Luke left the hospital with an electric blue cast that went up to his elbow. The nurse had said it was the favorite color of most children, but Luke said it was the color of superheroes, which was better.
In the parking lot, the family gathered around him as if he were a king. Phil offered to carry him on his shoulders, but Claire said no, the cast was heavy, better to walk. Jay asked if he wanted to be taught to use the crossbow with one hand, and Gloria hit him on the healthy arm.
Manny approached with a poem he'd written on a hospital napkin. He read it aloud with a solemnity that didn't suit a poem about a broken arm, but Luke applauded anyway.
"It's beautiful," Luke said. "Can I have it?"
"It's yours," Manny said. "To keep with the cast."
And then Dylan appeared with a bag of gummy bears and a teddy bear he'd bought from the vending machine.
"It's to keep you company during recovery," he said with a seriousness I didn't know he had.
Luke took the teddy bear, looked at it, and raised it in the air with his healthy arm.
"I'm going to name him Cast," he said. "Because he's the one who's going to be with me."
Haley rolled her eyes, but she smiled. Dylan blushed. And suddenly, everyone was laughing.
Alex stood beside me, hands in her pockets, watching her family fall apart and put itself back together around her brother.
"You know what?" she said without looking at me.
"What?"
"I think my family is crazy."
"They are."
"But it's our crazy. And I wouldn't change it for anything."
"Me neither."
"Are you going to stay?" she asked.
"Always."
"Always is a long time."
"I know. But I promise to try."
And in the hospital parking lot, with her brother holding up a teddy bear and her family laughing around her, Alex smiled.
Night, at the Dunphy House
The party was over. The yard was empty, the shaved ice machine was off, the climbing wall was deflated. Phil was in the kitchen cleaning up the disaster with an energy he hadn't had before. Claire was in the armchair, eyes closed, enjoying the silence.
Luke was in his room with the electric blue cast and a list of friends who were going to sign it the next day. Haley was with Dylan, who had stayed to help clean up "in case they needed anything."
And Alex was on the porch, like so many other nights, legs dangling, gaze lost on the empty street.
"Are you going to sign the cast tomorrow?" I asked, sitting beside her.
"I'm going to be the first. Before Haley and before everyone else."
"And what are you going to write?"
"I don't know. Something important. Something to remind him this was the best birthday of his life."
"How do you write something like that on a cast?"
"With words. Drawings. Whatever it takes."
She fell silent. I did too. The night wind moved the leaves of the trees, and in the distance, a dog barked.
"Leo," she said without looking at me. "Thank you for coming. For staying. For not running away when the scorpions started flying."
"Scorpions don't fly."
"For not running away when the chaos started."
"I wasn't going to run. You were on a table. Someone had to help you down."
"What if I hadn't been on the table?"
"Then I would have been with you. Wherever you were."
She looked at me.
"Do you realize you always say the same thing?" she asked.
"What thing?"
"That you'll be there. That you'll stay. That you won't leave."
"Because it's true."
"And if one day it isn't?"
"Then that day will never come."
She didn't say anything. But her hand found mine in the darkness and stayed there, not moving, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
And in the quiet of the night, with the streetlights glowing in the distance and the echo of the party still resonating in the house, I knew I didn't need anything more.
The system, which no longer recorded, recorded nothing.
But if it had, it would have noted:
Luke Dunphy: Electric blue cast. Smile intact.
Claire Dunphy: Exhausted but at peace.
Phil Dunphy: Happy no one died.
Alex Dunphy: Signing casts. Choosing words.
Leo Bennett: Being there. As always.
The path continues.
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Luke left the hospital with an electric blue cast and a stuffed bear named Cast.
The whole family gathered around him.
Alex watched the chaos and smiled. Leo said he was going to stay. She said always is a long time. He said he was going to try.
Do you think Leo will keep his promise to "always be there" for her, or will they drift apart in the future? 💙🐻💭
Thanks to everyone who reads, follows the story, and supports with power stones. You're the family we all wish we had! 💎🙌
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