CHAPTER 43

"He's okay!" The doctor exclaimed, relieved, to Sam and Johnny. They both let out massive sighs of relief and they put their heads in their hands. They had just watched Miguel die right in front of them. His heart had stopped beating for more than a minute. But now, his heart was beating again and he was resting peacefully in the bed. "He's resting now. He's not in a coma. He's just sleeping. He should be awake soon."

"Thank God." Sam murmured, wiping tears away from her face.

"Jesus Christ you scared us, kid." Johnny exclaimed to the sleeping Miguel, before turning to Sam. "I'm gonna go call his mom."

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Miguel awoke in a white room. Well, it was actually just big, concrete bricks painted white. He felt strange; sluggish and slow and dizzy and everything else. He blinked a couple of times to try and clear some of the haze out of his eyes, then slowly turned his head to the side to see where exactly he was. For some reason, his brain wasn't acting as quickly as it normally did. Was anyone else here with him?

"Oh my god! You're awake!" A pleasant female voice came from just below where he was looking. He lifted his head up slightly and saw an elderly lady furiously writing something on a clipboard chart.

"Am I dead?" He asked without preamble. If he was, he was definitely going to suggest a much more pleasant welcome into the afterlife; a bed in a white concrete room wasn't cutting it for him, and he was usually pretty relaxed about that kind of stuff.

The elderly lady laughed a bit, which highlighted the laugh lines along her face, and then shook her head. "You're in the West Valley General Hospital. You came close, I'm not going to lie."

"How did I get here?" Miguel groaned and let his head fall back into the pillow behind him, a touch of nausea coming to him as his temples flared in pain when he shifted himself. "Fuck, this hurts."

The nurse shook her head and retrieved a needle from the table beside him. "Language, my young friend. Never a need for that word."

Miguel grumbled and swore inside his mind. The nurse had complete control over his well-being, though, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

He watched as she approached with the needle, but then (much to his relief) she suddenly turned towards his I.V. and used that line for the injection. "Let's see if Demerol can take care of your discomfort, shall we?"

Miguel nodded a bit, then settled back down and anxiously waited for the painkiller to work. He had been given Demerol when he had injured his back and it had worked wonders for him. He felt the drug quickly work through his body and make him feel extremely tired in the process. The nurse then walked out and into the waiting room, where Johnny, Carmen, Sam and Robby were waiting. They all jumped to their feet when the doctor walked in.

"Is he okay?" Carmen asked immediately, concerned. The doctor nodded.

"He just woke up now actually. He's obviously feeling dizzy, nausea and pain from his injury - that's completely normal."

"Can we see him now?" Johnny asked. The doctor nodded.

"Yeah, sure. As you know, we had to perform a craniectomy, which is an extremely high risk surgery with almost a third mortality rate but he seemed to pull through okay. The swelling in his brain went down so that's great. Please follow me and please keep your tones calm and soft when speaking to him. There's always a small chance of amnesia and we don't want to aggravate his brain in its current state."

"Wait… he could have forgotten about us?" Sam asked, suddenly extremely frightened. The doctor smiled kindly at her.

"It's a very unlikely chance, and even if he does have amnesia, it's most likely temporary. He'll be up and about in no time." The doctor replied.

They finally arrived at the surgery recovery room. The doctor slowly entered, and they saw Miguel lying on the hospital bed. Everyone smiled widely at him when they walked in.

"Hey, Miguel." Carmen said softly, smiling at him. Miguel nodded at her.

"Hey, mom." He murmured, wincing in pain. Even saying just a few words caused him to have an extremely severe nausea spell.

"How are you feeling, kid?" Johnny asked. Miguel looked at him, confused.

"Who are you?" He asked. His eyes then trained on Sam and Robby, and he raised an eyebrow. "And who are you two?" He asked. Everyone's eyes widened.

"Miguel… you don't know who they are?" Carmen asked, her voice rising in worry. Everyone looked anxious, verging on devastated, but a stern look from the nurse forced them to keep their voices calm.

"So who are you guys?" Miguel asked.

"Um… I'm your stepfather." Johnny said.

"I'm your… I'm your step brother." Robby said. He knew that now wasn't the best time to mention all of the shit the two of them had been through.

"And you?" Miguel asked, looking at Sam. Sam looked at him, her heart shattered. He really had no idea who she was.

"I… uh… I… um…" Sam stammered to come up with a response. Friend? Ex? Girlfriend? What possible word could she use to describe herself?

Just then, she noticed Miguel's facial expression change. He looked like he was holding back a laugh and a smile. That's when they all realised… he was just messing with them! He knew exactly who they were!

"You son of a bitch." Johnny growled.

"Easy! I just got out of a coma!" Miguel laughed.

"You actual jackass! That wasn't funny!" Sam cried, more relieved than upset though. "So you know who we are?"

"Yeah, I know who you are, Sam." Miguel nodded, before feeling his eyes start to close in exhaustion. He forced himself to stay awake but he let out a massive yawn.

"We should let you get some rest." Carmen said. Everyone nodded and they left Miguel to sleep shortly after. He fell asleep right away. He was EXHAUSTED.

Once they were out of the room, they all looked at each other, relieved.

"He's okay." Johnny breathed in relief. Everyone grinned wildly. Robby then turned to Johnny.

