Chapter 12

T alia walked into the dining room to see Xavier rolling back toward his room. She looked over at Dennis and frowned. He motioned for her to come over. "What's going on?" she asked him.

"Aah, he's chosen not to eat tonight," he shared in a low tone. "Says his stomach's pretty rough, and he's waiting for Shane. He sent Shane a couple messages."

"Ah, so it's nerves."

Dennis nodded. "I think he's feeling pretty badly."

"I think he is too." She turned and stared back toward the general location of his room. "I would take him something, but, if it is nerves, he won't eat it, or it will come back up, and that's the last thing we want."

Dennis nodded. "Shane has also been in a meeting most of the afternoon, so he won't get to Xavier anytime soon."

"Not to mention the fact that Shane is also trying to have a life and to find some peace and quiet in his world."

"Yep, I hear you," Dennis replied. "But, in this instance, maybe we can convince Shane that he needs to spend a few minutes with Xavier first."

She nodded. "But Shane has to be free and clear for that."

Almost as if they heard their comment, the staff meeting seemed to break up, and everybody stood and split off into groups.

She looked over at Dennis. "Are they not coming here for dinner?"

He shrugged. "I suspect a bunch will, but a lot probably want to go back to their desks first."

And, with that, Dennis stood ready at the buffet counter to help people who came by looking for food. She spotted Shane, but he was slowly leaving the dining room, while talking with some of the people who were in the meeting.

Talia separated him with a quick call out.

He gave her a quick frown and asked, "Do I need to handle this right now? I'm trying to get out of here."

"I know." She took a deep breath. "And I get that you're swamped and that you're busy."

He shook his head. "And this isn't about you, so what's going on?"

She quickly explained that Xavier had sent him two messages and had been in to get food and then had wheeled away because he didn't think he could handle anything.

"And I thought he was doing much better," Shane replied, frowning.

"Yes, he was, but he's determined to talk to you, and not talking to you is making him sick." At that, Shane's eyebrows shot up. She nodded. "Yes, as in sick to the stomach with stress and with nerves."

"Jesus." Shane looked at his watch, frowned, started to shake his head as if to say he wouldn't make it, and then muttered, "Fine. Let me see if I can talk to him." And, with that, he bolted off toward Xavier's room.

She looked back over at Dennis, but he had a big smile on his face. He gave her a thumbs-up. The trouble was, she wasn't sure whether she'd done anything good or not. At this point in time the men had to work it out themselves. But as much as it appeared to be a big deal for Xavier, she wasn't so sure how big a deal it was for Shane. He dealt with people like this all the time. He dealt with scenarios like this all the time, although maybe not quite like this. But it's obvious that he didn't want Xavier to suffer any more than he was. And that was a good thing. Because Xavier was suffering, and she didn't want to see him go downhill any faster than he already was. And that was a problem too.

*

Xavier was in bed, pulling the blanket up over him, an arm over his head. He really didn't feel well. He didn't know if he was having a relapse or whether it was just stress, but, whatever it was, it was not good. His insides kept cramping, and his whole body shook. He slowly worked on his breathing, trying to calm it down, even though he had no reason for it to be stressed. And to think that this was knocking him out as badly as it was didn't say anything good.

When a knock came on his door, he muttered, "If you have to come in, come in."

"That's not a very nice welcome," Shane replied. He stepped in, took one look at Xavier, and asked, "Good Lord, what's wrong?"

Xavier opened his eyes and muttered, "I don't know, but my stomach is cramping. I figured it was just stress."

"If so, you are giving yourself an ulcer."

"That wouldn't be good. I don't know what it is. But my back doesn't feel good, and my gut doesn't feel good either."

At that mention of his back, Shane stepped forward and took a closer look. "What's going on with your back? Can you sit up so I can take a look?"

Slowly, with Shane's help, Xavier sat up, feeling his back ping with pain.

"What exercises are you doing?"

He went over the exercises that he was working with Mandy on.

Shane said, "I'll talk to her."

"About what?" Xavier asked.

"Some of these need to be shifted out," he murmured. "Your back's not handling these. They are causing more stress on your system."

"We've hardly been working," Xavier noted. "It seems she's a much lighter touch than you."

"That's what you wanted, wasn't it?"

"Hell no, and you know it," he said.

Shane studied him. "I hear you left me some messages.'

"Yeah, I did." And then he felt like an idiot. "I'm sorry."

At that, Shane picked up the tablet, then asked him, "Sorry for what?"

"For being a jerk."

The corner of Shane's mouth kicked up. "You really haven't cornered the market on being a jerk in this place."

Xavier cracked a small smile. "I guess not, huh ?"

"A lot of people come through here with scenarios similar to yours, and we've been through it time and time again. Still, everyone is different. Every case is different. And your case is just an interesting side note of something even more different."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It's not meant to sound bad either," Shane noted. "Part of the problem with you is, you don't want anybody pushing your buttons."

"No, I did not want anybody pushing my buttons," he admitted, "but it doesn't seem as if anybody'll listen."

At that, Shane burst out laughing. "Very true. We're here to help you heal. We're not here to make life look pretty and flawless."

"I hadn't really seen that rehab with Mandy was that much of a difference for a while," Xavier shared. "And now honestly, a lot of my life is just in the toilet."

"That is not good. Stretch out and roll over."

Xavier snorted. "You make it sound as if I can just do that."

"Well, you were doing that."

"But I haven't done that in a while."

