Over the past month, she’d made his house more handicap accessible so that he was able to become more independent. He now had full access to the kitchen, could do his own laundry, make his own food, clean up after himself, and annoy the hell out of her all without breaking a sweat. If he had been any other patient, she would have given her notice, found a new job locally, and continued to check up on him and work with him on a part-time basis until he was completely settled in his new life.
The problem with that was that he wasn’t ready and he wasn’t going to be ready until he started physical therapy and found out the full extent of his injuries. He had sensation in both legs, but that’s all she knew since he refused physical therapy. She knew from the chart the agency had given her that he’d tried to move his legs when he was in rehab, but it hadn’t worked out and he’d quickly stopped trying.
She had a feeling that he was afraid to find out, which was understandable. Right now, there was the possibility that he could walk one day and if he tried and failed, he wouldn’t even have that. It was one thing to be told that you might never be able to walk again, but it was another to find out that it was true. As long as he ignored the problem, there was always hope.
She didn’t want to be the person to take that hope away from him, but if there was a chance that he could regain control of his legs and walk again, it was her job to make that happen. The problem was, she had no idea how to get the stubborn bastard that better not be using her green apple body wash to try.
*-*-*-*
“Come on!” Chase ground out as he willed his damn toes to move. “Come on!”
Exhaling, he dropped his head back and glared at the ceiling, letting his anger simmer just until to the point of rage and then he raised his head again and glared back down at the damn toes that better fucking move.
“Come on!” he snapped, willing the damn things to move because if they didn’t, he was going to
“Oh, fuck!” Chase gasped as his toes finally listened and moved only to end up in agony as excruciating pain shot up and down his legs, letting him know that there was a price to be paid.
Grinding his jaw, Chase curled up on his side and tried to rub the pain away, but it only made it worse. Unable to take it anymore, he tried to sit up, but the pain shot up his legs and into his back, knocking him back on his ass. He turned his head, buried his face in his pillow and screamed as the pain tore him apart and
“Shh, it’s okay,” Sloane said as he felt the needle slide into his thigh seconds before the familiar rush of warmth worked its way through his body, slowly numbing the pain as he rolled over onto his stomach and tried to breathe through the pain, but god, did it fucking hurt.
“What happened?” Sloane asked as he felt the bed dip seconds before he felt her small body press against his. She laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arm around him and held on tightly.
“Get out,” Chase managed to get out through his clenched jaw even though he’d lose his fucking mind if she tried to leave right now.
“Yeah, that’s really not happening,” she said, instantly calming him.
As the pain slowly subsided, Chase carefully moved onto his side so that she was curled up behind him. When he covered her hand with his and entwined their fingers, she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. Closing his eyes, he slowly breathed through the pain as he ran his thumb over the back of her hand, using the motion to shift his focus away from the remaining pain.
“What happened?” she asked a little while later when the drugs began to lull him to sleep as she gave his hand another gentle squeeze that had him struggling to stay awake.
“I moved my toes,” he said, smiling when he felt her go still against him.
“Are you sure?” Sloane asked, clearly resisting the urge to check for herself.
He chuckled. “Yes.”
“So, does this mean that you’ll stop being an asshole and let me hire a physical therapist?” she