Heart of Gold (Anthony Rizzo)

Twenty Eight

Isabella

"Alright buddy, do you have everything" I ask as Nick hands me yet another suitcase.

"You packed my bags Izzy, I don't know why keep asking me that" he says and I roll my eyes. Someone's in a mood.

It's been a little over a month since Nicholas got his new heart. I've been emailing back and fourth with the parents of the donor and were trying to figure out where and how to meet up. It doesn't look like it'll happen until the summer time because the kids mom is a school teacher but that's okay. It'll give me time to figure out what I want to say to thank them.

It's also been about three weeks since Anthony left for spring training. Nick isn't strong enough to fly to Arizona yet, but the doctor said driving should not be a issue. We can stop when we need to and he isn't around a bunch of people. So I decided that we would drive out and surprise Anthony. Sure it was a bit spontaneous and not very well planned out in my end but hey, life is full of surprises.

After loading up the car we grab a bunch of snacks and hit the road. Charlie sat in the back with Nicholas as I played our road trip playlist. It was going to take us two days to drive but that's okay, I enjoyed making memories with my little brother.

"I'm so excited to see Anthony" he claims.

"Why is that" I wonder.

"I have so much to tell him. I taught Charlie a bunch of new tricks we have to show him and my scar is starting to look like a lightning bolt from the flash and my hairs getting long so that's pretty cool" he says before gasping for air.

"Woah there buddy, don't strain yourself. We still got a long ways until we get there" I laugh.

"I know, I'm just so excited. I haven't seen Anthony in years" he says over dramatically.

"It's been three weeks" I giggle.

"Are you sure" he asks.

"Pretty sure" I nod.

"Well it feels like years" he claims.

"Well you have to wait a little while longer" I say and he sighs over dramatically.

After driving for 13 hours we stop in Oklahoma so I could rest and we can get Nicky somewhere to stretch out his legs. The hotel we got had a pool and was pet friendly so I let them go out and play for a little. They were fed and not totally exhausted from driving nearly 900 miles in one day.

But honestly we had a great time. We got to see mountains for the first time, Nicky got a shirt from each place we've stopped and he even got to try cat fish for the first time. He wouldn't touch the thing back home but now that we're out he wants to be adventurous and I love it. He even has his own little Kodak camera to see things from his perspective. So a lot of pictures of Charlie sticking his head out the window.

I sit in a pool chair as I watch Nick jump in the pool at least twenty times in a row. I was no longer worried about his heart becoming erratic or stopping, he was being a kid and I didn't have to stop him. It was a joy to watch really.

"Can I sit here" a guy asks pointing to the chair beside me and I look around. There was no one else here but maybe he just wanted company. He looked about my age and was all alone.

Nicky runs across the pool deck and I feel all my muscles tense up.

"Nicholas Carter don't you run across that pool deck! You're going to slip" I beg. He slowly down just enough to jump in the pool once again. Charlie jumps in after him and I shake my head.