Honorable Discharge

Around the time that Mark and Mai had their conversation in the park, Chloe and Damian were in his hospital room.

“Did you get to talk to my sister?” Damian asked as he sat in his reclined hospital bed.

Chloe thought about the conversation she had with Alexa before finding Damian in physical therapy. It was a hard one to have, especially considering how Alexa took the information. Every attempt Chloe made to get Alexa to understand the harsh reality of what happened was met with the feigned ignorance of a young little girl.

“I wish I had better news to deliver, but she wants to believe that this is all a dream,” Chloe answered solemnly as she leaned back into the guest chair in Damian’s patient room. “She wants to go home.”

Damian took a second to think about Chloe’s words, and then slowly nodded in agreement.

“I want to believe that it’s all a bad dream too,” Damian started. “Yet, I keep waking up in this place. It’s starting to drive me crazy. I can’t imagine how she must feel.” Damian balled his fists but seeing that there was nothing for him to unleash his pent-up frustration, he quickly unclenched his fists and let out a heavy sigh.

“The doctors are doing some final checks on her, and if she passes them, I can take her home tonight. If you’d like me to, I can take care of her until you’re back on your feet,” Chloe offered to Damian. Her words showed promise and care, something that always reassured Damian in the past.

“I know you’re able to take care of her; I know she’s going to pass whatever checks the doctors make as well. She’s never done anything except exceed on a test,” Damian said somewhat jokingly, trying to make himself feel better.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Chloe responded while releasing a light chuckle under her breath.

“You didn’t tell me about my brother,” Damian stiffened. “How is Mark doing?”

Chloe pondered at the question. She hadn’t heard anything from Mai yet, and all she learned from Mark was what he told her the night that he stayed over her house.

“I honestly don’t know. He’s always been hard for me to read,” Chloe answered truthfully. She hated the fact that she didn’t know what was going on in her friend’s life. “So, I asked a friend to help look after him for the time being.”

“A friend? Is she pretty? What’s her name?” Damian asked teasingly only to be rewarded with a soft punch to the arm.

“Her name is Mai. Wait, what’s it matter to you?” Chloe countered playfully as she held up her fist. “And make sure you choose your next words carefully.”

“Mark is a smooth person when he wants to be. I wouldn’t trust him with this ‘Mai’ whoever she is,” Damian joked.

“I don’t think Mark is that type of person. But then again, I don’t know what he’s thinking,” Chloe said softly, returning the conversation back to its origin.

“I think it’s because you might be overthinking who he is,” Damian proposed as he drank some water through a straw to clear his throat.

“Overthinking?” Chloe retorted quietly.

“He’s a very simple person, just like me,” Damian explained. “The only difference is, I try to tackle my problems head on, and Mark tries to avoid his problems.”

“Is that how he always tries to handle his problems?” Chloe implored, trying to get a better feel for the type of person Mark is.

“For as long as I can remember,” Damian recounted. “If something bothered him, we wouldn’t find out until the problem eventually went away.”

Chloe thought about the night before, where she talked briefly with Mark. The thought of his words fumbled around in her head.

“It’s your fault, Chloe.”

After a few moments of deafening silence, Chloe finally opened her mouth to bring up the elephant that had taken up most of the space in her brain.

“Dami, did you know that Mark had feelings for me?” she asked once she got her thoughts together.

Damian stole a look towards Chloe. Her face was full of confusion. Her eyes seemed to race back and forth, trying to pull words out of thin air. He could tell that this was troubling her.

“I never knew for sure, but every now and then, I would think about it,” Damian replied, looking up at the ceiling of the cold and barren patient room he was staying in. “It makes sense for him to have feelings for you.”

“What do you mean?” Chloe questioned as she looked down to examine herself.

“Chloe, we’ve known you for so long. You’ve always been playful, loving, and caring towards the two of us. No matter how angry, sad, or frustrated we were, you were always there. Not to mention, very pretty,” Damian praised with a smile glossing over his face. “We would be idiots not to have feelings for you.”

“But, why now? Why couldn’t you guys tell me before you ended up here in the hospital?” Chloe asked as she pulled her chair up and leaned closer to Damian.

Damian recoiled slightly back into the bed. Feeling that there was nowhere to go, he glanced back at Chloe, who was awaiting a response from him.

“You promise not to laugh?” Damian asked with a light chuckle in his voice, trying to hide the worry he actually felt.

“Laugh?” Chloe let out a light giggle at Damian’s question. Once she saw Damian quiet down, she realized that he was being serious, and quickly stopped herself from laughing. “Oh, you were being serious.”

