For the next few days, Johnny and I were careful to stick together and listen to each other's worries. I'd realised just how self-centered I'd been and I was determined to make up for it. Whatever issues we had could wait. For now, we needed to be there for each other, and for Bobby and Jimmy.

On a Saturday, about four days after my little venting session, I was kicking around the apartment while Johnny was in the shower when the phone rang. I picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jac. It's Bobby."

"Hey, Bobby. What's up?" I asked, plopping myself down in a kitchen chair.

"Just wanted to say it's um... it's the twenty-third today."

"O..kay." I said, slowly, not sure where Bobby was going with this.

"You know. The twenty-third of January." Bobby pressed.

I sat silent, the cogs in my tired brain struggling to get going. Twenty-third of January... I suddenly got it!

"Oh! ...Oh. It's... It's Tommy's birthday." I said, sadly.

"Yeah. I was just trying to think what we should do. I mean, he's still out but... maybe we should all meet up? Have a drink in his honour?"

I smiled. Bobby was such a thoughtful soul.

"That sounds perfect, Bobby." I replied, my heart swelling from the respect I had for him in that moment. "So, where should we meet you? Usual place?"

"Yeah. Tommy's favourite. Meet you there at, what, six?"

"Sounds good to me, mate." I said, nodding, even though I knew Bobby couldn't see me. Bobby chuckled.

"That still cracks me up." He said.

"What does?"

""Mate". I dunno. It just caught me."

I giggled.

"Hey. Have you or Johnny been able to get in touch with Dutch? Or his girlfriend? What's his latest girl's name? Tara?" Bobby asked.

"Tina. And no. We've tried calling him but he's either not there or he won't pick up. We've been round his apartment too but no luck there either." I answered. "But, you know. All we can do is try. Dutch is just Dutch."

"Well, we tried. He'll appear some time." Bobby reasoned. "Okay. You tell Johnny and we'll meet you there."

"Sure thing. See you later, Bobby."

With that, I hung up. I sat on the kitchen chair, listening to the running water in the bathroom. It had completely slipped my mind that Tommy's birthday was coming up. Before the accident, we'd been trying to decide on what we should do and where we should go. How to celebrate and, in Dutch's case, how drunk to get. The accident had jarred everything and all thought about it had flown out of my head.

I got up out of my chair and traipsed through to the bedroom. The bedroom was no less haphazard than the rest of the flat. Clothes in random piles on the floor (dirty laundry in the next-to-the-chair-by-the-door pile. Clean clothes in the dumped-at-the-base-of-my-chest-of-drawers pile), A few mugs from morning coffees that I hadn't been bothered to move still covered my bedside table and deodorants and aftershaves covered Johnny's. Johnny's headband (which he actually hadn't worn for a few months now) was tied around the bedpost and my dressing gown was hanging on mine. I got on my hands and knees and bent to look under the bed. I shifted boxes and piles of books and magazines until I found it; a white shopping bag. I could only just reach it from where I was and I hooked one finger through the handle and dragged it out into the light. I fished out a baseball shirt with red sleeves that I'd bought Tommy as a present. It had some slogan on the front; "Water's for washin'. Dickel's for drinkin'." Apparently it was some whiskey thing but I didn't get it. But Tommy had seen the shirt and gone nuts over it so I'd made a mental note and gone back later.

Johnny walked through, rubbing a towel over his hair and neck.

"Hey. What's that?" He asked.

"It's a birthday present for Tommy."

"Oh right! Yeah, that's coming up, right? ...Hold on! What day is it?!" Johnny asked, suddenly.

"It's Tommy's birthday." I replied with a slight, sarcastic smirk. "It's the twenty-third."

"Damn. Poor guy's gonna miss it." Johnny pondered, quietly.

"I don't know. He'd probably think it was awesome to wake up a year older than he was when he got knocked out." I couldn't help but giggle at my own dark humour. But I could picture it so well in my head. Tommy's toothy grin. His giggle. Him making a big deal out of it and exaggerating the details to anyone he told to make it seem like he was out longer than he was as a result. "Oh..!" I said, remembering. "Bobby called. We're going to go out for a drink at Tommy's favourite bar in honour of his birthday.

Johnny nodded.

