Eric winks at her as he takes a quick sip and Issy growls lowly at him. He breaks out laughing then, passing her the cup. Issy quickly grabs onto it and holds it close, almost moaning as she takes a sip. She relaxes into Eric's side and as he softly presses his lips against her temple, she can feel him smiling.
Issy catches Bree's eyes and she blushes as Bree smiles almost proudly at them.
The days quickly shifted into weeks and then months. Her friends and family came and went in their free times around their schedules and her brothers came round more often than not during mealtimes. Eric would disappear during the day for his Leadership duties but he was always there late at night to be with her when she fell asleep.
It wasn't long before Issy got her cast taken off. Marlene was with her when Vex brought this weird machine over. To Issy, it honestly looked like some oversized, electronic pizza cutter. The look of pure disbelief and expression that said what the absolute fuck on Issy's face made Vex start laughing. Her expression deepened more so when Vex tucked what looked like a plastic spoon underneath her cast. It apparently helped the pizza-cutter-that's-not-a-pizza-cutter to cut through the cast in a straight line. Issy wasn't so sure… Vex used the machine on both sides and the cast fell off. As Vex turned to pack the machine away, he muttered something chucking the cast away. Marlene picked up the cast and quietly placed it in one of the bedside draws, winking at Issy knowingly.
Afterwards, Issy's wrist felt unbelievably stiff. She groaned when she tried to move it and Vex flicked her right shoulder, glaring at her.
"Don't do that!" He hissed. "The cast prevents movement to make sure the injury heal but it also causes the muscles, tendons and ligaments to become tight. Try not to move it suddenly. You'll start physical therapy for your wrist tomorrow."
The next day Issy was introduced to a doctor from Erudite called Bennett, a nice old chap that was able to keep up with the Dauntless nurses' humour – much to the surprise of the others. Issy got along with him well enough, seeing as he reminded her a lot of Professor Douglas. He took her through several exercises for her to try out. Once the two-hour session was over, Bennett looked almost in pain when he stared at her left leg, stating that he'll make a request to Max to help her with therapy for her leg too when the time came. Sessions for her wrist were every Monday and Friday and when Bennett arrived back in Dauntless, he walked into her room grinning. Apparently Max had not only allowed Bennett to help with the physical therapy for Issy's leg, but also allowed him to stay for a while after to help train the Dauntless nurses and doctors further in medical procedures that Erudite kept to themselves. From what Bennett told the Dauntless Leaders, Jeanine was under the impression that he was there to evaluate the standards of the infirmary. The guise was bullshit but seemed to be enough for Jeanine.
What nobody seemed to understand was why Bennett would offer such a thing… Until he crossed paths with Vex. The head of the infirmary groaned and almost walked back out of the room if Max also hadn't been there to order him to stay. Bennett grinned widely at the other doctor before saying something that shocked them all.
"Evening brother."
Vex glared at him, saying nothing and Issy figured that he really was from Erudite after all.
It took a few more weeks until her therapy started for her leg. Both Vex, Marlene and Bennett wanted to make sure her ribs were healed enough before proceeding. The bruising along her ribs had lightened considerably and there was only a twinge of discomfort now and then. Bennett helped Issy walking small distances like to the door and back and sometimes a few laps around her room.
Sometimes her brothers, Bree or Eric would sit in for a session. Though Eric quickly got ordered by Vex to make himself disappear during these sessions as the Leader would glare and even growl lowly when Bennett held Issy to help her walk. Bennett knew that the Leader wouldn't kill him, but it was making him nervous every time he heard the growling sound as he tried to do his job. While Bennett was there, Issy had smacked round the back of Eric's head for displaying such behaviour. Although Eric responded with wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him as Bennett began to pack his things away. Issy tried elbowing Eric as his grip tightened, his gaze never leaving Bennett. The Erudite doctor simply shook his head at the pair, at an utter loss despite the smirk on his face. Regardless of being ordered not to attend the sessions, Eric would pull a chair directly opposite her door and sit there until the session was over.
It turned out that it was mostly Bree or Alec that would attend the sessions. Eventually, Bennett gave Issy a pair of crutches once she was able to put pressure onto her wrist. This led to longer distances and travels outside of the infirmary. If Issy did leave the infirmary then Eric would follow along. Alec would roll his eyes but say nothing whereas Bree would tell him to fuck off out right. It was most amusing to Issy, Bennett and any other members that happened to be in hearing distance. Any people outside of their friend slash family group were ready to see Eric rip into the smaller, if not tiny, girl but they were shocked when Eric simply glared as he huffed and wandered back to Issy's hospital room. Bree got so annoyed with Eric at one point that she actually went to Max and then the next day Eric was drowning in work that made him stay in his office. Every night Eric would come back to Issy's room grumbling about all sorts of things; anything about Max, Bree, Vex or Bennett popped up the most.
