“Peter?” She blinked a couple of times.

“i had to see ya. After that fight....” He wiped at his eyes before a tear could form.

December 3rd 1982
Oroville Hospital

Tracy was released from her bed-rest, long enough to get up and go to the bathroom and to try and walk. The doctors needed her to walk to help her get better faster. She needed it too. Being stuck in a bed and with nothing good on TV to watch was driving her crazy. She had already dealt with the Sheriff department and left a statement, so this left her with more nothing to do. So she was let loose in the pediatric ward with her mother and instructions to take it easy. They had offered a walker, so she didn't try to up the pace and hurt herself, but like with most children, she thought she was invincible and she refused it. That was before she made it halfway around the ward.

She was resting while her mother went to get the small walker. Her hand against the wall, mostly because she was afraid if she sat down she wouldn't want to get up. Someone stepped to her side and pushed the walker in front of her. “Here you go.” The voice wasn't her mothers and it cause her to snap her head to see who it was. A move she instantly regretted as pain danced up her ribcage.

There he stood, her knight in shining T-shirt. Peter. He had a look on concern on his face. “Your mom said to bring this to you. I said I'd walk with you.” He replied to an unasked question. “I think she needed to grab something to eat, or something.”

“Peter?” She blinked a couple of times.

“Yep.” He nodded. “Come on, lets walk.”

She gripped the walker and slowly made her way down the hall. “You came to visit me?”

“Yeah. I wanted to skip school, but Mom wouldn't let me.” He said with a shrug. “And they wouldn't let me out of their sight yesterday. I was here Wednesday night, but you were out of it and the nurses made me go home and then you woke up.”

“Oh. Thank you for coming, even if they made you leave.” Tracy said with a smile.

“I had to see ya. After that fight....” He wiped at his eyes before a tear could form.

She took a careful breath, not wanting to hurt her ribs by breathing in too deep. “How was school?”

“It sucked not having you there.” He answered. “Took to long to get over with. I missed having you there to talk to for lunch.” His gaze never left the floor and his voice sounded like he was about to cry.

“Did anyone say anything about me being gone?” Tracy asked.

“There were all sorts of rumors. Someone heard that Bruce had planned to go to your place and now some of them think your dead. Someone saw Bruce in a cop car so they think he did kill you. I tried to tell them that you were okay, but only a few people believed it. Mary Beth Higgins saw you come in here, but she tried to insist you were dead.

Tracy froze in mid step. Mary Beth was a huge gossip at school. “Did she say what I was wearing?”

“No, she said you had shorts on that were blood red, so you had to be dead.” Peter replied with a chuckle.

“Sounds like her.” Tracy replied.

“I thought so too.” Peter lowered his head as they began to walk again. “When I saw what they had done to you I got mad. I wanted to break them, I wanted them to scream.” He stopped and turned away from her.

“Peter. It's okay.” She said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“No it's not.” He shook his head. “They hurt you. I should have been there to protect you.”

She put her other arm around him and hugged him lightly from the side. “You were there when it counted.” As she leaned against him, she noticed how tired she was. “Hey, help me back to my bed. I think I could use a nap.”

“Okay.” He said, letting her set the pace down the hall. After they were half way to the room he looked at her. “Hey um...” He looked to the floor and thought about how to ask his next question

She looked at him for a moment. “What?” She asked.

He leaned in a whispered, unsure who knew what. “I want to know. Are you Tracy now? I heard your parents call you that at your grandma's and I don't want to insult you.”

“Can I ask you a question first?” She asked as they began walking again. .

“Yeah.” He nodded

“Would you miss me if I was no longer Troy?”

They walked down the hall as he thought about it. As they neared the door he finally answered. “I...I don't know.” He said. “Aren't you Troy and Tracy?”

“I don't know anymore.” She replied as they went into the room. “The more I'm forced to be Troy, the more I hate it.”

“Oh.” He answered and his cheeks began to turn a slight red color.

