Stuck: Together

"Relax I actually come with a couple pieces of good news. First off, Oliver's given you the day off from the gym because we're having a specialist come in to measure you for your prosthetics."

Lexi nearly jumped in excitement. "Oh god, that's wonderful. But it feels so soon, are you sure she's ready?"

"Too fucking right I am."

Adam chuckled at his daughter's confidence. "Watch your language dear, and your mother's right, this does seem a little quick."

Amanda took an empty chair and sat down with the family. "Well it's only a measurement, the actual prosthetics won't be here for at least a couple months, but even so Nikki's made great progress, she's shown a real... determination towards healing herself."

"That's code for me telling my legs to get to fucking work."

Amanda laughed. "Yeah, in a manner of speaking, that's right. But to get back on topic, the better news I have is that from what we can see you're limbs are healed, there's no infection and you're making such great progress with Oliver. So we talked to your parents a few days ago and the bosses think you'll be able to leave by the end of the week.

Nicola sat in shock, still processing the information Amanda gave her. She looked at her parents, seeing their smiling faces, and couldn't hide the smile on her own as she looked back at Amanda.

"No shit?"

"No shit indeed, like I said you've made great progress and you're healing nicely, you'll be able to leave soon enough."

Lexi placed a hand on Nicola's shoulder. "We've had an electrician fit in an electric chair for you if you want to go upstairs and put in a few ramps to make moving around the house easier. We've also cleaned out the spare room downstairs in case you want to move your bedroom there instead."

"I'll think about it. Christ this is a lot to take in, all I've thought about was when I could go home and now that I can... fuck I'm scared I'm gonna wake up."

"Want me to pinch you?" Adam asked with a grin.

"Try it dad, I'll kick your ass and I don't even need feet to do it."

"Funny. But yes, it is real, you can come home by Friday, Saturday at the latest depending on when the stair-lift is finished. I've repurposed my laptop to allow me to work from home so I can take care of you, Oliver I believe does house-calls but I can drive you here if need be and if I can't then either your mother will or Arthur's parents can help."

"Wait, does Art know I'm coming home?"

"He know we're doing renovations for you coming home but he doesn't know when that is, given your closeness we figured he'd tell you without hesitation."

Nicola giggled. "Yeah, he straight-up cannot lie to me. It's actually kinda amazing."

"To get serious for a second." Amanda spoke up, a slight frown on her face. "Going home is going to be one of the hardest parts of your recovery. You'll be facing familiar situations in unfamiliar ways and if you let that get to you it'll hurt you even worse than the accident. Take your time, don't be afraid to ask for your help, you have so many people who love you and want to be there for you, let them."

A flash of worry crossed Nikki's face, slight enough for only Amanda to catch it, the realisation that the independence she had built up her entire life was in danger scared her. She wasn't against asking for help, but she knew she was too stubborn to do so and risked hurting herself again.

Quick as it had appeared, the worry left Nicola's face and she forced a smile on. "Don't worry, one of them will hear me shouting and swearing and know I'll need help."

The room laughed with Nicola had her joke but Amanda remained silently unconvinced, she made a note to call Elizabeth Martin about setting up a therapy session with Nicola, her defensive humour was starting to crack.

*

As promised, Nicola was discharged on Saturday morning, she arrived home just after lunchtime to find a Welcome Home Party waiting for her, to her own surprise the sound of applause as she was wheeled inside got to her more than she expected.

"You fuckers. I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed the whole ride home."

Emily strolled over and almost forced a bottle of cola into Nicola's hands. "Suck it up sunshine, you're stuck with us."

"Aye-aye skipper." Nicola took a swig of the coke, annoyed that it wasn't a beer but with her medications she couldn't risk it, and looked around the room, noticing a big absence. "Hold up, where's Art?"

"He's taking care of a few things, he'll be here shortly." Megan's answer was ambiguous but her knowing smile said she knew more than she was letting on.

Nicola was unconvinced. "Uh huh. Well tell him to get her soon, so I can slap him for not being here."

"He'll be here, calm yourself stumpy."

"Stumpy? Listen here ya big titty bitch..."

"NICOLA!" Lexi interrupted the two friends. "How about you say hello to your other guests before you start bickering with your friends?"

