Rebirth – Chapter 15: Hardly A Homecoming
-Notes-
Merry-2004: Aw, don't worry things will perk eventually! …Right? Let's hope so, or this would just be one big angst pit. :D
Kaliska Vanka: Voila! I'm a miracle healer! Well I had to. I mean, I'm lazy, and it just makes it harder for the story if I have to work around Larry's dibilitation. Thanks for reading!
Urgh, well. I can't garauntee that I'll be able to update again all that soon. A lot of crap is coming down on me right now. So…yeah. I'll try.
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It was only a matter of days later that Lawrence was hearing the words 'chances' and 'signifigant recovery'. They apparently suspected his foot to regain a rough sixty-eight percent usage, which he was quite aware meant that after some time, he could walk unaided again. Not without a permenant cripple, but it would be walking none the less. Needless to say, he was more than happy to hear it. He had been so absolutely sure that the re-attatchment had been pointless, and when you're a pessimist, it's always good to be wrong. It meant that he wouldn't be confined to crutches or burdened by prosthetics. But most importantly, it meant he wouldn't have to try and explain any of this to Diana. As far as she knew, his foot was just broken, or cut, or something. That was all she ever had to know.
Adam had visited a few more sparing times, but much to Lawrence's exasperation, their time together was constantly cut short by one thing or another. Mostly it was some appointment with doctor Krovan—which was awkward, considering that they had known each other as equals for some time—regarding physical therapy and such. Obviously little needed to be explained to him. From there it was standard. Appointments were scheduled, times were set, all was arranged. Eventually, Lawrence was released.
Diana refused to conceal an ounce of her happiness. From the moment she had heard of his coming home, she had been more excited than he could ever remember seeing her. All of Lawrence's wallowing vanished with the knowledge that he was truly, unconditionally loved, and he was relieved to be able to go home.
Lawrence gazed out the car window at his surroundings as if seeing them for the first time, but in the same instant marvelling at the familiarity of it all. He'd never really looked at these houses or buildings or the scenery before. He recognized it, but had never really…seen it. When he drove, he kept his eyes on the road and his thoughts on much more dire matters. Paperwork, patients, badgering co-workers. Had he really been so distant…? By the time the car pulled up into his driveway, he was thuroughly convinced that he had never seen this neighborhood in all his life.
"We're home, Daddy!" Diana announced from behind him as she pushed the door open. "I'll get your sticks for you."
"Oh, thank you." He tried to turn and look at her before deciding it was too much effort. He opened his own door and looked down at the cement driveway.
Allison turned off the car and pulled the keys from the ignition, letting out a sigh as she looked over at Lawrence with a small smile. "You need some help, Larry?"
"Think I've got it. Thanks." He returned the smile and slowly stepped his uninjured foot down to the ground.
"Here Dad." Diana said, clumsily holding up a crutch to him.
"Hey, great." He reached out to take it, hesitantly placing it under his arm in a fashion that clearly said he wasn't used to this and carefully leaned the better part of his weight onto it. His daughter stood back with the other crutch, watching him curiously. He wavered but managed to stand, taking the other crutch as it was given to him and balancing his stance with the casted foot raised up.
"I drew you some more pictures, Daddy." Said Diana as she backed up, watching his wobbling limp as he made his way to the house.
"Well that's great, sweetie, are they inside?" he swallowed and tried to concentrate on his steps, feeling out the way of his crutches. He'd seen over a thousand patients walk out on these, why the hell was this so difficult for him?
"Yep." She nodded. "I put 'em on your bed so you could look at them and you wouldn't have to go anywhere."
"Oh, good." He chuckled. "Guess we ran out of room on the fridge?" he looked over at Allison, who laughed.
"We ran out of room there a long time ago…" she added. "Diana, why don't you go inside and get Daddy a soda, hm? Just bring it to his bedroom."
"Okay." She agreed, bounding off into the house.
Allison turned to him as he fidgeted with a crutch. "So Larry, um…" she swallowed, looking down. "Well look, are you…are you gonna be okay? I mean, God, this whole thing, I…"
"Yeah. Hey, don't worry about it." He nodded. "It's…over."
She paused, eyes locked on his for a short while. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. Come on. You're probably tired."
"Thanks Allison." He smiled again, taking one last look at the foreign place that he called home before he allowed to his wife to lead him inside.
Lawrence was immediately sent to his bed as soon as he'd settled in again, which was slightly unwelcome. He'd just gotten back from a long stay of being confined to a damn bed twenty-four seven—but then again this was better than the hospital at least. At least here he could get up to go to the bathroom…And here he could see Diana constantly, which was naturally the best part of his home coming.
