"I know I shouldn't be walking around Hospital like this" Rebecca spoke, still looking at the floor. "My mutation normally gets me out of any difficult situations though". The nurse was a nice person, just trying to do her job. She at least seemed to understand what she was going through. "You have to understand, I wouldn't normally do this. It's just...water...behaving in that way..."

The nurse, now able to be called Juliette, gave her limited details, seemingly skirting around this "other things" that she did. Perhaps she'd taken a career break because of a family bereavement or something? Rebecca could understand why she wouldn't go into detail, so didn't ask more about why she was coming back to nursing. Still, there were less probing questions...

"Is this your only job-"

She was interrupted as the door opened, with Jorge coming back in. Rebecca jumped for the second time that day. She couldn't help that...but proceeded to flush red somewhat with embarrassment at her own reaction. He looked far stronger than he did before, this made him all the more intimidating.

"N-nnot a problem" Rebecca spoke nervously at his thanks to the two of them. "I certainly wouldn't want to have sopping wet clothes on" she joked . Yes, self-depreciating humor, that would work wonders in this situation! Jokes always made things less scary! 

For a simple trip to the hospital, this was turning out to be more interesting (and frightening) than Rebecca had first thought. All she needed now was the nurse to be some kind of mutant with an ice manipulating boyfriend and then it would be just like the bad dreams she had as a little girl.

Juliette pursed her lips as she listened to Rebecca explain further. “I do understand, but…” she closed her eyes and shook her head, continuing on despite her reservations about the woman, “I try not to rely on my mutation to get me out of situations.” It wasn’t entirely true, considering there weren’t many things that her mutation could get her out of, but it was true that she did try to live without letting her powers control every action.

Rebecca seemed to be starting to ask her another question, but she cut off as Jorge reentered the room. She had heard most of it, but it seemed silly to continue it, especially since getting into that conversation would take a good chunk of time.

“Of course,” Juliette nodded at Jorge. She was done all of her regular duties, so she could afford to wait. She grinned at his comment about the hospital gown, remembering an occasion with Sam featuring the same garment. They really did provide little to no coverage.

She glanced at Rebecca’s usual jumpy reaction and offered her a tight smile upon hearing her awkward joke. She felt bad for the woman as she watched her, and decided not to rush her out. There was clearly something going on that she need to deal with, so as long as she didn’t cause any trouble or make Jorge uncomfortable, she would let her stay without a hassle.

When Jorge reentered the room, he did so with his patented smile and disarming charm…or at least he tried. Upon entering and joking that his gown would have been most inappropriate for what had happened to him, the blonde woman still seemed to be somewhat off-put by him. She was a jumpy as a rabbit, avoiding eye contact and peering down at the oh-so-interesting floor at her feet. Jorge felt bad but try as he might to calm her nerves it didn’t seem that he was helping the matter any. He understood that his abilities weren’t the safest but he wasn’t some ticking time bomb – mostly.

The truth was that was much as Jorge wanted to believe he was safe to be around, there was a very good chance that he wasn’t. After returning from so many years at sea, the detective needed to relearn just how to maintain a solid form again. His abilities were haywire right now, his control over them atrophied. However, the man was working hard at maintaining his abilities as the last thing he would ever want to do is hurt someone as that wasn’t in the man’s habit to do – at least not intentionally.

He could guess that, given Rebecca’s abilities, he could understand her fear. If he lost control and summoned a wave into the room then she would essentially be left as little more than a pile of goopy mud; or so he assumed since he didn’t know the full details of her abilities. Fear was right for her and there was some slight annoyance that he was the source of it. That saddened the man and made him question just how ready he was to leave this place.

Rebecca tried to joke her way out of her discomfort and the nurse nodded in understanding at his need to change. However, the detective was beginning to feel a bit like a third wheel now; which was strange considering that he was using this room first. However, a glance out a nearby window showed that the sun was rising higher and higher and it would be time for everyone else to start showing up. Maybe it was time for him to retire back to his room, or at least stop occupying the physical therapy space and head for a walk outside.

With a smile to both he took a breath as he checked the clock on the wall, though it was hardly necessary when a beam of gold light flashed across the man’s gaze. His gaze shifted back to the two ladies, he offered them a soft nod.