Issy was getting more and more confident walking around on her crutches. Kayden, being somewhat suspended from the fence by Lottie due to his limp, joined her in walks around the compound. For obvious reasons, she couldn't go anywhere that didn't have access to a lift or had multiple amounts of steps. No one was keen on the idea of carry her up the stairs, especially with the snide looks that Issy has been receiving from the other members. It would be a sign of weakness and Issy refused.
A few days after her leg seemed to have mostly healed and Issy was allowed to wander around the compound on her own, with her crutches of course. Vex had given her strict orders to only go to the cafeteria from dinner and then come straight back. it was a test to see if Issy could handle it without the knowledge of someone being at her side to immediately help her if things went to shit. Issy had grinned at the little freedom she had gained. Nobody would be hovering over her; nobody would be following her like they were expecting her to fail. Issy knew they mean well but it was starting to grate on her nerves.
With a small grin on her face, Issy slowly making her way through the halls towards the cafeteria. Issy ignores the looks of disdain from some of the members that pass her and even some of them make a few comments trying to gain a reaction from her but Issy simply lifts her head and walks on.
It's when she nears the door leading into the cafeteria that a group of three guys stop her. Each hold a varying look of hatred as they sneer at her. Some other members stop to watch, not even thinking to try and make the tree guys back off. Fights outside of the designated rings are normally frowned upon as it means that the opposer are too cowardly to have the honour and respect of asking to fight by setting down the reasons as to why the other person is wrong. Though apparently such dishonour and disrespect is okay when its three against one and one of them is injured.
The ringleader bares his teeth at her, taking a step forward. "For a Dauntless, you really are weak and defenceless. What good are you to the faction if you can't even get up a few stairs?" He laughs darkly, his little band of followers grinning along. "With an injury like that you should have at least some common sense to end it by jumping into the Chasm."
An arrogant smirk crawls onto Issy's face, adrenaline warming her like a shot of whiskey flowing through her body. "Defenceless? You think I'm defenceless because of these?" Issy motions to her crutches. The ringleader and his followers nod, even some of the crowd that had formed around them nodded slightly. A wicked and feral grin overtakes her face. The ringleader's eyes narrow but there isn't much he can do now. Issy strikes out with one crutch, smacking the ringleader dead on the forehead and he falls to the ground clutching his head. In quick succession she uses one crutch and her healing leg to stay balanced as takes one of the guy's legs out from underneath him. Issy grins at the final guy, who looks between her and his friends in astonishment. He begins to back away slightly but Issy manages to kick him in the stomach first and he goes down like his friends did. The three of them curl into themselves slightly when Issy's gaze roams over them. She's pleased to see that there's a darkening bruise on his forehead in the exact shape and design as the foot of her crutch. Issy moves her gaze to the crowd around them to see most, if not all of them with their jaws touching the ground. They definitely weren't expecting that. Some of them take a step back when her gaze settles on them. Issy glances back down to the guys. "Defenceless my arse." Issy sneers at them as she steps around and makes her way into the room.
From the people that know her, Issy receives the strangest of questioning looks. Though, she guesses it's because of the triumph grin on her face. Seeing that there's not a lot of room on her table, Issy joins Eric with the other Leaders and their families on the table next to them. She settles next to Eric and places her crutches on the floor and Eric slides an arm across her shoulders, not even breaking away from his conversation with Adrian. Max stares at her with narrowed eyes. They light up slightly at the automatic response from Eric but quickly become hard as he stares at her.
"What have you done?" He asks suspiciously. This causes Eric to glance at them and he takes notice of the grin on her face. She grins in response. "Why are you so happy?"
Her grin widens when the doors open and the three guys limp in, the imprint clear on the ringleader's head. Issy points to them and the whole table and the table with her family turns to look. "I proved them wrong and made sure they won't forget it."
Eric huffs out a laugh, drawing her closer to him. "And what point was that?"
"That I'm not defenceless." Eric's grip tightens.
"But –" Kim starts, her eyes narrowed in confusion. "– With crutches?!"
Issy shrugs slightly as if the point was obvious. "Anything can be a weapon if you use it correctly."