"Step by Step, Brother"

By Lorrie

Chapter 11 – Rehabilitation

Disclaimer: The following story is based on the characters of the TV Series "Drake & Josh". The characters belong to the creators and Nickelodian, but the story is mine. ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY. (No copyright infringement is intended.)

Drake could hear the faint sound of voices and tried to open his eyes. They felt so heavy. What's going on now? He thought to himself. He could hear the voices of children around him.

"Hey, who's the new guy?" A little boy asked as he passed by Drake's room.

"Don't know. I woke up and he was here." Drake's ten year old roommate answered.

"He sure is old." The first little boy said.

Hey, I'm not that old! Drake tried to shout.

"Yeah, he must be at least fifteen."

"Maybe older." The other little boy replied.

"Boys, why don't we go down to the recreation room for a story?" A woman's voice was heard.

Yeah, take them away. They're making too much noise. Drake thought.

"There he is!" Drake heard his mom's voice and then felt her touch his arm. "How's my baby doing?"

"Ma-a-am, not a ba-a-by!" Drake said softly, his voice slurring each word slightly.

Audrey, Walter, Josh and Megan stared at him in shock. "Drake! You spoke!" Audrey exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Dr. Thomas asked as he entered the room.

"He spoke!" Walter replied.

Dr. Thomas beamed. "That's wonderful news!" He checked Drake's chart and then focused his attention on the teen. "Drake, can you tell me your full name?"

Drake's eyes were still closed and he hadn't moved at all, but very softly he spoke: "Dr-a-a-ke Mi-chae-l P-a-a-rker." His speech still slow and slurred.

"That's great Drake." Dr. Thomas encouraged. "Now, I want you to concentrate on opening your eyes for me."

Drake tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt so heavy. "C-a-an't" He said.

Dr. Thomas patted his hand. "It's OK. That's enough for now. You can rest."

Josh and Megan sat with their brother while Audrey and Walter joined the doctor in the hallway. "I'll have him moved to a private room just as soon as one is available. I had hoped that the sound of the children would help wake him up and it seems that it did just that." The doctor smiled.

"Doctor, why can't he move and why is his speech so slurred?" Audrey asked.

"Mrs. Nichols, you have remember that your son has been in a comatose state for three days and in and out of consciousness for one before that. Brain trauma is tricky. In Drake's case, I believe that his brain is having trouble 'talking' to his nervous system and while he seems to comprehend what's going on around him, he can't seem to make his mouth or the rest of his body do what he wants it to. We have to hope that with time and therapy he'll be back to his old self very soon."

"How soon?" Walter asked.

"It could be a few weeks or a few months. It's just hard to say." He placed a reassuring hand on Walter's shoulder. "I know this must be hard, but be thankful that his brain hasn't stopped 'talking' to his lungs and his heart. He could be on life support right now."

Walter nodded and looked at Audrey. "We are thankful for that, doctor."

"I'm going to see about having him moved and then I'm going to order another CT Scan just to make sure that there are no unforeseen problems."

Audrey nodded and offered her quiet thanks to the doctor as well.

Back in Drake's room, Josh just stared at his brother while Megan quietly talked to him. "I've really missed you Drake and I'm so glad you're waking up." Her voice cracked as she spoke and she gripped his hand tightly.

"I'll be OK Me-gan. D-d-don't c-c-cry." Drake struggled to speak.

Josh placed his hand lightly on Drake's shoulder. "Hey, the doctor said that you need to rest, not try to talk to us."

Drake quietly nodded, his eyes still closed.

Walter quietly escorted Josh and Megan both out of Drake's room as Audrey took a seat at his bedside. She gently brushed back a few stray hairs that had fallen into his eyes. "Everything's going to be fine baby." She whispered, gently kissing his cheek.

Drake mutely nodded.

Hours later, Walter found Audrey still sitting in the same position, staring at her son. He stood behind her, staring at Drake for a few seconds before speaking. "Honey, why don't you get some rest? I'll sit with him."

She looked up and patted the hand Walter had placed on her shoulder. "Thanks, but I really want to be here when he wakes up."

