"Dr. Hodgins?" Jessica Warren peered around the doorframe, looking for the office's normal occupant. "Are you in here?"
"That's kind of a silly question, isn't it, Jessica?" Hodgins chuckled as he looked up from the slide he was working on. "If I wasn't here, how could I answer?" He maneuvered his wheelchair over to another station to study the object under the microscope. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, nothing, especially…" Biting her lip, Jessica quickly decided that maybe this visit was a bad idea. "I just...um, I mean, I guess...I guess I was really surprised to see how easily you can move around now in your chair…" She squeezed her eyes shut, embarrassed by her awkward statement. "I mean, you seem so much more comfortable now...you know…" She knew she was blushing, but she continued, thinking an explanation would help. "I think things must be easier for you now…because you were able to adapt to your situation." She shook her head as she puffed out a sigh. No, an explanation didn't really make this any less awkward, but it was too late to run away and hide.
"Yeah, things have gotten a lot better, and I've adapted well, so moving around is actually much easier. You know, those ideas you had for rearranging the lab materials and putting them down on lower shelves for better access turned out to be really great. I'm glad you were able to help me with that." Hodgins waved off Jessica's embarrassment and smiled. "Anyway, I still don't have any new experiments going on, but you're welcome to look around at the old ones if you want…"
"Oh, that's okay. I just wanted to see how you were doing." Jessica watched in amazement as Hodgins quickly and gracefully moved from the microscope to the mass spectrometer and then back to his computer. "I'm impressed that you could do all those fancy spins in your chair today, Curly…"
"Michael-Vincent and I were watching a skateboard competition on tv...you know, the kind where they do all of those tricks on the half pipe? It's a lot of fun to see them do that...the people who do those stunts are amazing. Anyway, we were watching, and he wanted to know if I could do any tricks in my wheelchair. Well, that was too good of a challenge to pass up..."
Jessica's eyes widened in amazement. "You actually turn flips in your wheelchair?"
"No, of course not. I mean, I can pop a wheelie, but that's about it." Hodgins rolled his eyes and grinned at Jessica. "Not that I wouldn't like to try doing flips, but it's not practical to do those kind of tricks in a wheelchair, even if I got one of those lightweight racing chairs. To begin with, wheelchairs are designed so that they don't flip over easily. You don't want to fall over in one of these...most of them are pretty heavy so a person might get stuck and not be able to get themselves free.."
"I suppose that's true." Jessica's brow wrinkled as she tried to figure out what he meant. "So have you tried to do other tricks? Or have you been training for a race?"
"Nope. I found a website for people like me, and it describes wheelchair ballroom dancing." Hodgins accessed his computer and brought up a link to a video. "Look at this. These people can do the samba, the tango...all sorts of dancing." His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "Don't tell Angela, but I've been taking some lessons after my therapy session, and pretty soon I'm gonna surprise her when I take her dancing." Hodgins patted the arm of his chair proudly. "I can't wait for her to see me bust a move in this baby. Who knows? I might even end up on one of those television dance shows."
"That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm sure she'll enjoy it." Jessica studied Hodgins carefully as he moved from workstation to workstation. It was just a few months ago that he'd been a very angry man, upset about the sudden turn of events in his life, and with good reason, but now it seemed he was much more at ease with the situation. Hodgins was back to being his old happy self. "I'm glad things are going so well for you, Curly."
"Yeah, things are going great. I have been doing some experiments...did Angela tell you about the mannequin we made last month? We modeled it to look like my grandfather and beat the hell out of it with a cane…" Hodgins smiled happily as he remembered the mess they'd made. "That bio gel works well, but it's so messy…it splattered everywhere, but it did tell us what we needed to know about the murderer..."
"Yes, she told me about that and about you rigging up a harness to fly over a model like a hummingbird." Jessica felt herself finally begin to relax as she and Hodgins talked about more of his experiments. Suddenly she heard her phone chime and she checked her messages. "Oh, I almost forgot. I have to meet with Dr. Brennan this afternoon to discuss my most recent work toward my dissertation." She hesitated before moving toward the office door. "Maybe when I'm back in a few weeks we can work on a project together, okay? But I've got to go now."
"Okay. No problem. Thanks for dropping by." He waved as she moved to leave, but he stopped her. "Hey, Jessica? I think I forgot to tell you thank you…"
"Thank you? For what?" Jessica grimaced slightly in her confusion. "I didn't do anything…"
"Yes, you did. You were the one who came into my office after my injury and helped me get reorganized, even though I didn't want to bother with it. I tried to make you leave, remember? But you wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, and you came to my office on your lunch break that week and we moved everything around so I could get to it. You didn't let me feel sorry for myself, and I'm glad. I needed that kick in the ass…" He shrugged as he turned back to his microscope. "A lot of people around here scolded me and told me to get my act together, but you did something concrete for me, you know? You made me change things in here, and I appreciate it. I think that was kind of a turning point for me, because I came to realize that maybe I could still do some valuable work here. Anyway, I wanted you to know that. You made a positive difference in my life, Jessica."
A happy smile spread across Jessica's face as she nodded in understanding. "Any time, Curly. Any time."