It was getting somewhat late into the night by the time he was beginning to feel at home again. He sat on his bed happily with Diana in his lap, avidly showing him every one of her drawings and meticulously explaining the importance of each. With her here, he didn't feel nearly so dibilitated as he did simply relaxing.
"See," Diana said, shifting her position slightly as she pointed to another section of the picture she currently held in her hands. "This one's a dragon."
"Really? A dragon? Wow…" he grinned as he looked down at the picture, which sort of resembled a green dog with big, triangle teeth. "He's a big dragon alright."
"It's a girl dragon, Daddy."
"Oh." He reached a hand over and swept some of the other drawings away, plucking out one randomly and holding it up. "Well what's this one, this one has a lot of pretty colors on it."
"Umm…" she held a finger to her chin for a moment as she took it. "I think it's a space ship. I don't really remember." She tossed it aside and he laughed.
"And all these drawings are really for me?" he asked as he reached out and grabbed a couple scattered to the side.
"Mm hm." She agreed.
"Well you're the best artist I know." Lawrence decreed. "And one day you'll make billions and billions of dollars, and people will come from all over just to see you draw."
"Maybe I can make as much money as you." She suggested, piling some of her papers into a stack as she rummaged through them.
"Even more." He said, holding back a yawn. "You know something, Adam really like your drawings, too."
"He did?" she looked up at him.
"Sure. He even said he would put them up on his fridge, at his home." He recalled.
Diana was silent for a while, gazing over some of her other works. "Where does Adam live?" she asked.
"Well he lives in an apartment…It's like a house, but it's in a big building with lots of other houses." He said, brushing some of the ends of her hair away from her shoulder.
"I know what an apartment is, Daddy." She informed.
"Oh, well, excuse me." He poked her in the nose and she hid her face down in her hands with a giggle.
"Do you like Adam?" she continued on.
"Of course I like him. He's my friend." Lawrence thought about that for a minute. He supposed that would be the best thing to call him. They hadn't known each other long, but they at least had one grave experience in common.
"Is he your best friend?"
"You're my best friend." He pulled her up to him and kissed her head.
"Besides me?"
"Sure. Yeah. He's my best friend besides you." He stretched out his leg a little and winced as he heard the crumple of paper.
"Is he married? Does he have any kids or something?"
"Uh, no. Adam lives…by himself." Lawrence thought of that and sighed unconsciously. Adam was probably alone right now…
"He just lives alone?" she pulled back and looked up at him with her brow furrowed.
"I think so." He nodded.
Diana thought for second, as though trying to find a remedy for the situation. "Maybe you should buy him a kitty. Or a dog."
Lawrence smiled. "Then he wouldn't be so lonely, huh?"
"Alright, Diana," came Allison's voice as she came into the room. They both looked up at her. "I think it's time to let Daddy get some sleep."
"But Mom…" she looked up at Lawrence, then to her mother. "I'm not done showing him my pictures."
"You can show him the rest tomorrow, okay? Come on, it's getting late." She raised and arm slightly in beckoning.
Diana 'hmphed' and climbed off the bed, going to her mother. "Goodnight Daddy."
"Goodnight Diana. I'll see you in the morning." He waved a hand. The two exited the room and he was left sitting in a mountain of crayon drawings. He chuckled to himself and began to gather them up, smoothing out some of the crushed ones and putting them all in a haphazard stack. At that, he set them aside on the bedside table, trying to lay back in bed. He actually was tired with all the commotion today, and the painkillers he'd taken thus far were only adding to it. Maybe tonight he would be able to get some sleep without the nightmares. Now he was home.
"You sure you don't want something to eat, Larry?" Allison asked as she came back into the room. "Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you're looking kind of scrawny."
"I'm…not really up to it." He declined.
"Alright." She agreed. After a short pause, she turned off the lights, leaving them both in only the amber glow of a bedside lamp. Lawrence shifted himself so that he could lie down, hindered by the clumsy dead weight of his foot, but managing well enough on his own. This bed felt almost strange to him. Most nights he had spent only a few exhausted hours here, others he would catch cat naps at the hospital before his next shift. Either way, he hadn't been in a bed with anyone in a long while…or not that he'd registered. As Allison climbed in bed next to him, he felt an odd pulse of invasion.
He brushed it away, though. She was his wife, no matter how distant they'd become. "Thanks, Allison." Lawrence said sincerely as he let his eyes close slightly, the dark scene blurring around him.
"Yeah. No problem." She said as she got underneath the covers. After a mild hesitation, she moved closer to him, placing her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest. The gesture was affectionate, but predictably hollow. It almost seemed to be a mutual preformance of an intimacy that was known to be long since gone…
Lawrence found himself wishing for something more, and not for the first time. But he coined himself a fool for wishing.
