A/N: New chapter. Yep yep.)

Kenny was placed in a room in the ICU, just as promised. In the room were three people now; the nurse from before, Dr. Cox, and Kenny. Dr. Cox and the nurse had their backs to Kenny as they examined his x-ray. He was alone on his side of the room, listening to his heart moniter as it beeped, and watching the machine that was breathing for him as the pump inside went up and down with soft "pshhhiiick" noises.

Please talk to me.

The longer they took examining the x-ray, the more excruciating the wait was becoming for Kenny. He hated not being spoken to, not being able to speak, not being able to ask whether or not he'd be paralyzed forever. He hated having to lie there and wait, mentally pleading with them to come talk to him.

He'd begun to cry, although he didn't realize it. The whites of his eyes were pinkened slightly as saline drops streaked from his eyes and down into his hair, some sliding down to his jawline, to his neck, and getting soaked into the pillow he was lying on.

I'm going to be paralyzed forever. My mama will take care of me until she dies and then I'll be put in a nursing home to rot. I'll never get to have my own restaurant. I'll never have a wife and kids and Chocolate's probably going to be kicked out onto the streets and die.

Kenny looked away from the quietly whirring machines and stared up at the cieling.

Dr. Cox sighed in a state of semi-relief and pulled Kenny's x-rays down from the light he and the nurse were using to examine them. He turned and approached the bed to tell Kenny his current status.

As he opened his mouth to speak, he stopped.

The flourescent lights of the cold hospital room gave Kenny the pale glow of an angel forgotten. The young man was staring at the cieling as if he were looking right through the cement and plaster of the building, straight up through the clouds to God himself, pleading with those tear-filled green eyes.

Why, God? What did I ever do to deserve this?

After a moment, Dr. Cox snapped out of the slight daze he'd fallen into. He kicked his legs into gear and slowly walked up to the bed. He paused, and then sat down in the leathery chair beside Kenny's bed to talk to him.

"Kenny," said Dr. Cox.

Kenny's eyes moved to look at him, blank and stoic, but still pinkened from tears.

Again, the doctor paused. 'Compose yourself, man,' he thought.

Finally, he said, "Kenny, you've broken your back. That's pretty... obvious, I guess. But, you're lucky. Witnesses say you landed on your side."

And...? How is that lucky?

"There's been no permanent damage. You've got three bruises on your spine. Here, see..." The doctor turned in his chair and held up the x-ray for Kenny to see. As if he knew what any of the black and white film meant. "Here, you've bruised your L3 and L4, that's lumbar, vertebrae. And right here, your C3 vertebrae." He put the x-ray down and gave Kenny the friendliest smile he could muster. It was quite a stretch.

"You see, your spinal cord wasn't severed. There's just swelling in these three areas, but they can be repaired with steroid injections. I'd say it'd take about... three to five days. We'll have to put you in a body frame..."

Dr. Cox's voice faded out of Kenny's world. His mentality was on spring break in Cancun.

Yes! Yes, thank you, Lord, they can fix me! I'm not a lost cause! Where is my cat? Ah, nevermind, she'll be fine for now. They can FIX me! Yes! YES!

"...up to eighteen months of physical therapy." The doctor's voice found its way back to Kenny.

Kenny looked back at Dr. Cox.

Physical therapy? For what? I thought you said you could fix me.

Dr. Cox paused and realized that Kenny probably wouldn't know about the physical therapy. He looked down in thought for a moment or so. Then, he spoke.

"Kenny, I don't know if you know anything about computers... but when you get a computer, it doesn't know anything. You know how to use it, but it doesn't have all the software and applications it needs. Over the course of a few years or so, you get all the things you need for that computer and it's just fine the way it is. It gets a virus every once and a while, maybe a little spam, but it's pretty much alright. Think of the computer like your body.

Well, when your computer crashes, like your body crashed, all the information is lost. Luckily for you, Kenny, we can repair your computer, and the, er, main hard drive wasn't damaged. However, all the applications you downloaded for your computer were lost."

...Uhm... insert cricket noise here...

Again, Dr. Cox paused. "I guess... well... In general, your body is going to feel different now. Your nerve endings got all screwed up and had to fix themselves back, so now they've changed. You won't be able to control things like you usually do. It's like learning to ride a bike for the first time, or controlling a giant robot..."

Somebody watches Japanese animation.

The nurse looked up from arranging charts to laugh at Dr. Cox's example. "Or maybe," she added, "It's like getting a new body and learning to control it."

"Yeah, or something like that..." Dr. Cox looked down and bit his lip in thought.

What's up, doc?

"Kenny," Dr. Cox looked up and sighed, locking eyes with his patient. "Why... did... Kenny, were you trying to kill yourself?"

What!

"I mean, I know losing your job is a bad thing, but suicide..."

I would never! I'd never try to kill myself.

"...didn't have any choice but to fire you..."

You've got it all wrong, doctor. The balcony broke and--augh, you can't hear me...

The nurse walked over and inserted a needle into Kenny's side. Kenny looked at her.

Pardon me, miss, what is that giant needle you've stuck in me?

When she was done, the nurse looked up and smiled warmly. "That was your first dose of steroids, Mr. Wallace," she said.