Thanks again for reading and submitting update alerts. Sorry if you were all alerted to Chapter 2 again – I had to re-post it after noticing a small glitch which has now been fixed. Also, apologies for any delays in updates over the next few weeks – I'm in the middle of moving (internationally), so it's pretty time consuming…
After returning to the hospital, reading post-op reports, and examining Nathan's x-rays, Haley set about creating Nathan's rehabilitation schedule. As she prepared the schedule, she kept in mind Nathan's eagerness to return to basketball. He wasn't the first athlete she had treated who wanted to be back in the thick of things immediately, but in almost every instance, common sense prevailed, and those athletes developed patience and understanding and came back even stronger than before. Haley could only hope the same for Nathan.
After leaving his place yesterday, Haley was able to tell him that the first two weeks would mainly involve icing and elevating his knee as much as possible. She also gave him a pair of socks to wear to help with the swelling. He didn't take too kindly to the socks, mumbling something unintelligible under his breath, but he took them nonetheless. She laughed to herself at the memory – here was this big rising NBA star, and he was acting just like the high school jock she remembered.
Collecting the report from the printer, she paid a quick visit to Dr Perry for any further recommendations before heading over to Nathan's house.
"Dr Perry?"
"Hi Haley, come in. Take a seat. I won't be a minute." Dr Perry finished typing his email before hitting send, and turning his full attention to her. "What can I do for you, Haley?"
"I was just finishing the rehab schedule for Nathan Scott, and I wanted to get your feedback before visiting him today and outlining the next few months."
"OK. Well, as you know, I've assigned this case to you because you're the best therapist I have, and the Bobcats have made it clear they want nothing but the best for Scott's comeback. I've reviewed the schedule you emailed me earlier, and as usual, you've put together an almost perfect plan."
"Thank you Dr Perry, I appreciate your support."
"What I would like to ensure is that you can attend to this case on an almost full-time basis. Delegate your other patients, if need be, but make sure you are in contact with Scott almost daily. I will need to report back to the team management about Scott's progress on a weekly basis."
"Sure, I'll have Carla help me with the workload if need be. Shall I schedule an appointment with you and Nathan for next week, so you can also assess his knee?"
"That would be great. We'll follow that up with a report to the team, and I would like you to be involved in some of the weekly meetings I have with the Bobcats as well. I believe their athletic director would like to coordinate some of the rehab exercises with you as well."
"No problem. I'll get on to it straight away." Haley started to get up from her chair before adding "Oh by the way. Did you know that I went to high school with Nathan?"
"No I did not. Well, I'm sure he'll appreciate the friendly face helping him through this."
"Yeah, I hope so." With that, Haley headed out of Dr Perry's office and out to her car.
Nathan sat on his sofa, scratching at the anti-swelling socks Haley left yesterday. It was driving him crazy, but he knew he had to keep them on. As well as trying to avoid scratching, he had a coldpack brace on his knee, checking his watch every minute until 20 minutes had passed, and he could remove the brace. Leaning back into the sofa, he replayed Haley's visit yesterday.
It was such a surprise to see her and find out that she was his therapist. She was, literally, the last person he would have expected, but he found himself growing more and more grateful for the situation. Haley was right, though, yesterday, when she said they had very little to do with each other in high school. They ran in different circles at school, and the only thing they had in common was Lucas, although that in itself was a late development in high school.
Nathan and Lucas were both sons of Dan Scott, but they were half brothers and were raised separately with much animosity. Lucas had earned a spot in the Ravens squad, and although he and Nathan remained strangers for most of the time, they finally dropped any hostility in their senior year to help Coach Durham win the much coveted state championship. They didn't hang out or spend time together, but there was enough civility between them to call a truce. It wasn't until they both went to Duke that they finally became friends…and brothers. What was unexpected, however, was the loss of contact Lucas and Haley had during college. Even stranger was the fact that they were geographically close in terms of colleges, but their contact with each other dropped off. There was no fighting or tension, just a friendship that had changed course over the years. They spoke on birthdays and on the holidays, but with Haley's parents now travelling across the country in their RV, Haley used her vacations to visit with them wherever they were.
It was a type of friendship initially that Nathan was jealous of. He couldn't classify Tim, Fedec, Vegas or any of the other guys at THHS in that regard, so when he saw Lucas and Haley's friendship change during college, it was a big deal.
Looking down at his watch, Nathan realised that Haley was due at his house shortly, and he slowly made his way off the sofa and went about cleaning up.
Haley made her way to the front door and knocked a few times before pressing the door bell. She only had to wait a few moments before Nathan greeted her at the door. They exchanged "hellos" and she made her way to the same spot on the sofa she occupied yesterday.
"So Nathan, how are you feeling today? How's the knee doing?"
