Canadian Sniper [ON HOLD]

3: Jesse

"This is impossible," Jesse griped.

"Just keep trying," Dylynn sighed.

Jesse was sitting down with his legs in front of him, trying to touch his toes to no avail. "This is not happening," he insisted.

"Don't make me sit on your back, Vachar," Dylynn snapped.

"Don't get testy with me," Jesse fired back.

"Just touch your toes," Dylynn groaned, running a hand through her hair. "You need to start training your back muscles now that your disk has been fixed."

Jesse gave a dramatic sigh and reached as far as he could with his hands. "This is it," he said, his hand reaching about mid-calf.

"Is that where you were able to reach to before?" Dylynn asked, pen poised over Jesse's file, scribbling down his progress.

"I think so," Jesse said.

"Okay, good." Dylynn wrote something down. "Can you lie down for me?"

"Um, I think I'll need your help," Jesse said uncomfortably.

Dylynn set her clipboard down and knelt down next to him. Placing her right hand gently but firmly against his back, she was able to help Jesse lie down. "Good," she said approvingly. "Now I need you to try and bring your knees to your chest without using your hands."

"My abs weren't the muscles getting operated on," Jesse said, confused.

"No, but you do use your back muscles to do leg lifts and crunches. So do it slowly, because you want to ease your muscles back into action," Dylynn said. "Did you ever pay attention in biology?"

"I did, but we didn't exactly focus on the types of muscles working during different exercises," Jesse said.

"Nothing mentioned in phys ed?" Dylynn questioned.

"Nope."

"Geez." Dylynn shook her head. "Okay, so, try it."

Jesse slowly lifted his legs off the ground when he felt a searing pain shoot through his lower back. "SHIT," he burst out.

Dylynn reached over and set his legs back down on the ground. "See?"

"That hurt like a bitch." Jesse gritted his teeth. "You're trying to kill me."

"I am not," Dylynn said firmly. "Why don't we sit you up and you try and touch your toes again. Try to get as far as you can until you feel that same pain in your back."

"What if I get pain in my hamstrings?" Jesse asked as the two of them worked together to sit up. 

"Then you can stop," Dylynn relented. "Now, do as I told you."

Jesse muttered, "This is ridiculous," but followed her instructions. As soon as the searing pain in his back returned, he stopped. "I think I'm making it worse, Dyl."

"Dyl?" Dylynn raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, Dylynn is kind of a mouthful," Jesse said. "I needed to give you a nickname."

"Yeah. But my friends usually call me Lynn." Dylynn tapped her fingers on her clipboard.

"Would you prefer me call you that then?" Jesse asked.

"Nah, it's fine. Lynn was getting old." Dylynn flashed him a small smile before turning to scribble something down. "And you're not, by the way."

"I'm not what?" Jesse asked, confused.

"You said you thought you were making things worse. You're actually not, because it's been a week since the operation and of course there's going to be pain. You've got to work through the pain to get your muscles used to the stress you put it through playing hockey anyways." Dylynn looked at him.