"Hey, dad. I need to go somewhere, okay? I'll be right back." Robby said. Johnny nodded.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He asked, seeing Robby's serious expression on his face. Robby shook his head, and then left the hospital shortly after…

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Miguel woke up a couple of hours later, and immediately when he woke up, nurses and doctors started doing tests on him to gauge the mental extent of his injuries. It lasted for about an hour before they finally let him rest. There was a 25% mortality rate up to 30 days after a craniectomy so the doctors were being extremely cautious of any lasting side effects. During his short break, Miguel was starving - he hadn't eaten since coming out of the coma nearly 13 hours ago - and he wasn't about to eat the horrendous hospital food. Suddenly, as he was pawing around at the liquidy mashed potatoes in his tray, he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Miguel called, and Robby walked into the room. Miguel looked at him, surprised. HE didn't expect to see Robby there, alone.

"Hey." Robby said as he walked in, holding a large duffel bag in his hands. "How are you feeling?"

"Sick of being in the hospital." Miguel replied, honestly. "I wanna get out. I feel like I was just here and just as I was starting to feel normal again, I'm fucking back here."

There was an awkward silence for several moments before Robby broke it.

"Miguel, I'm so sorry." He whispered. "Not just for the school fight. Both of your injuries… they were all my fault. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here right now."

"You're right. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here." Miguel stated. "I would be in a box in the ground, watching up from hell as people offer my family 'condolences' or 'prayers'. I heard you carried me out of the burning dojo after I got taken out. I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you."

"You wouldn't have had to run back into the flames if I hadn't gotten stuck." Robby pointed out. Miguel shrugged.

"Yeah, fine, so let's just call it even and move on." Miguel replied. Robby raised an eyebrow. Although he knew that him and Miguel weren't completely good, he couldn't believe that Miguel was willing to move on, just like that.

"That's it? You're willing to forgive just like that?" Robby asked, surprised. Miguel shrugged.

"Life's too short to hold grudges." He replied. Robby slowly nodded, astonished.

"Wow, um… okay." He said. The two were silent for several moments before Robby spoke again.

"I hated you, you know?" Robby remarked, drily. "I hated everything about you."

"Awwww, am I blushing or…?" Miguel joked, sarcastically. Robby chuckled and continued.

"As I sat in my cell at juvie, I thought that you had stolen everything from me. You had stolen my freedom. Then when Johnny didn't show up to visit me because he was at the hospital with you, I thought you had stolen my dad. Then after finding out that you and Sam kissed at the party, and then on top of that seeing her on TV trying to raise money for your surgery… I hated you for stealing my girlfriend on top of everything else."

Miguel blushed furiously.

"Robby… about what me and Sam did at the party… I'm really, really sorry. That wasn't cool. I shouldn't have done that."

"It's okay." He said. "To be honest, the whole summer we were dating, I knew you two would eventually end up back together. Her and I... We were a summer vacation relationship and nothing more. We had absolutely nothing in common. I didn't understand her jokes. I didn't share her interests. But you do. You and her are perfect for each other."

"Still. That doesn't justify me kissing someone else's girlfriend, even if it was her who started the kiss." Miguel said. Robby shrugged.

"Once again, it's fine. It's been a year. A LOT has happened since then. Besides, I feel like the shit I did to you is WAY worse." Robby replied, gesturing to Miguel's head, shoulder and back. "Just… don't screw it up with her, okay? She's a good person. She doesn't need what happened last year to happen again."

Miguel nodded.

"Yeah, and word to the wise, don't cheat on Tory. I don't think she takes it very well." Miguel remarked. Robby laughed and nodded.

"Oh, um… I come bearing gifts." Robby added.

"Huh?" Miguel asked, confused. Robby walked over to his duffel bag and opened it, pulling out the extremely familiar All-Valley trophy. Miguel looked at him, confused.

"What is this?" Miguel asked.

"Well, last night, I heard the All-Valley committee were having a meeting about what to do with the tournament final after… you know, we didn't actually finish. I went down there and I pulled out of the tournament. Congratulations, you're the third back-to-back All-Valley champ in history."

Miguel's eyes widened.

"Are… are you serious?" Miguel stammered. Robby nodded.

"Yup. You deserved the win. After everything you went through this year because of me, I didn't deserve to win. Besides, you and I both know that if the tournament hadn't been stopped, you would've taken the final point. I was just about to pass out from exhaustion."

Miguel smiled widely. He was touched.

"Wow, thank you so much, Robby." He murmured, holding the trophy in his hands.

"No problem." Robby replied. "Oh, and I have one more gift!" He said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a massive burger, fries and two shakes. "I know that hospital food is ass so I thought the least I could do was get you some good food. Vanilla or Chocolate shake?"

"Uh… vanilla please." Miguel replied, in shock, as Robby moved his hospital tray and placed the burger meal on his table instead.

Robby took the chocolate one himself, and the two boys looked at each other. So much animosity between them in the past year quickly fading away in that single afternoon.

"Hey, Robby?" Miguel said.

"Yeah?" Robby replied.

"I know that we're technically step-brothers and although we don't love each other like normal step-brothers do, just know that if you ever need anything ever, I've got your back." Miguel said. Robby nodded.

"Right back at you man." He replied, before holding his milkshake aloft. "Cheers."

Miguel laughed and knocked his vanilla one against Robby's as the two of them sat side by side, not fighting for the first time ever.

"Cheers…"