HELPING HANDS

Chapter 12

Adam helps Tim down the stairs and into the kitchen. Austin looks up to see Tim limping with a severe look of pain on his face.

"Are you alright?" Austin asks as his smile fades.

"No! I'm not alright." Tim growls as he eases himself down into a chair.

"Chris, can you look at Tim's foot? He stomped his toe on that footlocker that SOMEBODY moved to the middle of the floor." Adam says as he shoots Austin a glance. "He said he heard something pop. He might have broken a toe or something."

"I knew someone was going to get hurt." Rob says, shaking his head.

"It was just a joke." Austin says with a slight shrug. "No harm was intended."

"Austin, you don't move something in the middle of a blind man's room and expect him to see it. Naturally, he's going to trip over it." Rob says.

"OWW!" Tim yells in pain as Chris attempts to help him take off his boot.

"I can't really tell if it's broke. It's swelled and beginning to bruise. We may need to take him to have an x-ray of it." Chris says as he looks at Tim's foot. "I don't think there's much that they can do for a broken toe except maybe put one of those boots on his foot to keep him from reinjuring it until it heels."

"Well, this sucks." Tim groans as he runs a hand through his hair. "I was really wanting to kick their asses. Can't do it with a f*ckin broken toe."

"I'm really sorry, Tim. We didn't mean for you to get hurt." Austin says. "I wish there was something I could do."

"Well, you could kiss my ass to make it feel better." Tim chuckles. "I think I might have cracked it from falling on the floor when I went to sit in my chair that was moved from where it was supposed to be."

"Sorry." Austin says with a slight smile from Tim's choice of words.

"You could go and put everything back where it was and make my bed." Tim says. "But don't think for one minute that this is over."

"Tim." Rob says with a shake of his head.

"No, I play for fun. I'm not out to hurt anyone." Tim says. "So, no more dangerous pranks, okay, Austin? Don't be moving stuff in front of me that I can fall over. Deal?"

Tim holds out his hand for a handshake.

"Deal." Austin says as he picks up the gravy ladle and puts it in Tim's hands instead of his own hand.

"What the hell is that?" Tim says, jerking his hand back.

"Gravy." Adam chuckles as he hands Tim a towel.

"Now see? I can deal with pranks like that. It's kinda nasty feeling but I can deal with it." Tim chuckles as he wipes the gravy from his hand.

Chance reaches over, taking Tim's hand and laying it on top of his.

"I'm sorry too, Tim. We didn't mean for you to get hurt." Chance signs.

"Apology accepted." Tim smiles.

"Well, let's go have that foot checked out." Chris says as he grabs the keys to the van.

Chris and Adam help Tim out to the van and head to the hospital.

"Uh, after we get through at the hospital, I need to go to a hardware store." Tim says.

"Hardware store?" Chris gives the blind man a confused look. "Anything we can help you with?"

"Yeah, I need a big roll of duct tape." Tim smirks. "Please, no questions asked."

"Okay?" Chris chuckles as they pull into the emergency room parking lot. "Let me run in and get you a wheelchair. You might not oughta be walking on that foot."

"Adam?" Tim asks after he hears Chris leave. "Do they make like sticky mousetraps?"

"Yeah, they're rectangle shaped cardboard with extremely sticky stuff on it." Adam answers.

"I need some of those too." Tim says as a smile comes across his face. "Can you help me later tonight?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world." Adam laughs as he takes Tim by the hand.

Chris arrives back to the van with a wheelchair. Luckily the emergency room wasn't that full so they didn't have to wait long.

After x-rays, they discover that Tim's toe was not broken but was just jammed. The doctor just tells him to put ice on it and to keep it elevated. Ibuprofen was prescribed for the pain.

~~

"Do I even want to know why you need duct tape?" Chris asks as they make their way into the hardware store.

"Probably not." Tim smiles as he grips tightly to Adam's arm.

"What size roll do you need? There are different sizes." Adam says as he looks at all the rolls.

"I need quite a bit. Let me see one of the rolls." Tim says as he holds out his hand.

Adam lays a fairly large roll of tape in his hand. Tim runs his hands around the roll of tape getting an idea on how much tape is on the roll.

"This should be enough." Tim answers with a nod. "Now, we need to find those mousetraps."

"Mousetraps?" Chris asks. "Tim, I know this has something to do with a prank on Austin. But is it safe?"

"Yeah." Tim answers. "Not the regular mousetraps. The sticky kind."

"Oh, okay. I guess that sounds pretty harmless." Chris says. "As long as no one gets hurt."

They gather what they need and check out. A large roll of duct tape and two packs of sticky mouse pads.

~~

"Well?" Rob asks as they walk back into the house.

"It's not broke. I just jammed it." Tim answers as he limps over to the couch. "I just have to keep it elevated and put ice on it and it'll be fine."

Tim lays down on the couch and suddenly feels his foot being lifted and a pillow being slid underneath.

"Is that high enough?" Austin asks.

"Yeah, should be." Tim answers.

"Chance, go to the freezer and get that ice pack." Austin says.

A few minutes later he felt an ice pack being placed on his foot. 

Tim couldn't help but smile. Were they feeling guilty for him getting hurt in a prank gone bad? Were they trying to get him to let his guard down and trust them?

Didn't matter which it was.

With Adam's help, he would still carry out his plan tonight.

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