Nicola rolled her eyes in an exaggerated manner, making Adam laugh at his daughter's actions. But she took Lexi's advice and rolled over to her other guests. Amongst the various members of her volleyball team were Megan, Brendan, Emily, Francis, Leo, Brendan's sister Heather and Penny who told her that David was with Arthur at the moment and had texted her to say they were arriving soon.

Emily quickly stepped into Captain mode and took over as Nicola's 'driver', taking around the house to see different people. She carted Nicola over to Heather and Brendan, having only seen them a few times during her stay in hospital.

"I'm glad to see your doing ok Nikki." Heather said as she hugged her. "I hope Amanda treated you well."

"She's a tough bitch but in the end I loved her for it. Did you really use to sleep with her?"

"Kinda, yeah. My first proper lesbian relationship and she wasn't even a lesbian, hurt me a lot, taught me even more."

"I hear that. What about you Brendan, still fucked up?"

Almost reflexively Brendan put a hand to the back of his neck, vaguely remembering the pain. "It hurts from time to time when I move my neck too much. But I feel like an ass complaining considering your situation."

"You mean the fact that I can't walk anymore?"

"Um.... yes?"

Nicola laughed. "I'm kidding Brendan, I'm in a shitty place, I need to have a joke to get my mind off it. Don't pity me for the love of god, please."

"I'll try not to. Stumpy."

Nicola tried to think of a comeback but she was too proud of Brendan for having the balls to rip into her to think of one.

Suddenly Emily took hold of the wheelchair and pulled Nicola away without warning. "Hey, the fuck are you doing you....?"

As Emily spun the wheelchair around Nicola saw that it wasn't Emily behind her, it was Arthur, making his entrance slyly.

"You prick."

"Love you too Nikki."

Nicola grabbed Arthur's shirt and pulled him closer for a kiss, even seeing him every day in hospital she missed him. "You're lucky you're pretty or else I'd get you back for this."

"No doubt you'll have something planned."

Nicola pursed her lips in a thinking pose on her face. "Perhaps. Anyway, what kept you?"

"I had to pick up something from the shops, I had it in for repairs."

Nicola looked down and noticed for the first time the box in Arthur's hands, he handed it over to her and waited as she took the lid off. Inside was her hair-clasp, the lily one that Art had given her on her 14^th birthday just before their first kiss, the one she was wearing when she crashed her car.

Slowly, she picked it up and looked at it, she could see minor stress marks on the metal where it had been re-sculptured back into shape, but the biggest change was the lily itself, parts of it was smaller where the pieces missing couldn't be fixed, but where they could be the ornate pieces had been mended with something resembling a white resin, to the touch it was smooth, but to the eye it beautifully contrasted the purple of the lily, showing the damage would not be forgotten, but it was still a beauty to behold.

"One of the police officers found it in the car after you were taken to hospital, luckily most of the pieces were on the dashboard so they were easy to find, the bits we couldn't we just..."

"It doesn't matter. It's perfect." Nicola spoke softly, trying to hide the tears in her voice, failing to hide them on her face. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Nicola placed the clasp on her head, but a stray hair escaped her, without hesitation Arthur pushed it back, tucking it under the clasp to keep it held. Both of them knew they needed to acknowledge the other guests, but they enjoyed their mental solitude a little bit longer.

*

It was three days later when the reality of her situation punched Nicola in the gut, almost literally. Her, Lexi and Adam were enjoying some mindless TV after dinner when Nicola needed to go to the toilet, the downstairs bathroom had been converted to be Disabled Friendly; with two handles on either side of the toilet to allow Nicola support, she'd manage to figure out how to turn herself best but she always made sure to tell her parents when she was going, just in case anything happened.

Nicola wheeled herself into the bathroom, positioned herself to be facing the toilet, then locked her wheels in place. She reached over to leverage herself on the support beams, as proud as she was for getting the hang of things so quickly she wasn't about to risk falling into the toilet anytime soon. It was as she pulled herself up that she felt it, the wheelchair was pushing away from her, one of the wheels hadn't locked properly, the more she pushed against it to keep herself upright, the more it pushed away.