"Okay, cool! I'm up for that." He chucked the towel at the bed and grabbed a pair of underwear from an open drawer. "And we should go to Bobby's later maybe."

"And Tommy's going to miss it." I said, sadly.

"Hey, we'll do it all again when he wakes up, okay? When he wakes up!"

That evening, Johnny drove us to the bar in town. It was pretty decent as far as bars went. Not a lot of bar fights (not when Dutch wasn't there anyway), not too many unsavoury characters and decent seating. We were there first but we were only there about ten minutes when the door opened and Bobby and Jimmy walked in, both wearing their leather bike jackets (Bobby's navy and Jimmy's mid blue). I waved them over to our table but got up and met them halfway anyway. I quickly pulled Jimmy into a hug.

"How you doing?" I murmured in his ear.

Jimmy shrugged.

"Okay, I guess." He responded. "Just sucks that... you know."

I nodded.

"Yeah. But, hey. We're here to honour him." I gripped Jimmy's arm. "Hey, Bobby!" I called. Bobby looked up from greeting Johnny. "Where's Molly? I thought you would have brought her along."

"Nah." Bobby said. "She said it was probably better it was just us."

Molly was Bobby's girlfriend. They'd been together for three months so far. They'd met at a Halloween party. It had been something to behold, watching the devil making out with Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz'. They'd swapped numbers and, lo and behold, it turned out they were just as compatible sober as they were drunk. Molly was nice. She was a redhead with an athletic build who seldom wore make-up. She generally wore casual stuff and she was studying criminology which was pretty awesome. As far as I could tell, she wanted to be a detective one day.

That was decent of her to think of. But, still, she knew Tommy too now so it wouldn't really have mattered either way.

Johnny got the drinks in as we all sat round one table. It was nice to meet up with the group, but Tommy's absence was as obvious as a missing front tooth. His giggles would normally punctuate all conversation. It seemed incredibly hollow without it. And I found myself missing Dutch too. He was tough and brash when he was sober, but that gave way to an almost manic jollity when he was drunk, which was fine as long as no-one pissed him off. Then he became manic something else instead. It didn't feel right with just the four of us, the two strongest characters missing in action.

Still, I drank my coke as I sat and joined in with the slightly stilted conversation as much as I could. It became apparent very quickly that no-one could think of anything to talk about that would get us all engaged. I gazed down at my coke can with a wave of melancholy. Tommy was more of a Pepsi guy.

I was feeling uneasy. Bobby's plan had sounded so nice in theory. But, now I was here, somehow I felt incredibly uncomfortable, almost ashamed, as though I shouldn't be here and certainly not enjoying myself.

"You know something?" Johnny asked the table as a whole after we'd all been silent for a few minutes, all small talk having run dry. "I'm thinking this might not have been the greatest idea after all. Sorry, Bobby." He added. But Bobby nodded.

"No, man. You're right. I thought it would help us all to go out but, honestly, I can't help thinking about Tommy alone in that hospital."

My heart wrenched as I pictured it. Tommy lying there, battered and bruised, totally unconscious, and on his birthday no less. I carefully stood up.

"I'm going to go to him. Johnny, could I have a lift, please?" I asked, quietly, fighting to keep my voice level so it came across overly formal as a result.

"Of course." Johnny replied, shortly. He drained the last of his beer.

Jimmy stared at him.

"Johnny, don't you dare drive!" He said, suddenly and aggressively. This was such a change from Jimmy's usual, quiet manner that we all looked round at him in shock. "That's how Tommy ended up where he is and Dutch bust up his arm!"

"Jimmy, man, I've had one!" Johnny protested. "I'm not over the limit yet!"

Jimmy took a breath in to argue back but Bobby put a gentle hand on his forearm.

"Hey." He said in a low tone. "He'll be fine. Don't worry."

"It's not fine, Bobby!" Jimmy snapped back, his voice rising, refusing to be talked down. Now a few of the other people in the bar were looking over at us.

"Jimmy! Calm down, would ya?" Johnny said, impatiently.

Bobby leant across to Jimmy.

"Would it make you feel better if I drive?" He asked, quietly, and pointed to his half empty glass.

