Kallus listened as the doctor went on about how he had lots of therapy ahead of him now that he was awake and had been cleared to start to work on regaining full use of his body once more. They also informed him that it wouldn't be easy and would likely press his limits, but it would be important that he stuck with it.
"I'm well aware," he let out an aggravated growl as he sat with his arms crossed. He glowered at the medical personnel who seemed to think that he was a moron. Of course, he knew that he wouldn't be able to just jump back to life as it had been before his stent back with the Empire and the results of his interrogation.
"Doc, I don't think you understand who you are talking to," Kiara's voice could be heard from the doorway to announce that she was back whether the daily exam and the private discussion with their patient was over or not. She had a small bag with some of Alex's personal belongings that she suspected that he may want. "You are speaking to an overachiever, there. I'd be more worried about impressing it upon him to not work too fast rather than to make sure that he works hard enough."
The doctor looked back with a disapproving look since he had yet to say that it was alright for the woman to return to the room. Still, he knew from the months that she'd been here that once she returned that there would be no asking her to leave for more time. He sighed and shook his head.
"I'll set up the appointments to get everything started. The sooner the better."
"On that, we agree," Kallus said since he didn't relish the feeling of being weak and wanted to start building back his strength as quickly as possible. At least with the fact that he'd apparently been given many bacta treatments and they had healed his bones and muscles, it shouldn't take long to get back to his previous condition. So even if they felt weak, they just needed to be worked so that his strength returned.
"Well, I guess I'll be leaving." The doctor spun and left the room so that he could get the therapy appointments started. He knew that the man wouldn't be able to remain on the Med-ship until he was fully back to his old self. They were mainly for emergencies and to get things set up so that the individuals could leave and go back to their work within the Rebellion. Though, few came to the ship with the injuries that the man in the bed had. It did help that he was already in peak condition before he was so brutally injured. If he hadn't, the doctor had no doubt that he wouldn't have ever made it to the ship in the first place. And even if he had, the surgery alone could have killed him. Perhaps the woman was correct in her assessment of his being an overachiever.
Once alone Kiara moved over to the bed and sat down on it looking toward Alex as she took in a sight that she'd been waiting for, for several weeks. He was awake, conscious, and for the first time in as many weeks she felt as if he was finally going to be alright.
"Well, you are looking much better today."
Kallus scratched at his overgrown beard, an indication of how long he'd not been able to trim it. "If you say so."
He looked over at the bag that she brought with her and tried to stretch toward it on the other end of the bed to pull it to himself so that he could look through it. When he did so he felt how weak his body really was when it protested the movement. Kiara saw the look of discomfort that crossed his face so she moved the bag closer so that he wouldn't have to strain to get it. When he dug around in the bag, she saw that he pulled out his trimmer, first, to address his beard.
"When did you say that the others will be here?"
She snickered but didn't point out the fact that she'd never would have considered him vain. If she had known that the condition of his beard had been such a point of contention, then she would have seen to its care long before now. Still, it was funny to see this side of Alexsandr. As he started to work on his facial hair, she answered him.
"Sometime tomorrow evening. They said that it will take them at least a full rotation to get here from the base. They are taking this morning to prepare all of the others there for their temporary absence."
"Good. That means that I have time to finally work on getting out of this bed. I don't want to have to be stuck here when they arrive."
Kiara raised a brow as she shook her head. "Don't you think you are rushing things just a bit? After all of the time that you've been out of it-"
"All the more reason to jump in headfirst and get things moving." Kallus ran a hand over his face and felt the change after he'd trimmed the excess hair away. He would have to wait until he found his way to the refresher to see how well he'd done without a mirror. And he'd need to go there sooner or later, too. The first thing that he'd done once he was conscious enough to do so, he'd removed every tube and wire that was hooked up to him. He didn't want nor need any of them.
"Like I said, an overachiever," Kiara muttered. "I'll tell the doctor to see to it that the therapist comes in-"
"Don't bother. I don't need them. I will get by just fine, without them." Kallus turned on the bed to throw his legs over but was only able to allow them to fall off of the bed, instead. "I know how to walk, I just have to get up and get started," he pulled at the side of the bed to try to stand up on his own.
