Hardships

New Beginnings and Rehablitation

Catra's POV:

I woke up to a cold bed and a missing Adora, I groan and sit myself up looking around for where my fiancé could possibly be. I smile at just the sound of Adora being my fiancé. Man I really am lucky. I dont know how someone like me could ever have such an amazing girl by my side.

I look down at the golden ring on my left finger and felt overwhelming waves of happiness pass through me before the door opened revealing Raleigh with a bag in her hand.

I chuckle and say, "I thought you forgot about me nurse". Raleigh snorted and closed the door and said, "Of course not kid! How could I forget about my favorite patient? And also I sent  your fiancé back home to get some real rest around 8am its now 2 in the morning so she'll probably come around by 6. She had been spending so much time anyone would've thought that she lived here". I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck and said, "Yeah, that sounds like Adora alright". Raleigh chuckles and says, "You are lucky to have her. And she's lucky to have you". I smile and pat the space in front of me gesturing for her to sit with me. Raleigh nods and sat down with me, putting the bag in front of me. "

I quirk a brow, pointing at the bag and asked "What is that?". Raleigh opens the bag and dumps the things that were in the bag onto the bed my eyes widening when I saw a sick looking metal arm. I gasp and point at the arm and squeal louder than I wanted to, " IS THAT MY NEW ARMM?!".

Raleigh chuckled and said, "Yep, im going to teach you how to put it on, take it off, and how to clean it alright?". I nod and adjusted my position on the bed, folding my legs under my body as I listened to her as she spoke.

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"First lets talk about the types of protheses and the one that you have. There is a wide variety of prostheses that are designed to function -- and in many cases look -- like a natural arm, leg, hand, or foot. Although there are many different designs, most have similar parts. These would be: A socket into which the stump of the amputated limb fits. The suspension, which holds the prosthesis onto the stump. The shaft. The foot, hand, or hook. And a covering  for cosmetic appearances. The socket is often lined with foam or silicone to protect the stump. Special socks are also worn over the stump to ensure a proper fit and improve comfort", Raleigh says before she pauses and picks up a cream colored sock and continues, "This is called a shrinker sock, a stump sock or a prosthetic sock. These socks keep the limb warm, improve comfort and provide a better fit when wearing a prosthesis. Now moving onto how this prosthetic works..."

Raleigh picks up the arm, and flips it around and points to a spot on the prosthetic and says, "Your prosthetic is metal, and you might think it'll be harder to use BUT our best engineer I believe you know her... Huj helped make this for you". My eyes widened and I gawked at the nurse in front of me and said, "Huj?! She made this?!". Raleigh nods and says with a small chuckle, "Yep, now don't interrupt me". I sheepishly chuckle before quieting down to continue listening to her. "Now, usually prosthetics operate with the body's own movements and that's absolutely right but you see this arm can actually improve the arm's movements making it 99.9% better and efficient". I blink and ask, "Wait so my normal arm's movements are going to be what? Like upgraded?".

Raleigh nods and says, "Well only your right arm's but yes". I nod and let her continue, " Now to put on the prosthetic, "Now when putting it on, slip on the prosthetic sock first and make sure its on completely. I'll do it for you so you can see what I mean". I nod and let her slip the sock onto my arm, I watched intently as she slipped on the arm and then I heard a click, surprisingly it was as easy as that.

"Ok, lift your arm", Raleigh says patiently. I nodded and lifted my arm up easily, over my shoulder and back down. Raleigh smiled and said, "Perfect, now can you bend your elbow?". I nod and bended my elbow perfectly. I chuckle and say, "Hey! This is amazing!". Raleigh chuckled and tapped her chin saying, "try closing your hand",  looking at me intently. I suddenly felt extremely nervous and looked down at the arm. I took a deep breath and tried to close my hand only for it to be a bit harder than I expected. I blinked and tried and tried again.

I growled and threw my arms up in frustration, " DAMN IT!". I continued trying until sweat was forming on my forehead and my temper only grew with each failed attempt within the hours that I spent trying to the simplest thing.

"Its ok, it'll be hard for the first couple weeks or even months ok? Dont worry about it alright?", Raleigh says placing a gentle hand on my shoulder.

I shake my head and looked up at her, "No. Im going to try again. I need to help my fiancé. Shes 3 months and a couple of weeks, I need to be there for her. Shes gone through so much without my support. I mean she has Glimmer and Bow and all of them, but I need to be there for her. I know she's going through morning sickness and cramps and she wont tell me because she wants to focus on me. I dont want her to. I want to focus on her and the only way she'll let me do that is if Im able to do the tiniest thing like CLOSE MY DAMN HAND!". I blinked, looking at the shock on Raleigh's face.

"Oh my... Raleigh im so sorry! I didnt mean to yell at you", I say reaching out to her with my hand only for her to smile and point to my hand before saying, "Look at your hand Catra". I quirk a brow and look down my eyes widening when I saw that my hand was semi-closed. I blinked and said, "I kind of did it!". Raleigh chuckled and pat my shoulder gently and said, "Its a start kiddo, now would you like me take the prosthetic off now or would you like to keep it on a while longer?".

I hum a bit, opening my hand once again and said, " I'll be fine, just explain how to take if off ok?". Raleigh nodded and leaned forward, pointing to the red star on the arm and says, "Press the middle of that star and you will hear a hiss, and after that you should feel the arm feel looser and from there you can just pull it off". I nod and say, "Ok thank you".

Raleigh nods and stands up from her place on the bed, dusting herself off before saying, "No problem kiddo, now you're going to have to stay here a week longer. But afterwards, Doctor Ryker will assign a physical therapist to the palace where you'll stay so you can improve thr mobility of your new arm alright?". I nod and say, "That sounds fine to me, say when do you think we can return to Etheria?".

Raleigh sighs and says, "maybe a couple of months after Adora gives birth. Why?". I hum and say, "No reason, just curious. Thank you". Raleigh nods and walks towards the door, grabbing the door handle before turning to me and saying, "have a good rest of your day Catra". I nod and say, " you too nurse". Before watching her leave.

Man! Im so excited. Dont worry Adora, I'll be back on my feet in no time!

To be continued...