"Easy… Hold it there…" Sarah herd Jack grunt a little as he tried to hold his sitting position, his ribs aching like hell despite the pain killers. He held his breath as she pulled his tee up and began inspecting his bruised back.
"This may hurt a little," she warned softly before prodding the area making sure it was healing nicely.
"Okay," she said tapping him on the shoulder as she pulled his top down and helped him lay back. He was out of breath from the effort, that making him angrier than anything else.
"They're healing up nicely," she spoke enthusiastically, "how was that?"
"Tiring," he gasped as he caught his breath. She smiled again, "its okay, your body has gotten used to restricted movements. Now lets take a look at these ribs…"
Jack groaned again crossing his arm over his stomach. "I can't," he moaned, hoping to get away with it.
"Why not?"
"I feel weird."
"Are you in pain?"
"No, but… I seem slower than normal."
Sarah fought back a smile and decided to leave the sarcastic comments alone. "I know, I gave you more morphine today. After the bad dream you had I was worried you had ruptured the leg, I did it to help you rest."
He didn't say anything as he thought of the dream he had, before staring at the ceiling sulkily.
"And… all you have to do is lay there. Its me doing the work so stop moaning."
A flicker in her eye told her it was alright to proceed so she pushed his arm aside and pulled the shirt up. He lay still as he tried to stop his mind from drifting. He liked Sarah, she had helped him a lot already with his injuries, and she helped him forget about China and the confession while he was awake. More importantly, she wasn't treating him with caution as though treading on eggshells like Kim.
She didn't look at him like some poor wounded soldier, and he appreciated it. He didn't want sympathy and he certainly didn't deserve it. Sarah glanced up at him and smiled to herself, he had dozed off again in the minutes silence. He certainly needed the rest and recovery so she wasn't going to complain. At least he wasn't seemingly suicidal today, which was always a good sign.
Heller ended the call before heading back into the house, seeing Kim sat back at the table.
"How's your father?"
"He was good. Sarah's examining him now."
"That's great," he said, genuinely pleased. "I just spoke with David Palmer, would it be okay with you if he came here, he wants to talk to Jack. I think that if he himself tells Jack he isn't angry, and explains what the government is now doing, it will help him deal with any guilt he may have."
Kim smiled. "I think that's an excellent idea."
"Good, I'll page him later."
"Okay, well, I'm ready to do the rest of my debrief now," she grinned, just saying hello to her father had lifted her spirits.
"Then lets get started," he said warmly, hoping the events she re-tolled wouldn't be to hard on either of them. He didn't want to spoil the mood but they both needed to get this over with.