I take hold of the chair handles to wheel her out of the room and down the series of hallways toward the rehab room.
When we arrive, there are a few people in various stages of their physical therapy sessions. Some appear to have suffered serious neurological damage, probably as a result of strokes and spinal injuries, and are struggling to take a few steps while grasping on to the metal rails.
From all the tests we’ve run, I don’t expect Rose will have significant difficulties, but the fact remains she hasn’t walked – or even stood up on her own feet -- in seven years. She may have a harder time than she expects, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
“We’ll do these rails first,” I say, gesturing to a set-up in front of us.
“I don’t need the rails,” she says.
Dylan sighs. “Come on, Rose, just do what your doctor says.”
She gives me a sheepish grin. “Sorry, okay. I’ll do the rails.”
“If you can do these with no problem,” I say, “then we’ll move on.”
I help her out of the chair, putting my hand against the small of her back and waist this time. She feels so damn tiny in my hands, and I feel my cock start to harden a bit the moment I touch her.
She’s a patient, for fuck’s sake. And, I remind myself, a patient that I stole a kiss from.
“All right,” I say. “Grip the rod— I mean, the bar—.”
I gotta control myself. I need to stay professional here.
She grabs both ends of the rails with her hands and squeezes.
I’m still holding her up, steadying and balancing her, my hands firm on her body.
“I’m going to slowly loosen my grip,” I say. “If you feel at all unstable, or think you might fall, let me know, and I’ll be there. I’ve got you.”
“Okay,” she says, but her voice comes out as a croak.
I slowly loosen my grip on her, and I see her forearms bulge a bit more.
“Transfer the weight to your legs,” I say. “Slow and easy.”
Her legs wobble and quiver a bit, but I see the tension in her arms starting to ease up. She’s getting the hang of it.
My hands are now barely touching each side of her waist, they’re just there in case she suddenly loses her balance or falls.
“Ready to take your first steps?” I ask.
Her right foot moves forward – slowly – and then her left.
I let go of her waist—it looks like she’s got this.
She’s still gripping the rail, but just barely. She takes slow and steady steps forward.
“Thank God,” she says. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
“Go to the end,” I say, grinning. “And wait for me.”
She reaches the end rather quickly, as her steps progressively speed up.
“Wait there,” I say.
“Don’t worry, Kaden,” she says. “I’ve got this.”
She takes a few more steps, leaving the safety of the rails. As soon as she’s free of the rails, she takes two big, unaided steps, and then I see her start to wobble.
I’m behind her in an instant, but she falls before I get there. I duck down so she falls into me, right into my arms. I hold her securely against my body. “I told you to wait for me.”
“You caught me anyway,” she says, laughing.
I bring her back to the rails, and she holds on and stabilizes herself.
I make her do ten laps on the rails before she can advance.
She rolls her eyes, but obeys me.
At the end of her tenth lap, she starts off on her own. My heart races, but she’s much more stable this time and doesn’t fall. She focuses on taking careful, deliberate steps.
“Thank God,” she says. “Now where is the bathroom? I’ve got to pee so bad.”
“I told you not to have the coffee,” Dylan says.
“You can’t have coffee, Rose,” I say crossing my arms.
I walk with her to the bathroom, just in case she loses her balance or something, but she seems to be firm on her feet now.
“Here we go,” I say.
I open the door and hold it for her, wanting her to just be able to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.
“I’ll wait here,” I say.
“You’re going to listen to me, Kaden?” she asks, grinning at me.
“I’ll…” I say, looking and then pointing. “I’ll wait twenty feet down the hall, over there.”
She laughs. “I was just kidding.”
I close the door for her, but I walk down the hall anyway, allowing her some privacy.
When she comes out, I find myself taking her hand to help her walk, but then I realize she doesn’t need it.
“Sorry,” I say. “I...I’m used to patients needed more assistance.”
We’re still holding hands.
“It’s okay,” she says. “I actually feel exhausted, so I can use the support.”
I get the impression she’s just saying that for my sake, but even though I like how her hand feels in mine, I slide mine up to grasp her forearm instead. I can’t walk hand-in-hand with a patient down the hallway.
“Dr. Prince,” Dr. Bell says, narrowing her eyes at me. “I want to update you on a few things.”
“Yeah?” I ask. “It sounds bad.”
“No,” she says. “It’s all good news. You’ll be happy to know you’re off the hook.”
“Off the hook for what?” I ask, flashing a cocky grin. I know exactly what she means, but I just want to get a rise out of her.
“For abducting a patient and performing unauthorized brain surgery to insert an experimental object into her brain,” she says, exasperated.
“Oh,” I say. “Right. So I’m off the hook for saving Rose’s life. Cool.”
“Don’t ‘cool,’ me, Dr. Prince.”
“If I’m off the hook,” I say, smiling, “can you drop the attitude at least?”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re the only person on this earth who is allowed to have an attitude. Every other person should just bend over backwards to accommodate your massive ego, is that right?”
“What is the update you need to tell me about?” I ask impatiently, getting sick of this back and forth squabbling.
“We’ve secured the rights to Dr. Meiner’s device, and I’ve backdated the paperwork so that it all lines up—”
I start laughing. My brain can automatically translate hospital bureaucratic speech into plain English. What she really just said was, “We’ve stolen the rights to Meiner’s device, and I’ve thrown a lot of money around to forge paperwork making it all look legit.”
“Meiner is going to be pissed,” I say. “I can’t imagine he knew about any of this until it was a done deal.”
“Irrelevant,” she says. “Dr. Meiner did not own the rights, the lab under which he was employed did.”
“So you made the deal at the last minute then, and you didn’t tell the lab directors that we’d already used it to help wake Rose up?”
“Don’t get smart with me, Kaden,” she snaps.
Translation: Yes, that’s exactly what I did.