And once again, we're another chapter closer to the conclusion of the first "Far From Perfection!"

Anyway, it has even been a month since my last update, but I have had a CRAZY few weeks! Just in the last few, I have crammed two holidays, one of my best friend's engagement party (including prep the day before). It's all exciting (aside from the same best friend being hospitalized a few days after the party!) and is just marking the beginning of summer. The first holiday was so jam-packed and while I wasn't completely dormant on the second, it was good to relax for a while, swim, jetty jump, laze around and trial new alcoholic beverages from Mango liqueur to Chocolate wine.

Sydney, as always, was just awesome... Got to do all sorts around the city; from cruises, to theater performances, to bumping into Reece Mastin and Rhiannon Fish sitting on the table beside us, to getting up to Palm Beach and meeting cast members of Home & Away, visiting the sets of the show and being chosen (with 3 others) out of about 30 fans to be in the background of a scene they were filming!

Also, I can't quite remember, but this may well be the last Cleo-centred chapter for the first story (aside from the 'all in' final chapter!). ENJOY! xox

Chapter 32 – One Day At A Time

Cleo's POV

As the weeks progressed, so did Lewis.

Every rehabilitation session he participated in, he had been working hard to be able to move his muscles that one centimetre more or could hold a grasp on something for one second longer.

The improvements were only small, taking little baby steps, but it still was movement and progression. At this stage, that was the best that both of us could hope for aside from the dream of an unrealistic miracle.

While life had inevitably moved on, while I had barely left Lewis' unconscious and conscious side for the last month, the progression of the outside world was a fact that I realized I was going to have to acknowledge to a greater degree.

The last four or five weeks had been about Lewis, with my life moulding around the new waters we had been thrown into with the Guillain-Barré diagnosis.

However, now as the water were settling, growing calmer with every new day, I was prompted to the realization that my own life needed to revert back to the day-to-day reality that I had sacrificed for Lewis's care, after a conversation that my dad had initiated with me.

I had spent many nights at hospital, either settling in the guest room with the ward's uncomfortable foldout beds. Or, if there was a particularly nice nurse doing night shift when I was still there they would wrangle a foldout bed from the maternity ward that's use was directed towards father's or another particularly close friend or family member staying overnight to support mother's of newborn babies. Although nowhere was more comfortable than my own bed, at least the foldout beds were more relaxing than falling asleep in the seats in Lewis's room and waking up with a crick neck and massive headache that maintained it's hold for the entire day.

The foldout beds and the seats that weren't supposed to be used for sleeping were all options that I favoured over optimal comfort...

Somehow, the cricked neck and explosive headaches were all better than the feeling of going to bed in a cold, empty bed that made it difficult to sleep after being used to the creature comfort of sleeping with someone else. Sleeping at home was so hard, that on the occasions that dad would drag me home, and after several hours of sleeplessness had passed I had gotten into the habit of sneaking out of the house at stupid hours in the night to go from a swim, sometimes even making it out to Mako Island to try and induce some form of tiredness that made it possible for me to sleep.

In another facet of my life, my reputation, dedication and effort that I had poured into my job at the marine park for the last few years meant that my bosses and supervisors were more than understanding about requiring impromptu time off indefinitely, due to the urgency of Lewis unforeseeable medical condition, which meant slicing through my built up annual leave.

I didn't know how many days of leave I had left, but I knew that I would be nearing the end of my occupational savings.

Additionally, as my dad had pointed out to me, that while we both still need each other for support Lewis had reached a point of his recovery that meant that he didn't need me for every waking moment. It was also not as though he would wake up to find me gone, as had been my initial concern during his GBS-induced coma.

All of those reflections were what brought me to the present moment... straightening the neglected aqua-coloured work uniform on my body that had gone unexpectedly untouched for the last weeks, neglected from its previous use, almost-daily.

After I had dressed myself, I opened the door of my childhood bedroom. The bedroom was once again solely mine, with the other occupant still cooped up in hospital.

