Purple Heart – Chapter 05

Steve woke up Friday morning to a nasty headache; but other than that he felt well rested. He knew that he hadn't had a single bad dream, and he had slept unaided for over ten hours. That hadn't happened for a very long time. The sightseeing yesterday, and probably mostly the fight in the Metro station had tired him out completely. To the brink of exhaustion really. But maybe that had been what he had needed.

Steve had never been one to just lag around all day, doing nothing. He was always doing something. And now not having enough energy for more than maybe four to six hours a day was driving him nuts.

Steve rolled over onto his left side, carefully dragging his uncooperative right leg with him. He slowly sat up on the edge of the bed and was pleasantly surprised not to be dizzy. That had been a rare occasion the last weeks. Seemed to him that this could turn out to be a really good day.

Steve stretched out his arm and pulled his walker towards the bed. Last night he swore that he would use it every day from now on, no lagging practicing any more. The walker had two wheels on the front, but to move it forward he had to lift the back a little. It was not for continuous walking, but only for one step at a time. But Steve wasn't able to do more than that anyway.

He used his left leg to get up from the bed and leaned heavily on the walker. Today he was at least able to lock his right knee so that it could bear his weight, more or less. Standing now on both legs, he could move the walker forward. Putting most of his weight again on his arms he lifted his left leg and moved a step, pulling his right one next to the left. It was a slow, painful and arduous way to move. But Steve knew, the more he trained the better able he would be to coordinate his legs.

Steve had almost full control back over the left part of his body, but the right one was not quite there yet. Aside from his completely uncooperative leg he still had some weakness in his right hand. Which was why he had trouble writing. Thankfully most of his work was in front of a computer anyway, and using a mouse was very good for his eye to hand coordination.

Due to his injury on the left side of his head, it was mostly the right side of his body that was affected. Or more affected.

It took him a lot longer to get ready to leave for his only therapy session he was allowed to attend today. Since it was not strenuous for him, he was welcome to participate in this activity. Steve couldn't quite believe it, but he actually sighed in relief when he finally sat down in his wheelchair. It was like his life was in slow motion, and as soon he sat down, the turbo was turned on. Steve had become a real pro with the chair and was moving around in it really fast. Even stairs, if they were not too steep, were no problem anymore. He even used the escalator when possible rather than the elevator at the Metro stations.

Steve made one last 360° sweep of his apartment and was out the door to meet with Milo, his 'water-therapist'.

H50 – H50 – H50

The pool at the rehab center was, as usual, a busy place. It was the one place where even paralyzed patients could move fairly unaided. Most of them enjoyed the time in the water. It gave them a freedom and mobility they didn't have on dry land. Steve always came half an hour early to enjoy a few laps of swimming before he had his aided session.

Swimming was second nature for Steve, and even though his right leg didn't move, not even in the water, he had no problem making a decent time swimming his laps. He put his earplug into his still ailing left ear and dove right into the water. Just like the others, he left his wheelchair at the edge of the water, so he could move around when he got out of the pool and over to the therapy pool. Thankfully he didn't need any help getting in or out of the water; that was something he had mastered early.

Of course, some of his fellow patients were more severely and permanently handicapped and needed assistance. Either by a therapist or even by using a lifting device. Steve couldn't really imagine having to be dependent on other people's help for the rest of his life. Shaking those morose thoughts out of his head he continued with his laps.

"Steve!"

Steve enjoyed another turn under water to swim his next lap. His doctor would have his head if he knew that Steve dove under water, even if it was just two or three feet. He pushed away from the wall and just enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by his element.

"Steve!"

Huh? Steve finally raised his head out of the water and saw Milo waving him to come to the pool's edge.

"Hi, Milo," he greeted the dark skinned giant with the soft voice. Milo towered over Steve by at least six inches.

"Don't 'Hi-Milo-me'. You're not supposed to swim today. Get your six out of there."

"She got to you too?" Steve asked him with a resigned groan.

Milo only laughed at his dramatics. "Come on, I let you have fun for twenty minutes. Almost your normal half hour. You need help getting out?" Milo offered his hand, and Steve didn't hesitate to pull himself out of the water by grabbing on to it.

His therapist had him on his feet next to the water in just a moment and helped him keep his balance while he pushed the wheelchair into the right position. Steve had taken the seat pad out so not to get it wet. He would put it back in when he was back in dry clothes and not in his swim shorts.

"Everything okay, Steve? What happened to your head?" Milo asked him as he pushed him toward the therapy part of the pools.

"Huh?"

"You have a pretty pronounced bruise on your temple and part of your forehead. Did you hit your head? Did you see Dr. Adams for it?" Milo leaned down and took a closer look at the discoloration caused by the thug's kick in the Metro station.

"No, I did not see Adams, and I don't plan to. I'm fine." Steve had no intention going to the hospital for a ridiculous little bruise.

"Steve." Now Milo's sigh could be called dramatic. "I know you don't want to hear it, and I know you don't feel like it, because you were damn lucky. BUT you are seriously injured. You have a damn serious TBI, and…"

"I know, but I am fine. Milo, really, I'm almost healed. You can't even see the crack anymore…"

"I highly doubt that statement."