Gripping the handles tightly, Nicola braced herself as the wheel moved out of reach, and she fell against the bowl, her stumps just barely touching the ground, her chest painfully crushed underneath her. Part of her was telling her to let go, fall to the floor and call for her mum, but another part of her was telling her something else;

'Fuck that'.

Determined to regain some form of independence, Nicola propped her elbows onto the toilet seat and lifted herself off the ground, it was slow and it was tough, she could feel the veins in her neck popping and the blood rushing to her face as she gritted her teeth and held her breath, putting all her effort into lifting herself.

Eventually she was able to place her stomach on the edge, leveraging herself just enough to reposition her arms higher up, giving her another boost. Once her waist was over the rim she carefully turned herself over, always keeping at least one hand on a handle as much as possible, until finally she was sitting properly on the toilet.

Her elation quickly turned to horror as she felt something warm and wet against her legs, in her exertion she had pissed herself but was too distracted to notice, her efforts were for nothing.

Nicola put her head in her hands and cried for a solid 2 minutes before she called her mum for help.

*

After that Nicola changed, outwardly she was still making jokes and keeping the situation light but to those closest to her, they could sense that her spark was gone, her jokes rehashes of what she'd said before, her laughter forced, as though trying too hard to convince them she was happy, or perhaps convince herself.

Try as she might, those closest to her could see that depression was creeping up on her, none more so than Arthur who could feel Nicola struggling to give the same love they used to share. It was subtle at first, cuddles would be over seconds earlier than usual, Nikki didn't give as much eye-contact as before, then it grew to the point that Arthur hadn't heard Nicola say 'I love you' in days, she'd even stopped saying it in text messages. He was losing her, and what's worse he was losing her to herself, it was time for drastic actions.

It was a Saturday at the end of September when Arthur hatched his plan, he waited until Nicola had finished her home session with Oliver before heading over to her house, Oliver was just leaving and Arthur could see the disappointment on his face.

"Hey Arthur." Oliver waved once he saw who was approaching him. "Nikki's inside, the door's unlocked."

"How'd today go?"

"Honestly? She's regressing, our first session she pushed herself further than she knew she could go, now she's barely making an effort. I want to pick her up and put her back on track but that might do more harm than good."

"I might try talking to her, see what good that does."

"I wish you the best Arthur, if anyone can do it, it's you."

The two men bid their farewells as Oliver got into his car and Arthur went inside, he knew Nicola would be alone, Adam and Lexi were at his house with his parents, figuring Nicola deserved her space to work with Oliver. As he walked inside he saw Nicola in her wheelchair looking at the telly, it was clear she wasn't watching what was on, her mind was miles away.

It scared and upset Arthur to see her so unmoving.

"Nikki? You ok?"

"Yeah. Just... uh, just watching telly." She barely registered him, her voice flat and monotone to the point where if Arthur wasn't looking at her, he'd have sworn that it was someone else talking."

Arthur took the seat closest to her and sat down, he reached over for her hand and gently held it. Nicola's eyes looked down at his hand but otherwise made no reaction.

"I saw Oliver outside, he told me about your session today. He said..."

Arthur took a deep breath, he could see the path he needed to take to help Nicola, but this first step was going to be rough.

"...He said you're struggling a little more than usual."

Nicola turned to face Art, the first time she'd made eye-contact with him since he came in, and Arthur could see a flicker of anger in her.

"I've not been myself lately, just give me some time alright."

"I've seen it too Nikki, we all have, this isn't something time can fix."

"The fuck would you know? You're not the one stuck to a fucking chair all day."

"I know because I love you and I want to help you..."

"Help me? Art I don't know if you've noticed but I'm missing my FUCKING LEGS! Unless you have a time machine there's not a fucking lot you can do."

Arthur jumped off the seat and knelt in front of Nicola, taking her hands in his. "I can help you here and now, help us for our future together. Nikki you are the most important person in the world to me and almost losing you... it made me realise that I'm ready to make that future with you."

Tears slid down Nicola's face as her voice got very soft and solemn. "Art I don't know if there can be an us if there's only half a me."

Arthur smiled as he reached into his pocket. "You think I care about that? Nikki I fell in love with you because of your spirit, your kindness, your tenacity, your mischievousness. The fact that you're gorgeous and willing to sleep with me was just extra."

