It was early in the morning of the third day; Jennifer was asleep somewhere in the hospital, Brian was napping in the chair by Justin's bed. He figured he had gotten a total of six or seven hours sleep since Justin's prom. He knew he couldn't go on like this, but couldn't bear to think of leaving the hospital, not until Justin woke up.

Justin had been showing more signs of waking. He was moving around a little and occasionally mumbled some incoherent gibberish. Brian had been sitting watching him for the last few hours waiting for Justin's eyes to open. Finally he had drifted off to sleep himself.

Brian awoke looking around wondering what had roused him - usually it was the dream or rather, nightmare; the sound of the bat hitting Justin's skull. There had been no dreams this time. Brian heard Justin stir and looked over to see two eyes staring at the ceiling. "Justin?"

 Justin turned his head toward Brian's voice, his eyes locking onto Brian. An ever so slight smile graced his lips before his lids fell shut again.

 "Justin?" Brian moved a little closer, but Justin didn't stir.

Brian sighed and sat back in the chair. There had been recognition in Justin's eyes, hadn't there? He wished he could be sure but in truth Justin had only looked at him for seconds.

Brian watched Justin again until his eyelids grew heavy and he drifted off again.

*****  

Jennifer awoke in a strange bed, a strange room; it took a minute for the events of the last few days to come back.

She sighed, crawled out of bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up a little before going down the hall to check on her son.

She knew she needed to find some time to talk with Molly. She was sure her daughter was scared and confused about what was happening to Justin. Jennifer could only imagine the version Craig would be telling her. But right now Justin needed her more.

She walked into Justin's room, it was still dark out; the day shift nurses were just coming on duty. Brian was sleeping in the chair by her son's bed. As she looked at him she noticed that he was showing his age. She remembered Justin mentioning him turning thirty a few days ago. He certainly looked every one of those years right now.

She sat down in the chair on the other side of Justin's bed and took his hand in hers, brushing the hair from his face and talking quietly to him.

"He opened his eyes last night," Brian said.

Jennifer jumped. "Brian, I thought you were asleep." Then his words hit her. "He did?"

"Yeah, not for very long. He opened them and when I said his name he turned his head and looked at me. Then his eyes closed again."

"He looked at you? Did he recognize you?" No one wanted to talk about it, but they were all afraid of Justin having brain damage.

Brian shrugged. "I think so."

"Oh, that's great news."

"Yeah," Brian stood, uncomfortable with talking very long with Justin's mother. "I need a smoke," he said as way of leaving. "You, ah, want me to bring you back anything?"

"No, I'll go get some coffee from the nurses station later."

He nodded.

"Brian?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to work today?"

He looked at her in confusion.

"It's Monday and well, I understand if you need to go to work and all."

"No, I'll call and tell them I'm not coming in," Brian said as he turned and left the room. How could it be Monday already? he thought to himself.

*****  

Debbie had the early shift at the diner Monday morning. She decided to get up a few hours before her shift so she could check on Justin and bring Jennifer something to eat.

As she made her way up the sidewalk to the hospital she spotted Brian sitting on the bench out front.

"Brian?"

He looked up at her, blinking slowly, almost in a daze.

"You look like shit, Brian. When's the last time you slept? And I don't mean sitting in a chair with your chin on your chest either."

Brian shrugged and looked back down at his feet. Debbie sat down on the bench beside him. "Brian, honey, did something happen? I mean, is Justin...?" He just looked so devastated.

Brian looked at her and shook his head. "No, he's -" he paused. 'Okay' wasn't the right word, "the same."

"Oh, thank God, well, I brought some bagels. You want one?"  

Brian shook his head.

"No. Okay then, I'm going to go check on Jennifer. You take care of yourself, kiddo," she said and rumpled his hair as she stood and turned to walk inside.

Once she was inside she pulled out her cell phone. "Michael."

"Ma? What's wrong? What time is it?" Michael said obviously awakened from a sound sleep.

"It's early and your friend is hanging on by a thread?"

"Justin?"

"No sweetie, Brian. He's going to fall flat on his face if he doesn't go home and get some sleep. Now, get your ass out of bed; get up here and take him home to bed before they have to admit him into the hospital."

