by Kitty Parker
Daisy looks back to her. "Someone like Jack?" She feels her brow furrow.
She has absolutely no idea what Maybelle is talking about.
…
She's nervous. She's been nervous all week and her stomach has been in a constant knot.
This is it. This is what the past few months have been leading to. The County Finals Championship between rivals the Gators and the Bulldogs. The stands are a flood of red and green and white colors between the two teams and there is a constant buzz of excitement – like electricity – flowing through the air.
Daisy is too anxious to sit and she stands of to the side, her hands clutching the end of Otter's leash as the dog sits beside her, staring to the field and looking rather bored and unimpressed with all of this hoopla. Her family is up in the bleachers, Shawn on the sidelines and Jack's there, too, standing where he promised Matty he'd be – on the other side of the fence at the end zone so Matty can see him whenever he runs a touchdown.
Gators have possession of the ball first and just as it had been during their first matchup, the Bulldogs defense is all over Tavon and Matty. Daisy cringes and closes her eyes after every play, watching them take down Matty with each blow of the whistle. The Gators inch down the field, gaining yardage bit by bit, but all Daisy cares about is Matty and the beating he's taking today. Their defense is just too good. The Gators might have the best offense in the league but the Bulldogs got here on their defense and they're showing that again.
She squeezes her eyes shut at the crash of pads and helmets and she wonders why Matty couldn't be interested in baseball or golf. Why does he have to have a talent and such a love for football? She knows she doesn't have the nerve – or stomach – for this.
She opens her eyes again to see the pile of bodies to slowly separate, boys standing up, helping each other up, but there's one boy – the one that had been on the bottom of the pile not moving. The football is still in his arms but not a single inch of him is moving.
It's Matty.
This time – unlike the first – she doesn't stop herself. She knows she shouldn't but she can't stop herself because she knows that this isn't like last time. This is far more serious. He's still not moving. She drops Otter's leash and runs onto the field. She doesn't hear the referee blow his whistle or people shouting and calling out. She sees Jack leap over the fence and then he's running over too and they meet Matty at the same time.
Daisy drops to her knees and Jack is next to her and she's vaguely aware of Otter having run onto the field, too. Shawn and T-Dog are there and Johnathan and Tyreese and everyone is talking to her and trying to wake Matty up but she doesn't hear anything. It's all as if they are speaking to her from underwater.
Tyreese gently takes Matty's helmet off and she reaches out, brushing his hair back, staring into his face. She can't breathe and she feels like if she starts, she'll throw up. She feels cold as she stares at him. It looks like he's sleeping.
"Alright, let's get him off the field. We need to get his pads off," T-Dog was saying.
"We shouldn't move him just yet," Johnathan stops him. "Matty," he then leans in to his grandson, trying to wake him.
Daisy starts breathing but it's in sharp gasps. Rapid and shallow and her chest is beginning to hurt with the effort breathing is taking out of her. Her eyes begin burning and she leans in close to him even though she knows that he probably needs more room right now. No one is going to pull her away from him.
"Matty, please wake up," she says to him softly. "Please wake up."
She can hear the sirens of an ambulance coming and then there are more voices and then a hand – familiar and warm and heavy – is on her back. Jack.
"They need to get 'im on the stretcher," Jack tells her in a soft voice, and he's leaning in close to her, and she nods, understanding, but she still can't get herself to move.
They all then watch as Otter leans into Matty then and the dog begins licking at the boy's face. And they all watch as – after a few moments – Matty's eyes begin fluttering open. And every person who is there seems to all start breathing at the same time.
And Daisy bursts into tears – tears of fear and relief – and she's vaguely aware of the applause rising from the stands – both Gators and Bulldogs clapping loudly for Matty as he's placed onto the stretcher and they all stand up.
And as Daisy follows the paramedics with Matty off the field, she grasps Jack's hand without thinking about it and pulls him with her.
…
Even if Jack wants to walk away, he can't. Daisy's been holding his hand ever since they got to the hospital and she won't let it go and wherever she goes, he goes, too. Not that he even thinks about pulling away. He isn't going to this time. This time, he's going to stay right here because Daisy needs him and Matty needs him and he needs them.
Since Otter was able to get the kid awake on the field, Matty hasn't gone back to sleep since. Doctors have been shining flashlights in his eyes, checking on his pupils, and asking him all kinds of questions. What month is it? Do you know the year? Who's the President of the United States? "He won't know that," Daisy tells them when Matty's brow wrinkles at that one. What's the last thing you remember doing? What state do you live in?
And on and on it goes for nearly fifteen minutes. Jack stands there in the room, the kid looking so little in that big hospital bed , wishing the doctor would just shut up but knowing that the doctor is just being careful and thorough and Jack can't help the man for that. Matty had taken a bad hit out there and the last thing they want is some damage to have been done to him without them detecting it until it's too late.
"Good," the doctor smiles and pats Matty on the shoulder. "I'm going to talk with your mom and dad outside in the hall and we'll all be right back."
Everyone else is in the room, too – Johnathan, Annette, Shawn, Maybelle and Nathaniel – but no one, not even Daisy and Matty, has a reaction to the doctor's statement and Jack finds that he doesn't either. He's actually been missing it like crazy – being around them enough for people to be making that assumption about him.
