In Harm's Way

Prologue

The wheelchair sailed through the air, barely missing Steve's head and hitting the far wall of Jaime's hospital room with an angry THUD.

"Sweetheart," Steve said patiently, "I know you're frustrated." (Her extremely out of character display of temper proved that!) "You have every right to be -"

"I'm not frustrated, Steve," Jaime insisted in a soft, clear voice. "I am done."

"What are you talking about?"

"That damn chair – I'm done; not using it anymore. I won't!"

"Jaime -"

"I mean it! The three months is up, and I've worked so hard! I've gone through all the therapies, done every exercise they prescribed and even done as much extra work as the doctors will let me get away with, and I'm still no closer to walking than I was three months ago. Well, I'm tired, and I'm done trying so hard – for nothing!"

Steve's heart broke for her. Just over five months earlier, Jaime had been shot in the hip while trying to find Rudy and Callahan after they'd been kidnapped. It would have been a simple wound, easily healed, had she stayed in her hospital bed, but instead she'd completed the rescue herself, in spite of her injury. The bullet had shifted, causing serious nerve damage and leaving Jaime unable to walk. At the time, Rudy and Michael had been unable to tell if the damage would heal – or if it was permanent.

Once she was released from the hospital, Steve had remained staunchly at Jaime's side through three months of rigorous, exhausting physical therapy, and her efforts to work through the pain and get it done had been heroic. He could understand her discouragement, but Steve wasn't about to let Jaime give up now.

"They said that at three months they'd be able to tell us more," he reminded her gently. "It might be awhile yet before you're back to normal."

"I've been here for four days now, they've put me through every test ever invented – most of 'em twice – and no one has told me anything! Steve, I need to know...is this as good as it gets for me?"

Steve saw that she was struggling to keep from crying, and he placed a loving arm around her in a gesture of comfort. "I'll talk to Rudy," he promised.

"Whatever it is – no matter how terrible – I just wanna know!"

Steve nodded, reaching out to tenderly brush away the tears that, in spite of her best efforts, were pearling on Jaime's cheeks.

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