Makeover 9

Jun's eyes fluttered open in response to a much too cheerful nurse, who had come in to open her blinds.

"Good morning, sunshine!" The nurse chirped. "It's a beautiful day. Why don't you sit up and have some breakfast?"

"I'm not very hungry." Jun sat up and turned over on her side.

The nurse was amazed. "Young lady, did you see what you just did?"

"What?"

"You moved your legs!"

"Oh, I did, didn't I?" Jun smiled, and tried it once again. Her legs moved just as if nothing had ever happened.

"Let me go and get the Doctor!" The nurse beamed as she rushed into the hallway and then came back in with several doctors, including Dr. Nambu.

Nambu offered her a walker. "Jun, we heard the good news, and we'd like to see you try to walk. "

"Yes, sir." Jun happily obliged. She slid gingerly to the edge of her bed, and stood up, grabbing hold of the walker. To her surprise, she found walking to be easier than she thought it would be.

One of the other doctors spoke up. "Since you are doing so well, Jun, I have no problems releasing you from the hospital, as long as you have someone to look after you."

"Really?" Jun was thrilled. "I'll call Jinpei right away."

Nambu smiled. "Just take it easy, young lady. No flying leaps for a while."

"Sure thing, Doctor." Jun grinned.

"Oh Jun…" Nambu paused before he and the other doctors left the room.

"One more thing. I have a surprise visitor for you this morning."

"Who is it?" Jun tried to look behind Nambu, but she could see nothing. Is it Ken? She wanted to ask…

A female voice echoed down the hallway outside. Nambu stepped aside and let her in, giving a brief wave "good-bye" as he left.

"Jun?"

"Erin!"

Erin and Rob walked through the door.

Erin wrapped her arms around Jun and squeezed tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Erin. It's my fault that you got so sick." Jun mumbled, as she released Erin from her grasp.

Erin placed her finger over Jun's lips. "Hush, Jun. Not another word. I'm fine, and if it wasn't for you warning me to go to the hospital, I wouldn't be here right now. You saved my life."

"We owe you, Jun." Rob worked his way in to give Jun a hug.

Then he walked back over to Erin, and she slid her arm around his waist.

"You know, Rob is a hero, too. He was on the research team that produced the serum they injected us with."

Jun cocked her head to one side and looked at Rob. To be such a young guy, he had already accomplished much as an ISO researcher.

"Really? Well then, Rob. You don't owe me anything. I should be thanking you for saving my life!" She giggled. "That's quite an accomplishment!"

"I'm so proud of him." Erin's face glowed.

Jun observed the happy couple. She couldn't help but to feel a pang of jealousy that they enjoyed such a wonderful relationship...something she assumed she would never be able to have.

"Jun, do you think you'll be well enough to be my Maid of Honor this weekend?" Erin asked hesitantly.

Jun looked down at her walker. "Well, I'm walking now, so there's a good chance…"

"It took me a little while to get back to normal, too…be patient…you'll be just fine." Erin encouraged her friend.

"I heard from the nurses that you were improving really quickly, once you received the injection. I hear most of the other women who were affected are healing rapidly, as well." Jun explained.

"Yeah, we were excited when we discovered that the toxin in the makeup acted in the same way as venom. Once we created a similar anti-venom, we were able to reverse the process." Rob seemed very excited about his success.

Jinpei suddenly bounded into the room, pushing a wheelchair. "Ready to go, Sis? They say you just need to sign the release forms and you can go home!"

Jun smiled.

Rob and Erin shuffled to the door. "We'll go then. I'll be by the Snack in a day or so to check on you."

"Goodbye," Jun waved. "And thanks."

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Ken hit the snooze on his alarm once more for good measure. He hadn't slept well in several days, and he was especially exhausted this morning.

Finally, he got out of bed and into the shower, hoping it would wake him up a bit.

As the water thudded against his back, he thought about what he was going to say to Jun.

I have to apologize, Jun…it's my fault you almost died…

He shook his head…No, that won't work…

I made some mistakes, Jun, and you were one of them…

He smacked his palm to his forehead. What am I saying?

Oh, hell, I'll just wait until I see her…

He finished showering, dried off and got dressed. Then he hopped into his car and headed for the local florist.

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Jinpei drove up to the Snack and helped Jun out of his buggy. He led her into the Snack and up the stairs to the living area.

"You want me to take you to your room?" Jinpei asked.

"No. I don't want to be in bed anymore. I'd rather sit up and watch TV."

"Ok. Do you want anything to eat?"

"Maybe just some water for right now." Jun smiled weakly.

She glazed over as she watched the TV screen. Her mind wasn't on TV.

All this time… I've been paralyzed, in the hospital… and not even a phone call from Ken? I just can't believe he's ignoring me. I wouldn't treat my worst enemy like that. It's times like this that you realize who your true friends are. I can't believe I thought I was in love with him…

"Here's your water, Sis…" Jinpei grinned and placed the glass on the coffee table.

