Sam enjoyed a bowl of applesauce Rose scooped into his mouth. She waited until he nodded before feeding him another bite, treating even the meal as rehabilitation. He didn't mind in the least.
Since she was no longer behind him, and he was no longer in the dim room they had moved him to, he could finally take a good look at her.
As she spooned in each bite, Sam kept his eyes on hers. He could see the triumphant look in her deep sea blue eyes every time he nodded. He tried to tell her how pretty those eyes were, but all he was capable of doing was drooling the sauce out one side of his mouth and gave her a smile.
She only smiled in return, even though she had every reason to laugh as she wiped away the dribble. "Why don't we save the talking until after dinner, huh?"
Sam didn't let the embarrassment encompass him as he nodded once more, accepting another bite.
When they finished his meal, Rose got to her feet. Before she disappeared again, Sam glanced at her slim yet healthy figure that he could see through the slim fabric of her scrubs. He couldn't tell if she was athletic, though compared to him, she could be an Olympic athlete.
Rose took her place back behind Sam and wheeled him towards an exit to the cafeteria. "We have a bit of an overcast today, so it should be okay to take a walk in the garden, what do you say?"
Sam thought about fresh air on his face and his face lit up. The last breeze he felt was that of the Afghanistan night that all went wrong.
"Earth to Sam." Rose snapped her fingers a few times. "Isn't this beautiful?" She pointed at the garden that was all around them. He must have spaced out a little as she was pushing him. He didn't even remember the door opening.
Lavender, lillies, roses and other various flowers surrounded Sam in all directions. He breathed in deep, "Thank you." He breathed out as it felt like part of him came back to life.
Rose cracked a smile from behind him, though it didn't really reach her eyes. "What happened to you, Sam?" She asked softly. He could hear the worry in her voice and wondered if she was the same with everyone she helped in the hospital. He cast such thoughts aside and thought of the question.
Before he could answer, he caught a look from a low window in the garden.
"Sam?" Rose moved to the front of his wheelchair, yet she didn't get a response. "Sam, are you okay?"
If anyone thought someone with atrophied limbs which hadn't seen the light of day couldn't possibly become more pale, they would lose a bet that day. As Sam looked at the reflection in the window, he stared into the eyes of a stranger.
It wasn't that he was weakened beyond recognition, but who he was looking at simply wasn't him. The old him had sandy blonde short cropped hair and hazel eyes. Yet the person he saw had long wild raven hair with, he couldn't be completely certain but it looked like deep blue eyes.
"I-I" Sam stuttered as he looked at his reflection. "W-who aare youu?" He tried to point at the reflection, but his arms still wouldn't obey his command.
"Don't push yourself, Sam." Rose noticed his troubled look as he looked at his reflection. "You will get better with time." Her voice was comforting, even though nothing made sense. He listened to her list off the types of flowers within the garden. Her voice sounded of honey as she went through the various plants. They walked for just a few minutes until Rose noticed how Sam had drawn into himself.
Somehow when he had been blown away by the suicide bomber, he was sent to another body. He had never been one to believe in god, nor in reincarnation. He had always firmly believed that the life he had was all there was. After it was done, he would just stay within the dark nothingness. The possibility that he had been put into another body instead of dying off made him question all that he knew.
"Do y-ou know who I amm?" He sounded out as he struggled to master his own voice.
"You were brought in here ten years ago as a John Doe. No one knows where you came from." Rose said gently. "When no one clamed you, the state did." She rolled him back to the door to the hospital interior. "The hospital worked with the local athorities to put up posters with your face on them, but when no one came looking for you, you became a ward of the state." Sam listened without interruption even though he was bursting with other questions. "This was your last week before the state decided to pull the plug."
He didn't think he should be so calm about the idea of the state of Michigan deciding who lived and who died, but since this was not his original body, he decided not to make a big deal of it. He was already trying to come to terms with the fact that he was never going to be Sergeant Sam Reid again. He only had a few more promotion points left until he got his Staff Sergeant, but such thoughts would never matter.
Instead of focusing on what he lost, at least for this moment, he was going to try gaining back whatever he could. He would start with his feet, then he would focus on the rest.
As Rose pushed the wheelchair back through the hall, they passed his old room and went to a lighter more spacious room. "You don't need to be in that small dark room anymore." Rose stopped the wheelchair at the end of a bed that looked much like the last one. The difference in the room was the windows which looked out at the garden. "I thought you would like this room for the view." She bent and combed his hair from his face. "I'll see you tomorrow." She gave him a wink before turning and leaving before the orderlies came to take him out of the chair.