Oh look, it's a new chapter. Thanks. Lol. Y'all should know, I don't own anything mentioned in this chapter. Everyone who wrote them did. You'll see when you get to it. Also, to the reader why basically called what was going to happen in this chapter, well done. I dint know how you did it, but well done.
Anyway, enjoy and review because reviewing is fun. All the cool kids are doing it. :) ;) :)
Chapter 36
Tris Prior begins her journey across the campus of the hospital, first her spot was moved, then she found a huge scratch in her door, and then, there was the wind. To top that all off, she doesn't have Danny and Christina around anymore. Danny went back to Yale, Christina is still on leave. What a great day for her birthday.
She wishes that Tobias was with her. He'd find a way to put a smile on her face. Though, today he had to get a new phone. Work required that he had a smart phone. He was having a tough time departing with his old one. Though, he promised that she would be his first text. Hopefully that will brighten her day a bit.
On her desk is a stack of files, full of paperwork. Immediately, she starts kicking herself for not doing it yesterday. Paperwork is the most boring thing in the world. Right now she would rather be running a few miles with the person she hated the most. The top file on her desk belongs to Marcus Eaton. Oh the joy.
"Prior, your late." Ryan says harshly to her, storming his way across the room. "So I had to get Stienbach in the pool by myself. Do you realize how hard that it's to do?"
"Yes, I do. I'm sorry I'm late. They moved my parking spot all the way across campus. Traffic sucked. My car has a new dent in it." A realization pops in her mind. "Wait, you left a mentally unstable patient some in the pool room alone? Ryan he tried committing-"
"Relax, two nurses and Johanna's henchman are with him." He shakes his head. "Sorry I yelled at you, I'm just stressed. We have a giant list of people to get through today, Storm has yet to show up to work, and to top it all off, we have students watching us again today."
Tris curses to herself, sighing as she sits down to start the files. This needs to get done. "How many?"
"Six, they were supposed to be split up evenly between the three of us. Now, were are going to have a whole flock of people following us." He sets down the schedule on her desk. "When you get done with that tell me, and then get started on this. I'll tell Kang that Storm is fired. Happy Birthday by the way." Scratching his head, Ryan turns and walks away.
Tris growls a bit and runs her hands through her hair, getting it stick up everywhere. At this point, she didn't even care what it looks like, the fact that they've gone through five physical therapists in the past six months is insane. Jack Kang isn't going to be happy, and when Jack isn't happy, no one is happy.
When she gets halfway through her third file, Tris gets interrupted by a nurse, apparently she's having trouble certifying some of Marcus's information. A woman in a business suit stands in front of the nurse, she's not happy with the service apparently.
"My boss isn't going to be happy if I'm late. He's got a strict schedule, and he needs this information ASAP." That high pitched voice. It can only be one person, Nita. "So would you hurry up?"
Tris sighs and walks up to the desk, moving the nurse aside. The nurse is new, and she's replacing Christina. Unfortunately Christina was the one who was really good with this system, she's the only one who really understands all of it.
Nita stands in front, clicking her tongue impatiently, starring at Tris. She's has that expression like she trying to figure her out. Tris prays that she doesn't, or else it's going to be a very uncomfortable conversation.
"Marcus says that you and Tobias are engaged. Oh my gosh, he didn't knock you up did he?" Her eyes are so wide, you can see every eyelash, which are plump with mascara. "Wait you are Tris Prior right?"
"Yes, I am, and no, I'm not pregnant. Yes, we are engaged, is something so wrong with that?" She begins typing feverishly, hoping to get this done faster.
"Well, you two weren't dating that long. Don't you think that you are running into this kind of fast?"
That makes Tris break her stare from the computer. "No."
"Just saying, I refuse to marry Albert until I know that he's ready, and I'm ready. And we've been dating for two years." She looks at her nails.
"Maybe some people are just ready before others."
"Maybe, but I don't want to be the person who wakes up one day and starts wondering what they got themselves into." She looks up from her nails. "Are the papers ready?"
Tris hands her the papers, some what aggressively, and Nita walks away without another word. It takes everything Tris has to not mumble 'bitch' after her. But that would be impolite, and she could lose her job for doing something stupid like that. So instead, she'll just keep her thoughts to herself. Nita is a bitch, who's jealous of what you have. You saw her outfit. Half of her breasts were hanging out of her shirt. Tobias isn't into that, he loves you, so stop thinking bad thoughts and get back to work.
She pushes herself onward, trying to get that nagging thought out of the back of her mind. What if we are rushing into this? No. You're ready. You love Tobias, you two were barely dating and you knew that he would be the man that your going to marry. Well, what if Tobias isn't ready? No, he is. He has to be. Tobias isn't the type of guy to rush into things to early without a game plan. If he wasn't ready to get married, he wouldn't have proposed. Now, that you have that all cleared up, get back to work.
The day marches onward, slowly. To slow for anyone's taste. When she got started on the schedule, Ryan looked like he was going to rip something apart. He's never like this, something has to be going on at home.
