About five weeks later, he had been in a boot instead of the frame for a little more than two weeks. He still wasn't cleared to put weight on his leg, but at least he wasn't hobbling around with the skeleton for a greenhouse around his leg anymore.
The days went a lot faster now that he was a lot more mobile, and the pain had subsided a lot too.
He did the exercises he had gotten for his leg at home, but he had even started working out properly again, a couple of times a week. Exercises which were done without his legs, or adapted so he didn't have to worry about his left leg. He finally felt like he was able to work his way back towards some kind of normal.
He was working his way back to the amount of pull-ups he had been able to do before the injury. Even though his upper body hadn't been injured, he had still lost a lot of strength there over the months when he hadn't been able to run around like usual, and he couldn't even manage half of what he once had.
As he started fighting against the good old muscle fatigue, his phone started ringing.
He let go of the pull-up bar he had mounted on the wall and reached for the phone in his pocket.
"Yeah? You've reached Carter."
"Hey kid…"
"Oh, mom. Hey!"
"I was wondering if you think you're feeling well enough for a family dinner this weekend."
"Family dinner?"
His mom hummed a yes.
"Yeah, sure…" he grinned, "What's on the menu?"
"Haven't decided yet."
"Would it be okay if I brought someone?"
"That girlfriend you mentioned a few months back?"
"Yeah…" he nodded to himself, "Only if she's off this weekend, I don't know her schedule."
"Of course she's welcome." His mom replied, "Does she have any allergies that I would have to consider?"
"Not anything which has come up in conversation, but she doesn't like nuts in stuff."
"Well, looks like you two are a match then." His mom chuckled, "I've gotta say, as big and scary as you try to act, all of that gets ruined for someone if they ever see you eat cake which has hidden nuts in it. One would think you would be able to mask your reaction, but no… Some of the best grimaces one could think of flashes across that face of yours."
He sighed, "And when are we going to stop teasing me for that one thing I just can't handle when it comes to food? I'm not a picky eater or anything…"
"No, you're not. That's what makes it extra fun."
He rolled his eyes a little, "So, this weekend… Which day?"
"I was thinking about Friday evening, but I've got to ask Amy and Rob first, I don't know how they work on Fridays or if the kids have something scheduled."
"Friday at five then? If you don't call and reschedule…"
"Yup, same time as usual."
SEALTEAM
Later that evening, he was sitting on the couch with Emily next to him.
"My mom called earlier today…"
She nodded against his shoulder.
"Wondered if we wanted to come over for dinner on Friday. You could finally meet my family…" He looked down at her, "Are you free? -And do you want to come?"
She nodded against his shoulder again, "It'd be nice to meet your family. You know, more than being a bystander to a facetime call with your sister a long time ago…"
He smirked, "I had pretty much forgotten about that…"
"Well, we had you on some pretty potent painkillers, I'm surprised you remember anything at all…"
"Guess you've got a point…" he nodded a bit, "I was pretty out of it…"