(REPOST FROM JOURNAL WITH THREADING ADDED)
TITLE: The Woes of Physical Therapy CHARACTERS: Warrick Brown, anyone who visits RATING: PG13 SUMMARY: Warrick starts to build his arm strength, gets frustrated with the dead weight below his waist. OPEN/CLOSED: Open STATUS: incomplete
The doctors and surgeons who had been working on Warrick Brown have deemed it okay for him to have mobility in his neck and torso, so long has he doesn't overdo it. He's been given the necessary tools to start re-learning how to move now that he is without the use of his legs.
"You use this bar to pull yourself up," a nurse explained, pointing out a triangular piece of thick metal suspended above his bed, "and these bars here are to help you shift into the wheelchair."
"Could we not talk about the wheelchair?" Warrick asked in a pained voice. The nurse gave him a sad smile. "I'd rather not be reminded that I'm stuck with this thing."
"You'll have to get used to it eventually," she pointed out. Warrick shook his head slowly, wincing. He'd lost significant muscular tone in his neck when the bullet transected two of his posture muscles on either side. He missed the neck brace that had been taken from him. "Okay, this bar over here," she pointed to a device similar to the one hanging above his bed, "is meant to help you get back into the bed. There's similar ones in the bathroom. Now we don't expect you to be able to do all of this right away, so here's a bracelet with a button for the nurses' station, just hit it and someone will come help you."
"Will they all be as fine as you?" He asked, chuckling. He was glad Catherine wasn't there to hear that, she'd have smacked him, he was sure of it.
"Only if you find the rest of our nursing staff 'fine,' Mr. Brown."
"Please, call me Warrick, I'm sick of the formality around here," Warrick sighed. The nurse gently touched his shoulder.
"Warrick it is, then. Now, I'm going to leave you in here to work this stuff out. If you need help, remember to hit your button. A physical therapist will meet with you tomorrow before you're discharged," she smiled. Warrick's eyes widened.
"I'm being discharged tomorrow?" he asked, stunned.
"Well, yes. According to your charts, your vitals have all stabilized enough and your wounds are both clean and not infected. Your doctor will be in later to tell you the full news, I suppose," the nurse replied. She then left the room.
Warrick grinned and flopped his head back against his pillow. He couldn't wait to get out of that bed. So he rested for a moment, and then reached out for the bar and pulled himself up. Grunting and sweating, he found it difficult to reach a sitting position, "Come on," he growled, "fuck, why is this so difficult."
When he was sitting, he held onto the bar with one hand and grabbed his right leg with his free hand, pulling it up and shoving it over the side of the bed, and repeating that with his left leg. It was then that he noticed someone in the doorway to his room. He gave a tired smile and motioned for them to come in.
Jess had been arriving to her shifts earlier the past few nights and realised she was again early and decided to take her time getting in tonight. That's when she found herself at the hospital, she hadn't stopped thinking about Warrick Brown's case since finding a particular result that she hadn't told anybody yet. She wasn't sure who had visited him but knew she hasn't been there herself.
She had asked for Warrick Brown's room and when she arrived she stopped at the door watching him hold onto the bar with one hand, she slightly smiled when he noticed her.
"Going good so far, Warrick"
"Hey, Jess," he smiled, taking a break from his endeavor to get into his wheelchair, "good to see you." In honesty, it was nice to see people from the lab in addition to the same group of friends who'd visited him nearly daily.
"Can ya tell I haven't been working out?" he asked, cheesily.
"Hey Warrick" She replied walking in, glad to know it was good seeing her, considering she was still a part of the 'lab rats'.
Jess raised a brow then smirked "That'll be a first won't it? Thought you'd be into all that fitness hype."
He grinned. "Usually me and Nicky are competing for who can be more buff," he admitted, "but I haven't been able to hit the gym in a couple of weeks now." I'm sure I don't have to mention why, He thought.
"How's everyone doing? Outside of the whole 'worrying that I'm gonna die' thing?" he asked, shifting his weight and getting ready to ease down into his wheelchair.
