Be Strong For Me

It was so crazy, I thought she'd become unhinged. The therapy session was beyond brutal. I felt like James Caan in Misery. I screamed in pain and I cried during the skin stretches. At the end of the session, however, real progress had been made. We hit an elusive milestone in range of motion for my knee, and the skin on my left leg was actually moving loose around my calf muscles for the first time.

At the end of the session, Sadie broke down and cried. I ended up hugging her against my chest while she laid her head on my shoulder and blubbered. Eventually, I figured out that she was saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," over and over again.

When she was able to pull herself together, she said, "I'm sorry that was so unpleasant for you, but I had to make progress. I have to protect my family."

***

That evening, Gilana showed up in civvies after her shift was over. She had on a tight pullover, a pair of leggings, and open-toed sandals. Her outfit displayed her figure to perfection. Her shoes showed me she had the sexiest feet I'd ever seen. She also had on make-up, which she didn't wear while she was working.

When Gilana came in, she shut the door behind her. Tig was out of the room playing cards with one of the other patients, so I was alone for once. She walked straight up to me on my bed, bent at the waist, and planted a kiss on my mouth that was every bit as hot as the JP-8 flames had been at the crash site in Afghanistan.

When she finally pulled away and smiled at me, I was literally dizzy from the stimulation. "I've been waiting for a long time for the privacy to do that," she cooed. "It was better than I imagined."

The whole time she said that, she was examining my facial expression minutely. I got the feeling she was staring straight down into my soul. She got a victorious look on her face.

"Ah!" she said with delight. "You feel the same as I do, and you are hoping for more. That's good because that's exactly how I feel."

"You are really interested in me?" I asked.

She sat in my guest chair. This moved her a few feet further away from me and she curled her legs up under her as she sat. I subconsciously sighed. I'd loved her closeness. Her smell had done things to my brain that my body craved.

"I am interested in you," she said. "I know you're delighted about that. It's written all over your face. It is quite a relief for me to know that we have the same mindset."

She considered her words carefully. She held her expression so that I knew she wasn't done talking.

"We can't date or be involved while you are a patient here. I care about you, but I cannot risk my commission and my career for you. Not at this point in our relationship. That being said, can you promise me that you will commit to dating me once you're done as a patient here?" She was coiled up like a spring while she waited for me to answer.

"I'm not sure what you see in me," I replied. "I'm a broken-down mess. You know my divorce isn't even final yet, right?"

"The divorce is just a matter of time, Kirk. You'll be a patient here for a while," she said gently. "Your inside is in much better shape than your outside right now. The inside is literally the only thing I've ever looked for in a man. I see in you a great man who doesn't know how great he is. You're perfect for me." The smile that she gave me sent shivers down my spine.

I didn't know what to say.

"I heard you made some milestones today," said Gilana.

"You did?" I asked.

"Yeah. I had lunch with Sadie today. Several hours after that, earlier this evening, I caught Sadie in the locker room after her shift was over," she said.

"Can you believe that Sadie, a married woman with three kids, is secretly banging Keola, that huge good-looking Samoan orderly? asked Gilana. "She must really be a size queen, because the rumors are that Keola is hung like a horse. I think it is unconscionable that Sadie would risk her family for a meaningless fling with a coworker like that.

"You know what Sadie and I talked about at lunch, Kirk? We talked about you. It turned into a little motivation session," said Gilana. "Now that she and I are on the same track, there will be a lot more progress.

"I understood you hit both a range of motion and a skin stretching milestone this afternoon. That's great! That's exactly the kind of results I was hoping to see. I think I was right to approach Sadie to motivate her. Sadie is going to call in favors to mess with the assignments to make sure she's always your therapist. We're going to get you through this a lot quicker."

When Gilana saw the look of horror on my face, she got a complicated look on her own face. "Kirk, I was up front with you when I said that the physical therapy was going to suck. There are two ways to go about this. You can make it suck for a short amount of time, or you can drag the suck out and make it last for months and months.

"I've been with you since you were first brought to Germany. With all that you've gone through, you're probably the strongest man I've ever met. You have a core of steel in you that is frankly inspiring. What is best for you is to man up, draw on that magnificent well of internal strength you possess, and embrace the pain as much as possible. You should power through this recovery period. The range of motion and skin stretching is the worst of it and as of this morning, you're now thirty percent of the way through it."

