The following morning Doctor McGuiness dropped by on his rounds. Street sat in his bed watching the TV, eating a piece of toast.
"Good Morning Jim" he said coming into the room, "How are you feeling?"
"Ok I guess, either the pain meds are working, or it just seems to hurt a bit less today" he said shrugging. At least his mood had improved from his depressive like state yesterday.
Doctor McGuinness smiled, "Good to hear… are you ready to get up?"
Streets eyes widened, he felt a surge of adrenaline course through him. "Up? …. You mean get off this bed?... hell yeah" he said beginning to try to wriggle himself to the edge.
"Woah…. Woah…... hang on" Doctor McGuinness said stopping him. "I will organise the Physical Therapist to come by then. They will talk to you about the next steps. About getting you mobile and into rehab to begin your recovery."
Street stopped moving and sat back again. "Oh…. Ok, thanks Doc".
Doctor McGuiness began checking his charts and examining his wounds and Streets mind flew back to Chris. He was wondering where she was right now, probably just arriving for shift he thought looking at the clock on the wall. He missed not being there with the team. He hated being stuck here. He tried not to let that impact him, he told himself to stay positive, hopefully the Physical Therapist would come by soon and let him get up off the bed and he would have some progress to show Chris later,
Nurse Jamie entered the room with more dressings to change. "Hey Jim…. How are you feeling?"
"Good" Street answered.
"How did you sleep?" She asked eyeing him,
"Good, whatever you stuck in that" he said pointing to the drip "is good stuff" he nodded. Nurse Jaime laughed a little "I'm glad you are well rested."
"I'm going to arrange the PT to come by and see Jim and hopefully we will have him up and about in the next few hours," Doctor McGuiness explained to Nurse Jaime. She smiled and nodded. Noting the smile on Streets face. Doctor McGuiness left, and Street picked up his phone.
"Hey beautiful 😊, how are you this morning" he typed. He was just hitting send when Nurse Jamie tapped his leg, "Hey," …... Street glanced up at her and she was nodding for him to look. Chris was standing out in the hall, talking to Doctor McGuinness. "She's back"
Street smiled at the sight of her, 'she has to be on shift this morning, what is she doing here?' He wondered. Doctor McGuiness was telling Chris how he was in a good mood this morning and that they were planning to start getting him up off the bed and moving about today, if that went well, they would look at beginning his physical therapy and rehab.
Chris was smiling and nodding at Doctor McGuiness, "That's great news" she beamed as she glanced to his room. She saw him smiling at her and she waved and smiled back. "Jim really needs to see and feel some progress, so he stays motivated to do this" she said,
"I will send the Physical Therapist by once I complete my rounds" He answered patting Chris's arm reassuringly and walking away.
Chris stuck her head in the room. "Morning"
"Hey…." Streets smile was huge, he was happy to see her again. "What are you doing here? Thought you are on shift?"
"I'm heading in, just wanted to stop by first and see how you were or if you needed anything" she said walking to him and hugging him. She sat on the edge of the bed and smiled at him,
"Doc says your getting mobile today" she said widening her eyes and smiling,
"Yeah" he nodded "can't wait to get off this god damn bed"
Chris sat with him for a bit, holding his hand. She was happy that they were hopefully getting him up and moving today. She knew he was needing that.
"I gotta go" she said frowning. "I'll be back after shift though" she said giving him sad eyes.
He smirked, "Hopefully I will be able to stand up and hold you by then" he said smiling.
She hugged him and kissed him sweetly, a lingering bye, and left to head in for shift. As he watched her disappear out of sight, he smiled to himself, 'Damn… I'm lucky' he thought.
The Physical Therapist, a friendly guy named Shawn, came by soon after to see him. He explained to Street that the sooner they get him up and mobile the better and without too much fuss began to help him off the bed. Street nodded and knew he needed to focus and do his best. The smile on Streets face when his feet touched the floor for the first time in so long was huge, and that smile stayed plastered on his face, even though the pain of making his injured legs take the weight of his body as he stood up and took a few tentative steps. Shawn worked with Street for a few hours that morning. By the early afternoon Street was fairly stable on his own feet and was no longer confined to his bed. As it approached end of shift time Street was anxious to see Chris again and show her, he was mobile. Nurse Jamie offered to take a short walk around the corridors with him and Street was too excited to say no.
