P/N: Sorry about the delay of update, but my computer crashed. I am updating this during school in my computer class waiting to be caught by my teacher. Enjoy!
Chapter 55: Post-Check-up/Sydney Bristow, personal trainer
"Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win." – Jonathan Kazol
"Whoa, stop this crazy whirligig of fun, I'm dizzy." – Xander Harris (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer)
When Sydney woke the next morning, she left Vaughn quietly to sleep in. She decided that after a rather haphazard day of care the previous day that she should set up a schedule. She got out her notes and set to work.
She set up a whole regiment so Vaughn would be able to have some kind of routine to follow over the course of Week 2 on the Road to Recovery. She figured it would be easier if he exercised at certain times of the day instead of just whenever. The bandages were easier to manage now, since the most any of them had to be changed was once a day. The regiment would start when he got up. They'd have breakfast, take off the rib wrap and do the deep breathing, and then start the first set of crunches for the day. Then, they'd follow that up every two hours, with the same procedure – rib wrap, deep breathing, crunches. She decided it would be easiest at 8:30, 10:30, 12:30, 2:30, 4:30, and 6:30. Every other crunches set, they'd also stand and exercise his ankle (10:30, 2:30, 6:30). If he got up later one day, they could alter the times slightly, but always at 2-hour intervals so Vaughn could be consistent.
She smiled at her notes proudly, wondering if it was too anal to actually have a schedule for everything, but she realized then that this was Vaughn's health that she held in her hands, and no amount of scheduling or anything would be 'too anal.'
Sydney was just about to get herself a glass of juice when she could hear Vaughn stir in the bedroom. She padded into the room, smiling at him as he yawned.
"Hey sleepy," she said.
"Hey beautiful," he answered.
She sat down and he noticed she had a piece of paper in her hand, "What's that?"
"This is a schedule," she said handing it to him. "See…I have it all plotted out so that we can have some kind of routine for you every day. I figured it would be easier to keep up if we did stuff at a similar time every day, then we'll get into a pattern and it'll be easier to stay with it."
"Oh, yay!" he said unenthusiastically, "You mean I have to exercise like right when I get up?"
"You can eat first," she offered.
"Thanks…" he said looking more closely at the sheet. "Seriously, this is very detailed, very organized…" he smiled. "It's gonna suck, but it's highly organized."
She leaned down and kissed him, "Nothing is too much for your health. Oh and by the way," she said extending her hand out to him, "My name is Sydney Bristow, and I'll be your personal trainer…"
He smiled, took her hand and pulled her down for another quick kiss, "Just as long as you aren't anyone else's trainer…You know there's one flaw."
She grabbed the sheet looking wildly at it, "Where! Where! What'd I miss?"
He chuckled, "You left out significant time for S.H. I think that should be on the sheet somewhere, like for instance," he continued taking the sheet back, "right here at 8:00, 11:00, 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, and then added on also at 9:00 and 11:00 PM." He smiled.
"That's a lot of S.H. You sure you can keep up with me?"
"Uh…sure…"
"Maybe we should tone it down to a few less…huh?" she smiled back.
He thought a moment, "We could always just pencil them in and then if we miss one, it won't be an official miss."
"Good idea," she said kissing him again. "So you want breakfast? Then we can start your exercises."
"Ok…but what about the penciled in S.H. we have scheduled for right now?"
She smirked, "It'll have to wait awhile…"
"Aw…"
"I know…it's tough…I'll be back in a few minutes," she said getting off the bed.
"Can you leave the sheet here? I want to put some pencil notes in there."
She smiled and kept going.
She filled Donovan's food and water dishes and then she came back in a few minutes with a tray of food. They ate and joked about her schedule and then Sydney cleared away the dishes before coming back to start the exercises.
"Ok, rib wrap off, time for deep breathing."
Vaughn nodded his acceptance of his fate and let her remove the wrap. She forgot his pills and was going off to go get them, but he stopped her, "Syd?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you stay until I'm done?"
She looked at him curiously, brow furrowed, but moved back to the bed. She said jokingly, "Did you forget how to breathe?"
"No…but I like it better when you breathe with me."
"Oh…" she smiled.
He smiled back and grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest. "That's supposed to there…"
"Got it," she said, her smile continuing to grow. She had forgotten that most times he did this, she rather automatically breathed with him, and realized that maybe it was easier if he could do it with someone else.
Once they were done she changed his bandages and put the rib wrap back on.
"Ok…crunch time…"
He groaned but reached out his hand as she sat on his legs. She pulled him up and counted and then eased him down. They were doing the last one and he winced.
"You ok?"
"Mmm…yeah, I think so…that one hurt…"
She eased him down, lying with him.
He closed his eyes and lay still. Sydney realized that she hadn't given him his pills yet.
"Vaughn, let me go get your pills…"
"Alright."
She got up and was in the kitchen when she heard him. She knew instantly what it was and grabbed the morphine from the counter. She ran back in to find him in the throws of a muscle spasm.
"I'm here, morphine's here too!" She gave him the morphine and sat down on the bed, one hand running through his damp hair and the other running over his ribs. His movements slowed and his hand flexed as the muscles relaxed.
"You ok?" she asked gently.
"Yep," he answered still out of breath.
"At least I can get to you quicker now…"
"Uh huh…"
She was silent, just keeping up her motions, waiting for him to let her know when she could stop.
It took several minutes before he looked at her again, and when he did, her gaze softened even further.
"I'm sorry Vaughn."
"It's not your fault."
"Well…if we didn't have to do the exercises, you probably wouldn't get those."