Walter pulled a chair up beside of her and took a seat. "Then I'll keep you company."

"Where are Megan and Josh?" Audrey asked.

"The waiting room. They're fine."

"They really need to get home Walter. They've both missed a week of school, you've missed work and . . ."

"And Drake needs all of us here." Walter finished.

She shook her head slightly and felt the tears stinging her eyes as she turned to her husband. "Honey, I'm not sure how Drake is going to deal with things, especially if it takes some time for his speech and movement to come back. Do you know what I mean?"

Walter nodded. He knew all too well how vane Drake could be and he understood what the speech impediment and paralysis could do to him mentally, no matter how short term they may be. "So, you want me to take Megan and Josh home and just leave you and Drake here?"

"It's not what I want Walter, but yes, that's what we need to do. I think Megan and Josh both will be better off if they get back into their routines as quickly as possible and I think it may be a little easier on Drake if he doesn't feel like he has an audience."

"And what about you?" Walter asked. "What about your normal routine?"

She shook her head. "I can't think about anything right now except my son. He needs me Walter and I can't leave him."

Walter kissed the top of her head and pulled her into a tight, loving embrace. "I'll go tell Josh and Megan what we've decided. They'll want to spend some time with Drake before we leave."

Dr. Thomas came into the room, just as Walter started out. "Oh, Mr. Nichols. I'm glad you're both here. I'm having Drake moved to a private room on the 12th floor. We'll be doing a CT Scan before they get him settled and I should have the results of that pretty immediately. I'm hoping to have a better handle on what exactly is going on inside your son's head by the end of the day. I want to get him set up with a speech therapist within the next day or two and a physical therapist as well."

"That's good." Walter said and then looked at Audrey. "I want to know that he's OK before we leave."

Audrey nodded and watched as her husband the Dr. Thomas left the room.

Walter found Megan and Josh sitting in the waiting room, leafing through magazines. Both of their heads shot up when they saw him approaching. Josh could tell by the look on his dad's face that something was bothering him. "What is it dad? Has something happened?"

Megan flung her magazine on the table. "What's wrong with Drake?"

Walter pulled a chair in front of where Josh and Megan were seated. "Drake is the same as he was when you last saw him. He's sleeping right now and the doctor is getting ready to have him moved to a private room on the 12th floor after he takes him in for another CT Scan."

Josh brows furrowed. "And . . .?" He questioned.

Walter closed his eyes for a second, trying to come up with the best way to phrase what he had to say. "Your mother and I have been talking and . . . well, we've decided that it might be easier on Drake if the three of us go home."

Megan's eyes grew large. "And leave Drake and mom here?" She screamed.

Walter placed his hand on his step-daughter's leg. "Shh. Yes honey. Your mom wants you and Josh to get back to school, back to your normal routine while Drake is in therapy."

"For how long?" Josh asked quietly as he stared ahead, not really looking at anything, but thinking of how lonely the next few weeks were going to be without Drake around.

Walter looked down at the floor. "I don't know, son. Drake needs time to heal and we need to do what's best for him, no matter how hard it is for us."

Josh nodded, still staring straight ahead. "You're right. We'll do whatever's best for Drake." Megan nodded in agreement.

An hour later, Walter, Josh and Megan found Audrey again sitting by Drake's bedside, now on the 12th floor. "Any word from the doctor yet?" Walter asked as they entered.

Audrey quietly shook her head. Walter eased her up from the chair. "Why don't we go get a cup of coffee and let Josh and Megan have some time with Drake?"

She reluctantly got up and left the room.

Megan and Josh both sat down and stared at Drake. Megan jumped when he moved slightly in the bed. "Drake?" She whispered.

Drake's eyes lazily opened and he blinked a few times until his sister and brother came into focus. "Hey g-g-guys." He managed to say quietly.

Josh smiled as he heard his brother's voice. "Hey yourself, bro." He took Drake's hand.

"M-m-mom? D-d-dad?" Drake struggled to speak.

"I'll get them." Josh replied.

"No, I will. You stay with Drake." Megan insisted.