Damian took a few moments to collect himself and his thoughts. Once he was ready to speak, he let out a light sigh.

“I’m…scared. At least, I was scared,” Damian began. “I knew that if I ever told you how I felt, it would completely change the dynamic between the three of us. I always feared it would be for the worst,” he continued honestly.

“For the worst? Are you talking about Mark?” Chloe asked.

Damian nodded his head, confirming Chloe’s suspicion.

“Since he’s been working and practicing, we don’t spend time with him like we used to,” Damian said. “Part of me thinks that he did it on purpose, to try and separate himself from the two of us.”

“Why would he want to separate himself? If anything, wouldn’t he want to spend more time with us? Or at least, with me?” Chloe asked curiously.

“I honestly have no idea,” Damian confessed. “But, if I had to guess, I think it was because of my sister. Her and her big mouth,” he continued, rolling his eyes playfully at the comment on Alexa.

“Let me guess, she told Mark that you liked me?” Chloe said softly.

“She told the whole family! That brat,” Damian added lightheartedly.

“Everyone knew?” she thought as Chloe’s cheeks turned red from the warmth of embarrassment that flushed over her like a tidal wave. The chill of the room had no chance of stopping the embarrassment from rising in her body.

“B-But, what would that change? If anything, wouldn’t you be the one who would avoid me?” Chloe asked sheepishly, trying to hide her embarrassed face with her hands.

Damian gently took her hand and removed it from her face. Once her face was completely exposed to him, Damian let out a warm smile.

“Why would I avoid you?” he asked gently.

Chloe, still flustered, looked up at Damian with a small smirk on her face. After a couple seconds passed, she massaged her face a bit to get rid of the goofy smile that she wore.

“Let’s just think about Mark for now,” Damian said, steering the conversation back on course. “What’s the first word that comes to mind when you think about him?”

“Kind…Caring…Selfless,” Chloe thought. “Selfless, yeah that works.”

“Selfless. When I think of Mark, I think of the word selfless,” Chloe answered thoughtfully. “He’s always putting aside how he feels to help others,” she continued slowly.

“Yeah, he is selfless. I think he made himself busier to try and give us more time together,” Damian said softly. His eyes fixated on Chloe’s, as they usually did. Her pupils seemed to be bigger than he remembered them to be.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Chloe responded. “Why would he do that? He’s just going to end up hurt like that.” Chloe couldn’t understand what motive Mark would have by staying quiet for so long about his feelings.

“It’s because idiots don’t make sense,” Damian said out loud aggressively. “He’s an idiot with a big heart for others. I don’t know for sure if my feelings for you are what caused Mark to distance himself, but that’s the only thing I can think of,” he ended softly as he put his head down slowly.

“He’s not the only idiot with a big heart,” Chloe murmured under her breath as she stared into Damian’s eyes, feeling at peace in his gaze.

Damian smiled wider at Chloe’s words, taking them as a compliment. The smile quickly changed when Damian took a peek at the clock, only to realize that visiting hours were almost over.

“Are you taking Alexa home?” he asked Chloe softly. “You should probably do that soon,” he continued as he pointed to the clock.

Chloe followed his eyes to the clock and noticed for herself that she needed to leave soon.

“Crap,” she said as Chloe quickly gathered her sweater and water bottle that she had placed on a chair in the corner of the room. “You know, if you change your mind, I can get you out of here tonight as well. The only person stopping you from being discharged is yourself,” she continued softly.

“Thanks, but I meant what I said,” Damian started. “I don’t want to leave until I can walk out of here.”

Chloe nodded her head as she understood what he meant. Even though he was being stubborn, he didn’t want to look weak in front of her or any others that may be looking on. As she was going to wave and say goodbye, an idea popped into her head.

“Dami, what if there is a way to get you out of here on your feet?” Chloe asked playfully.

As Damian went to interject, Chloe had already made her way to his bedside to unveil her plan. Any attempt to interrupt was put down by Chloe’s sheer determination and ability to make Damian feel guilty about going against her idea. Like a mad scientist, Chloe let out a boisterous laugh when Damian agreed to her plan.

“Call the nurse Dami. I’ll go and check on Alexa,” Chloe instructed as she walked towards the door. “I’ll see you soon.”

Damian offered a subtle wave, then pressed on the call button near his bed to get the attention of the nurse.

*     *     *

Once Chloe left Damian’s room, she made her way to Alexa’s room. The empty hallways seemed even emptier at night, and Chloe made her way through a bit quicker than she normally would. Fueled by the slight uneasiness in the air, she jumped back slightly when seeing Alexa’s doctor leave her room.

