Okay guys, again another short chapter. And well, I'll be honest, its REALLY hard to not rush the story because theres so much shit I want to get to already.
Anyways, I'm busy house hunting again. So I'm not going to be writing as much.
"Why is this so hard?" Jem asked as he was currently being helped into a wheelchair.
Winter had already asked Pietro to build a therapeutic exoskeleton for Jem. It wasn't really much. The design was just meant to help Jem walk with his weakened body. Eventually the suit would help him regain his lost muscle and motor functions. And as he progressed and got some basic muscle back. The resistance of the suit would get harder and harder. Almost like he was walking in a pool.
But until he could complete the suit, Jem was left with a very limited ability to move. He had never felt so weak in his life. After he had seen himself in the mirror. He couldn't help but be horrified. He knew people could lose muscle in a coma, but he never expected it to be that bad. He was reminded of himself in his freshman year of high school where he weighed about 100 pounds soaking wet. Except in this case his arms were as frail as a corpse. While he could eventually move his hands and grip basic things, he couldn't hold on for very long. Even something as simple as sitting up in bed took effort.
"Be kind with yourself, you have been unconscious for six months." Winter said as she was behind Jem's wheelchair.
"When can I get back to work?" He asked as Winter was quiet.
"It's best not to think of that now, the doctor says you should focus on your rehab." She said as he pushed Jem over to a table.
"Now come on, open up." She said as she held up a spoon.
"This is humiliating..." Jem said as he tried to take the spoon from her.
Only for his hand to drop the spoon. His motor controls while better had not been completely up to par.
"DAMN IT!" He said as he tried to slam his hand into the table.
But it was more like a love tap.
"Daddy its alright. No ones expecting you to be back to normal right away. This takes time." Nala said as she cleaned up the mess the spoon had made.
"Feels like I'm a toddler again." Jem hated this feeling.
He knew he should be grateful to be alive. But right now he couldn't believe how weak he was. For so long he had taken pride in his physical strength ever since he had started seriously working out and joined the army. To him being physically fit was one of the most important keys to having a happy life. And now here he was, struggling to even pick up his own arms. He hated it. He knew it was temporary and that he would get better with rehab, but it honestly felt like his body had been torn to pieces.
Which according to the doctors, it almost had been.
That was another thing, Winter and everyone had been really quiet about the circumstances that led to his hospitalization. He figured she just didn't want to talk about it around Nala. But he hadn't heard anything since he had woken up. It was just about how 'happy they were he was awake'. But he hadn't been updated on anything.
"It's alright Daddy, we're here to help." Nala said as she handed her father a glass with a straw in it.
Jem may have been embarrassed that he practically had to be spoon fed but he couldn't get mad at Nala.
Winter held out another bite of food for him to eat. Again, it was nothing but soft food. He had grown to hate Oatmeal, pudding, jello, and mac n cheese. The hospital kept saying he couldn't handle anything tougher and it was driving him nuts. They kept saying 'his digestive system' needed time to adjust after such a long time of being unconscious. He had never felt so helpless in his life.
"I one time had to carry a javelin and the CLU alongside my extra shit because the fat bodies in my unit couldn't carry their own shit, and somehow this is harder." Jem's pride was nagging at him in the back of his head.
It was annoying knowing that you had seen yourself grow as weak as this. And again, he knew he was in a coma. But he couldn't help but hate it. If someone tried to kill him now, he wouldn't be able to fight them off.
"Just be patient, Pietro said the exoskeleton will be ready soon enough." Winter was trying to keep Jem Calm.
"The doctors did say the excess stress wouldn't do your recovery any good." Winter needed to keep him focused on one thing and one thing only.
And that was his recovery.
After he had recovered enough, she figured he could handle the other bad news that happened when he was out.
"I know, but its hard not to stress when I can barely wipe my own ass." Jem said as he THANKFULLY could still do that. However it took forever and he required assistance to get back in his chair.
"Anyways, how long will it be til I can get back to work?" As soon as Jem said that, he saw Winter cringe a bit.
"Uhm, best not to think about that now. You should be focused only on recovering and relaxing." She said as Jem groaned.
"Then can we at least get out of the hospital and go back to Earth for a bit? I could really use some fresh mountain air." Both Winter and Nala cringed at that, but this time Jem didn't notice it.
"Uhm, well, Sorry Jem. The portal back to your world is currently sealed off due to...glitches..." She said as Jem looked confused.
"Glitches? Winter, Nala literally traveled using nothing but an accidental dust mixture. What could possibly be wrong with the portal gun they designed?" Why was life just kicking him in nuts lately.
"It's just that travel is currently restricted because of some of Atlas scientists attempting to travel to your country, and then ending up in Afghanistan The technology has been spotty lately as to where they send you. Possibly due to solar storms hitting your planet right now." Winter lied really quick to placate him.
"Oh...makes sense." He just left it at that.
Nala however looked at her mom with a 'Really?' look.
Winter felt her scroll buzz as she looked down and noticed the text from Nala. She sighed as she knew what it was about.
"Mom...how are we going to tell him?" The text read as Winter didn't say a word or even make a sound.
"I don't know sweetie...he's already been through enough."