”Thank you both for the lovely company…even with the mishap.” he smirked. ”However, I should finish up in here so the poor custodian can mop up. I should do my walk anyway,” he added with a shrug. ”Last thing I want is Nurse Ratchet on my butt again for not doing my leg exercises.” He gave both a kind nod and smile. He turned to leave so that he could inform the nursing station about the mishap but stopped and glanced to the other two. ”If either of you wish to continue to provide company, I could hardly deny you.” With a sweet smile he nodded to both and started towards the door.

So the nurse was a mutant as well, this was getting a little too surreal for Rebecca's liking. It wasn't quite the nightmare yet, though given how this day was going she was finding it difficult to be surprised. "I've gotten used to using my mutation for those purposes, it gives me pretty good mobility."

She looked up at Jorge's face, seeing the disappointment in his eyes, he seemed like a nice enough guy, and she was being rude. That said, if he was able to part oceans in his teenage years, it was obvious that he could fully immerse her. Rebecca couldn't help but shudder slightly at the thought.

Jorge announced that he was leaving, but seemed to be keen on having company. Well, this wasn't an opportunity to pass up on, and the nurse would be there if he lost control of his powers... being alone with a water mutant, even one as friendly as Jorge was, would be too much for her right now.

"I'd be happy to give you someone to talk to, if Juliette is also willing to come with?" She looked somewhat pleadingly at her, hopefully as a fellow mutant she would understand, after all, they'd all seen powerful mutants lose control. It was normally bad news for the mutant, bad news for anyone around them and bad news for the mutants family. Fatalities were common to start with, and Rebecca could only guess with horror at what Jorge was capable of.

She took a few tentative steps towards the door, guessing that if Juliette wasn't going to come, she would be asked to leave the hospital. She'd already broken enough rules for one day, and she really didn't want to overstay her welcome. She would visit Catherine again when the hospital was open. Her parents would need to come too.

Juliette had been about to suggest that she get back to work and leave Jorge alone to do his exercises, which she silently hoped would make Rebecca inclined to leave, when she'd been asked to tag along. She glanced at the large eyes with which Rebecca looked at her, obviously desperate for someone that couldn't control water to tag along, and she found it immensely difficult to say no.

She chewed her lips for a second and looked between the two of them before tentatively answering with a, "sure..." She was, after all, done the majority of the work that was expected to be completed in that shift, and her replacement would arrive at any moment. Besides, she understood where Rebecca was coming from. Sure, she wouldn't have chosen to face her problems in such a head on way, but if she had met a mutant who controlled darkness or something, she didn't doubt that she'd at least be curious. 

The woman glanced back at the slightly damp physio room once more, and then stepped forward to follow after Jorge. The walk would likely go past the end of her shift, from the way things were panning out, but she didn't mind too much. She'd been planning to just sit in the park for a while and enjoy the sunshine anyway, since there wouldn't be much going on at the mansion at 6:30 am.

Her sneaker squeaked on the linoleum tile, undoubtedly due to the water that had begun to seep onto them ever so slightly. She ignored the sound and turned to Jorge, taking a moment to study his peaceful demeanour. There was no reason for him to entertain the wants of the scared woman walking next to them, but for some reason he had. That was something she admired.

She glanced down at the clipboard in her hands, searching for a page on the watermancer. There wasn't much written down on his file other than 'mutation mishap', which left her curious. She was used to prying into other peoples' situation to fill out files before, so the words came easily to her lips as soon as she thought them. The situation was different, though. Usually, when she inquired on a patient's background, it was for some medical reason. With Jorge, it was just because she was curious. That felt wrong on several levels, but she went ahead and asked anyway.

"Can I ask how you ended up here, Jorge? I wasn't aware that we took mutation-related cases here." She used a soft tone and a friendly face, trying to convey that her questions were just coming from her as a person, not any other purpose. 

Frankly, to his surprise, both women had decided that they would join Jorge on his journey taking his morning walk. Jorge had to admit that as much as he liked his privacy, he really was thankful for the company. Not for any aesthetic reason as them being pleasing to the eye, but more because he was thankful to have people to talk to that weren’t just curious. The two of them were nice and sweet, though Rebecca still reminded him of a frightened rabbit. The nurse, Juliette, was kind and only wanted to make sure that Jorge remained in good shape. He couldn’t think of better people to accompany him at the moment.

With an upturn of the corner of his lips, he smirked to the two women and stepped outside the doorway, waiting for them to join up with him. When they hand, Jorge moved on, leading them both down the hallway at a leisurely stroll, his hands clasped behind his back as he took a deep, relaxing breath. As they crossed the nurse’s station, Jorge excused himself to walk over and gently informed them that there was some spilled water in the physical therapy room and offered his sincerest apologies. They had seemingly work with the man enough that they offered him tired, but understanding, smiles and nodded that they would get in contact with the custodians.