"Can you move your legs?" Josh asked.

Drake slowly moved each of his legs. "I c-c-can mo-move, ju-st ca-n't t-t-talk r-r-right."

He took a moment to get his breath. "W-w-what h-a-a-pened? St-st-stoke?

Josh adamantly shook his head. "No. Nothing like that. Do you remember the camping trip?"

Drake nodded as he stared at his brother.

"Do you remember going hiking?"

Drake nodded again. "I f-f-fell. H-h-hit my h-h-head on a t-t-t-tree."

Josh nodded. "Yeah. You were in and out of consciousness for several hours and then later at the hospital, you slipped into a coma."

Drake's mind began to race. A coma, how long? How much time have I lost; days, months, years?

Josh could tell that the mention of the coma scared his brother. He noticed the change in his breathing and watched as his eyes moved all around the room, desperate for information. "Hey, hey, come on Drake, relax."

"H-h-wow l-l-long?" Drake asked.

Josh took Drake's hand in his. "It was only for three days, brother. I mean, that was enough to scare us all to death, but trust me, you're going to be fine."

Drake let his head relax on the pillow again and took a deep breath, just as the rest of his family came in along with Dr. Thomas.

"Drake, I'm Dr. Thomas. Do you remember me?" The doctor asked.

Drake nodded. "Y-y-yes."

Dr. Thomas smiled. "Good. I just got the results of the CT scan. Everything looks really good considering what you've been through. I've lined up a speech therapist and you'll begin tomorrow morning. After that, we'll get you into physical therapy and go from there."

"That's great news!" Audrey exclaimed. "Thank you again Dr. Thomas, for everything."

"You're quite welcome." The doctor left the room, leaving Walter and Audrey to explain to Drake that Walter, Josh and Megan were getting ready to leave.

After Audrey had a few minutes with Drake, Walter leaned over the bedrail and smoothed back his step-son's hair before giving him a fatherly kiss on the forehead. "I love you son and I'm so glad that you're awake and going to be OK."

Drake's eyes sparkled. He hadn't felt this loved in a long time, or at least hadn't been willing to show it. "I l-l-love you t-t-too d-d-d-dad. All of y-y-you."

Audrey beamed. She had waited a long time for Drake to bond with Walter and now it appeared that the fateful camping trip had accomplished just that.

"Son, your mother and I were talking and . . . well, we think that it may be best if Josh, Megan and I head home."

The sparkle immediately left Drake's eyes. "W-w-why?" He yelled, obviously hurt that his step-dad wanted to leave him.

"Honey, we don't know how long your therapy is going to take and Megan and Josh need to get back to school and your dad needs to get back to work." Audrey explained.

Drake shook his head. "NO! Th-ey j-j-just do-n't w-a-a-nt t-t-to b-b-be wi-th m-m-me. Th-ey're a-sh-sh-a-med o-o-f m-m-me." Tears streamed down his cheeks as he turned his head away from his family.

"Oh honey, no." Audrey cried, her hand cupping his bruised cheek. "They don't want to leave. I just thought it might make things a bit easier on you if you didn't feel like everyone was watching. We don't have to do it this way." Tears streamed down her face as she talked to her son. "Oh honey, I love you and I would never do anything to hurt you. You have to believe me, no one is ashamed of you."

Drake slowly turned his head to face his mom. His sad eyes met hers and he welcomed her loving embrace as she sat on the edge of the bed, placed her arms around him and held him close as he cried on her shoulder.

"I-I l-l-o-ve y—y-ou m-m-m-mom." He stammered.

She smoothed her hand across the back of his head. "I love you too, Drake."

Walter wrapped his arms around both of them. "I love both of you."

Then Josh and Megan wrapped their arms around the three of them. "I love you too." Megan said, followed by Josh's, strong, weepy voice: "I love you too!"

One by one, Megan, Josh and Walter said their tearful goodbyes to Drake and Audrey and then piled into the Jeep, with Josh driving. "How's the ankle, dad?"

"It's holding up." Walter replied as he settled into the backseat. "Drive carefully, Josh."

