"It's not that bad," I said, as my eyes travelled over Bryce's scar.

As Kayla had described to me before, it looked like an upside down horseshoe on the side of his head.

"It looks much worse because my hair is greasy and gross," Bryce complained.

"Just spray some dry shampoo in it," I advised. "You'll be good to go."

"What?"

I chuckled, taking a seat on his bed and peeking over at his laptop. "Watcha workin' on?"

"Absolutely nothing, I'm bored out of my mind."

"Did you have speech therapy earlier?"

"Yep."

"How'd that go?"

"It was long and depressing."

"Bryce, you have some visitors," Regina informed him.

"Who would that be?" he asked her, shutting his laptop.

She shrugged. "Want me to let them back?"

"I guess," he said, with a shrug.

"So any talk of discharge today?" I asked, as we waited for Bryce's visitors.

"Tomorrow morning," he said, with a smile.

I reached over to high-five him.

"I think I deserve a kiss for that."

"Somebody is a bit demanding today, aren't they?"

Clayton was the first one to enter Bryce's room, and a smile spread across Bryce's face.

And then Clayton was followed by about half of the baseball team.

"I wouldn't let the whole team come," Clayton informed Bryce. "Since you just had surgery and all."

I leaned back on Bryce's bed, judging his reaction.

His smile widened. "Hey guys!"

"What the hell is on your face?" Clayton asked him.

"Jesus Clayton," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well I am pretty awesome, but I wouldn't consider myself Jesus," he retorted.

"They're glasses," Bryce informed him, interrupting the two of us.

Because we'd probably bicker for hours if he let us.

And I couldn't help but notice how Bryce struggled with the S's in glasses as well, which was different from a couple of days ago.

"Are they permanent?" Kyle asked, leaning against the wall.

"Don't know yet," Bryce said.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Tyrone asked him, holding up three fingers.

"He can see your fingers dumbass," Kyle informed him, reaching over to shove him. "People with glasses don't see like ten fingers versus three."

"So how are you doing?" Brock asked, interrupting the other two's argument.

Clayton came over and took a seat on the edge of the bed, and I moved over closer to Bryce and away from him.

Clayton just smirked at me.

"Discharge tomorrow," Bryce said, shooting me a smile.

"Discharge?" Kyle asked.

As I said, insult to a bag of rocks.

"I'm getting released tomorrow," Bryce informed him.

"Like from the hospital?" Tyrone asked, his eyes wide. "Dude, you just had brain surgery a couple of days ago."

Clayton reached over and high-fived Bryce.

"I'll take a high-five from him," Bryce said to me.

"What?" Clayton asked.

"You're so needy today," I said, laughing.

The guys stayed for about an hour, talking and laughing with Bryce.

"How's he doing?" Bryce asked Clayton.

"How's who doing?" Clayton asked.

"The new pitcher?"

"You talking about Sam?"

"Yeah."

"So now you're too good to say his name?"

"Just tell me how he's doing."

Clayton exchanged glances with some of the guys. "You win some you lose some I guess."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that we suck dude, we fucking suck," Kyle piped up.

Bryce let out a sigh, clearly upset by the news.

"Sam just needs some fine tuning," Clayton reasoned. "We'll get there."

"How bad is it?" Bryce asked.

"We haven't won a game since you left," Kyle informed him.

Even I felt that blow.

"What happened to you win and you lose?" Bryce asked Clayton.

"We just haven't made it to the winning part yet," Clayton defended.

Bryce made brief eye contact with his mom, and she nodded.

"Alright boys," she announced. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to kick you out now."

Each one of the boys came over and said their goodbyes to Bryce, Clayton lingering as they all left.

"So are you in speech therapy then?" Clayton asked Bryce, once all of the boys cleared out.

"What?" Bryce asked him.

"You avoided Sam's name," Clayton pointed out. "And it's you win some you lose some, not you win and you lose. Plus the word glasses sort of gave you away."

"Damn," Bryce muttered.

"So what is it exactly?"