Ryu and Joe popped in through the door and paraded up the stairs.

"Hey! Junie's home!" Ryu ambled over and gave her a bear hug.

Joe followed suit. "Welcome home, Jun."

He sat down next to her on the couch. "A little birdie told me you had a visitor this morning."

"Yeah." Jun smiled.

"Did he bring you flowers, Junie?" Ryu beamed.

"They didn't bring anything."

"What do you mean, they? Didn't Ken come by the hospital this morning?" Ryu blurted.

"No, he didn't." Jun stated indignantly. "My visitors were Erin and Rob. Evidently Ken's too busy to visit me."

"Jun, I'm sorry." Joe draped an arm over her shoulder. "Ken told me he was going to go and see you this morning."

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, he doesn't exist. I don't want to ever see him again." She pouted.

Ryu, Jinpei and Joe exchanged confused glances.

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Ken walked down the hallway of the hospital wing in Crescent Coral base, and opened the door to Jun's room.

It was empty. A nurse was changing the bed sheets.

"Excuse me, isn't this where Jun was staying?"

The nurse looked at Ken, eyeing the bouquet of flowers in his hand. "You're a little late, aren't you? She was discharged this morning. Her little brother took her home."

Ken looked disappointed. "Oh…thanks." He muttered, and then turned and left.

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"Junie, give Ken another chance. He cares about you, he really does." Joe tried to persuade her to change her mind about Ken.

"Just give him a chance to explain himself." Ryu added.

The door to the Snack J opened, and Ken walked in.

"Up here, Big Bro!" Jinpei called out to him.

"No Jinpei, tell him to go away!" Jun cried. "I can't see him…not the way I am right now."

Jinpei was shocked, but Jun remained adamant.

"Jun…" Joe intervened.

"Not right now. I'm not ready to see him. Tell him to go!" Jun yelled, tears welled up in her eyes once more.

Jinpei reluctantly walked downstairs to deliver the bad news.

"It's ok, Jinpei. I understand. I'll just leave her these." Ken's shoulders drooped as he laid his flowers on the bar. "Please tell her 'I'm sorry'."

"Don't worry, Aniki. She'll talk to you soon." Jinpei tried to comfort Ken as he walked back out the front door.

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"What's wrong, Jun? I thought you wanted to see Ken?" Joe asked.

"I did. But that was when I thought he cared." Jun steamed. "All that time, when I was in the hospital, I thought he'd come and see me…even if he was mad at me."

Joe leaned forward and gazed into Jun's eyes. "Jun, I talked to Ken, and he wasn't angry. He blamed himself for everything…delivering the package to you, not grounding you from the mission when he suspected you were sick, not saving you from the fall when the goon threw you over the edge, ordering us to go Fiery when he knew you might not be strong enough to take it…"

"But that's so wrong, it wasn't his fault. I shouldn't have jeopardized the mission by going when I knew I was sick." Jun interrupted.

"You know how he is, Jun." Joe reminded her. "And the reason he didn't visit you in the hospital was because he had convinced himself you were dead…and he was afraid to hear those words."

Joe paused for a moment to allow her to digest it all.

"Then, when I told him you were alive, he was afraid you would be angry at him for all of the mistakes he had made. So he stayed away. He didn't know what to say to you."

"But I thought he was angry at me." Jun sighed. "And I thought he didn't want to see me the way I was…"

"The way you were?" Ryu prodded.

"Useless. No longer able to serve on the Science Ninja Team. A has-been."

"Jun, you really need to talk to Ken about this." Joe advised.

"Will you be at the Rehearsal Dinner tomorrow night?"

Jun nodded.

"Maybe you can talk to him afterward."

"Maybe." Jun admitted. "Anyway, it will give me a chance to work on my walking."

She pulled herself to the edge of the couch, and Joe helped her onto her feet.

"I'll help you downstairs." He offered.

As Jun approached the bottom of the steps, she noticed Jinpei placing the last stem of a beautiful bouquet of lavender roses into a vase on the counter.

"Ken left you these…" Jinpei exclaimed. "I thought they needed some water."

Jun smirked and looked up at Joe. "Did you put him up to that?"

"Well, I suggested flowers might be a nice touch, but I didn't think he'd buy roses!" Joe chuckled.

"Yeah, roses are expensive, and you know what a cheapskate Ken is!" Ryu laughed.

Joe elbowed him in the stomach.

"They're very pretty." She grinned.

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Ken kept himself busy making deliveries all day and into the night. He tried to keep his mind off of Jun, knowing full well that she couldn't avoid him for too much longer. The rehearsal dinner was coming soon.

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Jinpei helped Jun walk around, building up her leg muscles once more, so that she could walk without the use of the walker. She was determined to go to the Rehearsal dinner walking by herself once again.