Chapter Six: Rehab
By mid-afternoon the kitchen was stocked, Daniel had returned to the SGC to look for his mystery package, and Jack was watching Sam sulk on the sofa. Her plunge into what Jack classified as depression surprised him. He knew he would have reacted the same, or worse, but he hadn't expected Sam to fall this hard. He had always seen her as unflappable, high-spirited, perky even. He grimaced. He knew she would have hit him, hard, if he had ever said he found her perky.
Jack raced to the doorbell when it rang. He opened the door, looking for salvation in a white lab coat. What he found was a short thin girl with what appeared to be hundreds of small braids in her very long hair. She was wearing a floral sleeveless dress that went to her ankles. Her bare toes peaked out from below the hem of the dress, indicating her love of sandals. She lifted a hand and Jack heard the movement before he saw it because of the numerous bracelets she wore.
"Hi, I'm Leslie, your rehab therapist." She waited for him to take her hand. Jack shook himself out of his stupor and took her hand lightly, afraid he would break her fragile looking hand.
"I'm Jack, It's nice to meet you. Please come in." Jack held the door for the little sprite of a therapist. Leslie stopped in the foyer and waited while Jack closed the door. Jack stepped around her and led her into the living room, where Sam was still curled into a ball on the sofa.
"This is Sam. She was recently injured and has lost both her sight and hearing." Leslie glanced over her shoulder at Jack.
"At the same time?"
"Yeah." Jack face slacked as he answered.
"That's going to be a big change. How's she been dealing with it?"
"No so hot."
"How have you been communicating?" Leslie knelt in front of Sam and looked at her face.
"One tap means yes and two taps means no."
"We'll have to work on that."
"I've got a friend, a linguist, who's working on something better. We also spell words out on the back of her hand."
"I can start there." Leslie picked up Sam's hand. Sam jerked slightly at the fell of an unfamiliar hand. Leslie felt her tense so she immediately began writing.
"Hi, Leslie. I guess you're here to teach me how to be a cripple." Leslie glanced at Jack and tapped Sam's hand twice.
"Like I said, not so hot." Leslie stood and pulled on Sam's hand.
"The best thing we can do is get her up and moving. The more things she does the more confident she'll feel about herself and her abilities." Leslie pulled Sam into a standing position. Sam didn't respond. She didn't fight against Leslie but she didn't help much either. Leslie led Sam into the kitchen. Jack followed.
"Has she had anything to eat or drink lately?" Leslie didn't look at Jack as she let go of Sam's arm and began opening cabinets.
"She had some yogurt for lunch. We kind of learned early on that she could eat the yogurt without making a mess. Beans and corn didn't go over well.
"Then it's time to expand her repertoire." Leslie hunted in the refrigerator and found a tube of cookie mix. "This'll do." Leslie smiled. She went back over to Sam, placed the cold tube in Sam's hand and wrote cookies on Sam's arm.
"If you want cookies feel free to make them." Sam dropped the tube and let her arms hang at her side. Leslie tugged on Sam's arm, bending her over slightly. Sam didn't take the hint. Leslie held Sam's arm out and wrote from her wrist to her elbow. Jack leaned against the bar and watched.
"You want it picked up you pick it up." Sam backed towards the bar and the entrance to the living room. Leslie grabbed Sam's arm and pulled her back. Sam stumbled.
"What are you doing? Are you trying to make me fall?" Jack pushed off the bar and stood straight, ready to interfere on Sam's behalf.
"Stay out of this Jack, if you want to see her improve. If you want her to sit all day and have to be her servant, then feel free to step in and push me out." Jack remained standing but he didn't move in Sam's direction. Leslie pulled Sam's arm again, making her bend at the waist. Sam pulled back, lost her balance, and fell on her butt. Jack stepped forward but Leslie raised her hand. He stopped immediately.
"She knows how to get herself up." Leslie used her foot to push the cookie dough towards Sam. It bumped into her leg and stopped rolling. Sam's face contorted in anger when she felt the roll hit her in the leg.
"How dare you!" Sam rolled onto her knees and hands and pushed herself into a standing position. She stepped towards Leslie but Leslie sidestepped her. Sam walked into the kitchen counter.
"Ow!" Sam spun on her heel, balancing herself by leaning back on the counter. "You can't hide." Sam walked forward again and slipped on the cookie dough. Sam fell again, landing hard on her butt. Jack moved again but Leslie quickly told him to halt. They both watched as Sam picked up the roll of dough. She rolled it in her hands and launched it to her right, hitting the cupboard. The package ripped open, spreading dough across three cabinet doors, the countertop, the floor, the toaster, and the microwave.
