Hello again! Here comes part 2 of Visit… Hope you enjoy…
Mac studied his leg, it was held stiff by the big clumpy brace. He'd had his fair share of time in braces, and this one wasn't much different from the ones he had used as aid earlier. Only difference was that this one was possibly uglier than the rest… Which said something… But when it came to leg braces, uglier usually meant heavy duty…
It was a lockable brace. It could allow for free range of motion at the knee, or it could be locked in whichever position. Mac's leg was locked straight.
He cast a glance over the back of the couch. His crutches were laid there, just within his reach. He stretched and picked them up, then he placed them leaned up on the armrest for easier access.
"Going somewhere?" Bozer asked sitting forward in his own chair.
"Bathroom. Have to take a leak…" Mac answered shortly.
"Need any help?"
"Absolutely not…"
"Alright, just checking…"
"I just need a little privacy…"
"I get ya!" Bozer nodded, while Jack fought against the laughter bubbling in his chest.
Mac just nodded and pulled himself a little straighter in his seat. Then he went to lift the leg down from Jack's lap. He tried his best to ignore that his friends heard him let out a gasp as a lightning bolt seemed to hit the insides of his knee.
"You good son?" Jack's hand was on his shoulder, his thumb rubbing small circles on the front of it.
Mac gritted his teeth and nodded, "All good…"
"Sure you are…" Jack rolled his eyes. "Sure I can't help you get up at least?"
Mac held his hand up, declining Jack's offer. "I can handle it…"
"Oh, I know you can!" Jack shot back, "I just don't think it's the best option…"
Bozer nodded.
"Just let me…" Jack began as he placed one hand under Mac's heel and one a few inches below his knee.
Mac wasn't quite sure how to respond, so he just let Jack do his thing.
"Tell me if it hurts, alright?" Brown, caring eyes found his.
Mac gave a nod. He was pretty sure it would hurt a whole lot less now that Jack was guiding him, because Jack knew exactly how to hurt people… Therefore he also knew exactly how NOT to hurt people.
"Now we're going to move your leg. Gently…" Jack still had his eyes locked on Mac's, as he started guiding the injured leg towards the floor.
Mac let out a small grunt, Jack stopped. "Okay buddy?"
"Yeah, yeah…" Mac ruffled a hand through his own hair.
Jack nodded and continued.
After placing Mac's foot on the ground, Jack got up and placed an arm around Mac. Not caring when the fresh faced young man beside him tensed up.
"Jack…" Mac started, "What are you doing?..."
"Helping you up, that's what…"
"I don't really need that help…"
"I know that…"
"Then why?"
"Because I could…" Jack half-grinned, "Ready? On three…"
"Okay…"
"One, two… Three!"
The two men stood up in unison, and Jack steadied Mac until he was sure the younger man had his balance. Then he picked up the crutches and gave them to Mac.
"Okay, thanks…" Mac smiled, a bit blushed. He felt more comfortable without the excessive help.
Great, now I have to deal with both Mama Bozer, and Ma Jack… Mac thought, balancing on his crutches.
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Mac enjoyed the solitude of the bathroom. It was nice, quiet…
Aaaand nobody offered him help with every little task. (Something which would have been more than a little uncomfortable to be honest.)
He tried to keep his mind off the burning sensation coming from his knee. The whole situation set him on edge, a sprained knee shouldn't hurt this much? Should it?
Sprained things hadn't hurt this much before…
He had had worse… Cairo for instance, Cairo had hurt worse… Melbourne had been way uncomfortable. Kautokeino had left him unable to anything that required anything of his back for a month…
Yeah… He had had worse…
He had…
But should this really hurt this much? Probably not…
He used the bathroom furniture as support as he hopped over to the sink. It was enough to make sweat bead on his forehead, but not quite enough to make him short of breath.
This is ridiculous… I'm acting like my leg is about to fall off… It's not that bad… Just a bruised or sprained knee, I just need to tough it up… It hurts, a lot. But it's probably just all in my head… Has to be…
-A sprained knee does not hurt this bad!
I'm just imagining it…
Mac dried his hands on the towel hanging on the wall. He pressed his hands down on the counter top. He gritted his teeth, ready to test himself.