"Which one? That I'm fine or the crack?"

"You are so full of shit, Steve." Milo shook his head and couldn't help but grin. But he would keep a very close eye on his patient today and decide later if he would make him see his doctor or not. "You have no idea how lucky you are."

"Oh I do, Milo, I do," Steve almost whispered.

H50 – H50 – H50

"Milo?"

"No talking, Steve. Close your eyes and relax. Normally you're almost asleep by now. What's on your mind?" Milo asked Steve as he very gently moved his patient's right leg outward, as far away from his body as it would go.

"…"

"Steve?"

"You said no talking. Can I talk now?"

"Yes, please," Milo smiled down at his patient, who was suspended in the water, kept afloat by the elliptical float ring that went from his six to his neck. It kept the patients just under the surface of the water with only the head out of it. No movement by his patients was necessary to stay afloat. It was a completely relaxed position. Most were comfortable in it, but Steve brought it to a new dimension, he managed to fall asleep a few times during the sessions. Which was ideal for manipulative movements of the legs that only worked while the patient was completely relaxed.

Today Steve was anything but relaxed. Milo could feel a lot of resistance in the muscles and joints, even though Steve had no control over it.

"I was out yesterday. Sightseeing. Last time I did that was when I was in Annapolis… anyway, I went to have lunch at Ollie's Trolley, it's not far from the National Gallery of Art…"

"You went to take a look at a bunch of pictures?"

"Hey, no dissing the arts, I like arts. And they have a great ice cream shop there," Steve grinned up at his therapist. But he really enjoyed the exhibitions.

"Ah, I see. Okay, go on."

"As I was saying I had lunch at Ollie's. Have you been there? THE best burgers you will ever eat." Seeing Milo frowning at him, he hurried to continue. "I was sitting at one of the tables and minding my own business, when I was asked if I minded sharing my table."

"The waitress asked you?"

"What? No. A woman," he told Milo again with a huge smile on his face.

"A woman. Okay, so you had lunch with a woman?"

"Yeah. And it was really great. She didn't seem to mind that I was… you know."

"You were what?"

"Sitting in a wheelchair," Steve told him exasperated.

"Oh that. Well, why would she?"

"Oh come on. Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

"No, I know what you mean. But, Steve, believe it or not, there ARE people out there who really don't care about such things. Who don't judge a person by their appearance. I'm sure she saw YOU, and not the chair." Milo shook his head, but could understand that Steve had to struggle with all this. It was rather new to him, and he is sure Steve hasn't had a lot of contact with any handicapped people in his life. For that he did really well. "So, you are baffled that she sat down with you?"

"Yeah, that too… but no." Steve looked back at Milo, confusion clearly written all over his face. "She gave me her card and told me to call her if I wanted to have lunch again."

"Way to go, Steve. Have you called her?"

"No. You think I should have? Did she expect me to call her yesterday?"

"Calm down. No reason to panic," Milo told him as he bent Steve's leg at the knee and moved it towards his chest. Seeing Steve grimace he stopped, "Does that hurt?"

"Yeah. In my lower back."

"You need to do some stretching later. Did you do the exercises I showed you?"

"Ehm…"

"Steve, you need to do the stretching every morning. It's important. I know they hurt, but you have to do them, and not only in therapy but every morning."

"I have been really achy the last two days, that's why I didn't do them…"

"Your muscles will tense up on you big time if you don't do your exercises, Steve." Milo knew if Steve didn't do any of his training he must be in pain from the tensed muscles, so he went easy on him and would try to massage some of the cramps out of the muscles. "Now back to our topic. Would you like to see her again?"

"Yeah, I think so. She was kind of cool. You know? And nice, it was really nice talking to her."

"So, what's keeping you?" Milo looked at his patient who tried to hide the pain the movements caused. "Steve, try to relax a bit more." He stretched Steve completely out and started to loosen his tensed back muscles. Milo was sure if Steve were a cat he would be purring by now. "That better?"

"Hmm."

Milo grinned as Steve closed his eyes in obvious bliss, "So, are you going to call her?"

"Uh huh." Steve couldn't really be bothered to talk right now. What Milo did to him was beyond heavenly. He had his huge hands on Steve's hips and part of his lower back. Only his fingers were moving, but it felt like Steve's whole back was being massaged and stroked at once.

Milo pressed on a few more pressure points and would swear Steve was just completely blissed out. "So, what's the name of this mysterious woman of yours?"

"Catherine."

H50 – H50 – H50

Here you go, tiny little teaser for the next chapter. :-)

Purple Heart – Chapter 06

Steve McGarrett's house, Hawaii present time

"Wait a minute. You knew Steve back then?" Danny looked at Cath for an answer.

"Yeah, we met in Washington. When I saw him sitting in that restaurant, looking so sad and alone, I just had to take pity on him," Cath answered with a smile, making sure Steve knew she was kidding.

"I always wondered why you had asked to join me at lunch." Steve had wanted to ask her that for years now.

"You really don't know, do you?"