Life Interrupted

Chapter 9

A soft voice brought Deanna back to a state of consciousness. "Babe? You hungry?" She blinked, willing her lead weighted eyelids to lift. She swallowed thickly, "mmmm, hi." She mumbled, eyelids finally lifting. Mike sat on the edge of the couch cushion, tracing his thumb along the bare toes on her casted foot. Deanna giggled. Mike moved his feather light touch to something with more substance as he reached his fingers as far down her cast as he could. "Gosh that feels good." She remarked. "You're welcome to move to this one," she lifted and wiggled her left foot at him, "whenever you're ready." Dee placed an arm behind her head. "Tell me about your day."

"Hmmm, my day?" "Yeah, your day." "Well, it was pretty uneventful compared to the day it sounds like you had." He winked, teasing her. Deanna immediately sobered and her eyes flashed open. "How much do you know?" "Everything." Dee sat up, willing her exhausted body to work. Mike studied her expression. "Don't worry. Stephanie called and filled me in."

She let out a long breath that she'd been holding for too long and visibly relaxed. "You had me way too worried there for a few minutes." Mike chuckled, good naturedly. "You're good, babe. Your secret's safe with me." Mike reached for her left foot and traced his finger lightly along her arch, knowing full well how ticklish she was. A squeal erupted from the brunette's mouth. "Is that my punishment?" She yelped. "You better believe it! I love a captive audience!" Mike bellowed out a laugh as he stood, heading for the kitchen and their dinner. Deanna reached for her crutches, standing with a bit of effort. "Can I help with anything?" She asked, stepping in behind her husband and wrapping her arms around his brawny chest.

"Whoa, what's that for?" He asked, surprise floating into his voice. "It's just my thank you for being you. These past two weeks can't have been easy on you and I've missed being with you throughout the day." She smiled, resting her cheek on his back.

He turned, meeting her eyes and nodded. "You're right, they haven't. And I miss seeing you during the day too." He sighed, wrapping his arms around her. "How about we eat something and take it easy tonight?" She leaned in, closing her eyes as she breathed in deeply, taking in all of him. Nodding slightly, she murmured her agreement.

He nudged her gently back toward the couch and went back to finish dinner. She was on edge, though, her mind running rampantly through all the possible scenarios that could happen at her appointment the following day.

The rest of the evening was relaxing as they snuggled in and turned on a movie, eating dinner and enjoying the time together and some necessary stillness from her earlier escapades.

Most of Thursday was a blur. But everything stopped as she heard the doctor's voice clear her for desk work at the station. "I can go back to work?" She stared at him, wide eyed, making sure she'd heard him correctly. Mike stifled a chuckle as Dee double checked what she'd heard.

The doctor leaned back on the counter, crossing his arms, a serious expression coming over his face. "Deanna, you need to understand that just because you're cleared to work at your desk, that doesn't give you permission to be running all over the place. Your leg still needs you to take it easy though." He narrowed his eyes in on her. "Got it?" Deanna sighed and nodded. "Got it." "Okay, with that cleared up, I'd like to see you back in two weeks to see how the healing is coming along. We'll re-evaluate then and decide the next plan of attack to this bone." He visibly relaxed as Deanna blew out a long breath. "Sounds good." A satisfied smile coming across her face.

Mike reached over and rubbed her shoulders. "Two more weeks, love." He squeezed her shoulders and reached for her crutches, handing them to her and simultaneously helping her off the exam table. Dee settled in on the crutches ready to head out. "Thank you Dr. Parks. See you in a couple of weeks." He nodded, shaking hands with each of them and leaving the door open on his way out.

After a quick visit to the station, they headed home. They both had packing to do for their upcoming trip and Deanna needed to rest some before her first day back at work. A few hours later Deanna flopped back on the pillows, lifting her leg onto the waiting stack of pillows. "How do you feel now?" Mike asked, tenderly pushing a wisp of hair out of her face. Dee let out a long breath and wiggled her toes. " Well," She began, glancing down at her cast. "My leg hurts a bit. Other than that I'm ready to head back in tomorrow." She met his eyes. "It'll be a good change of scenery after the last couple of weeks. You ready for me to be back?" Mike wrapped his arms around her. "You bet I am! Getting to show off my sexy and insanely smart wife? Yeah, I'm so ready." She smiled, a light laugh coming from her lips. "Well, the sexy part I'm not so sure of at the moment, but I'll take it." "You're the sexiest I've ever seen you right now." Mike nuzzled her neck. "You, sir, are full of it and it's time for bed." She turned her head, smiling at her hot husband. "I love you." "I love you too."