Kate didn't seem her usual self for the next couple of days. Steve felt she was really distant with him and monosyllabic in most conversations he had with her. He had no idea what had caused the change in her mood, but he thought he might have a solution. Wheeling himself to her bedroom where she had hidden herself away since dinner had finished, he knocked on the door and waited for a response.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Can I come in?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Kate replied. He opened the door and let himself in to her room, finding her lying curled up on her bed. "You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," was her reply again.

"What you up to?".

"Nothing much," Kate replied, with a shrug of her shoulders. "Thought I'd give you some space," she continued. If he was going to restart his relationship with Sam then he didn't need her constantly around.

"Right," said Steve a little perplexed as he wondered exactly how he might have given her the impression he wanted to be by himself. "You free to attend my first physio session with me?".

"Why?" Kate asked.

"Moral support," Steve replied. "In case things don't go as well as I'd like them to,".

"Sure," Kate eventually replied and Steve knew that was as much as he was going to get from her.

"Ok," Steve replied, and started to wheel himself out the room, recognising the conversation was at an end. This wasn't how he wanted things to end though. He stopped. "You want to do 'nothing much' with me?" He asked and Kate looked at him.

"What did you have in mind?".

"Sofa. Shit film. Might be some ice cream in the freezer,".

"What flavour?" Kate asked. Steve's 'nothing much' sounded a lot better than moping about on her bed.

"Salted caramel I think," Steve revealed, feeling better now Kate was showing some interest in joining him.

"Sounds alright," Kate said as she sat up and followed her friend in to the living room.

"You can choose the film," Steve offered as he headed to the kitchen and the freezer. By the time he had returned he was pleased to see a film had already been chosen and Kate had taken her spot on the sofa.

"Hold these," he said as he passed her the ice cream and two spoons before manoeuvring himself on to the sofa. They would eat straight from the carton to save on plates, Steve had lazily thought.

Once he was settled as well, Kate pressed play and they were soon digging in to their treat. "Much more fun doing nothing together isn't it?" He clarified and earned himself a little smile from Kate. "Kate, I'm sorry if you thought I wanted my space," Steve said after a while, not really knowing what he was apologising for but thought it best to do it anyway if he had upset her. "Truth is I'm sort of used to you invading it now,".

"What do you mean 'invade'?" Kate asked pretending to take offence. With a spoon full of ice cream she made to flick it at Steve's face in retaliation for his remark.

Steve grabbed the spoon before she could do any damage. "I mean I much prefer having you around than being by myself," he clarified.

"Me too," Kate agreed as the spoon she held finally made it's way into her mouth.


Steve's first physio session finally arrived and Kate joined him as promised. Dan was finishing off with another patient as they made their way in to the gym.

"With you in a minute, Steve," he greeted as Kate made her way to a vacant chair and sat down. Steve stopped his chair beside her.

They didn't have to wait long before Dan made his way over to where they were.

"How you guys doing?".

"Good," replied Kate. Since the other evening they were back on track. Steve had made no mention of Sam so Kate had relaxed a bit, although she still did wonder why he had leaflets on sex.

"You ready for this, Steve?".

"Raring to go,".

"Thats great," Dan replied. "Before I take you over to the bars I just want to check you've been doing your exercises and assess your core and leg muscle strength since the last time you were here,". Steve quickly demonstrated what he could do and Dan could see he had made good progress in his time off. "You've done a great job maintaining what strength you had, Steve. That's great,".

"I had a hard taskmaster," Steve replied, indicating Kate who was watching the session avidly over a cup of tea.

"Good job, Kate, then," Dan amended, speaking to Kate which earned him a smile. "Right, let's get you on those bars," Dan said before he and Steve made their way over to the apparatus. "Now before we do this, it's been quite a while since you've been on your feet, Steve," Dan warned him, knowing Steve enough by now that if he didn't walk the length of the bars he would see it as a failure. "I'm not expecting you to be able to get to the end today, ok?".

"Yeah," Steve replied.

"Alright then, let's get you up," Dan instructed as Steve slowly hoisted himself up out of his chair. "How does that feel?" he asked, once Steve was fully upright.

"Ok," Steve replied honestly. His upper body strength had improved and he was able to support himself a lot easier than the first time he had tried this activity.

"Any pain," Dan asked.

"Nope," Steve said.

