Chapter 9:
When Hailey returned from her therapy session she saw the box left on her table. After she was placed in the bed she put the box on her lap and pawed through it. There was a pair of dark green plaid pajama pants and a Deep Purple shirt laying on top. She put the box back on the table and threw the covers off her legs. She slid the pants over her feet and worked them up to her thighs. She was thankful that Greg had brought them to her because she only got night gowns and clean underwear from the nurses. It took her a while but she managed to lay down and work the paints over her bum. She then sat back up and pulled the shirt over her head.
She pulled the box back on top of her lap. There was a cd player and a case of about twenty cd's. she dug around to the bottom of the box and found a whole lot of batteries. She smiled that he thought of all this. He had told her that they were best friends and that he knew her all to well. Hailey found herself craving something but couldn't figure out what it was, but once she put the head phones on and played the first cd the craving was filled. He told her she had a love for music, and now she could see that.
As the tunes of Journey filled her ears she dug around the box. She pulled out a bag of beads and some elastic string. She looked down at her wrist and put two and two together. 'I probably made these.' she thought. She placed the beads and string in the drawer next to her and continued to the few items left in the box. She pulled out four books. The first was a book called One For The Money, and the second was called Hot Six, both by Janet Evanovich. The third one was a collection of poems, and the fourth was a book about sign language. Greg had told her that Grissom taught her to sign, so he thought maybe if she brushed up it would come back.
She placed the empty box on the floor and put the books in the drawer, all except the sign language one. She opened the cover and began reading. By the time she was half way through she felt like she knew the language all over again.
The next morning Hailey woke up to a dark room. The clock said nine am but outside it was dark. She managed to get into the wheel chair and stroll over to her window. She sighed as she saw the rain. It poured down so hard that it looked as if she were under a waterfall. She wheeled back over to her bed and pulled out the notebook that Grissom had given her. She wrote down Grissom's name and Greg's name and listed some facts about them, so she wouldn't forget. She then flipped the page and began writing. Nothing was in order, she just wrote what was on her mind.
Greg told me that I've been dating Nick Stokes for a while, we might even get married. In all honesty I feel bad for him. What good is it to love someone that doesn't remember to love you back? I had this weird dream last night. I was driving a car and then all the sudden I was on a gurney. Maybe it was a clue, they say I was in an accident but that won't say anything else. I don't know anymore. It's so frustrating, I can remember simple things like buttoning a shirt, or tying my shoes, but I can't seem to remember these wonderful people around me.
I can't help thinking of Nick. When I first saw him in my room, I felt the need to defend myself against him. But now that I look back I feel sad about him. Maybe Mr. Grissom can bring me photographs or something to try and remember. There's something about him when he looked at me, like his whole life was coming to an end. Did we really mean that much to each other? I'm so confused.
I was listening to one of the cd's Greg brought me, and there was this song that stuck in my head. 'Well baby I surrender to the strawberry ice cream, never ever end of all this love. Well I didn't mean to do it but there's no escaping your love.' That's my favorite part of the song. I don't know why it stuck with me, maybe Greg will.
She stopped writing, closed the book, and set it on her bed. She was thinking she should go see Noah but she wasn't up to being cheery today. She got back into the bed, put the headphones over her ears, and pulled the covers over her head.
Two hours later she woke up to Greg. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." He said.
"It's alright." She said placing the headphones around her neck. "So what's up?"
"I got some time off so I came to visit." He said placing the magazine on the table. "I brought you a present." Handing her a brown paper bag.
"I definitely like presents." She said opening the bag. She dumped the contents on her lap and sorted through them. There were various bumper stickers. Some with the name of bands, some saying things like 'kiss me I'm Italian' and 'I'm driving here' there were also some pins and long, neon pink, spiral, things.
"I thought if you were gonna be stuck in it, you should at least ride in style." He said referring to her chair. She laughed out loud as he wrapped the spirals around the spokes of the tires. They put the various stickers and pins on the back of the seat.
"Would you take a walk with me?" She asked.
"Sure, where do you wanna go?" He asked as he helped her into the chair.
"There's this nice garden outside." Greg looked out the window. Hailey followed his gaze and saw that the rain was now a light shower instead of a waterfall. "Do you dissolve in water?"
"Hey you're the one that made me run four miles in the rain." He said.
"Rain is nice." She nodded. "Let's go." She said wheeling herself out.
They walked down to the garden and walked the perimeter. They pulled up to a bench and Greg sat down as Hailey looked at the puddle beneath her. She removed the slipper and lifted her leg slightly. "What are you doing, that's probably very cold." Greg said.
"I can't feel remember? I just, I don't know. I'm just desperate that's all." She said as she place her foot just above the puddle. She lowered her leg so her toes stuck in the water. "Ooo." She said pulling her leg back out. Greg and Hailey slowly lifted their heads to meet each others eyes.
"What happened?" He asked.
Hailey dipped her whole foot in the water and pulled it back up. "It's freezing."
"I told you it would-" Then it clicked. "You felt it?"
"Yeah." She placed her foot back on the stand as Greg pushed her as fast as he could back inside.
They were in the physical therapy room and Matt was examining her legs. She was able to wiggle her toes and circle her foot slightly. "I've never seen someone take so fast." He said. Greg was beaming for her. She looked up at him and smiled. He was so goofy but in the cute adorable way, she could definitely see them as best friends. "We should move your sessions to six times a week instead of three. We have to keep your muscles working, at this rate you should be standing in a month." He thought maybe even sooner but there was no need to get her hopes up.