When my face filled with horror and anger at the thought she'd blackmailed Sadie into being more cruel to me, Gilana stood and said. "We should talk about incentives."

She stepped out of her sandals and slid her leggings to the floor. She pulled off her top and dropped that to the floor too. She was wearing only an incredibly sexy blue bra and panty set. Her stomach was flat and her waist cinched nicely to accentuate the lovely curve of her hips. The material of her underwear had a luxurious quality and looked very expensive. "Silk," she said, anticipating my question.

The gusset of her panties was soaking wet. The smell of her arousal was quite evident in the room. The bra was a balconette and could not contain her nipples, which were clearly erect. She turned and bent to pick up her clothes and neatly folded them. I suspect she did this so I could get a good look at her from behind and to demonstrate that her panties were cheeky bikini bottoms.

I knew Gilana was a stunning beauty with a very nice chest, but without her scrubs on, it was obvious that her figure was the best I'd ever seen in real life. Sarah had been pretty attractive and had a really nice body, but Gilana was just on a different level. She could give one of those bodycon Instagram influencers a run for her money.

She smiled and said, "I can tell that you like what you see. I've seen all of you, Kirk, including your burned legs. I've got to say that I really like what I see from you, too. The first time I gave you a sponge bath, I got so aroused, I came from rubbing my crotch against the mattress on your bed while I wiped down your penis. I know what you look like, I know what you smell like, and I have a pretty good idea what your face is going to look like when you come in my pussy that first time."

By this point, my heart was pounding and my cock was as hard as a cast iron pipe. I hadn't been this aroused since Sarah and I coupled maniacally in the week before my second deployment.

"Kirk," she continued. "I haven't had sex since six months before my husband died. That's over five years for me. You're the first guy I've been attracted to in all that time. I'm so fucking horny right now I'm shaking."

She lifted her hands up to demonstrate the tremor she was experiencing.

"I'm ready for you Kirk, but we have an outside/inside problem. I need you to be outside of this hospital before I can put you inside of me."

She looked at her watch.

"We've got another half hour before Tig comes back to the room. I want to show you something while I've got the time."

She rolled the portable hospital tray table over next to my bed and locked it so it wouldn't roll. She adjusted the height so that it was about crotch level on her.

While making eye contact with me, she said, "I learned about this quite by accident while I was in nursing school. When I showed my husband Jack, he thought it was so sexy, he literally came in his pants."

She slowly approached the corner of the table. For lack of a better term, she mounted the corner so her pussy, inside of her silk panties, was being supported by it. She leaned over the table, resting her elbows on it and getting the angle just right. She then slowly started to grind her vulva on the corner of the table. Her slow, sensual, rolling grind was incredibly erotic. She subconsciously vocalized with heavy breathing, quiet groans, and whimpers. As predicted, I was immediately in danger of coming in my pants.

"Let me see your cock, Kirk," she said. "Pull it out."

I was wearing a hospital gown. I pulled it up and my cock popped out of the bottom, bouncing subtly to my heartbeat. She groaned when she saw it, and her grinding sped up. Her neck and her chest between her breasts were suddenly rosy red and flushed. She had goosebumps all over the exposed part of her ass cheeks.

"Stroke it for me, Kirk," she moaned. "Make it feel good." I did my very best for her. My eyes were locked on her and hers were locked on me. In less than a minute I was ready to blow my top.

"Don't hold back, Kirk," she said. "Come for me." Her voice was so throaty and shaky when she said it that I instantly came.

I was suddenly bathed in pleasure. I'd been in pain so long that the pleasure of the orgasm was overpowering. I gave out an almighty groan.

As my cock spasmed and I shot sperm up in the air, Gilana suddenly came too. "Oooooh, fuckkkkkkkk!" she groaned as she spasmed on the corner of the table. Her pelvis was jerking around and her legs went wobbly. She continued to grunt as the pleasure washed over her.

My own pleasure suddenly redoubled. It didn't cause me to have a second orgasm, but it extended the first one in length to last almost forty seconds to a minute. It was unprecedented and unrivaled in my experience of jacking off.