"Okay, Ma. I'm on my way."

*****  

"Knock, knock," Debbie said softly, as she opened the door to Justin's' room.

"Debbie, what are you doing here this early?"

"I have the breakfast shift this morning and I wanted to bring you some bagels and see how Sunshine is doing."

"Well, we have good news. He opened his eyes last night while Brian was with him."

"Oh Jennifer, that's wonderful. And he was okay?"

"Well, we don't really know, but he's starting to wake up so I guess we'll have the answer soon."

"Oh, thank God," Debbie said, crossing herself.

*****  

"Brian," Michael said as he sat down on the bench. "It's freezing out here."

Brian shrugged.

"Here." Michael handed him a greasy breakfast sandwich he had picked up on the way, "Eat."

"What is it?"

"Nutrition."

Michael realized just how low his friend really was when he didn't take the bait and snark about the fast food, but instead unwrapped it and took a bite. "Let me take you home, Brian. You need to sleep."

"No."

"Brian -"

"I'm fine." Brian remembered that he had to stay here for Justin for some reason, even if he was too tired to remember what the reason was.

"Well, then at least come inside, I'm freezing my ass off."

"Okay," Brian said, standing up. "Come on."

*****  

As Debbie was leaving to go to the diner she spotted Brian and Michael sitting in their area.

"What are you still doing here?" She asked as she walked over to Brian; then turning to Michael, "I thought I told you to take him home."

"Ma," Michael protested. "He doesn't want to go."

Debbie turned her attention back to Brian, squatting down in front of him. "Sweetie," she said in a more compassionate tone. "You need to get some sleep before you collapse."  

"I'm okay," Brian said.

"No, you're not, you've got to rest."

"I said I am fine," Brian growled through gritted teeth. He was sick of being told what to do. He had to stay here with Justin, couldn't they understand that?

Debbie frowned and stood up. "Michael, you better keep a close eye in him."

Michael nodded.

*****  

Brian and Michael sat there for the next few hours; every so often Brian would get up and walk down the hall to check on Justin. It was shortly before eight when Daphne walked in dressed in her school uniform.

"Daphne," Michael said. "What are you doing here?"

"Skipping school," Daphne said sighing and sitting down. "I tried to explain it to Mom, but she doesn't understand. So I was halfway to school when I realized I couldn't go without him. I couldn't go and face everyone, and face him not being there. I just couldn't."

Michael nodded.

"How is he?" she asked.

"He opened his eyes." Brian said.

"He did?" Daphne asked.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Michael added.

"Last night," Brian went on. "He wasn't awake for very long."

"Was he okay? Did he say anything?" Daphne asked.

"He looked at me when I said his name, then he fell back asleep."

Daphne smiled. "That's wonderful."

"Brian, what's going on?" Michael asked. If Justin was waking up, why was Brian so despondent?

Brian shook his head.

"But Justin woke up?"

Brian closed his eyes and rolled his lip into his mouth.

"What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing, Mikey. He seemed fine. I don't know; I just have a bad feeling."

"Bad feeling about what?" Daphne asked.

Brian looked away.

"Brian?"

"I don't know," Brian sighed, standing up and walking down the hall away from them, away from Justin, just away.

*****  

He pulled out his cell phone. "Cynthia." … "Listen, tell Ryder I have some personal business to tend to and I won't be in for a few days." … "You'll just have to handle it then," … "No, it's a family emergency. Listen I need to go. Just take care of things for me Cynthia. I'll owe you." … "Yeah, bye."

*****  

It was a few hours later when Jennifer walked down the hall and motioned for Brian. He stood and walked back with her to Justin's room. "He's been calling your name," she explained.

Brian walked into Justin's room and over to his bed. Justin was sleeping restlessly, mumbling and moaning.

"Brian," Justin whispered, then muttered something else Brian couldn't make out.

"Justin," Brian said. "Wake up."

Justin's eyes fluttered open.

"Justin," Brian said again, taking Justin's hand in his.

Justin looked around the room, "What...? Where am I? What happened?"

Jennifer stepped closer. "Do you remember getting hurt, sweetie?" The doctor had cautioned her about the probability of memory loss, especially of the more recent events.

"No, am I in the hospital? What's wrong with me?"

