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While she had never met him until recently, Madeline Kane had known of Orion "Curly" Carling longer than that.
She can remember seeing his face everywhere as the star Captain/poster boy for Pony Express. Her little brother, Leo, admired him. Captain "Curly" inspired him both in his transition and his career dreams.
Madeline didn’t put much stock in heroes, especially one who felt as corporate as Captain Curly did; a little left over cynicism from her high school days perhaps. But with that said, she figured that Leo could’ve picked worse role models.
When it was reported that the Tulpar had gone missing, Madeline and Leo couldn’t help but follow the story very closely. Until eventually all the leads dried up and all that was left was speculation, theory podcasts, and the court case against Pony Express by the families of two of the missing crewmates a year later.
Seven years passed and life continued, Madeline became a nurse and Leo was working on becoming an airshow pilot. While Leo always kept his old hero in mind, Madeline didn’t think she’d ever hear the name Grant Curly again.
So it was the shock of the century when she came to work one day to find a mass of reporters at the entrance. It was only after she pushed herself through that she got to a co-worker and asked him what was going on.
The Tulpar had been found with one survivor, its Captain, Orion Carling.
*
Madeline ended up being one of many nurses assigned to assist the good captain’s recovery.
Everyone who saw him as he was being brought in kept commenting on how it was a miracle that he was still alive but she initially brushed it off as hyperbole.
She knew not to expect the dashing confident ship captain from the old posters and ads… but she wasn’t sure anything could prepare her for the state he was found in.
But there wasn’t time to ponder everything, the Captain needed treatment now. She swallowed her shock and got to work.
*
Examining and dealing with any and all infections, properly treating his amputations, skin grafts, reconstruction surgery and that wasn’t even accounting for the various therapies he would need afterwards.
So much to do to keep this man alive and just as much to help him return to a proper peaceful life after all this.
There were many close calls but Madeline and her co-workers swore an oath and were determined to save Captain Curly’s life.
The following year had been insane but after each process, good news would trickle in. Once it was confirmed that the most important work was done and successful, Madeline could feel the stress drain from her body, making way for relief.
*
With most of the major work done, it was time to focus on helping Captain Curly rest and adjust. Obviously Madeline still did her job, coming in whenever he needed a nurse and she was available.
Arm and leg prosthetics for the captain were being worked on, with physical therapy on the docket as soon as possible. He was also going to be given speech therapy after they got him some new lips. But in the meantime, the hospital provided an AAC machine for him to communicate, one of the ones where the patient’s eye movements were tracked to spell out what they needed to say.
Before long, Captain Curly was cleared for any potential visitors.
Admittedly Madeline wasn’t sure if there would be any. She didn’t know if he had any family left and his whole crew was gone.
But to her surprise, there were two sets of visitors on separate days. She recognized them as the Harold and Juarez families, having seen them plenty of times in news footage and photos from the trial against Pony Express.
The Harolds visited first and consisted of a plump older woman and her adult son and daughter. They were the family of the mechanic if she remembered the details correctly. She doesn’t know what they talked about (another nurse was the one who observed the visit) but she had a good idea.
She can only imagine the mix of emotions from having no idea what happened to your loved one for years and then suddenly having someone who can finally give you the answer you need, even if it wasn’t the answer you want.
Then the next day came the Juarez couple, a very severe looking woman and reserved man. Mother and father to the poor intern who was apparently added to the crew at the last minute.
This time, Madeline was the nurse to observe the visit and she watched with worry as Mrs. Juarez screamed at and blamed the Captain for not protecting their son and leading him to his death.
Madeline was just about to call security before Mrs. Juarez broke down sobbing, falling to her knees, and started shifting the blame to herself.
Captain Curly looked over his AAC device, his one eye looking over each letter that he needed to say…
“ I am sorry for failing you both and Daisuke. He was a good kid until the end. I would have gladly traded places with him. ”
After the visit, Mrs. Juarez informed the staff that she and her husband, along with the Harold family would donate some of the money they received from the PE court case to the Captain, paying his medical expenses and some money to keep him afloat when he leaves the hospital.
“...Daisuke… our son is- was very compassionate, always eager to help. I wonder why we didn’t see that before… but regardless… I think this is what he would have wanted us to do.”
*
Little over a year and a half since Captain Curly was brought into their care, it was determined that he could finally be safely discharged by the end of the month.
That said, the doctors had recommended that Captain Curly have an at-home nurse assigned to him. Even with everything the hospital has done to help him recover, he would still need assistance to adjust to the changes in his life along with certain tasks and needs such as transportation for his still ongoing therapies.
Without a second thought, Madeline volunteered.
It was only after talking with the boss and arranging a meeting for her and Captain Curly to explain what was going to happen that Madeline actually thought about what she just did.
It wasn’t like she was inexperienced, she’d done at-home care before and with all the progress that the Captain has made since his treatments, she can’t imagine that taking care of him would be all that different or more difficult from her past patients.
It’s just… Why him?
Sure as hell ain’t romantic, Madeline knew that for certain. It wasn’t that she only trusted herself. She knew her co-workers well enough and they all worked together to save the Captain. She was sure that any one of them who had experience with at-home care would do just fine.
Was it some weird obligation because her little brother considered him a hero? Or maybe she herself was developing some weird hero complex…
Maybe it’s as simple as just that she wanted to do her job and make sure he’d be okay.
Or maybe… she saw a little bit of herself in him.