"I will." Josh replied and pulled away from the hospital.

Megan looked out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of her mother at Drake's window before they pulled onto the road. Audrey waved to her, her hand lingering on the glass long after the Jeep had pulled away.

The following day at the Parker-Nichols household was anything but cheery. "I don't really feel like going to school today. Can't I call in sick or something?" Megan asked.

"No honey. You have to go to school." Walter encouraged. "I'm going to work and Josh is going to school, so you have to go to school too."

Megan hung her head as she packed her lunch. "Can we call the hospital and see how Drake's doing?" She asked.

Walter pulled her onto his lap. "I'll tell you what. We'll wait until tonight and call. That way we can see how Drake's first therapy session went."

Megan nodded mutely as she waited for Josh to take her to school. "Josh, come on, I'm going to be late!"

"Coming!" He shouted as he bounded down the stairs. "Dad, what am I supposed to say when the kids at school ask about Drake?"

"Just tell them that he's doing well, but he's still in the hospital."

Josh nodded. Walter looked at the sad faces of both children. "Guys, come on. This isn't easy for me either. I had much rather be back at the hospital where I knew what was going on with Drake every minute, but you have to remember, we're doing this for Drake, so he can get better and come home sooner." He gave each of them a hug. "Now, get going!"

Things weren't going much better at the hospital. After breakfast, Drake's speech therapist stopped by to introduce herself. He perked up for a minute when the petite, twenty-something blonde entered the room. He smiled. "Um, new nurse."

"Hi Drake." She said softly, as she extended her hand. "I'm Jennifer, Jen for short. I'm your speech therapist."

The smile quickly faded from his face. His speech therapist. She was too cute to be a speech therapist.

"Drake, do you think you could introduce yourself to Jen?" Audrey suggested.

Drake shook his head.

"Drake, there's no need to be embarrassed. You have a slight problem with your brain communicating with you mouth. I'm going to show you how to get past that." Jen smiled. "I'll be back at 2:00 and we'll begin then." She looked at Audrey. "Mrs. Nichols, if you could maybe plan to run a few errands around that time, it might be helpful."

Audrey cocked her head to one side. Had this young woman just politely asked her to get lost during Drake's first speech therapy session?

Drake laughed as Jen walked out of the room. "What's so funny?" Audrey asked.

"L-l-look on y-y-your f-f-face . . ." He paused. "p-pr-price-less."

"Ha, ha, very funny." Audrey replied, lightly smacking at Drake's good arm.

"O-w-w." He said and continued to laugh.

"Well, Mr. Smarty Pants, it seems that your speech therapist prefers that I'm not here during your session, so I guess I'll run back to the hotel and maybe grab a nap while you're in therapy."

"N-n-not g-go-ing to b-b-be e-e-asy." Drake said.

Audrey smiled. "No, but I know you and I know that you want out of here and the only way to accomplish that is to do well with your speech therapy and your physical therapy."

"I-I-I'll t-t-try." Drake replied.

"I know you will."

Dr. Thomas came in and reviewed Drake's charts and took a moment to check his broken arm. "Can you wiggle your fingers, Drake?"

Drake wiggled his fingers for the doctor.

"Very good. You'll have the cast for another five weeks or so, but it looks like you're on the mend." He checked off a few spots on Drake's chart and then turned to Audrey and Drake. "Drake, I need to see how well you can walk, how your balance is and a few other things. I have you scheduled for an assessment in the PT area at 11:00. Sound OK?"

Drake nodded. "I-I g-g-guess s-s-so." He paused. "C-c-can m-m-m-mom c-come?"

Dr. Thomas smiled. "Sure you mom can come. I'm sure she's just as anxious as you are to find out what you can do."

Promptly at 11:00 a nurse came in with a wheelchair, helped Drake into it and pushed him to the Physical Therapy area where he was met by Dr. Thomas and two male therapists.

"OK Drake, let's see if you can stand up." The wheelchair was pushed to the edge of two parallel bars. Drake carefully grabbed one of the bars with his good arm and pulled himself to a standing position.

