A great weight seemed to have been lifted off all of us. Tommy was understandably groggy for a few days but I stayed by his side at every opportunity, often joined by Johnny when he didn't have a class to go to. Bobby and Jimmy visited a lot too, Jimmy especially. Sadly, Dutch was still AWOL, and had been for nearly a fortnight now. But Tommy's Nana stopped by most days.
The nurses had fully given up trying to keep us to the "two visitors at a time" rule and just rolled their eyes whenever the four of us turned up (when it occasionally happened).
I was sitting by Tommy's bed one day, about four days after he'd woken up.
"And then there was this light as I walked further. It was super bright! Blinding, even! It was so beautiful!"
I was listening, enraptured, as Tommy told his story.
"And then there was this big set of gates, right?"
Wait...
"And there was this old guy with a beard and he told me I couldn't come in because I'd been a bad boy!"
Dammit!
"Tommy!" I scolded him, giggling. "That's not funny!"
"Had you going for a minute there, huh?" Tommy grinned.
"C'mon! Seriously! What did you see?" I asked, genuinely interested.
Tommy sighed and settled back on his pillow.
"Honestly? A whole lot of nothing." He said, simply. "I mean, I guess I had dreams from time to time but, you know, nothing that weird."
"Dreams?" I asked.
"Yeah. Had one about you actually."
Now I was interested. I sat up a little straighter.
"Oh? What sort of dreams?"
Tommy smirked.
"Stop it." I said, shortly, without having to ask.
Tommy giggled.
"Okay okay!" He said. "Well, it wasn't an especially long dream. I don't even really remember much. Just your voice. You were calling my name, like you were looking for me in fog, but I couldn't see you."
I felt a jolt in my stomach and I stared at him.
"What!? Are you serious!?" I asked, urgently. "Why didn't you call back!?"
"Uh.. well.. I tried!" Tommy faltered, apparently taken aback at my reaction. "I called out to you but my voice wouldn't work or something. And I couldn't move either! I just lay there, mute, and your voice just kinda floated away."
I ran a shaking hand through my hair.
"What? What's wrong?" Tommy asked, sounding worried. "It was just a dream, right?"
"I'm not so sure, Tommy." I said, seriously. "About two nights after the crash, I went looking for you. When I was hopping back to my own world I... I took a detour. Tried to find you."
Tommy's eyebrows went up.
"You were looking for me?" He asked, and smiled, touched.
I looked into his eyes.
"Well, of course I was." I smiled back at him.
There was a strange sort of pause. It was awkward but I couldn't work out how.
"Hey, don't you have classes? You've been here every day. You must have missed a bunch of stuff." Tommy said, breaking the silence.
"Eh. Danny's been taking a load of notes and stuff during class. I'm keeping up, just about." I mused.
"Danny...? Oh! He's the kid with the glasses, right? Black hair?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah. That's him. But he's not a "kid", Tommy. He's a year older than you. He started late."
"Real late!" Tommy exclaimed, surprised.
"Hey, Tommy. I've been meaning to ask you something," I began, remembering. "You obviously know, now, that I met your Nana," I paused to look at him. Tommy's expression barely changed, "how come I never met her before? How come I've never been to your house? How come I only just realised I've never been to your house!?"
Tommy looked slightly awkward and shrugged.
"Grown man with no girlfriend who lives with his Nana. ...Makes me a loser, right?" He turned his head away from me, looking mildly crestfallen, and the cuts and bruises still adorning his face made him look so defeated.
"Aww, Tommy!" I exclaimed. "You're not a loser! She's so sweet. I love your Nana! And I think it's so admirable that you stayed around for her!"
Tommy looked back round at me and smiled, his eyes crinkling and sparkling like they used to.
"That's real nice of ya." He said softly.
I put my hand on his.
"Please! Please don't ever be ashamed of her, or where you live, or any of that stuff! Okay?" I implored him. "If I judged you harshly for being there for a family member, what kind of friend would that make me?"
