The afternoon went by too quickly for Tori’s taste. They cleaned up lunch and he straightened some more in the sadly empty bedroom. He wanted to hang some pictures or something but it didn’t make much sense when Epi couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted where. It all boiled down to time and Tori’s time had run out.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to stay another couple of days?” He asked as he tossed his suitcase into the car.

“For God’s sake, Tori, go home.” Epi shook his head. “You’d think I never lived without you before.”

“Well…”

“I have a babysitter, it’s good enough.”

“You’ll call me?”

“Yes, tonight and tomorrow.”

“And the day after.” Tori shut the car door. “And you’ll stay out of that wheelchair as much as you can. No getting lazy without me here to yell at you.”

“As much as I can.” He promised.

Tori shook his head again. “Here.” He produced a pair of sealed folders from behind his back.

“What’s this?” Epi took them and turned them over. The top one was marked T. Ridell and the date of September twelfth a year ago. “Oh.”

“I know you say you don’t give a shit but you might one day, what with all this free time on your hands.”

“I still say it’s morbid to tape a funeral.”

“Morbid or not, they made a copy for his grandparents out west. I know you said you didn’t care but you need to say goodbye to him sooner or later and if you want to see it, there it is. Don’t throw it out okay?”

He wanted to burn it. “Okay.” If his dead boyfriend’s funeral was in one folder, he couldn’t imagine what was sealed in the other. “And this one?”

“I know you…”

“Yes I said I didn’t give a shit, what did you do?”

Tori sighed and rolled his eyes. “I pulled the memory card from Timothy’s camera before his parents took it.”

“You what?”

“I just…took it. They don’t know squat about digital cameras and you bought him the damned thing. I just figured you might want the photos from that trip since it was research. The camera was fried but the memory card works.” Epi had still been in a coma and it had fallen on Tori to let Timothy’s parents into their townhouse to pack his things. At the time they hadn’t even been sure Epi would live and Tori had been swamped with getting his friend’s things packed and in storage too but he wasn’t going to let some strangers take his friend’s things. He’d watched them like a hawk and saw to it that anything he knew was solidly Epi’s hadn’t disappeared.

“You said…” Epi had been told the camera that had been in the car had been destroyed and he’d thought the pictures of that trip were lost. He’d known they were gone because Timothy’s family had taken it with his things.

“Yes but  you bought him that camera and I knew you wouldn’t care about the thing but the photos are yours. It was your trip for your work. Just…thought you might want it one day. So I snitched it. Bastards tried to take your laptop too, I bet they bundled everything straight to a yard sale the next day.” He shook his head at Epi’s stunned look. “They didn’t miss it, if you feel bad about it make them copies.”

“I don’t feel bad about it. Not sure I want to see them.”

“Well, in case you do, there it is. I know I’m rotten.” He reached up and brushed some of the too long hair back. “We should have gotten you a haircut before dropping you alone in the wilds.”

“It’s fine.”

“Alright scruffy, I’m leaving, you don’t need anything else?”

“No.”

Tori tossed his arms around Epi’s shoulders, hugged him quickly and pressed a kiss to the side of his face. “Call me.”

“Yes mother.”

“I’m serious!”

“Get out of here.”

“Fine, I’m gone, if you need anything…”

“YES!” Epi nearly shouted.

“Fine fine…bye!”

“See you around, Tori.” He stepped back as his friend finally climbed into the driver’s side and shut the car door. The vehicle hummed to life and the windows rolled down. “Bye!”

“Bye! Love you! Try to have fun!”

“Love you too.” The car finally reversed back and turned around. The horn honked a little and Tori shoved an arm out the window to wave. Epi waved back and stood and watched as he was suddenly left completely alone.

Tori waved and smiled and pulled the steady sedan out onto the main road. He made it out of town before he had to pull over and bury his hands in his face and sob. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Epi could do it or that he wouldn’t be okay on his own. He’d just spent a year with every day consumed with worry. It had been a year that had turned both of their lives upside down and Tori had been running on nervous energy for too long. He sobbed because he’d been able to be there and do something so important for someone he loved but he sobbed also because it was over and something of his life was now free.

He wiped at his eyes and pushed the spate of tears down. “Tori – boy you need a spa day…and chocolate….and shopping…” He pulled the car back onto the road and continued toward home. “And an island beach with really hot cabana boys that serve more than drinks…”

 

The sound of Tori's car faded away and the yard suddenly grew very quiet. Epi glanced around at the yard and trees and suddenly remembered that he had killed every house plant he'd ever tried to take care of. He didn't even know what half of the plants were let alone what to do to keep them alive. He wandered back into the house and it felt quiet and oppressive. The folders Tori had given him would stay sealed, he wasn't ready to open them let alone see what they held so he pulled open a drawer on his china cabinet and tossed them inside.

