426: What's it good for?

[bethefaceless]

Away at War/Battle MemeWe all know war can be a hard time for everyone but those left behind? It can be torture. Hoping you get a letter or a call, staying glued to the television and cringing at those news stories. Guess what happens to you now? Your loved one has gone off to fight a war (battle, fight, in that ilk of things) and some time has

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Jake Jensen | The Losers

[effyoucmpnyman]

:D

[effyoucmpnyman]

Sometime in the future, past the adjustment, the pain and the PTSD, he will find some way to make a good sort of peg leg just for fact of being dragged to the Renn Faire. Just because he can. But at present, that was far off and the reality took a few minutes to hit him.

"Ahab?" he questioned at first. Jensen couldn't see it, not without his glasses, and as far as he could tell, he couldn't feel it either. "My leg-.." Pain actually, quite a bit of it, the more he concentrated on trying to feel what was wrong. He bit off the last word, the heartrate monitor starting to beep faster. "S'..gone? My leg. It hurts."

[omggirlonthenet]

She shook her head, biting her tongue in an attempt to keep herself from crying, though it was a pointless effort, her breath and her voice hitched as she explained the exact same thing the doctor had explained to her just a few minutes previously. Her version of it, however, ended with a shaky: "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

[effyoucmpnyman]

He turned his head away. He'd remember the next time he woke up and the time after that, and they'd never have to explain it again, but it would take a couple of times before what actually happened would set in. They should just be able to fix it. He didn't want apologies and sympathies, just to fix it.

Jake squeezed her hand again. "Krystle.. wanna go home."

[omggirlonthenet]

"Soon." She replied, squeezing back, "Once they know you aren't going to keel over on me. You know I'm no good for anything other than bandaids." Which wasn't strictly true, she was CPR and first aid certified, she even knew how to set broken bones, though she'd only had to do so once, a broken finger for a co-worker. She'd splinted it with a couple three-inch bolts and a some duct tape, and she'd urged them to go to an ER all the same.

She was there the next day, with his glasses and a cheeseburger, as promised. And the day after, and the day after that. She was, in fact, there every day of his recovery, even the days that she had to work, she was at the hospital after her early shifts or before her late shifts. She was continually surprised that there wasn't a day she came by that he didn't want to see her, even through the arduous and often painful physical therapy process, getting him stable enough to go home without needing a nurse there 24/7.

[effyoucmpnyman]

Having her there helped, having her there every day was something constant that he could rely on and any kind of constant he could get helped. He was still anxious to go home, but at least there was something from home there.

It was learning to walk again with a limb that he couldn't feel or move on his own, but had to use forward motion and rely on the way the prosthetic was built, which meant the whole thing felt so foreign and tiring. And that was after the burns had healed enough to let him move around on it. He was pretty exhausted after PT, but he was stubborn too, which was a good quality for a change.

It would be soon--they'd be letting him go home soon, just not soon enough and he was getting restless. Not that he hadn't been from the start. "Hey," he said, looking up when she came to visit. "Let's go outside today. This room is killing me."

[omggirlonthenet]

There was a crooked half-surprised smile, "You sure?" She knew he'd been getting around better, but she wasn't aware it was that much better, "Or am I going to have to wheel you around like you're FDR? Because that's only fun if you're going to talk like him." It was a tease, of course, her sense of humor was still a little skewed about the whole thing, but she was getting better. Sort of.

"Brung you some cupcakes too." She added, tugging at the strap of her bag, "Chocolate with Snickerbars in them."

[effyoucmpnyman]

"My fellow Americans..." he said in his best FDR voice. But Jake shook his head quickly. "Nah, I'm walking. You know me, never did like to sit still." Sure he had bad days, breakdowns in the hallway with the physical therapist, but there was no changing it, and the more mobile he got, the easier it became. Most days anyway.

He raised both eyebrows, sitting up more in bed at the mention of cupcakes. "Oooooooh my god, cupcakes! Gimme gimme gimme." He made gimme-hands at her and grinned. "And this is why you're my favorite ever."

[omggirlonthenet]

She scoffed, pulling the container of cupcakes out of her bag, making sure none of them had squished. They hadn't. She handed it over, "It's easy to be the favorite sibling when I'm the only sibling, so that doesn't even count to ten, Mudhead." She gave another shrug, "But sure, outside is good, they letting you out into the wild yet? Or just up and down the hall like one of those poor cats on the harnesses that live in apartment buildings?"

[effyoucmpnyman]

"Aw man... and I'd been using that line for years, now you're telling me it won't work? Oooh, but cupcakes will." He pulled one out of the bag and pealed off the wrapper. Jake rolled his eyes, looking over at her with the cupcake in his hand. "Yeah. Cat on a harness. But I have to go outside sometime, my feet will figure it out and seriously. I need some air."

[omggirlonthenet]

"Oh it'll still work, I'm just saying." She shrugged then, smile breaking out in stages, slow and easy and entirely crooked, "What the hell kind of little sister would I be if I couldn't facilitate a jailbreak once in a while? I know how to get outside from here, and it's easy." She tilted her head, both brows arching, "You think we can get away with it if we pull the whole 'look like we know what we're doing' routine?"

[effyoucmpnyman]

He took a bite of the cupcake--heaven. Total heaven. And a few more bites and the first one was gone. He started to lick his fingers. "Yes. That's how you always get away with it, by looking like you know what you're doing."

There were a pair of crutches next to his bed, and he already had the prosthetic on as he reached for them and swung his legs over the edge of the bed before tentatively standing. It still took a little doing to get used to a foot that he couldn't feel. "Also," he added. "Bring the cupcakes."

[omggirlonthenet]

"Of course I'm bringing the cupcakes." She said, already dropping the container back into her bag, "And besides that I'm good at pretending I know what I'm doing, hell, it's how I've kept my job at the smoothie place this long, by looking like I know what I'm doing."

She smiled, "Of course, kept the job at the garage by actually knowing what I'm doing, so it's a good balance. You ready?"

[effyoucmpnyman]

"When did you start working at the smoothie place?" he asked, giving her a gaping shocked look that was much exaggerated. "Bring me a smoothie next visit? Pleeeeease?"

He stood up, still leaning on the crutches, he was still working on the whole balance issue and it would be totally uncool to fall on his face when there's cupcakes on the line. "Yeah. Can you uh, open the door for me?"

[omggirlonthenet]

She nodded, swinging the door open and leaning against it to keep it open, "It's been about a year now, I think. Maybe a little more, actually. Needed something else to do." Because she hated having time on her hands, "And of course I will. You want something that's actually on the menu, or you want me to invent something?"

[effyoucmpnyman]

Really, either of them with time on their hands is a bad idea. Unless cupcakes happen, that's okay. And both of them together with time on their hands? End of the world kind of disaster. Jake headed out into the hallway--he was walking better, getting more confident. Maybe they'd even let him go home soon.

"Oh, you have to invent something," he said, turning back to look at her. "It's no fun if you don't. Besides, don't you do that in your off time there anyway?"