AUTHOR'S NOTES: God Bless Google!

I have to admit that most of my work on this chapter was spent on Google looking up images and doing research for whole-arm amputation which—BTW—is technically known as shoulder disarticulation. I didn't know that.

I know I probably went a little too technical with this chapter and if you have questions… Google. I only sound smart on paper.

Chapter 9

Jethro Gibbs wasn't alone in the sleepless father group lately.

Although money was never an issue for the Adlers, Nora and Victor still worked. Nora helped run Safe Haven, a school and shelter for homeless kids and families. In addition, she headed up almost 5 different charities for everything from food banks to helping abuse victims.

Victor, on the other hand, had decided to use his degrees in medicine and engineering to work on developing new prosthetics for amputees.

In what he called his lab—which resembled an combination of Q's laboratory from the 'James Bond' movies and a medical library—at the Wilder Lansky Research Hospital, Victor looked at the latest designs for artificial arms. It was late—after midnight—but he just couldn't sleep.

The main problem Kelly Gibbs was facing was that her arm was missing at the shoulder. Without any part of the limb remaining, it meant that most of the standard prosthetics wouldn't work. But lately Victor had been experimenting with a new procedure, called intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthesis, or ITAP which involved encouraging an amputee's tissue to fuse with a titanium rod fitted into the bone. So far with testing, the procedure seemed to do away with the need for the cumbersome straps and sockets normally associated with prosthesis, as well as avoid the infection and pressure sores that had occurred with his previous attempts to fuse metal and bone.

But how to adapt the procedure for someone one with a complete shoulder disarticulation was proving to be the toughest challenge Victor had ever faced.

"Burning the midnight oil, Doc?"

Victor looked up to see his research partner, Jefferson Hadley coming into the development lab. "Hey, Jeff. Yeah, I-I'm just trying to figure out how to help Kelly."

"The potential sister-in-law of your future son-in-law?" Jeff replied with a smile. He looked over Victor's shoulder at the design drawings and pulled a stool over and clearing the light table which exposed a double-sized full x-ray of a human skeleton.

The table had been Victor's idea because it could be used as a better visual for new designs. Victor pointed at the left shoulder as he said, "Full shoulder disarticulation after a complete dislocation. Kelly's circulation was cut off for 12 continuous hours and the swelling made things even worse."

"But the rest of the shoulder is intact?" Jeff asked, thoughtfully. When Victor nodded, Jeff pointed to the joint on the x-ray before picking up the papers Victor had been studying before. "So… the idea is a shoulder ITAP?"

Nodding, Victor looked at his partner. "What do you think? Will it work? We've done the designs and prototypes but so far that's just with partial amputations."

Jeff studied the designs as he thought. It was a brilliant idea on paper but would it actually work? "Okay… Let's get a prototype going. We'll go from there, although…"

Victor looked at Jeff expectantly. "Although what?"

"We need to examine Kelly directly," Jeff replied. "X-rays, at least."

Nodding in agreement, Victor looked at the work one last time. "Okay, we'll meet at the hospital in the morning?"

Watching his partner stack up the papers, Jeff found himself suddenly curious about something. "So what is it about Kelly Gibbs that you want to do this for her? I mean, I know this is our specialty and all, but…"

Victor stood and shrugged. "Shannon told me that Kelly has wanted to be a Marine since she was 4 years old. The kid shouldn't have to give up that dream just because she's missing her arm."

"I'm behind you on that," Jeff nodded.

Tess Montgomery had seen her fair share of patients in the 20-some years she'd been an occupational therapist at the hospital. And even though she always tried to remain positive and encouraging with her patients, working with kids always got to her.

What was worse was that typically kids seemed to fight her more often than adults. Plus the fact that kids always worried about how they'd be received once they returned to school. Would their friends be there to support them or abandon them? Add to that the fact that disabilities such as blindness and deafness were so entirely life-changing and impacted not only the lives of Tess's patients, but their families as well.

When Tess had been assigned Sam Winchester, she'd expected that he'd fight her and insist he could figure things out on his own. But instead, Sam just patiently let her show him about getting around using the long white cane, counting steps into rooms or up and down stairs, and making sure that items were very precisely organized.

And the most surprising thing of all was just how quickly Sam picked up on everything. Tess had only to go few a few things repeatedly before the teenager caught on. It was amazing.

But even as the therapist commented on his progress, Sam didn't reply. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that it was his father's constant lessons of repetition that had helped him catch on to what Tess was showing him.

After a few more hours of going through things, Tess started to lead Sam back to his room when he asked, "Can we stop by Kelly Gibbs' room first? Please?"

