Seven momentarily forgot about the destruction of his career and his life’s goals as he arrived for his first day of rehab with his new limb. There wasn’t much excitement or buildup to the event. Shands Hospital is not a building; it’s a campus. A series of large white buildings clustered in the center of the University of Florida’s vast property. The rehabilitation facility is a rather small nondescript building located in the center of the medical complex. Seven was provided a private room and a wheelchair for mobility until his skills with his new leg could be mastered.
On the first day of rehab he managed to get himself out of the uncomfortable hospital bed and into his wheelchair without much assistance from hospital staff. It frightened him, the thought of requiring a wheeled instrument to move about in the world. He had spent his entire life manipulating and driving machines. From the bicycle crash on Flowers’ Mountain to the stern of a civilian cargo ship in an undisclosed location, Seven Andrews was no stranger to difficult and complicated vehicles, but the idea that he could no longer function as a normal two-legged man terrified him. The troubling thoughts of restricted mobility disturbed him so much that he vowed to put away his depression and self-pity long enough to learn and master the prosthetic leg. Like every other vehicle in his life, he was determined to master this one as well.
As he entered his assigned training room, he found an added incentive to mastering his new artificial limb. He saw her before she saw him. His eyes were immediately drawn to her shoulder-length auburn hair and her perfectly structured face, highlighted by bright brilliant blue eyes. She was busy in the center of the room, organizing and arranging the assortment of cushions, oddly shaped instruments, and devices that were the tools of her trade as a physical therapist. There was nothing extraordinary about her face or her petite frame; she just seemed perfect to Seven. There was just something that drew his eyes to her and would not let go. She was wearing blue scrubs with an alligator imprinted just