Beautiful Broken Brain

Part 2

"Right so what is it you want to talk to me about?" Chloe's boss asked as he sat down at his desk.

"I need a month off of work," Chloe said hesitantly. "I know it's a lot, but I have an explanation. I need this."

"Well it better be good because this is really last minute," he sighed, shaking his head.

"My wife had a stroke yesterday morning," Chloe said, trying not to let her emotions get the best of her. "She can no longer write, read, or walk anymore and she's going to need my help when she gets home from the hospital next week."

"She had a stroke?" He asked incredulously. "Beca?"

"Yeah, it was a blood clot in her brain," Chloe said, wiping her eyes before composing herself. "She's okay, but she's going to need someone taking care of her until she gets settled in. Then after awhile hopefully we can get someone from our family to help her out or get her a caregiver depending on how she's doing."

"I think we can make arrangements for a substitute," he said. "A month?"

"Yeah, starting on the 11th. I can finish out this week," Chloe said.

"Then I can do that for you," he said sympathetically. "I'm sending my best wishes for you girls. I've only met Beca once but she seems like a lovely girl."

"Thank you," Chloe smiled. "Lovely can't even begin to describe how amazing she is."

**********

"Bree? Can you come to PT with me?" Beca asked anxiously. "I don't want to go in there by myself."

"Of course," Aubrey said sympathetically. "How's your head?"

"It hurts, but it's getting there," Beca shrugged. "I miss Chloe."

"She should be back by 4, she has some errands to run after work but she'll be here soon."

"What time is it now?"

"12," Aubrey said. "I'll stay with you at physical therapy but as soon as they take you to work on reading and writing, I'm gonna go get some lunch for us, sound good?"

"Sure," Beca shrugged.

"Then I have to stop at the office for a bit so Cindy is going to come." Beca nodded and tried to touch the stitches on her head before Aubrey slapped her hand away.

"Don't touch it, you need to let them heal," Aubrey scolded.

A nurse walked into the room and set her clipboard down on the desk. "Hi Beca, I'm Jackie, and I'll be your nurse for the rest of your time here," she smiled.

"Hi," Beca said. "This is Aubrey. She's hanging out here while my wife is at work, I hope that's okay."

"It's perfect," Jackie smiled. "We're going to take you down to physical therapy now. Aubrey is welcome to come if she'd like."

Aubrey nodded and stood up from the chair she was sitting in. The nurse brought a wheelchair over and Beca sat up so Aubrey could help her into it. "How do your legs feel?" Aubrey asked.

"I can feel them, I just can't use them," Beca sighed, lifting them onto the foot plates. "I feel like I don't even remember how to."

"The stroke cut off the oxygen to that part of your brain, so your brain just kind of faded away in those parts, but we're going to help you get it back."

"So my brain just crapped out basically?" Beca asked.

"Pretty much," Jackie shrugged.

"Great, if it wasn't fucked up enough already," Beca muttered.