Chances

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Mirrors

"Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections." -Saint Francis de Sales

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 It is a difficult transition to being back on the helicarrier. I always considered living on the aircraft relatively easy, but now it is not so. Someone is required to shadow me at all times to make sure I do not fall; mostly the job falls to Alex or Tony. Tony offered to stay on the helicarrier with me instead of my mom until the Thanos case is closed. Every other agent, including myself, will only be onboard the helicarrier for at most another week until the Thanos case and reports are finalized. Agent Barton is actually a very big support. Even though he did not lose literally his leg, he does not let me get discouraged when the crutches prevent me from doing something.

 My biggest challenge is that it is nearly impossible for me to climb the stairs. What ends up happening when I come to stairs is that my shadow has to carry me. Alex nearly dropped me the first time as he was not expecting so much weight, weight gained in muscle from my S.H.I.E.L.D training, but he is strong enough. Doing more complex movement, such as climbing and jumping, is one of the last abilities I will learn during my therapy. I feel much like a burden to Tony and Alex who have to make sure they know where I am at all times; they do reassure me there is nothing else they really have to do and that it is really not that hard. Plus, there have also been a handful of times where I have fallen down then needing help up. It is not unnecessary to have a watcher.

 Rian and the helicarrier doctor oversee that I do my exercises and work my new leg now that we are back on the helicarrier. I am assigned a new task every day along with my usual daily physical therapy routine. The first day I was on the helicarrier my task was to not use my crutches just when walking to and from the laboratory. Then the next day I could only stand, no sitting down. The day after that I had to dress myself. Since my body was very sore and stiff, a doctor had been helping me with dressing myself. Yesterday my task was that I had to get rid of crutches and only use a cane. You would never believe the sarcastic comments and jokes that Tony threw at me, teasing me that I was an old woman. Once Captain Rogers walked in the room, the jokes only intensified. Tony was unable to contain his laughter as he was overflowing with sarcastic comments.

 Even with my daily goals increasing in difficulty, today I was assigned the most challenging task. It might now sound like it would not be that big of a deal, but to me it is very strenuous. I have to shower all by myself. It took me hours of practice to be able to stand on a normal surface, and even now I am not perfect at it, but a wet and slippery ground? They are easing me in, though, allowing the exception of washing my hair. That is quite a relief, the task should be a bit easier now. The past few days I have been sponge bathed by one of the nurses, another reason why I want to get back on my feet as soon as possible.

 I walk back from physical therapy with my task in my mind. Alex follows closely next me as his job as my shadow. I lean some of my weight on him and balance the rest on my cane, for I am very worn out from physical therapy.

 "Are you sure you don't want the wheelchair?" Alex inquires as he wraps an arm under my shoulder.

 "I'm sure," I reply. I have been able to avoid using a wheelchair after my physical therapy for the past few days. It was not an assigned task, but just a goal of my own.

 When we reach the stairs, Alex scoops me up and carries me down the short flight of stairs. His arm supports me from under the bend of my knees and by my back.        

 "There's one bright side in only having one leg," Alex starts as he puts me back down on my feet, "You'll have a lot less to shave now."

 "Oh wow," I throw my head back with a hearty laugh.