Okay here we go. Emily deals with going to the physical therapist.
Let me know what you think
After two weeks of lying in the hospital, Emily was finally able to be released. Neither Emily nor JJ wanted to return to Emily's condo and the memory of almost being permanently separated so they were now living in JJ's house and Emily has decided to sell her condo. It's been one week since she had been released and Emily has been going to physical therapy each day to strengthen the muscles in both of her shoulders.
"I just don't understand, Jennifer. Why do I have to do it?"
"Emily, you were shot in one shoulder and you dislocated the other."
"I'll be fine in a few weeks once everything heals completely."
"Emily, your shoulders won't be completely healed until you get full range of motion back and that won't happen without the physical therapy. You have to go." Physical therapy which Emily has not been happy to attend. In fact, she's been complaining about it every day since she started.
"I don't understand how something that puts me in more pain when I leave then when I arrive could possibly be good for me." Emily stood in the kitchen drinking her morning coffee. Wincing as she lifted the mug to her mouth.
"See, you can't even lift that mug without feeling the pain. It took a week of therapy for you to be able to get that far."
"It took a week of healing, Jennifer. The therapy had nothing to do with that. And of course I have pain. I got shot in one shoulder and the other is dislocated."
"Which is why you need the therapy!"
Emily sat down at the table while letting out at a deep sigh. "Jennifer," she whined.
"No, Emily you're going. I've been keeping Reid away, but I'm sure I can get him to come here and explain to you the benefit of physical therapy. I'm sure he's read many books about that."
"That's just playing dirty!"
"Deal with it, Em." JJ walked over to Emily and put her arms around her from behind. "You know that I'm right. You know that this is what has to be done. I know you hate being so helpless, Emily, and physical therapy makes you feel like you are helpless, but it's the best thing for you."
"Hey, who's the profiler in the room!"
"You're going!"JJ said as she left the room. Emily hid her head in her arms on the table, the action causing her to curse and moan. "I heard that," JJ called from the other room. Emily glared a look of death towards the wall that was shared with the room that JJ was currently in.
JJ came walking back into the room while talking on her phone, "…that sounds good…yeah, we can be there for 12 if someone gets off their ass and gets ready for their physical therapy appointment…Yes, she is still complaining about it."
Emily looked at JJ with eyes that said, 'I can't believe you just ratted me out!' before she said, "Hi, Garcia," loudly so that her voice could be heard.
JJ smiled mischievously at Emily as she pressed a button on her phone to turn the speakerphone on.
"Emily Prentiss you need to get that Wonder Woman ass of yours out of that chair before I distribute that high school picture of you to everyone at Quantico," Garcia's voice yelled through the phone.
"You told me you destroyed that picture, Garcia."
"I destroyed the paper that had the picture printed on it, but I did not remove the picture form the confines of my little babies." JJ laughed at Garcia's admission.
"Fine. I'm getting up," sulked Emily. "You are so lucky I love you," Emily said to JJ a she left the room to get ready to leave the house.
"I love you, too, Honey," JJ called after her. Switching the speakerphone off, JJ thanked Garcia for her help in getting Emily motivated.
Forty-five minutes later JJ and Emily entered the physical therapy room at Quantico. "Emily, JJ, it's nice to see you both," said Scott, Emily's therapist. "Ready to get started?"
"If I said 'No' do I get to go home?" Emily asked.
"No luck," said Scott with a smile. He turned to JJ, "Had some trouble getting her here this morning?"
JJ nodded, "I had to resort to blackmail."
Scott snickered at the look that Emily threw at JJ. "JJ, why don't you go and sit down in the chairs by the wall." After JJ left, Scott turned to Emily and said, "Okay let's start with some weights." He handed Emily two dumbbells each weighing three pounds. "Hold these down at your side." He waits for Emily to place them at her side. "When you're ready, I want you to raise your arms as if you were forming the letter T until you meet my hands and then lower them again."
Emily nodded and started to raise her arms. Scott's hands stopped her progress half way up and she lowered them. "That's good, Emily. Let's do this four more times." Emily continued the exercise while Scott counted each raise, "1…2..." Each time she raised her arms, she pushed against the barrier of Scott's hands. Scott lowered his hands as he said, "Emily, you need to stop pushing to go further."
"But, I can go further. You're stopping me."
"You keep pushing at that rate and you won't last till the end of this session."
"I think I can manage lifting some dumbbells. There is nothing difficult about that."
"You're not fully gripping those dumbbells. They are easy for you to hold because you are just letting them rest in your fingertips instead of actually getting a full grip on them."
"They only weigh three pounds. It's not exactly difficult to hold them."