The mattered taken care of, and another wave of profuse apologies, Jorge turned away to rejoin the ladies as they continued on through the hospital. All around them were people beginning to wake up or just turning in after a long and sleepless night. The detective’s morals and manners were clearly on display as he opened doors for individuals passing through, helping to pick up a tired nurse’s clipboard, and even giving a wondering elderly woman in her gown a sweet smile and a nod of his head. Jorge was clearly, a gentleman.

Rounding a corner, Jorge made for the elevators to lead down to the ground floor so that they could partake of the walk outside. However, as they headed towards them, the nurse pulled Jorge’s attention, asking the question that he had been waiting for – what was he here for? Though the demonstration that his abilities were seemingly out of whack were a good enough explanation, he was sure that there was more that she wanted to know. After all, the report on her clipboard was vague about his condition.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he walked, before he opened them. It was hard talking about what happened to him and that was evident on his once smiling face. But the man knew that he needed to keep talking about it as it wasn’t going to get any better if he just continued to ignore it. He was stronger than those memories, at least he wanted to be. So, with a defiant nod of his head, he pressed on and answered, but given that his case was still active, there wasn’t a lot he could impart.

”Accident while I was out on the ocean,” he started. ”I got..hurt…” Subconsciously his hand drifted to his firm stomach, the place where he had been shot. There was a scar there, surprisingly, a bullet wound that looked old. ”I feel into the water and the only way I could save myself was by…turning into water.” He gulped and stopped to push the button to call the elevator. ”I was only going to be for a second, to get the bullet out but…I…” he looked up at the two of them and shrugged his shoulders, a small sad smile on his lips. ”I couldn’t reform. So…I spent three years like that…drifting…spread out over the ocean of the world, separated out into individual molecules of waters. Honestly…I thought I was dead,” another deep sigh. ”Then, a year ago, I dunno how, but I just…snapped all back together, on a beach, off New York. They kept he mere ever since because I couldn’t scarcely keep myself together. But…” he held up his hand. There, in a split second, it transformed from flesh and blood to churning, translucent water in the shape of a human hand, and then back again. He smirked. ”I guess I got my groove back.”

DING! The elevator sounded, doors opening for the trio.

Juiliette agreed to Rebecca's half begging with a quiet affirmative. The nurse had a heart then, Rebecca could only look at her gratefully as the nurse followed Jorge out, her shoes squeaking on the floor. At least it was obvious that the hospital kept the place clean and tidy for this part of the ward.

Rebecca followed up behind Jules with a quick step, with Jorge walking casually in front of them. He was remarkably chilled for the position he'd been put in, considering the number of interruptions he'd had to his routine today. Rebecca was impressed.

Then the nurse started talking about why Jorge was here. It sounded like he'd had a pretty traumatic experience. Rebecca was fortunate never to have been shot, her sand form helped with that a lot. Bullets did get fired after all, when she made those men pay...Rebecca knew what it was like not to have control over her form. It was horrible. Having your psyche spread out in a million pieces and being in pain? It was not an experience she cared to repeat.

"I remember when I was 12, some kids at school thought it would be funny to push me into a river. I wasn't the best swimmer." That was putting it lightly "I tried to shift, but I couldn't. I would have drowned..." Unless Bethany hadn't flown in and saved her. "except I got saved. The kids were very apologetic, they got grounded by their parents for months. I had nightmares for weeks" and she remembered the nights when Bethany and Matthew had come in to comfort her, or got her parents in...

Rebecca laughed at Jorge's party trick. "I got my "grove" back after that, took me a while before being confident enough to go back into my form after that." Except when she was sleeping, then it was near subconscious. She had been so tired that night, desperately trying to sleep... "Needless to say, I hope that doesn't happen again." She looked at Jorge , hopefully he wouldn't lose control of his powers this time around.

She of course, jumped when the elevator door sounded. That was what happened when you told people about life stories. It got a little deep, and a little dark.

They were headed toward the elevators. Juliette frowned slightly, but didn’t say anything. Some of the floors would be fine for them to roam around on, especially with an employee escort, but others were not. So, she stayed silent, but decided to be on guard and keep them from wandering off into more restricted areas of the hospital. Especially Rebecca. She seemed to have a bit of a penchant for that.

