Chapter 6

The morning began with a bustle of activity. My legs were swollen and there wasn’t much that was telling them what was wrong. I dealt with another one of those famous dubstep MRI stints, before being rolled to what I would start calling my torture room. The physical therapy department in Germany was very sparse. Most people who needed physical therapy were flown stateside for treatment. The sensations that were returning to my legs were a mix of pleasure and pain. The muscles ached to work before atrophy set in. Who am I kidding, atrophy had already set in, but damn if my body wanted to do something. Everything that was done was very small in overall scale. The tens unit on my quads felt great, though nothing was as nice as the warming gel used for massage.

I was rolled back to my room in the afternoon and had been there for about twenty minutes before there was a knock on the door.

“Hey Roadie, heard the good news.” Admiral Golombowski beamed as he tried to put a positive front on things.

“What the hell do you mean Roadie? Last I checked, we weren’t in a band, and I sure as hell am not humping any gear like this.”

“Ha, technically I guess it should be Med-Roadie. Medically Retired on Active Duty. However, you can’t be processed until you are stateside. The big bonus is that I have a say on your status until it is all done. Currently, you are on administrative hold. I am not setting you up to be dropped into the VA system without a fucking plan.”

“Thanks, G. Though isn’t it holding a space in the unit that should be filled?” I asked.

“Are you fucking joking? You really don’t remember what happened to you? We will just say that our unit is still getting Hazardous Duty pay because of you. No, we won’t get combat pay, but hey, who really needs an extra 200 a month right?

“Look, I was going to try to keep this all uplifting, but, I would really like to see my wife this year. I am flying back tomorrow. You will follow on when you get the all-clear. Lisa wants to see you when you get back and don’t act like I don’t know that you have already seen her pictures in the emails. I didn’t even think about the fact that you would scan those.” Admiral Golombowski smirked.

I had been our IT guy and scanned all incoming files. Of course, I had seen everyone in the unit’s dirty pictures that were sent back and forth from the States. Sadly, I didn’t save any of them, damn some were HOT.

“Don’t worry Shaw, I am the only one who knows that you have seen them. Well, Lisa knows, but none of the others in the unit know that you viewed them. I was surprised that none of them were routed to a proxy disk for your collection.”

“G, you know that I took my job seriously, I wouldn’t save that shit. Though, I enjoyed the views.” I said.

“Hey, I am not going to string you up for it. We all should know that they are subject to viewing. I am pretty sure that Lisa was turned on by it. No, that doesn’t mean that I want you to pursue anything with her, but if she offers, you have my blessing. Once. Okay, take care kid, I am going to try to buy some dumb shit before I spend a sleepless night ready to fly. Fair Winds.” Admiral G started.

“And Following Seas, Sir. Fly safe.” I finished. Shit, I guess it had been over a year since we were deployed. Sure, it had been expected, well mostly. The benefit of being laid up for so long meant that my bank account wouldn’t be hurting, though money wasn’t really on my radar.

There was about an hour of downtime before I was interrupted right as I was starting to doze off. Petty Officer Day came in with a couple of books for me to read, and then as he was leaving in popped a couple of doctors.

“Petty Officer Shaw, I am Commander Stahl. We are going to do everything we can here before we send you back to the States. I need to let you know that you have a total of six torn ligaments in your knees. You really hit the lottery. Three in each knee. They will have to be operated on, but we want to wait and do that in the States. The rehab is going to suck. I won’t lie, but it will help with the pain in the long run. Any questions?” Dr. Stahl summarized.

“Only one, am I going to fly in a bed?” I asked.

“Oh no. We are planning to have you upright in a chair for transport. Though you will have some extended bedtime when you get back. If there is nothing else, we are going to pull that feeding tube out and put you on liquids. Do well on those and we may get you to soft foods before your flight.” Dr Stahl turned and left the room.

Heather came into my room with my dinner of some type of broth and green jello. “You are lucky that your first day of food again gives you the best jello we have. But be warned, it probably won’t happen often.”

“Thanks, Heather. Though if I am going to be on a liquid diet, I can think of a much better liquid that I would enjoy.” I said.

“Oh Shaw, I don’t know if there is a nutritional benefit to the liquids you seem to like. Oh, and if you are going to do that, ask for a cloth to wipe your lips off, I could still smell her last night hours after you were asleep.”

“Sadly Heather, I didn’t get to eat where I wanted to. It was simply a tease, though if you are offering, I will take that instead of the jello.” I said as I watched her blush.

“Shaw, I am not sure if I am ready to go there. I am afraid that if I did, I might hurt you, or worse, you would hurt me by never writing when you get home.” Heather lamented.

“Heather, you are still married, so I couldn’t hint at any future. Besides, you barely know me. I may be a serial abuser or a complete tool.”

“Oh, I have seen your complete tool. I am hoping that I get to see it again before you go.” she nearly whispered.

“You can see it as often as you want, all you have to do is close the door unless you want to put on a show that will get you busted in rank.” I laughed.

“No shows, but we will see what can happen. Christmas is only two days away, you never know what you may get, as long as you have been a good boy.” Heather responded before leaving my room.

She was correct. The green jello was amazing. Not smoking for a while makes your taste buds wake up to the slightest flavor. If I didn’t know better, I would think that the military sprung for real limes to make this stuff. The night was uneventful as Heather only stopped in my room to remove the tray of food. I was sleeping if she came in more than that.

Petty Officer Day woke me the next morning with a stack of papers. Since I couldn’t get to my email, Admiral Golombowski had set up an email with the nurses so that people in the unit, or close to it, could send me get-well wishes for the holidays. Most were the standard generic messages, though there were a couple that hinted at more personal matters that were in my actual inbox.

Lunch consisted of more broth, orange jello, and two popsicles. I left the popsicles to thaw in a cup as the cold wasn’t something that I wanted to deal with. I was finishing up my wonderous lunch when Dr. Rubai swept into the room, closing the door, smelling of some type of meat. My stomach took notice of that while my cock took notice that she was wearing a very basic skirt and sensible flats.

“Petty Officer Shaw, I heard that you were on a liquid diet now, I take it that you have eaten.” Dr Rubai said as she sat down her briefcase and removed the silk scarf that had been wrapped around her neck.

“Yeah, Doc, though you smell like steak and that isn’t fair.”

“Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t realize that you would be able to smell my lunch still. I have notified Day to tell Galnore that I will step out to get your dinner whenever you want, that way we will not be interrupted during today’s session.” Dr.Rubai stated while moving her chair closer to my bed.

I adjusted my bed so that I was reclined a little more than I had been while “eating”. “What fine topics would you like to discuss today Doc? Or are you planning on leaving me to talk about how I tried to lick the skin off of my upper lip?” I quipped.

“Well, I have heard that you got news about your knees, and you have a stack of emails that came in. Petty Officer Day said that they seemed nice, though I don’t think he read them all. So I will let you be the tour guide through your thoughts. I have already told you that nothing is off limits.” Dr Rubai said as she settled in with her pen and pad ready to not write any notes again today.