Chapter 6 - The Surgeon Returns
The treatment Voss had hidden wasn't a miracle.
It was painful.
Slow.
Uncertain.
For four months, Claire supervised rehabilitation.
Electrical stimulation.
Nerve therapy.
Experimental regenerative injections.
Some mornings nothing happened.
Others, my fingers moved millimeters.
Ethan attended nearly every session.
"Again," he demanded.
"I've done it twenty times."
"Twenty-one."
"You're enjoying this."
"Yes."
Lily stood nearby laughing.
"He's worse with homework."
Then came the morning I held a coffee cup.
Not well.
But without assistance.
Lily stared.
"Dad."
It was the first time she'd called me that.
The cup nearly fell.
She caught it.
"Careful."
"Say it again."
She smiled.
"Dad."
I didn't need the coffee anymore.
Six months later, Malcolm Voss accepted a plea agreement and testified against surviving members of Hale's conspiracy.
Families affected by the illegal research program received compensation.
Wolfe Industries created an independent medical ethics board.
I personally funded it.
But the biggest change happened quietly.
One afternoon, Claire placed a surgical instrument into my right hand.
I stared at it.
"You aren't ready for surgery," she said.
"I know."
"But?"
I rotated the instrument slowly between my fingers.
My movements weren't perfect.
But they were controlled.
Precise.
Alive.
Claire smiled.
"Maybe someday."
Ethan stood behind the glass.
He pressed both hands against it.
I walked toward him.
Not physically.
My legs had always worked.
But emotionally, it felt like crossing seven lost years.
He looked at my hands.
"Can you fix hearts again?"
"Maybe."
He nodded seriously.
"Good."
"Why?"
"Because Mom says that's what you used to do."
I looked at Lily.
She smiled.
Ethan continued.
"And she says you're pretty good."
"I was."
He shook his head.
"Wrong."
May you like
"What?"
"You still are."