As they made their way around the floor the elevator at the end of the corridor opened. Chris stepped out and turned left to walk towards his room. She hadn't noticed him with Nurse Jamie further up the corridor. Street spotted her though.
"Hey, you" he called out. Chris instantly heard him and spun back around. Seeing him walk towards her on his own two feet she let out a loud exhale and laughed happily
"Hey yourself…. Look at you go"
She began walking back towards him and he held up his hand for her to stop. "Let me get to you" he said. She stopped and smiled at him. He looked so happy, so much more like the Street she knew and loved. As he got closer, he put out his arms and taking one last step to her, held her in his arms tightly.
"Told you so" he whispered in her ear as he hugged her tightly.
"I'm so happy for you and proud of you" she said pulling back. He raised his hand to her face and pulled her in to kiss her deeply.
Nurse Jamie smiled at them. She loved seeing these types of happy endings.
Over the next few weeks, Street was moved to a general ward and was smashing the goals the PT had set him almost every day. By the 3rd week mark he almost regained 90% of his strength back and was training daily to regain full physical fitness. Doctor McGuinness came by to check his wounds and was happy to report that his latest cardiac test were good and that he could go home today if he felt up to it.
"Hell yeah" Street had answered. He had never been happier. All he could think of was telling Chris the good news. She was at work, but he immediately text her.
"Hey, just spoke to the doc. Guess what? I'm being released today!"
Chris was talking with Cortez at HQ about a current case when she got the text. She stopped mid-sentence as she read it.
"What…. What is it?" Cortez asked. Looking a little concerned.
"Ahhhh, Street" Chris said glancing from her phone to Cortez, "He is allowed to go home today" she said smiling.
Cortez smiled and hugged Chris happily, "let's go tell the team"
"Gather round" Cortez called as she entered the gym. The team stopped what they were doing and moved closer. "Chris just got a text from Street to say he is being released today to go home" she continued. The gym erupted into a loud cheer as the team began high fiving and hugging each other. Cortez let Chris go early, she knew they were close, and he would probably want her to pick him up.
As Chris arrived at the hospital mid-afternoon, she smiled seeing him sitting on the bed, with his bags packed waiting for her.
"Hey…. Deja vu" Chris said entering the room. "except the last time we did this... I was a mess and god…." She paused and looked at him
"what?" he asked
"a lot has happened and changed since then" she said smiling at him.
He stood up and walked to her, hugging her tightly, before kissing her. "I didn't do that last time" he smiled at her. She smiled back at him. "no, no you didn't… but you did make me feel cared for…. And I'll never forget that"
He kissed her forehead and held her in his arms,
"So, are you going back to Lucas' or to your place?" she asked looking up at him.
"my place I think…...I was hoping you would consider staying with me…." He said nervously, watching her for a reaction. She blinked slowly and smiled.
"We are taking this slow though Jim" she said looking back into his brown eyes "Okay?"
He smiled and nodded at her… "I don't wanna be alone, I wanna be with you and just spend time together, just us. We can't do that at Luca's, they don't know yet and … when are we gunna tell them?"
"Let's worry about that later" Chris said reaching for his bag, "come on, time to get out of here."
They walked hand in hand to the carpark. Street had never been happier. The love of his life by his side and getting the all clear, he felt invincible.
As she drove towards his apartment, he watched her. She could feel his eyes on her, she ignored it at first, but after a while she couldn't help herself,
"What?" she said turning her head briefly and playfully thumping his leg. "Stop staring at me…. Your making me nervous"
He chuckled, "Sorry… I just …. I am so happy right now…... I never expected or thought this would actually happen"
"What? You'd get to go home?" She asked with a sombre tone,
"No, this" he said placing a hand on her leg, "us" he said sweetly, "you make me so happy Chris…. I …...I really really love you". He said. She smiled hearing his words and the sincerity in his voice.
"I love you too" she smiled, flicking him her eyes.
Chris stayed with him that night. It didn't feel right to leave him alone. She was adamant about taking things slow and agreed to sleep beside him, as long as he didn't try any funny business. It felt so right just lying there with him, she couldn't bring herself to want to go. She had taken one of his shirts as a nightie and was content in his arms.
"I hope you are okay, if you want to go you can I …. I just want to feel you next to me and know you're here" he said. She didn't say anything, just leaned up and kissed him.
"It's ok Jim" she said pulling back and resting her nose on his… "I don't wanna be anywhere else right now" she whispered as she lay down and closed her eyes, her head on his chest and her arms holding him tightly.