Braxton House
"You sure you're ready to go in yet?" Brax asks his brother after he was allowed to be discharged home.
"Yeah, I guess." Kyle mutters.
"You don't sound too convincing. Were you really ready to be discharged, mentally? Maybe Alex was right, one more night wouldn't have hurt you to get yourself ready for this." Brax says.
"I'm fine. I just don't know if I'm ready to face everyone yet." Kyle says, his brothers and Ricky having gone home when Brax spoke to him.
"Just remember that no one hates you, they just didn't know how to help you when you were being so quiet." Brax says. "If you want, I can go and talk to them for you, give you a minute alone?"
"No, don't go." Kyle shakes his head, not knowing where that came from, he just didn't want to be alone. "I do need a minute, but can you stay?" He quietly asks.
"Sure I can." Brax nods, not even seeing anything wrong in Kyle asking, he knew he was needed.
"Are you really okay with what I said? You really don't hate me for it?" Kyle asks, feeling bad for the horrible things he said.
"Kyle, I'm fine with it. You were having a bad day, I get that. And I know I haven't been the best brother and I come across as forceful, I just don't want any of you to have bad lives." Brax says.
"But that's what makes you a great brother, you care and that's what we need." Kyle says. "You seem to know more about what I need than I do, and that's great. You're not the worst brother, I didn't mean it."
"I know you didn't mean it, any of it." Brax says, noticing Blake trying to sneak past the car up the driveway.
"Blake?" Kyle frowns as he opens his door.
"Kyle, hi! I didn't know you were being discharged yet." Blake says, helping Kyle stand up on his crutches, needing them for a few more days until he was able to start walking properly on his leg.
"Well here I am." Kyle says as Brax walks around the car to join them. "Why were you trying to avoid me?" He asks.
"I wasn't." Blake mutters.
"Right." Kyle sighs.
"Come on mate, you should be happy that you've been discharged. What's this face for?" Blake asks, ruffling Kyle's hair as he knew it annoyed him.
"Nothing." Kyle frowns, unable to fix his hair but he had a feeling it couldn't be any more messy than it was before.
"Well let's head inside then. It's a nice day so getting some fresh air won't do you any harm. We'll walk through the garden." Blake says, slyly smirking at Brax before they support Kyle in walking towards the garden.
"If this is so I can avoid everyone else, thanks." Kyle mutters.
"Why would you want to avoid everyone else?" Blake asks.
"He thinks everyone hates him for how he's been recently." Brax says, opening the gate up before walking inside.
"Welcome home!" A group of people shout as they see Kyle.
"What's going on?" Kyle mutters, seeing all of his family and friends gathered in the garden.
"We threw you a welcome home/birthday party." Lucas smiles as he walks over to his triplet, carefully hugging him. "I'm so happy you're finally home."
"You are?" Kyle frowns.
"Why wouldn't I be? I've missed having you around." Lucas says. "Although it was very hard trying to plan this in an hour as we weren't given a great amount of warning for your discharge." He says, glancing at the eldest brother.
"Don't look at me like that, I wasn't told this was going to happen yet." Brax says, having thought they meant a party once Kyle had settled back home, but he knew this would help Kyle to know that none of them hated him.
"Means no more daily trips to the hospital, bet you're glad you're out of there now." Heath says, getting a small nod in reply. "Still giving me the silent treatment I see."
"Heath." Brax glares, shoving him off inside so they could talk privately.
"Come and say hi to everyone." Lucas says, helping Kyle over to the bench so he could sit down.
"You're looking a lot better than this morning." Ricky smiles. "Are you hungry? We've got plenty of food."
"Sure." Kyle nods.
"I'll get you an assortment." Ricky smiles, walking over to the table where Tyler was standing eating some of it and Kyle couldn't help but smile as she told him off for it.
"Good to see you out of the hospital mate." George says. "We'll have to hang out more now you're out. Maybe do days out instead of nights out."
"That's not a bad plan." Paul says. "We need to make up for the time we nearly lost."
"I was just keeping things interesting." Kyle lightly smiles.
"More like keeping us terrified." Lucas mutters.
"Why are you complaining, you got a boyfriend out of it?" Kyle says.
"Maybe it would have been better for you to have been here to see it, but I reckon it helped you wake up." Blake smiles, noticing a difference in Kyle in just a short amount of time. "Just means you'll be seeing more of me around."
"What did I do to deserve that?" Kyle asks, starting to feel a lot better now he was home with all of his friends and family, well almost all.
"I could think of many things, the main one being you hinting that Lucas liked someone, and then I started noticing how needy he was around me." Blake says, smiling at Lucas who shook his head.
"I was not needy, I was simply trying to get to know you." Lucas says.
"I know." Blake says.
"I just wonder how many more romances there are going to be within our group, including the girls." Paul says.
"We'll probably just have to wait and see." Blake says, wondering that himself.
"I'm sorry we're late, we got stuck in traffic on the way home from Yabbie Creek." Casey says as he walks in with Denny.
"Traffic in Yabbie Creek?" Ricky frowns as she hands Kyle a plate of food.
"Better believe it. A car crashed into a tree, so the road had been shut off. They opened up not long after we started waiting." Casey says, placing a hand on Kyle's shoulder. "Great to see you bro, you're looking happier than this morning."
"I had a great chat with Brax." Kyle says as their two older brothers come out from the house with Bianca, who had been changing Rocco's nappy.
"Hey, there you are." Bianca smiles.
"Please, no more 'it's great to see you home' comments!" Kyle chuckles.
"I was just going to see if you wanted some cuddles with your nephew, but I guess Lucas might instead." Bianca says.
"Yeah, Lucas can." Kyle mutters, briefly glancing at Heath before eating a sausage roll from his plate.
"Nah, go for it. Rocco's going to start getting confused if Lucas holds him any longer." Heath says as Bianca gently hands Kyle her son. "Just don't even mention anything about his future, I've had enough school talk to want a refund on that kid." He jokes, causing them all to laugh apart from Bianca.
"Is there something wrong with our son being smart, Heath?" Bianca stares at him.
"No, course not." Heath mutters, taking a seat next to Kyle, taking some food from his plate.
"Oi, let Kyle get some proper food into him." Ricky says, whacking Heath on the arm.
"It was one sausage roll! You gave him enough to feed everyone here!" Heath shakes his head.
"Well let's get this party properly started." Casey says, not wanting Heath's moaning to delay the party, so he goes over to put some music on.
"Sorry about my comments over the last few days bro, I didn't realise how bad you were feeling." Heath says, putting an arm around Kyle's shoulder.
"No, I'm sorry. I took a lot out on you guys when you didn't deserve it. It was never intentional." Kyle sighs.
"Well don't worry about it now, this is a celebration. Get that food into you then hang out with your mates. They've been dying to hold a party for you once you were well enough. You've got good people by your side." Heath says.
"Yeah, I do." Kyle nods, grateful for all of his friends. "Where's Emily? I haven't seen or heard from her since she left the hospital. She didn't answer my calls either." He says.
"Oh, uh… Brax didn't tell you?" Heath asks.
"Tell me what?" Kyle frowns.
"It must have slipped his mind. She's gone away with her family for a few weeks, Perth, I think. She said to say goodbye, and she hoped you recovered well and might see you when she comes back." Heath says.
"So she really did break up with me?" Kyle mutters, now realising he ruined the one good thing he had in his life.
"You've still got us mate, we won't ever let you suffer alone again." Heath says, pulling Kyle close before they talk about what Rocco's first milestones have been so far, and then getting back to the party.