She laughed at that, a small laugh but more than she'd done in weeks. The laughter trailed off though when she felt Arthur place something small and metallic in her hands, she looked down to see an engagement ring.

"I meant to give this to you months ago, I've kept it on me every day since the accident waiting for the right time to give it to you. I think now is the perfect time to tell you that I'm still in this for the long-term."

"Art you don't want to be stuck with a goddamn cripple..."

"Yes I do. There is nothing I want more than for us to be stuck together the rest of our lives. Now you said you'd say yes when I asked you, so I'm asking you, Nicola McAllister, will you marry me?"

Nicola's face grew a small smile, which got larger and larger as for the first time in months she could finally see a future for herself, a future with Arthur by her side, a future she didn't even realise she'd given up on so easily.

"Damn you Arthur, you've got me. Yes, 110% I will."

Immediately Arthur sprang up and kissed Nicola hard, he tried to lift her out of her wheelchair but they were thrown off-balance and the two of them crash-landed on the floor, Arthur got the brunt of it but hearing Nicola laughing again was worth the minor pain.

Nicola looked down at Arthur, she felt a pang of guilt hit her stomach as he did. "I'm sorry I've been such a bitch lately, it's been hard and I took the easy road of having a pity party for myself. We good?"

"Of course we are. You've been through something horrible and it's not getting any better soon, but I'm here to help you through the worst of it."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

The couple kissed each other, making up for time lost, but as they did Nicola felt something on her thigh, something hard and growing harder. She looked at Arthur and smirked.

"Well now, what have we here?"

"You sure you're ready to find out?" Arthur was happy with their progress but he was mindful of going too far.

But he needn't have worries, as Nicola took his hand and pulled it down to her waist, under her gym-shorts and against her cunny, the heat and wetness already evident through her underwear.

"I think I'm fucking ready, don't you?"

The couple kissed deeply as Nicola pulled off her top, Arthur immediately attacked her sports bra, he hadn't seen her naked since her brought her clean clothes at the hospital and that was longer ago than he cared to think about. His hands basically ripped the thing away from her and his mouth latched onto her nipples, in his excitement he lightly bit down but the sultry sigh from Nicola told him she enjoyed it.

Suddenly Nicola pushed Art away, she pointed to his trousers and smirked.

"Off." Was all she said, but it was enough, instantly the two of them took off their bottoms, Nicola quickly slipped off her shorts only to be met with Arthur struggling to get his jeans over his foot from his awkward angle. She giggled but she was too far gone to wait, she pushed Arthur down and straddled him, propped herself up on her stumps and held Arthur's cock as she lowered herself down. And Holy Shit did it feel good, Nicola had to hold herself back form cumming on the spot, the familiar grooves and warmth that she'd missed over the last 3 months reignited all the spots within her again and for the first time since the accident, she felt ecstasy again.

Arthur had to hold back as well, he didn't realise how much he'd missed feeling Nicola until she was there again. Silently though he noted that since she wasn't balancing herself on her legs there was a lot more action in her hips, she was gyrating harder and had found a rhythm surprisingly quickly. She looked and felt incredible and it was all Arthur could do to not grab her hips and pull her closer, which is exactly what he did.

Neither of them lasted very long, as soon as they found their rhythm they went all in, months of forced abstinence was shaken off and nothing was held back, Nicola had to kiss Arthur hard to hide her screaming as she felt him cum inside her. Eventually the couple recovered their breath, drenched in sweat and panting like dogs, the two of them laughed at how silly it was for them to be that exhausted.

"Well..." Nicola broke the comfortable silence after a few seconds. "That was a hell of a workout."

Arthur chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it was."

"Thank you Art, I know that it's probably weird fucking a girl with no legs but..."

"Actually, it almost felt better, you were doing stuff with your hips I've never felt before."

"Really? I might have to look into that."

Arthur suddenly remembered the reason for their sexual release, he turned round and grabbed the engagement ring from the table he'd dropped it on.

"I believe this is yours."

Nicola took the ring, completely unable to hide the joy on her face as she put it on. "Christ Art, I've known this day was coming for years and yet I still can't believe it's here. We're fucking engaged!"