Chapter Twenty Five – Last Chance
"Alright, Suvi. We have work to do today. Let's go."
He lifted his head to look at her but didn't show any more sign of getting up. Olivia knelt down near him and held out the leash. Suvi slowly pushed himself to his feet and plodded over. After she clipped the leash to the ring on his collar she rubbed his ears and head. When Suvi leaned into the touch Olivia was more than happy to keep rubbing. The weight on her hand increased as he leaned harder against her. If they missed a little bit of that day's training Olivia wouldn't mind. Making Suvi happy was more than worth it.
"Olivia, are you okay?"
The sudden question startled Olivia, and she stopped rubbing Suvi's ears and looked at the door.
"I'm fine. We'll be out in a second."
Suvi shook himself out and focused on the door. Olivia chuckled, grabbed his leash again, and headed out. She ordered Suvi to heel, and he immediately took his place at her side. They started down to the training room together.
"Better hurry or you're going to miss breakfast," Marshelle warned when Olivia walked in.
"Sorry," Olivia answered as she grabbed a seat.
She was just about to take a bite of her cereal when she caught sight of the people on her left all scooting over. When she looked up Micheal was sitting beside her and grinning.
"Decided to copy me, huh?"
Micheal had been paired with a huge golden retriever on the third day. The big dog was like a fluffy teddy bear, and he absolutely adored the ex-Marine. They'd been working really well together since then. Nobody doubted the two of them would be going home together.
"It seemed to work out pretty well for you," Olivia returned.
"Kind of small isn't he?"
"Only compared to your monster."
Standing up, Suvi's back reached to an inch or so above her knee at least. It might have even been a bit higher.
"What's his name?"
"Vesuvius."
"Seriously? He hardly looks explosive. More mopey."
Olivia smiled softly and reached down to run her fingers through the fur on top of his head. No, Suvi definitely wasn't explosive like his name-sake right now. His spirit had been broken just like Olivia's had. That didn't mean they couldn't both be healed and get their fire back.
"Not yet. We're working on it." She looked down at Suvi and continued in a whisper not meant for Micheal. "We're working on it."
"Alright everyone," Marshelle called out to get the participants' attention. "We'll be working in the simulation areas as well as outside today. You will be split into groups based on what will benefit you most. Once you turn today's test in you'll be given your group assignments.
Olivia heard a few groans from the gathered group. While the written review tests they were required to take every morning had never bothered Olivia, she knew they were irritating to some of the others. Dealing with the essays was almost like being back in college, or for Olivia, like being on desk duty. Micheal in particular didn't like the tests. While he wasn't the only one that needed to work one on one with an aide to dictate his answers, he didn't like the reminder that he could no longer do something as simple as writing. None of them were too concerned about knowing the content. They'd been practicing it for days.
O . o . O . o . O
Olivia asked Suvi to come to her side once again and buried her left hand in his harness. Before she'd been hurt stairs had never bothered her. In fact, she tended to prefer steps over elevators unless she was really tired. Now she avoided steps like the plague. They were not a good place to have a seizure. The group she'd been placed with was practicing going down with their dogs' help. Olivia had already made it down once and it hadn't gone too badly. She was feeling stable enough to get down on her own today, but there were times when this new trick would come in handy. Practicing when she was more than capable of catching herself if she or Suvi did something wrong was reassuring. So far Suvi was doing really well. In everything they'd worked on that day he hadn't hesitated once. Suvi knew what she was asking and what to do. The only negative was that he performed everything blandly. He did the bare minimum, dragging his feet and hanging his head. As he supported her down the steps it was the same thing. He stayed right by her side, going down one step at a time until they were at the bottom, but there was on extra enthusiasm or movement. In fact, he rarely even looked up at her. Together they headed back up the steps to join the rest of the group.
"Good work, Olivia. Alright, everyone. Let's head back inside and move on," the trainer said.
As they headed inside Micheal wandered up to Olivia's side.
"You guys looked good."
"Thanks. I'm still trying to get a little more out of him."
She wanted to see more of a bounce in his step, see more light in his eyes. So far she was still seeing more emptiness than anything else. It would take time though.
"Hey, at least he's listening."
"Yeah. You looked good too."
"Never expected steps to not be painful again. Or at least not as painful. It's nice."
"Must be…"
Olivia never had the chance to finish. The sky and distant trees suddenly faded to the same color as the concrete and then everything darkened. It felt like she was moving in slow motion. Her seizure struck a moment later, and she collapsed in a crumpled heap. She'd fallen unconscious almost immediately.
Suvi bounded away and watched. He'd seen her seize the day before. Once during the day and a few more times when she'd been asleep. His eyes remained locked on her, his head down as the seizure continued.
When the shaking finally slowed it had been nearly three minutes. Once her body had stilled except for a few errant twitches the trainer in charge moved to Olivia's side. She hadn't regained consciousness yet so the trainer rolled her onto her side in a recovery position. The seizure had been a bad one.
"She okay?" Micheal asked worriedly as he hovered nearby.
"I don't know yet. She's still out."
"Is that bad?"
