Chapter 35: The Home Bath
"The only prison we need to escape from is the prison of our own minds." – Anon.
Sydney and Will entered the bedroom and Vaughn smiled at both of them.
"Hey, Will…come to help Syd with the invalid, huh?"
Will looked slightly surprised and looked at Sydney. "Uh, yeah, that's why I'm here…"
Sydney looked at Vaughn and then back to Will. "We've mixed his mediations here and he's had morphine…I think he's a little high…"
"I'm not high," he said poutily. "Can't an injured guy enjoy his lack of pain?"
"Yes, you can…" she said as she kissed him. She looked back to Will, "Just ignore anything he might say…"
"Ok, how are we going to do this?"
"Well, we need to sit him up first…then I guess, kind of, move him without causing him a lot of pain…"
"Ok…"
They moved over to the bed and Sydney gently eased Vaughn into a sitting position. She motioned for Will to get on the other side and they swung his legs over the side of the bed. Sydney watched his face for any sign of discomfort, but there didn't seem to be any.
"Ok, now we have to stand you up…uh…I'll stay in front, Will, why don't you try to ease him up from behind…can you do that?"
"Yeah, sure, Syd." He got behind Vaughn, "Should I lift him under the arms? Is that going to hurt him?"
"Well, I don't really know how else we'd get him to stand…just be careful…" She looked at Vaughn, who still seemed rather happy. "Vaughn, if we hurt you, you let us know, ok?"
He nodded as they both simultaneously lifted him off the bed until he has standing in front of Sydney. She supported his weight until Will got back around the bed. She moved then to the left side, and Will to the right. Sydney tried not to jar his shoulder too much, and she was also worried that they could hurt his ribs while moving him, but it was rather late for that now. The moved unhurriedly down the hall, he helped as much as he could, sort of hopping on his good leg and they slowly but surely moved to the bathroom. They moved through the doorway and deposited Vaughn in chair that Sydney had brought from the kitchen for him to sit on. Will waited unsure of what he was supposed to do next.
"Uh, Syd…do you want me to stay and get him in the tub or should I go?"
Sydney hadn't thought of that. "Oh, yeah, you can go, I should be able to handle it from here…thanks Will," she said as she smiled at him in thanks.
"Yeah, thanks Will," Vaughn said with a smile.
"Sure," Will said as he closed the door with a smile as well.
Sydney moved over to Vaughn and helped him undress. She gently removed the bandages, which surprisingly didn't seem to hurt Vaughn as much either. She'd have to remember that mixing the medications made him extremely relaxed and seemingly pain free. Once he was free of the wraps, bandages and the like, she helped him move over to the tub. She praised herself for bring the chair in, because all she really had to do was swing his legs into the water and then lower him in. She was careful that his hands didn't get in the water, since his splints weren't supposed to get wet.
She brought a washcloth over and wet it and ran and water down his chest. He smiled at her and she could read what he was thinking.
"Ok, Vaughn…it would work better if I was in the tub…but I really think we should wait with the sexual healing today, ok?"
He groaned but consented, "Oh, alright…"
Sydney undressed and moved to sit behind Vaughn. She wet his hair with the washcloth and then grabbed the shampoo and placed a generous amount on his head. She worked in slow circles, gently rubbing and scratching her way over his head. He let out soft moans as she moved along his neckline and the rest of his scalp. She was almost done when he let out a small yelp. "Vaughn? Are you ok?"
"Yeah…"
"What happened?"
He pointed with his good hand to a spot on his head that she had just covered. She examined the spot and found that there was a stitched cut there. "Oh my God Vaughn! I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was there!"
"It's ok, I think the meds muffled the pain level anyway…it wasn't bad."
"I'll be more careful…" she kissed the spot and used the washcloth again to rid his hair of the soap. She leaned him back then for a while, letting him rest. His head was on her left shoulder and she moved to place a kiss on his temple. She could feel him smile and close his eyes as he just rested in her arms. She moved to place her arms around his torso and gently rocked in the water. She realized a few minutes later that he had fallen asleep. She let him sleep for a little while, but knew that they shouldn't stay in too long. She hated to wake him up, but she had to. She placed another gentle kiss on his temple and he moved slightly, responding to the touch. His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at her with love.
"Hey," he said quietly.
"Hey," she replied back. "I hated to wake you, but we really need to finish so we can get you out of here. The longer we wait, the more the pain is going to come back, and it'll be hell to get you out of this tub."
"Ok…" he consented.
She moved slightly so she could reach more of his body. She lathered up his chest and back as well, shaking her head again as she looked at the angry marks that he'd carry for some time. She moved out from behind him. "Do you want a shave again?" she asked.
"Sure…"
She got the shaving kit and approached him. "Do you wanna stay in the tub for this or should we move you out first?"
"Might as well just do it while I'm still in here…"
"Ok." She lathered the shaving cream on his face and started shaving him, careful once again, and once again, left his face stubble-free without cutting him once. She got him to sit up more, and they moved him back to the chair together. Once he was seated, she dried him off and applied the aftershave. Then she set to work on reapplying the bandages. It went much faster however this time, because she knew what to do to and had done it all before. It no time, he was fully bandaged and his ribs were wrapped once again. She moved over to her charts, and made a check next to the things that were now covered for the day. The only things that she had to remember for later were letting his ribs out of the wrap once more that day and changing the surgical bandages every 6-8 hours. She smiled at her work and moved back over to help him dress. Once he was dressed, she went out of the room and got Will and he helped them back to the bedroom. Sydney got Vaughn settled in the bed again, and realized it was just about lunchtime.
"Hey, it's almost noon, you want lunch?"
He looked pensively at her, "Not really, I'm not really hungry right now…"
"Ok…we'll wait a while."
"You can eat if you're hungry Syd."
"No, I'll wait a while too…" She moved to sit on the bed next to him. Want to watch some TV?
"Sure…"
She turned on the television and surfed through the channels. She was just about to ask him if wanted to watch ESPN when she looked over and saw that he was sleeping again. She smiled and gently got off the bed. She went into the kitchen and made two glasses of iced tea and took them into the living room, handing one to Will. "Thanks Syd," he said as he accepted the glass.
"No, thank you…" she replied seriously as she looked over at him.
He turned to look at her, "Really Will…I don't know if I would have gotten him in and out of the bath without your help…thanks…"
"Not a problem, anytime, ok?"
She nodded, "So, what were you telling me about the frogs?"
"Well, ya see, these frogs in the Amazon…"
