Unfixable

Leave's End

Jeffery was right. The first two weeks were hell. Gavin quietly begged each morning for Nines to let him take the day off, but every day he was strapped into the prosthetic and walked up and down the parallel bars. They'd started with just one length, once a day. Gavin was always a sobbing mess by the time he reached the other end, but after a few days, it got better. They started doing two lengths a day, and Nines encouraged him to keep the prosthetic on for a while afterwards.

By the end of the second week, he kept it on for hours at a time. Although it definitely hurt to walk, he wasn't crying anymore. By the third week, he'd started riding in it. The four of them had gone out. Nines rode Goliath, Gavin rode Blossom, and two more horses were found for Connor and Sixty. A temperamental white mare called Juniper for Connor, and her short-tempered twin, Oscar, for Sixty. Juniper was strangely docile under Connor's gentle hand, though Oscar occasionally tried to throw Sixty off. Sixty took it as a game, cackling as he gripped the reins and rose in the saddle. It was insane how well Joe had matched their temperaments. He swore Oscar was getting as big a kick out of it as Sixty.

They rode to the usual patch near the apple trees and trailed a little further to follow the river. Blossom enjoyed plodding along, wetting her hooves at the edge of the water. Nines chided her softly, reminding Gavin that the hinge on his prosthetic was metal and probably wouldn't appreciate the water getting inside. Kill joy...Sixty had no such worries as he and Oscar pelted straight through the shallow water to the other side. Connor rolled his eyes as he let Juniper plod her way across, too. The water barely went above her knees. Nines and Gavin remained on their side of the river, thinking there may be a bridge further ahead. Nines was right about the prosthetic, and Blossom didn't seem too thrilled at the prospect of dirtying her legs.

There was no bridge, so they ended up riding separately for a while. Connor and Sixty rode further out to explore the fields on their side, while Gavin and Nines continued up the river. There had been rain when Connor and Sixty first arrived, but it had cleared up nicely after a few days. The weather was back to that pleasant warmth with blue skies and sunshine. They found each other again eventually. Sixty and Connor met them further up and waded their way across the shallows. The estate seemed endless. Upon finding a road, they left the fields and circled back.

Around the mansion, things were changing. Since he was getting steadier, Gavin was moved upstairs to the second floor. It was a bitch, hobbling up and down every time he wanted to go to his room, but the ground floor was for those in wheelchairs. New men came in. Old ones shipped out. He was gutted to find that Freddie was one of them. Nines was disappointed, too. Freddie was one of those that Gavin was closest to. He'd promised to write from Manchester, and Nines was quite certain he would. Thomas also left, being further along in recovery than Jeffery. They were sad to see him go.

"And then there were two..." Jeffery sighed as he handed Gavin a tumbler of whiskey. Gavin gave him a tight smile as they clinked glasses. There really would only be two of them in a few days. He was painfully aware that the month was coming to an end. His last month with Nines. He'd be heading back with his brothers next week. All three of them would miss the estate. He was an insufferable prick, but Sixty had made a name for himself as the best poker player in the mansion. He'd sat for hours, shamelessly playing patients out of their money.

Connor had been a little more elusive. He'd be with them one minute, and then disappear the next. Gavin had wondered what he was doing at first, but wished he'd never found out once he saw. He'd thought it was just a coincidence the first time he saw them together in the garden, and perhaps it had been that first time. It certainly wasn't a fucking coincidence when he saw them leaving Connor's bedroom a few days later, though. They hadn't noticed him, and he hadn't brought it up. He held his tongue each time Chloe came over to see them, as if she hadn't been off with Connor barely an hour before. He reminded himself more than once that it wasn't his business, and Sixty was right. If Elijah didn't have his head so far up his ass, he would have noticed.