One Day At a Time ✔️

Ch. 57 Walking More

Crosshairs' P.O.V.
As I guessed, Jamie is awake at eight. I know Drift doesn't want me staying up all night, even if we can be up for a week straight while using our holoform. For now, we watch T.V. with Jamie laying on us.

She's back to sleep by ten. We're worried her sleep schedule is a mess. Drift isn't liking that I'm checking if Jamie is getting sick. I'm also worried about Jamie being sick.
"She's not sick," I assure him, "she doesn't stay up for long. I should be able to get her back to sleep."
I hope this helps him sleep. I can set an alarm that won't wake Drift up, and I'll get a little sleep. If Jamie sleeps all night, I won't be losing sleep.
Drift sleeps close to the wall rather than having Jamie by the wall.

Jamie isn't in bed when I wake up at one. I sit at the edge of my bed before the bathroom door opens, and the light turns off. Jamie had needed to use the bathroom. That's all I thought was going on until she gets onto my lap. What worries me is why a nightmare now? Did touching her throat frighten her? I'll bring this up to Ratchet tomorrow. For now, I need to get Jamie back to sleep.
It's easy to get Jamie back to sleep. I put her back in bed next to Drift and go back to sleep.

I wake up, seeing Jamie's head on Drift's chest. The question is did he move her, or woke up after she moved? I don't know if his arms are wrapped around her while under the blankets.
Regardless, I can't resist taking a picture before getting dressed in the bathroom.

Neither Drift nor Jamie are awake when I get out of the bathroom. Ratchet texts asking how last night went. He says nothing about bringing Jamie to the medbay. I'll talk to Ratchet about Jamie's behavior later.

Drift's P.O.V.
I know I didn't move Jamie on me, but I like this. Crosshairs is ready for the day and gets our breakfast rather than waiting for Jamie to wake up. I kept the oximeter on the table we're using instead of two nightstands. Jamie's oxygen level is good at 95%. I'm able to move Jamie off me without waking her up.

Crosshairs sits on his bed when I walk out of the bathroom.
"I didn't think you'd leave her alone," he comments.
"Ratchet didn't say we still had to monitor her closely."
I do my routine tube-feeding Jamie though we need to get her to eat more. Now we need to deal with the stoma. It's uncertain if Jamie is still terrified of her throat being touched.
Until the stoma closes, we'll be keeping our routine. What's likely going to change at that point is Jolt will do occupational therapy. He might consider the pool part of the therapy.

Jamie is up at ten-thirty. She smiles, seeing Crosshairs made pancakes and bacon. I still worry if she'll eat enough. Jamie finishes what is on her plate.
"She's eating more," Crosshairs comments as we wait for Jamie to get dressed in the bathroom, "why are you still worried like something will go wrong?"
"She can still get sick easily, but the changing of the dressing worries me."
Crosshairs frowns, now sharing the same concern as I do. We need to do this.

I'm able to hold Jamie like I did when Ratchet took the trach out. Jamie is relaxed as Crosshairs works. The terror twins come by as Crosshairs finishes.
"You gave us the code, so don't complain," Sunstreaker comments.
We were about to go for a walk. I'm worried about challenging Jamie too soon, so we're taking the wheelchair.

Every Autobot we walk by is happy to see Jamie walking and no longer needing the trach. I didn't think Optimus would decide to come with us.

Optimus Prime's P.O.V.
With how much Jamie has been struggling with her recovery, I'm feeling like I'm dreaming. There's still much to work on, but I believe the hardest part of her recovery has passed.

Jamie runs down the path at the park towards the pond. The twins, Crosshairs, and I smile as Drift runs after her.
"She's getting stronger," Sunstreaker smiles.
"But she's still underweight," Crosshairs reminds him, "Ratchet hasn't said if she can easily break bones or not."
Jamie has done little walking due to needing oxygen. I don't think it was enough to know if she can easily break bones.

The ducks wait for their snack as we reach the pond. Drift and Jamie sit on the ground, surrounded by the birds. With no humans around, Crosshairs gets the bread out of his subspace and tosses pieces of bread away from Drift and Jamie.
"They'll be back," Crosshairs comments as he gives Drift the bag of bread.
We go to a nearby bench and watch Jamie feed the ducks.
"She's not laughing. You don't think?" Sideswipe worries.
We know Jamie would be laughing. I tell the three we'll ask Ratchet when we get back. I don't want to worry Drift prematurely, but we might be unable to go to the medbay without him questioning us.

Ratchet's P.O.V.
No one likes what Optimus is saying. Jamie won't say anything, and I can tell she's afraid to with the stoma.
"You can talk. You need to cover the hole."
I press my pointer finger on the dressing, not expecting Jamie to cry.
"The area wasn't red this morning," Crosshairs tells me.
Jamie tries to fight me as a lay her on the bed. This isn't shocking. Even if she's not terrified of Jolt and me, she's still frightened after what the so-called doctors did.
"Easy, he's just looking at the stoma," Drift assures her.
This takes a few seconds. The stoma is healing. With Jamie upset, I tell her guardians to take her back to their room.

"I don't know why she's afraid to talk," I tell Jolt, "I don't think this will continue after the stoma closes."
"What about how she doesn't want her throat touched?"
"Possible solution; when we show her we'll put her under to put a new monitor chip in."
That's a few months away. Other than this idea, I'm not sure what else we can do to deal with this issue.