I do not own any of the characters and am just taking them out to play.
Chapter 17
Dom had been at the hospital in Brazil for over two weeks. He was ready to go home or at least he thought he was. String had been conscious for most of the two weeks and Dom thought that the hospital was probably kicking him out rather than String being ready to be discharged.
Archangel had arranged for a jet to take String and Dom back to the Firm's facility at Foxridge in about an hour. Now, he just had to get String out of the hospital and to the jet before someone decided to ring his neck.
When String had regained consciousness and been told that he would be paralyzed for the rest of his life, he had gone into a shell. String wouldn't talk to Dom or anyone else for that matter. He wasn't interested in the physical therapy exercises they had prescribed for him to do either. String had just withdrawn into himself. Now Dom had to get him back to Van Nuys and work on getting him out of his shell.
At least once he got there he'd have the help of Cait and Nicky. Dom had really missed not having Cait around these past two weeks, but he knew how scared she was of Nicky being taken again so he didn't blame her.
Now, he just needed to get home!
AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW
Marella greeted Dom when he got to the airplane. "How's it going?"
Dom took a look at the ambulance attendants working to move String into the jet and said not too loudly, "Not very good. String hasn't spoken to me since he found out that he was paralyzed. I know how upset he is about being paralyzed, but it's not good for him. I just don't know what to do."
"Hopefully, he'll come around once we get back to California. Cait has been anxiously awaiting his return."
"Yeah, I hope that he'll react to her. His just being there is..."
McKinley came up to where Marella and Dom were standing, "We're all set to go as soon as you and Mr. Santini get on board."
"Thank you. We're ready to go."
Marella and Dom climbed into the jet for the long ride home. Both were hoping for a better outcome when they got back to Van Nuys.
AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW
String was settled into his room at Foxridge, but Dom still hadn't gotten him to talk other than to say that he didn't want to see anyone for any reason. When Dom asked if that included Cait and Nicky, String had said that yes it especially included them. Dom didn't know what to do.
Michael came up to him where he was standing in the corridor. "How's he doing?"
"Fine, if you consider that he doesn't want to talk to anyone or see anyone!" Dom replied sadly. "How are we going to get him out of this one?"
"Have you brought Cait and Nicky up to see him," Michael asked hopefully.
"Yes, I tried to bring them in to see him, but he refused to allow anyone in his room. I don't know what we're going to do with him!"
Michael looked into the room and said, "Let me go in and talk to him."
Dom just shook his head and said, "I'll go get a cup of coffee if you don't mind. I need to go and talk to Cait too so she'll understand that it's not just her that he doesn't want to see that it's everyone."
Michael watched Dom walk away then he took a deep breath before opening the door and going into Hawke's room. He stared at the man who had become a friend to him for a few minutes before addressing him, "Hawke, how long is this pity party going to last?"
Hawke's eyes flew open at that comment. He just stared at Michael for a long moment. "This isn't a pity party. I just want to go back to the cabin and get settled in."
"Well, you're going to need some help accomplishing that because I don't think the cabin is set up for someone getting around it in a wheelchair," Michael ventured.
"How soon before I can go back up there?" Hawke asked cautiously.
Michael scratched his mustache before he replied, "It depends on what you're planning to do up there. If you're just going to go up there and continue this pity party, then it will be a long time. If, on the other hand, you're going to work on the physical therapy the doctor recommended you have, then it will be a lot sooner."
Hawke shot Michael a dirty look. It looked like he was being outmaneuvered. He'd have to go along with Michael if he wanted to go back to the cabin any time soon.
"I'll do the physical therapy."
Michael smiled behind his hand as he stroked his mustache, "How are you planning to get the cabin wheelchair accessible? You can't do that on your own."
Hawke thought for a few minutes before he said, "Tell Dom to come in and talk to me when he's available. We'll figure something out."
AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW
Dom was ushered into Michael's office about two hours later carrying some papers.
"I suppose you know what this is all about?" Dom asked as he waved the papers in front of Michael's face.
"Well, I assume those are plans for renovating the cabin so Hawke can get around it in a wheelchair," Michael responded.
"Yes, is this what you talked him into?"
"Dom, he's going to need to talk to someone and I figured this was a good way to get him to talk to you. Hawke asked about going back to the cabin and I told him that he wouldn't be able to until he had some renovations made and he agreed to physical therapy. I assume that he talked to you about some changes that need to be made on the cabin so he can live there?" Michael asked.
"Yeah. He wants to get started right away so he can get moved in as soon as possible," Dom said slowly. "Michael, I don't like him being out there by himself."
"He won't be by himself. Hawke'll have a trained nurse with him to help him with the physical therapy. Also, he's now talking to you which he wasn't a couple of hours ago." Michael paused before he went on, "We have to take baby steps to get what we want."
"What do we want?"
"We want Hawke doing physical therapy and, hopefully, learning to walk again," Michael said with a smile. "I've never know Hawke to turn down a challenge like the doctor telling him that he wouldn't walk again. Have you?"
"No, I haven't," Dom said with a grin.