CH13 (94)
It was now one month later:
Alexis had spent that day with Kate lying in the bed next to her since unlike her sisters, she was too big to share the bed with Kate.
Rick was awake and turned to find Kate was also awake and was lying there staring at him. "Hi." Rick comments. Not really awake for more serious conversation.
"Hi." Kate answers back smiling.
Rick was getting there, slowly. "How long have you been awake?"
"About an hour." Kate answers still smiling.
"Staring at me the entire time?" What was on her mind?
"I can't get out of bed without you so I might as well stare at my husband." Kate however was still smiling.
It made sense, but why the smiling? "Bathroom?" Maybe that was what she wanted. But if she needed to go she would have woke him up not stared at him.
Kate just shakes her head no.
"O-kay. …. What do we do today?" Rick asks instead.
"We could cuddle before the girls get up." Kate offers since Madison hadn't cleared them for sex.
Rick grins. "I can do that." And reaches out to wrap his arms around her and draw her in close till she was back to lying on his chest.
It was Kate's favorite position. Rick was close, she was on top and her ear was directly over his heart and she could hear his heartbeat.
Rick liked it but there was something going on. So a few minutes later. "Ok Kate, what's going on?" She was up to something.
"Nothing." Kate smiled into his chest and kissed it.
"Babe, there is a difference between nothing and something. And this is definitely something, not nothing." Rick needed to press to find out it appeared.
Kate smiled into his chest again. "Can't a girl just be happy married to the man she loves?"
"I love you too and only too happy to have you in my arms, but there is something." Rick didn't know what was going on and Kate wasn't helping him any.
"Happy huh?" Kate plays a hand down his stomach, lower and lower until she has him in her hand. "I'd say you are very happy to have me in your arms." Kate tells him as she slowly starts to stroke what's in her hand.
"Kate you need to stop. Madison hasn't cleared us for this." Rick warns her. Not that he wanted her to stop. It had been a long 3 months.
"She hasn't cleared me, she didn't say anything about you." Kate increases her administrations of what she has found.
Rick was about to lose this argument, so he reaches down and takes her hand away and brings it up to his lips instead to kiss it. "I love you Kate and I can wait as long as you can. And when you're ready I'm going to ravish you. Now behave yourself." Rick lets go of her hand.
Kate smiles into his chest and strokes his chest with her now free hand. "Spoil sport."
"This isn't what has you smiling babe, so start talking. Or you'll have to get into your chair all by yourself." Rick decides threats are now necessary.
It earns him a swat to his chest. Kate knows his threat is hollow. She knew he would find a way to help her get up even if he only had one arm. "Today is an anniversary." Kate relents and tells him.
"Anniversary?" Rick starts thinking. Wedding? Nope not even close. Kate crashed at the lake near their campsite? Nope, close maybe. It was hard to keep dates when talking about Earth and all the little moons they kept living on.
The date he proposed? Nope, still not right. "You need a hint?" Kate asks, since she can feel he is lost. The muscles in his chest told her he was thinking and coming up empty.
"No I can get this." Rick wasn't throwing in the towel just yet. And he could feel Kate's smile on his chest.
Crash at the lake was close he thought, but not right. So that left out the first time they made love to each other at the summer house.
Summer house! Now he was onto something. It happened at the summer house, whatever it was.
Was the National Guard showing up worthy of an anniversary?
No something else. "Evans showed up and we knew we were no longer trapped." Rick offers up. Not convinced it was worthy of an anniversary date.
"Right day, wrong event." Kate smiles into his chest. He was close, so very close.
"Right day." Rick whispers out, trying to get his mind to go back in time. Right day.
Alexis came charging down the trail to get him. They shot flares into the sky in response from the ones Evans had shot. They were free and could go home. Just as soon as they had a bridge.
"Right day." Rick whispers out again. Kate was now chuckling into his chest. She was having fun.
"Evans had just left after he found us. We were still standing out at our missing bridge. Well more your missing bridge at the time than ours." Kate gives him a clue.
"We were celebrating. Alexis was happy. I think she said something about going home and was happy about it." Rick tried to remember. "Then I kissed you, …. again." One of many that Rick could remember.
"I was in your arms and I was happy. Very, very happy. Something I hadn't been for so long. … And yeah, I kissed you. Something I had been asking of you for weeks, months really. Then I told you something." Kate tried to guide him.
"We were almost rescued, still standing at the bridge next to the Range Rover. We were all happy. We were almost rescued and on our way home." Rick could still picture it, just not what Kate was so happy about.
Kate smiles into his chest again and then kisses it again. "It was the day I finally told you that I loved you." Kate tells him with tears starting. "And I've loved you ever since, and I'll love you till the day I die." Kate finally explains.
Rick holds her tighter. "Yes you did, and it made me ever so happy. And for the record I love you too. I'll always love you Kate." Kate lets Rick lift her up a little so he can kiss her. Soon there is a battle of the tongues that leaves them both breathless when they break.
"I'm still ever so sorry you lost your mother, but her loss got you to me, to us. And for that I'm thankful. Though it is possible you would still have gotten on that ship. But if Bracken hadn't been onboard, you might have come and gone." Rick knew just how slim it was that they met at all.
