Incurable

Twenty Two

Five of them had been seated at the table for breakfast, two people missing, until a few minutes later Avi sat down with his specialized meal.

Alex was leaning on Jake, using him for support.

Kevin glanced up at him. "Are you feeling okay, Al? You look more tired than usual."

Jake answered for him, running one hand through Alex's hair to let him know it was okay. "He had another nightmare last night. Had trouble falling asleep afterwards."

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry."

Alex just smiled. "No worries."

Avi looked around after a few minutes. "Guys, where's Kirstie?"

Mitch looked up from his food and smirked. "You tell me."

"No, I'm serious. I haven't seen her today."

Kevin glanced around the table to see if anyone knew, but it seemed like no one did. "I saw her earlier, before she met with her nurse. But I haven't seen her since."

Scott cleared his throat and raised his hand halfway.

Mitch watched him. "You saw her? Where?"

Scott made the mistake of looking at everyone at the table, so he blushed and looked down in shame rather than answering.

Mitch poked his arm. "Come on, Scott... No one is going to judge you. Avi just wants to know where she is."

Scott leaned toward him to whisper, hoping no one else would hear him.

Mitch nodded, and then smiled at the others. "Her nurse kept her for an extra amount of time. So Scott thinks something may have happened."

Avi tilted his head, setting his fork down. "Something like what?"

Mitch shrugged. "She could've had an episode, and needed an extra second to calm down."

Avi looked over at the clock on the wall. "She's ten minutes late. How long can an episode last?"

Scott finally mumbled a word. "Hours."

Mitch nodded, almost finished eating already. "Yeah, sometimes they can be really long. Most of the time it's like a minute or two. But at least once every few months there's a really bad one."

Avi looked absolutely heartbroken, eyes wide. "Is she..? Does it hurt her?"

Scott looked up at him with a frown, reaching out to set his hand on Avi's arm. A wordless apology.

Mitch shrugged a little, answering for Scott again. "Not really. It makes her cry, and I'm sure it's scary. But it doesn't physically hurt. I mean.. Not really."

"What do you mean 'not really'?"

"I mean sometimes it hurts the bystander. Not her. Like once she thought Scott was someone else, and when he tried to hug her she hit him a few times."

Avi stood up. "I have to go see if she's--"

"You can't." Jake stopped him, grabbing his arm.

Avi sat back down slowly, but he kept glancing at the door as if Kirstie would be there and gone before he could notice. "You're right."

Scott stood up, pressing a kiss to Mitch's temple, before he left the table.

Mitch turned quickly, and grabbed his arm. "Where are you going? You haven't eaten anything yet."

Scott took a few quick steps to reach him, and then bent a little to speak into his ear. "Right back. Promise."

Mitch frowned at him, but watched him go quietly. Then he quickly turned to Kevin. "Do you think he went to pee?"

"I'm pretty sure he went to see Kirstie."

Avi frowned, pushing his food around his plate. "I see how it is. Avi can't go, but as long as Scott goes quietly..."

Jake fed something to Alex, who was too tired to eat for himself. "That isn't what I meant when I said that. Scott knows how to help her. But if you're around long enough, I'm sure you'll figure it out too."

Avi took a deep breath. "I hope she's okay."

*******

Scott knocked on Kirstie's dorm room door, and then stood staring at his hands until the door opened in front of him.

Kirstie smiled at him, although she was wiping tears from her face. "Good morning."

Scott walked into the room, closed the door, and then took the tissue from Kirstie's hand to wipe her face gently.

"How are you, Scottie?"

Scott just smiled at her, still helping her clean up.

Kirstie figured she owed him some kind of explanation, after all that was the reason he was here, and she knew it. "Sorry I wasn't at breakfast. I wanted to clean up before I went. Would've been there in five minutes. But thank you for coming to check on me."

"You okay...?" Scott mumbled.

Kirstie smiled up at him. "Yeah. It wasn't a bad one. Only about ten minutes long."

Scott nodded, tossing the tissue into the trash can, before walking over and hugging her.

Kirstie hugged back. "Walk with me?"

Scott nodded, moving away, and then reaching his hand out for her.

*********

Scott led Kirstie to sit beside Avi at the table, although almost everyone there had already finished their meals.

Scott then sat down beside Mitch again, and put his arm over Mitch's shoulders.

Avi reached over and grabbed Kirstie's hand. "Oh thank God, I was so worried. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Thank you. Just... Had to stay for a bit, with my nurse."

Avi nodded, ducking his head down to meet her eyes. "Are you sure? What happened? If you don't mind my asking..."

Kirstie grinned at him. "No, I don't mind... It was just a thing about,  um... My episodes."

"Oh, I see. Okay... After lunch, will you come with me?"

Kirstie began eating, but frowned at him. "I'm sorry... I have visitation today. But maybe after Group?"

"Oh, that's fine... Thank you."

Kirstie just smiled back, returning back to her food.

Scott whispered something to Mitch, letting Mitch giggle for a second, before whispering something else too.

Mitch pushed him lightly. "Stop it, I'm trying to eat."

Scott smirked and looked down at his lap, complying to Mitch's wishes.

Mitch kept eating, but after seeing Scott pull away from him like that, he reached over and grabbed Scott's hand, holding it on top of the table to show it off proudly.

Scott, of course, didn't say anything. But he squeezed Mitch's hand once, to silently thank him.

Thank him for what?

Scott wouldn't even know where to begin, to answer a question like that.

****