"No. Not unless it lasts too long. It was a long seizure so it wouldn't surprise me if she had trouble coming out of it."
As Olivia became aware again she felt something scratchy and vaguely warm against her cheek, but she had no idea what it was. She had even less of an idea where she was or what had happened. Her whole body hurt and a deep, sluggish feeling had settled over her. She did not want to move. In fact, she didn't even want to open her eyes. Words drifted to her through the fog.
"She's still not awake. Isn't it a long time?"
No matter how much she didn't want to, she had to open her eyes. It was a slow progress. Her eyes flickered open and closed a few times before she managed to keep them open.
"Easy, honey. You had a pretty bad seizure. Stay down," the aide told her as she rested a hand on Olivia's arm.
"Okay…"
She didn't like to just lie on the ground after a seizure, especially when she was outside or around other people. At the moment though, she wasn't against staying where she was. It was uncomfortable and somewhat humiliating, but if she got up she could easily wind up unconscious again. The quiet click of nails on concrete drew Olivia's attention. When she looked up she found herself staring into the soft brown eyes of a dog. Suvi took two more steps forward and lowered himself to the ground beside her. He gently licked Olivia's fingers and looked up at her. Olivia stared down at him with her mouth hanging slightly open. This was the first time he'd shown any kind of affection. It was the first time he'd gone above and beyond what she'd asked him to do as well. Smiling, she wrapped an arm around him and tried to relax. Everything was going to be okay now.
O . o . O . o . O
"It worked."
"What did, Marshelle?" the trainer standing beside her asked.
She pointed quickly toward where Olivia and Suvi were working.
"Those two. When was the last time you saw Suvi wagging his tail?"
And that was exactly what was happening. There wasn't much of a wag, but his tail was twitching back and forth from time to time. Whatever Olivia had done, she had reached him. What was more, Suvi had brought new life into Olivia as well. There was actually a smile on her face and every time he returned to her side she reached down and ruffled his ears.
"It's been a long time."
"A really long time," Marshelle confirmed.
She couldn't take her eyes off of Olivia and Suvi. At first the plan to bring them together had been a long shot. It wasn't so much of a long shot now.
Marshelle's eyes followed Olivia, and she caught her looking toward a tennis ball sitting abandoned on the ground. A slow smile spread across her face.
"Suvi, bring the ball," Olivia ordered.
Marshelle watched as Suvi did as she asked and dropped the ball into Olivia's hand. Olivia twisted it in her hand and stared down at the ball for a moment before looking back up at Suvi.
"You want to play, buddy?"
She tossed the ball into the air and caught it again. The first few times Suvi looked at her curiously, but soon enough his eyes followed the ball. Olivia cocked her arm back and sent the ball flying toward the wall. Suvi spun in a clatter of claws and bolted after the ball. He caught it, wheeled around, and raced back to her.
"Well would you look at that," Marshelle whispered.
They'd tried to entice Suvi to play since he'd returned to the center and hadn't gotten anywhere. It wasn't quite tongue lolling out of his mouth happiness, but she'd take it. Her surprise wasn't going to end there. Without warning Micheal's dog Tucker came thundering past Olivia and snatched the ball right from in front of Suvi. The smaller golden retriever initially looked confused. So did Olivia. She reacted first and turned to glare at a smirking Micheal. As Suvi walked back to her side Olivia knelt down next to him and leaned close to his ear. Marshelle had no idea what Olivia had said to Suvi, but his tail wagged slightly in reply. Micheal accepted the ball from Tucker and sent it flying again. The second it was in the air Suvi rocketed past his larger counterpart. The ball bounced over a laundry basket sitting on the ground that the dogs could fetch clothes from. Instead of going around the basket Suvi took a flying leap over it. A few seconds later he came trotting proudly around it with the ball in his mouth.
"Good boy, Suvi!" Olivia cheered.
Marshelle let them play for a few more rounds before calling both pairs to order again.
"Olivia, Micheal, you do have work to do. This will be a good test of whether you can get your dogs to focus again."
"Sorry, Marshelle," Micheal called out.
"It's alright. Just call them back to task now."
Both of Marshelle's project students called out to their dogs and told them it was time to go back to work. Suvi tipped his head and gave Olivia a look that clearly said, "Do I have to?" At a firm reminder from Olivia he obeyed and returned to her side ready to work. Tucker didn't do anywhere near as well. He bounded happily around Micheal in anticipation of another throw. When Micheal reprimanded him and repeated the order to go to work Tucker decided it was fine to play on his own since Micheal didn't seem to want to join him. He gallivanted around the room, shaking his head playfully.
"Hey, Tucker!" Micheal called out as Olivia stood by and patted Suvi's back appreciatively.
Marshelle suspected Olivia was finding it rather nice to have the dog that was behaving well for once.
"Be firm with him, Micheal. Don't let him ignore you."
It took a lot of coaxing and encouragement but Tucker eventually obeyed, probably because he'd had enough messing around more than anything else.
"We're going to work on that," Marshelle informed Micheal once he'd clipped the leash back onto Tucker.
"I'd say so," he agreed.
They all started laughing.