Chapter Text
“Where are we going, sir?” Steve asked with slight trepidation as Ted navigated the wheelchair containing Steve. Ted had turned off the path that led to an outside sitting area/garden for the patients at the rehab center Steve was staying at as he recovered from his fall.
“I’ve permission to take you out for the afternoon fella, got a wee treat for you,” Ted explained as he locked the breaks on the wheelchair beside the car and hurried around to help Steve stand and get transferred to the passenger seat, taking great care to make sure Steve was buckled securely before handing the wheelchair over to a nursing assistant who had hurried out to hand Ted a bag containing Steve’s afternoon pills and a change of clothes. Just in case she had said.
Steve just sat in the front seat looking ahead, unable to control the lurch in his stomach as Ted started to pull out of the parking lot. The hospital had been almost as a traumatic event for him as being thrown down three flights of stairs, but the rehab center and his Gaffer’s daily visits and frequent overnight stays in the heated, massage recliner pulled close to the bed had soothed him. That all said, he wasn’t sure he felt so comfortable outside the safety of the rehab center. What if something happened to his Gaffer? He was in no shape to offer proper support for him should a criminal ambush them.
“Where are we going?” Steve asked again, cringing as Ted pulled into traffic, his fingers digging deep into the armrests of the vehicle.
Ted frowned slightly at the underlying panic he could hear in Steve’s voice, reaching over with one hand to grasp Steve’s. “I remember one of those videos you like on that YouTube thing…those cute wee otters I remember you and Kate watching them at work, Hana and Kotaro, if I remember correctly,” Ted said, and he did, he always did with something concerning his Steve. There was a slight tone of disapproval in his voice, but he would give anything to see Steve and Kate back at the office, even sharing funny videos when they should be working. His frown grew deeper at the thought perhaps those days were a thing of the past. No. He wouldn’t, couldn’t allow himself to go down that path of thoughts. His Steve would soon be back on his feet and back at work. “I thought you might enjoy a trip to the zoo, and I arranged for you to have the opportunity to feed the wee things if you’d like if you feel up to it,” Ted told him as he squeezed Steve’s hand tightly as the light changed and he continued driving them to the small zoo just outside the city limits.