"It's anything that starts with the letter S," I informed Clayton.

"So she gets to know," Clayton filled in.

Bryce opened his mouth to say something and struggled with the word for a few moments before closing his mouth again, quiet for a couple of seconds. "They've been here."

Clayton was silent for a moment. "Fair enough."

Both boys were silent for a moment, and I felt like I was intruding on a personal argument, so I looked over at Kayla, who was playing a game on her iPad, also clearly trying to keep out of Bryce and Clayton's argument.

After a few moments I looked back at Clayton and Bryce, who were still watching each other in silence.

And then Clayton reached out his hand, and Bryce grasped it, and they did their bro handshake.

"Discharged tomorrow morning?" Clayton asked him.

"9 AM," Bryce informed him.

"See you then," Clayton said, with a smile before leaving.

Boy arguments are strange.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked Bryce.

"Just old man tired," he said, with a sigh.

I offered my hand out to help him up out of his chair.

"I can do it," he informed me, before bracing his hands on either arm rest.

I was doubtful, but I hopped up out of his bed and waited.

He pushed himself up and made his way over to his bed, lowering himself down.

"Get some rest babe," I said, leaning down and giving him a kiss.

~*~

"So you made it to one day of school this week?" Josh teased, as I worked on Bryce's hair.

"You guys probably suffered without me yesterday."

"Terribly."

"Does it look any better yet?" Bryce complained.

"So impatient," I reprimanded, before taking a step back.

His hair was pretty matted and greased after so long in the hospital without a wash.

So I'd doused it with some dry shampoo and ran my brush throughout it, trying to least bring some life back to it.

Bryce had a certain way of styling his hair, something he spent at least 10 minutes on every morning.

And let me tell you, it looked nothing like that. But it at least looked better.

"Here," I said, handing him a compact mirror that Kayla had pulled out of her purse.

"It looks pretty awful," Bryce muttered.

"But it looks better," I corrected.

"I guess."

"Let me get a picture of my baby before he's discharged," Regina announced.

"Oh my God," Bryce muttered.

"Smile pretty," I teased.

"Alright, now you get in there Sophie," Regina ordered.

Bryce smirked at me.

I climbed into his lap, kissing him on the cheek for Regina's picture.

And then Bryce tipped my chin up, catching me by surprise, and giving me a full-on kiss.

"Bryce Harrison," I chastised, pulling away from him.

His mother, sister, and Josh were all in the room.

He just offered me a cheeky smile.

"You two are just too cute," Regina gushed.

I climbed out of his lap, taking a seat on the edge of his hospital bed and letting my feet dangle.

"More like nauseating," Clayton muttered.

"Do you feel left out?" Bryce teased.

"Shut up."

Bryce stood up and made his way over to Clayton, planting a wet kiss on his cheek. "There, better now?"

Clayton just rolled his eyes.

The nurse came back in, the discharge papers in hand.

"Whoo!" Bryce cheered.

"Ready to put some real clothes on?" Kayla teased.

"But this gown is just too comfortable," Bryce said, his voice full of sarcasm.

Regina handed him some clothes, and Bryce headed over to the adjoining bathroom.

"It's so weird," Clayton said to Josh.

"What is?" Josh asked, looking up from his phone.

"He had brain surgery earlier this week, and he's already back up walking and talking, you know? It's a strange thing to think about."

"Oh yeah," Josh agreed with a nod, "especially when you catch a glimpse of the side of his head. It doesn't seem possible that someone with a giant horseshoe of staples can be functioning as a human being."

"Maybe the horseshoe will bring him good luck," I said, letting my feet swing back and forth as they dangled off the side of the bed.

"That is true," Kayla agreed.

"That is also stupid," Clayton added.

"Your face is stupid."

"Good one."

"I'm the one who's gotten less than 8 hours of sleep this entire week," I pointed out. "So sorry if my comebacks aren't exactly on point."

"Some of us can't afford to miss class if we want to graduate," Clayton retorted.