Kate grins. "Baby food for a year, broken arm, hurt leg, ribs and a concussion, just so I could fall in love. I'd like to think there was an easier way, but I'd do it again if it brought me to you. …. Alexis and the girls." Kate was smiling at him again.
"We've come a long way, and believe me we've got a long ways to go still. Your more recent leg injury is just one more thing for us to overcome. You're not getting rid of me that easily Kate. We're married and we're staying that way.
And you heard Madison, she'll have you walking again." Rick reminds Kate of their most recent talk with Madison about her recovery.
Kate's reply was interrupted when Kali came running in. "Mommy, mommy." However Kali stops just short of the bed, knowing she can't jump on mommy because it will hurt her leg.
Kate grins and rolls over off of Rick and lifts up her arms. "Come on sweetie." Kate invites her in.
Kali wastes no time in slowly working her way into her mother's arms being careful of her leg.
This was Kate's first night home. She had orders to come into medical so they could bathe her without it hurting her. Plus Kate needed to continue her physical therapy that was taking longer to do lately. They were having her do more than she used to do. After that there was a colony meeting for something that Rick and Alexis were keeping to themselves.
Since there was no really good place for everyone to be at the same time, they were using Lucy. All everyone had to do was make it to a monitor to talk to everyone.
Kali wasn't yet done cuddling with mommy when Emily came in for her turn. Rick offered to cuddle with Kali so Emily could get her turn.
They were just thinking of getting up when Alexis showed up. Rick took Emily and added her to his other arm who still had Kali while Kate lifted up her arms for Alexis to take Emily's place.
Now there were 5 bodies all crowded onto one bed. Not that anyone was complaining.
Eventually they all made it to medical. "Becks, you're late." Madison tells her. Standing there with her arms crossed trying to look mad, but all it does is show off her baby bump. Being 3 months pregnant now.
"Sorry." Kate tells her, not that she was. Kate had enjoyed her little family cuddle session this morning.
They got Kate into bed without any trouble. "We'll be back in a few hours." Rick tells her with a kiss.
Kate got stripped and given a sponge bath. Madison wasn't ready to let Kate shower in the showers just yet. Next came a session of physical therapy.
Kate was actually pushing back now when they bent her bad leg. Kate was also due for pictures of her knee and leg. Since Lucy was connected to the system Madison put them up on the monitor so Kate could see.
"First up is an image of your knee. …. The white areas is your artificial knee since it is made of a metal. The more shadowy area is your leg bone. Now this alone would take someone months to be able to walk without help. In your case we also have less muscle mass for you to walk with.
The knee area looks great in these pictures. The bone seems to be attaching to the device nicely. We still have a few months to go still before you can walk long distances." Madison was happy with the progress of her knee.
"Now the next pictures are of your leg and the damaged area." Madison warns her.
"The white area here is your thigh bone, as you can see it is intact as is the muscle mass, which is this area here." Madison is at the monitor pointing out areas as she talks.
"As we go down we can see your knee replacement. As we continue down you can see your lower leg bones. The fibula is the smaller of the two bones. That one was broken in one place. That has been repaired and looks quite nice now.
This area is your muscle mass in your lower leg. As you've been told most of it plus a lot of the fat of your lower leg was removed. Split screen of the two legs please Lucy." Madison asks and Lucy puts up a split screen of Kate's good and bad leg.
"Between the two you can see the difference between the two. Your injured leg is not nearly as filled out as your good leg, and I'm sorry Becks but it never will be again. It is always going to look thin. With work it'll look toned, just never look like it used to.
This area here is where we stole muscle mass from your good leg. You may not see anything but that's thanks mostly to the shots and physical therapy you've been doing.
Now your injured leg, this is your muscle mass in your lower leg. You can see that the two are not even close to being the same. But before you panic on me, Lucy can you replace the picture of the good leg with one of when Kate was brought in after we finished the first surgery?" Madison wanted Kate to see the improvement.
"This is what I found when Rick brought you in." Madison points out.
Kate sucked in her breath. Her lower leg was almost gone. Two bones, one of them broken and a large section of her leg was just plain missing.
"Ok Lucy replace that picture with one after her third surgery." Madison asks of her.
"Your bone has been repaired, you can see your knee replacement and you can see this slim area here is your muscle mass and just make out the fat area we stole from you good leg." Madison points out.
"Ok Lucy, split screen of her lower leg today and what it was after her third surgery." Madison asks.
"This thin line was your muscle mass then; this area here is your muscle mass now. You have also gained a little fat in the area, which I'm blaming on Rick's cooking. Tell me you could get this result eating ship baby food and I'll hit you so hard." Madison jokes with her.
Kate was grinning remembering how much Mags hates ship food.
Kate could however see the difference in the pictures. "This is after three months Becks." Madison points out.
"Ok Lucy, take down the leg as it is today and put up the picture of our projection 6 months from now." Madison asks of Lucy. Madison and Lucy had been working on this projection for hours.
"This is the muscle mass as it was after your third surgery and this is what it should look like if we keep up the physical therapy and you keep eating Rick's cooking." Madison was grinning.