"Missing your girlfriend?" Tess asked as they entered the elevator. When Sam remained silent, she said, "I really think you're going to be okay, Sam. You're obviously not going to have many challenges getting around and if you pick up Braille even half as well as everything else, I don't think your disability will be much of a hindrance at all."

As much as Sam had been hearing the word 'disability' lately, it still grated like nails on a chalk board. Especially considering that he wasn't the only one. Dean would have to learn to walk with two prosthetic legs and from what he'd heard, Corey still had no motor function below her waist.

And then there was Kelly. No one really wanted to go into detail about what had happened to her with was the main reason Sam wanted to check on his girlfriend. As he went into Kelly's room, he smiled as he approached the bed. "How are you?"

"Fine, I guess," Kelly replied as Sam sat on the edge of her bed. She made sure she was sitting up as much as possible since it lessened the pressure on her what was left of her shoulder.

Sam reached out a hand towards Kelly and when he felt her flinch when his fingertips brushed the stitches on her face, he pulled his hand back. "Sorry," he said, quietly. But after a moment or two, he felt Kelly take his hand and slowly bring it up to her face. Sam traced the cuts and lines of stitches and he felt a pang of heartbreak. But as Sam started to pull her into a hug, he paused when he felt the absence of Kelly's arm.

Kelly turned away, even though she knew that Sam couldn't see her. "I look horrible," she muttered.

"Little lip gloss might help," Sam said with a smile. When Kelly scoffed, he pulled her towards him and after a little experimenting found her lips. "I still think you're gorgeous," he assured her. "And I know that you're not going to let this—" Sam indicated Kelly's missing arm. "—keep you from your life."

"Not too many one-armed Marines out there," Kelly countered, dismally.

Her statement made Sam think and after a few moments he asked, "Why do you want to be a Marine?"

The question caught Kelly off-guard a bit and for the first time in years, she actually thought about it. It had always been her goal in life, but thinking about the 'why' she paused. She remembered being 5 years old and telling her father that she wanted to be a Marine just like him. She wanted to fight bad guys and help make the country safe.

But why did she really want to join the Corps? Was it because she wanted to be like her father or did she really want to be part of what the Marines stood for?

"I want to help keep this country free," Kelly said at last. "I want to make the world a little better and I want to help others do that, too."

Sam nodded, thoughtfully. "So why not become an instructor? Or you could do communications or intelligence… linguistics." Hearing footsteps getting closer, Sam asked, "Is someone coming?"

"Yeah," Kelly said, a little confused as Corey's father and another man entered the room. "Hi, Mr. Adler."

"Hi, Kelly," Victor replied, warmly. Gesturing to his partner, he said. "This is Dr. Jefferson Hadley. He works with me at the R&D lab."

Sam stood and gestured to the door. "I-I'll just wait outside."

Kelly started to nod, but as she remembered that Sam couldn't see her, she said, "Uh, Sam? My mom's at the nurse's station about—" She took a moment to mentally calculate the route and then went on. "30 feet to the left as you leave the room. If you could go get her?"

With a quick nod, Sam left the room and headed off.

Victor pulled a chair over while Jeff pulled out the x-ray of Kelly's shoulder. "I might have some good news for you," Victor began, his tone cautiously optimistic. Glancing briefly at the door as Shannon came in followed by Sam, he went on after turning back to Kelly. "Jeff and I have been experimenting with new procedures for amputees and there's a procedure that we might be able to adapt to help you."

"What kind of procedure?" Shannon asked as she stood on the other side of her daughter's bed.

Jeff held up the x-ray and outlined the plan. "We would essentially rebuild Kelly's entire arm at the shoulder, starting with a titanium joint connected to a shaft which would be connected to the rest of the prosthesis. Using a microprocessor and very fine connections wires, we should be able to give you a new arm."

Kelly didn't know what to say to that. It sounded kind of like something out of 'Star Wars'. But if it worked, she'd have her arm back. Nodding, she looked at Jeff and and Victor and said, eagerly, "Let's do it."

"Well, now wait a moment," Shannon interjected, quickly, looking at the two doctors. "This sounds a little farfetched. I don't want to get my daughter's hopes up just to have this idea flop."

But Kelly bristled at that and said, "Mom, what's the worst that could happen? At the least I'm no worse off than I was before." Looking at her mother with a lightly pleading look, she added, "Best case—I get my arm back."

Shannon hated to say it, but there was a very small part of her that had hoped that the injury would keep Kelly from enlisting. It was selfish of her, but she didn't want her only little girl fighting with the Marines.

But like father, like daughter and Shannon also knew that the more she fought against it, the more it would push Kelly towards the Corps. Besides, there were a few areas of the Marines and Navy that wouldn't necessarily require fighting and that would only encourage Kelly to pursue her goals.

"Okay," Shannon said, after a long pause. "Let's go through exactly how this would work."