When we finally became too sensitive, we both relaxed and rested while looking at each other.

Eventually, Gilana roused and cleaned me off with a warm washcloth. Afterwards, she helped me put on a fresh gown. Once that was done, she went into the bathroom to clean herself off. When she came back out, she was dressed again. I was extremely disappointed. She recognized my disappointment and said, "I want to get to the point where we are together, Kirk. That isn't going to happen until you actually start making some progress on your therapy. Lean into it. That's the incentive. I'm giving you the carrot."

Just before she left, she said, "I'm taking the day off tomorrow. I'll try to drop in around lunch time."

***

Gilana walked into the room at lunchtime with an entourage. She was wearing her service blue uniform. At the center of the entourage was a tall woman in an immaculate business suit. She was the young and austere congresswoman from Hawaii.

Gilana said, "Congresswoman, I'd like to introduce you to Warrant Officer Tig Johnson. Tig is your constituent as he is currently stationed at Fort Wheeler on Oahu."

Gilana did not bother to introduce the Congresswoman. She didn't have to.

"How do you do Chief?" she asked. Calling a CW-2 or higher 'Chief' was traditional. It made me remember this woman had served in the national guard.

Tig and the Congresswoman had a conversation about Tig's accident. She was familiar with the details and she inquired about his progress here at Walter Reed. Eventually, she asked, "Why isn't your wife here with you?"

Tig looked embarrassed and said, "Hawaii is so expensive, she has to work for us to make ends meet. At first this was working out. My wife is a project manager and got a job as a civilian contractor at Pearl. She got downsized with the draw down last year. She's been working as a desk clerk at a hotel on Diamond Head for us to make ends meet. We can't afford to bring them here and to put them up in lodgings while I recover. We try to do net meetings and make phone calls."

The Congresswoman said, "I see." She was not pleased. "So what do you need to get her here with you? Some extra cash, transportation money, and condo?"

She looked at her aide who nodded.

"I'm going home to Oahu this evening and I'm coming back on Sunday. The Air Force is providing a plane. Your family is welcome to join me on our flight back. It will be free. While she is in DC, we have a townhouse where your family can stay. It is also free. The school district the condo is in is the best in DC and your kids will love it. We have an open position in our office for a scheduler. Your wife can fill that position for as long as you are at Walter Reed. It isn't particularly exciting work, but it's got to be better than checking in guests. I'm certain it pays better."

With that business concluded, the Congresswoman sat and chatted with Tig for the next twenty minutes, asking him about his kids and his life in Hawaii. She had a real gift at putting people at ease, I hadn't seen Tig that happy in some time.

The Congresswoman said her goodbyes and then walked over to my bed. "You must be the famous Kirk Alder. No, Chief, don't stand up on my account."

When she got me settled back down she said to Gilana in an admonishing tone, "Gi, you didn't warn me how handsome he is."

She pronounced Gi, "Jhee". The two women shared the kind of giggly eye contact that I used to see boy-crazy high school girls give each other.

When the Congresswoman and her staff left the hospital, I asked Gilana, "How do you know the Congresswoman?"

"She's my next door neighbor and we play tennis together," said Gilana. "When I moved in, she was very welcoming. We're both single and there aren't a lot of singles in our neighborhood. We socialize quite a bit."

"Where do you live?" I asked.

"I have a house in Georgetown," she replied.

"Isn't that a super-expensive neighborhood?" I asked.

Gilana blushed. "Yes. My family is wealthy."

Two hours later, I was in Sadie's PT room. She was pissed off and was obviously screwing up her nerve to be awful to me. I was literally nauseated knowing what was coming.

Knowing that she was being blackmailed to be horrible to me changed my opinion of her entirely. She was as much of a victim in this as I was. I had a sudden burst of mercy.

"Sadie," I said.

She turned to me with a scowl.

"Is she right?" I asked.

Sadie was confused so I said, "Gilana told me that by pushing me through severe pain that I will recover quicker. Is she right?"

Sadie's expression was sober. "Yes and no. We need to push the patients past pain. The pain is an artificial barrier to progress. At the same time, pain can also be a warning sign you're being pushed too far. It is a balance and we always let the patient determine what they can tolerate. What we're doing here isn't what we are supposed to do. You know that, right?"

