Alice had been working herself hard, she was determined to get out of hospital as quickly as possible, and Dana was pleased with her progress, if a little concerned.

“You know you really should slow down a bit.”

“Why?”

They were in the gym and Alice was slowly walking up and down, alternating between crutches and a walker and stretching in between as her shoulder was still really painful and her joints were stiff.

“You don’t want to over do it.”

“I know how much I can handle.”

She sighed as she gently lowered herself into the wheelchair that had brought her down and looked up at Dana.

“Better?”

“Much. I just wana get out of here, you know? I want to go home.”

“You’re doing well; you should be discharged in no time.”

“Oh, will I still see you?”

Dana smiled at this.

“Sure, you’ll still have to come in for physio, so I’ll see you then.”

“Okay. Good, it’s just…not everyday.”

Dana looked down and suddenly got shy.

“Well if you want you can see me outside the hospital. You know dinner, movie, coffee or just something.”

“Sure, I’d like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I’d really like that.”

They smiled at each other for a bit.

“You wana go outside?”

“With you? I thought you’d never ask.”

Alice had come down in sweats and a jumper, but as she had started to work out she had stripped off to a pair of shorts and sleeveless top. As her clothes were now discarded at the other side of the room, she eased herself out of the chair, grimacing a little; she slowly started to move towards them. Dana jumped up when she saw that Alice had neither her crutches nor the walker.

“Wait, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Dana please, I need to do this.”

She had such a resolved look on her face that Dana knew that Alice wasn’t going to listen to her; all she could do was help and support her. She moved towards the blonde who was glistening with sweat from all of her effort and took her uninjured arm; allowing the determined young woman to lean on her.

Alice was breathing heavily and closed her eyes, it was obvious that she was still in pain but this was something else. Dana moved in front of her, stopping the slow walk towards the clothes.