You know of the rumours you pick and choose your opponents. Or I do. Well, Beckinsale was chosen by the board. Well above their usual involvement, but they handed me this match up and said make it work. As in, make some money out of this.
I tried and I failed. She has no followers. Your followers saw this as another easy win. Your detractors saw it as another cheap and easy win. So truthfully, no one cared. But this blonde bombshell from Australia surprised everyone.
And fortune favours the brave so we roll with it. All of a sudden, people see Veronica Nash isn’t superhuman. There IS someone out there to challenge her. Your core fans are engaged again. Your detractors have a way to put you down, unless you prove them wrong. Since when has the great Veronica Nash had to prove anything? Now we finally have an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I won!”
“You injured her...” Max said, “but you didn’tbeather.”
“I did,” she replied coldly. “Anyone that disagrees, tell them to check the replay. I won. End of story. Find me someone else.”
“That’s it.” Chris encouraged softly from behind Ava. “Nice and slow.”
Ava gripped the cool aluminium bars on either side of her, biting her lip from the pain in her leg as she tried to shift it forward. Today was the last day of physical therapy she needed to complete in order to be released. Which meant out of this hospital and onto a plane. Finally, ten weeks after that night.
Home to Sydney.
She grimaced and held her thigh, trying to shift herself with one hand on the grips. Her right leg felt like a cinder block. She willed herself to move it, but it just wouldn’t co-operate. An inch here and few more there. Her left was much better, sans a plate and screw, but she still felt like a newborn foal.
“Alright, that’s it,” her therapist said. “You are making progress. I know it’s frustrating but it will come. It just takes time, Ava. That’s all. I’ll prep the paperwork, so you’ll have everything you need to continue this back home, and we’ve contacted the doctors in Sydney, so they will know what we’ve done so far. Hey, that reminds me. Have you seen the weather they’ve been having in Sydney?”
“That big black cloud thing?” Chris asked. “Yeah we saw it. Looks like the airport only recently opened again. I caught the news on my phone yesterday. So we’re lucky.”
“Lucky indeed.” The therapist nodded, then made to leave, but Ava tapped the bars, making him stop, and gestured to her throat, holding her hand up briefly.
“Again, there’s no set time. I’m sorry. I have every hope you’ll regain your voice and be able to speak without pain, but the trauma to your larynx and vocal chords was severe. You’re going to need more speech therapy. You can discuss that with your doctors back home. But first, they need to get you confident on that leg as soon as possible.”
Ava watched him go, feeling helpless. Useless. Though the sight of Ruben with her bag from the hotel and a bunch of flowers was a sight for very sore, very tired eyes.
“We get on a plane tonight, babes. Let’s all just be grateful for that.” Chris said
“And have a look at these,” Ruben chimed in. “Still no note, but whoever they’re from must know you like lillies. A certain old flame back in Sydney, hmm?”
Ava gave a small smile and rose gingerly, pointing to the bathroom. Ruben immediately jumped up to provide his arms for her. He carried her everywhere despite the hospital wanting her to do more for herself. His thoughtfulness touched her even though she hated having to be helped with everything. But she needed it. To deny that would be stupid. Once she was inside and stable, he backed out, leaving the door slightly ajar in case she needed anything.
And then Ava was alone in the well-lit bathroom and eventually shifted her way to the sink. She steadied herself and slowly reached for her toiletries bag, pulling out her foundation. She held it with one hand and tried to twist the lid with the other, but the bones of her fingers ached. Even something as simple as that took seemingly forever before finally the lid would come free.
Now was the part she dreaded. She steeled herself and looked up into the mirror at her reflection. She dabbed the sponge and ever so gently patted it over the gouges in her head and the bruises and blood blisters under her skin. The only sounds were her own soft sniffles.
She hated feeling this vain. To feel she had to cover up what happened. Part of her felt she had nothing to hide. She should be proud of what she’d endured and survived. But as the foundation case clattered into the sink and she smacked the mirror in anger, all she could do was hold on to the ceramic basin with her other hand as she sobbed.
The punches to her head were coming back to her. Defenceless and pummeled. Completely out of her league. Ava realised that despite what she thought she should feel, that she had in some way triumphed, the truth was she only felt one thing: defeated. In more ways than one.
She felt strong yet kind arms wrap around her shoulders. More than one person, though, had joined her in the room. She buried her face in her hands, ashamed to be seen this way yet so grateful she wasn’t alone.
Chris shushed her, rubbing her back. “Time heals all wounds, darling. Please don’t cry... You’re going to be alright. I swear.”
“I don’t know what t... to do... ” she blubbered, her voice that of crackling and crunching cardboard.
“Is this what I deserve?”
“What?” Chris asked, stroking her hair.
She meant her career. Her life. Was she insane for having agreed to the fight? Was she capable of continuing after that beating? Is this what she deserved for believing she was ready before she was? After the months it would take to properly recover, the competition would all move on. And up.
“No,” Ruben answered, “don’t even go there. This isn’t your fault. And... it isn’t Chris’ or mine. I will never apologise for believing in you. You were incredible. You took it to the greatest fighter the world has ever seen. You rocked her. She’ll never forget you. She respects you now, more than she ever has anyone, I’d say. She wouldn’t say what she said to you to just anyone.”
Ava took several breaths. Chris had told her what had happened while she was unconscious. What Nash had said after kissing her head. This was the world they lived in. Although Ava was devastated at the way her body was traumatised, she certainly wasn’t going to whinge because of it. She needed to take a minute, break if she needed to, but pick herself up. Do whatever she needed to do to recover. Then see what the medical opinions said her future held.