Lena hated her physical therapist.

Optimism had been the word Peter used. The doctor was always looking on the brighter side of a situation. Dr. Blythe had a high pitched voice as if it always ended in exclamation points. That was another comment that Peter made, and Lena had no idea what an exclamation point was until he had shown her. The vertical line with a dot below it somehow was a perfect description of the doctor that she woke up to every morning.

Now that she was outside of her tank, Mr. Stark informed her that if she wanted to stay living in his care, she would need to follow a specific and carefully laid out schedule.

In the morning she would see Dr. Blythe. They did various exercises on large machines that, according to the doctor, strengthened her leg muscles and taught her brain how to use them. She stubbornly submitted to everything Dr. Blythe asked her to do, but not without scrunching her face and rolling her eyes. At the end of each session was an attempt to stand on her own. She stood, leaning on sets of bars to keep herself upright. The only motivation she had was hearing the number of seconds she could stand on her own gradually grow larger every day.

After a week of working with Dr. Blythe, she was able to maneuver her way around Mr. Stark's "Avenger Compound" with what everyone called "crutches." They acted as legs, hurt the undersides of her arms but still, it was better than sitting idly in her room.

In the afternoon she would see Doctor Loud, a stern woman with what she called a "Pea Ayche Dee" in speech pathology. Lena did not know the significance behind this statement, but every time she rolled her eyes, Dr. Loud reminded her of the pea ayche dee, which only made Lena want to roll her eyes again.

They spoke sentences, words, made sounds with her lips, stretched her lips, everything involving her mouth and throat she could think of was used during the hour they spent together. It took everything in her not to trance Dr. Loud into falling asleep so she could escape and find something more entertaining to do.

After Dr. Loud was Dr. Green, a biologist who practically poked at her all day. Blood sample after blood sample was extracted from her, swabs from her saliva, recordings of her singing voice, and videos and images of her tail turning into legs. It was her least favorite part of the day. Mr. Stark seemed displeased with the experimentation as well, but reminded Lena,

"Only one hour per workday, that's all I allow him. I don't want you to think you're some kind of creature we're keeping for observation. You live here now. We want you to become Peter's partner."

In between the time she spent with Dr. Green and when Peter arrived at the compound, she sat on her bed and spoke to the voice in her room. Her name was PET, and Mr. Stark had said that any question she asked, PET would have the answer to. This "Artificial Intelligence" was programmed specifically for Lena's needs, all according to Mr. Stark. So she sat, and asked questions for hours.

"What is 'cell phone?'"

A cell phone is very similar to the telephone. It is carried in pockets by most human citizens.

"What is 'telephone?'"
As we went over yesterday, the telephone is a device used by humans to communicate with each other when they are not nearby."

"What is 'partner'"

A partner is someone who is equal to you. It is a pair of people who support each other for specific needs.

Mr. Stark wanted Lena to become Peter's partner. Eventually, she was going to be his equal. Lena knew that she had no clue what the extent of this ment, that she was still in the early stages of rehabilitation, but her progress must have been good enough that she would potentially catch up to where Peter was. She smiled to herself, lying down backwards on the bed.

Sleep. She hated to sleep, but Mr. Stark had insisted that it was essential to carrying a human body. Deep in the ocean, she was able to obtain energy through the chemical makeup of the water she swam in. Something in it gave her the same energy that food and sleep did for humans, or so Mr. Stark and Dr. Green had told her. She slept for a maximum of two hours every night and used the rest of the time to ask questions.

Hunger had also irked her as well. The first time she ever felt hunger, she had complained to Peter, panicked. She thought something was wrong. It took them an hour of examination to discover that she hadn't eaten in the 24 hours since Peter had taken her from the tank to the bed and that this human body needed food to make that stomach ache go away. While she ate in the kitchen, Mr. Stark queued what they called a "Television Show" for her to watch. It was called Planet Earth, and she could watch the deep sea version over and over, just to relish in what used to be her home.

...

"What is Avenger?"
Before the Sokovia Accords, there were eight active members of the Avengers Team. Tony Stark, known as Iron Man, was the supposed leader of the group. Steve Rogers, known as Captain America, was a super soldier created by the government in 1941…"
PET blabbed on and on about the group, and ended with,

Before the group split up in 2016, they were Earth's mightiest heroes.

"Why are you asking about the Avengers?" she hadn't heard Peter walk in. She bolted upright, locking eyes with him. His voice sounded defensive and accusatory as if she was hiding something. That wasn't her intent, so she answered honestly.

"I did not know."

"You didn't know what they were?" he had gotten better at deciphering what she actually was trying to say, but Lena also attributed that to their peirasmós connection. Somewhere in the intricate outline of his brain he always knew what she wanted to tell him. What he did not know, was what she was hiding from him.

"Yes."
He moved from the frame of the door to the foot of her bed, where he folded his hands, "Sorry, that seemed a little harsh," he rubbed the side of his face, "I don't even know why. Touchy subject, I guess. I almost became one, until I didn't."

She placed a soft hand on his, a spark jerking both of their hands away from each other. His eyebrows twitched, probably a curiosity building inside him, but she was far from a place where she could explain the mini shock that accompanied their hands coming into contact. The truth behind it was too much for him to handle. She felt as if she could never see a day where he would know. It put an ache in her stomach that was far worse than hunger.

"Happy to see you," she wanted to bring his mood up if she could. She hadn't meant to bring it down.

"I'm happy to see you too. How was today?" he let the tension in his shoulders fall as he scooted back to lean against the wall.

She scrunched her nose.

"How about a word to describe it?"

She rolled her eyes, but not in the same way she would with her trio of doctors, she had to suppress a smile along with it, "Long. I am tired."

"That's normal. Hey, can I ask you something?"

The question took her off guard. It was an utterly human quirk to ask permission to ask a question. If she had the ability, she would have responded with sarcasm (something that she had picked up on from Mr. Stark and had asked PET about a while ago), but she could not verbalize it.

"Yes."

"I keep dreaming about your parents...it's been every night since we met. Why?"

Lena felt her jaw lock and her teeth clench. She knew that if she hadn't been thinking about it, he probably would not have brought it up, but she had been pondering the idea of telling him, and now it was out in the air. The truthful answer was because of their bond. All she could think about was her peirasmós, and the fact that she was following in parallel to her mother. It was a raging anxiety that never seemed to calm.

"I cannot."

"You- what?"

She shook her head. Now was not the time to tell him.

Peter shifted his seating on her bed so they were facing each other, "Do you not know or…" he was searching her for answers. She bit down on her tongue, hard.

One day she would tell him. When she had the words to describe what he meant to her, how much she loved him, she would use them. She would cry and tell him that she could never return to the sea, all because she wanted to be with him.

Hopefully, he would want to be with her too.

For now, she shut her eyes and bit her tongue until the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, which she swallowed uncomfortably. Peter sighed and deflated, giving up. She just hoped he was not giving up for good.

He would know eventually, just not right now.