"Yeah, and I wouldn't move ever again either."
"Well…yeah…"
He smiled, "You kinda get used to them after awhile…they aren't as scary anymore. At least now I know what they are."
She smiled down at him. "You rest…ok? We'll wait with the standing…"
"Thanks."
She kissed him on the cheek and left for a moment, coming back with his pills. "I know you don't like it when you mix all the medications, but I think you should still take these for the inflammation and everything."
"Ok."
She lifted his head and helped him down the pills, then covered him up and left him to rest.
She let him sleep past his 10:30 exercise session, but when it reached noon, he needed to take his pills, so she came back in to wake him up.
She roused him after a few moments, and he looked groggily up at her.
"Hey…sorry to wake you honey, but you have to take your pills."
"Mmm…ok."
She lifted his head again and she helped him down them once again.
She stayed on the bed watching him for a few minutes, waiting to see if he'd fall back to sleep, but he seemed awake.
"You wanna get up?" she asked.
"Ok…are we going on the couch?"
"Uh…well…it's Monday so, Will and Francie went to work…it's just us today…I'd have to get you out there by myself…"
"Oh…"
"We can try it…"
"Ok…"
"Let's go slow though, we don't want another muscle spasm…"
She moved to sit on his legs and pulled him up, trying to keep him as balanced as possible. Once he was sitting, she moved to swing his legs off the bed and then pulled him up to stand in front of her. She waited a few minutes to let him adjust to standing.
"Ok…let's try to just take one step, ok?"
"Mmmhmm."
She moved backwards, taking one step and hanging on to his right arm and his left elbow. She knew she was supposed to hang onto the sling, but it would be better to have him hurt his shoulder slightly than fall down entirely. She waited patiently as he moved towards her, stepping gingerly on his ankle. Once he reached her, she moved her hand to his waist and tightened her grip on him. Donovan circled around their feet; barking and seemingly very happy that Vaughn was walking.
"You ok?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"You wanna keep going or should we get you back to the bed?"
"Let's just keep going…"
Sydney was unsure if they should really be doing this, but she moved backwards, taking her time, making sure he took his own time too.
They were about halfway to the couch when Vaughn stopped, "Sydney?"
"Yeah?"
"I think I need to stop for a minute."
"Ok…" she moved closer to him, gripping him at the waist again, supporting his frame. His eyes closed momentarily. Donovan continued to circle like a vulture.
"You ok?"
"Dizzy…and I kind of feel like I'm gonna be sick."
"Uh…ok…" Sydney searched for something else to do and say, "Come here…" she pulled his head down until it was on her shoulder again and she moved one of her hands to his back. She moved it in circles, trying to help him feel better.
After a few minutes he said, "I think we should just keep going before I pass out."
"Oh God! Ok…Donovan! Sit!" The dog immediately stopped, obeying.
She tried to go as slow as she could, but he wasn't looking very good. She sped him up slightly when they were closer to the couch and pretty much plopped him on the couch when they got there. He let out a groan and closed his eyes, letting his head fall on the back of the couch.
Sydney moved next to him, placing her hand on his chest, "Vaughn? Are you ok?"
"I think I should lie down."
"Yeah, sure." She moved her other hand to the back of his neck and eased him back on the couch. "Do you need to get sick?"
"I don't think so…not right now."
"Ok…tell me if you do." She sat with him, until she realized that his breathing was very choppy.
"Shit Vaughn, I totally forgot your oxygen." She bolted to the bedroom, almost colliding with the still sitting Donovan, and came back with it, placing it hurriedly under his nose and turning it back on, giving him a little more than he usually had. Once his breathing reached a semi-normal level, she turned it back down.
"How are you doin' baby?" Sydney asked as she ran a hand through Vaughn's hair.
He opened his eyes and smiled, "I'm ok Syd."
"Are you really?"
"Yeah…it was just…a little too much I think."
"I know, I never should have agreed to do it…I'm sorry."
"Hey, I'm the one who thought we should do it in the first place, we got here, it's ok."
"I think you should just rest now for the rest of the day."
"What no more 'My name is Sydney Bristow and I'll be your personal trainer?'"
"No, not today…"
"I think I'm ok…maybe we can try some more crunches later tonight."
"Ok…but you rest now…"
"Ok." Donovan moved then and lay down by the foot of the couch.
Sydney left him on the couch to rest and went about business she had for the day. She went into the bedroom and decided to call her dad.
"Hello?"
"Hi dad, it's me."
"Hello sweetheart, how are you?"
"I'm good."
"And Vaughn? Are you taking care of each other?"
"Yeah dad, we are."
"Good."
"I wanted to thank you again for the other night, it was so nice what you said to both of us…I really appreciated it."
"It was something I should have said a long time ago…"
"Anyway, I also wanted to ask you, I know we had talked about bringing some work over here…and well, Vaughn rests a lot, so there isn't a whole lot for me to do when he's resting. Do you think you could talk to Kendall and maybe bring some stuff over for me to work on?"
"Sure Sydney, do you want me to stop by later?"
"Sure…if you can get it that fast…"
"I can."
Sydney smiled, "Ok dad…I'll see you later then."
"Do you want me to bring dinner again?"
"Sure…uh…I'm not sure if Francie and Will will be here though."
"I can bring enough for everyone…just let me know what I should bring. How about I call you when it's closer to dinnertime?"
"That sounds great dad."
"Ok…goodbye sweetheart."
"Bye dad."
She hung up the phone and smiled widely. Two conversations with her father that didn't end in her extremely pissed at him. He was actually acting like a real dad; it was a nice change.
