Set just after episode 21.

The fluorescent lights of the hospital room are making my head throb. My side hurts like hell. Twelve stitches- apparently I was lucky to avoid any organ damage.

I freaking hate it here.

It gives me the chills- sends me right back to the last time I was trapped in a sterile white hospital room. The phantom pains in my leg are worse than they've been in months.

"Simon?" The door clicks open.

"Mom?" I sit up a little, wince. How'd the hospital manage to get a hold of her? I figured she was passed out drunk in an alleyway somewhere. She hasn't been home in days.

I'm surprised she cared enough to show up.

"How often are you going to end up in here?" she demands. Her hair is a mess. There're dark bruises under her eyes. "I don't know how our medical insurance is going to keep up with you."

I let myself fall back against my pillows. She isn't here for me at all.

She leans down until I can see all the cracks in her chapped lips. Her breath reeks of alcohol.

"What am I going to do with you, Simon?"

I turn my head away.

"I'm tired, Mom. You should go."

"Are you sure?" she asks, even as she's backing out of the room.

I watch her leave. "I'm sure," I say to the door that clicks shut behind her.

"You sure manage to land yourself in the hospital a lot, Psy."

"Shut up, Mom," I groan, pulling the pillow over my head. Then I freeze. That didn't sound like my mom at all.

And she never calls me Psy.

I sit up, squint in the darkness and try to pull myself out of half-sleep.

There's a dark figure standing still at the foot of my bed. Red eyes glowing dully beneath the brim of a hat.

"…Will?"

"I didn't think you'd wake up."

"What are you doing here?" I sit up straight, clench my fists in the rough material of the sheets.

Will doesn't answer, doesn't move. I wonder if I'm dreaming.

Then, "It wasn't me, you know. I didn't send those Skrugg 'bots after you and Joey."

"I know," I say. "Joey knows, too."

Will turns. The glow of his eyes disappears. I can barely make out his hulking shape in the darkness. I wonder if he's going to leave. I make a sound in the back of my throat- don't know if I should tell him to go or to stay. Don't know if I'm relived to see him or totally freaked out.

"Why do you two care about me?" he asks. Will's voice is so much deeper than it used to be. So much more grating. So alien.

"Joey wants to protect you for Lina's sake," I tell him. My voice sounds so childish compared to his.

"Tch." He makes an angry sound. Wrong thing to say.

"And I…" I can feel my knuckles turning white, I'm gripping the sheets so hard. "I forgive you."

He turns. I can see the glow of his eyes again.

"Except it was never really your fault." It hurts my pride to have to say this, but I know in the pit of my stomach that I won't get another chance. "So I guess I forgave myself. And I stopped blaming you, Will."

I know he knows exactly what I'm talking about.

He doesn't say anything, though. Just steps slowly towards the door. I watch him. I can feel my pulse pounding in my throat.

"Do you remember when I came to visit you after your accident?" Will asks, facing the door.

I try to think back. "I was pretty hopped up on painkillers."

I hear the doorknob turn. "Good," Will says.

And then he's gone. The door clicks shut behind him. I collapse back against my pillow.

My heart stops pounding after a while, but Will's presence is still heavy in the air. I shift out of bed, hop awkwardly over to the window. I don't have my crutches- I'm not even supposed to be out of bed with stitches this fresh in my side. I lean heavily against the wall, feeling kind of dizzy (when was the last time I ate?) before I sweep the curtains aside. I crack the window open and let the biting night air wash away Will's presence.

I look down at the lights in the parking lot below, listen to the wail of sirens. It suddenly feels so important- so crucial- that I remember Will's visit after my accident.

I claw through my own memories, fogged by pain meds and by my own attempts to forget everything about the accident.

And then the memory hits me, so hard I have to grip windowsill to keep my balance. Bile rises in the back of my throat.

Will visited me before anyone else. Before my mom (of course), before Joey (who cried so pathetically it broke me a little inside), before Coach and the rest of the team (Will didn't come with them that time). Just hours after it happened, after they operated on my knee and patched me up as well as the could.

He stood at the foot of my bed- just like tonight, way too much like tonight- and cried. I don't ever remember Will crying, not even when the Skrugg broke him so much.

But he cried that day. Kept telling me he was sorry. "So, so sorry, Psy. Please. I'm so sorry, Psy. Forgive me, please."

And I

didn't

say

a word.

I stumble back to bed, feeling sick.

Joey visits me the next day. He comes into the room, all bright blue eyes and open smiles, like a breath of fresh air ridding the room of the last of Will's dark presence.

He brings me some food from Hilly's: fries, a donut, coffee.

"Thanks, man. You have no idea what garbage they've been feeding me in here," I say gratefully as I scarf it down.

He smiles, sits down. Twists his fingers together, frowns.

"What's wrong, man?"

"I was just… worried about you," he says softly.

I punch his shoulder playfully.

"Don't worry, man. I'm all good now. They're releasing me tomorrow!"

"Really?"

"Yeah." I lean back. "Besides. What happened was my fault, not yours." My weakness, not his.

"But… I wanted to protect you."

I feel a little jab in my chest. Not that long ago I was the one protecting him from Will's bullying.

Now Joey's worrying about protecting me, and Will, and the rest of the world along with us.

"You try, though. That's why you're my hero." I smile at him. I want him to smile, too, dammit. He's been too serious lately- maybe we all have.

He doesn't smile, though, just looks down at his hands. "Hero… huh…"

"Look. I have a good feeling, okay? Everything going to work out." I nudge his shoulder, get him to look up at me. "I know everything's gonna be okay."

I wish I wasn't lying. I wish Will's visit wasn't still hanging heavy on my shoulders.

I wish the smile Joey gives me would reach his eyes.

I hate hospitals.