"This just keeps getting better. I can see how you win the confidence of your patients." Jack moved towards the sink and grabbed a handful of paper towels.
"Wait until I'm done before you judge me or my methods." Jack stooped to begin wiping. "Leave it. Sam made the mess, she has to clean it up."
"You can't expect her to..."
"Yes I can and so can you. Wouldn't you have expected her to clean it up if she had done this before the accident?"
"That was before."
"Don't expect less of her, Jack. If you do then she will." Leslie wet the dishtowel and placed it on Sam's hand. She knelt beside Sam and wrote clean on Sam's arm. Leslie stood as Sam began to growl.
"The biggest mistake I see the families of my patients make is to either begin treating the patient as a child, being condescending, overly affectionate, and smothering or to alienate them by not showing enough affection and not acting like they can contribute to a real relationship."
"So you're telling me to not be too affectionate but be affectionate enough."
"Basically."
"And that works? That little piece of advice is enough to set the world straight." Leslie laughed.
"I'll have more for you as we go along. The main thing to remember for now is to let her know you still see her like you saw her before this happened. If you don't see her the same way then you need to do some serious soul searching because you can't drag her down as she works to reclaim her life." Sam crawled up to her hands and knees. Her right hand landed in a glob of cookie dough, resulting in a groan of disgust.
"Couldn't you have picked something less squishy, like peas to make your point." Jack shook his head as Leslie grinned.
"I knew I was going to like you." Leslie got a trashcan out from under the sink and took the paper towel roll off the wall. She got on the floor beside Sam and began helping Sam clean the floor. Leslie slid the trashcan over until it brushed Sam's arm. Sam's hand traced the can. She placed the glob of cookie dough in the can, making the plastic ripple as it slid down to the bottom. Jack watched as the two women worked on the floor. As Sam pulled herself up on her knees to work on the cabinet doors Jack left the kitchen and went to the living room. He lay down on the sofa and grinned.
It took the two women an hour working together to clean all the cookie dough. Leslie helped Sam find the mess and Sam did most of the cleaning. By the time they were done they were both thirsty and hungry. Jack ordered pizza. Leslie said Sam would pour the drinks. Leslie wrote her directions on Sam's arm.
"The glasses are in the cabinet to the right of the sink." Sam leaned against the counter. Leslie pulled Sam's arm out and wrote please fix for us.
"We really gotta find a better way to talk then to have you keep pulling my arm out of the socket. It's getting old." Sam groused but she pushed off the counter. She placed her left hand on the top of the bar to help guide her path. When her finger dipped into the sink she knew she was close. She turned towards the sink and edged to her right. Sam raised her arm and searched for the cabinet handle. She opened the door and began fingering the glasses.
"If it's alright with you I'll go with plastic this time." Leslie tapped Sam's shoulder once as Jack sat on a barstool. Jack grinned. Sam got three plastic cups out of the cabinet and closed the door. She scooted over to the refrigerator. She opened the freezer door and put several cubes of ice into the three cups. She slid the cups along the counter and back to the sink. She turned on the water and placed one cup under the faucet until it spilled over. She sat that cup on the counter and picked up the next cup. Leslie stopped Sam.
"Jack what do you want to drink?"
"Water's fine."
"Don't enable her, Jack. What do you really want to drink?" Jack grimaced but relented.
"Root beer." Leslie straightened Sam's arm and wrote Jack root beer...me ginger ale.
"You have got to be kidding me! How am I supposed to know root beer from ginger ale. Can't you just be satisfied with what I can do?" Leslie tapped twice on Sam's shoulder. She placed Sam's hand on the faucet. Sam turned off the water but she didn't move. Leslie guided her to the refrigerator and placed her hand on the door. Sam jerked it open and stood there.
"Am I supposed to magically be able to tell what is what? Haven't you noticed I'm blind!" Leslie waited. After several seconds Sam sighed and leaned into the refrigerator. She ran her hands over the bottles and cans in the refrigerator.
"Ok, there are two liters and cans in here. That's all I can tell." Leslie stepped over and lifted one of the two liters off the shelf. She placed it in Sam's hand. She took Sam's other hand and placed it on the lid. Sam took the hint and opened the top. Leslie lifted the bottle higher so it was just under Sam's nose.