"Knock, knock" a male spoke from his spot as he leant against the wood of my door's frame.

"How are you doing, Cleo?" my dad added before I had the chance to welcome him into my room during the time it took me to spin and face the voice; the voice I could recognize without requiring to see him.

"I'm okay… Actually, I feel a bit strange. I feel like I'm 17 again... Just like when I was younger and I wanted my shift to be over before it's even started so that I can meet up with Lewis and spend the rest of my day with him. And I haven't felt this many butterflies in my stomach for work since my first day!"

Without needing my approval to enter my room (not that I minded), Dad walked in, and headed directly for me as his slow steps eventually led him to in front of me. He pulled me into a hug as his arms wrapped around my back with an extra squeeze of reassurance.

"Don't worry sweetheart, work will go fine. I'm sure they'll take it easier on you, while the doctors and nurses will be there for Lewis if he needs it. It's your turn to spend a little bit of time focusing on getting your life back on track."

I nodded, in complete understanding of the point my dad was trying to make. But just because I understood what he was saying and what he meant, it didn't make the situation any easier to deal with…

Earlier that day, dad had reassured me of how easy work would be. That everyone knew the situation I had been in since I last worked a shift and that they would take it easy on me.

He was not kidding.

I knew my colleagues had been trying to do it to make my first day back at work as stress-free as possible to warm me back into the work cycle again, but all day I had nothing to do. It was like having the day off work, but having to be there and walk around all day, trying to find things to do, but being declined by everyone. The most I had been assigned to do was scoop one ice-cream order while someone needed a toilet break and then a little later, Laurie let me feed RV and Jemima.

In my return to work, what I needed was distractions.

I needed the time to go quickly. I needed to be allowed to do my job. By sugar coating my day and wrapping me in cotton wool, protecting me from any of the stresses or difficult aspects of work it had made the day feel ten times longer. The lack of physical activity allowed my mind, in its boredom, to wander. And wander, my mind did... It wandered back to Lewis, it wandered back to my increased paranoia that I had developed since my husband had been unexpectedly admitted to hospital and it wandered back to the worst moment of my life when I first discovered that Lewis had been unable to move, the morning that the Guillain-Barré hit the hardest.

When the clock hit 5 P.M., I felt the most relief, being able to finally get back to the hospital in time during the visiting hours bracket, to be able see Lewis. The visit was the relief needed to ease my paranoia and anxiety experienced with the first steps to recovering and restoring my own life, to the way it had been before the disease struck.

As I glided through the corridors with an ease of confidence, I considered how shaken up and lost I felt when I had first been introduced to this ward. I didn't have any idea of how ill Lewis was, why Lewis was sick and what it meant long-term.

While I weaved through the maze of corners and doors that looked the same, a part of me did still wish to be restored to the way I was, with all the hope in the world for an overnight recovery, a simple fix and cure for Lewis.

Now, I felt completely familiar with the hospital that previously in my life, I had been fortunate enough to not have many experiences with and over a month, I had gotten to the point of feeling so familiar with Guillain-Barré Syndrome that I could just about write a book on it. The slowest days where Lewis was still unconscious in the induced coma, when I spent my days waiting and wishing for him to wake up, I would spend the time on my phone, researching, searching, reading every article I laid my eyes on regarding the condition that my husband had been unknowingly diagnosed with. I, on the other hand, was all too familiar with it.

I knew exactly what lay ahead of us… I understood all the pain, all the effort and all the work that was going to be required to restore both of our lives back to normal…

I knew we were only left with the option of being forced to patiently, and simply take one day at a time.

"Hey" I greeted as I walked straight into Lewis's room as I reached it, not waiting for permission or acceptance of knocking while I entered, forcing up the best smile I could possibly make under the circumstances.

While his body barely moved a muscle, I could see the attention I had claimed from Lewis in his eyes, as his focus was altered from looking out at nothing, to the presence of the slight smile I was able to see in his eyes on occasion.