She closed her eyes as she listened to Jorge’s explanation of his harrowing tale. It sounded intense, long, and lonely. She could hardly imagine what he had gone through, spending three years alone in a non-human form. She doubted that she would have been able to survive something like that.

She had experience of her own with something like that, with her firefly form, but she didn’t spend a lot of time like that. It was freeing to be like that for a little while, but she wouldn’t ever have chosen to spend three years like that alone. It was inconceivable to her.

He had gripped his midsection while he spoke about the gunshot, indicating that there had been pain there. That was interesting to Juliette, who would have thought that there would have been minimal effect on his physical body after he switched forms. Then again, mutations were tricky and difficult to predict, and even her own mutation didn’t work like that. Mutations made western medicine more and more difficult to rely on.

“That sounds incredibly intense,” she uttered her thoughts aloud, “you must have an incredibly strong will to have made it out the other side of that story. You made it would with strength left, too. I doubt that many people would be able to do that.”

She turned to look at Rebecca as she interjected with a personal story of her own. She raised an eyebrow at the woman, listening to her story. She silently wondered how on earth she showered or bathed, but decided that it wasn’t the best time to ask.

It seemed that most mutants had some sort of horror story revolving around their mutation. Juliette could think of a few of her own, but she didn’t exactly want to turn the situation into any more of a ‘sharing your life story’ moment than it already was. Instead of sharing a story of her own, she simply made a general comment. “No mutant really gets an easy go of it, huh? We all have horror stories of our own.”

“How far do you need to walk today, Jorge?” She asked, glancing at the buttons on the elevator panel. Depending on how far he wanted to go, there were different ones that she could press.

It was still somewhat hard to share that story. It was an experience that the man never wanted to live through again, to live your like as a non-entity, your consciousness spread out into a million particles mixing in the churning, waving ocean. Though Jorge could only recall snippets of the experience, they were powerful enough to have caused the man pain upon remembering; at least that was how it was at first. As the days passed, the more he talked about it, the more he found that he actually could talk about it. Of course he never let his mind drift too far into these musings because doing so would be problematic. But the man was strong enough now that he could tell a couple of people.

The pain was odd, he would admit. He didn’t really have any injuries save for a worn out scar, but sometimes it still felt like the bullet was there. The psychiatrist he had spoken to told Jorge that the discomfort were Phantom Pains. Because he had been hit with a bullet before he turned into water and essentially blacked out for years on end, his mind is still coming to terms with how much time had passed. For all his mind knew, it had only been a year ago that he was shot and therefore should be feeling pain. Thankfully, with time, the sensations would dwindle. Already it didn’t hurt as much but there was still a ways to go.

As he waited for the elevator, having finished recounting his tale, one of his new friends had decided that share her own traumatic experience. Being a sand-shifter, she had suffered her own ordeal with water, one that Jorge could surprisingly relate to. He stayed silent as she spoke, quite chewing on the inside of his lip as he shook his head at her experiences. It was a shame that mutants had to suffer like that, especially at the hands of other kids. But at least she seemed somewhat together now, if maybe just a little too jumpy.

He gave her an encourage smile and a nod of appreciation about her doing better. At her reply about hoping he was doing better, the man grinned. ”One day at a time.”

The nurse didn’t seem to have any tales of childhood trauma that she wanted to share (pity) but she did seemed to be quite considerate of Jorge’s experience. She was stunned by his tale and praised the man’s strength of will concerning his ordeal. While he was appreciative of his words, he didn’t know exactly how strong he was. Jorge believed that had he really been strong that he could have kept the event from happening in the first place, but he wasn’t about the argue with the young woman. He nodded and muttered in appreciation at her compliment.

”Thanks.”

After Rebecca had shared her own story, Nurse Juliette went on to lament about how it was never easy for mutants. That “we all” have horror stories. That made the man pause. He turned and tilted his head as he looked at her with a scrutinizing gaze. For a moment he flipped through his mental rolodex of information and found that there was no entry identifying Juliette as a mutant. Interesting. It seemed that she made a bit of a slip of the tongue. That or he was just old and forgot. Either option was likely. Still, the man didn’t say anything, choosing to respect her privacy as all three stepped into the elevator. She inquired as to how far he was going.

”Oh, just to the ground floor. Just a lap around the greenery outside and then back to my room,” He sighed contentedly. ”Good thing, too. My soaps will be on in a bit.”

Juiliette's remark about all having horror stories of their own was true, Rebecca supposed, but it wasn't exactly comforting. "There are some mutations that are easier than others. All depends on visibility and what happens if you lose control I suppose." All three of them were relatively lucky in some regard, they weren't obviously different, at least compared to some.

