only thing I have a problem with is Brax saying we have to leave if Kyle dies. I won't be going easy just because he's got an issue with us."
"He doesn't have an issue with you because of that, it's because he won't cope without Kyle around. Now get over it or get out." Heath snaps. "We've got to go for a scan, we'll be back soon." He says, leaving with Bianca before his anger took over.
"What?" Tyler asks Casey, who was staring daggers at him.
"If Brax has had a breakdown because of this, then it's something serious. It means he really isn't coping and he could do without you making it worse." Casey says. "Emily will be here soon, so you better keep your mouth shut cause she doesn't need to hear it either." He says, Lucas glaring at Tyler to stay quiet.