It feels like an entire week has passed since his breakdown during Mass, and then his total breakdown/flashback-freak-out-fest at Doc's.
A glance at his phone says it's barely been 48 hours.
He stares out the window. "Who took the boys to school?"
"Jamie."
"You could've woken me up early and gotten us all back to Staten Island in one trip…"
"Danny, you were finally sleeping. I wasn't going to wake you up at 6 a.m."
"Why did we spend the night at Dad's anyway?"
"You…were so upset last night, babe. I was afraid you'd have a bad flashback and try to run or…"
"Run? I can barely walk, Linda!"
"And yet you dashed to Doc's bathroom to throw up, and twisted it again. You need to stay off it completely until the swelling goes down."
"Yes, Nurse Reagan," he smirks as she puts the car in park.
She unbuckles her seatbelt and leans over to kiss him. "Don't be smart with me, Danny. This is the second time in two weeks you've twisted it—once when Sean was horsing around, and last night when you bolted to Doc's bathroom to throw up," she says, and gets out of the car, gets his crutches from the backseat.
"I had the boot on; how did I twist it…?" he asks, pushing his door open and taking his crutches from her.
"I don't know, Danny, but…you do want to be back on your feet by Christmas, don't you?"
He nods, and follows her inside, carefully gets himself situated on the couch, and takes off the boot. His ankle's still puffy.
Great.
He looks up, surprised when Linda hands him a towel and two ice-packs. "Keep those on for twenty minutes. I'm going to run to the grocery store; I'll be back in an hour. Don't move from this couch. Got it?"
He nods, pulls her down and kisses her. "I love you."
"Love you more. Anything you want for dinner?"
"That pasta and sausage bake you make?"
"I can do that," she says, and adds a few things to her list. "Is your phone charged?"
"Yes."
She hands him one of the detective novels she'd gotten at the library. "I renewed this, since you hadn't finished it. I'll see if I can find you something else. I'll be back in an hour," she says, kisses him again, and leaves.
He puts the book down after reading the same two pages over and over.
He is not going to have a flashback, dammit!
It's not like "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" is a catchy tune or anything, but…it's on repeat in his head.
He needs to get up, move around, distract himself…but he promised Linda he wouldn't move from the couch. He really, really can't afford to do any more damage to his ankle. What kind of klutz sprains his already-broken ankle twice in two weeks…?
He wants to sleep—it had been a rough night, with nightmares, including one around 3 a.m. that woke him (and the rest of the house) up screaming—but he's afraid he'll have another nightmare.
But he is exhausted, and hurting, and this book is doing nothing to distract him, so he closes his eyes and hopes Linda gets back soon.