"Well maybe some of us should've paid a little more attention in class and little less attention to the baseball field."

"Thanks mom," Bryce said, coming out of the bathroom in a pair of gym shorts and a baseball t-shirt.

Regina took his hospital gown from him, folding it up and placing it neatly on the edge of the bed, next to me.

"You look humanized," I said, with a smile.

"That's not even a word," Clayton muttered.

"It most certainly is," I retorted. "Open a dictionary for once in your life."

"This I definitely haven't missed," Bryce said, interrupting the two of us as the nurse set to removing the sticky pads from Bryce's chest.

Bryce let out a hiss as she ripped one off his stomach.

"Insta-wax," Clayton said, with a chuckle.

"Every girl's dream," I added.

"Not mine," Bryce muttered, as she ripped another one off.

Then she set to the tape on his arms, which had been used to hold the IV's in place.

"Ready?" the nurse asked him.

Bryce nodded, his face already wincing.

She began to peel back the tape, and he let out a hiss.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "These are always the worst."

And then she got to the mass of tape in the center of his arm.

"Just rip it," Bryce advised.

"Oh dear," Regina said, covering her eyes.

"One, two, three," the nurse counted, before ripping the rest of the tape off.

Bryce let out a loud groan.

"I'm sorry," the nurse apologized again.

"Look at that," Bryce said, holding his arm out towards Clayton and me.

The area where the tape had been was completely hair-free.

"At least you don't have any in your privates," Clayton pointed out.

"Only you," Bryce said, chuckling.

"Just one more," the nurse said, getting ready to rip the tape off of his other arm. "One, two, three."

He let out a hiss, his jaw clenched.

"That's it," she said, high-fiving him.

"I can go home now?"

"Your mother has signed all the paperwork," she said, with a nod. "I just have to grab the wheelchair and we can wheel you on out."

"What?" Bryce asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Hospital policy I'm afraid."

"No," Bryce complained.

"What if you turn around for a few seconds and by the time you come back, we're gone?" Clayton asked.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"That's breaking hospital policy," the nurse pointed out.

"But if we disappear before you come back, it's not your fault," Clayton argued. "It's on us."

The nurse looked at Bryce and then at Clayton. "You have two minutes."

Bryce let out a cheer, reaching over and high-fiving Clayton as the nurse left.

"You two are full of it," Regina said, shaking her head. "Let's go."

Bryce reached his hand out towards me, and I intertwined my fingers with his.

And we walked out of the hospital together, hand-in-hand.

~*~

"I can already hear him," Regina said, as she stuck the key in the lock.

Dawson was letting out excited barks inside.

"I told him we were bringing you home today," Josh said to Bryce, with a smile.

Regina opened the door, and Dawson came running outside, letting out happy barks as excitedly ran circles around Bryce.

"Alright, come on," Bryce said, laughing as he headed inside, Dawson right behind him.

Bryce couldn't exactly bend over, so Dawson hopped up on the couch and Bryce began to scratch him behind the ears, accepting Dawson's kisses all over his face.

"I know," Bryce said, closing his eyes as Dawson licked his face. "I missed you too, I know."

Dawson let out more barks, his entire backside wiggling.

Josh tossed Bryce a treat, and Bryce fed it to Dawson, giving him a few more scratches before plopping down on the couch next to him.

Dawson immediately put himself in Bryce's lap, his paws on Bryce's shoulders.

"Okay," Bryce said, laughing as he shoved Dawson off of him.

Dawson stretched out across Bryce's lap, resting his head on Bryce's arm.

"I missed you too buddy," Bryce repeated, petting Dawson and kissing the top of his head. "I mean, who else is going to protect me from that evil bird outside my window?"

So what did you guys think about the visit from the baseball team? Clayton is more perceptive than Sophie gives him credit for, huh? What about Bryce being discharged? And then Dawson's reaction to seeing Bryce again?

Teaser: While they wait on the biopsy results from the surgery, Bryce begins to re-integrate himself back into everyday life.