Chloe had a brief talk with the doctor to go over some information and paperwork for Alexa’s discharge. After a few minutes of getting everything in order, Chloe was sent back to the main lobby to wait for both Damian and Alexa to be escorted by nurses.

Chloe nervously bounced her right leg up and down as she waited for the time to pass. After multiple glances at her phone earning her nothing but the constant reminder of not having any messages, the elevator finally opened up, and out came Alexa and a nurse.

Alexa walked over to Chloe and sat beside her silently, as if trying to avoid a conversation with Chloe.

“Alexa?” Chloe asked softly. “What’s wrong? You get to leave the hospital tonight, just like you wanted to.”

“If I go home, I’ll know if they’re really gone,” Alexa bit angrily. “And if mommy and daddy are home, then that means everyone lied to protect me from something else,” Alexa continued as she looked up at Chloe with an intense stare of sadness and worry. “I lose either way.”

Alexa, who was on the brink of crying, was welcomed with a soft side hug from Chloe. A few minutes of soft hugging and arm rubbing later, and the elevator opened back up. This time, it was Damian who rolled by on his wheelchair accompanied by a nurse.

When Alexa saw Damian in the wheelchair, she felt something in the pit of her stomach. This was the first time she saw Damian since the accident, and she had no words to explain what she felt. She wanted to run up to Damian, but the shock of seeing her athletic older brother in a wheelchair left her sitting there in her own seat.

As Chloe stood up, she nudged Alexa to stand up with her. Alexa slowly gathered herself and stood alongside Chloe. This was the first time Alexa ever stared down at her brother, and she felt very uncomfortable with that perspective of him. The one who always stood tall in the face of everything thrown at him was suddenly in a chair, rolling himself along.

“Alexa, please don’t give me that look. I’ll be fine,” Damian assured as he reached his hand up to her head and messed with her hair.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Alexa asked softly as she held back the tears that were trying to break through the dam of her tear ducts.

“Actually Alexa, there is,” Damian said as he wheeled his way to the automatic sliding doors of the hospital. “Chloe, a little help here.”

Chloe grabbed Alexa’s hand and walked over to where Damian was. The sliding doors had opened up, letting the warm air of the spring night fill the entrance of the hospital.

“Alexa, all I need you to do is to move the wheelchair to the other side of the door and lock the brakes,” Damian said as he made motions with his hand to help her better understand his instructions.

Alexa nodded her head to show that she understood his instruction, and then watched as Chloe helped Damian out of his chair. Damian was angrily grunting as he tried to force himself to stand up on his legs. Most of his weight was leaning on Chloe, who was struggling to try and keep Damian up. Once he was standing tall, Alexa moved the wheelchair to the other side of the hospital doors.

“Come on Dami! Just one step!” Chloe cheered as she tried to support Dami. Her legs were shaking violently as she tried to keep him standing up.

Damian’s face had turned into a ferocious scowl. He was trying so hard to force his legs to move forward the step he needed to make it through the hospital doors. After a few moments of stubborn struggling, Damian used his right arm to pick up his leg briefly, taking his first stride forwards. His balance was thrown off unfortunately, and he felt himself about to fall.

“No you don’t!” Chloe grunted as she tapped into some superhuman strength to keep Damian up for a few more seconds.

Those seconds allowed him to repeat the motion he did before, and he picked up his left leg, striding it across the hospital doors. As he took his full step, he leaned his body off of Chloe, and landed perfectly in his wheelchair.

“See! You did it! You walked out of the hospital! I knew you could do it!” Chloe exclaimed as Alexa unlocked the brakes for Damian who was still catching his breath.

“Chloe, Alexa…thank you so much,” Damian said in between his breaths. “It’s not the way I originally wanted to do it, but I did walk out of here.”

Alexa quietly nodded, realizing the struggle that her brother went through just to take one step.

“Chloe, can you spend the night with us? I don’t want to sleep alone,” Alexa asked as they headed to where Chloe parked in the parking lot.

“Alexa, you know that Mark and I will be home too, right?” Damian asked softly.

“Dami, it’s alright. I can spend the night if she wants,” Chloe offered softly.

When they got to the car, Chloe opened the passenger door for Damian. Afterwards, Alexa and Chloe helped Damian into his seat and closed his door. Chloe took the wheelchair, folded it up, and placed it in the trunk of the car.

With one last sigh and look at the hospital, Alexa entered the backseat and Chloe entered the drivers’ seat. Once she started the car, the three of them left the parking lot and headed towards the Reyes’ household.