Time for therapy. Chris helps Elle up out of her chair and walks with her down the steps of the pool into the water. Her movements are like someone who is extremely stiff. But she’s moving more than the first few weeks. She could barely move her feet, much less put weight on her legs. She sighs a bit from the feeling of the water. He doesn’t need to hear her say so. Her face says everything.

  Once submerged, she asks him to let go. She uses her power to help keep her steady while she moves to the side and props her elbows up on the edge of the pool. Chris puts his hands out under the water. Elle is supposed to kick up one leg at a time to his hands. But sometimes she cheats.

  “No cheating today.” Chris teases her.

  “Who cheats? I don’t cheat.” She says, then looks over his shoulder. “Jerry cheats!”

  Chris looks back, watching Jerry and Jackson come outside in their swim trunks.

  Jerry swallows something he just finished eating. “I never cheat. I’m too good.”

  “Yeah. You’re so good at cheating you don’t even realize you’re doing anything bad.” Jackson nudges him.

  “Hey!” The two shove each other, ughing.

  Chris turns his attention back to Elle. “Let's go.”

  Elle starts with her left leg, then continues with her right. Up, touch, down, repeat. Three sets of ten per leg. Chris watches her face strain. He still can’t imagine what she’s been through. The surgery, the painful therapy. Not to mention being in that wheelchair the whole time.

  Elle stops, her body suddenly tense. Then slowly her face twists into pain. She screams as Chris gets to her side as quick as the water will let him. Jerry and Jackson run around asking what happened. Chris asks too.

  “M-My back! My back!” She cries.

  Before he can say anything, Jackson is sprinting to the door and yelling in.

  Elle continues to strain and cry in pain. Her body is rigid. Chris holds her up with her arm around his shoulders.

  Simon and Larry come outside in a dead run and come around the side of the pool where Elle and Chris are. Melissa following with the phone. Chris slowly floats Elle out of the pool and goes to y her down on the concrete.

  “Chris. We need to make an air cushion to move her out to the SUV.” Larry stops him.

  Chris nods and brings his power out, and under Elle. They move her ever so slowly through the house to the SUV. While they were moving her, Ariel had removed the back seats so Elle could lie out straight. Chris hops in for the ride with her, as does Melissa. The rest will go in other vehicles.

  Elle calms down a bit, saying the pain is going away some. She holds Chris’ hand tight.

  “Hang on, Elle. We’ll be at the hospital in no time.” He tells her.

  She nods, smiling weakly. Chris’ mom slowly pulls out of the drive. Taking the drive extra careful.

  Chris reaches down and touches her leg. “Can you feel this?” He squeezes.

  She raises her head to see what he’s doing. “Yes.” Her voice was unsure.

  Well, that was a good sign. He hopes.

  They make it to the hospital, with the others pulling in right behind them. Simon hops out and runs to the SUV.

  “I’ll be right back with a stretcher.” He disappears into the building.

  Larry comes up while Simon is off and asks how she’s doing.

  “The pain has gone down a bit.” Elle says.

  Jerry and Jackson come over, asking how she’s doing. They get the same response.

  Simon comes back out with EMTs and the stretcher. Chris and Larry subtly air lift her to the stretcher, then move her in. Chris was by her side the whole time, he wasn’t about to let her go.

  The X-rays showed a shift in one of the artificial vertebrae. It was only a few millimeters, but it was enough to give Elle intense pain. Other than that, Chris’ dad and Simon said that everything was fine. Without having to go back in again, that is.

  So all that Chris was doing now was sitting next to Elle, holding her hand while she went through some light movement tests. Use her foot to push on the nurse’s hand, lift each leg up against the nurse’s hand, all to assess her condition. The amazing thing, Elle never once compined of any pain. It was gone. Which puzzled their dad’s. Chris over heard them talking, saying that they may have made an error when installing the unit. They were gonna have to get something better than an x-ray ter. Which Elle was just thrilled about.

  “Okay, sweetie. Let’s go home.” Simon says coming in.

  She sighs in relief. Chris don’t bme her, they’ve been here at the hospital for hours. Waiting for results, waiting for their dad’s to finish going over the results, waiting for them to discuss the results…

  “Finally. I was beginning to get stiff from boredom.” Elle says, sitting up.

  Chris goes to get her chair when she walks over and sits down in it. Chris freezes in shock. So does her father. Elle just walked over there like nothing’s wrong.

  “Elle?” Simon says.

  Elle’s eyes go wide. “Did I just?” She looks at her dad, then to Chris.

  “Uh, yes you did.” Simon says. “Stand up.”

  She does and walks around. No limping, no stutter in her step, nothing. She walks like she did before the injury.

  Simon runs a hand through his hair and ughs a bit. “I’ll be damned. And it doesn’t hurt?” He asks her.

  “No, just the scar from the surgery. It still itches like normal.”

  Simon and Chris simply watch her walk around with an ever-growing smile. She even tries a spin on one heel, which she finishes with no problems.

  “Well, then. Let’s go. This will be quite the shocking news to the others.”

  All three of them ugh.

  Out in the lobby, the three of them exit the elevator, walking like nothing is wrong. Chris watches the expressions on everyone’s faces. Complete shock.

  “Okay, guys. I’m fine now. We can go home.” Elle says as she checks her nails, like nothing’s wrong.

  Chris can’t help but snicker at everyone’s widening eyes and lowering jaws.

  “Elle!?” Jackson says.

  Simon smiles wide. “Everyone. Elle is fine. The best I can figure is that there was a component of her new spine that Larry and I didn’t set right. And the exercise in the pool caused it to slip into a…correct…position.”

  The rest simply exchange looks, then shrugs.

  “So, are you good to go now, Elle?” Jerry asks with a thumbs up.

  “Good enough to beat you in a race.” Elle teases.

  “Now, kids.” Simon says. “Lets just go home and take it easy for a few days. Elle, we’ll still need to run a few tests to make sure this is gonna hold. Plus, don’t wanna bust your scar open. Just in case.”

  “All right.”

  Larry moans. “You know what this means, though?”

  Silence.

  “When the news crews get a hold of this, we’ll be national celebrities.”

  “Well, look at it this way.” Simon says. “TalCorp will get the reputation it needs to really get going.”

  “Yes. I agree, but there will be those who will try to prove us fakes. I mean, when they see Elle walking around without effort. We’ll be on the tabloids, as well as the New York Times.”

  Chris can imagine it. Reporters wherever they go, paparazzi snapping photos around every corner, no rest at school or when they go out. He hopes for the upside of the news.

  “Then we’ll just have to prove to everyone that the procedure is sound. We’ll need another patient.”

  “Yup. Hear that Jerry? Hurry up and break something.” Elle teases.

  “Dad, I say she’s been faking it the whole time. Can you give her a cybernetic mouth so we can shut it off when we want?”

  “Now kids, behave.” Simon says, though Chris can tell he was on the verge of ughing out loud. “Let’s get home. I’m sure Elle wants to get out of her bikini.”

  Chris and Elle both shoot a look at Jerry. He just walks on out with them, looking at the fixtures in the lobby. Chris and Elle give each other a look and snicker.