Northern Districts Hospital - Day 17 Continued
"What's going on?" Nate asks as he walks over with Sid, who had come to get an update on Kyle's condition.
"Lucas has barracaded himself in Kyle's hospital room and won't let us in." Casey says.
"Why has he done that?" Sid asks.
"We had all come to an agreement to turn Kyle's life support off but Lucas said he couldn't let it happen. Now he won't let us in or answer us." Brax says.
"Come on Lucas, this isn't funny anymore!" Heath shouts through the door. "I never agreed to it either so why are you shutting me out?"
"It won't work." Casey mutters.
"What have I done to deserve being shut out like this?" Heath hisses. "I don't want Kyle to die anymore than he does but here I am out here with you!"
"You can come in." Lucas says through the door. "But just you, not them."
"Good." Heath says, slipping through the door as Lucas makes a small gap, it immediately being blocked up again. "Why're doing this?" He asks.
"I can't let them do this." Lucas sobs. "I moved here so I could get to know my third triplet, and three other brothers we never even knew about. I can't lose that now, we've barely had time to know each other, not really."
"It's going to be so hard, I'm not disputing that… We need to stick together as a family. None of us want this to happen but we can't keep him on the machine just because we don't want to let him go." Heath says. "I won't agree to turning his life support off, that's some personal stuff for me, but it doesn't mean I want him to suffer because of it. Tyler was right, we don't know what Kyle feels, whether he's in pain or at peace."
"I get that, I really do." Lucas mutters. "I'm being selfish because I'm not ready to lose him, I don't know him well, not like I should. It's not fair that this has happened!"
"I know!" Heath groans. "Is this how you want to repay Kyle for everything you've done for each other? Making him suffer just because you don't want to let him go?"
"Of course not!" Lucas exclaims.
"Then let this go, let Kyle go so we can all grieve." Heath pleads. "It's not fair on him for us to be doing this."
"If it's what has to be done, then why won't you agree to it? I know you said it was personal reasons, but I think it deserves an explanation." Lucas says.
"Me and Kyle have never had the best of relationships. Yeah, we were great brothers and I finally felt like I had a brother I could be close to, like Brax and Casey, but we also had our issues. I was never the big brother he needed, we fought a lot and he was also kidnapped because of me. I never got to prove to him that I can be like Brax, and he can rely on me for things as well even if he didn't think he could." Heath says, knowing Lucas wouldn't tell anyone else about this conversation.
"Kyle wouldn't hate you for that. He loved you just as much as Brax." Lucas mutters. "Brothers fight, I've come to realise that a lot living here. And I'm sure you never wanted him to be kidnapped, it would have been something that just happened and no one could have predicted. When Brax was away with Ricky, you did a pretty great job and Kyle was so grateful you went to his counselling sessions with him as Brax couldn't be there. You need to stop being so hard on yourself." Lucas says.
"You know I'm here here to stop you doing something stupid, not so we can talk about me." Heath lightly jokes.
"I think in this case, we're just as broken as each other." Lucas shrugs, briefly glancing down. "Will me and Tyler really be welcome to stay here without Kyle?"
"Why would you ask that?" Heath frowns.
"It's going to be so hard on us not having him around, but you guys have to carry on with us living here. What if one day you're drunk, or really tired and you mistake us for Kyle?" Lucas asks. "You get us confused a lot now anyway, what happens once Kyle dies?"
"I don't know." Heath lightly shrugs, not wanting to think about it. "It's something we're all going to have to live with. It's not going to be easy but we can't keep doing this. The doctors wouldn't have suggested for us to make a decision about turning Kyle's life support off if there was a chance he'd wake up. They know about this stuff."
"What if they've got something wrong?"
"Kyle would have woken up by now if there was a chance." Heath says. "We've had two different doctors give us an opinion, and we trust both of them. I know you don't know Sid, but he worked here for a long time and helped this family a lot. He wouldn't lie to us about this."
"So this is it?" Lucas asks, tears starting to stream down both of their faces again as reality starts to hit home even more.
"This has to be it. We can't let him suffer like this." Heath says, comforting Lucas as he hugs him. "We've had good times with him, we can't forget them now."
"I won't ever be forgetting them." Lucas cries.
"Lucas?" Someone shouts through the door at him.
"Blake?" Lucas frowns, both of them turning to the door, Lucas walking over to it.
"What's going on? Why are you doing this?" Blake asks.
"I couldn't let Kyle's life support be turned off." Lucas replies, thinking back to how he first met Blake through Kyle.
"I thought we talked about what would happen when it came to this? You were going to deal with it as a family for Kyle's sake, so he could know you were all sticking together." Blake says. "You said you'd be accepting of this decision once it was made, what's changed?"
"I just panicked about how soon it was happening. I've spoken to Heath." Lucas says, starting to panic again about what was going to be facing him outside the door.
"So you'll open the door up now?"
"No, I can't!" Lucas shakes his head as he takes a couple steps back.
"Why not?" Blake asks.
"Lucas, what's going on?" Heath frowns, confused by this sudden change of behaviour.
"Everyone's going to be mad for what I did." Lucas says. "What if Brax doesn't let me back in here?"
"He wouldn't do that." Heath says.
"Lucas, come on, just open the door." Blake says.
"Do you hate me for what I did?" Lucas asks him.
"No, of course not."
"Then what are you even doing here?" Lucas frowns. "Why did you come here and why are you trying to talk me out of whatever I was even doing here?"
"Cause I like you, Lucas. And not just in a friendly way." Blake says, knowing he should do this for himself, and for Kyle, who had figured it out. "You know it was actually Kyle who left hints that you had a crush on me. I'd never even thought about being with a guy before, I was going to hide who I was and carry on dating girls to try and force myself into being someone I wasn't. But I am gay and I want to be with you." He says, briefly glancing at Casey who looked happy for him, despite still looking sad over the impending decision they had made.
"What?" Lucas frowns as more tears run down his face, resting his hand against the door handle, ready to move the cabinet out the way.
"I don't want an answer now, I wouldn't expect one, I just want you to know I'm here for you no matter what happens." He says, the door opening to a distraught Lucas as Heath leans against Kyle's bed, his head hung down.
"I'm not ready to lose him." Lucas sobs, Blake hugging him tight.
"I know you're not." Blake sighs, Bianca walking past them to check on Heath.
"He'd want me to say yes." Lucas says between sobs. "He's been telling me about it for weeks, I should have done something sooner so he'd know he helped me."
"He didn't need to see it to know that. You're his triplet, he's always going to be a part of you." Blake says, them all startling as Kyle's machines start going off.
"What's going on?" Emily panics as doctors and nurses rush into the room, Heath and Bianca being pushed out.
"Brax?" Casey mutters, the eldest Braxton just as confused as the rest of them.
"We were just talking to each other then the machines started going crazy." Heath says, his heart racing. "What does that mean?"
"What's going on?" Sid asks as he walks over to them from where he was by the nurses station down the corridor.
"We don't know." Brax says, Sid nodding before walking in to help.