****This is a story about love. Please let me know what you think...and if you want the sex, you'll have to stick around... ;)****
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Alexis stepped into the smell of sickness.
She couldn't stand walking into the hospital, down the corridor and up to the second floor every week because of it. Although, she didn't exactly walk. She hobbled.
Three months earlier Alexis Starger was a lively college freshman. Bright and bubbly with a lust for life, she was on her way to achieve great things when the incident occurred.
Walking back to her dorm from a party as she had almost every weekend since arriving at LSU, Alexis never noticed the group of guys that pulled her behind the Design building. The rape was particularly brutal in that by attempting to bite and kick off her attackers she was severely beaten and left on the steps of the Union to be found by the few who decided to attend Friday morning classes.
Now her bruises were fading, her broken rib was healing and she was attending physical therapy twice a week to help regain the use of her fractured kneecaps. The therapy that she refused was emotional. No amount of cajoling or force from her parents and friends could make her see a therapist. What happened, happened. A stranger wasn't going to help her deal with it.
A glance at her watch told Alexis she was almost 10 minutes early for her appointment. Instead of waiting in the lobby she walked to the back and into the locker room-style bathroom. Leaning against the door Alexis surveyed her appearance in the full-length mirror across from the shower stall.
At 5'2 with what her mother called a "real" figure, she had been likened to stars like Catherine Zeta Jones or Jennifer Lopez. Her features were rounded: full lips on an almost rosebud mouth, a pert nose and deep brown eyes complemented her dark wavy hair and year-round natural tan. Before the incident, she was able to look at herself and see only this.
Now she saw what no one else saw. The full breasts that she used to be rather fond of, she now saw as traitors. The lips were too pouty, inviting. Her smile, which used to flow like sunshine, now rarely showed and when it did was restrained, never quite reaching her eyes. From her jeans and t-shirts to her slouched walk and unstyled hair, Alexis did everything in her power to make sure she no longer stood out. That she wouldn't be noticed. Especially by men.
"Alexis, are you okay in there?"
The concerned male voice from the other side of the door interrupted Alexis' thoughts. Throwing one last glare at her reflection she opened the door to see Jason Stillwell, P.T. waiting for her on the other side.
"Hey," she said without meeting his eyes, "I was a little early."
"Alexis, it's 20 after 5. I thought you weren't going to show. I was leaving for the day and Deb told me you'd been in there for half an hour. Are you sure you're all right?"
Jason's voice held a hint more concern than it did with his other patients. He was standing so close that Alexis had to lean back against the door to look up into his face. When she did she knew it was a mistake.
Every damn time! Every time she told herself she wouldn't look him in the eye again she did! Because she couldn't look without staring. She couldn't help it. At 6'1, sandy haired and lean, Jason looked more like an All-American college soccer player than a physical therapist. It was the eyes that did it. He had bedroom eyes. Not quite blue, but not quite green. They reminded her of satin sheets and cool breezes and…things she didn't want to be thinking about.
When she felt herself reaching out for him, Alexis jerked her eyes away and moved around him, mumbling, "I'm fine. Can we just start?"
Jason stood watching Alexis walk over to the mat in the middle of the main therapy room. She was by far his most intriguing patient. He hadn't been in therapy for very long, in fact he was almost fresh out of school, but he knew that whatever was wrong with Alexis needed more than physical therapy to fix.
She had been his patient twice a week for almost three months and he still couldn't get her to open up. Her lack of motivation and her apparent depression were a large part of why she was not improving physically. She still limped profoundly and he could still see her wince with pain if she moved her torso the wrong way.
What intrigued Jason was that he wanted more than desperately for her to improve. As if he had something to prove to himself. He wanted to be the one to fix her. He wanted to make her smile and see her walk straight and firm and hear her laugh. He knew he was being ridiculous. It was probably a natural response to the knowledge of her situation. Whatever it was, he never let it interfere with the way he treated her. She was just a patient. A beautiful patient. But just a patient.
Crossing to the mat, Jason squatted beside where Alexis sat, legs straight out in front of her, in the middle of the room.
"Look, since we're running late and it's the end of the day, how about we just skip your exercises?"
For a second she thought of cheesy come-ons and every doctor/patient sex cliché she'd ever heard. He must have noticed the sudden wariness in her eyes because he stood up and walked away from her, toward a table in the corner.