At least Jorge gave some comfort. "That is true. Every day it gets better." That wasn't entirely true, the truth of it was that she had more strength to deal with her powers, that she was capable of using her powers for her own good. That was the truth of it. At least he seemed willing to listen. That was more than what most would do...

So they were going to the ground floor? That would make things simple when she was inevitably asked to exit the building as fast as possible. But at least "Days of our Lives" wasn't coming on for a while. Rebecca laughed at Jorge's little quip. "I like some soaps, find a few of them to be a bit silly." Particularly "Mutants, Martin and Me" was a terribly cheesy one.

She carefully entered the elevator somewhat carefully and waited for the other two to follow her in. It was probably best that she kept an eye on Jorge, as nice a guy as he was, just in case he lost control of his powers and doused her in water.

Juliette nodded at Jorge's mention of the ground floor. That would likely be the best choice for them. So long as they avoided the E.D., there wouldn't be a whole lot in their way. A few coffee places, the cafeteria, the gift store. Then, there was the garden outside. Sure, it would be a little chilly, but thanks to the unseasonably warm weather, it would be less so that other years.

She entered the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor, causing the doors to slide shut once all three of them were inside. The elevator took off quickly with a woosh sound. The movement was hardly detectable; designed specifically for patients with traumatic injuries that would need minimal movement.

"My mom used to love soaps," Juliette smiled nostalgically. She could remember sitting and watching them with her when she was young. She hadn't understood many of the plot lines when she was young, but she'd enjoyed watching them with her mom anyway. She recalled when her mom would lean over and inform her of a twist that she predicted. She was usually right.

"Which ones do you watch?" She asked curiously. She hadn't really kept up with them, and she wondered briefly which of them still aired. Mutants, Martin and Me had always been a guilty pleasure of hers when she watched them.

She looked between Rebecca and Jorge carefully, taking note of how the woman still regarded him with fear, despite the obvious kindness that radiated from him.  

Jorge waited, feeling the elevator begin its descent down to the ground floor of the hospital. Oh how he wished that he could take this trip for the last time, that he would have his belongings in hand and would be making his way out the doors and back into the real world. However, as much as he wanted that to be the case, he also knew that he needed to get himself well before he could achieve it. The trick was finding that healthy balance of being able to exit this place without feeling with a healthy amount of fear to keep him sharp and on his game. If he got too lazy or too loose with his abilities, he could end up in the same predicament – maybe.

But such thoughts were not thoughts to be had when he was being escorted by two lovely individuals. They were sweet and understanding, though he was beginning to feel like he was some lonely old man taking up all of their time. The nurse was near the end of her shift and the frightened blonde was had apparently come here with a friend. Still, they made the decision to come with him, but he would make sure not to take up too much more of their time. The second he got outside, he could find his entertainment finishing out his walk and return back.

He smirked as he sighed, leaning his back against the wall of the elevator. There was a small smile on his face as he admitted that he wasn’t going to take long. Unfortunate as it was, the man found himself addicted to some of the stupidest television this hospital had to offer. He knew it wasn’t their fault, it wasn’t as if they could just sign up for all the premium cable channels. However, because of this, and his prolonged stay in the hospital, Jorge was finding himself strangely addicted to what could only be described as “trash” TV.

Oh how Gemma made fun of him for that. It wasn’t mean-spirited, mind you, but whenever they talked she essentially made him recount the episode he watched that day, just as a daily reminder of his strange addiction. Briefly he had contemplated asking for the ring he gave her back, but it was just a passing, humorous thought, not to be taken seriously.

The other two seemed to have an affinity for the soap operas as well. Both Rebecca and the nurse had commentary on it, the nurse going so far as to even ask which ones he was watching. He hated actually admitting that he watched them but the man had already commented so he may as well share. With a shrug of his shoulders he pushed off the back wall and sighed.

”Which ever ones are really on between my physical therapy and, well, napping. But mainly I watch As the City Turns, General Veterinary, and, um…” He pretended to cough in order to hide his last answer of: ”Mutants, Martin and Me.” However, a glance to the duo proved that he was hiding nothing and he stiffened up, eyeing the both of them with faux-suspicion. ”Hey, don’t judge me. I consider it therapy…to…you know…inspire me to get out faster. Yeah.” Because that made sense? He sighed. Where was the ground already?!