After all, the only reason she was still here was because she got lucky and was given a second chance.
*
Madeline just stared at the door to Captain Curly’s door.
Why the hell was she so nervous? They’ve talked before even if it wasn’t very casual, just typical nurse+patient dialogue. He’ll likely recognize her.
“Are you ready to go in, Madeline?”
“Y-Yeah.”
She and Doctor Carpenter stepped inside and were greeted with the now all-too familiar sight of Captain Curly lying in bed, staring out the window.
Looking at him, Madeline couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride from everyone’s work. From his now fully healed skin grafts to his new nose and lips.
“Good morning, Mister Curling. As we’ve informed you, it’s been determined that you will be safely discharged at the end of the month. That said, we also recommend the services of an at-home nurse to help you with anything you need including but not limited to personal care, helping with any needs you find difficult, and transportation. Thankfully Madeline here has volunteered to serve this role for you.”
With that, Madeline took a seat next to the Captain’s bed.
“Good morning, Captain Cur-”
“No. Not Captain.”
“Oh… well I know technically with Pony Express out of the picture, you no longer have that title but…”
“No.”
“...?”
“Not Captain. Not Worthy.”
“Oh… I see… Then… how would you prefer me to address you?”
“Just Curly is fine.”
Okay.
“Curly. Your path of full recovery isn’t going to be easy, there’s going to be good and bad days. But you don’t have to go through this alone, I’m ready and willing to help you through whatever happens.”
It was a rehearsed speech. But hey it did the job and she still sincerely meant every word of it.
Curly just stared at her before asking her...
“Why me? ”
Madeline was about to reply that it was simply her job but her mind went back to Curly’s earlier remark. How he wasn’t worthy to be called Captain.
Images flashed in Madeline’s mind. Red cups, people dancing, flashing ambulance lights, a doctor telling a stupid crying teenager that she deserved to live even after making a huge mistake.
“Because you should be able to just live your life and find some goddamn happiness. I dunno what happened on that ship but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve good medical care or that you don’t deserve to enjoy things…”
“Not everyone deserves a second chance. Learned that the hard way ”
“Maybe so but… you don’t know whether or not it's worth it till you try. Trust me… I know a thing or two about second chances and feeling like you didn’t earn it.”
*
The rest of the month was spent making sure Curly had all his affairs in order.
The most important being where he was going to live.
Seven years was a long time to hold onto an empty apartment so obviously his old place wasn’t really an option anymore.
Doctor Carpenter was able to get in contact with some connections of hers and they managed to find a new home for Curly that wasn’t too far from the hospital and it was affordable with the money from the Harolds and the Juarezes.
After that there was getting him a wheelchair to use until he was fully comfortable moving with the prosthetics, some extra physical and speech therapy, figuring out his appointment schedules going forward, going over nutrition and exercise routines that he needed to do, etc, etc.
Before long, the end of the month arrived and it was time for Curly to go home.
Madeline stepped into Curly’s room with a smile on her face and a hand behind her back.
“Hey, happy moving day! Got something for you.”
She presented a wrapped package to him with a little “ta-da” and gently placed it on his lap.
“Think of it as a housewarming gift and maybe also a little bit of motor function practice with the unwrapping.”
Curly didn’t say anything as he did his best to tear off the wrapping with his new hands. After a few tears, the gift revealed itself as a boxed tablet.
“Obviously we can’t bring the AAC machine with you since it’s hospital property so I figured it would be nice for you to have until you’re fully comfortable talking again. I can even help you set it up when we get to your new place. Speaking of, let’s get up and at’em.”
With Madeline providing support, Curly wobbly stood from the bed and slowly walked to the wheelchair in the corner of the room.
There wasn’t really much in terms of personal belongings aside from his new tablet so all there was to do now was take Curly downstairs and to the car.
On the way to the elevator, Madeline and Curly passed by some of the doctors and nurses who had taken care of him over the last year and a half. Each one offering a “goodbye” and “good luck” to Curly, who merely nodded.
Eventually the two made it to the elevator.
Madeline watched the floor number display slowly tick down…
“f-th… th-ank y-you.”
She nearly jumped from the surprise voice, did someone step in and she just spaced out so bad she didn’t notice them?
But a quick glance around showed that it was just her and Curly in here… So did that mean…?
“Curly?”
He nodded before speaking again, “F-fh-thought bout wh-what y-you said. Bout sec-second ch-ch-chances.”
His voice sounded rough, real rough, probably a combination of various factors. She knew she should probably tell Curly to save it for when he has access to the text-to-speech function on the tablet. The last thing she wanted was for him to injure himself over talking of all things and just as he was finally leaving too.
But… she was curious…
“Oh yeah?”
“Ma-may-maybe I don’t… don’t deserve it b-but I s-still got it. S-so I sh-sh-shouldn’t was… waste it. U-use it to do… be-bet-better. Be better…”
“...That sounds good to me. Now you should probably save whatever else you wanna say for when we get the tablet set up, okay? You don’t want to get readmitted right away, right?”
And for the first time, Madeline heard Curly laugh. It was a wheezy kind of laugh and he was just continuing what she just said not to do but she didn’t want to spoil this little happy moment.
Once the elevator finally reached the ground floor, Madeline wheeled Curly over to the front desk to let the receptionist know what was going on and that everything was cleared and signed.
The two passed through the front doors of the hospital and thus started a new chapter in both their lives.