22 April 2016
Tony sighed as he continued to wait for his physical therapist to arrive. He had been early for his appointment because Gibbs had had to drop him off on his lunch break, but surely it was time for his turn now? Tony looked at his watch and groaned. He still had twenty minutes to wait before his two-fifteen appointment. Boredom had already caused him to read all of the magazines in the waiting room. He had even read and re-read all of the informative posters hanging around the room.
"Hey, Tony!" exclaimed a familiar voice.
Tony looked up and smiled in relief. "Abby! Thank god you're here. I am so bored!"
"Gibbs said he dropped you off around one. He wanted me to tell you that he's really sorry about that."
"It's okay. There's just nothing to do. If I had known that, I would have brought the iPad that McGee dropped off yesterday."
Abby grinned. "Well, never fear," she said with a giggle. "I'll fix your boredom!" Abby threw her arms around Tony and hugged him tightly.
"Abbs... too tight..."
"Oops... Sorry," said Abby.
"It's alright. So, how was work today?"
"Not too bad. We got a new case to work on finally. Uh, not that it's a good thing. It's just better than working on cold cases. I have evidence to test."
"Then why aren't you in your lab?"
"Everything is running and won't be ready until Monday. Gibbs said I could come here and help you with your therapy, then take you home. He said that Rachel is coming to see you at four?"
"She is. You can stay for that."
"Yay! I haven't seen Rachel in a while. I've missed her."
"Okay... I guess she probably missed you too."
"Of course she did. Oh, right, sorry. I forgot about your memory. You seem like my Tony. It's hard to remember that your memory is up to 2009 right now."
"It's alright, Abby. Stop worrying so much."
"Mr DiNozzo, your physical therapist just finished with his last patient. Do you want to go in early?" asked the receptionist.
"Yes," said Tony. "Thank you."
"Follow me."
Tony started to wheel himself along behind the receptionist, but he quickly tired. He was grateful when Abby wordlessly took over pushing his wheelchair, and looked at her with a soft smile.
"I'm happy to help, Tony," said Abby in response.
"Tony, I'm Richard. Feel free to call me Richie if you like," said the physical therapist five minutes later.
"Nice to meet you, Richie," replied Tony. "This is Abby. She's my best friend... I think."
"We are best friends, Tony. That will never change," said Abby happily. "It's nice to meet you, Richie."
"You too, Abby. Did you want to stay here with Tony?" asked Richard.
"I do."
Richard nodded. "Okay. Before we can start any therapy, Tony, I need to ask you a couple of questions."
"Okay," said Tony.
"First, I do have your medical records here, so I know what you've gone through and I know what injuries you have. As your legs heal, I'll help you start putting weight onto them. Until then, we'll just build your strength. You'll need it when you get onto the crutches."
"Alright."
"Second, I'm aware of your memory loss. We'll do some exercises that should help to improve your memory a little more. Before we can do that, I need to know, what is your memory up to right now?"
"2009."
"What month?"
"February."
"Okay. We'll start working on that today. Is that okay with you?"
"Yes."
"Great." Richard smiled. "This isn't going to be easy, Tony. You'll leave here with very little to no energy. Are you okay with doing therapy?"
"Not really. I've always been active," said Tony sadly. "But, I don't want to stay in a wheelchair forever either, so I'm willing to work hard."
"Perfect! Let's get started then."
Tony nodded, feeling anxious, but knowing that Abby would be there with him to help him when he needed it.
Tony groaned as Richard helped him back into the wheelchair an hour later. His body was sore from lifting weights and his head was pounding from all the concentrating he had been doing. He felt like he had accomplished something though, which was helping him to feel a little better about everything. But, therapy was hard- there was no doubt about that. Richard hadn't been lying when he said that Tony wouldn't have energy after the session. Tony had found himself tiring after just twenty minutes.
"Alright, Tony. You did a good job today. I can see that you really do want to heal," said Richard. "However, I think I pushed you a little too much today, so next time, we'll do a little less exercises, okay?"
"No. I want to get better," said Tony after he had swallowed half the bottle of water that Abby handed him.
"You will get better. Remember, a lot of your healing won't come from therapy. Your body needs to heal on its own, so things will go at a pace that your body can handle."
"Then why do I need therapy?"
"You broke both legs at once, Tony. One of them has already been broken in the past and is likely to be weaker now. Your doctor knows that you want to return to NCIS as a field agent, so you need to learn to put pressure on them again."
"I know how to walk, Richie."
"I never said you didn't. Walking will be a lot harder after this until your legs get used to carrying around the weight of your body."
Tony sighed. "I know that... I just miss work and my friends. I know there's a lot I don't remember yet, but I know that this is the very first job that I've ever missed being at."
"And, you will go back soon. Let your legs heal. Once that happens, you'll be back to running around after suspects in no time at all." Richard smiled sympathetically. "I know that it's hard, especially for someone so active, but you will get back there, I promise. I'll do everything I can to get you back there."
Tony smiled. "I believe that you will, Richie. I do, really, but it's still hard."
"Nobody expects this to be easy for you, Tony."
"Of course we don't," added Abby as she cuddled Tony close. "Anyone that says this is easy can deal with me. How does that sound?"
Tony laughed. "We'll see, Abbs."