Chapter Text
Hunched in your office at the Mount Rouge Health Center typing up your report from your last patient your eyes drifted to the clock in the bottom corner of the screen.
4:00
Sighing, you rubbed your temples. As the light above buzzed you reminded yourself what you’re doing is important and improving the lives of others.
And it’s not like you hated your job, you DID do important work and you ARE improving the lives of others, but days like these dragged its feet. A majority of your patients were at a stagnation point in their recovery as they built up strength in their muscles and relearned basic tasks and movements. As a result many of your sessions ended in furrowed brows and some frustrated choice words. You knew better than to let it get to you, always meeting their anger and frustration with calmness and understanding, you knew eventually they would see the improvement they wanted but recovery wasn’t linear nor on a clear timeline.
Checking the clock once more a sigh escaped your lips as you stretched as you stood. Only one more patient before you were off for the day and she was a new addition to your roster. This case differed from your other patients as instead of meeting you in the usual physical therapy room like all your other patients did you had to meet her in her room. After another once over of her chart and staring at her name a bit longer a light bulb went off and you started tapping away at your computer. There it was, a video of the original broadcast that let the world know about Project Butterfly. You recognized her name from the broadcast a couple months back and was able to put in enough key words together to find everything. Apparently she, along with her team which included Peacemaker and local hero or murderer depending on who you asked Vigilante, saved the world from a bunch of freaky bug type aliens. The difference in location made sense. While the project was now out in the open it was probably a good idea to maintain some semblance of secrecy. Leaning back in your chair humming to yourself you wondered if she would be as cool as she sounded, you always had a thing for badass women, and liked to think of yourself as pretty cool as well. Maybe you could even make a friend out of her.
-
“Emilia Harcourt.” You smiled as you greeted her and told her your name. Your smile was returned with only a slight uptick in her brows and mouth. Your mouth twitched a bit as your hopes of ending your day on a high note and befriending the woman began to disappear into a tunnel.
“I know this is your first session so I don’t want this to be overwhelming or feel like an impossible feat. I know you’ve been bed ridden for a while due to the gunshot you sustained in the field. It’s normal for your muscles to weaken after long terms without use and your body has been using its energy in healing itself.” Harcourt scoffed quietly at your polite tone and explanation.
“I’m aware of how physical therapy works. This isn’t my first time around the block.” Harcourt bit out through closed teeth.
You frowned. Okay, so this is how it was going to be. You did your best to remain kind and encouraging throughout everyone’s journey but you weren’t a push over and refused to be treated as such. Of course you can’t exactly give anyone a piece of your mind while at work, but you could probably get away with a little passive aggression. Ms. Harcourt didn’t seem like the type to rat you out to your superiors anyway and maybe the change in scenery emboldened you a bit so you decided to speak your mind, kind of.
“Well Ms. Harcourt, since this isn’t your first time you should know that I, and any other physical therapist for that matter, only want to help you and having a negative and combative attitude will only make this an unpleasant experience for the both of us.” Finishing with a smile, satisfied and feeling as if you defended yourself adequately you waited for her response.
Harcourt closed her eyes as her face softened and eventually looked up at you.
“I’m sorry.”
Keeping your smile you attempted to hide your surprise, you really expected her to argue with you a little more, maybe even belittle you by holding her whole ‘saved the whole world from aliens’ above you but she met you in the middle. This you could work with. Without the look of distaste on her you realized how tired she looked, dark circles from nights of uncomfortable hospital bed sleep. By the looks of it she had lost some mass as well leaving her frame lighter but you could see the underlying muscle from years of field work. You had no doubt that she would be out of here sooner rather than later.
“It’s ok Ms. Harcourt, I understand how frustrating this must be for you, you seem like an independent woman. Now, I have a series of exercises for us to do together today, nothing crazy, mainly some stretches just to wake some dormant muscles back up. Go ahead and copy me as best you can, you know your limits better than anyone else.” Harcourt nodded as the chair you pulled up squeaked and you began stretching your right leg out and pointing your foot and then flexing your ankle back to a 90 degree angle.
As Harcourt began mimicking your moves a grimace dusted her features. The first day was always one of the hardest. On day one many people would realize how much of their mobility they had lost and the process of regaining it could be painful at times. As you switched to the other leg you wondered if she preferred silence or wanted to fill the space with idle chit chat. You got a feeling she would prefer the former but you also thought it may take her mind off spiraling into how long recovery would take and if she would completely recover at all. You were also never the type to let a room go silent, thinking back to elementary school your mom always received comments from your teachers noting that you always had something to contribute to the conversation. And what’s a better time to flex your conversational skills than with someone who seems to mildly dislike you.
