Saving Grace

I looked at my boyfriend with pleading eyes, my lips set into a small frown. "I want to go home, Nick. I just want to go home." I’d been saying it since the moment he’d stirred from his slumber. He didn’t seem too convinced that it was a good idea though.

Nick rose from the chair he had slept in and studied me, as if determining if I was well enough. "Okay," he sighed reluctantly, pushing his fingers through his auburn hair.

I smiled softly at him. "Thank you."

Today, I was set to leave the hospital and nearly everyone, with the exception of Ross, Shane and Jay had stopped in to visit me.

"I'll go get the paper work settled," he said before tucking his hands in his pockets and walking out.

I sighed and looked around.

A light knock shattered the moment of silence I was in before the door opened slightly. I felt my palms grow sweaty as Jay's figure filled the doorway. He smiled at me like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "Are you up for visitors?" he asked.

I nodded and pushed myself up to prevent myself from slouching. Shane and Ross followed him in cautiously. I felt nervous, now that they knew that John and I had never been dating, it made a bad impression.

"How are you feeling?"

"Um- better," I said. "I get to leave today so..."

"You're more than welcome to stay a few more days," Jay said.

"Thank you, but Nick is taking me back to Braintree." I looked to my hands as they fumbled in my lap. "I'd like to say just how grateful I am to all of you. You're all very nice people and I feel terrible for everything-"

"Shut up, Amelia."

I stopped mid-sentence to look at Ross with wide eyes.

"We don't care about that shi-" he glanced to his father who was giving him a warning look, "stuff. If we were pissed off at you, we wouldn't be here right now."

"I agree with him," Shane said, jabbing a finger at his older brother.

"See, so shut up with your apologies because we don't want to hear it," Ross said.

Jay glared at his son. "Thank you, Ross for being so blunt."

He simply smiled at his father and shrugged.

Nick walked in with a clipboard in grip. He stopped seeing my visitors and gave a greeting before holding out the papers to me. "I filled most of it out but you have to finish and then you're free."

I smiled weakly, glancing to each of the O'Callaghans in the room before starting to fill in the gaps that Nick had skipped over.

"We should get going. We'll see you back at the house in a while?" Jay asked.

I nodded and smiled politely. "Yeah, see you in a little bit."

-----

I folded a shirt and neatly placed it in my suitcase before sighing. I sat on the edge of the mattress beside Shane whom decided to chill with me whilst Nick and John discussed the argument that had happened a day ago. I guessed that Jay and Ross were trying to occupy themselves.

He sighed too and looked over to me. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing... it's just kind of sad."

"What is?"

"The one decent girl John brought home wasn't even dating him."

I smiled at the soft of compliment. "He does have bad tastes when it comes to girls, doesn't he?"

Shane nodded his head, tossing a baseball back and forth in his hands. "Yeah..."

I suddenly felt sad that I was leaving. Shane had practically filled the space of little brother to me. I stood and gathered my luggage, not wanting to get all emotional over a simple goodbye.

When I walked downstairs, with Shane following behind with a few of my things, I saw that Jay, Ross, Nick and John were all in the foyer. All eyes fell on me and I suddenly flashed back to Linnely's staircase moment.

I smiled a little as Nick stepped forward and took the suitcase from my grip. "Ready?"

I kept my tight smile on my face as I nodded and glanced to John. He stood with his hands stuffed in his pockets, an unrecognizable expression held in his eyes.

I turned to Ross and hugged him. "Take care of yourself, Lia," he whispered.

"I w-will," I replied before pulling away and turning to Jay. "Thank you for everything. I'm so sorry for your loss; Bree was an amazing person."

"She was," he said, a hint of sadness filling his eyes. "If you ever come back to Tempe, you're more than welcome to stay here again," he continued after we parted from our hug.

I turned to Shane next. "I'll miss you, dude," I said before I pulled him into a tight hug. I furiously blinked back my tears. I wasn't sure why Shane, of all people to bond with here, was the one that I would probably miss most. We hadn't even hung out that much...

I think it was that empathy matter; he had lost his mother at his young age and I hadn't really had much as a mom when I was his age. It was logical.

I pulled away before my composure completely was destroyed to find myself looking to John. I reluctantly walked forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. "You're a good guy, John. Thank you for everything," I whispered.

"Yeah, thank you for doing all of this..."

I wanted to say that I hated everything that had happened but for some reason, I couldn't say that I had regretted the whole experience. I pulled away quickly and turned to Nick who was holding the front door open for me.

"Bye," I said, trying not to sound sad.

Their hands went up in a waving motion or they said their goodbyes before I stepped outside.

Tears were blurring my vision by the time I got into the passenger seat of my car. Hurriedly, I put on my sunglasses and pinched my eyes shut as Nick threw my things in the trunk, taking the couple of bags from Shane's hands.

John slammed the trunk door shut when Nick had piled everything in as I watched through the rear-view mirror. The two did their typical man-hug as a way to say goodbye.

Nick slid behind the wheel and started my car. He slowly pulled out of the O'Callaghan's driveway.

I looked out the window as the family of four watched us leave. I waved one last time before looking ahead.

As the distance separated me from them, John's face flashed in my mind and I could see his eyes holding that unrecognizable expression yet.

A hand fell over mine. "Do you miss home?" Nick asked, glancing away from the road for a split second to look at me.

I studied the road before me as I thought over his question.

Braintree didn't sound so appealing to me at the moment; Tempe did. Regardless, I answered with a simple, "Yes," before staring out the window.