Love Will Find A Way...Chapter 2
Later that summer Artie was maneuvering his way down the hall of the facility he’d been staying at.
It was still totally weird after all these years…walking…ok so sure he was still being aided by crutches and a nurse stood a few feet behind him in case he fell which he still did from time to time.
He had to let out a laugh at least in his head, as if people had told him that he’d be WALKING again before his twenty first birthday he probably would laugh and make some comment about pigs flying however things seemed to change about a month into his freshman year at MIT.
He was sitting in a small coffee shop just outside of campus looking over the reading material for intro to psyche when a man approached him. At the time Artie didn’t think anything of it after all after ten years he’d been used to the stares.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” the man said, “but do you mind if I ask you a few questions about…”
The older man who looked to be about in his early thirties and fairly well dressed paused a bit giving Artie the feeling that he was trying to mentally compose the right words as to not come off as rude.
“My chair,” Artie said.
The man nodded clarifying that he was a doctor and hoping that this would make Artie feel slightly more comfortable.
It did…at least in the back of his mind it did as Artie began to tell this ‘Dr. Lewis’ about how he’d gotten into the accident at age eight, how the doctors told him that the finding of a cure would be slim to none and how by this point in his life he was learning to accept things for what they were.
“But what if you didn’t have to…accept things,” Dr. Lewis said as he began to explain an experimental treatment that he’d been working on and how from hearing about Artie’s case that he’d make an excellent candidate.
Artie was a bit skeptical and as they talked some more the Doctor told him that he was only in Boston for a conference before heading back to Philly however he’d gladly meet with the young man’s parents to talk about the procedure some more to see if in fact it would be the right thing for Artie to do………
……………… He didn’t mention Dr. Lewis’s meeting with anyone until that Thanksgiving as he say round the table with his family in Florida.
His mother got tears in her eyes.
“You don’t know how many nights I stayed up after the accident wishing it was me that was paralyzed instead of you who had your whole life ahead of you,” she said, “hoping and praying for some sort of miracle… and now… we have one.”
“Not so fast,” his father said, “did this Dr. Lewis talk about the risks? I mean… what chance is there that you WILL be able to walk again? I mean if this doesn’t pan out what happens if you become a quadriplegic or worse…what if you died?”
“I… well,” Artie began, as truthfully he’d thought over all the possible risks in his mind.
“We can talk to that Dr. Lewis now can’t we?” his mother asked.
Artie nodded and soon they were starting to talk about making some calls and setting up a face to face…………………….
…………………By the end of 2012 it had been settled. Artie was going to defer for a year at MIT and head to Kyle’s hospital in Philly to begin the treatments that would lead up to the surgery that could in fact change his life as he knew it… on the flip side true to his father’s apprehensions their had been risks, however there was a better chance that if the operation didn’t take he’d remain the same and not succumb to full on paralysis or death. It was fear of the latter two however that had prompted him in a moment of weakness to write that letter to Kristina Davis… a letter that nine months later he’d come to regret.
He made his way back into his bed now after a successful walk and let out a sigh as he looked over toward his bedside table and picked up one of the many picture frames that littered it at random. The image that met his eyes caused a smile to cross his lips. It was a candid shot of Kristina along with his best friend Tina dressed in burlesque style costumes that were all kinds of sexy for their performance of Lady Marmalade that the girls did for Regionals Junior Year.
His heart fluttered a bit as he mentally pictured the performance (both the competitive one as well as the private one Kristina gave him later that night) in his mind.
Putting that picture down he picked up another one of Kristina looking all kinds of beautiful holding up her YALE exception letter.
He wondered how school was treating her, after all her second year was about to start…. It was then he pondered if perhaps it wasn’t too late to talk to the necessary parties and try to enroll in some kind of online correspondence classes for Fall semester so that he could be only one semester behind as opposed to a full year back…. He’d have to ask his mom about that later as in that moment he was getting tired.
He closed his eyes and dreamt of a day where he would swoop Kristina off her feet and into his arms….
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The summer breezed by and she didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Sure the month in Grease with Mike was fun, she wasn’t going to deny that… however returning to Lima was kind of bittersweet as she hadn’t been in that house since before she had got the offending letter from Artie.
Looking in her bedroom broke her heart.
Needless to say the sounds of smashing glass filled the air and she wound up spending the night curled up next to Kurt in his bed.
“I swear Kristina, the next time I see Artie he’ll be pining for the days when he was locked in port-o-potties,” Kurt reassured her as he wrapped her in his protective arms.
However now she was back in New Haven, back at Yale, a new year meant a fresh start… right?
The broken clock is a comfort, it helps me sleep tonight
Maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time
I am here still waiting though I still have my doubts
I am damaged at best, like you've already figured out ….
Kristina began to sing.
It was a month into the new semester and her laptop was perched on the kitchen table as she was in the process of working on an essay.
I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain is there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on
I'm barely holdin' on to you
The sounds of the radio flipped off as Quinn took a seat across from her.
“Kristina, can we talk.”
“That depends on the subject matter.”
“You,” Quinn said.
“What about me?”
The blonde let out a sigh as she ran her hand haphazardly through her hair, pulling it to the side behind her ear; all the while her eyes were linked on her good friend and roommate.
“You need to get out of this funk,” Quinn said, “jump back into the dating pool.”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know Quinn, I mean what if I’m not any good at it. I mean let’s face it I’ve only dated two guys in my life. Kiefer, who beat me and Artie, who wheeled over my heart crushing it up into tiny bits.”
Quinn let out a sigh. Sure she was good at arguing to people but not nearly as good as her future lawyer of a roommate and so she simply nodded.
“Fine, I won’t try to set you up on any blind dates in the near future… but at least consider being more social then just going from class to the library to the loft rinse and repeat alright.”
“Hey, I resent that.”
Quinn looked at her.
“Some weekends I head to Providence and hang with Tina, Mike, and Mercedes.”
“Ok, well then let me rephrase things and say that you need more friends then the past members of New Directions.”
“I’ve got….”
“And Michael doesn’t count… he’s family.”
“Fine,” Kristina said defeated, “I’ll go hang out with you and try and make new friends….who knows maybe I’ll like it.”
Quinn smiled as she stood up and began to head to her room before turning around.
“And one more thing, you don’t have to sing out your feelings like Rachel.”
Kristina just let out a laugh as she flipped on her radio and continued to work on her paper.
TBC