"I get it, it's root beer. It still seems like a pain in the rear to have to sniff every bottle of soda to find the one Jack wants." Leslie smiled and glanced over at Jack. Sam shuffled over to the cups. Leslie placed one of Sam's fingers over the edge of the cup so it dangled inside. Sam poured, missing the cup a little, until she felt the fluid touch her finger. She stopped pouring. She replaced the top of the bottle and went back to the refrigerator. She opened and sniffed the other bottle and shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't think I smelled any ginger ale. You get whatever's in this bottle." Sam repeated her earlier actions. Sam smiled just slightly as she put the drinks away. The doorbell rang and Jack paid for the pizza just as Sam was finishing.
"That took forever. At least I worked up a thirst." Leslie placed a wad of paper towels in Sam's hand and put her other hand in the spilled water and soda.
"I swear you must be a perfectionist." Sam moved the three glasses, wiping each clean before sitting them on a clean section of the counter. After cleaning the outside of the glasses Sam wiped the counters with the paper towels. She wet the dishrag and wiped the counters one more time, to remove the sugary sticky soda mess. Leslie knew at that moment that Sam was beginning to emerge.
Jack got out plates and set the table. Leslie placed the water in Sam's hand and she took the other two drinks to the table. Sam shuffled over.
"I smell pizza." Jack tapped her once on the shoulder. Sam bumped into the table and sat her glass down. She used her free hand to find a chair. Sam ate a whole slice of pizza before taking a drink of water. She made a face and pushed away from the table. Without saying a word she made her way to the sink. She dumped the water and painstakingly filled her glass with soda, the diet soda. Sam returned to the table, took a gulp of soda, smiled and began eating again. Jack burst into laugher and Leslie smiled.
"She'll be fine, Jack. It's not going to be easy or smooth but she'll be fine." Leslie stayed until late in the evening. She helped Sam work on brushing her teeth and finding pajamas. Jack walked her to the door after Sam was settled.
"I'll be back early in the morning. I want to help Sam work on dressing and making breakfast."
"You know she didn't cook before this happened either."
"It's never too late to learn."
"Yeah well, I've tasted her cooking and if it's alright with you I'd rather fix my own."
"Give her a chance, Jack. If it totally sucks we can go out for lunch. A walk through the mall would do her some good."
"She's not ready for crowds yet."
"She will be by tomorrow afternoon because by then we'll have worked on using a cane. I'll see you bright and early."
Jack took up Teal'c's offer to get breakfast after Leslie arrived. He didn't want to watch the fireworks he felt sure would begin soon. Jack dragged breakfast out until it was time to pick up lunch. He grabbed some subs, chips, and sodas and returned to Sam's house just after noon. Daniel car was out front as he pulled into the drive.
Jack walked inside and headed straight for the kitchen. Leslie was leaning on the counter watching the back of Daniel and Sam's heads as they sat on the sofa working with some big piece of machinery. Jack joined Leslie at the bar and handed her sandwich. He didn't touch his food as he watched. It wasn't long before his curiosity propelled him to the side of the sofa, still clutching the bag of sandwiches and chips.
"Jack, hi. I didn't hear you come in."
"I wasn't expecting you so I didn't get you a sandwich." Jack lifted the small white bag.
"That alright, I usually eat later then this anyway." Daniel grinned at Jack as Sam nudged Daniel's arm, getting back his attention.
"So what are you two doing?"
"I'm teaching Sam how to read Braille."
"And how are you doing that?" Jack sat on the arm of the sofa. He lightly touched Sam's arm to let her know he was there.
"Once the Braille writer got here I was able to make pages with the alphabet in Braille."
"And how is suppose to learn which letter is which?" Jack watched Sam running her fingers across a page full of dots.
"I made these pages using fabric paint." Daniel handed Jack a notebook with pages filled with letters drawn in fabric paint, so Sam could feel the letter's shape, with the Braille written beside it. It was simple and ingenious.
"What I really want is a McDonalds apple pie. I hate to admit I love them, especially with ice cream but I can skip the ice cream today." Sam turned her head in Daniel's direction.
"What is she talking about?" Jack stared at Sam as his brow creased in confusion.
"I asked her what she really wanted to eat that she hadn't had since she got home." Jack's smile erupted on his face.
"We can really talk to her?"
"It'll be slow until she gets use to it but yes we can really talk to her." Jack squeezed Sam's hand.
"I thin I'll be going for the day if you don't mind." Jack and Daniel both turned towards Leslie. "I won't be getting her attention back today and it really is important she work on communicating. I'll see you bright and early." Leslie pushed off the counter and headed for the door. "I didn't eat my sandwich Daniel, if you're interested."
"Thanks, Leslie." Both men ignored the fact they had spoken at the same time. Leslie laughed as she walked out the door.