Hours passed. Then, just after another few minutes of agony, Lacie heard something new. Hammering sounds, a rapid, deep thudding, almost seeming to co...e from the ceiling above her. Lacie could hear something from beyond the door, rapid cracking noises that sent shivers down her spine. Dimly, Lacie knew the sounds meant danger, but her pain hazed mind couldn’t identify the noise. Lacie couldn’t understand anything beyond her cell and the cycle of agony and brief recovery. The rest of the world. She seemed to be waiting for him to speak."Please don't go."His voice sounded so small, as though he barely had the air to make the words come. He wanted her to move closer, to take the box and hurl it into the trash and assure him she could never go to him again. Instead she looked down at the box as though sizing its dimensions. Steven shivered as he imagined she was guessing its contents."You don't have to go. He can't force you."She began to go to him, then stopped after several steps,. Once you can get back and forth to the bathroom and walk three circuits of the ward without support, you are out of here. The sooner, the better. Everyone is on pins and needles around here as you can imagine."Damn that sound great to me. I hate hospitals.Sometime later a nurse came in and gave me more of the supper yummy broth. When I finished the first cup full, she pulled back the covers, flipped up my gown and pulled out the catheter."Your orders say that you are going to be urinating. It felt like my breathing was really deep and loud in the silence of the cottage as I quietly tiptoed into the hallway. I noted the cottage was lovely and warm, the central heating was full on this autumn chilly day and it needed to be with Helen lying naked spread eagled in the bedroom, somewhere in the cottage, to keep her warm. I knew the cottage was only one floor so the bedroom would be on the ground floor somewhere. I tiptoed around the corner and I saw a room with the door half open. .