((I know it's been absolutely forever since I've posted an update. Please don't hate me. Unfortunately I've been back into hospital, and due to several problems, I've struggled to get internet. Now that I have, hopefully I'll be able to give you more of Seth's story. This chapter is very personal to me, as whilst my problems are different to his, our struggle is the same. I hope that you enjoy it, please let me know if you do!))
After a further two months in hospital, Seth was taken to the physio department. A large room, he recognized balance balls, some gym equipment, benches, beds, short stair cases, even a kitchenette. The wheelchair he sat in had sunk to fit his ass and he was damned sure he'd piled on the pounds. Behind him stood Brian, the physiotherapy porter; stocky with silver hair, the Scotsman had been threatening to come for Seth for days. Now the moment had come to begin the first steps into returning to the company that had fucked him up so royally. Paige had rarely left his bedside, his brothers too had remained as best they could, but each with their own physical problems, had to spend time sorting them out as well. But today, his dark lady had made her apologies and excuses to have a day to herself. He understood, God he did. He was grateful for the constant company that she gave him, never once complaining. The hours she'd sat reading to him because he couldn't even hold a book, let alone turn the pages. Together, they'd attacked four of the Harry Potter series, each providing voices accordingly, with her holding the book up to his glasses so that he could attempt the English accent and fail miserably.
'Alrigh' Rollins, 'ere we are,' Glaswegian to the very core, Seth only genuinely understood half of what Brian said at times. He'd attempted mimicking the man's accent for when he tried Hagrid's voice but found it rather difficult. It seemed he didn't have a future as an impersonator. Shame, that. 'The lady in charge of you will be Daisy, now be nice cos' she won't be.' Brian chuckled as he put the brakes on Seth's chair so that escape was impossible. 'Be back in a tick,'
He gripped a hold of the folder that had been perched on Seth's lap and off he went to a small office area, leaving the wrestler twiddling thumbs. His right hand looked more like a snowman's than a human's, fingers bound together and broken wrist encased in thick plaster. Everything itched. His leg itched inside the bright pink cast that Dean had specially chosen for him, his shoulder was sore, head ached and ribs complained. All the cosmetic damage had been repaired well, the gashes to his face had been stitched up, sorted and now he wore a heavy scar cut across his forehead. It made his brow dip a little over one eye, but at least his vision hadn't been damaged anymore than it already was. He'd even been told that he'd be supplied with replacement teeth for the ones he'd lost. The doctor he'd been assigned, a Mr. Northman, had come in to talk to him not long after he'd woken up for the first time. He'd explained how lucky he was that he was alive. He couldn't argue with that.
Ahead of him, Brian emerged from the office with a young woman in tow. She looked a little older than Paige, with curly red hair and a very prominent baby bump. Her eyes seemed stern even though she smiled when she approached him. She held a hand out. 'Hello Seth, my name is Daisy; I'll be your main physiotherapist for the next few weeks. I hope you're ready. Learning to walk again with the kind of damage you've sustained will be difficult, but I'm sure that you'll conquer it.'
Almost shyly, he took her hand and shook it. 'How long do we have until...?' he asked and very pointedly nodded to bump.
She chuckled at that, removed her hand from his and rubbed her stomach, 'Three weeks, so I hope you're up for the challenge, I want you fighting fit before little one comes along.'
Seth nodded, 'I do like a challenge.'
'Excellent. Shall we begin then?' she nodded to Brian, who obediently wheeled Seth to the end of a pair of parallel bars. They were around two metres long and he'd never been so intimidated by two pieces of metal. 'Don't worry too much about these for now; what we're going to attempt today is simply standing. I know it'll be more difficult because of your fingers and ribs, but we need to start trying to get you mobile.' She walked around into the bars and squatted down, as if sat in a chair. 'All I need you to do, is to brace your hands on the bars, or chair arms, whichever you find more comfortable, and when you've got a good grip, make sure your feet are flat, and push yourself up.' She did so, using the bars to pull herself into a standing position. Seth was pretty sure she was the only eight month pregnant woman he'd ever seen do such a perfect squat. Clearly she would expect high things of him. He swallowed a little, and then, as she said, slowly he placed his hands on the arms of the wheelchair. Brian behind him made sure the chair was steady. The cast around his leg was hardly attractive, but at least his foot had only been bruised, not broken. Both feet braced against the floor, and with a deep breath, he started to push himself up. Pain exploded in his ribs, his face whitened, but he somehow managed to heave himself up. Hands jumped to the bars to stop him falling. 'Very good!'