"We'll stay and keep you company, Matty," Maybelle smiles at her nephew as she and Nathaniel settle themselves into two of the chairs beside his bed.
For the first time since getting there, Daisy lets go of Jack's hand. She leans over, kissing Matty on the head and hugging him, whispering something in his ear.
And then, together with Johnathan, Annette and Shawn, Jack and Daisy stepped out into the hallway with the doctor, Shawn closing the door to the room so Matty couldn't hear. Jack feels a knot in his stomach as he waits for the doctor to tell them. He knows Daisy doesn't want Matty playing football but the kid loves it and he's so damn good at it and Jack wonders if Matty is going to have a next season. He obviously has no say in it whatsoever but he knows what Daisy will want and he knows what Matty will want. It all depends, Jack supposes, on the words this man in front of them says next.
"Matty has a mild concussion," the doctor informs them without any sort of prelude.
"Oh my god," Daisy breathes out and Jack finds himself lifting his hand and resting it on her upper back, near the back of her neck, wanting her to know that he's right there, and he feels her leaning back into him slightly for support.
"Is he going to be alright?" Johnathan asks.
"Head injuries are a tricky thing," the doctor tells them. "Some people feel normal again in a few hours. Others have symptoms for weeks or months. Because of his age, I'm going to want to keep Matty overnight for observation."
"What do I need to do for him?" Daisy asks.
"When you get him home, make sure he takes it easy. He needs time to recover. Plenty of sleep at night. Avoid activities that are physically or mentally demanding. And then I'm going to give you a pain medication to help with his headaches," the doctor answers.
"What about football?" Shawn asks and Daisy shoots a glare instantly towards her brother.
"It's a good thing his season's done because he def
initely wouldn't be able to play again," the doctor says, looking to Daisy. "But, as I said, it's a mild concussion and after a few months, if he checks out to be perfectly fine again and he wants to play next season…"
"We'll talk about that later," Annette answers for Daisy. "Thank you, doctor."
"Yes," Daisy sighs. "Thank you for everything."
The doctor smiles warmly and shakes Daisy's hand and then holds out his hand towards Jack and he shakes it, giving the man a head nod as well. After shaking Annette and Shawn's hands and promising to Daisy that he'll be back in a couple of hours to check once more on Matty, he turns and with Johnathan, they begin walking away down the hall, the two older men speaking quietly with one another.
Once it's just them in the hall once more, Daisy smacks Shawn on the back of the head.
"Ow," Shawn lets out a yelp and frowns at her.
But Daisy doesn't say anything as she turns and goes back into Matty's room.
…
It's late. Jack actually has no idea what time it is but he figures it's late because it's pitch black outside and the hospital is pretty much silent around them.
He and Daisy are the only ones left. The others had stayed for as long as they could before Daisy pushed them out the door, telling them to go home and get rest and they could come to her apartment tomorrow and see Matty once he's home again.
Matty's been asleep for a couple of hours now, Daisy sitting in a chair next to the bed, dozing but never giving herself entirely over to sleep, and Jack's sitting in another chair, watching the television on a low volume, the station turned to an all-night Cops marathon but he's hardly watching it. Instead, every few minutes, he'll look to Daisy and Matty then to Daisy again before looking to the television and then back to Daisy once more.
He has so much he has to talk to her about but he doesn't even know where to start. How can he explain to her everything that he's going through or has gone through or feels towards her? He's never talked about any of this stuff to anyone and he doesn't even know how to talk about it. How can he just open his mouth and say all of this stuff to Daisy? He doesn't want her to know most of what's happened to him. He doesn't want this girl to know about his childhood and his dad and even though he'll show her, he doesn't want her to know the stories behind his scars either.
He wants to keep everything a secret but he knows he can't because he wants her. He's missed her so damn much over the past few weeks and he knows that if he wants to ever be with her again – even have a shot of being with her again – he can't just keep his mouth shut around her. Not anymore. The first time around, he was so ready to change and be different for both Daisy and Matty but he got scared and ran away and he can't do that again. He doesn't want to. He's ready. This time, when he says he wants to change, he means it because being without these two in his life, that isn't an option anymore.
His eyes go back to her. He knows nothing's going on with her or Adam no matter what she had implied to him. He knows that she was just trying to piss him off and hurt her and it had worked – at the moment. But he knows. He knows Adam was just flirting like Adam always does so Jack would see and get off his ass. Daisy's beautiful but that's not all she is. She's good and kind and only an idiot would have her and not keep her.
And that's exactly what he's going to do. He's going to get off his ass.
He shifts in his chair and the movement causes Daisy to turn her head and look at him.
"You can go home if you want," she speaks softly. "You don't have to stay."
Jack doesn't waste a second in shaking his head. "I ain't goin' anywhere."
As soon as he says the words though, he knows they're not the words to say. He has said those words to her – right before he left. And the way Daisy stiffens slightly and immediately moves her eyes from him back to Matty, he knows that she remembers, too. Not that he had expected her to forget. He hurt her worse than any other time he had hurt her this past year and he has no idea how to fix this.
