It was midnight when Angela turned over to put her arm around her husband and discovered he wasn't lying next to her in their bed. As Jack had adapted more to his mobility issues, he'd found it easier to slip from their bed into his chair in the middle of the night without waking her so he could go to another part of the house, especially if he'd had trouble sleeping for some reason. Sighing, she put on her robe and walked down the hall to his home office.
Jack was sitting next to the big picture window overlooking their backyard, seemingly oblivious to his wife's approach. She walked closer, and not wanting to startle him, she spoke softly. "Jack, why are you still up? Are you alright?"
"Oh, hey, Angie. Yeah, I'm fine…" He turned back to the window. "I was just looking out at the stars…"
"Okay." Angela came over to stand beside him and looked out at the dark sky. "It's a beautiful night…"
"Yeah, it is…" Hodgins reached up to take Angela's hand. "Listen, I know you're worried about me becoming depressed again, but I'm gonna be fine, Angie...really. Look...I can get in and out of my wheelchair by myself. I can take care of my personal needs. I can fix dinner for us and do some things around the house. I can do my job at the lab. I can be a father to our son. I'm alive...and the pain in my legs is gone…"
"I know…" She wiped a tear from her face. "I know we're both going to be fine, no matter what happens, as long as we have each other. It's just…" Angela shook her head as she looked out into the darkness beyond their window. "I just wish Zack hadn't worked so hard to get your hopes up about regaining your mobility. That was cruel…"
"No…" Hodgins laughed softly as he shook his head. "No, it wasn't meant that way, Angela. He didn't mean to be cruel. Zack in his own weird way was trying to help me out. He cared enough about me to want me to have some hope, even though I hadn't seen him in years. I guess he still wanted to maintain our friendship in some way, even if it was by setting up a dummy email account."
"I thought Zack didn't want to see you any more…that's what you told me, remember?" Angela's brow furrowed in confusion. "Wait...so you're saying he wanted to maintain your friendship?"
"Yeah, I think so. When Dr. Roshon took over at the clinic he said that Zack shouldn't have a lot of visits from his friends because the visits upset him too much, but that turned out to be a lie. Zack missed me, and he was trying to help me out by giving me hope I'd walk again. Of course, in hindsight, it looks like a really stupid idea, but, you know…" Hodgins shrugged as he looked out the window. "That's Zack all over, isn't it? Getting strange ideas like that?"
"Yeah, it is." Angela put her hand on her husband's shoulder and rubbed his arm. "I'm so sorry, Jack. I know how disappointed you are that the treatment isn't going to work…"
Jack reached up to pat her hand. "Thanks. Yeah, I'm disappointed, but in the long run, I'll survive. Cam's been really good about making sure I can still do everything I need to do at the Jeffersonian, and I may be able to go out to the field again soon." He turned his wheelchair away from the window and smiled up at Angela. "You know, maybe Zack gave me a great gift, after all." Seeing Angela grimace and shudder, he tried to explain. "Maybe now I can finally accept what's happened to me and go on with the rest of my life. Maybe I can focus on what I'm able to do now, instead thinking about things that might or might not happen in the future."
"So maybe now you'll be content with whatever the future holds?" Angela smiled as she followed her husband down the hallway to their bedroom. "I know better than that..."
"Well, I don't know if I can go that far…", Hodgins chuckled. "You know I've always got to be tinkering with something..." He wheeled himself into their bedroom. "I just think maybe I can let go of some of the wishful thinking I'd been indulging in. I can't change anything that happened to me, but I can make the best of a bad situation. I'm glad Zack helped me realize that." Pulling himself out of his chair and onto their bed, Hodgins paused for a minute. "I guess in some weird way, Zack gave me some hope after all...the hope that, no matter what the circumstances are, I can still have a fulfilling life."
"I'm glad, Sweetie." Angela turned off the lamp on her nightstand and rolled over to put her arm around her husband. "Now, no more wandering around the house. You belong right here next to me, okay?"
"Okay. Good night, Angela. I love you…"
"I love you, too, Jack. Good night."