Chapter 6- Till the very end

Natalie ran her usual test, as a smile crossed her face. It had been two weeks since the accident, and both brothers were doing better each day. Jay was staying conscious for longer each day, his fever finally starting to come down. Until now, Will had gotten better, but very slowly. That all just changed. She called for Connor and a nurse, then rolled the x-ray machine over. Connor smiled contentedly when she showed him the pictures.

"We can finally take him off the vent! He's not on the heavy meds anymore, so after that, he should wake up any time." He said, confirming Natalies thoughts. Her smile grew at his words, and he returned it as he got a nasal cannula ready. Natalie carefully pulled the tube out, watching the monitors nervously. Everything stayed normal, and the two doctors looked happily at each other.

"Now we wait!" She said, sitting down next to him, grabbing one of his hands.

Later…

She knew it wouldn't be immediate, but it still felt like he was taking to long to come back to her. She watched him closely.

"Come on Will. Everyone knows you've been getting better. Everyone's waiting on you." Natalie said, squeezing his hand and waiting, willing him to squeeze hers.

"Sounds about normal." Natalie turned towards the tired sounding voice behind her. "Yea, I've been figuring that out. How're you feeling." She asked, turning towards the other brother.

"Like I was thrown through a windshield, then in a coma for a week and a half. So basically, I feel fantastic." Jay answered sarcastically, but with humor.

"So you really did go through the windshield? Do you remember anything else? How'd Will get out?" Natalie asked, trying not to pry, but genuinely curious.

"He...he pulled me out." Will said, trying to clear his dry throat. All attention snapped to the other bed in the room at the sound of the final voice everyone had been waiting to hear.

"Hey! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for You! I love you so much!" Natalie said, nearly squealing with happiness. She kissed his forehead, and handed him a drink.

"So….I guess your not dead?" Will turned his head towards Jays bed.

"I'm talking to you aren't I? If you'd think I'd just give up, you don't know me very well!" Jay answered, thrilled Will was finally awake. He had gotten tired of lying alone in this dreary room that smelled way to much like….well, a hospital.

"I guess it was just a dream then." Will answered, relieved. He picked up his left hand to fix the blanket when a sharp pain shot through his hand. He gasped, looking at the source and trying to self diagnose.

"What's wrong? Is it your chest? Can you breath Ok? Should I…" Natalie panicked, searching him for what could be causing the pain that showed on his face.

"No no No! Relax! It's just my hand. They probably missed it when I came in because of the other, more important issues." Will said, trying to calm her.

"Uh...yea. Yea, that makes sense. Let me take an x-ray." She said, taking a deep breath. She wheeled the machine over, and carefully set the hand on a metal table, knowing that his tender chest likely couldn't handle the weight of a led blanket.

"Looks like you were right. There's a break in your middle metacarpal and one in your proximal phalanx. I'll cast it. What color do you want?" Natalie said, a smile creeping onto her face with the last sentence.

"Hmmm….how about blue." he said, smiling. "That's my favorite color!" Natalie said.

"Because your my favorite." Will said with a cheesy smile.

"Of you guys are gonna keep doing this, at least give me the remote." Jay said, rolling his eyes. Will knew it would hurt, but he couldn't help but let out a small laugh in spite of his brother. He watched the tv along with him while Natalie expertly applied the cast.

The next few days were spent with Natalie doting on him, and him soaking up every moment of it. As days past and the brothers got stronger, it seemed as though the entrance to their recovery room had become a revolving door of friends and family. It was the middle of the day, and the siblings were finally getting some moments to themselves. A few silent moments later, he looked over at Jay, who was laxidazily flipping through the channels on the tv.

"So I guess now is as good a time as ever to talk about...everything." Will said.

"What's there to talk about? We were in a car accident, both nearly died, and our dad only stopped once, and hardly said a word." Jay said with a tone of annoyance, and the slightest hint of hurt.

"That's a discussion for another time. What I'm talking about now is everything that we-that you- went through. Look, I know you hate the idea of it, but you need to talk to someone about all this hurt your holding in! It's time you stopped carrying all that baggage." Will said, sincerity in his voice. He waited for a rebuttal, an argument, or to be told he was fine, but it didn't come. In fact, Jay was so quiet, Will looked over to see if he was still conscious. After a few minutes, Jay sighed, then answered.

"Your right. It's...its to much. You shouldn't have to deal with me like this. I could've killed you when I yanked you out of the car so viciously." Jay said slowly.

"But you didn't. Need I remind you about the chest tube you did? It was damn near perfect!" Will protested, trying to reassure him.

"Still….maybe you should… I don't even know anymore. Everything I get close to gets hurt." Jay said, pausing.

"Stop that. Stop blaming yourself. Your not ever gonna get rid of me, no matter what happens! Haven't you ever heard the saying 'Blood is Thicker than Water'? Your my blood. My only brother. I love you, and I'm with you till the very end!" Will said. The room fell silent once again, until he finally spoke up.

"Thanks. For everything." Jay answered. Will reached across the gap between the beds, and put a firm hand on his brothers shoulder and squeezed. He knew Jay wasn't one for the "I love you" but from the look on his face, he knew he felt it. They both looked up when the door to the room was suddenly thrown open.

"Hey! The game on yet? I brought food!" Adam said, flopping himself down onto a nearby chair. Close behind him came Kevin, then Hailey and Antonio.

"Good job Ruz. Ya killed the moment!" Antonio said with a laugh when he saw the surprised look on the brothers faces.

"Oops…...food?" Adam said awkwardly, offering one of the multiple bags of takeout, a fry already hanging out of his mouth.

"Yes please!" Natalie said, taking it out of Adams hand as she walked in. She climbed onto the bed next to Will, and carefully nuzzled in next to him. Soon Connor, Ethan, April, Noah and what seemed like the rest of the ED filed in to watch the game and join in on the meal. As Jay looked around him, a certain happiness that he hadn't felt in months overwhelmed him, a smile taking over. This right here? This is better than any medicine or treatment the world could offer.