Her smile was actually dazzling and for half a second he found himself grinning back at her before the pain became too much on his damaged leg. It buckled, his grip slipped and he fell down – straight into the chair. 'Well caught Bri,' he complimented the Scotsman and blew his long hair out of his eyes. It had a mind of its own and was in severe need of a cut.
'Aye well ya need to give us some warnin' next time,' but Brian cackled all the same and helped him up from his slump. 'Abou' gave me a heart attack kid,'
'Sorry about that.' Seth bit the inside of his mouth. This was going to be far more difficult than he'd originally thought. Daisy's face had creased in worry, but realizing he was alright, she sighed and rubbed her forehead. 'Hope I didn't scare you and Bubba there,'
'Just a bit,' she admitted, 'I should be used to surprises by now but normally I would leap into action to catch you...kind of unable to do that right now,' she almost looked annoyed with herself, but after a moment, and another rub of her stomach, she nodded to herself and looked back to Seth. 'Are you alright? Would you be happy to try again?'
'Bro! Bro! Bro!'
Dean practically leapt at him like a rabid Chihuahua hyena mix. He'd lost weight in the time since he'd been benched with that particular bad leg. His new cast was coloured in to look like a candy cane and his hair was near down to his chin from where he'd had less reasons to pull it out. He looked a complete mess and his general lack of personal hygiene often caused various hospital staff to try and bar him from entering Seth's room. Lucia however was able to calm the situation each and every time when he demanded entry and swung and growled at anyone who tried to stop him. The nurse had an incredible effect on Dean, like a mother to a child, she was able to restore sense to him, quell the animal and sometimes, she even goaded him into a wet room to shower. Today was not one of those days. It was only Brian's intervention that spared him Dean's overzealous welcome. With the porter's help, Seth found himself sat on the bed once again. Exhausted, every part of him hurt, and whilst he was more than glad to see Dean, the physical nature of Dean's hello was rather unwelcome.
'Dean dude, calm down,' he laughed and as Dean near bounced in the chair next to him, he found himself reaching out to put a hand on the other man's head. Almost as soon as he did, Dean's enthusiasm mellowed, his eyes closed and he enjoyed the feeling as Seth rubbed his head. He'd learned this one from Roman, who over the years had subdued a lot of Dean's tantrums in this manner. It seemed, through his long years of abuse and loneliness, the simple act of touching Dean's head with kindness was very soothing to him. The cut down the back of his head, like Seth's forehead, had healed well, though had taken longer than it should have because Dean insisted on playing with it. The leg though was still a complaint. The wooden crutches were laid against the wall. 'You doing alright today?'
'Yeah!' he near shouted it before a glare from Brian brought a deep growl from the back of his throat. Dean had proved very territorial over Seth, disallowing anyone he didn't approve of from being too near. As soon as the porter had left though, his daft grin returned. 'Did you hear, did you hear?'
'Hear what?'
'About Paige!'
'What about her?'
Dean's eyes widened and he bit his lips. 'Oh bro it's too sweet. You're gonna love it,' he couldn't contain himself and sat on his hands to try and stop himself waving them about. 'I'll let her tell you. Cos I wouldn't do it justice.'
'Do what?' Seth was beginning to get confused. 'Dean, bro, please make some sense.'
'Oh fine you dragged it out of me!' his hands released, he gripped a hold of Seth's broken arm and ignored the wince and hiss of pain. 'She's been re-hired!'