Tight-lipped, Shane assisted him in a rollover. "I'll work on your back here for a minute to see what's going on." Several painful minutes later, he added, "And, of course, you've been pushing it."

"Pushing what?" He grunted as Shane poked a spot that hurt.

"Looks as if you've got a pinched nerve here. I just can't understand why you haven't been screaming in pain."

"I have been, but there's pain, and then there's pain."

At that, Shane glared at him and dropped into the chair beside him. "So what is it you want to do?"

"I want to go back to having you as my physical therapist," he replied instantly. "If you'll take me back."

"Ah, that's what's causing all this stress, isn't it?"

"Everybody made it very clear that you were under no obligation to take me back. And I was certainly aware of how badly I'd behaved and how overbooked you are and that there was a good chance you wouldn't want anything to do with me. So, yeah, I made a mistake, and it felt major as soon as I made it, with no way to fix it."

"You didn't behave badly at all," Shane replied. "It's important for you to express emotions and to make decisions for yourself. And you did that. You made a decision, and you expressed how you felt about it, and that's just life."

"And what if I want to change that decision?" he asked.

"I am really swamped," Shane replied, a frown on his face.

"So swamped that I can't come back on board?"

"It's not just about PT sessions, but I'm taking on some new duties here, which are also taking up a ton of my time," he muttered.

Xavier suggested, "The other option would be that you work with my current therapist and have her do the specifics that you tell her to do."

"The trouble with that is, Mandy doesn't know these exercises. She doesn't have the training."

"So then I go to her for what? Balance and flexibility, and I go to you for more."

"And that would double up on your PT sessions," Shane noted, "but, as I can see, you've already slipped backward."

At that, Xavier froze. "Badly?"

"Badly," Shane declared in disgust. "It'll take us another week or two to get you back up to par. You can't afford setbacks like this."

And he knew that Shane was speaking more out of frustration than anything, but it sounded bad. "Right," Xavier muttered, "so I messed up even more than I thought."

Shane sighed. "First off, you didn't mess up. Second off, it's what happens when you don't continue on a specific program. I left notes in the file, but I should have double-checked what she was doing is what needed to be done. Honestly, the time's just gotten away from me."

"I haven't exactly been a part of your radar."

"No, I got several more patients at the same time that you switched out, so I've got a lot of work right now."

"Sounds as if Hathaway needs to hire more people."

"If we could find the right people, we would," he murmured. "It's not that easy. Some of these skills are very specialized," he explained. "I've been contacting people who went to some of the last training sessions who seemed really capable, to see if they wanted a job. I'm hoping I can convince a couple of them to come in this next week or so."

"Anyone in particular?" he asked, frowning.

"Sure, Eve's one of them. She's pretty dynamic, but I also know that she's in high demand, so I also have to see if I can find others. There were a couple others. Eve's got a twin sister, Yvette, and she might end up coming, but it depends whether her husband will move because they're not local."

"Right. I didn't even think about that."

"Staffing's always an issue," Shane noted. "The work we do is very important, and it's not always something that we can just hand off," he said, with a side glance over at Xavier.

"Got it. Too bad I didn't realize that in time."

"You've realized it in time for you. However, it's just not the easiest timing for me. Look. I'll make it work," he muttered. "I'm not sure how yet. We'll get you back on the roster, but I have three conditions."

At that, Xavier stared at him, mute. "Go ahead. What are they?"

Shane raised one eyebrow. "What? You're not jumping in and saying absolutely ?"

"No, not until I've heard them," Xavier said.

"Good, at least then you'll think about them. One, this is the only time we do take-backs ," he stated, using a childhood term that made them both smile. "Two, you'll have to work harder to regain what you've lost.… I'm not happy, not at all."

"And I get that. So I don't have a problem with that. Yet it's a little more maybe than I thought it was, in the sense that I'm even struggling to get food down."

"And part of that is because you're not getting the bowels moving," he pointed out. "It's hard to continue on this pathway when you're in pain. That brings me to my third requirement. The fact is, you've been lying about the pain, and that's gotta stop."

He stared at Shane. "You figured that out, huh ?"

"Yeah, I figured that out," he snapped, "and no more. We can't progress if we can't get pain managed, and then all the work to be done will hurt you, so you can't progress. Thus it all comes back to pain management."

"Right," he muttered. "So the answer is yes, yes, and yes."

"Good. I'll make it happen. However, I don't know that I can make it happen tomorrow."

"I don't also want to hurt her feelings."

He looked over at him. "You mean Mandy?" He nodded. "I wouldn't worry about it. Just like everything else in life, it's a learning curve. And, if you've already spoken to her about it, which you probably have—"

"I did, and she was okay with it. I just feel as if maybe she's not okay with it."

"I'll talk to her," Shane repeated. "In this industry we have patients move all the time. I'm just a little busier than some of them."

"No, not some of them," Xavier corrected with a smile. "You're just crazy busy."

"I am. My time has become a huge issue here."

"Well, I'm grateful," he muttered. "Please know that."

"I know. Now, you need to get your butt back down to the kitchen and get some food down."

He shuddered. "I'm not sure I can."

At that, Shane frowned. "If you can't, it'll be hard to get any work done with you."

"Fine, I'll go see what I can get down."

"Don't make it too heavy, don't make it too large, but get some nutrients—at least a soup, salad, some protein." Shane added, "Without the protein, your muscles cannot rebuild."

"I know. You told me about that."

"Great, too bad you didn't listen." And, with a big grin on his face, Shane walked out, leaving a much-relieved Xavier in his wake.