Hey guys, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter up, I've had this play on that has taken up pretty much every spare moment of my time. Anyway, I have absolutely no idea how long it takes for someone to re-learn how to walk, nor do I know what it's like, so bear with me. I'm going to guess it'd take about 6 months to re-learn how to walk; therefore my next two chapters will be at three month intervals. That was you get an idea as to what's going on, but it doesn't get all boring and repetitive. They'll probably be short chapters too as like I said before, I have no idea what happens when you re-learn how to walk, and a search on the internet was no help. Oh, and this is written from Ryan's point of view, as it usually is. Anyway, as usual, please R&R, it's greatly appreciated: ) Happy Reading.

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"You're doing well, Marissa," the doctor kept saying that over and over, and I could see it wasn't helping. "I've fallen like six times, how is that doing well?" she snapped. I could hear the frustration in her voice, see it on her face. I tried to reassure her. "Marissa, honey, it's okay. No one said this was gonna be easy. Just keep trying. You can do it, I know you can." She looked like she wanted to snap at me too, but just closed her eyes, took a deep breath and pulled herself up with the bars to try again.

The past few months had been hard on all of us. As soon as Marissa had recovered from her other various injuries resulting from the car crash, the doctors had put her in physio to start working on her walking again. I remember her excitement as she realized she could move her toes. We were sitting on her bed, waiting for the doctor to come in. She was staring at the floor, or so I thought, until she burst out with "My toes! I can move my toes!" I followed her gaze Her toes were wiggling. Not as well as I could wiggle mine, but they were moving. I broke into a grin. Marissa sounded so excited, and why shouldn't she be? We had been going to physio for three days now, focusing mainly on her regaining control of her muscles, but with no results yet. I could see the disappointment and worry on her face at the end of that hour each day, and my heart went out to her. I wanted so much to be able to help, but I knew I couldn't. So moving toes definitely seemed like a breakthrough.

The doctor didn't seem to share our enthusiasm. When she told him all he managed was a distracted smile and a "good." The smile quickly left Marissa's face. I guess she realized then that, even though this was, as the doctor said, good, there was still a long way to go. She continued going to physio for an hour each day until about a month ago, when it was extended to two. She had regained some use of her legs and was using the parallel bars to hold herself up as she learnt how to walk again. She was still very clumsy and unsteady, hence the falling down.

"Argh!" Marissa moaned as she fell down, again. She made no move to pull herself back up. The physiotherapist went over to help her, but Marissa batted her hand away. "Leave me alone!" she said. Tears of frustration dripped down her face. The physio looked sympathetic. "I know its hard Marissa, but you've got to keep trying. You're making great progress," she said. Marissa shook her head.

"It's hopeless. I'll never walk again." The physio looked over at me.

"Maybe we'll take a break. Have a drink and a rest for a few minutes, then we'll continue, okay?" Marissa took no notice, so I answered for her.

"That'd be great, thanks," I said. The physio smiled at me and went to talk to one of the doctors. I bent down to where Marissa was sitting on the floor. "You okay?" I said. She sighed and wiped away the tears. "Yeah. It's just so…" I was expecting her to say hard.

"…embarrassing. I feel like a failure." I almost laughed.

"Oh, Marissa, honey! There's nothing to be embarrassed about! No one expects you to learn to walk again just like that. It'll take time and we're all here for you." As if on cue, Summer came in. She spotted us and walked over. "Hey Coop! What are you doing down there? Ugh, do you know what's been on that floor? Come on, lets get you to a seat." Marissa smiled. She was probably thinking the same thing as me; typical Summer, the first thing she thinks of is the dirt on the floor. I bent down and picked Marissa up and carried her to a chair. "Ryan, want to help me get drinks?" Summer motioned to a table with a water pitcher and some cups on it. I nodded. "We'll be right back, kay Coop?" Summer said to Marissa, and then led the way over to the table. I smiled at Marissa before following. "How's she doing?" Summer asked me when we were out of earshot.

"Okay. I think she's just getting frustrated."

"I don't blame her," Summer said, glancing over at Marissa sitting in the chair. "Listen, I'll take over here for a while. You've been here since seven this morning. Go home and have some lunch." Now that she mentioned lunch, I realized how hungry I was.

"Thanks, Sum," I said, smiling at her. She grimaced at my use of her nickname, and I laughed. "I'll take Coop's water over. You get going." She walked over to Marissa with the cup of water and I made for the door. But when I reached it, I wondered what I was doing. How could I leave Marissa when she needed me? I could eat later, for now I needed to stay. I turned around to go back, then stopped again. Marissa and Summer were chatting animatedly about whatever it is girls chatted about, and I decided I should just go. I stood watching them for a second, a smile on my face. Everything was going to be just fine.