"You're fine," Brian said. "Just a bump on the head." Brian squeezed Justin's hand and noticed he didn't respond; the hand lay limp in his.

"Why can't I see out of my eye?"

"Which eye, sweetie? Your right one?" Jennifer asked.

"Yeah, I can't see out of it."

"It's still a little swollen from where you hit your head," Brian explained. "I'm sure you'll be able to see out of it soon." Brian squeezed Justin's hand again and still got no response. He laid that hand down and reached over taking Justin's left hand. Justin's fingers gripped around him tightly.

Justin turned to his mother, "Where's Dad? Is he still mad at me?"

Brian and Jennifer shared a look. "He's with your sister," she explained.

Justin nodded, satisfied with her answer, his eyes drifted closed, then opened again. "Brian? Will you wake me up when it's time to go home?"

 "Yeah," Brian said. "You go ahead and sleep now."

 Brian and Jennifer sat in silence watching Justin sleep for a few minutes.

"Has the doctor been in to see him yet today?" Brian finally asked.

"No, I thought since he was waking up the doctor would come in and check him."

Brian frowned and nodded.

"I don't like that he's not seeing out of that eye," Jennifer went on. Brian decided not to mention Justin's hand. "But he seemed okay, didn't he? I mean, he knew who we were."

Brian nodded and sat down in the chair.

"I think I'm going to go get some coffee and talk with the nurse again," Jennifer said.

Jennifer was only gone a few minutes. When she came back in, she handed Brian a cup of coffee. "The nurse said she is keeping the doctor informed and she's sure he will be here to see Justin before long."

Brian rubbed his temples. "I'm sure he'll be here soon."

"Brian," Jennifer softened the tone of her voice, "You need to sleep."

Brian stood. "Yeah, I know." He wasn't about to argue with her. "Let me know what the doctor says."

He walked back down and sat next to Michael.

"How is he?" Daphne asked.

"He opened his eyes again."

Daphne smiled. "That's great, Brian. He's finally waking up. I'm going to go keep Jennifer company."

As she walked away Brian sighed and closed his eyes.

Brian turned and looked at Michael. "He's got a long road ahead of him, Mikey. Even if nothing serious is wrong, he's not just going to get up and go home in a few days."

Michael nodded.

"He should be getting ready to graduate and attend PIFA and instead he's here."

"Brian -"

"Don't Mikey. Don't say it's not my fault."

Before Michael could answer an image on the TV screen in the corner caught Brian's eye. The television had been there all along with the sound muted, set to a twenty-four hour news channel. Up until now, Brian had paid no attention to it. But out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of Chris Hobbs. The banner at the bottom of the screen read TEEN ARRAIGNED ON BATTERY CHARGES FOR PROM VIOLENCE. It had made the national news. Brian walked over to the set and turned up the sound.

"The teen was arraigned and released into the custody of his parents. The other young man remains in the hospital in critical condition.

"In the case of missing person Chandra Levee..." the news caster continued. Brian turned the set off.

"Brian? Are you okay?" Michael watched as Brian's breathing became rapid and shallow. "Come over here and sit down."

Brian felt like the walls were folding in on him. He could hear Michael's voice but it sounded distant, as if from underwater.

"Brian?"

"Get me out of here, Mikey," Brian said. He needed some fresh air.

Michael took his arm and led him to the elevators.

In the elevator, Brian stood in a daze. It reminded Michael of the state Brian was in the night after Justin's attack. The elevator came to a stop on the main level and Michael led Brian out through the lobby and to the exit. The fresh air hit Brian and began to clear his head.

"You want to sit down over there?" Michael pointed to the bench Brian sat on to smoke.

"No, take me home, Mikey. I need to go home."

"Okay, come on. I'm parked over there."

Brian got into the passenger seat and leaned back, closing his eyes.

"Don't fall asleep yet, Brian. I'll never get you awake to go inside."

*****  

They were almost home when Brian started talking. "He can't see out of his right eye. I told him it was because of the swelling, but what if it's not?"

Michael looked from the road to his friend and back.

"And I don't thing he can feel or move his hand. I was touching it and he didn't seem to notice. I would squeeze it and it was just limp."

