Camilla was just coming home with the shopping when she noticed a strange man walking up the drive towards the main house.
"Can I help?" she called.
The man gave her a charming smile.
"I hope so. I'm here to see Bianca Montgomery. I'm her physiotherapist. Martin Rigby."
"Oh, of course. Let me let you in." said Camilla reaching for the spare set of keys in her pocket.
…
Bianca looked up as her Camilla entered the bedroom with the man, who could only be her new physiotherapist, in tow.
"Bianca Montgomery, I presume." he said, with a grin.
Bianca gave him a welcome smile.
"Martin isn't it?" she said leaning forward to shake his hand.
He nodded a greeting to Marissa and said a thank you to Camilla who was taking her leave and then glanced around the dreary guest room.
"Is there somewhere we can go for your exercises?" he asked. "Maybe somewhere with a view to the outside?"
"You could go through to the parlour." suggested Marissa, before Bianca could reply. "Let her see some sunlight, it will do her good."
"Would that be alright with you?" Martin asked.
"That's fine." said Bianca, nodding towards her wheelchair that was parked by the door. "I'll go where ever you take me."
Martin paused.
"Before we do though, do you have your current exercise schedule that we can look at?"
"Right here." said Bianca handing over the folder she'd left by the bed just for this purpose. It contained every exercise sheet that the doctors had ever given her.
"Great! Let's go then." said Martin, taking the folder and reaching for the wheelchair.
…
Martin helped Bianca to settle on a mat he'd laid out on the floor for her and then spent a moment going through her sheets.
"There's a lot of upper body exercises here." he said.
"It's helps me get around." said Bianca. "And helps strengthen my neck and left arm after the paralysis and aftereffects of the nerve toxin."
"And how are finding it?" Martin asked reaching over to feel the muscles around her shoulders and neck.
"It's monotonous more than anything." said Bianca as Martin tested the flexibility of her shoulders. "But the kids help out though and make it fun."
"How many kids do you have?" Martin asked conversationally.
"Three." said Bianca. "My two girls and AJ, Marissa's son."
"A full house then." said Martin, working his way down Bianca's left arm to her wrist and hand. When he had done the same to Bianca's right he gave her a happy grin.
"We'll start on the exercises then shall we. If you go through your usual upper body routine while I do an assessment."
"Okay." said Bianca. Her daily routine of stretches and working with weights was almost automatic these days. Martin picked her up on a few stretches that weren't being maintained for the right length of time but he generally seemed happy.
"Flexibility and muscle tone are excellent. Keep it up." he said encouragingly as Bianca got down to the last few exercises.
"Good to hear." said Bianca, a little breathless now after all the exertion. Martin was working her much harder than the kids did.
"And now your legs." said Martin as Bianca stopped to catch her breath.
Bianca's smile faltered at this point.
Her legs looked more unevenly matched now than ever, with her swollen right knee and her stick thin left leg.
"We'll start with your right leg." said Martin, feeling gently around the knee joint. "We'll need to modify your exercises to accommodate this injury."
"Okay." said Bianca pleased at how gentle he was being with her leg.
Martin did a few exercises with her right ankle and added some clenches but that was all he prescribed for her right leg until her knee joint was healed.
Her left leg was a different matter. He mapped out the area of sensation on Bianca's thigh and then tested her strength and flexibility beyond that point.
"From the reports I've read there is lot of concern about restrictions to your ankle movement." he said testing it for himself.
"I'm doing all the exercises they prescribe. But it's not very easy to tell if I'm doing it right."
"There's not a lot of strength there." he said critically. "And you wear a brace?"
"My leg gives way if I don't."
"But you'd say most of your leg movement now originates in your thigh and hip rather than you knee and ankle."
"Yeah, I suppose it does."
Martin licked his lips thoughtfully.
"Then I think we need to change our focus to those areas. There are number of exercises that I've used with amputees to help them accommodate the use of their prosthetic limb. It will help strengthen the muscle you use most. I'll consult with your doctors and I'll have to see you using your brace but given your condition I think that will be the best way forward."
"Thank you." said Bianca, generally impressed by Martin's words. "Thank you for not sugar coating it and looking for a solution."
"Well it's my job." said Martin kindly. "Whatever we do has to work for you or there point in trying it!"
…
Erica was standing in the kitchen wondering if she had left enough time before bringing tea in for Bianca and Marissa. She didn't want to disturb them, of course, if they were busy, but she had to do something to show she was helping.
She was disturbed from her musing by Camilla coming into the kitchen with an armful of shopping.
"I've let in the Physio." she said, dropping her bags on the counter. "And I got the bread and milk Reggie said you needed."
"Thank you." said Erica.
Camilla loaded the fridge and then turned to Erica.
"So… are you going to tell me your wedding plans..?"
…
Erica's conversation with Camilla quickly passed the time and around an hour later Camilla remembered that her own shopping needed to get home and be put away. The Ice cream was most certainly already ruined.
With Camilla gone Erica realised enough time must have past for it to be acceptable to bring the girls through some tea. Maybe even offer some to the physiotherapist if he was still here.
In fact Erica timed it just right. She was bringing the tea just as the therapist was wheeling Bianca from the parlour. Her daughter looked tired and more than a little sweaty, which meant that she would have to be helped into the shower again. That was an embarrassment that Erica was sure Bianca loathed just as much as she did.
"I've made you some tea." said Erica, hoping it would stave off the inevitable, at least for a moment. but then she froze when she saw the face of Bianca's therapist for the first time.
The man gave her a wide, white-toothed, grin.
"Hi, I'm Martin Rigby." he said. "And you must be the one and only Erica Kane. I recognise you from the ads."
Erica just stared at him. She recognised him too and she knew for certain his name wasn't Martin.
Wheeling her daughter across the hall was the last man she ever expected to see. It was the man who had helped kidnap and replace her over a year ago now. And then he'd been working in David's secret lab when Erica had been taken there for treatment after the shooting.
"You?" she gasped.
"I'm sorry." said the man, confused.
Bianca didn't understand the shock on her mother's face.
"Be nice, mother." she scolded. "Look, thank you so much Martin. I'll see you tomorrow. Mom, could you let him out? I can get myself back to bed."
Bianca wheeled herself away without waiting for a reply. She was thinking about Marissa and wanting to make sure she wasn't working too hard on that Chandler contract.
Erica was left to stare at the imposter standing in the hall.
"Ben, I'm not fooled." she hissed, once Bianca was out of earshot. "I know who you are."
"I'm sorry. I think you have me confused with someone else." he said stiffly.
Erica wasn't budging. If he wasn't Ben, he was his exact double. But what was he doing here now? Was he still working for David?
"I'm not wrong." said Erica. "I just want to know why you're here. Is David planning something?"
Ben's show of affront melted and he whispered nervously.
"Please, this is just a job. I don't work for Dr Haywood anymore. Not in that way. This is my fresh start. I've spent too long on the shady side of the law. I finally got my break. This is my job now and I'm good at it. Please don't ruin it for me. Please I need this chance."
Erica sighed. Should she keep his secret? He'd been sympathetic to her when she was kidnapped, and he'd been kind to her while she was undergoing Orpheus treatment. After all the misunderstanding with Marissa, Erica realised that she needed to be less quick to judge and get better at giving people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she should start with her ex-kidnapper. She had always thought deep down he was a good man. Maybe it was time to see if she could be proved right.
"Okay, Martin." she said leading the way. "Your secret's safe with me."
"Thank you." said Ben gratefully. "You have no idea what this means to me!"
"Just take care of my daughter and then we'll be even."
…