There was plenty to do. His life had literally stopped and frozen a year ago and now it stood around him in boxes and stacks waiting to be rediscovered. He just wasn't sure he was ready to do that, wasn't sure he'd like what he found waiting. Instead, he wandered back out onto the porch and around to the swing. The chains weren't rusted but he was suspicious of anything simply screwed into the ceiling over head. The swing creaked a little as he sat down but it held his weight and Epi sat there wondering just what the hell he'd done, alone with only the squirrels darting about yard. 

 

“Wasn't sure if you were going to come out willingly.” Nick called out from where he leaned against his car. He had planned to give Epi five more minutes before he went into the house after the man.

“In case you didn't notice, I'm not the swiftest of creatures.” Epi answered as he made his slow and careful way down the long ramp. He'd seen Nick in passing over his first few days at the house but the other man had kept mostly to himself but his first duty of hauling Epi to rehab had arrived and there was no avoiding it.

“Tori said I should take the chair.”

“I don't need it.”

“He said it should go along.”

“I'm fine. They're not going to do anything today anyway. It'll all be evaluation and shit. God this ramp is long.”

“Had to be. Aunt Minnie wouldn't let anyone help her so had to make the pitch low.”

“You built this?”

Nick shrugged. “Wasn't hard.”

Epi glanced up at the man in the docker pants and polo shirt that looked more like he should be golfing than building wheelchair ramps and frowned at his handsome, pulled together clean cut looks. “I bet you played football in school.”

“Football and wrestling. You didn't?”

He couldn't help it, his mind supplied a mental image of Nick in spandex tumbling around on a mat with other boys. He shook his head both to clear it of it's random thoughts and to deny the question. “No, my school didn't offer either. Lacrosse, soccer, judo, fencing, swimming, track...”

“Fencing?” But at the look Epi gave him he didn't question further. “You play any of them?”

“What? My athleticism doesn't betray my history?”

“You were probably on the chess team or something dorky and don't want to fess up to it.”

“You'll be happy to know I am a horrible chess player. Though I did join the chess club one semester but that was just to get closer to a boy I had a crush on. What do you say we just skip this shit and tell Tori I went?”

“He'd skin us both.” Nick took the crutches and small duffel bag and put them in the backseat after Epi got a grip on the car and got himself into his seat.

“Big strapping fellow like you shouldn't be frightened of a scrawny gay boy.”

“I may look it, but I'm not stupid. Get in the car.” Nick got the back seat door closed and moved to the driver's side. He didn't want to stare but when he got in, Epi was sitting very straight backed and his hands gripped the arm rests. “Ready?”

Epi nodded and waited for the car to lurch into motion. He'd seen how Nick drove with smooth skill as he came and went on the gravel lane. Only the car didn't whip around but rolled slowly and carefully out onto the lane and just as carefully out into the road. There was no way to prove that Tori had warned the other man but he wasn't going to question it, he was just grateful for it. He forced himself to lean back in his seat and closed his eyes to block out the motion outside the windows but he kept a death grip on the arm rests.

 

Nick didn't have to stop once on the ride to rehab which surprised him from Tori's warnings but the trip had made Epi look paler and he hadn't relaxed or spoken once the entire ride. He pulled them into the fairly new building with it's glass exterior and was glad to find a spot near the handicapped ones to park in. Tori's folder of information had contained the handicapped parking permit placard but he hadn't asked about it.

“Tori gave me the placard but I didn't bring it. Do you use it?”

“Only at larger parking lots but he'd use it more than that.” He opened the car door and glanced across the building.

“I'll bring it next time.” Nick returned the crutches to Epi but took up the duffel bag when he gathered up his backpack. “How long do these appointments normally last?”

“About an hour, sometimes longer. Today will either be shorter or longer depending on how much they evaluate. You ever been in physical therapy?”

“Can't say that I have.”

“Well, some will be like, lets see what you can do isn't that nice now go home and other's will be all let's test your will to live now do this until you're so exhausted you want to puke or pass out.  Evaluations are fun.”

“Sounds it.”

“Are you dropping me off or coming inside?”

Nick glanced to the car. “Which would you rather?”

He hated rehab and hated sitting alone with the other broken losers more. “You can come in if you want. You might get some sick pleasure from watching me be tortured.”

“Anything for a chuckle.” He locked and shut the door and moved ahead of the slower moving man to open the doors for him.

The waiting room was decent sized and filled with happy photos of people smiling in fields not minding their broken limbs and wheelchairs. Nick took a seat as Epi checked in and got the required clipboard of paperwork to fill out. He sat down with a sigh and began to go over the endless lines. Once the clipboard was returned he sat down and rubbed at his braced wrist without thinking about it.

It wasn't a long before a woman in her thirties with her hair in a ponytail and wearing the rehab's logo polo shirt and khaki pants came out. “Mr. Whitmore?” She came over and offered her hand. “I'm Jamie, it's nice to meet you.” She smiled brightly.

“Epi, everyone calls me Epi.” He motioned to Nick. “This is my babysitter, Nick, if you don't mind he'll come back with us.”

“It's fine by me, as you requested we have a private room for you so there's space. Ready to get to work?”

