Hi folks, back again with a sixth chapter. As always, thanks to Blunz for your faithfulness.

Disclaimer: Except for the hospital staff, no characters belong to me. You can thank Jason Gann and Adam Zwar's genius for them all.

"Our nature consists in motion;

complete rest is death."

~Blaise Pascal

Chapter 6

That last surgery had been the hard to recover from; even his medical team had begun to worry about him when, for the first few days he had been dull, listless; he slept more than he should have needed. It had eventually been decided that his problem was most likely mental rather than physical. It was a common issue that the staff encountered with patients with a long recovery ahead of them. People tended to lose hope, to stop trying; especially ones who had issues with anxiety and depression in the past.

But about a week after his surgery, he had begun to show signs of improvement. He seemed to get back some of his good humor, and his spirits rose significantly. It seemed that he was back on track.

Three weeks later, it was finally time to try out a wheelchair. During his stay at the hospital, he had been moved back and forth between three different rooms, but all of them looked the same, and the scenery was getting unbearably boring. He wanted terribly to be able to go somewhere, anywhere, of his own accord.

Present for the big day were Jenna, Drew, Wilfred, Catherine, Kristen, and Geoffrey. Ryan did not need, nor did he desire a large audience, but he did not have the heart to tell them to bug off, as Wilfred suggested. They had all been so supportive during his stay, and they only wanted to be there for his liberation from the confines of his hospital bed.

Catherine was obviously heavily medicated, but her eyes were filled with pride for her youngest child. She had been nothing but positive during his recovery, and although the process of forgiveness would be long, Ryan was finding it easier to be able to see past her absence during his childhood.

The chair that the nurse, Hannah, wheeled in to the room was small and simplistic. She smiled as Ryan observed it, "I know it's not much, but it will do the job. And the fact that it's simple makes it a lot lighter and easier to handle."

"It's perfect." Ryan returned Hannah's smile. Over the weeks the two had become closer than he was to any of the other nurses, almost friends. Ryan had not told anyone that he found her quite attractive and sweet.

I'm sure she's like that with all her patients.

And I bet a lot of them have dumb little schoolboy crushes on her, too.

He still secretly desired for Jenna, even if he did not want to realize it himself. But Jenna was married now, and if Ryan did not move on soon, he may be lulled back into that dark depression.

Wilfred knew – as he always knew things Ryan thought he kept secret. His face looked innocent enough as he watched the interaction between the brown haired, green-eyed girl and Ryan, but Wilfred's eyes and his slight smirk said plenty. Ryan put a finger to his lips and silently hushed his friend. Wilfred threw up his hands (or front paws) and raised his eyebrows as if to say, 'What?'. Ryan narrowed his eyes; he knew Wilfred's thoughts were never innocent.

Kristen, Jenna, and the rest of Ryan's visitors grouped into a corner of the small room to try to keep out of the way as Dr. Flatline and a male nurse (Ryan knew him as Jonathon; he had helped Ryan several times during his stay) entered to guide Ryan through the process.

Jonathon had helped Ryan dress earlier in dark blue sweats and a white t-shirt. Nothing fancy – but at least it covered much more than the hospital gowns that had been his main attire lately.

Any IV's had been removed shortly after his last surgery, and Ryan was finally receiving all of his fluids, foods, and medicines orally. The catheter had been removed as well, and now the only embarrassment he had to worry about now was asking for a bed pan whenever he needed to go, and having to be cleaned up by a nurse. Fortunately, sponge baths and bathroom needs had primarily been handled by male staff – Hannah and other lady nurses dealt with the changing of bandages, assistance in physical therapy, and other less private needs. He knew it was her job, but for some reason Ryan preferred not to have Hannah help with those more embarrassing matters.

Dr. Flatline lowered the railing on the outer side of Ryan's bed. He removed the thin sheet that was covering Ryan's legs and adjusted the bed to a full sitting position as as the male nurse, Jonathon, moved any tables, chairs, and machinery to the other side of the room, out of the way.

"Okay, Mr. Newman-"

Ryan had asked the doctor several times to please address him by his first name. 'Mr. Newman' reminded him more of his father than he preferred. But the doctor's manners must have been too well engraved – he continuously forgot his request, and Ryan was tired of asking, so he had given in.

"-we're going to do this slowly, so do not feel rushed. If you need to take a break, just let us know. We will help you as much as we can, but we'll need your help too; whatever you can do to help with your hands and arms."

Ryan nodded. He tried to ignore the fact that there were four adults, a baby, and a dog counting on him and staring nervously – a task that was made more difficult by Drew shouting, "You can do it, Ry bread!"

Ryan smiled politely at Drew, "Thanks." He was fairly sure that Drew had used that nickname before; he must be running out of material.

Hannah wheeled the chair closer to the bed, removed the foot rests, and set the brakes. Then she went to Ryan's other side to observe and help if she needed to. She placed a reassuring hand on Ryan's right shoulder.

"Are you ready?" the doctor asked.

"As ready as I'm going to be."

The process was uncomfortable, and extremely painful at some points. Jonathon lifted and positioned his legs, and the doctor helped with Ryan's torso. Although the therapists had been working daily with his legs, it was still extremely painful to have them moved, bent, and manipulated. Ryan flinched several times and breathed sharply through his teeth. He tried not to look up at his audience to see their reaction.

When he was finally in the chair, Hannah went around the bed to position his legs into the footrests. Ryan was short of breath, which he did not understand. He had barely done anything on his own. He tried to breathe slowly; calmly, and not show his family and friends he was weak. Hannah must have noticed he was biting his lip – she bent down close to him after fixing the footrests and whispered "Are you okay?"

Ryan nodded and tried to fix his face.

The doctor asked, "How does it feel?"

Ryan smiled as best he could. "It's different. It's . . . great."

Hannah unlocked the chair's brakes, then wheeled him into the nearly empty hallway of the recovery unit. Dr. Flatline, Jonathon, and the rest of Ryan's audience followed anxiously.

"Well, try it out!" Hannah prompted.

It was easier to control the chair than Ryan had expected. The physical therapy had more than prepared his arms for the rigorous job of pushing, turning, and stopping the large rear wheels. It was nice to be up and in motion. He rolled himself up and down the hallway three times, his audience clapping and cheering, before the doctor advised that it was enough for now, and Ryan should get some rest.

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