“Did you mean what you had said the day you found me? About being who makes me happy?” She asked.

“Yeah.” He replied as they stopped by her bed. He turned to look away. “At least I thought I did. But the more I'm around Tracy, the more I like being around her.”

“But at my Grandma's, you called me Troy?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Because, I wasn't sure...I was scared and I hated myself for yelling that. You were dressed at Tracy, but there....” He plopped into a seat and began to shake his head. “I didn't mean to hurt you if I did.”

“You didn't hurt me.” Tracy replied. “And to answer your question, It's Tracy now. At least till I talk to a doctor who knows about these things.”

Peter looked up and his cheeks were still a deep red. “Good. I hope I can hang out with Tracy more.”

“Why?” She asked.

“Because. I think you're cute when you're in your skirts and stuff.” Peter replied. I kinda like hanging out with Tracy, 'cause your the cutest girl I know.”

“I...” She was stunned for a moment, then her mind kicked into gear. “Thank you.” She bent down, ignoring the pain that raced in her ribcage and she kissed his cheek. “That's for being there to save me.”

He looked up as she kissed his cheek once more. “And that's for saying I'm cute.” A huge smile crept across his lips. He touched the cheek she had kissed and he sat there. “Now help me get into this bed.”

“Okay.” He let her do a lot of the work, only helping to support her when she turned and tired to slid onto the bed. “I never heard, how bad did they hurt you? Other then what I see.”

She lay back on the bed and reached for her cup. “Bad.” She gripped the cup, but looked at him. “Want me to tell you?”

He thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Please.”

“Get comfortable.” She said as she grabbed a rolled up towel and placed the sheet over her. He watched as she placed the towel under the sheet, then moved it a little, wincing in discomfort. “It's not pretty.” And she began to tell him everything the doctor had told her.

Tracy became aware that she lay in bed, a feeling in her hand was slowly forcing her back into the land of consciousness. She brushed at her hand with her free hand and it came in contact with something else. She felt another hand slowly press against hers, then one pressed against her other hand. She slowly opened her eyes, and immediately shut them because of the light. A hand rested over her eyes and a voice spoke softly. “Try it a bit slower.”

She sat there and the hand slowly moved as she got used to the light. She followed the arm to the body it was attached to Tracy's jaw dropped open as she tried to figure out why the person she was looking at was sitting at her bed. “Sage?” She finally managed to say.

“Yep.” Sage replied.

“Sage?” Tracy blinked a couple of times, she gripped her hand, just to make sure she was really there.

“Um....I said yep.” Sage replied. “Maybe I should go get the doctor. You must have got too many hits to the head.” From the other side of her bed she heard a giggle. So she turned her head to see who else was there.

“Rachel?” Tracy said, looking to her other side. She looked back to Sage and behind her she saw her mother standing in the doorway with Sage's mother and Rachel's mother. “What are you two doing here?”

Sage smiled brighter. “Well Mom likes to go and just wander into hospitals all over the state to see if we know the people there and just our luck, you're in this one!”

“Really?” Tracy looked surprised.

Sage chuckled. “No you goof, we're here 'cause your here.”

“How did you know where I was?”

“Well the night you got attacked, your mother called your Aunt Shelly. She called my Mom and Rachel's mother to let us know. We begged our mothers to let us come up and skip school yesterday, but they wouldn't let us skip. So we managed to let them let us come up today.” Sage replied.

“Thank god it was just a half day of school.” Rachel stated.

“Your mom said you may be going home later today or tomorrow, so we wanted to be here to help.” Sage said. “Even if we have to go home on Sunday.”

“Really?” Tracy looked surprised, then she glanced at her mother who just nodded. “Wow.”

“Yep. Casey, Stacey and Brooke wanted to come and meet you, but Casey and Stacey's mom said no, not till she got to meet you and your parents. Brooke's got a game tonight, so she couldn't come. But they'll see you in a couple of weeks, if you still come down.”