Only in your head…
You can use it for support… Just… Ease some weight on to it…
Mac placed his right foot on the floor. No weight on it. Then he did the jackass move of actually putting some weight on the abused leg, almost causing himself to collapse. He bit back a yelp and a string of cusswords.
His leg seemed to ache a hundred times more, his vision seemed to tunnel… He felt light-headed…
He had to sit down…
The edge of the bathing tub would do… He reached out and lowered himself onto it. His right leg felt WRONG. All capital letters…
Okay… Maybe it's real after all…
Why did I even try?
-Because that's what I do… I always test if things are possible…
Mac sat doubled over, his right leg outstretched resting on top of his left. His hands were steadying the knee. He still wasn't sure if he was going to faint or not.
Minutes passed before he was ready to straighten up, and attempt to get back to the living room.
I really screwed my knee up, didn't I?
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He used at least twice the time to get back to the couch. He was real cautious of his leg, careful not to jostle it in any way.
He reached the couch, but didn't sit down.
"Dude…" Jack looked up at Mac, "Sit down!"
Mac stayed standing, taking a few seconds to man up to speaking his next words.
"I might need help with that…" his eyes were glued to the floor.
Jack looked at him with big round eyes, and Bozer's mouth was hanging open.
"What?"
"I'm gonna need some help with that…" Mac repeated.
"Oh crap, man! Are you okay?"
Mac dipped his chin up and down in a nod. "Yeah, just miscalculated how exhausted I'd be from that short walk…"
Jack got up and stood next to Mac, relieved him of his crutches and ducked under Mac's left arm.
"Ready?" he asked, and waited to feel Mac nod next to him. "Nice and easy…"
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Jack's heart shattered as Mac let out a ripping scream. It was even worse when Mac was seated on the couch and Jack saw how Mac's eyes had watered up.
"Mac…" Jack felt his voice tremble. "Sure you don't need to go to the doc? Get a second opinion?"
Mac grimaced, his knee felt like someone had tried to turn it inside out. He was nauseous. He was crying…
Jack wiped away one of the tears running down Mac's cheek. "What do ya think?"
"I think that's a great idea…" Bozer shot in, he had been worried about Mac's leg since the day before. He had heard a sound no body should make. It was like someone had held a pencil up against a microphone and snapped it in half.
"It can wait until tomorrow morning…" Mac half stated, half pleaded.
"Mac, you're in pain…" Jack had his hand on Mac's shoulder. "And I'm not talking 'bout cute little road rash kinda pain here… Isn't it better that we get that fixed up as fast as possible?"
"It isn't going to make a difference whether I go in now or in the morning…" Mac said and let his head fall back against the top of the couch.
Jack nodded, he knew that Mac was right, there wasn't much of a difference between now and later.
"Okay, tomorrow…" Jack agreed as he stood back up. "You want your leg up?"
Mac nodded. His knee was pounding against his skin, and elevation might offer a tiny bit of relief.
Jack helped Mac get settled, with his leg on top of a stack of pillows. He had placed Mac's leg on top off the pillows with a promise that he would get back to the couch after a short bathroom break for himself.
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The next morning at 5:58 a.m. Jack woke up with the stiffest of all necks. And Mac's legs on his lap.
He rubbed his eyes, then his neck, before he looked over at his sleeping friend.
Twenty minutes later, Mac's eyes started fluttering open.
"Oh, crap…" was Mac's first words for the day, quickly followed by "What did I do to my fucking leg?"
Jack watched with amusement as the younger man started regaining his consciousness.
"That's what we're going to find an answer to at the hospital today,,," Jack spoke sofly, not to startle his buddy. "I guess it hurts…?"
"More than just a little…" Mac revealed. "Think I did a real number on it this time…"
Jack nodded, more than a little concerned about his friend. It wasn't like Mac to just go ahead and speak truthfully about how bad something was.
"It'll get better, trust me…"
Mac nodded, and looked over at the now semi-empty coffee table. The only things on it was Mac's pills set out for him.
"Say we go to the hospital in like 40 minutes?" Mac asked picking up the meds.
"Sure, whenever you're ready…" Jack nodded from the other end of the couch.
Okay, that ended up as a really long chapter…
Hope you had a good time reading it.
Thanks for all the comments so far! *happydance*
See you soon!