"So far, so good. I'm enjoying this part of this rehab – just sitting here with my leg up. Not very strenuous. So, will the rest of the rehab be this easy?" he smiled at her before turning on his crutches and heading into the kitchen.
"You have about two weeks of this Nathan, so I hope you can cope with that?" she called out after his retreating form.
"Sure, I can cope with most things. I can add this to the list. Haley, do you want a drink?"
"Yes please, but I can come in there and get it. You come back out here and elevate your leg please."
"I never knew you were so bossy". He was right near here, proffering a glass of soda over her shoulder. She turned quickly to accept it, and then placed it on the coffee table, readying the paperwork for the current visit.
Nathan took a seat on the neighbouring sofa, drink in hand, and looked at her stack of papers.
"So what have we got here?"
"OK, so I've prepared your schedule. There's a comprehensive plan for the first eight weeks, which are divided into phases, then there's a general plan for the months following. All in all, I've set out a guide for the next six months, but obviously we can change it according to your progress."
Haley took out an A3-sized sheet, together with a ring binder full of information, and set them out in front of Nathan.
"So, you ready to go over this?"
"Hit me – what have you got in store for me?"
Just as Haley was about to launch into the schedule, they both turned in the direction of the front door when they heard it open and close.
"Hey, Nate? Are you in here? I saw a car out the front and wasn't sure if you were having therapy – " Lucas stopped dead in his tracks when he walked into the living room and saw Nathan sitting with a very familiar looking woman. "Hales?"
Haley's face dropped for a moment, but soon broke out into one of the widest smiles she'd ever given. "Oh my God, Luke? What the heck? Come here you!" Luke was over in a few short strides and they were in a tight, warm embrace that seemed to last for ages.
Lucas turned to Nathan with a pissed off look on his face. "Why didn't you tell me Haley was your therapist? We spoke on the phone yesterday after your first session."
"Yeah, well you didn't end up coming over yesterday like you said you would, so…I knew you were coming over today and I didn't want to ruin the surprise." Nathan ducked out of the way when Lucas tried to swat him in the head.
"You suck, man."
Haley watched the two exchange pleasantries with a wide smile on her face. "I can't believe you're here, Luke. So are you going to stay for this? I was just about to explain the rehab schedule to Nathan. You might want to get a copy that way you can kick Nathan's ass if you see him slack off."
Lucas took a seat by Haley and dove straight into the paperwork, trying to make sense of it all. Haley snatched the papers back, their banter not changing one bit since their high school days. It was falling into place like old times.
"So guys, let me give you the schedule. I actually need to get this done shortly, because I have appointments at the hospital. Sorry."
They all turned to the paperwork as Haley began "So, Nathan, as I explained the next two weeks are about reducing the swelling in the knee. This is the easy part. Just keep icing and elevating, and keep off your feet. I'm serious, though. If you screw up the next two weeks, you screw up your comeback, OK?
Nathan saw the serious look on her face, and nodded as Lucas looked on.
"You need to come to the hospital and meet with Dr Perry so he can also assess the swelling – we'll schedule that for next week – and you need to use the crutches as much as possible. In two weeks, you should be able to move your knee from full extension to ninety degrees of flexion. Then the fun part starts."
"Oh yeah, what type of fun?"
"Exercises. We'll go through them once your two weeks are up, but these will need to be done almost every hour that you're awake OK?"
"So what will the exercises entail?"
"We'll worry about them in more detail later, but they'll be things like knee extensions, and exercises for your quad muscles. There's also a heel slide exercise which we'll do in bed later."
Upon hearing those last words, Haley's face went flush red, and she looked sheepishly between Lucas and Nathan, both of whom were trying very hard to stifle a laugh.
"I'm sorry, that came out wrong. Well, actually, technically it's not wrong, but it sounds it. Gah, twenty-four hours in the presence of the Scott Brothers and I'm officially back in high school. I hate you both." She laughed, before burying her head in her hands.
Lucas and Nathan finally released their built up laughter and Lucas playfully poked Haley in her arm. "You haven't changed one bit, Haley. I'm glad to see that." He said before giving her a hug.
"OK you two, I'm done here. I have to head back to the hospital and treat grown up, mature patients."
"Don't go Haley, you were just getting to the good part of my rehab. I want to hear more about those exercises we'll be doing in bed every hour!" Nathan smirked at her before giving Lucas one their nauseating brotherly fist bumps.
"Ha ha, boys, laugh it up. It wasn't even that funny. Right, I'm leaving now. I will see you tomorrow to check on your knee. Keep those socks on, mister!" With that, Haley gathered her things before heading out the front door.
Nathan and Lucas were left in the living room still laughing at the re-emergence of babbling, rambling, high school Haley James.
xx