"Ok, let's see you start to move then," Dan said. "Remember arms before feet," he reminded Steve.

Steve made good progress and was moving at quite a quick pace down the length of the bars. Dan gave an impressed look to Kate behind Steve's back. Despite starting off well however, Steve still couldn't reach the end of the bars. "I think I'm going to have to sit down," Steve said about three quarters of the way. "Feel funny," he uttered.

Dan cast a look at Steve and could see he had turned pale and clammy. He wheeled Steve's chair behind him and helped him into it. "Your body isn't used to you being on your feet," Dan explained. "It's not used to pumping blood so far upwards. Give it a couple of sessions and it'll be good,".

As predicted by Dan, Steve was disappointed to have failed once again and Dan could sense that. "Before that though, you were doing great," he encouraged his patient, who was quickly becoming one of his favourites.

"It felt good," Steve admitted, despite his failure at completing the task. "Better than before,".

"We'll just keep at it," Dan said.


With a couple more sessions, Steve finally could walk the length of the parallel bars and he felt a sense of achievement that he had finally cleared that hurdle and spurred him on immensely. It didn't take him long before he could walk two lengths of the bars.

Steve had made sure his physio sessions were late in the day so Kate could be present as much as possible. Seeing him progress so well made her keen to talk to Dan and discuss how she could help Steve improve and keep his momentum going.

She was there when Steve walked two lengths of the parallel bars and was congratulating him when Dan appeared with a zimmer frame.

"I think you should give this a go," he said.

"What the fuck?" Asked Steve. "I'm not using that," he said, taking offence at the walking aid. "Can't I just go on crutches?".

"Not just yet," Dan replied. "The frame will give you a bit more support than crutches which is what you need at the moment,". Steve wasn't impressed. It was what elderly people used to mobilise with and he wasn't that. "Give it a go," Dan suggested and sat with Kate as they watched Steve shuffle around the gym with it. "Don't push yourself too hard," Dan shouted as Steve tried to almost do a power walk, keen to prove he didn't need the frame. "Come back over here Steve before you knacker yourself out," he eventually instructed and they waited as Steve moved towards them. "Right," Dan said decisively once Steve had rejoined him and Kate. "Whenever you are in your home I want you using the frame to get about. The wheelchair is just for outside now, ok?" he said to both Steve and Kate.

Kate nodded in understanding whilst Steve looked unimpressed.

"Won't be long before you are on crutches," Dan promised, hoping it would improve Steve's mood. It didn't.

"Is that it for today?" Steve asked.

"Yes,".

"So do I use the frame to walk to the car whilst in the hospital, and the chair outside?" Steve asked trying to be smart.

"Just use the chair," Dan replied. "Kate will have to carry the frame,".

"That's fine," Kate replied. It wasn't heavy. "Come on grandpa," she teased as she got up ready to leave the gym.

"Fuck off, Kate!" Steve retorted, not finding her teasing very funny. Kate realised she had touched a nerve and apologised.

"You alright?" She asked, once they were alone in the car and heading home.

"Yeah," Steve retorted. "I just don't want to use that thing," he said, pointing to the frame lying across the back seat of the car.

"What's so wrong with it?" Kate asked.

"People are going to stare when I have to use it in public and I hate it. I know they're trying to see what's wrong with me that I'm having to use something to walk. The chair's bad enough but that is going to be so much worse," Steve explained.

"The people who care about you don't think that," Kate pointed out. "And they are going to be the ones seeing you walking with it whilst you are indoors. They are going to be thinking how well you are doing that you are finally back on your feet,".

Steve sat silent as he took on board what his friend told him. He felt a little better but still wasn't looking forward to when Dan said he had to use the frame in public.

They reached Steve's apartment and Kate got the chair from the boot. Whilst Steve got himself in to it, Kate retrieved the frame from the back seat and they slowly made their way inside.

"Not so fast," Kate warned as Steve started wheeling himself towards his bedroom once in the flat. "Frame only!" Kate reminded him and ignored the eye rolling she received from Steve. She placed the frame in front of Steve's chair and helped him to his feet. "Where do you want this kept?" she asked as she folded the chair up.

"Cupboard's fine," Steve said as he shuffled off to his bedroom. Kate let him be, hoping it wouldn't take long for him to accept he was stuck with the walking aid for a little while at least.