“Not really.” He complained as he got to his feet.

“It'll be a good day, let's get you changed.”

They followed the smiling woman through a hallway and an open room where other therapists worked with other patients but they continued back to a room that was closed off from the rest.

“Bathroom’s through there, go ahead and get changed, I’ll be right back.” She smiled and nodded to Nick and left the room.

Epi pulled the duffel bag from Nick’s hand and made his way to the bathroom. It left him alone to look about the well equipped room. He didn’t know a great deal about physical therapy but it seemed odd that they’d have a private room. Off to the side he found and took one of the chairs placed against a wall and put his backpack down beside him.

When the bathroom door opened he thought he’d ask. “How’d you wrangle a private room?”

“I have money and it’s still cheaper to be a brat about service at a facility than to have in home care so the insurance doesn’t bitch too much.”

Nick glanced up as Epi came out of the bathroom and was glad that the other man was looking down. He doubted he could keep the shock from his face and he didn’t mean to be hurtful. The artificial leg didn’t shock or startle him. It wasn’t an uncommon sight but the shorts the other man had put on allowed his other leg to be seen. It was a patchwork of thick lined scars. Places that should have been smooth flesh were caved in and even with the brace on that knee it was easy to see the scars and damage under it.

It wasn’t just the man’s legs. The short sleeves of the t-shirt he’d changed into made the extent of his injuries more obvious. There were what looked like burn scars on his arm and a new pattern of scars in precise surgical ways. Round scars from where pins had extended through his skin, long incision scars that had healed thick and ugly. The brace on his wrist was clunky and therapeutic looking and he’d only ever seen the part that peeked from the long sleeves Epi wore to wrap around his thumb. By the time Epi had made his way over to the exam and treatment table Nick had gotten control of his expression and he hoped his lapse hadn’t been noticed.

“Yes, I know…” Epi groaned as he hauled himself onto the table. “I’m a sexy beast.” He didn’t need to look up to feel eyes on him, he’d grown acutely aware of when people were staring. Nick didn’t say anything when Epi glanced his way. “You should have seen me a couple of months ago. Looked even more like a Frankenstein monster.”

“All ready?” The therapist chirped as she came back into the room.

“If I said no will it change things?”

She smiled. “I’m afraid not. I’ve looked over your files, Mr. Whitmore, and your series of x-rays.”

“Epi, I like to be on a first name bases with the people in my life that will make me cry like a little girl.”

“Epi it is. Have you picked out a prosthetist to work with yet? You’re not on a definitive prosthesis yet right?”

“Not yet, I’m a little behind in recovery from the traction and such.”

Jamie moved over and began to prod at the leg with the artificial limb. “And the knee movement here?”

“Stiff, sore, it tends to lock sometimes but okay.”

“Any pain?”

“Every time I stand it still hurts.”

“You really need to tell your prosthetist about that.”

“I have, they’ve made adjustments. It just hasn’t toughened up enough yet.”

“Let’s get this brace off the other knee. How’s this leg working for you?”

Epi glanced to where Nick sat silent and watching along the wall. He was used to being able to be silent and sulky at evaluations because Tori would answer if he was unwilling. “It’s fucked up.”

“The amount of breaks to it I imagine it still is. Don’t worry, you stick with this in a couple of months it’ll almost be like new.” She smiled and felt along the leg, prodding at scars and where bones had been broken and ligaments torn. “Collarbone is all healed up?”

“As good as it’ll get.”

“And your ribs? Your file says you’re falling still, any further injury? Any residual breathing issues?”

“Nothing major, sometimes when I’m upset but they’re telling me that’s all in my head.”

“Shoulder’s doing okay for you?” She lifted Epi’s right arm and rolled the shoulder which didn’t even make him wince any more.

“That’s doing better. Aches but it’s healed up.”

“Same for the dislocation in your hips?”

“They were fine before I was out of traction. Or well at least functioning.”

“And your wrist?” She asked as she removed the brace there as well. “How’s it feel when you’re typing?”

“I haven’t been typing much lately…” He glanced away to hide the wince as she moved it. “It’s still painful.”

“And the crutches aren’t helping it any.” She smiled and Epi started to hope it would be an easy evaluation and he could soon go home. “Well, Epi, let’s get the prosthesis off and start getting some base line measurements out of the way. I know where you were down in Virginia but I like to know where a client is when I start working with him. I promise it’ll be painless.”

“Everyone promises that.” He grumbled but was already moving to remove the fake leg. There was no avoiding it if he ever wanted something close to a normal life again but he was sick to death of rehab.

An hour later Epi was really sick of rehab but with Jamie now satisfied and sitting quietly writing notes while Epi but his various braces and limbs back in place it was at the least, over. “You’re an evil woman, Jamie.” Things hurt, they hurt a lot and he didn’t give a damn if it was supposed to be a good hurt.

She smiled brightly. “Thank you! Look, Epi, your friend Tori picked me for a reason.”

“He’s evil too.”

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