Page 40 of Shattering

Cadi pulled up a chair, settling into her role.

"How's the pain today?"

A half-hearted shrug. "Like always."

She glanced at his medication list, noting multiple adjustments over the past three months.

"I can see that the pain team have been in touch. Are the meds helping at all?"

A slow shake of his head. "Not much. Just makes me sleepy."

Cadi nodded. "We can adjust that, maybe try a different regimen. I see your referral also mentions worsening low mood—do you feel like that's been affecting your recovery?"

The man let out a hollow chuckle. "Hard to recover when you're stuck in a chair, Doc."

Cadi's fingers tightened around her clipboard.

She had seen this too many times. The way trauma didn't just take limbs, mobility—it took something deeper.

It stole identity. Purpose. Self-worth.

And that—that was harder to rehabilitate.

"You're right," she said finally. "It's not the same. And it's not fair."

The man's eyes flickered to hers—startled, maybe. Expecting another empty reassurance, another forced optimism.

She didn't offer either.

"But it's still your life," she continued. "And you get to decide what to do with it. So let's figure out how to make it something you want again."

He stared at her for a long time.

Then, slowly, he nodded. Just once.

Cadi pressed her fingers against her temples, her nerves stretched thin as she dictated her final notes for the day.

Her last patient had just left, and the weight of the day's exhaustion was finally settling into her bones.

She just needed ten more minutes to finish her dictation, to tie up the loose ends of her clinic, to push through the gnawing anxiety about the DNA results waiting in her inbox like a ticking bomb.

But then, Sue appeared at the door, her expression unreadable.

"Cadi?"

Cadi didn't even look up. "I'm almost done, Sue. Just a few—"

"There's an ITU consultant here to see you."

Cadi's fingers paused over the keyboard.

ITU?

Her mind flicked through the inpatient list, trying to recall if she had any rehab referrals pending from the ITU.

Then Sue stepped aside, and Vanessa Seymour walked in.

Cadi inhaled sharply.

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