Thursday that week couldn't have come any sooner for Aaron if he wanted it to. He was due in at the hospital to get his splint removed and have it replaced by his first cast, as well as taking the first step in slowly taking him off of the strong pain medication he had been taking. Unlike the appointments he held with the solicitor he made sure he arrived in good time to the hospital. He knew that when his splint was replaced with a cast he needn't be that careful with his leg. Yes, he would still have to think about doing things and not be careless but he needn't bother if the slightest knock would send him back in hospital again with more screws and plates being attached to his bones. He just hoped that with the cast on his leg, Jackson might calm down a little bit when it came to his health. He was beginning to drive Aaron insane with the constant mothering.
"Alright then Mr. Livesy, let's get this splint off of you." The doctor said when he walked back into the room. He wanted to do an overall check up first, make sure everything was healing right and the surgery had gone well a month later on before they put the cast on Aaron's leg.
"You don't know how much he's been dying to hear that." Jackson joked from his seat by the Doctors desk on the other side of the room.
"Not the world's greatest patient then." Then doctor laughed as he un-strapped Aaron's splint carefully, smirking at him when he said it.
"No he's not." Jackson agreed.
"Right then, I think this surgical wound should be nicely healed by now." The doctor said as he began to gently take the dressing off of Aaron's lower leg. He looked at it for a while, shielding it from Jackson as he stood with his back towards the builder, thankfully for Aaron. He'd done a pretty good job of hiding it from everyone as he changed his dressing in the bathroom every morning. He couldn't stand the sight of the scare tissue running down his shin. "That's healing just nicely."
"Will it fade?" Aaron asked quickly, he hoped it would.
"It's hard to tell, hopefully it will." The doctor answered him. "But there will be some scar left, whether how visible it will be we will only be able to see in time."
"Oh." Aaron muttered. It wasn't the answer he'd been looking for.
"I'll just be a minute and we'll send you down the cast unit." The doctor told him before leaving the consultation room. As soon as the doctor had the left room, Aaron hastily tugged his sweat pant trouser down his leg, to cover up the still angry red scar that ran down his shin, from Jackson.
A couple of later, after a lot of waiting around for various people and things to be completed, Aaron and Jackson were back home at Smithy Cottage. Aaron's cast covered his whole leg, just like his splint had, from mid thigh all the way to his toes but he found it be a lot less awkward than the splint. He could move around easier and he didn't need to worry so much about knocking his leg. Jackson had been a little confused as to why he'd chosen a black cast out of the many other assorted colors the plaster unit held. He didn't want to look like a twelve year old with a red cast on his leg. Aaron wanted something plain and easy to blend in, to a certain extent.
"Everything go alright up at the hospital?" Paddy asked as soon as they walked in. He was always concerned about Aaron's well being.
"Yeah, great." Aaron said heading for the stairs.
"Hold on!" Jackson said, who had already gone through into the kitchen to put the kettle on when they got back. He still didn't want Aaron going up the stairs on his own, he didn't want him to fall again. "Aaron's been told he can now shower as long as he keeps his cast covered."
"I sure it's safe?" Paddy asked a little surprised. Surely they'd seen how unsteady Aaron had been with his injured leg. The whole reason he needed the operation on his leg was because he'd fallen in the shower.
Aaron rolled his eyes and waited for Jackson to be somewhere behind him before he started climbing the stairs, a lot steadier than before. When would those two understand he was capable of doing things.
"Yeah, they assessed him again at the hospital." Jackson explained over his shoulder as they went upstairs. "Apparently, he's doing just fine."
"Told you." Aaron muttered under his breath as he went into the bedroom to grab some clean clothes.
Their bedroom was a mess once again. No sooner had Hazel cleaned it a few days ago was it a mess once more. However, it wasn't the messiest it had ever been, only a few clothes littered the floor from the day before and they were mainly Aaron's. Jackson had tried his best to keep his things in order, after having his mother give him an earful in The Woolpack the other lunch time about keeping things neat and tidy and not have dirty underwear lying around everywhere amongst other things.
Aaron chose the first things he came across, a pair of his usual trackies and t-shirt. He hoped that his new cast was small enough to fit under the material of his trackies. It certainly was less bulky than his splint.
"Be careful." Jackson warned him as he headed towards the bathroom.
"I will!" Aaron sighed.
"Don't forget this!" Jackson teased as he threw the bag like things towards Aaron.
Aaron scowled at him as it bypassed his head and went straight into the open bathroom, landing on the floor. "Thanks."
"No problem, make sure you do use it." Jackson told him sternly. "If you want a hand, shout."
"Whatever." Aaron scoffed. No way was Jackson helping him in the shower!
He took his time but Aaron managed on his own. Little did he know the entire time Jackson had been ready to run in and help out if he ever needed. The older man still hadn't reigned in his worry. But Aaron managed to not fall over this time and he made sure to make the most of his first proper shower in a while, washing away what felt like I weeks of dirt. He felt happy to be clean once again. He dressed in his usual clothes, glad to be out of the sweatpants and baggy jeans he had had to buy to fit over his splint. He felt comfortable in his usual clothes, even though his trackies trouser on his right leg was rather tight to stretch over the rock hard surface of his cast on his leg.
Meanwhile, as Jackson kept his ears open to Aaron shouting for him, he busied himself in their bedroom making the bed and collecting discarded clothes littered on the floor by Aaron's side. He was just collecting the last few items of clothing that Aaron had left on the floor when he saw a clear packet lying underneath one of his socks. He threw the dirty sock onto the pile under his arm before he picked up the clear packet, noticing the contents. They were pills and they certainly weren't legit. He knew that. Aaron's pain medication was kept in the correct plastic bottles that he'd been prescribed and the weren't perfect circular and white, like the ones he was looking at now. They were completely different to prescribed drugs. His heart instantly leapt into his throat as he jumped to the thought of Aaron involved in illegal drugs. Surely the younger would do nothing of the sort. He wouldn't be taking drugs would he?
He knew Aaron had a past when it came to illegal substances. He knew all about his stint with the McFarlane's. But that was the past. He wouldn't do anything that stupid again, would he? But then he had been through an awful lot and drugs could seem as an easy way out of that.
"Alright." Aaron said making Jackson jump as he walked into the bedroom with his crutches.
"Yeah, yeah fine." Jackson said screwing the clear packet up in his hand so Aaron couldn't see. He needed to think how to approach the subject first. But he certainly wasn't going to let the issue slip. He needed to find out more first.
"Sure?" Aaron asked as he sat down on the bed to put a sock on.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Jackson smiled as him. "Just going to put these in the wash, seeing as you can't." He teased, but it felt forced. He was arguing with himself in his head. He was accusing and defending Aaron in his mind. His Aaron wouldn't touch drugs. He was sensible. But then Aaron had been through an awful lot in the past few months and it would take it out on anybody, even the most sensible of people turned to the dark when they're desperate for some sort of distraction.
A/N - I am so sorry I can't remember the last time I update, and for that I am sorry. I've been soo busy I keep meaning to do any update but I've barely found the time, I'm only just fitting in sleep! But I do love the chaos. Anyway, hope you can forgive. This update is a bit crap and again I am forever sorry. Just hope you can bare with me for my next update, I'll start working on it straight away so it will be like my usual updates. Anyway, thank you for such kind feedback that has always been helpful and thank you for taking your time to read and stick with Terrified. Enough of my rambling!