Braxton House

"Tyler's still at the hospital with Kyle, apparently he's getting the extreme silent treatment." Lucas says as he looks up from his phone. "Do you know if Heath was able to get anything out of Kyle after I left?"

"Uh, not that I know of." Casey says. "He didn't say a lot when I called him. He was still looking for Brax and said that I should come home and he'll check in with some people in Mangrove River to see if they've seen him. He's not really in a good mood with Kyle because of what he said to Brax."

"But I thought Ricky had already checked Mangrove River?" Lucas frowns.

"She did but the River Boys would cover for Brax if he asked them to." Casey says. "I wonder how many voicemails she's going to leave him before deciding to give him some space." He says.

"She's just worried. I wouldn't have expected Brax to take anything Kyle says to heart, it seems unlike him from what I know." Lucas says.

"I guess it kind of is, but they had gotten close since Kyle woke up, even more so than before. I guess he just never expected Kyle to come out with the stuff he said to him." Casey says as Ricky walks back into the house from where she was in the flat. "Any luck getting hold of him?"

"Nope, his phone is still going to voicemail. If he doesn't come home to the last one I left, then I'm going to have a lot to think about." Ricky says.

"To do with your marriage?" Lucas asks.

"Yeah. I need Brax as my husband, not some guy who runs away whenever things get tough. He can't make a promise to talk to me, then just take off without saying anything or even leaving a message to tell me he's okay." Ricky says.

"You have met Brax, haven't you?" Casey scoffs.

"Yes, Casey, but things changed a lot after Kyle's accident. Things were meant to be getting so much better for this family which is why I don't understand why things have changed so quickly."

"Tyler isn't going to leave Kyle alone until he finds out what's going on inside his head for this to have happened. I don't think we really understand what he's going through as much as we think we do." Lucas says. "He feels lonely even when we're there, and I've been thinking about what he really means by that."

"Come on then, what does it mean?" Casey asks.

"We're here carrying on with our lives, doing things we would normally do, but Kyle's stuck in hospital with just us visiting and giving him updates about what's going on in our lives. He's not there to see it. Like me and Blake getting together, it wouldn't have happened without Kyle's input in the beginning. The night out the boys had the other week that we were invited on, he missed out on that, even if we didn't go. And then there's Rocco, he got to see him for about five, maybe ten minutes and then hasn't seen him since, but we talk about the new things he's done when we've gone round to Heath's to see him." Lucas says, wanting them to understand it like he now understands it. "Kyle isn't lonely because he's in hospital, he's lonely because he's missing out on things that he should be here for. I know things got really tense between Brax and Kyle to do with the discharge, but we have to start thinking about what he's going through in there. It's only a few more days until his cast gets taken off, a few days until he's been in hospital for six weeks. That's six weeks that he's missed out on."

"You're right." Ricky sighs, not knowing how she didn't think of that before either. "We've basically been rubbing it in his face about all the things he's not been a part of, not thinking about how he would feel about it."

"But we thought it would make him happy knowing he's being included when we tell him. It's not the same, I get that, but it's not like he can physically be part of it." Casey says.

"But maybe some of the stuff we've been doing shouldn't be done without Kyle here. Like me and Tyler getting our birthday presents, Kyle should have been there." Lucas says.

"He will be, there's still one more for you all. But I understand what you mean now. It's actually been pretty selfish of us to do that to him, no wonder he reacted how he did when Nate refused to discharge him, all of his anger built up over missing out on more." Ricky says.

"We have to make it up to him." Casey says, trying to think to himself.

"How?" Lucas asks.

"Why don't we throw him a big welcome home party once he is discharged?" Casey suggests. "Obviously not too big because he still gets pretty tired on days he's done a lot in physio, but it could also be a belated birthday party as well. We said we were going to do something for your birthdays once Kyle was out of hospital, so that would be a start."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea. We could invite some of his close friends to be there and make it a special occasion so he remembers that we all still love him and he doesn't have to feel left out anymore." Lucas says. "I think it could help him know that he'll always be a part of what we do, even if he can't be there himself."

"How did we not notice he was feeling left out?" Casey sighs..

"He hid it well." Ricky says.

"Even I didn't notice anything, and I was normally good at picking up when he wasn't feeling great. At least we're aware now, so we can start doing things differently, for Kyle to start feeling good again." Lucas says.

Then all of a sudden they hear someone walking up the path, Brax stumbling through the door seconds later. He stares at Ricky before rushing over to her, pulling her in for a long kiss. Casey and Lucas looked at each other confused, wondering what had been said when Ricky was leaving dozens of voicemails on his phone.

"I love you." Brax says.

"Where've you been other than getting drunk?" Ricky asks, smelling the whiskey on his breath.

"Been with a few of the boys. I'm back now, let's go." Brax says, taking her hand to lead her out.

"No, first you're sleeping this off." Ricky shakes her head.

"I'm fine, we should go to find out more." Brax says.

"No, Brax. You are going to get some sleep and to sober up before we even think about going anywhere. We also have quite a few things we need to talk about and I'm not taking no for an answer. If you don't talk, then I'm out." Ricky firmly says.

"There's nothing to talk about!" Brax huffs.

"Yes there is. And what Kyle said to you is going to be top of that list. So you've got a choice, talk now and then get some rest, or get some rest first and then we'll talk when you wake up. What do you choose?" Ricky asks.

"Since when did you think you were the boss?" Brax shakes his head before stumbling back into the flat.

"What was that about?" Casey asks his sister in law.

"Nothing." Ricky grins, having thought it would have taken a lot more arguing to get Brax into the flat to talk. "Why don't you boys go and tell your brothers that Brax is home? We've got a lot to talk about here so it might be a long time. Plus I know you're dying to spend some more time with Rocco." She smiles at Lucas, getting a nod from him.

"Okay, but I doubt he'll tell you much about where he's been." Casey says.

"Trust me, I'll be getting him to talk one way or another and I don't care how long it takes to get it out of him." Ricky says, needing to find out why he was avoiding everyone since leaving the hospital.

"Should we head over to Heath's to see if he's gone there and then head over to the hospital?" Casey suggests.

"Sure, that sounds good. But what if Heath is still out?" Lucas asks as they walk out.

"Then I'll try calling him or track him down. I'm going to mention this plan of ours to Heath, see what he thinks about it all. If you tell Tyler, make sure Kyle doesn't hear, that might cause more upset knowing we've been talking about it." Casey says.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything." Lucas says. "I think they'll like the idea just as much as we did. I hate knowing Kyle is feeling like this and kept it to himself."

"We're all aware of it now, so can help him." Casey says as he pulls his phone out to call their older brother.