"Do you mind if we have a few interns in here this morning?"

Dan's orthopedic surgeon smiled at him as she asked. He closed his eyes against the bright overhead light in his room, and asked, "Could we turn down the lights? My headache is insane."

"Sure, what about my students?" Dr. Amy Quaring asked as she switched off the overheads and left the night lights glowing instead.

Dan's private room had the curtains drawn against the bright California sun. He adjusted his bed to a semi upright position, before asking, "Is there any way to get some decent food? The breakfast they feed me is barely four mouthfuls. It's not like I need to loose weight."

"Get your buddy to bring a couple of burgers for lunch."

"I'll starve before then. I'm finally not puking everything up anymore."

"That's good news. Surgery yesterday went well. We repaired the upper bicep tendon. You probably noticed you can bend your arm up properly again. The x-ray of your ankle looked good too. I think you're going to make a full recovery."

"Do you still want the baby docs in here?" Dan asked.

"Never mind. I don't think they're going to be too interested. This was a standard repair. It's not as if you tore the rotator cuff or broke the humerus at the ball joint." She winked at him as she spoke. Her teasing was the one bright point in the morning routine.

"When can I get into rehab? This is going to be a bugger to get range of motion back otherwise," he asked.

"Sorry, Dan. You're going to be in that sling for at least two months. You have to be patient for this one. You're going to be walking on a boot cast for your ankle before this is even close to ready for the beginning of rehab."

"Shit. Is it okay to do gentle motion?"

"Take it really easy on it. I wouldn't recommend much movement, but I can understand your impatience. Instead let's get you eating a better diet for healing. Make sure you get your veggies and lots of protein, carbs not so much for the next couple of weeks. Once they have you up and walking on the treadmill, you can add them back in." Amy turned to go.

"Hey, Doc?" Dan called after her.

She looked back over her shoulder. "What?"

"Want to go dancing sometime?"

"Let's see how rehab goes."

"Give me something to look forward to."

"Six months, till you can use that arm semi well again. We'll set a date before you leave the hospital." She winked a saucy brown eye at him and disappeared out the door.

"Thank God for small blessings," he whispered. He reached over to his bedside table for his cell phone and dialed.

"How's it going, Dan?"

"Doc cleared me for real food. No more puking, but the headache is still brutal. Bring me a couple double burgers. Good ones, not McD's."

"Coming right up. Pam knows a great little place. We'll be there before you can blink."

"Damn good thing. I'm fucking starving!"