"Thanks, Jac. That's-... what the hell is he doing here!?" Tommy suddenly cried, staring over my shoulder and out into the corridor. I turned to see what he was looking at. Mike Barnes was standing, peering around the door frame. "Hey! Get out of here, man!" Tommy shouted, trying to sound aggressive but obviously nervous in his vulnerable state.
I patted his hand, reassuringly, and stood up. I approached Mike at the door, ignoring Tommy's protests.
"Mike." I said, simply, nodding.
"Hey." Mike replied. "I just... he doing okay?" he asked, apparently not really sure how to word things.
I weighed the situation up very carefully. Tommy was weak and probably scared (though he wouldn't want to show it). Mike had been in the car that hit him. However, Mike had lost his friend that night and seemed genuinely concerned for Tommy's welfare.
"Would you like to come in?" I asked, levelly and calmly. Tommy looked up at me, shocked.
"You crazy!?" He cried.
I turned and walked back to the bed, trying to silently calm him down with a look. I wouldn't let things get out of hand.
Mike slowly crossed the threshold, tensely and his eyes flicked from me to Tommy and back several times. He cleared his throat, awkwardly.
"Hey. I um.." he glanced at me again, "I'm sorry. For... um... what happened." he finished and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Tommy just sat, looking apprehensive. He looked Mike up and down as he stood there, before nodding, curtly, once. I stood beside him.
"I er.. well, that's all, really." Mike carried on.
Another nod from Tommy.
Mike nodded, having to accept that he wouldn't get any other kind of response. Slowly, he turned on the spot and started to leave when he suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Oh. Hey. And that other time. Sorry for that... too." He said.
"...Okay." Tommy said, after a pause. "Thanks."
Another very pregnant pause.
"It wasn't me driving the car!" Mike blurted out, suddenly. "Just so you know that!"
Tommy nodded yet again.
"Okay."
Mike nodded.
"Okay." He echoed Tommy, and walked towards the door.
"Mike!" I called him.
Mike looked round at me, his face not sure what expression to make so it moved awkwardly for a moment.
"Thank you." I said. "That was decent of you."
Mike stared at me for a moment, still trying to decide on an expression. However, he eventually landed on a sarcastic smirk.
"Sure." He said, shortly, and finally left.
Tommy and I simply stared at the spot where he'd vanished for a moment before Tommy spoke again.
"What the hell was that about?" He said. "That's not like Barnes."
"Well," I said, "since Snake died, it seems he's been doing a little bit of, shall we say, re-evaluating? And it wouldn't kill you to be a little more cooperative, Tommy. I mean, he was trying to bury the hatchet after all."
Tommy gave me a sarcastic glance.
"I'm just saying, give it a try!" I said, fairly. "It's not beyond even Mike Barnes to turn over a new leaf at some point in his life." I patted Tommy's shoulder. "Listen, I need to get back to the apartment. I'm sorry. I've got a few bits I need to do. If I neglect them any more, I'll end up walking into a pig sty and not be able to tell the difference. Are you gonna be okay?"
Tommy flexed both arms by way of reply.
"I'm a big boy. I'll be fine." He said, grinning.
I laughed.
"Alright, Schwarzenegger! I'll be back." I said, giggling.
Tommy returned my giggle and waved me out of the door.
I wandered down the corridor, slowly, as if I didn't have anywhere I needed to be and was just walking for the hell of it. I'd got very used to this hospital over the last two weeks. It didn't really freak me out as much as it used to.
As I stepped out of the door, I saw him. He was leaning on the side of, apparently, a brand new, black, open topped car.
"Oh. You're still here." I said as I approached Mike. "I thought, for sure, you'd gone. You want to be careful, you know. You're challenging me for 'Most Frequent Visitor to a Hospital' and, I'll tell you now, I'm competitive!" I laughed and sunk my weight onto one leg.
"Cut it out. I'm not your friend." Mike responded spikily.
"Geez. Alright." I muttered. "Pardon me for trying to cure that sour face of yours." I straightened up and began to make off across the parking lot.
"You're weird, England!" Mike called after me.
"Yup!" I called back, simply, and raised my hand in simple wave.
"Hey!" Mike called as I walked.
I turned.
"What, Barnes?"
