Otis struggled along the hallway to his apartment door,
he didn't remember his apartment to be so far from the elevator;

as everything was hurting, he had to concentrate on every step to reach his goal.

In the bullpen, it was a pretty quiet day and later, at Molly's north, Lily didn't let him do much,
"how could I be so tired?" he asked himself.

He had no idea, all he knew was that if he wanted to come back at the firehouse on full duty he had to do his exercise every single night, even that one, no matter how tired he was.

He insert the key and walked in,
Cruz and Brett weren't home, probably still at Molly's,
which was actually a good thing for him because, as much as he appreciated how his friends encouraged him and cared for him, most of the times he didn't feel like he was making enough progress, and despite them would tell him he was strong and tough, he often felt too weak and vulnerable and he didn't like to appear like that in front of them;

he wouldn't mind a little privacy now and then, doing what he had to do without bothering anyone.

Otis changed his clothes and brought the papers with the instruction the doctor gave him.

His head was heavy and his legs did not fully respond to his will, but he wouldn't let the pain take over: he had to be stronger.

"Ok, let's start this" he mumbled, ready to start with exercise number one.

He growled all the time, as the pain increased as the therapy progressed;

completing even the simplest exercise was becoming harder and harder.

"Oh, this doesn't feel right, I'll might take a break" he though.

He was feeling sore and dizzy, so he firmly grabbed the cane, and made his way to the kitchen to drink some fresh water.

As he exited his room his head started spinning and his sight doubled,
he leaned back against the wall, and he noticed his nose had started bleeding,
"oh, man, this can't be good at all!".

He had to sit on the floor to not fall and harm himself;

unable to get up, he tried to drag himself along to reach his cellphone.

His movement were slowed and he felt his head going more and more heavy,

he managed to do only a few centimeters before he lost consciousness.

When Brett and Cruz came home, they opened the door quietly, just to find their friend unconscious on the floor.

They looked each other,
"oh my God, Otis!" the paramedic said rushing to his side,
"what the hell has happened?" The firefighter asked seeing the blood near his friend face.

They kneeled by his side, trying to figure out what to do;
Sylvie started checking on him,"Otis? Otis can you hear me?"

He moaned.

Cruz took a couple of towel, he put one under his friend's neck, and handed the other one to Brett, who used it to clean her friend's face, and stop the nose bleeding.

"Ok Joe, hold his head, we have to set him in the safety position" the blonde said, looking to his almost panicking friend,

he nodded and did what she said.

"Otis, please, you can't do this to me, c'mon wake up buddy" Joe preyed feeling powerless
then he looked Sylvie "he is so pale, did you stop the bleeding?"

She nodded.

"What can I do?
Shell we call an ambulance?" Joe added.

"Wait, he is regaining consciousness,"

Otis started whining as he tried to move,

"hold on Otis, we've got you, just stay still" Sylvie tried to calm him down.

"No, no ambulance please, I'm... ahg.. I'm fine" he said, trying again to get up till the pain kicked in.

"Hei it's ok, take it easy, brother" Joe stepped in, gently pushing his hand over his friend chest.

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"I... I don't know...
I was doing my exercise and...
uhg... my head was...
I don't know...
I just felt dizzy and my nose started bleeding...
I couldn't... I couldn't..."

Brett was monitoring his vitals, and noticed his pulse rage was very fast.

"Calm down, it's ok, we will figure it out, just breath, ok?
We are here now" she reassured him.

"Now we'll take you the Med, ok?"

"No, I'm fine... it's just a little nose bleeding.. I..." Otis managed to put himself in a sitting position, despite his friends effort to make him still,

"stop right there Otis! You sustained a severe injury, now you fainted, you are disoriented, and that simple nose bleeding can be a symptom of your platelet condition: you can't underestimate this!" Sylvie said firmly,

"I'll give you two choices; we can call an ambulance and force you to go, or we can wait a couple of minutes, till you are able to get up, and take you personally there, understood?"

Otis nodded resigned "the second one, please,"

"I had no doubt about that" said Joe smiling to Brett proud of her being so tough.

"Hei, man, do you want me to call Lily for you?"

"No, please, I don't want her to go through this again! I'm calling her as soon as this settles down ... I need to know exactly what to say to her".

When he felt good to go, the paramedic checked his pulse a last time, to make sure he actually was, "it's a little fast but steady"
she nodded, so she and Cruz helped him getting on his feet;
she hand Otis his cane and went down to prep the car.

"You have to stop making me worry like that" Joe couldn't hold back, while helping him on his way to the elevator.

"I didn't mean to..." Otis tried to apologize,
he understood how his friend was feeling, and that made him feel even more vulnerable.

Joe noticed that, and tried to cheer him up "I didn't mean to upset you, you know, I'm right here for you,"

Otis could just nod, struggling to stay solid on his feet, even with the cane's help.

When they got out their building Brett was already there with the car running,

Joe opened the back door, and helped him in

"Thank you guys" he managed to say before leaning heavily on the seat.

The other two looked at each other worried, and as soon as Joe stepped in the car they left for the hospital.