"Again," Yuuri called out in a bored voice, listening to the sound of blades hitting ice as Minami and Viktor skated around the Ice Castle rink together.

Sighing, Yuuri looked down at his lap, only to realize he was slouching again and quickly sat up straight, trying to suck in his gut without much luck. Having been inactive for over two months, Yuuri found the pounds packing on quicker than, if that were even possible with his already easy weight gain. Viktor had not uttered a single word about the paunch, but the Japanese man had found his husband more around the middle than he had done previously, and he doubted that had anything to do with the injuries he had previously sustained to his ribs.

Speaking of injuries, Yuuri looked at his arm in its cast, trying hard not to glare at it. They were heading in the next day to check to see if he could get his cast off his arm, and check the healing process of the rest of his bones. So far, he had noticed that his ribs had stopped hurting with any movement, and although his arm remained stiff from lack of movement, it did seem to have healed some. His legs on the other hand, remained as unresponsive as ever.

The sound of skin hitting ice had Yuuri's head jerking up in time to see Minami standing back up after having fallen during a jump, continuing to skate as if nothing had happened. Yuuri couldn't help the smile that crossed his face while watching the younger man skate, his perseverance was honorable. Currently the two competitors were skating routines around the rink that Yuuri and Viktor had devised a few days back, a routine to keep them warmed up while showing off what they could do.

After finishing their routines at nearly the same time, Viktor turned and skating up to Minami. Yuuri could see from his position on the side of the rink that Viktor had an idea.

"Minami, do you mind if I watch you doing that jump again, so Yuuri and I can find a way to make your percentage for landing it go up?" Viktor asked, staying a bit back to allow the younger man to skate around, but close enough to acknowledge him.

Minami's face flushed bright red, him being almost as star struck by Viktor as he was by Yuuri, even after weeks of having practiced alongside the older man.

"O-Of course, Niki-sama!" Minami stuttered out before skating around to get in position for the jump.

Yuuri felt his heart warm at the sound of the nickname Minami had given Viktor. Although he had first been confused by the need of the nickname, he found himself growing to love the sound of it.

Viktor watched Minami jump for a few times before he began giving his advice, easily jumping back into the role of coach. Yuuri couldn't understand why Minami wanted him to be his coach, Viktor obviously made a much better one. Watching, Yuuri was able to observe Viktor coaching as he instructed Minami to try different things until finally he was landing the jump with every attempt.

"Katsuki-san! Look! Niki-sama has helped me land my jumps!" Minami called over to Yuuri pulling the wheel chair bound man out of his trance.

Yuuri schooled his features into a suitable smile, watching as Viktor skated up behind Minami and put his arm over the younger man's shoulder, large smile spread across his face.

"Nonsense, that was all you just now!" He exclaimed, turning to Yuuri happily, only to have his face fall slightly at the sight of his husband. Forcing his smile to stay fixed on his face, Viktor patted Minami's shoulder a few times before skating away while saying, "While don't we call it there for the day. I know I'm getting pretty tired, and I'm sure Minami would love to be home at a decent time today."

Yuuri nodded silently in agreement, already seeming to be off in his own world again. Viktor frowned but didn't comment, only moving to exit near Yuuri's position off the ice to sit next to him while unlacing his skates.

"A-Are you sure? I wouldn't mind staying a little longer if you want us to practice more!" Minami insisted, still standing in the middle of the rink.

Shaking himself out of his trance, Yuuri turned with a smile towards Minami, nodding with more confidence in the younger man's direction. "Go ahead and head on home. It looks as if it's about to rain, and none of us need to be caught out in it if it does."

Viktor sat next to Yuuri, holding on to the younger man's hand tightly, trying to hide the nerves that threatened to come streaming out of his stomach. They sat together in the hospital waiting room, Yuuri in his comfortable wheelchair, and Viktor on the hard-plastic chairs that were making his butt go numb right at that moment.

"Mr. Katsuki," a nurse stood in the doorway of the hall that lead back to the checkup rooms, pulling Viktor out of his mind with the words, "The doctor is ready to see you know."

Feeling a comforting pressure on his hand, Viktor looked at Yuuri, who gave him a wiry smile, squeezing his hand lightly. The Russian felt a wave of sorrow rush over him at the realization that it was meant to be his job to comfort his husband at this time, not the other way around.

Pushing the wheelchair ahead of him, Viktor followed the nurse to an empty room where they were asked to wait for the doctor.

"Mr. Katsuki. Mr. Nikiforov. Thank you both so much for coming in. You appear to be doing well, Mr. Katsuki," The doctor said upon entering the room with a large smile, carrying a manila envelope.

"I am," Yuuri confirms, unable to help the contagiousness of the doctor's smile, "Just taking it one day at a time right now."

The doctor hummed in understanding, nodding his head as he pulled semi-translucent papers out of the envelope and hung them on the wall light, "That's good to hear my boy. Now, let's get onto the pressing matter of why you are here today. These here are your x-rays that you had done three days ago. These right here will show us how well your bones are healing and if you need to keep your casts on. So, let's take a look, shall we?"

The doctor turned on the wall light, and off the head light. The room glowed eerily with the light from the wall as everyone stared at the pictures of Yuuri's bones. Viktor and Yuuri had no clue what they were looking for as they stared at the bones, but the doctor seemed to find exactly what he was looking for, and seemed pleased.

Turning to the two men waiting tensely for the verdict, the doctor's smile only seemed to get larger than it had been when he first walked in.

"Well, Mr. Katsuki. It seems they were such clean breaks that your arm and ribs healed at a much faster rate than we had initially predicted, which means your casts can come off. Your leg bones have also healed much better than we could have hoped, but although we can remove the cast, you will still need to keep your legs in braces for the time being," the doctor explained, watching the two men happily embrace each other at the news.

"Baby steps," Viktor was repeating over and over again in Yuuri's ear as the younger man began crying tears of joy.

"Thank you, Doctor," Yuuri said over Viktor's shoulder, "Thank you for giving me hope again."

UPDATE: I totally spelled Viktor's name wrong for the second half of this chapter, so I went back and fixed them all, that's all that I did.

So... It's been a while. A lot has happened.

While I was on my trip, my family house got sold, and at this very moment we are packing things up and moving them to a new house. All while I am moving things into my own apartment. And I start classes in less than two weeks. And I've been fighting depression.

All I could think about all this time if you guys and how you all must feel, so I decided to take time and write this chapter out. It's much shorter than the others, but it's something at this point.

Thank you all so much for being here for me, and just know that I read an appreciate every review you guys leave. And if you ever want to just chat, please don't be afraid to PM me.

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

Thank you and have a wonderful day.