Kate's mouth fell open. Even she could see the difference.
"Ok Lucy, now put up her good leg of today and our projection of her injured leg." Madison was hoping it didn't scare Kate.
Kate could easily tell the difference between the two. But compared to her leg after the injury and 6 months from now was amazing.
"Your injured leg is never going to look like it used to Becks, but by this time we should have you walking pretty good. Long distances like say from the northern tip of the garden area north of here to the southern tip of the one south of here, will be too far. Though say a year or two from now you could probably do it at a fast walk.
Running long distances will always be out of the question, but you are doing great Kate. Don't give up on us now." Madison begs Kate. "This could be your leg a year after a major injury." Madison points to the screen.
Kate was grateful for what Madison had done for her. "And Rick?" Kate wanted to know something. What she and Rick had done this morning before the girls showed up had gotten Kate horny. She wanted to make love to her husband again. Even now she couldn't resist him. Kate wanted to touch him and have him touch her. Kate still needed him, craved him even.
Madison moved from the monitor over next to Kate. "Kate you still need help getting up and standing, just not as much anymore. Plus you are standing and shifting your weight now with only a minor amount of pain. We haven't even started trying to get you to walk yet.
Though your first physical therapy that includes walking is next week." Madison thinks about it.
"When you can walk from one end of the bars to the other, I'll clear you for sex. It doesn't have to be pain free since we have medication for that. … Deal?" Madison offers.
Kate was going to get to make love to her husband, maybe next week. "Deal." Kate was grinning, since she was still horny from this morning. And she was walking no matter how much it hurt.
They then did Kate's physical therapy for the day and had Rick come back and get her.
Kate was in the server room along with her family. Rick informed everyone that he thought it was time for them to name their new colony. Everyone's time had been wrapped around Kate and her injury. But she was well enough to get around better now, even if it was in a wheelchair.
Eventually they settled on the name "CALLISTO"
It was now one week later:
All of the Castle's with Shawn and Madison plus both of the nurses were all in medical. Today was a big day. Kate was dying to get it over with. When she was done walking she was going to jump Rick for the first time in over 3 months.
All the Castle's moved to one end while Shawn and Madison with Kate were on the other. The nurses were on each side of the bars ready to step in and give Kate support if she needed it.
"Ok Becks, this time I'm going to let you stand out of your chair on your own. I want you to grab the bars and use your arms to take as much of your weight as you need. Then start walking to the other end." Madison tells her. "When you're ready Becks."
Kate looks around and sees her family on the other end. The bars were maybe 8 to 10 feet long. Not that far she didn't think.
Kate used her arms to push herself up out of the chair and was standing there for a moment. It was relatively pain free now. Kate grabbed the bars with both hands and took a step with her good leg first. There was a little pain but she had been expecting it.
Then Kate ordered her other leg to take a step. It turned out to be half the distance as her first step and it hurt. The pain had made it to her face. Then Kate sent another order to her bad leg to match the distance of her other leg. The pain was instant and Kate closed her eyes.
Kate took a step with her good leg and the pain in her injured leg returned. Then she forced her injured leg to step again and the pain increased. But she was now two steps towards her goal.
It was taking time but Kate was now half way down the bars and the pain was now tremendous and her tears from the pain were flowing freely. "Maybe you should stop Becks." Madison knew it was just pain and not likely causing damage. But Kate shook her head and took another step.
This time a moan escaped her lips. It hurt and it hurt badly.
Looking to the other end thru her tears Kate saw Rick push Kali forward a little and said something to her. When she reached the end of the bars she lifted up her arms waiting for Kate to reach her, so if she fell Kali would catch her.
Kate sucked it up. She was making it to her daughter if it killed her. Kate took another step. But the pain forced her to stop again. Kate could barely make out Kali on the other end thru the tears.
Madison motioned for the nurses to move in and take her weight away from her. Kate however shook her head. "No, I'm doing this."
"Becks let us help you." Madison thought it was time to stop. "Becks the pain isn't going away just because you make it to the other end. You're going to give yourself muscle spasms that will hurt for hours after this if you don't stop."
Kate twisted to look at her. "Please Mags." Kate had her reasons.
Madison stepped back. Kate turned back to look down to the end. It was now that she saw Emily join Kali at the end. However she held up something for Kate to see.
It was a chocolate bar! Kate turned to glare at Rick, he wasn't playing fair!
Kate was almost to the end now and the pain was still with her. However now Madison was behind her girls and had the wheelchair waiting for her.
Kate had made it to the end and was sitting in her chair. Rick had taken Madison's place and was leaning over Kate whispering in her ear and kissing the top of her head.
Kali was beaming at her from one side while Emily was doing the same from the other. Alexis was in front of Kate grinning at her.
Emily handed over her bar of chocolate to her mother like her dad had told her to do.
Kate was running it under her nose breathing it in. Kate unwrapped a section and bit off a piece and started chewing. Kate moaned, just not in pain this time and slowly melted into her chair.
By the time she was done, most of Kate's pain was long since forgotten. The nurse gave her a pain pill to swallow anyway.