Kiara moved and stood up next to where he was trying to stand, slipping an arm around him to help to steady him. She could tell that asking the man to take his time would be a waste of breath. She could feel that he tried to brush off her help, but he'd reluctantly accepted it when he realized that both of his knees felt as if they were made of jelly. When he remembered why they felt so weak he flexed a hand into a fist.
"Alright. How about we just walk to the other side of the room and back, first?" Kiara could feel and sense the strain that Alex's legs were under as he tried to move forward. He wasn't going to say anything but the first attempt to remain upright was already harder than he had expected.
Kallus swallowed since he wanted to get to the refresher, but he knew that there wouldn't be any way that he'd be able to make it right now. Not on his first try. And to be honest, maybe he shouldn't have discounted the therapist right out of hand since he didn't relish the idea of asking Kiara to help him go there, either, for anything other than to check on his facial grooming. When it came to another purpose, he would be more comfortable with a stranger, he supposed.
He nodded and concentrated on putting one foot in front of another. He didn't even look up to see how far he'd walked or still had to go. He just watched and willed each leg forward. By the time Kiara helped him to turn around to return to his bed he was breathing hard and as he fell back onto the bed he had sweat falling from his forehead.
"Not bad for the first time," Kiara said trying to be positive. After all, he was awake. That was all that she really cared about right now. Though a look in his eyes told her that his pride had taken a hit since he'd been certain that the small walk about the room would be a simple matter. He had now just received a bit of a dose of reality. He wouldn't be able to rush his recovery, no matter what he may have previously thought.
"That wasn't bad?" Kallus groaned as he struggled to rein in his breathing.
"No, it wasn't." Kiara shook her head. "When you want to try it again, I'll help you."
That evening, Kallus insisted that Kiara return to the ship to sleep. He didn't like the idea that she'd not slept well in recent weeks while waiting for him to wake up, so he felt guilty. She would have fought him on it, but she was absolutely exhausted from the endless nights of worrying as well as being reminded of the fact that Kallus was significantly taller and heavier than she was. Especially when she did her best to support him when he tried to walk the room to build his strength.
When she got back to the Shadow Chaser Tac was waiting for her with his daily briefing of the data that he'd been monitoring and was quick to ask about Alex.
"How is Master Kallus? Is he fully functional yet?"
"He's fine. He'll be... fully functional, soon enough." Kiara told the droid. "In the meantime, did you find anything interesting while scanning frequency zero today?"
"I am not sure if you would find it interesting. There seemed to have been a slight harmonic change in the background of the channel's transmissions this afternoon. It remained altered for point zero four two five seconds. It then returned to the previous harmonics."
Kiara glanced over the data with a raised brow. A change of such a slight and brief moment may not have been anything but at the same time she couldn't discount it right off hand, either. She marked the information for further review and then went about her nightly routine so that she could get some sleep. When she got to her cabin she practically fell onto the bunk where she hadn't slept on in weeks and was asleep before she could roll over to get comfortable.
The next morning the doctor made his morning exam a little earlier and he was leaving as Kiara showed up at the room in the infirmary. Inside it the therapist was still helping Kallus and was trying to show him a mobile assistance device so that he could get around without as much help. Kiara snickered to herself since she didn't really see the man actually using it on his own; he had far too much pride. She figured that would be the theme of the day, and likely many more during the rehabilitation process. Pride and stubbornness. Though perhaps he could actually put them to good use in the days to come.
Kiara stayed back near the door and remained still and quiet to not let the man know that she'd returned just yet. When she watched Alex's knees buckle, causing the therapist to step forward to assist him to then get him back onto the bed, Kiara slipped a bit further into the hall so that he wouldn't know that she'd been there to watch his stumble. She waited until Alex was sitting back in the bed before she walked in as if she'd just arrived.
"So, I see we are ready to start the day."
