"So" Janet cheerfully asked Daniel several hours later, "Are we on?" She was pleased to see that he looked better. He had more colour and his face had lost some of the pinched stressed look.
"We are!" Daniel replied, smiling. The sleep had been good, but now he really needed a change of scene and even the drab grey walls and artificial lighting of the canteen sounded appealing. Also, he realised he was actually hungry. For the past couple of days he had existed on juice, soup and yoghurt supplemented with nervous energy and he was keen for something a bit more substantial. "Be with you in fifteen. I need to uh… freshen up a bit." Actually, that was probably an understatement, he reflected. He felt grimy and unpleasant after sleeping in his clothes.
"I'll give you twenty." Janet offered generously. "Erm – do you need any help?"
"No thanks" Daniel replied hurriedly. Ok, so Janet had presumably seen pretty much every bit of him - including internal bits that he hadn't even seen himself – but he would rather not dwell on that fact. "I can manage fine."
In the privacy of the bathroom he slowly peeled off his T shirt and discarded it on the floor. He caught sight of his taped up body in the mirror and placed his palm protectively over the patched area. His hand was not quite big enough to cover the dressing, and the gauze peeped out around his fingers. Carefully he ran one finger along the line of the incision, tracing the path of Janet's scalpel and reflected on how different the last couple of days might have been for him had she not had to slice him open. He still felt guilty; it was a crappy time for his body to give out on everyone.
Taping a waterproof layer over the dressing he shrugged out of his clothes and slipped into the steamy shower. The hiss of the water blocked out all other noise and provided a welcome insulation from reality. Hot water running over his underused muscles unkinked the knots caused by the uncustomarily long amount time spent lying in bed and soothed the dull ache in his stomach. He tilted his head back, allowing the stream to flow across his eyes and down across his cheekbones. He breathed deeply inhaling the steam and felt more normal. The sensation of not-thinking was very enjoyable and he stood passively absorbed in the moment until it occurred to him that he had probably used up at least fifteen of his allotted twenty minutes and if he wanted to make it within the timeframe he had better hurry up.
With a sigh he shut off the water and wrapped a towel loosely around his hips. The drying/dressing stage was a bit more challenging and freeing the back of his T shirt when it got rolled up (his fault for pulling it on over still-damp skin) was distinctly uncomfortable. Bending also hurt and he found himself crouching down like a well-bred girl rather than stoop to pick up his abandoned clothes. 'Nothing like being cut open to make you value how easy stuff normally is!'
Almost - but not quite - done in time, he was dressed and perched on the side of his bed doing up his sneakers when Janet re-entered the room.
"We good to go?" she asked.
"We're good." Daniel replied, straightening up carefully.
"Take it slowly." Janet cautioned, looking at him with affectionate concern.
Daniel pulled a face. "Can we forget the doctor/patient thing for a couple of hours?" He looked at her seriously, "Please? Just a normal dinner as… as friends."
Janet looked at him, her head slightly to one side, an amused look on her face. She smiled, "Ok dinner as friends it is."