The next few weeks sort of dragged on.
It was the same routine nearly everyday- drop Ezekiel off at school, go to work, and visit Asher.
Then Cailen would pick Ezekiel up from school, bring him home to eat and finish his homework and then they'd go to the hospital together and visit Asher.
Cailen often had to work the second half of his shift so either Noah or William would come by the hospital and sit in Asher's room with Ezekiel just in case Asher fell asleep or got cranky.
He was actually doing better with that, learning to just shut up when he got irritated, but he was getting more easily irritated everyday.
Cailen assumed it had to do with Physio and how it wasn't going as fast as Asher had liked it to- it never did.
Cailen didn't know why patients never listened when they told them that Physio was not magic, that it would take a lot of time and hard work before they saw any kind of results.
They always thought they were superman or something and those restrictions wouldn't apply to them.
Asher was no different.
Asher was getting more and more annoyed with himself everyday and it was starting to show.
He would often reply with nothing more than a tight smile or a quick nod. He barely said anything anymore, even when Ezekiel would ramble on about his day at school or about Noah teaching him guitar.
Cailen could see him shutting down and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it.
It was common in a lot of patients to get discouraged even though they try to tell them ahead of time not to, but the no mobility, the staying cooped up in a tiny room for hours on end got to you easily, so it was understandable that they got discouraged, especailly for a firefighter.
Firefighters, naturally, are very active people. They liked to move about, run, lift things with their ridiculous muscles, and just be active in general.
Sitting on a bed for six hours at a time, only breaking for an hour worth of Physio or to go to the toilet, was not enough.
Cailen could see Asher getting... depressed, and he didn't know what to do about that.
It's not like he was some kind of magic healer and could tap his leg with a wand and everything would be better.
And it wasn't just the no mobility thing that was making Asher like this, he could tell.
Asher was missing out on a lot.
Noah had decided to stay at Eden's for a while longer, saying that if he could find a place to live that wasn't Cailen and William's mom's house, then he would stay, otherwise, he was going back to Scotland to live at home.
He says he didn't want to be a burden to Eden, even though she's assured him that he wasn't, but that just wasn't acceptable to him.
Cailen really hopes he doesn't move back home, not only for himself, but for Asher.
Asher was going to need as many friends as he could have to stay positive and keep him motivated until he was better and if Noah left, Asher was sure to be upset about it.
But Cailen didn't want to tell Noah this because it may look like he was just trying to blackmail Noah into staying.
Matthew and Hazel were spending a lot of time at home but they would pop in every now and again to see Asher and show them Aariyah.
She was growing so fast, Cailen almost couldn't believe it.
He's been so caught up in everything else that it still feels like they should be just heading into the hospital to meet her for the first time.
Matthew and Hazel have also started looking into buying an actual house because their flat is apparently too small and not safe enough for when Aariyah starts walking and roaming about.
William and his band played their first big show and the crowd had loved them.
This manager guy William told Cailen about wants to draw up a contract for them and see what he can do about getting them some more shows and even starting to record a demo to give to record labels.
William is absolutely ecstatic and Cailen couldn't be more thrilled for him.
He was finally taking the next step in what he's been working so hard on for so long.
Cailen was kind of glad William didn't take his or anyone else's advice when they told him to quit the band and get a real job.
Ezekiel was becoming pretty close with Tripp.
They've had a few play dates, a couple at Tripp's because it was more convenient for Cailen with Asher in the hospital and Tripp's mother had offered once she heard about what happened, but they did have one at the flat.
They mostly played in Ezekiel's room, setting up a small city with some blocks and other random objects they could find and then, they had sent Loki in to destroy it while they pretended to be superheroes and save the small city.
Ezekiel seems to have warmed up to the boy and told Asher about their adventures all the time.
Asher, of course, always acted happy for the boys but Cailen could tell by the way his mouth never seemed to completely turn up in a smile that he was upset.
Cailen could assume it was because he was missing out on all this stuff that was happening to the people he cared about, that he couldn't be there for Noah, that he couldn't celebrate with Matthew, Hazel, and William, and that he couldn't help save the small city with Ezekiel and Tripp.
Asher desperately wanted to get better but honestly, getting upset about the fact that he wasn't, wasn't doing him any favors.
You needed a lot of energy for Physio and if you spent all that energy on moping, then you had none left and you didn't make much progress.
Cailen has seen Asher's progress reports and he wasn't doing very well.
In fact, he was behind in a lot of the areas that he should be able to do by now and if he didn't improve soon, he wouldn't be getting out of the hospital by the time he wanted.