A terrible silence fell over the room, and Seth felt very cold inside. 'What?'
'By Mr. Vinnie Mac himself.' Dean saluted as he said it. 'She got the call last night. Surprised that she didn't tell ya! They've moved up the four horsewomen from NXT, and apparently one of their conditions for moving up to main roster was that Paige was brought back. The Mac caved Seth. Seems like things have been going downhill in our absence don't you think?' he seemed giddy with excitement but Seth just felt numb. His girl had kept this a secret from him. She didn't want him to know. Was she scared he might try and stop her? Would he try to? He honestly didn't know. He had faith in her, believed in her, knew how strong she was...and knew that the McMachon family wouldn't take her back so willingly without having something tucked up their expensive sleeves. 'Our girl is going back for her belt Seth. I know it.'
Seth struggled up in his bed. 'She can't Dean,'
His brother blinked, 'Why?'
'The Game and Stephanie will hound her every second she's there, she'll get hurt. I don't want her to end up like this.' He looked at his broken body in disgust. 'She can handle herself against Stephanie, I know that. Hell, she can give any of the girls a run for their money, but if the Game gets involved it's a whole different boardgame.'
'She won't be on her own. Dolph, the ladies...they're all behind her Seth. Daniel Bryan even mentioned us in a promo earlier in the week. The people miss the Shield, the locker room are being hit from all sides. So many of them are ready to cut the brakes on those posh limos that I think we could get a revolution going! All of us together! We don't need no permission!'
'I can't walk Dean,' Seth couldn't even look at him. Shamed eyes glanced at each part of him that was held together with plaster and prayers. 'Roman can't wrestle, you're still a cripple. We can't start anything like this. We're nothing until we're better. We're obsolete.'
Dean's jaw slackened and he stared at Seth with disbelief. 'You're kiddin' right? Right? Ya can't be serious Seth. After everythin' the Authority have done to us, you're just gonna lie there in your bed and watch as they keep on bullin' everyone? Who gives a shit if ya can't walk! One of our presi-dudes couldn't! You know – the hot guy with the polio.' He reached automatically to his grown out hair, fingers twisted and tugged on pieces in frustration. 'Seth...yer our man. We gotta do somethin'.'
'We can't Dean! We can't do anything! We're fucking invalids! We, us me, you – we're broken. We're fucking nothing. I can't even stand straight and you! Look at yourself Dean! You can't even look after yourself properly, let alone start a revolution!'
He hadn't meant to raise his voice. Not to Dean.
Almost the second he didn't, he saw something glisten in his brother's eyes. Dean turned away from him. He grabbed his crutches and came to a shaky stand. He wobbled his way to the door, but stopped and looked over his shoulder. 'I always thought we could do anythin', as long as we was together.' he swallowed and hobbled out.
'Dean wait -,'
But he was gone. On the chair where he'd sat was something, an envelope. Slowly, Seth reached over, gripped it and held it. He tore it open. Out fell a crudely made card, crayon scrawled on the front read :
FOR SETH!
His hands shook as he opened it. Dean's writing was barely legible, but soon Seth's eyes adjusted to the scribble inside.
When I was a kid I wanted two things: to wrestle and to be part of a family. Through one I got the other. Thanks for making me Dean. I like me now. Get better big brother.
Seth felt the tears before they fell. He closed the card. He put it back in the envelope. He put it on the chair. He screamed. The pain was nothing, nothing compared to the disappointment in Dean's face. The nurses heard him, they came to comfort him and he roared at them, tried to hit them away. He didn't want company. He didn't want humans. He barely counted as one anymore. And when the tears finally eased, he looked at the clock on the wall. Swallowing his pride, he buzzed for a nurse. Lucia was the only one who would come to him. She looked weary, her eyes tired, her hair tied up in that knot. She took one look at his raw eyes, his exhausted face and came to his bedside. She took his hand, didn't ask a single question, she just waited, waited until he could find his voice.
'Lucia...I need your help.'