I headed directly for his bedside, taking my usual position in my usual chair, shuffling it closer to his bed as I comfortably leaned against the mattress to get nice and comfortable for talking to him.

"I tell you, I am so glad that today is over!" I confessed to Lewis, making a conscious effort to try and maintain the smile that I had walked into his room with, for as long as I possibly could. "I felt like I was doing as much work as a tourist walking around the park was! I really shouldn't be complaining, I guess. Normally it'd be great, but the day felt so long because I just walked around and thought about you…"

Despite revealing all of my feelings and thoughts about my day to a person for the first time today, I couldn't view sitting there talking to Lewis as wasted because I knew that passed him watching the night news every day, talking to him about the world outside the hospital was the avenue that he was being able to live day to day - through me.

"I hope you had a good day… But I'm sure you were glad to be rid of me for a couple of hours!"

The smile in Lewis's eyes presented itself again, acting as the illumination of amusement from my one-sided conversation that was directed at him, and for his sake.

I mentally considered any other interesting factors of the day that I could talk to Lewis about to entertain him, and decided I could explain the development and planning of some of the park's new exhibitions which was supposed to being kept strictly confidentially between employees.

However, just as I began to inform him of the African Jungle animals they were coordinating to import for the Marine Park, I was left completely shocked and unprepared for some sort of response from the person who I had expected to stay still and silent.

As Lewis's fingertips moved slowly, an action that he had been working on with his physio for the last few days, I had only expected the movement to stop with the small flinches… Not to continue moving towards my own hand, slowly opening as the tip of his fingertips gently attached to my hand.

It was the first time that we had held hands for weeks when the action wasn't initiated and carried out by me. This time, he had initiated it and with a very weak and gentle squeeze on what he had managed to grasp onto.

I was speechless… I was completely unprepared for that. I was ecstatic that Lewis had not only experienced another little breakthrough with his recovery as he climbed and overcame another hurdle on his road to recovery which I was happy for him about, but the fact that it was a small display of his gratitude, his thanks and his love made it all the more special to me.

It was such a small gesture and it was only his attempt of a mild embrace, but never had I appreciated a touch of his hand so much as I did in this beautiful moment with the man I loved, reminding me of why I had been putting forth so much effort and self-sacrifice to help him bounce back from this stumbling block that his life had taken a big fall from.

While I didn't separate the touch of our hands and I didn't break the effort that he had made to touch my hand, I moved my free hand to join ours as I took Lewis's hand in my two securely, to double the action that he had made, an action which I admittedly had spent my life taking for granted when I see how hard and how much effort needs to be put forth when you lose full capability of your muscles.

With our three limbs branched together in connection to one another, I pressed a gentle, lingering kiss on his hand that he had used to put forth an effort, enveloping, cradling and treasuring it in between my own two hands.

It wasn't the greatest embrace that we had ever found each other in, not by a long shot... The enjoyment of our relationship wasn't the most dominant feeling and we weren't revelling at being the most in love we had ever been in. It wasn't any of those feelings or special unforgettable moments.

Instead, it was the sort of pivotal moment that made you remember just the foundations of life and love.

It was just being there.

Our situation wasn't ideal, and right now, both of our lives were so far from perfect, but it was a sweet moment nonetheless. It was a small display and reminder that even though neither of us is as strong as some others are, we were still there for each other, supporting each other as we tried our hardest to get through the struggles...Being there to pull the other one up if they needed it.

It exemplified our marriage…our strength and commitment to each other. Even though it wasn't the best point in our relationship, it showed that we were both still there… That both of us still wanted to be there, reaffirming our vows and marital commitment. In good times, and bad…

Anyway, thank you to all of my lovely reviewers who took the time out to share their thoughts on the last chapter and I kindly ask for anyone and everyone to do the same with this chapter! I absolutely appreciate each and every one of you out there.

Next chapter: Rikki and Tam set off for their own make-or-break weekend and both girls put everything on the line. Walls are up and walls come down, but will the result be for the better or worse of the sisters?