But talking to her about everything might be a good start.
"You wanna get some coffee?" Jack asks, sitting up straight in his chair.
Daisy instantly shakes her head like he knew it would. "I don't want to leave him."
Jack nods and stands up. "I'll get some coffee and bring it back," he offers.
Daisy looks back to him. "Thank you," she said and she is able to give him a soft smile and he finds himself rooted to the spot, staring at her.
He knows he never wants to be away from her again – not even to go to the cafeteria and get them coffee.
"My dad used to beat the shit out of me," he blurts out bluntly and Daisy's eyes widen at his sudden announcement and hell, even he's taken aback by it.
She doesn't say anything to that – not that he's expecting her to because he's just completely blindsided her and even if he hasn't, what the hell does a person say to that?
He exhales a held breath. "I didn' wan' you feelin' all my scars. I got a lot of 'em."
"Why didn't you just tell me?" Daisy finally speaks, asking in a near-whisper.
Jack shrugs and doesn't answer for a moment and he realizes he's staring at the corner of the room above her head rather than at her. Exhaling another breath, he forces himself to move his eyes down and he finds that she's looking right at him and no one else. And he can't just shrug anymore. Not with her.
"Didn' wan' you feelin' things like that. Your hands are too good for that," he struggles to explain because it sounds so much better in his head and makes so much more sense and right now, he feels like all he's doing is spewing out words that don't make any sense when they're strung together.
Maybe he should have just kept quiet about the whole fucking thing and never said anything at all in the first place – especially when Daisy is quiet and doesn't say anything.
He looks away from her again and wonders if he should just go home. But no. He can't do that. He's not leaving this hospital until Daisy and Matty are with him. He's said it before but he means it this time more than anything he's ever said at any other time in his life.
This time, he's really not going anywhere.
Daisy slowly stands up from her chair and he watches as she leans in and kisses a sleeping Matty on his head, taking a moment to brush hair back from his forehead. She then straightens and turns towards Jack.
"Let's go get a cup of coffee," she says and she slides her hand into his.
The second he feels that, Jack grasps it tightly, not giving her a chance to pull it away.
…
The cafeteria is empty at this late hour except for a couple of nurses sitting at their own table, drinking cups of coffee and having a quiet conversation. Jack follows Daisy to the machine and she fills two paper cups of coffee. She turns and hands him one, knowing that he takes his coffee black and he waits as she fills her with sugar and cream.
He glances to the clock as they sit down at a table. It's just a little after midnight.
Sitting across from him, Daisy sips her coffee and he doesn't know what else to do so he takes a sip from his own even though he really doesn't want any. He can't move his eyes away from her; as if afraid that if he does, he'll look back and she really won't be there.
She's wearing her green Gators sweatshirt still and her hair is pinned up its braid with a few strands coming loose and she has slight bags under her eyes but damn it all if she still isn't so beautiful, he can hardly understand how he gets this girl to sit across from him.
"You hurt me so much, Jack," Daisy speaks just as suddenly as he had spoken back in Matty's room. Jack stares at her, having not exactly expected her to talk first but he's glad she has because he knows she has a lot to say. "I don't think you realize just how much."
"'m sorry," he tells her in a soft voice but just because it's soft doesn't mean it's sincere. He's so sorry towards her and everything he did, it actually aches in his chest.
But Daisy's not done and he doesn't expect her to be.
"I
told you that I love you. I told you that I have trust issues. And then within minutes, you just walk away like none of it mattered to you," she lets him have it and he sits there and doesn't try to stop her. Why should he? He deserves it.
"I don' like showin' my scars," he then tries to explain but it sounds weak even to his ears. It's true. No one ever sees his scars. Even he tries to avoid catching glimpses of them in the mirror but this is Daisy and she's become everything good and different in his life and if there's anyone he can show them to, it's her. He should know that. He knows that.
"You could have stayed and told me that, Jack," Daisy points out and it sounds so damn easy and logical, of course he hadn't gotten that the first time. "We could have talked. But you chose to just walk away from me and I am sick and tired of seeing your backside."
He lowers his eyes guiltily to the table. What the hell can he say to any of this? There's pretty much nothing he can say in any of this that would be a defense. He has no excuse for his actions. He's just an idiot son-of-a-bitch and Daisy knows that about him now. And he doubts this idiot son-of-a-bitch will ever get another shot with her.
"Did you think I would judge you for it?" Daisy asks and Jack almost flinches at that.
Yes.
He doesn't have to answer the question but the word hangs heavily between them because they both know that that is exactly what he had thought. And not only is he a son-of-a-bitch now but he's also a dick. But he's always been a dick – no matter how badly he wants to change and tries to change. He just can never seem to be able to and he's so tired of it. He can just imagine how sick and tired of it Daisy is.
"You really don't know me at all if you thought I would," Daisy then says softly, sadly, and his eyes jerk up to look at her again.
"That ain't it, Daisy," he's quick to tell her and can only hope that she believes him this time even though she has no reason to. "I didn' wan' you to know 'bout 'em 'cause they don't belong anywhere near you."