Jess smiled when he mentioned Nick "He might be getting ahead of you Warrick, better hurry up and get better" She only nodded when he explained even though he didn't need too.
"Everyone's keeping themselves busy when they're not thinking about you" She started to explain "The usual I guess...you missed an amazing breakfast the other morning"
"Damn," he replied, a hint of goofy male competitiveness showing through in his face, "I'm gonna have to work twice as hard to get stronger than him now." He grabbed the railings at the edge of the bed, lifted himself with a grunt of muscle pain, and threw himself down into the wheelchair that was now his only means of transportation with a THUMP.
He shook his head. "I doubt I'll be going to any breakfasts for a long time now." He wasn't referring so much to being shot, as to having no ability to get through the doors of most diners. They weren't built to be wheelchair friendly, after all.
"You guys figure out who did this to me yet?" he asked. He swore he sounded like a broken record, but he wanted to know. He wanted closure.
Jess couldn't help but smirk "I could always tell Nicky to take it easy" She watched him with concerned, taking a step forward as he thumped into the wheelchair "You okay?"
She pouted playfully "You're missing out on mean hashbrowns and bacon and burgers" Then she chuckled "I'm sure you'll be able to have at least a few."
Asking about the case shouldn't have surprised her, but it did caught her off guard, then sighed "Not really, pretty dodgy results..I'm sorry"
"Oh yeah, I'm fine," he said, "Doesn't hurt me any." He fell silent for a moment.
"Well maybe I'll have to tag along to breakfast one time," he said with a small smile.
He sighed, wishing he could remember more about when he was shot. "It's okay."
She smiled "That's good" She waited for a moment as the room fell silent and raised a brow, but decided to leave it there.
"One night is better then none" Glad that he agreed to it, knowing the others will like it as well.
"We'll do the best we can, Warrick" She chewed the inside of her cheek as she watched him, unsure whether to ask.
He released the brakes on his chair and rolled it cautiously forward, trying to judge what it was capable of. "Think I'll be able to maneuver through CSI like this?" he asked, laughing.
"If you do find the guy, I want time in the interrogation room with him," he said, knowing Jess couldn't control that. It was just the first time he felt okay saying it. He wanted his attacker to see what he'd done. And to see that he wasn't going to just roll over and die.
"Never know, you might" She chuckled "But it might be a tad hard getting around the labs."
"You know I'm just a labrat." She tried lightening the mood, then turning serious "When we find something I'll talk it over with Gil, I promise"
"Well who knows," he said with a shrug, "one of the labs is probably where I'll be stuck until my legs work again."
"Thanks," he replied, his voice sincere. It was nice to have someone who listened, at least. "How've you been?" he asked, finally, "I mean, we never talked much before... all of this. You're Grissom's niece, aren't you?" He decided to switch the subject entirely as he wheeled a cautious circle around the room.
She shrugged "Labs better than nothing."
"You're welcome" She gave a nod, slightly surprised by the change of subject "I've been doing okay...keeping busy and putting up with Nick" She smirked, then sighed when he mentioned 'Gil's niece', not that she mattered anymore "Yeah, I am. It's Jess." She watched wheel around the room "You know I am sure once you get a hang of that thing you'll be doing wheelies around the halls"
"Yeah, I'd never diss the labs," he replied, parking his chair, "It's where I started out, and it's always good to learn more about how the evidence goes from found to processed."
"Gotta be kind of weird to be related to the boss, huh?" he asked, "People probably always refer to you as 'his niece' instead of Jess, right?" He'd known what that was like growing up, only with him it was Juvie and being the kid who's parents were dead.
"I'm gonna challenge Nick to a race once I get better in this thing," he grinned, "see who's faster. His feet or my wheels."
Jess nodded knowing what he was talking about "I know some people get desperate trying to get on the field, but right now I preffer the labs."
She slightly laughed when he mentioned weird being related to the boss and nodded "Oh yeah and just for the record I didn't get here because of Gil...I barely knew him" She added with a shrug. "I hated being reffered to as Gil's niece but I just ignore it now"
Jess grin "When you set up a date for that race let me know, I'd love to see that."