4

Chapter Four

Heavy breathing woke her, and she immediately recognized it as a sound of pain. It was coming through the intercom system, and there was no question about the source. She slid from bed and didn’t worry about changing out of her sleep shorts and T-shirt as she slid her feet into slippers and rushed from her room to Bennet’s.

She found him quickly, and in his bed, as expected. He was curled up into the fetal position as much as possible, and his face betrayed agony. Lines bracketing his mouth spoke volumes, and concern filled her. There was also a rush of tenderness she was unaccustomed to feeling for a patient, and she tried to push it aside as she moved closer to the bed. “What’s wrong?”

Even as she asked, she realized he was having an attack of spasticity. His muscles were tensed, and his legs were stiff before him. Since he was lying on his side, it made it easy to get on the bed behind him and start rubbing his back in slow, deep circles. “Does that help?” Sometimes, i