"So, you wanna get out of here or what!?"
I took a second to process what he'd just said.
"Do I... huh?"
"Do. You. Want. A. Ride!?" Mike sounded it out, patronisingly and my hackles rose briefly, before being replaced with confused shock once more. "Or maybe you want to pay bus fare." Mike added. "Yoo hoo! England! Wakey wakey! Anyone at home up there?"
"You want to give me a ride?" I asked for clarification.
"YES!"
"WHY!?"
"Fine! Don't! It's not like I cared anyway!" Mike wrenched his car door open, got in, and slammed it shut.
In a split second, I made up my mind and vaulted the passenger-side door, landing neatly beside him. Mike turned to face me, incredulously.
"So you do want a ride now!"
"I never said I didn't!" I argued. "I only asked why you were offering and you avoided answering!"
Mike snarled at me and a whole catalogue of expressions and partly-formed shapes flitted across his face for a moment before he finally ran a hand through his spiked hair with a sigh.
"My God. Are you like this with your Cobra guys too?" He asked, defeated.
"Probably worse, if I'm honest." I admitted. There was an awkward silence for a moment or two as we just sat there. "So... why are you giving me a lift?"
"I just felt like it, alright!" Mike threw back at me. I raised my hands and sank back into my seat, not saying another word.
"So, where to?" Mike asked me. Neither of us were looking at each other.
I thought about everything I had to do back home. Odd jobs. Laundry, dishes, tidying the place up so I wasn't trekking through magazine jungle whenever I wanted to sit on the sofa. And then what? Sit there and wait for Johnny to come back, I supposed. I was eager to spend time with him but he wouldn't be back for ages. I thought about college. I would have had a class today but, even if Mike floored it, I still wouldn't make it in time. I'd be at least fifteen minutes late. And I had Danny to take notes for me anyway. Although, at this point, I was probably taking advantage of him. I really should think about going back soon.
"College." I said, simply, and Mike hit the gas.
As we were driving, I couldn't help but look over at Mike.
"Funny isn't it? The last time you drove me anywhere, you intended to beat the crap out of me." I said over the rush of air around us.
There was a pause as Mike chewed this over.
"Yeah. I guess so." He said.
"Look, I really am sorry about Snake." I said, sincerely. "It must be rough."
Mike sniffed.
"You live. You die. Could happen any time."
It was exceedingly difficult to get any kind of conversation out of Mike, I found. All his responses were incredibly short and never led anywhere and I didn't want to keep pressing him about why he was being so helpful all of a sudden. He'd probably stop the car and push me out onto the side of the road and drive off. So I kept my mouth shut until we reached the college where Mike pulled over onto the curb. As I got out, Mike still didn't say anything so I turned to face him instead.
"Thank you." I said, sincerely. "Really. Thank you. That was really-... well, thank you."
Mike looked up at me a moment and there was a pause as we held each others' gaze. After a few seconds, he nodded. I smiled.
"See you around, England." He muttered, and pulled away down the street.
I stayed, smiling to myself for a minute or two. Maybe there was hope for Mike Barnes yet. Who knew? Maybe time would tell.
I turned on the spot to look up at the looming buildings of the college campus. Ugh. Ok. Back to class I went. I was over twenty minutes late but, whatever. I'd missed two weeks. What was another twenty minutes? All I knew was that it was about time I relieved poor Danny of his note-writing duties and actually showed up. So I set off. I knew a few short cuts over fences and behind buildings where the kids who played hookey went to smoke and... other such activities. Doubtless I'd come across a couple of them as I walked.
Sure enough, as I skirted a large building just a few yards from the building I was looking for (animal biology) I came across a couple of guys making out in the gloom between brick walls.
"'Scuse me, guys. Sorry. Just getting to class." I said, apologetically as I neared them. They jumped apart like magnets held together at identical poles... and one of them looked very familiar.
"Jimmy!?"
Jimmy pushed his make-out partner (a slim, blonde lad with a spray of freckles) by the shoulder, who turned tail and ran in the opposite direction. Jimmy himself covered his face with a hand and leant back against the wall, knowing the jig was up.