JJ looked up from the file she was reading at the annoyance she heard in Emily's voice. She chuckled as she watched Emily's frustration grow. "And you call your mother stubborn," she whispered to herself.
"Emily they only weigh three pounds because that is what your arms can take right now." Seeing that he wasn't being successful in getting Emily to agree with him, Scott chose a different tactic. "Okay Emily I'll make you a deal. By the end of this week you should be able to lift those dumbbell with both arms five times in a row without hesitation to form the letter T. You do that now successfully and I'll move up your therapy timeline."
"And if I don't?" Emily asked.
"You go at my pace," Scott answered.
"You're on," Emily answered without hesitation.
"Think carefully about this, Emily. You have to do them correctly, which means grasping the dumbbells the correct way."
Emily thought for a few seconds before she answered, "Let's do this."
"Oh this I have to see," JJ said as she closed the file she was reading.
Emily picked up the weights. She grasped them the correct way and raised them all the way up once without any problem. Twice still no problem. On the third time it took a longer time to raise her arms. On the fourth time she barely raised her arms halfway before she had to lower them back down because the pain was too intense. She dropped onto the workout bench.
"Do you still think it's too easy?" said Scott. Emily looked at him with a defeated look in her eyes. "It does not mean that you are not a strong person, Emily. You are very strong, but a bullet wound to the muscle in your left arm and the dislocated right shoulder both need the exercise to get them back to 100%. Cuts and broken bones heal with time. Muscle injuries require time and therapy.
"Work with me Emily, not against me, and I'll have you back in the field quickly. These exercises are going to seem silly and pointless, but they're not. You just have to trust me."
JJ was worried that Emily was going to walk out of the room. She knew that on some levels Emily had a hard time admitting that she needed the help and she was still dealing with the idea of trusting others to help her when she needed it most. She watched Emily for her reaction and was happy when Emily nodded and said, "Okay. We'll do it your way." With a smile on her face, JJ reopened the file and continued reading.
"Then let's try again. Pick up the weights and meet my hands. Five times."
Emily did as she was instructed and smiled when she successfully completed the task for the tenth time.
"That's great Emily. Keep hold of those weights," Scott said stopping her as she was about to lay the weights back on the rack. "Let's now try alternating one arm at a time. Start with your left arm when you are ready. Five times each arm."
Emily started the exercise. As she started to raise her left arm for the third time she felt her arm shaking.
"Breathe through it Emily. In as you raise your arm and out as you lower it. Take your time." Emily nodded her head and completed the exercise as Scott counted them off. "4…and 5. Good Emily. Take a rest for five minutes."
Emily shook her head, "I want to keep going."
"No, Emily, you need to let your muscles relax before we continue." Emily sighed as she sat down on the workout bench.
"I just need everything to get back to normal," said Emily.
Scott sat down next to her. "It just takes time."
Emily chuckled, "Time. That's all that everyone says. I can't return to the B.A.U. until my psych eval. and I'm not eligible for that for another three weeks because they say I need some time before the evaluation. I can't go in the field for another two weeks after that because I need to complete this mandatory physical therapy. I'm getting sick about hearing the word time."
Scott looked over at Emily after she had finished her loud complaint. "Feel better now?"
Emily looked at him for a little before she smiled and laughed, "Yeah, I do."
"Good. Don't hold that frustration back. You need to let others in on your feelings. Let's talk about something happy that deals with time."
"Like what?" asked Emily.
"You've got what, 13 weeks left till the babies' due date, right?"
Emily looked over at JJ as she read through her case files, "Yeah."
"I'm sure you know that twins usually are born earlier so let's say they are a month early. So that's 9 weeks left. You have three weeks till your back to work. Five weeks till you can return to work. That just leaves four weeks till they're born. Everything happens in baby steps. Small goals. You have the easy part."
Emily picked up one of the weights and looked at Scott. "You call this part easy?" She raised her eyebrows at him.
"No, I don't. It's not easy at all. But look at JJ." Emily looked over and watched JJ rubbing your stomach where she can only guess one of the babies had decided to display their future soccer talents. JJ chose that moment to look over at Emily and they each smiled as they made eye contact. "She has no physical stepping stones like you. She just has to wait till they are ready to enter this world and watch you go through your recovery. Now which one do you think is harder?"
Scott watched the impact of his words hit Emily as she realized the answer to his question. "Okay, let's start again." Emily nods her head and they both stand up. "Same thing as before. Five times both arms and then five times each arm individually. Breathe in as you lift your arms and out as you lower them back down."
Emily readied herself to continue the exercise and raised her arms to meet Scott's hands as she took a breath in.
I hope that didn't disappoint.
next decision:
1)Shall we do more therapy? or
2)does Emily visit JJ and their teammates at the B.A.U. after one of her therapy sessions?