Juiliette and Jorge began discussing which soaps they enjoyed. Great, she was in a lift with two fans of Mutants, Martin and Me. "Don't worry I won't judge you...much, I've met people with worse tastes." She joked. Like people who enjoyed Birdemic 2 unironically, now that was a story to tell from university for sure, and 2 hours of her life that she would never get back. "Do you remember the one where Martin accidentally causes Carley's ice cream to continuously change flavor?" That was one of the better episodes, no mutant she'd met could actually transform dairy that specifically, but in this day and age, you never could tell if it was graphics or mutations.

The elevator creaked to a hault as it reached the ground floor. The doors opened with a beep. Good, she wasn't getting stuck in here, that would probably do neither of the three of them any good at all. Not that if she did get stuck she would need to stick around, given her abilities and the air vent in the lift.

The light in the hospital windows was starting to shine more brightly now, soon she would be able to either go home or attend visiting hours, the nurse would point her in the right direction. Work was going to start in a couple of hours, so home was probably a better option "sorting out getting a friend to hospital" was probably a legitimate enough excuse though.

It seemed that Mutants, Martin and Me was not a favourite of Rebecca’s. That was alright, Juliette knew that it was cheesy. The great thing about cheesy shows, though, were that they were a great break from a reality that was lacking a general sense of humour. She’d needed something like that, given all that was going on in her life lately.

“How much more time do you expect you’ll be spending here? If you have any idea, that is,” Juliette inquired. She’d left his file upstairs and couldn’t remember any of the details.

In the physical therapy ward, treatment time was all relative. Patients could spend anywhere from a few weeks to a few months there, and in extreme cases a year or more. After that they were typically sent to a long term care facility, but Jorge didn’t look like he’d be at that point anytime soon. In fact, he looked like he could be sent home any day.

The elevator (finally) stopped at the ground level and opened for them. Juliette stepped out onto the ground floor and looked around. The E.R. was just around the corner from where they were standing. She missed it, actually. She hadn’t realized that she did until she was standing just feet away from it. The things she did at the mansion just… weren’t the same as the feeling she got when she was in there.

Shaking herself, Juliette faced herself toward the garden courtyard near the centre of the hospital. “This way,” she dipped her head toward it and spoke toward her two companions. She had an inkling that Jorge would know, so she was mostly directing her comment toward Rebecca.

The ride down in the elevator was quick but the conversation that was being had was fun. Though Rebecca didn’t have the same appreciation for good TV trash like he did, he didn’t fault her for her. Mutants, Martin, and Me was no for everyone, he was just thankful that she wasn’t trying to prove him wrong. He had that unfortunate experience with people in the past, people who were so free with their opinion that they had to make sure that everyone knew of it. Thankfully that wasn’t the situation he was currently dealing with and Rebecca kept her displeasure mostly to herself.

However she did try and brought up an episode that was one of Jorge’s favorite’s. He chuckled. ”I remember that one fondly. Though my favorite is still when Ron and Megan mentally dominated one another to think they were cheating on the other. Hah. Hilarious.”

At least the nurse, Juliette, seemed to be in agreement with him. The two shared a small smile before the ding of the elevator pulled the detective’s attention back. They had finally reached the ground floor. Stepping back and allowing the two ladies to exit first, Jorge followed and breathed a small sigh. He was actually pretty glad to be off that floor. His room was, to be honest, a bit depressing and to step outside felt good.

Moving into the hall, he turned to the nurse when she inquired how much longer his stay in the hospital was going to be. It had already been about a year but the man was making good enough progress, finally, to not need his fiancée nearby to keep him pieced together. The doctors were’pleased by that progress and informed him that he should be ending his stay soon. That was both a relief and nerve-wracking.

”Doc’s say, hopefully, within the next couple weeks. Which, as lovely as the company is, I kind of glad for,” he took a deep breath. ”It was a hard road but it’s one that I am glad to be done with.”

They stopped at a small four-way, looking down the repeating hallways. Jorge knew where he was going but figured he would stop and see if this was where the ladies wanted to get off this train. Rebecca was sweet but she continuously looked at him as if he was going to drown her. Maybe she had some right to feel like that, especially since his powers were still somewhat uncontrolled. But he wouldn’t shoo her away if she were persistent in staying.

>>”This way,”

Jorge nodded as he started his journey. They only needed to go down the hall and make a right. From there the hospital lobbies could be seen and just outside was the small park he would be doing his short laps in. It was a walk he had done many times before and, as scary as the outside was, he enjoyed it.