Kiara ignored the grumble that she heard coming from both Alexsandr and the therapist who had been working with him. She walked over to the chair on the opposite side of the bed that the therapist was standing and listened as he gave Alex instructions of what to do to try to rebuild his strength and knew from experience that he'd follow them ten-fold. She supposed that he figured that if he did then he'd be able to return to his old normal much faster. She just hoped that he didn't do more harm than good.
"Rest for now, but make sure you work on moving around every couple of hours. Call for the staff to come in to help you if needed." With that, the therapist made a hasty retreat. Kiara figured that the same personality that had once sent Imperials scrambling from his presence had decided to take over while working on his rehabilitation. She gave a soft laugh as the other man left.
"You've been a delightful patient, I see," Kiara shook her head. "How did you sleep?"
Kallus shrugged, "I slept."
Kiara rolled her eyes at the response. "Right. Anyway, I brought your clothes that you wanted for when the others come." She then tried to tease, "Not interested in sporting the provided medical gown for all of them?"
"No," Kallus growled as he reached for the bag. He'd give himself some time to recover from his small walk with the mobile device before he tried to change his clothing. At least he'll look and feel a bit more like himself, then. When he saw that everything that he'd asked for was there he leaned back against the bed that was raised behind him.
He sat there for several moments in silence and for a few moments he forgot where he was at. He closed his eyes as he tried to steady himself for the next attempt to just walk across the damn room. He knew he'd not wait two hours to try again. The sooner he was up the sooner he'd be able to do so without looking like a wounded animal.
He thought back to the Star Destroyer. Back to his time in the detention cell. He didn't know how many hours he'd endured his time there. But he could recall every single jolt of electricity. Every injection. Every break of a bone. Even every blaster bolt; both fired at him and the others. He'd been trained to set aside personal pain in the event of capture and torture back when he served the Empire. In a way, they had prepared him for them.
What he wasn't prepared for, though, was watching his fellow rebels suffer. Most of whom he'd been friendly with when working together back first on Yavin IV and then Suaren. They weren't nameless faces who had cried out for him to help them in their last moments. They were the individuals who haunted his dreams the night before. People who didn't deserve to die the way that they had.
"Alex." Kallus looked over to where he saw concern on Kiara's face. He took a deep breath and tried to give her a smile to assure her that he was alright. Instead, she said, "Stay out of your head. It's over and you did the only thing that you could."
Kallus seemed to deflate just a little when he realized that she knew what he was thinking about. Damn the force for letting her read him so well. Still, he nodded then went to swing his legs back over the bed. If he needed to stay out of his head, then that meant that he needed to actually be doing something. So, he figured that trying to walk the room and then the halls would have to do.
He didn't need to ask. She walked around and gave her support so that he wouldn't have to use the device that the therapist had left for him for when he wanted, or needed, to get up on his own. He couldn't explain it, but he didn't seem to feel her eyes watching him when she was right at his side as much as if she was to stand back as he tried to stumble his way around with the walking aide.
Hours later Kiara stood in the hanger and watched as the Ghost landed. When the crew stepped out, she hugged first Zeb and then Sabine as the parents walked a bit further behind after getting their small bundle ready for the visit.
"How's Kallus doing?" Zeb asked while they waited for the others.
"Annoyed, frustrated, and scaring the hell out of the staff by being gruff with them." Kiara laughed as she remembered his last visit from the therapist after the midday meal. "So, I believe that it is safe to say that he's completely out of danger and is on the mend."
"I think it's been a while since I saw that side of him," Zeb scratched his head and then chuckled. "So, I guess it will be just like old times. He'll be a little unpleasant because he can't keep up with the rest of us."
Kiara shook her head, "Just know that his sense of humor hasn't quite returned so I wouldn't say that to him just yet."
"I won't. But we'll help bring back the Kallus that we all know and care about soon enough." Zeb then added, "Then I'll tease him."
"That's what friends are for, after all, right?" Sabine added with her own laugh.
"Absolutely," Kiara agreed.