"Brian, they said the effects could be temporary."

"I know," Brian let his eyes close again. "I can't do this, Mikey."

"Yeah, you can. You just need a shower and some sleep, then you'll be able to deal with things again." He pulled up in front of Brian's building. "Come on, let's go in."

Once in the loft Brian's exhaustion seemed to take him over completely. Michael led him to the bathroom and turned on the shower. When he looked back, Brian was just standing there. "Come on, you have to get undressed, Brian."

Michael helped him with his clothes and managed to get him into the shower. He gathered up the clothes on the floor then looked back in on Brian.

"Brian, get the soap and suds up."

Brian's movements reminded him of the zombies they used to see in the old movies they would watch as kids. Brian poured some shampoo in his hand and rubbed it into his hair and over his body. Then he reached over and turned the water off.

"Brian, what are you doing? You have to rinse off."

Brian slowly looked down to see the soap on his torso. "Oh," he said then reached out and turned the cold water back on full force. He didn't even flinch when the ice-cold water hit his skin. Michael shook his head and reached in to adjust the temperature.

Once Brian had rinsed off, Michael prompted him to turn the water back off. Then he took a towel and began drying off his friend. Brian was so exhausted he could barely stand.

"Come on," Michael led him out and pulled the blankets back from his bed. He watched Brian as he crawled in and was literally asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Michael pulled the blankets back up over Brian and made his way out into the living area taking a seat on the sofa. He pulled out his cell and dialed the diner.

"Ma, I finally got him home."

"You're a good man, Michael," Debbie said.

"I'm going to stay here with him. I don't want him to be alone. Will you call Jennifer and let her know where we are? I don't think she knows we left."

After talking with his mom, Michael turned the TV on with the volume low. He flipped through the channels until he found an old sci-fi movie. He stretched out on the sofa to watch it.

*****  

"Where's Brian?" Justin awoke again a few hours later and was upset when he realized Brian wasn't there.

"He's sleeping, honey. He needed to rest," Jennifer tried to explain.

"Go get him."

"Let's let him sleep a while longer, then we'll wake him," she felt like he was dealing with a toddler.

The doctor finally came though the door apologizing for the delay and explaining he had gotten held up in surgery.  

"I understand you're awake now, young man," he said as he began examining Justin. "Do you know where you are?" he asked while shining a penlight into first one eye then the other.

"The hospital."

"And do you remember how you got here?"

"No," Justin answered

"That's okay. It may come back to you. Do you know what day it is?"

"Not for sure."

"What about the month?"

"November. How come I can't see out of my eye?"

The doctor stole a glance with Jennifer. It was the month of April.

He shone the penlight into Justin's right eye again. "I don't see any damage to the eye itself. I would say your vision will begin to return as the swelling recedes."

He moved on to Justin's limbs. He took Justin's left hand "Can you squeeze my hand?"

He did.

The doctor moved on to Justin's right hand. "Again."

The hand didn't move. He glanced up quickly at Justin and saw panic starting to rise. "Can you feel my hand on yours?" he asked.

"No," Justin's voice was barely a whisper.

He laid the hand back down and moved down to Justin's legs. He pulled the blankets up to expose Justin's feet. "Can you wiggle your toes for me?"

Justin's toes on his left foot moved, his right foot didn't. From where Justin lay he couldn't see his feet. "Did they move?"

"You're doing fine," the doctor avoided the question. "Okay, tell me when you feel my poker touching you."

He pushed an ink pen against the base of his right foot. No response. He moved on to the left foot.

"There." Justin said. "I felt that."

The doctor continued moving further up both legs, confirming that Justin had no movement or feeling in his right arm or leg.

Justin was becoming more awake, more aware and was starting to grasp what was happening.

"Why can't I move my arm? What's wrong with me? Am I paralyzed? Mom, what's going on? What happened? Where's Brian? Why isn't he here?" He was becoming more and more upset.

"Justin calm down. It may be temporary," Jennifer tried.

"What happed to me?" He was starting to panic.

"Can't you give him something?" Jennifer asked. "To calm him a little?"

The doctor shook his head. "Not with a head injury."

"Mom."