The last patient that she has to look into is a man by the name of Greg Whiten. He's in his late 40s. and when it comes to doing his exercises, well he made Tobias look like an Olympian. She never thought she would even have that comparison. His exercise for today, running two miles.
She walks towards his room, her running shoes already on and laced. He, on the other hand, is still in bed sleeping. A foul stench crawls up her nose making her body shiver and her eyes water. It takes everything she has not to gag. Tris note realizes why the nurses hate coming to this room. "Get up."
Greg slowly wakes up, giving Tris a lazy stare. He scratches his chest, licks his lips, and takes his time tying his shoes. It's almost 5:30, it's going to be another day when she's working over time. He stands up, and flashes her a lazy smile. "You ready?"
"Have been for a while."
"Taking my time sweet cakes. Why do you have a hot date tonight?"
"No, but I do not tolerate being late to sessions. I know Ryan doesn't tolerate it either."
"How do you know what he tolerates?" The two of them are soon outside. The track is about 50 feet away.
"Because the two of us run a tight ship."
"If it's so tight, then where is Ryan?"
"With another patient. He has other patients you know." She aggressively opens the gate and walks out to the center of the track. The two begin their run. Tris stays about five steps ahead, cursing the running. This is a really brisk mile pace.
She turns around and starts to run backwards when they are 300 meters into it. She gives him some tips on how he should be running, then turns back around quickly. She does this about the same time on each lap.
On their last lap Tris turns around to give him some words of encouragement. He's been lagging behind, so their mile pace has slowed down by a minute. Something happens though, the only way it can be described as, is her leg giving out. The next thing she knows there is a blinding pain, and get face is on the ground. Greg stops just in time so he doesn't trip over her.
"Shit." She mumbles sitting up. She tries to stand, but she can't. It's like she can't move her knee.
"Are you okay-"
"Just stay here, I think I tore something. Can you call Ryan for me?" She hands him her phone, and starts checking the back of her knee, wincing at the pain.
"Ryan, listen it Greg. I'm down at the track here with Tris she clasped-"
"Tell him it might be my ACL."
"She thinks it's her ACL. She just needs your help. I don't know what to do, but she needs your help." He pauses and nods. "Okay will do." Tris takes her phone back and sighs, cursing at the wind. This is a great birthday. "Ryan is bringing stuff out, he'll be here in less than a minute. I'd there anything I can do because I am freaking out."
She looks around, then hands him the phone back. "I need to hang on to this, see if I can figure anything out. I need you to text my fiancee and tell him to meet me here. His name is Tobias and he should be at the top of my list for texting."
Ryan comes out, followed out by a doctor, and then a nurse. Tris is loaded onto a stretcher and taken into the hospital, even though her attempts to say she doesn't need it. Greg is dismissed, and he gives Tris her phone back. She's taken up to the second floor where she'll get an x-Ray and she'll get wrapped up. Tobias is going to definitely need to be here to take her home. They aren't going to let her drive.
Unfortunately, Tris isn't going to be able get that x-Ray in right away. She's at the very bottom of the list. Luckily, Tobias said that he'll be here in a bit. Hopefully, he will brighten her day a bit.
Christina texts her a Happy Birthday text. It's a picture of little Tiffany, in the pink onesie with the pink elephants that she picked out for her. Tiffany has the brightest green eyes that she's ever seen. The little girl gets that from her father.
It makes her want learn what a baby would look like between Tobias asks her. What color of eyes out would have. Brown wavy hair or straight blonde hair? Or a mix of either one? Dark blue eyes or light blue ones? Tall our short? Boy or girl? Whatever it is, she knows that she'll love it.
"Hey babe, look at you." Tobias walks towards her with a small smirk on his face. He walks around her leg which is stuck it and wrapped. Ryan said that he was going to come back with crutches soon. "How do you feel?"
"Like shit."
He shrugs and wetsuits an arm around her. "Nothing much I can do about that. How did this even happen?"
"I don't know, I was just running."
"Another reason why I can say I hate running." He starts to dig down in his pocket. "Got my new phone, a Samsung 6s. Now, I just need to show it to Caleb, then we get to sign him up for a dating website."
Tris laughs a little bit, fully knowing about their little game. It's ridiculous really, but entertaining to the fullest. "Here, let's send a picture to Caleb, and ask him which website he prefers." She snaps a picture of his new phone.
"Ask him if he prefers Farmer's Only or Christian Mingle."
"Fine." She sends of the text.
Neither. He texts back as fast as he can.
"Tell him a deal's a deal."
"Here, you text him." She hands him her phone. He hands her his.
Confused Tris holds it. "What do you want me to do with this?"
"Mess around with it, entertain yourself. Do what you want. Watch a cat video."
This gets her to smile. Something as simple as a cat video. He knows her too well. She types in his passcode, 6417. It's cheesy, but at least he'll remember the date. Though, it's better than her passcode, 0009. That had no importance to her at all, other than the fact it confuses Grace, so she won't be on her phone too much.