"I-I-I f-f-eel a dr-dr-aft." He said as he stood up, exposing his backside through the hospital gown.

Audrey quickly re-tied the gown, so Drake's backside was covered. He blushed slightly knowing that his mom had just viewed a part of him that she hadn't seen since he was a baby. "M-m-m-mom." He whined.

"It's OK honey. I've seen it before." Audrey whispered.

Drake held onto the bar with one hand and began to walk. Dr. Thomas marveled at how well he maneuvered himself.

By the time Drake had gone the length of the bars once down and back, he was able to walk without holding onto anything.

"That's wonderful Drake!" Dr. Thomas encouraged. "Now, let's see if you can balance yourself. Try standing on one foot."

Drake stood on his left foot and then his right, without wavering.

"Well, that's that then." Dr. Thomas announced. "You don't need physical therapy. Well just get you going with Jennifer this afternoon and see where it takes us."

Drake returned to the wheelchair and Audrey took him back to his room. They arrived just as lunch was being brought in. "Hey, this smells pretty good." Audrey said, lifting the cover from the lunch tray.

It was nearing 2:00. Audrey stood up and smiled at Drake before leaving. "I'll see you in an hour honey."

Drake nodded.

Jennifer walked into his room with a notepad and two bottles of water. "I thought you might be thirsty." She said, handing him one of the bottles.

"I-I-I l-like Mr. F-F-Fizz b-b-better." He stated.

"Sorry, they were all out of Mr. Fizz." She replied, taking a seat next to him. "How about talking to me for a little bit? I know you're seventeen and I know all about the accident. I'd like to know who Drake Parker really is. What do you like to do when you're not in school?"

"I-I-I h-h-have a b-b-b-band." Drake stammered.

"I knew I had seen you somewhere. You've played "The Cave" before."

Drake nodded.

"You're really great! You play a mean guitar and your voice is out of this world."

Drake hung his head. "N-N-Not s-s-s-so g-gr-great n-n-n-now." He pointed to the cast on his broken arm and shrugged his shoulders.

"You know what? I'd just bet that you can sing even though you're having a little trouble talking."

"R-r-right." Drake replied.

"Listen, today I want to go through the sounds of the alphabet and see which letters in particular you're having trouble with, but tomorrow, I'll bring in my guitar and we'll see what you can do? Deal?"

Drake smiled, she had won him over. "D-d-deal."

They began their session and Jennifer soon found that there were really only a handful of letters that Drake was having trouble with. "OK Drake. That's it for today, but I promise, I'll bring in my guitar tomorrow and I'll prove to you that you can still sing."

"OK." He said slowly, pronouncing each letter perfectly.

Jennifer smiled. "See, you're doing better already and we've only been together for an hour."

Drake was all smiles when his mom returned with a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake to make up for the lunch that he hardly touched. "I thought you might could use a change of pace from hospital food."

"Th-th-thanks m-m-mom."

Megan sat at her desk, but her mind clearly wasn't on her work. "Megan, did you hear me?" Her teacher asked.

Megan's head snapped back to the attention of the teacher. "Sorry."

"Are you OK?" The teacher asked again.

Megan nodded. "Yes ma'am." She replied.

Josh's classroom behavior wasn't much different. He sat in Mrs. Hafer's Study Hall trying to read his Literature assignment. Mrs. Hafer had been watching him for several minutes and could tell that he was agitated. "Josh, could you come up here for a minute." Mrs. Hafer asked.

Josh stood and made his way to the teacher's desk. "How's Drake?" She asked.

"He's improving." Josh replied.

Mrs. Hafer nodded. "I truly hope he's home soon and I wish him the best." She said nonchalantly.

Josh smiled. "Come on, admit it, you don't really hate him, do you?"

Mrs. Hafer shrugged her shoulders. "Aww, alright. I don't really like him, but I guess I don't really hate him either. He sort of grows on you."

Josh laughed slightly. "I really miss him."

Mrs. Hafer nodded. "I can tell."

The bell rang and Josh gather up his books and started for the car, but not before being stopped by at least a dozen or so people asking about Drake.

To be continued . . .