"Son, calm down," the doctor said sternly, then looking into Justin's eyes he tried to answer some of his patients questions. "You've sustained a significant blow to the head and the paralysis is a result of that. Now there is a good chance it's temporary so let's just go with that for now, okay?"

Justin looked at him "Why can't I remember? How did it happen?"  

"You were the victim of an attack and it's not uncommon for head injury patients to have some short term memory loss. Your memory will more than likely start to return, although you may never remember all of the events."

"An attack? By who?"

"Right now you need to rest. We can answer your questions later when you're feeling better."

"But -"

"Justin," Jennifer said. "The doctor wants you to rest."

Justin was feeling extremely sleepy, but sleep was the last thing he wanted to do. He had only been awake for a few minutes; he wanted them to answer his questions.

"Where's Brian?" he asked again, the fight was starting to drain out of him.

"He'll be here in a little bit sweetie. You just sleep now."

Jennifer followed the doctor out into the hallway. "Doctor, is it really temporary, the paralysis?"

"We won't know for awhile. I'll want to run another cat scan on him tomorrow, that will tell us more."

"He seems more..." she paused searching for the right word.

"Impatient?" he asked.

"Yeah, and demanding, and emotional."

"It's very common in a head injury. It too may be temporary, but again-"

"We won't know for awhile," Jennifer finished.

*****  

Michael awoke and looked around. He must have fallen asleep on Brian's sofa. The last thing he remembered it was ten thirty and he was wondering if he should wake Brian. Now the clock on the DVD player read three in the morning.

He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he heard a voice. It sounded like Brian was talking to someone. Michael wondered if he was on his cell phone.

"Brian?"

He got up to go see who Brian was talking to. About halfway there he realized he was hearing Brian calling out in his sleep. He was having another nightmare.

"Justin!" Brian shouted and sat up in bed. Michael was at his side in mere seconds.

"Brian?"

Brian's chest was heaving; he had a sheen of sweat glistening on his skin. Michael saw the fear in his hazel eyes and knew what the dream had been about.

"Brian, it's okay," he said, sitting down on the bed and slipping an arm around Brian's shoulder.

"I wasn't fast enough. I tried to stop him but I was too far away. There was nothing I could do."

"What do you mean? You saved Justin. What would have happened if you hadn't been there to stop Chris? He could have killed Justin."

Brian looked at him. "Michael, don't you get it? If I hadn't been there it wouldn't have happened."

"You don't know that."

"Yeah, I do. What time is it anyway?"

"Three," Michael said.

"Fuck. Why didn't you wake me?"

"I fell asleep too. Besides you needed the rest."

"I've got to get back to the hospital. Jennifer won't leave him unless Deb or I are there," Brian said crawling out of bed and gathering up some clothes. "I'm gonna take a shower; be ready to drive me back to the hospital when I get out."

"Yeah, okay."

Less than ten minutes later they were back in Michael's car driving back across town. "Can we stop and get some coffee?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, but hurry."

"I'll go through the drive thru."

Finally Brian and Michael made it back to the hospital. Brian looked at his watch and realized he had been gone more than twelve hours, of course the day before when he had left, he wasn't sure he was coming back at all.

The halls of the hospital were quiet as he made his way to Justin's room. The lights in the room were dimmed but Brian could see Justin sleeping peacefully in his bed.

"There you are," the night nurse said when she came in to check on Justin. "Jennifer said you'd be back."

"Is she sleeping?" he asked.

"Yeah, we tried to get her to go home, but she wouldn't hear of it."

Brian nodded. "How is he?"

"He's doing fine. He's a fighter." The nurse left to tend to other patients and Brian tried to get comfortable in the chair and not think about Justin's limp hand.

"Hey," a sleepy voice said. "There you are."

"Here I am," Brian grinned.

"Mom said you went home to sleep," Justin said though a yawn.

"Yeah, I did."

"Next time you go will you let me know? I want you to bring up my CD player and some of my CD's and I need my text books too."

Brian tried to keep his face neutral; Justin's CD's and textbooks hadn't been at the loft since the whole fiasco with the break-in and the trip to New York to retrieve a certain run-away. "Yeah, I'll try to remember."

"'kay. I'm gonna sleep now," Justin mumbled as he drifted off.

Brian sat watching him the rest of the night.