Chapter 26
John's POV
I went about it the wrong way. The whole Teddy touching me thing. I freaked out, because I didn't know what to do. I have just alienated the one person who meant more to me than anyone else in this world. Teddy's asleep on the sofa, with a bowl of popcorn in his hand, and he looks cute. But seriously though. I didn't realize how venomous that sounded until I replayed it back in my mind.
"Take your hands off me, Ted"
I can hear it while I'm sleeping. It was so malicious and deceitful that I couldn't even figure out why I said it that way, but it did. He wasn't an opponent, he was my husband. The man that I pledged my life to forever. The man who I was getting ready to raise a baby with. I couldn't do this. I had to take a walk. I got out of bed and grabbed my shoes. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get out of here without taking Riggs for a walk. I grabbed my cell phone, put it in my sweatpants pocket, then grabbed the leash and hooked him to it. I opened the door and watched him dash outside.
"Whoa Riggs…hold on there buddy. I don't move quite as fast as I used too."
Riggs didn't care. He kept moving fast. I had a cane in the house, I just chose not to use it. I guess I should've brought it with me. I was at a jog with him, and I felt my legs give way the moment it happened. I went right down. I cried out and Riggs stopped running. He came back to me and sat in front of the ground. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my cell, but it was dead. I didn't know what to do. I looked at Riggs and knew what to do.
"Riggs…go get daddy. Please….. John, what are you doing? For fuck's sake, he's a dog."
I said to myself…suddenly Riggs took off in the direction of the house. I didn't know what was happening, but suddenly I was in a little bit of pain. My ankle was twisted in a direction that I didn't like very much. Great, just great, Ted was going to blow a head gasket when he found out. I was preparing to crawl, when I saw Ted and Riggs walking around the corner. I was shocked he'd actually done it.
"Johnny?"
"Teddy, help me."
I said, reaching my hand out for him to pull me up. He got to me and looked my ankle. I looked at it too, knowing how much it hurt. He held onto the dog's leash and grabbed me by the armpit and hoisted me. He wrapped his arm around me.
"What the hell happened?"
"I couldn't sleep. You were asleep on the sofa, so I got up to go for a walk. Riggs needed to go out, so I grabbed his leash to get him out. He got a little ahead of me and got to running. I thought maybe I could jog with him. I lost my footing."
"Yeah, no shit. Now your fucking ankle's broken."
"Thank you for that, Ted. Can't you just be supportive?"
"Not when you're being stubborn, John. I won't do it."
He said, as we got back to the house. He led me in the direction of his car and put me in the passenger side. He was even more angry at me, and I didn't know what to do. It was a lose-lose situation with him, and every time I tried, he just ended up getting angry.
"What is your fucking problem, Ted? It's like you haven't forgiven me."
"I'm hurt, John. I won't lie. And you won't listen to me to take it easy. You want to know something? I am so angry I can't see straight. Yes, it takes me a while to get over things….I will say that! But when you go and do stupid shit like this, it makes me CRAZY!"
I dropped my jaw and gasped as he punched the car into reverse and drove me to the hospital. I couldn't believe he was telling me this. I sat and looked out the window as we got to the hospital in silence. He got out of the car in the ER parking lot, and helped me out. He did all of my paperwork and we waited until we were called, and who came walking out but Doctor Shamrock.
"John Hennigan?"
"Hi Doctor Shamrock."
"What happened?"
"I was jogging and I fell. My ankle might be broken."
Doctor Shamrock nodded, and realized that Ted was staying quiet. There's no way you couldn't notice the tension between us. It was scary, because it had never been this bad between us. Ted waited in the waiting room while Doctor Shamrock walked me back to the x-ray machines.
"Why were you jogging, John?"
"Ted and I had an argument, so, I got up out of bed to clear my head. I went to take Riggs for a walk, and he started running. We were at the jogging part of my PT, so I thought I could jog with him. But it didn't work."
"You pushed yourself too far, and now you suffered a setback, because you jogged with your dog."
"This is NOT my fault, Doctor."
"Really? Then who's fault? Can't be the dog's, and from what you're telling me, you were alone on this walk. And you cannot blame Ted."
"Why not? He's the reason I went walking."
"Well, sure cooler heads needed to prevail, but you did not need to blame him. This is all you. You are stubborn, Mr. Hennigan, and that stubbornness that you possess could potentially harm your marriage."
And I knew in a way she was right. She couldn't be any more right. It took the doctor to see it. She was very observant that doctor. She was also aware of just how much love dripped from me and Ted.
"Could my stubbornness destroy us, really?"
"Sure. But I'm just an outsider. You need to talk to him. By the way, your ankle is broken. Luckily for you, it's a clean break. So hopefully it's going to heal quickly and nicely. Go home, talk to him. If it ends up in a fight, at least you guys tried. So, yeah. Let me wrap your ankle, so you can go fix it."
And I knew she was right. It took a doctor, a fucking doctor to diagnose the problems in my marriage, but unbeknownst to me, it wouldn't be that easy…