Loving A Wolf

Testing the Water

Winona turned on her stomach, took her arms under the pillow and opened one eye to look at her blonde friend. "You're going to be late, Winnie." Addison said, before pulling a sweater over her head.

"I'm not going to school today. You're mom is taking me to the doctor and she said it would take the whole day." the tired wolf mumbled. "That's right, that's today!" the blonde smiled. "What do you want me to tell the others? They'll be asking when they notice you're not there." she then said.

"Just tell them I'm sick." she mumbled, stretching while laying down. "Alright, I'll do that. Good luck at the doctors office." Addison smiled,  before bending down and kissing the side of her head.

"Good luck at school. Don't be too bored with me." Winona said as the girl was about the leave the room. "I'll try my best." Addison smiled before she left the room and closed the door behind her.

Winona fell asleep quickly after, until Missy came and woke her up. She got dressed, where she put on a pair of light blue, wide leg sweatpants with a white strip down each leg, a light blue cropped t-shirt with a white drawing of a wolf howling at the moon.

She then braided her hair into two French braids and put make-up on her face, before she went down to the kitchen where her breakfast was waiting.

"I feel like you're spoiling me." she smiled before taking a bite from her pancake. "Oh, no, sweetie. I'm just giving you the kind of life you deserve. Besides, you're like a second daughter to me." Missy smiled.

Winona smiled at her words, before the two ladies got in the car and made their way to the doctors office. "Wait, this isn't the right way to the doctor's office." the wolf pointed out. "No, Doctor Lovett asked us to meet her somewhere else." Missy smiled.

"Oh, that doesn't sound fishy at all." Winona joked. She spent the rest of the trip in silence, as it was about 5 minutes left, before the Mayor parked the car. Winona looked around. The place seemed familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

She followed the adult woman inside a large building, where her doctor was waiting. But she wasn't alone. "Miss Hart, you remember Doctor Ordin." Doctor Lovett smiled. "Of course I do, she was my physical therapist. What is she doing here?" the wolf asked.

"Come with us." The doctor then smiled, before the four of them went through a door. Missy immediately took a hold of both Winona's shoulders as she stopped, and pushed her forward. "No. No, why are we here?" Winona asked a she looked around the gymnasium.

The same Gymnasium where her accident took place.

"It's time you try it again." Missy said. "You can't force me." Winona backed away from the adults. "No, we can't. But we want you to do the thing that brought you here in the first place." Doctor Lovett said.

"We're not saying you have to go back to gymnastics right away, but you need to do this for closure. To let the past go." Doctor Ordin said. "But what if it happens again?" Winona asked. "It won't." Missy smiled.

The adults had to stand there a while in order to get the girl to try. Because of her fear, she failed a few times. "It's okay, Winona. We won't force you. If you don't want to or don't feel ready, we can try another time." Doctor Lovett said after her 10th attempt.

Winona looked at her legs as flashes of her gymnastic past appeared in her head. The smile she'd always have, seeing the score the judges always gave her, the looks on The Wells family when they cheered on her in the crowd with Bucky beside them.

The joy she'd always feel. She loved gymnastics, and she was heartbroken when she realized she wouldn't be able to do it anymore. All the nights she'd spent flexing her legs, doing the splits. All the compliments she would get.

She missed that life. She wanted it back.

"No. I wanna try this." She said as she stood up. The doctor nodded at her proudly, while Doctor Ordin and Missy shared a smile. Winona then walked to stand in front of the parallell bars. She took a deep breath, before she ran and grabbed the lowest.

She repeated the same routine, mumbling to herself as she spun, before she let go of the tallest, took a summersault, and landed on her feet with her arms stretched out. Her balance was off, and she almost fell, since she hadn't trained the past 7 years.

The three adults applauded before Missy wrapped her in a tight hug. "You did it, Winona." Doctor Lovett smiled. "How does your legs feel?" Doctor Ordin asked. "They feel fine. I feel fine." the wolf smiled.

"Now, Winona Hart, you're officially done with the physical therapy. After 7 long years of doctor's appointments and physical therapy, you're done." Doctor Lovett smiled. "It feels great." Winona smiled.

~~~~~~

"Hey, Missy?" Winona said after the 5 minutes of silence in the car, and the adult hummed in response. "I think...maybe...if it was possible..." she mumbled. Missy smiled. "Winona, do you want to return to gymnastics?" Missy asked.

"Can I? It felt great to be back on the beams, and now that I know my legs can take it, I want to go back. I've missed it so much." she rambled. "Of course, Honey." the mayor smiled. "Thank you. But, please don't tell Addison yet. She's going to force me to join the cheer team." she laughed.

"You'll tell her when you're ready. I'm just happy you've decided to go back. I remember how sad you were when you realized you couldn't after your accident." Missy said. The two talked about the sport all the way home, before they entered the house.

There was Dale, who had just finished the dinner, and Addison who had sat down by the dinner table. Winona told them that the appointment was her last physical therapy to double check her legs, but didn't really go into detail.

She looked around at the three smiling people around her as they spoke. Oh, how she loved this family, how she loved being a part of this family. And now, she could finally return to her favourite activity.

And she had so many outfits to make.