There was a pregnant pause as Jimmy looked from Bobby's half-full glass to Johnny's empty one, up at Johnny, then finally at Bobby with a nod. Johnny heaved a frustrated sigh of relief.

"Yeah. Great. Can we go?" He asked, tersely.

Johnny's car pulled into the hospital parking lot in the dark. We were just getting out when Bobby and Jimmy swung round smoothly to park beside us and removed their helmets. As one, we all walked towards the hospital and stepped through the door in-sync.

Momentarily, I stopped with a shiver. Johnny turned and looked at me quizzically.

"You okay? You cold?" He asked.

"This whole hospital is cold." I responded, shivering again. The truth was, I wasn't especially cold. It wasn't really a shiver that was anything to do with temperature. No. It was more like that shiver you get when someone walks over your grave. A weird little pulse of energy that you can't quite explain, that came from nowhere. But I brushed it off. I figured I was just feeling weird about today.

We were just walking towards Tommy's room when we saw a figure rushing towards us down the corridor. She was shuffling somewhat and her hair was coming out of its braid. I recognised her instantly.

"Ruth!" I called. "Is everything ok-..." but I was cut off as Ruth reached us and grabbed my arm, steadying herself after her little burst of speed.

"Couldn't reach you...!" She said, breathlessly. "Tried calling... wouldn't pick up... Tommy...!"

My eyes went as round as teacups.

"What about Tommy!?" I asked, urgently

"Just... go see him...!" Ruth gasped, trying to gather herself a little.

I glanced up at Johnny. Together, three of us took flight down the corridor. Bobby stayed with Ruth, holding her arm to keep her steady.

My feet barely touched the ground. What had happened? Was he okay? Had he taken a turn for the worst? Was he... no. I wouldn't let myself consider that one. We squeaked to a halt by the door and Johnny pushed it roughly open. We all froze in place as we stared into the room, all of a sudden unsure how to proceed. I was the first to step forwards. I approached Tommy's bed.

He was lying there as he always had done. Still and silent with his head back on the pillow. I walked up beside him.

"Tommy..." I whispered.

And Tommy opened his eyes!

He stared blearily up at me and I could tell he wasn't focussing, but he was awake!

"Oh Tommy!" I cried, and clapped my hands over my mouth. Okay. That had been loud. But I couldn't help it. He was going to be alright!

The corners of Tommy's mouth lifted weakly in an attempt to smile.

"Hey, guys... you made it." He mumbled thickly.

This seemed to un-freeze the guys in the doorway and they both bundled in and started gabbling at once.

"Oh my God!"

"Welcome back, man!"

"We thought you were a goner!"

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Ya ever gone a coupl'a rounds with King Kong while hungover?" Tommy slurred with a half-smirk.

I giggled, despite the tears of relief now streaming down my face. He was only just conscious and he was already making me laugh. I reached out and took his hand as he lay, looking up at me. I entwined my shaking fingers with his and he gripped my hand with what little strength he had. But, compared to the days of nothing, it was a wonderfully powerful grip.

Bobby appeared in the doorway, his arm in Ruth's as he helped her back into the room. She walked slowly to Tommy's side and stroked his forehead, affectionately. Bobby took one look at Tommy and his jaw dropped.

"Holy shit..." he breathed. "Is it... are you...?"

"Heyyy, Bobby." Tommy smiled, crookedly. "Welcome to the party."

Bobby laughed.

"Happy birthday, man!"

Tommy chuckled.

"Right. Thanks." He said. But I'd detected sarcasm in his voice.

"Bobby's not kidding, Tommy. It's the twenty-third. Happy birthday." I smiled.

Tommy's eyes widened a little more as he looked up at me.

"For real?"

I nodded.

"Aw, man. I slept through muh birthday?" Tommy slurred.

"Don't worry about that, man!" Johnny reassured him. "We're gonna party like crazy when you're outta here. Right, guys?" He looked round at us and we all nodded our enthusiastic agreement.

"Definitely."

"For sure!"

Tommy chuckled again.

"Hey. It's kinda cool that I woke up a year older than when I was knocked out at least, right?" He smirked at me and I burst out laughing.

"See! I told you!" I turned to look at Johnny, creased up with laughter.

Johnny simply smiled, nodding.