Kim paced the foot of the bed back and forth as Sarah checked the thermometer and began taking notes in her diary.
"Sarah," she started sounding exasperated.
Sarah held a hand up in the air to silence Kim, not looking up until the diary was shut, she sat it on the table next to the dying flowers.
"Its been ten days Kim, please don't tell me your hoping for something to happen here, its going to get a lot harder, believe me. He's got a long road to walk until he's gonna be over this."
Kim looked down as she sucked her bottom lip confused.
"How did you know I was-"
"Its written all over your face," she sighed as she began to inspect the thick cast wrapped around Jacks leg.
"Kim, your father has experienced a sever trauma, mental and physical…"
"I know I was there," she snapped; not liking the nurses dismissive behaviour.
"Then why don't you start acting realistically and change the look on your face?" Sarah stated, tired and impatient. "He will react to your mood Kim, don't you get that? He is barely conscious when he comes around now, and he is depressed when you sit there looking all worried. What you need to do is be hopeful, try and cheer him up."
"He will be hurting no matter what I say," Kim sighed as she slouched down into one of cushioned chairs by the bed.
"Yes he will, that's the whole point. Listen…" She decided to take a more gentle approach, at times it seemed Kim was as disturbed as her father at the situation.
"Its going to take a while for him to overcome the physical issues. Its going to be at least another week before the morphine is toned down, he's still got at least one more surgery on that leg; and we still don't have a clue on how its going to function afterwards."
She saw Kim glance at the thick cast as a chill ran through her, caught up in the memory of how it had gotten so messed up.
"My point being, once he can think straight and not live through these flashbacks… he's got even more problems to face. His limitations and overcoming these injuries, then… debriefs, questions about what they did to him Kim… People want to know what happened there and how he ended up signing a confession."
Kim shook her head as though she cold block out the truth. "He didn't have a choice!"
"Look this is nothing to do with me. Your friend told me about this. Then there's Secretary of Defence, he is going to be asking Jack questions, which will help him find out just how Jack was taken and why they didn't save him. People will be screaming conspiracy. He's going to have to answer to those who are batting for him and those who are going to try get him down. Its going to be harder than hard Kim; and you're the one who he is going to lean on, whether he realises or not."
"What's the point in trying," Kim snapped, "if everything's going to be so messed up for him anyway? Sarah I know my father better than anyone, he wont be able to live with himself for giving David up; if others start to blame him, he will not be able to cope with his guilt or sense of duty." She broke off for a moment, "That's why I'm so scared for him… I know how hard this is going to be and I don't want to see him suffer anymore."
"I know this is hard on you too but you really need to help me here; we have to make the recovery time as pleasant and bright as possible. That's going to be hell in itself; but when that's over," she paused, "well we both know it can only get worse until this whole ordeal is behind him. We need to get him on the right track before other issues can throw him onto another."
Kim sniffed, she hadn't realised tears were filling her eyes. She wouldn't cry though, when she had first climbed onto the large plane in China she made a pact with herself that she wouldn't cry before her father again. The sight of her upset would hurt him enough, she really had to be strong for him now.
Sarah smiled and went to checking him over, she unmanaged his hand up and washed it gently before inspecting it. Kim looked over curious, waiting for Sarah to explain.
"Its just bruised, its knocked up pretty bad but I'm surprised it isn't broken. He lucked out on that."
"Yeah I know," Kim muttered, seeing the man smashing it with that sledgehammer as her fathers scream echoed through her mind.
She squeezed her eyes closed to block it out; Sarah watched compassionately as she wondered if she should intrude or not.
"Kim, Heller told me what happened, he trusts me a great deal. I know you suffered in there too, I don't want you to think I'm being nosey… If you do want to talk to somebody, I'm here okay?" She spoke softly and wasn't sure if Kim had herd, until she turned to face her with red eyes.
"Thanks," she said, sniffing again; "I'm sorry my emotions are a little misplaced right now. I don't know how to feel…" She broke off, shaking her head confused.
"I understand," she said, going back to her inspection of Jack. She cleaned his face off and decided to use another ice pack on his face, the swelling had gone down with the medication he had been given, but it as still bad in areas and she didn't have any more of the liquid used earlier.
Sighing she began to rummage through the cooler, speaking aloud to Kim to fill the silence. "I wish he could have stayed in the hospital, it's a pain transferring the medication and equipment back and forth. I'm going to have to make another trip tonight…"
"It was for the best," Kim said reassuringly, now gently flicking the fingers on Jacks bandaged hand. He was still sleeping soundly, the nightmare earlier had certainly wore him out.
"I know. I would have still made him stay though; if Heller hadn't have argued against me that is," she laughed.
Kim smiled. Jack had panicked when he woke in the hospital, he knew where he was but he still didn't like it. He had endured a panic attack and been restrained. This however, had only increased his panic and in the end he had been sedated. At Heller's order he had been transferred home with a nurse with him 24 hours a day. A fully qualified doctor would visit him twice a day, Palmer had added, backing Jim up. Since Jacks capture a strange bong had grown between the two men.
They were both concerned for Jacks comfort just as much as the recovery. Ten days later and he was still in the guest room of Kim's home; having been transferred back to hospital twice for the surgeries on his leg. After the first operation he had agreed to stay as their wanted to take him back in as soon as possible. But after the second op they decided it would be another week at best before they could go in again, so it was agreed Jack would be taken back home. They still weren't sure as to when they were taking him back in, they wanted to fix the bones as soon as possible but were aware that they couldn't rush the procedure. They also had to take the rest of Jacks physical condition into consideration, he was still far to weak to withstand too much.
"How long till they take him back in, do you think?" Kim asked, voicing her thoughts.
"Oh I'm not sure," Sarah replied honestly. "Daniels coming in tomorrow with a specialist so they can take the cast off and have a look, see how its doing. Until they know how its healing and they have some feedback from Jack, its all in the air."
Kim nodded, not happy with the answer. It seemed everything concerning him was out of their hands, and she hated every minute of it; almost as bad as Jack did.
I'm still unsure about this so please review!