“So who is Casey, Stacey and Brooke?” Tracy was trying to catch up with the conversation.

“The friends we mentioned when you were in Livermore?” Sage stated.

“You never used a name.” Tracy looked at her.

“I thought we did.” Rachel replied.

“It doesn't matter, I'm just glad you made it.” She held out an arm and Sage leaned in and lightly hugged her, then she turned to hug Rachel.

“So are we. We got to see Peter before he left. He's kinda cute. He was sitting there, holding your hand as you slept.” Rachel said with a huge grin. “He said you're bored. So he's going go home and get a board game and see if his mother will bring him back. If not, we got tomorrow to play.”

“Where are you staying tonight?” Tracy asked.

“They won't let us stay here, so your Grandma and Grandpa said our Moms could use their guest bedroom and we'll sleep on the floor. Or we may take over your bed in your place.”

“Cool.” Tracy replied.

“And tomorrow, the girls can sleep on the couch in our house if they want.” Maggie said as she, Rachel's mother and Persephone walked into the room. “Or tonight if we can release you.”

“Any chance of that?” Tracy looked at her mother.

“Depends on the doctor. Not much more they can do for the ribs and the wrist, but the other....That's what they got to watch.” Maggie replied.

“What about Grandma? Is she home?” Tracy sat up a little.

“No. They wanted to make sure there was no other problems, she may be in till tomorrow, but I was thinking of taking the girls and their mothers to meet her in a bit, if you want to go.”

“Wait, she wasn't in bed yesterday?” Tracy asked.

“She had to get some tests done, so we hit the cafeteria on the way back and she needed to see you.”

Tracy had started to smile, then it faded. “I don't know if I can go. I'm kinda tired. I'm not sure if I can walk that far. Still tired from my walk earlier.”

“We'll borrow a wheelchair and you can walk as much as you can, then you ride.” Maggie stated. “I'll go round one up, if you want to talk to the girls for a while.”

“Okay.” Tracy smiled at her mother. “I'd love that.

“Well, then you stay here and we'll be back.” Maggie headed to the door, followed by the other two mothers.

“So, how bad is it?” Sage asked as soon as the mothers had left the room. “Your mom almost said something else, but she didn't. What all happened?”

“Bad. I feel like someone is jumping on my ribs when I breathe. MY wrist is sprained. They were also afraid that I had eye damage. But I don't.”

“Okay, what didn't your mother tell us? The thing they got to watch?” Sage asked. Tracy closed her eyes and just lay there. “Come on, we wont tease you or anything, you should know that.”

Tracy tired to turn away, but she ended up looking at Rachel, so she just looked at the ceiling. It seemed easier to tell them without looking at them. “I was kicked...they had to remove a testicle.” Her cheeks went bright red.

“Oh shit.” Sage replied. “So that's what your mother meant when she was talking to my mom.”

“What do you mean?” Tracy asked.

“She said they were shocked that you had gotten to your feet to protect your granny.” Sage replied. “At least your halfway to your goal.” She smiled at Tracy.

Tracy rolled her head till she faced Sage and shook her head. “Nope. I only had one.”

Sage leaned forward and hugged her lightly. “I so sorry. I hope they lock the bastard that hurt you away for life.”

“He may be. This isn't his first arrest.” Tracy replied.

“And all for wearing a skirt?” Rachel asked.

“No.” She looked at Rachel and shook her head again. “This was the guy I caught stealing at the school? The reason I was out of school last weekend?”

“That dickhead? So this had nothing to do with Tracy?” Sage asked.

“Nothing.” She replied. “Nothing at all.” It was a partial lie. Her being Tracy almost became a big thing, but she wasn't ready to share that. Not with anyone.

“Hey kiddo.” Her mothers voice sounded from the doorway. “We got your chariot, but the doctor is coming, so we need to wait on the visit.”

“Good.” Tracy smiled. Maybe I can get out of here.” She said with a smile.

“Hopefully.” Maggie replied.