"I know she's blackmailing you," I said. "That isn't right, Sadie, You have my permission to do whatever you need to do, understand? I will take whatever you're willing to dish out. You can push me as hard as you need to. It's not your fault."

Sadie began to cry, but quickly mastered her feelings. She gave me a huge hug. "I'm not mean. This isn't who I am, you know that, right?

"I do know it. Make sure your family is safe. Do whatever you need to do to make your family safe," I said.

Sadie got a determined look in her face, "Thank you, Kirk."

We were ten minutes into our range of motion work when the door to the room opened up and Gilana breezed in wearing a work out outfit. It was a tight sports bra style top with leggings. She was so sweaty that I could see every fold of her vagina.

"What are you doing here?" asked Sadie. It wasn't friendly.

"I just finished my own workout and I thought I'd stop in to help with motivation," she said.

Sadie had been pushing me really hard. I was covered with a slick sheen of a muck sweat. "Show her," I said to Sadie.

Sadie was working my range of motion on my knee bends.

I was in a bed with my head slightly elevated and my feet out flat in front of me. My right heel was strapped into a device that looked like a roller skate on a track. Sadie took hold of the skate and started pushing it towards my butt, which was causing my knee to gradually bend. The first ten degrees of bend was easy. It got progressively more difficult and at thirty degrees, it stopped.

"Push me!" I said to Sadie. "Protect your family!"

She leaned into the skate and forced another ten degrees of bend. The pain was excruciating. "More!" I grunted out.

She pushed me further. At some point, I began to cry. I felt Gilana's hand on my cheek. "Look at me, Kirk. Eyes on me."

I looked at her. "You're so strong. Do this for me, my warrior."

The pain was white hot. My tendons felt like steel ribbons that were so tight they'd pull apart. I was sweating profusely.

Gilana's face showed both strength and pride. "You can take so much for me. You're so strong!"

"That's ninety!" cried Sadie in triumph. "Holy shit, Kirk! You were amazing!"

She released the pressure on my knee and very slowly started to move the skate back so my leg would lay flat.

I was suddenly enveloped in one of the worst pains I ever felt. It hurt so bad I couldn't even recognize it at first.

"What is it?" asked Sadie with alarm. "What's going on?"

"Cramp!" I said. "My calf! Oh my God! It hurts!"

"I've got to massage it," said Sadie. "It's the only way."

I almost vomited when she said that. The skin grafts were a never-ending source of pain. The idea that I would be vigorously massaged in that area immediately made me nauseated. "No!" I cried out. "That's worse than the cramp."

Gilana once again pulled my face to hers. "I'll do it. Look at me, Kirk. I'm going to massage your calf. Look at me."

I felt searing pain as her fingers splayed across my dressing and dug into the source of all pain for me for the last three months. "Do this for me," said Gilana with a smile on her face. "Be strong for me."

***

An hour later I was sweaty and exhausted. Strangely, I felt amazing. The pain I'd undergone pushing both knees to ninety, dealing with the cramps, and then the skin stretching at the end, fired up my endorphins. I was high as fuck. I felt like I'd just had the best orgasm of my life, but I'd never even had an erection during the session. There was a huge internal weight that felt relieved.

Gilana was running her fingers lightly through my scalp and cooing into my ear about how strong and brave I'd been.

Sadie was in the corner, sitting in a chair going through a folder that Gilana had given her. She was crying,

"What's in the folder?" I asked.

"That's the private investigator report of her affair with Keola," Gilana replied.

"You hired a PI to follow Sadie?" I asked.

"No," she said. "Her husband did. I noticed the PI skulking around and asking questions. I confronted the PI and then bribed him to spike the report and tell Sadie's husband he didn't find anything."

"Did you have to pay him a lot?" I asked.

"Quite a bit, actually. I did it for Sadie. She was a dumbass to have that fling with Keola. I mean, I understand the appeal. He's a hunk and has such an infectious and upbeat personality. That being said, no fling was worth the cost of her family. The PI was clear that the husband was a jealous type. He said a confirmation of an affair would have been a scorched-earth divorce for sure."

"Don't you feel like you are tempting fate and building up bad karma by hiding marital infidelity?" I asked.