She goes through his phone, adding a few apps, adding a contact picture for herself. It's a fun process, the best part is, it gets her mind off the pain. She's playing one of his games when she notices an ad pop up. How well do you and your partner know each other? Click here to find out. She looks up, there's still plenty of people around in the waiting room. This could be fun.
Tobias must've been looking over her shoulder, he stopped texting Caleb a while ago, because he instantly says no.
"Oh, come on, this could be fun."
"No, this is going to end up in a fight and it won't be good for me."
She looks up at him, it's kind of difficult because she's been slouching on him for too long. Her puppy dog eyes come out. "I'm sure you'll do fine."
The puppy dog eyes don't work on him, because he returns with his own puppy dog eyes making the couple look ridiculous, forcing her to stop. But he concedes and test pops up, making her giddy. "Okay, without looking what color are my eyes?" She covers them up so he can't peek at them.
"They change color on your attitude, I think that they're usually blue-gray, but today they're really gray."
"Correct."
He takes the phone back and reads the next question. "Oh, this is a good one. What is my go to party song?"
Tris starts to rack her brain for any possible answer. "You really like Pitbull, but you also will listen to My Chemical Romance and LMFAO. But I want to say, Sexy and I Know It."
Tobias raises his eyebrows and shakes his head. "Nice try kid, but it's Piano Man."
She sits up fast, looking him dead in the eye. "What? I have never heard of you ever listening to that song."
He laughs at her reaction. "I'm serious, that is my go to party song. Zeke and I have parties down to a science. Start with a song everyone can sing to, get the emotions running high, everyone's out on the dance floor. Have Don't Stop Believing, halfway through, end with Closing Time, and you have yourself a party."
"Or you have yourself a lame party that everyone went to in high school."
"Salty."
"Now you sound like a lame high school girl."
"Total salt block."
She glares at him. "I'm sorry, I'll try to act a little bit sweeter. My leg isn't bothering the shit out of me." She states sarcastically and snatches the phone from him. Tobias just sighs and grabs her hand. "What's my biggest pet peeve?"
"Other than me apparently? Chewed straws, you hate those."
He takes the phone, "does your significant other have tattoos? If so, where and what are they?"
"Yes, on your back and on your chest. Flames, an eye, tree, hands, a scale, and an open circle that looks like a roaring wave."
Tobias nods and hands the phone back. She's about to say the next question when she finally gets called in. Hopefully they'll find out what's wrong.
Tears stream down Tris's face, the weight of everything finally hit her when she got out of the hospital. Tobias sighs as he holds her. They've been through quite a lot together, apparently the world just wants them to practice the 'in sickness' part, before the wedding.
She needs surgery, she tore her ACL and MCL, which is insane, because all she was doing is running. They've scheduled the surgery for next week. Luckily, he'll be able to help her after the recovery. After a while, if she needs it, Christina will take over. Right now, he is still leaving in late May. His contract is in, and there is no way to get out of it.
He picks her up, gently placing her in the car, and then walks around quickly getting them out of the parking lot. Small rain drops fall on the windshield, making Tobias sigh. This is the perfect thing for Tris's birthday.
The ride home consists of the two being quiet, and Tris crying into his shoulder, going his hand like a vice grip. She's never letting go.
Everything started out well. The nurse was nice and had clean nails and white teeth. She called them, 'cute', when Tobias helped her on the machine. When he got behind the screen, he new it was going to be bad. The way her leg sat on the table, it wasn't natural. The x-ray confirmed it all. After that, the nurse just pursed her lips, smiled at Tris, and said that everything will be fine.
Yeah, fine, that's easy to say when your loved one isn't in pain. And there is nothing you can do to help them. It's painful.
Tobias gets Tris back to the apartment, and settled in on the couch. She stopped crying when they pulled up to the building, but the remainder of the tears still rest on her cheeks. "Hey babe, what are you feeling for supper?" He walks out to the kitchen, searching through the cabinets.
"I'm not hungry."
That catches his attention. Tris is always hungry. He raises his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm just not hungry right now. But can you please get me some water."
"I would, but you can drink anything until 30 minutes after you take it. You only have a little while left to go."
She sighs, "I already hate this."
Tobias looks at her and sighs. "Honey-"
"Don't you honey me. I'm in pain, and I'm just so mad-"
"I realize that, I had to wear that annoying cast for two months. I'm going to have to test you the sake way you treated me. Tough love. I love you and I'm not going to let you turn bitter just like I did, so come on relax. We'll get through this."
"I've never regretted anything I've said until now."
"Come on, let's just go and relax for a while. I got you this." He holds out a small box, a little cupcake is inside.
She looks at him, trying to hide her smile. It's a difficult thing to do. That was just like him. "Why are you so hard to hate?"
"It's part of my charm."
Tris rolls her eyes, checks the clock, and then opens the box. Fifteen minutes are left, and she knows that it's going to be a long recovery time.