All the tests done on Ackerly finished just after three in the afternoon. She dosed off once or twice but only for a few seconds each time. She was exhausted by the time they finished and they insisted that she should try on her prosthetic and go to physiotherapy. Ackerly firmly declined and spent the next few hours trying to get to sleep but failing. Meyer and Coulson had disappeared to the canteen when they thought she was asleep.

Lying on her back, her eyes flickered to the cybernetic leg that was still in the chair beside the bed. She swore that it wants her to try it on. It was nagging her subconsciously. But she didn't have the motivation to do it, she just stared at it. She'd have to face it sooner or later. Orion looked up at his owner with a titled head. His ears pricked forward and looked at her with concerned eyes.

"Orion, I'm fine." She told him. He jumped off the bed and pawed at the armchair. Ackerly sighed, "Orion, no. I don't want to." Orion moved back to the bed and put his chin on the edge. He whined softly with sad eyes. "Orion don't." Ackerly could never resist those huge sad eyes. "Orion." She said sternly. Orion moved his head up the bed towards Ackerly's shoulder. She sighed defeated, "Fine," she nodded her head at the leg, "go get it."

Orion's tail wagged wildly and he bound over to get the leg. Ackerly wheeled the drip stand around the bed and stopped it beside her. Orion watched her with the leg in his mouth. Ackerly inhaled deeply. She pushed the sheets to the end of the bed and swivelled to the edge of the bed. She slowly moved her stump over the end of the bed and kicked her other leg over the side. Orion plopped leg on her lap.

Ackerly picked it up and studied it. It looked much like her right leg despite the outer covering was shiny jet black in colour. She made a noise of approval, "Lookin' good, Stark, not bad." Inside the socket was a soft, grey coloured foam and dangling from the socket was a strap to hold the stump in place. A sock already sat in the socket. Ackerly removed the sock from her stump and put it neatly beside her. She put on the clean one and pulled on the prosthetic. She tightened the strap around the top of her thigh and moved her leg. She hummed in content, "Fits like a glove."

Ackerly breathed deeply. "Ok but I should get my physiotherapist to help... I'm not really sure; I shouldn't really do this at all." She spoke unsure. "Eh, what the hell. I'll have a go."

Ackerly swallowed and moved closer to the edge off the bed. Orion watched her closely. She planted her hands either side of her and slowly put her bare right foot onto the cool floor. She shuddered a little from the cold. Taking another deep breath, the ball of the foot touched the floor. Excitement flooded through Ackerly's body, its going good. But I gotta take it easy. Now she put the heel onto the floor. She could feel the ankle adjust to the solid floor. Standing up and putting most of her body weight on her right leg, she held onto the drip stand and took a few deep breaths.

Then she distributed her body weight across both her legs. After a couple of wobbles she steadied herself. Ackerly laughed loudly, "Awesome. Okay Orion, I'm gonna take a step now." She held her breath nervously as she took a step, but when her foot touched the floor it buckled and she collapsed onto the floor. The drip stand landed with a crush. Ackerly grumbled and bundled her hands into fists with a few tears escaped her eyes. Orion nudged her shoulder.

"Leave me alone Orion!" She snapped, swatting at the dog. Tears built up and she couldn't swallow past the lump in her throat, "Just- just- just get away from me." Orion whined sadly but lay next to her with his nose by her nose. Ackerly sniffed and hugged the border collie.

"Gabriella!" Coulson shouted urgently from the door. She sighed at his voice. He rushed over to her, "I thought you were asleep!" He helped her back onto the bed and stood the stand back up. "Weren't you going to do this tomorrow?"

"I'm sorry. I just- I just couldn't wait. I'm sorry." Ackerly muttered.

Coulson sighed, "Oh, don't be sorry. You could've at least told me what you were going to do. I would've helped." He put an arm around her.

"I know. I didn't want to bother you."

"After all these years I'd like to like to think that the only thing that bothers you is me calling you up in the middle of the night to come in." Coulson said with a smile.

Ackerly chuckled, "Yeah that does bother me."

"Good." He rubbed her shoulder. "Now, if you do that again don't just have Orion helping you out," Orion's ears pricked up at his name, "get me or Meyer to help you."

"I will." She replied.

"Now then," Coulson stood up and clasped his hands together, "do you plan on doing it again? If so I'm sure that I can get your therapist."

Ackerly smiled at him, "Yeah, that'll be great."

Coulson grinned, "Stay here and I'll go fetch her." Ackerly watched Coulson leave and Meyer entered.

"So how are ya?" Meyer asked sitting at the end of the bed.

"I haven't slept properly since I woke up." Ackerly told her, rubbing her eyes, "Believe me I've tried but I'm so stressed my insomnia has kicked into over drive."

Meyer raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you taking your tables?"

"I stopped taking them- I kept getting headaches." Ackerly told her, "but I might try cognitive behavioural treatments again, see if they work this time."

Meyer nodded in understanding. "Oh ok."

"So where's Fury, Barton and Romanoff?" Ackerly asked.

"They're tryin' to figure out what happened to you." She said.

"What do you have so far?"

"Well according to Barton, it's true what he said, that O.R.B.S did merge with you, How? I don't think we'll ever now." Meyer informed her. "And Fury with all your tests is probably sitting with your doctor right now talking about your head, DNA sequences and structures, and whatever else the results show. I haven't seen him for a while."

Coulson returned with Ackerly's physiotherapist, Doctor Erin Hook, to take her to the physio room. Coulson wheeled her there with Meyer and Orion in tow. "Hook?" Ackerly asked as they ambled down the corridor.

"Yes?" The middle aged women responded.

"I shouldn't have taken a step, should I?"

"The muscle in your stump is weaker than your other leg because you haven't used it much, so it wouldn't have really mattered, you would've fallen sooner or later. But we're going to build up the muscle by swimming, massaging, we'll also do exercises before walking such as shifting weight side to side and balancing."

"Okay, but when it comes to swimming can I swim without my prosthesis first?"

"Whatever you want to do we'll do it." Hook replied. Ackerly smiled to herself. "We'll go at your speed."

They reached the physio room. In the white room exercise mats littered the floor, five treadmills lined the right side of the room, a few exercise balls rested beside a shelf, and other exercise equipment sat around the room. Orion found a small exercise ball and chased after it. "Have fun, and we'll leave you too it." Coulson said. He and Meyer left.

Ackerly wheeled behind Hook, who led her to a plinth couch. Ackerly pushed herself into it. Hook spoke, "I think you know that you rushed into it. Taking time to stand and get used to your prosthesis is foremost before you can walk." Ackerly nodded. "So, are you ready?"

"Ready." Ackerly replied.

So here it is! The penultimate chapter! Don't forget to leave a review please. :)