“I heard about you and your team on the news. Thank you by the way. It’s kind of crazy to think that aliens were in some people’s bodies and no one knew about it. Actually, did you ever see people talk about it, and just had to pretend like they were crazy?” That one got a short laugh out of Harcourt, and you smiled softly thankful it wasn’t a touchy topic. Your hands gripped slightly at the sides of the chair as you leaned forward anticipating her response.
“There were a few people online that actually got pretty close to what was going on, and I’m afraid that getting this one right for them is going to lead them to think they’re right on other fronts. Like, I don’t know, flat Earth.” Harcourt began laughing to herself and an idea popped into your head.
“What do you mean, you say that like it’s not flat.” You deadpanned and Harcourt stopped mid chuckle.
“You’re joking, I got shot, helped save the world, and then got paired with the flat Earther PT?” A grin burst onto your face along with a bark of laughter.
“I’m just joking, healthcare professionals can have a sense of humor too, all that schooling didn’t suck the life out of all of us. Here, let's start the next exercise.” You probably would’ve carried the joke on longer but her fuse seemed a little short.
-
Harcourt shook her head looking into her lap after months of being in a team with people who had the common sense of a rock, she honestly wouldn’t put it past a doctor to be a flat Earther. It wasn’t a lie to say she’s seen crazier.
As she began to mimic your next actions, she began to think about how lucky she was to have her team. Everyone had made sure to visit her as much as they could; and while Chris and Adrian could be a handful together they made for great entertainment, especially since the hospital TVs never had much on except the news and random episodes of forgettable sitcoms and soap operas.
She felt a twang of guilt for her PT, she did come out of the gate a little hot but it was frustrating how long she had been recovering. Not only did she have to practice walking again but after she got out of the hospital A.R.G.U.S sent her a memo letting her know she had mandated therapy after the events she went through. All she wanted to do was get back on the field with her team. Sure the whole ordeal was stressful and maybe a little traumatizing but doesn’t stuff like that bring people closer together? Harcourt snapped out of her recycled thoughts when she realized you were speaking to her again.
“...so next session, depending on how you’re feeling we’ll work on some leg raises and adjust to your pace if we need to. I’d like you to do the leg stretches I showed you today through the day, but listen to your body above all. You’re doing great so far and I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot, it’s been a long day but I’m sure you’ve had longer.” You smiled and Harcourt matched it with a light laugh. It felt nice to end the day on a good note, but it felt even better knowing what you had going on tonight.
After exchanging your goodbyes and letting her know the next time you’ll swing by, you hurried out of the room back to your office, your nonslips squeaking against the shiny linoleum.
After quickly typing up your reports for the day and updating Ms. Harcourt’s chart you quickly grabbed your keys and bag. You practically buzzed with excitement all the way to your car. Your car door closed with a thunk and while normally you could wait till you were home the prospect of your day off tomorrow had you restless. The wig pulled off your head easily and you shook your hair out, the strands fell and tickled your cheeks. Looking up to the rearview mirror you focused on your roots, flatten your hair against your head and clicked your tongue against your teeth. The upkeep on your hair was always tedious especially when you put it up everyday but god did it make you feel cool.
With the windows rolled down slightly you turned the stereo up playing your steering wheel like a drum as your head bobbed along to the rock song. Pulling out of your parking spot you caught sight of two men walking towards the hospital. The taller of the pair looked at his very animated friend with disbelief as he rambled on about something you only caught the tail end of.
“No Chris, I’m serious, Eagly almost hugged me. Like he stretched his wings and walked towards me, ok sure he bit me a little, but I think we’re making really good progress. I think he’s starting to like me.” His face stretched into a toothy grin and you couldn’t help but think how cute his smile was despite it sounding like this ‘Eagly’ didn’t like him as much as he thought.
Music poured out of the window as you passed and both men paused to register the song that was playing and as you passed, cute smile guy shouted out.
“I LOVE THAT SONG!” And you snorted as you passed and glanced in the mirror to see the pair pretending to play the air guitar and drums. Sticking your hand out of the window pulled into a sign of the horns a cheer sounded out. You smiled to yourself as you pulled your hand back into the car, the day had really turned around after your last session, and you couldn’t be happier about it.