Sorry for the little delay between postings its finals week and I've been crazy busy trying to get ready for tests and essays and all that fun stuff. Any ways I'm going to start putting the story into context a little bit in terms of dates because I have some fun ideas for certain important days in the future :) Here's chapter 13 so I hope u all enjoy and as always thanks for all the reviews and love!

Also still don't own any of these characters unfortunately...

Chapter 13: First steps

September 10th 2012

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, that's what Leonard had always heard, had always been taught. But what happens when your body physically can't take that first step?

He had been in the recovery center for exactly one month now after being cleared from the hospital. Leonard had spent two weeks there in total, the doctors had insisted on a week of what they called "observation" time. This way they would be able to keep an eye on his surgeries and make sure everything took.

Since then Leonard had moved to his new home. It wasn't terrible really, a large building modified to accommodate numerous handicapped or otherwise disabled persons. It reminded him of a hotel kind of; front desk to check in, numerous hallways full of rooms, even crazy cleaning ladies.

Leonard looked around his room, it was small and simple but fairly homy. He had gotten a single room, so it had a twin bed in the center, a small white dresser in the corner with a smaller TV on it, and a bureau for any clothes that needed hangers. Anything beyond that Leonard had to supply.

It hadn't take the guys long to want to get him all set up. One look at the place and Sheldon, Howard, and Raj had put there heads together and found a way to create "optimal efficiency" (as Sheldon put it)in the room.

His bed had been pushed into the corner (with Leonard still on it!) the dresser and TV shoved into the opposite corner facing the bed, and the bureau left next to the door cause none of the guys, or any combination of the guys could move it...

Then came the "upgrades." A nightstand was brought in by Raj so Leonard would have a place for his laptop next to the bed. Sheldon brought in a whiteboard on a stand that could be lowered to "wheelchair height" as he called it. And Howard followed with a plethora of novelty items from the apartment; action figures, posters, and toys to decorate the room and make it look like home.

Leonard's favorite room improvement however, came from Penny. Right above his bed she had hung a small bulletin board and tacked too it were dozens of photographs. Pictures of the whole gang covered the cork in a hazardous fashion displaying each of their faces numerous times.

He had almost cried as he watched her hang it up, but he couldn't hold it back now as he looked at it for what must have been the hundredth time that day. Home, this place felt like home, looked like home now, but it wasn't home.

Leonard longed to be back in the apartment, longed to truly wrap his arms around Penny, he wanted to stand, wanted to be able to get around with out being confined to a chair!

It was so frustrating and it had only been a month. The doctors hadn't known how long it would truly take or if he would even make a full recovery. Weekly scans were showing some minor growth within the nerves of his back but still, Leonard poked himself in the thigh, nothing. He couldn't feel anything.

He sighed tearing his eyes away from the pictures. He looked around the room and it did little to comfort him. The whiteboard with a formula he had been calculating with Sheldon earlier, a hulk action figure next to the TV, the wonder woman poster near the door, every where he looked he saw his friends, saw his apartment, saw Penny.

How he missed her, missed them all. It was so different going to bed alone, not seeing the guys every day, having to have Penny sit on his lap to hug her. It was so much and had happened so fast. Leonard could feel himself getting frustrated, so many emotions racing through his head. He let out a grunt and slammed his fists down on his knees in anger.

He froze.

Had he imagined it? A tingle? A sensation? No, he was angry and his mind was playing tricks on him. Hesitantly he poked his right thigh once, nothing. He poked harder, still nothing. He frowned. He had felt something he knew he had.

Leonard looked around the room once more. Maybe this home wasn't such a bad place. He smiled slightly as he lay back against his pillows.

His mind raced, he knew what he felt. But what had it been? A figment of his imagination? A single brain wave making its way down a newly connected nerve? A sensation caused emotional stress? He didn't care. Whatever it could be called scientifically, Leonard had a name for it... his first step.

So kind of rushed and quick chapter here. I wanted to kind of explain the place leonard is staying and his room but tried to keep it interesting. The beginning of it is kind of tedious I know I'm sorry. Tried to bring some emotion back to the end. I know Leonard seems to be jumping around a lot emotionally but that's kind of the idea. Hes scared, hes alone, hes trying to cope with a lot right now and its taking its toll but as they say

"Be strong now because things will get better, it might be stormy now but it can't rain forever"