Elisha reached up and touched his face. "Where did you go?"

"Just down to the beach, I couldn't sleep. I walked a bit, did some thinking about stuff."

"About us?" she asked quietly.

"A little." he admitted.

She dipped her head and tried to stop the tears from forming again. "Look Nick, I understand if you want to change your mind about all this. It's an awesome responsibility for someone your age, it's already cost you a ton of money, I'm sure. I'll never be able to be a real wife to you." She stopped to catch her breath.

Nick looked at her in amazement. "What are you talking about?"

"You said you were thinking about us, and, you know, out on the beach earlier..." She left her thoughts unsaid.

"Oh." Nick laughed. "No, I was just thinking how much my life has changed in such a short time." He held her tight. "About how much YOU have changed my life. For the better, I might add." He looked at her with a grin on his face. "Were you really thinking that I would leave you, after all we've been through, just because the sex won't be as good?"

She laughed self-consciously. "I don't know what I was thinking, to be honest. My head is a mess inside."

"You idiot!" Nick giggled.

Elisha blushed. "Don't tell me you don't care, because you wouldn't be any sort of man if you didn't!"

Nick grinned. "You're right there, and I was just horny enough to ask the doctor about it."

Elisha looked surprised. "What did he say?"

Nick sat up and pulled her upper body over to him. She rested her head in his lap and he stroked her hair. "He said that even if your condition doesn't improve, you can still have sex. Basically, everything is working, um, down there, you just can't feel it. It might feel a little strange for me too, because you might not be as tight, but I'll get used to it."

"Can I still have kids?"

Nick smiled. "Yes, and the doctor said you should still feel everything, so ha-ha, you don't get out of that!"

Elisha smacked his chest lightly.

Nick dipped his head to kiss her. "And besides, there are always other ways for us to have fun!" He gave her a wicked smirk.

"Oh Nick, you are sooo bad!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning she felt Nick pulling on her arms, urging her to get out of bed. "C'mon honey! Time to go to work!"

She covered her head with the pillow. "Go'way Nicky! I'm tired!"

"Un uh!" he came over and started tickling her. "Today is the first day of your real recovery. The therapist is here and ready to go."

Elisha swatted at his arms and begged him to stop.

"No way, not until you are out of that bed! I'll carry you down there naked if I have to!"

She knew he was serious and told him she would get up.

"Do you want some help?"

"Nope!" she shook her head. "I learned this in the hospital, watch."

She told Nick to move away from the side of the bed. After tossing the blankets well out of her way, she rolled until she was at the edge of the bed. Sitting up, she leaned over and pulled the chair over to the bedside. She got it positioned just right and slid right down into it.

"Bravo!" Nick applauded. "If you can do that you can do anything! I'm tired just watching!"

Elisha reached up and pinched his tummy. "Maybe someone needs to work out with me!"

"Hey stop that!" he laughed and pulled away. "I like my gut just the way it is. Took me many hours of hard eating to get it this way, you know!"

The therapist was a new one that Nick had hand-picked for Elisha. She came recommended highly from the people at the hospital physical therapy unit.

"Hi, my name is Kathy, I'll be working with you for the next little while!"

Elisha shook her hand and slid out of the chair onto the mats spread out on the floor.

Looking at Nick, Kathy said, "This is quite the spread here, Mr. Carter. This equipment is almost the same as what we would use at the hospital, and having the pool is an added bonus."

Elisha had started her stretches on the floor and smiled up at Nick. "Gonna join us honey?"

Nick shook his head vigorously. "No way, I'll leave you ladies be! I'm gonna go shoot some hoops and be back soon, okay?" He bent down and tugged Elisha's hair. "Be good, baby, work hard!"

"That boyfriend of yours sure loves you." Kathy said, bending Elisha's left knee up and down. "He interviewed me for about an hour, telling me all about you, how you used to be a dancer."

Elisha smiled. "He's pretty special."

"I should say!" Kathy laughed. "He told me you were so determined, that you would be up and walking in no time!"

"I don't know about that!" Elisha grimaced as a pain ran down her leg, then she smiled widely. "Oh my God! I felt that!"

Kathy twisted Elisha's other leg the same way.

"I felt it again!" she shouted excitedly.

"Now don't get too excited." Kathy chided. "These types of pains come and go in patients like you. They're kind of like phantom pains. If they continue we'll have the doctor look into it more closely."

Elisha was excited, but she just nodded and held her happiness inside. Could it be true, might this mean she really could regain the use of her legs in time?