trashchildren | For Joan

"You're so welcome," Ted answers warmly.

He carefully gets to his feet - his knee is a bit stiff, so he's glad he cushioned it so it's not worse. Very small price to pay though. Before he does anything else, he leans forward to give her a kiss.

Then he turns off the shower and hangs it back up, then goes to grab some towels, handing one to her.

She smiles into that kiss, lifting a hand to touch his cheek and then sliding that hand down his arm, letting it clasp his hand briefly as he stands back up before letting go. When he hands her a towel she starts drying herself off.

"I'm going to miss taking all our showers together," she says with a smile as she starts to dry her hair. It's true, even if she's also going to be glad to not have to take all her showers with him helping her.

He stretches his back and shoulders a bit before he starts drying himself off. He's had time to air-dry a little bit in the meantime.

"Well, we can still take most of them together," he answers with a smile, thinking the same thing. It'll be good for her to be able to do things for herself, and be able to stand up while doing it. "I didn't pull your hair too much, did I?" he asks, wanting to make sure.

"Not at all," she says with a smile. "A little pulling is fine." She doesn't want to have her hair yanked, per se, but a bit of pulling is okay. Pleasurable, even.

"Do you want to help me up so I can wrap myself in the towel and get in the chair so you can wheel me into the bedroom?"

Ted would probably have difficulty yanking Joan's hair even if she outright asked him. Causing pain doesn't exactly come naturally to him. One of the reasons he's better at basketball than football. No tackling.

"Sure thing," he answers, grabbing a big dry towel for her to wrap around herself and hanging it over his arm, then offering her his hands to help her up. He just hopes she isn't overestimating her strength.

Joan isn't likely to ask him to cause her pain. Small, intense sensations that verge on pain can be thrilling, like a tug of her hair or a pinch of her nipple, and he seems to be enjoying playing with that.

Joan is very careful rising from the stepladder, considering the amount of energy she expended on each of their climaxes. She holds on tight and takes her time, making sure she's steady before leaning in for a gentle kiss.

Ted's ready to catch her, but grateful when he doesn't need to. And then smiling when she leans in to kiss him. Before he hands her the towel, he decides to wrap his arms around her, gently pulling her close, just enjoying a moment of being skin-to-skin. A downside to having sex like they just did is they can't cuddle up naked the same way.

She wraps her arms around him, holding him close in turn, loving the simple intimacy of being skin to skin. She loves how physical they can be with each other in ways that aren't directly sexual, even when they're both completely naked. She would love to just cuddle with him for a while, but they have things to do.

"Can we be naked tonight when we fall asleep together?" she asks softly. "Since we don't have to have Sherlock watching us anymore..."

Ted loves physical contact, sexual or not. There's just something solid and comforting about it. It's why he's sad Sherlock doesn't work the same way, or at least has a low tolerance for it. But thankfully Ted gets all his hugging and cuddling needs satisfied by Joan.

He smiles warmly when she asks, and nods. "I'd love that," he agrees. "As long as you don't mind keeping one part of me covered," he adds playfully, and taps the foot that has the cast on it.

Sherlock is certainly not one for non-sexual physical contact, which makes the times when he's allowed it or engaged in it, like holding hands for those few seconds in the park, all the more momentous. Joan, on the other hand, is significantly more physical, and is very grateful for the ability to hug and cuddle with Ted, because otherwise she just doesn't get much of it in her life.

She smiles and narrows her eyes as she considers his caveat. "I think I can let it slide," she says with mock seriousness, then smiles wide.

"What a gracious and forgiving woman you are," he teases happily, giving her a quick kiss. Without fully letting go of her, he pulls the towel off his arm and unfolds it, wrapping it around her back, and pulling back a little bit to hand the ends to her.

She grins at him, and happily kisses him back. When he hands the ends to her she carefully wraps the towel the rest of the way around herself and tucks in the corner, keeping one hand on him at all times to maintain her balance.

"There...help me over to the chair?"

"Yup, here we go," he answers, holding her hand and keeping one arm around her back, both for support and in case she stumbles. He misses being able to simply pick her up, but he's grateful she doesn't need to be lifted around anymore.

He'll be able to pick her up soon enough, and hopefully by that point it will be for the sake of fun rather than necessity.

She makes it to the chair without much incident, and carefully sits down.

Once Joan is seated, Ted takes off the plastic protecting his cast, and grabs a towel for himself and wraps it around his waist. He doesn't go around shirtless often, but he won't mind if Sherlock sees him when they're just coming out of a shower. Though he makes a mental note to actually make sure the bathrobes are in the bathrobe before the next time they shower. Simpler that way.

Before he goes he takes Joan's head gently in his hands and plants a kiss on top of her head, before he takes them both to the bedroom.

Sherlock is in the living room, on his laptop with earbuds in. Whether he was wearing the earbuds the whole time or put them in when he started overhearing certain enthusiastic sounds coming from the bathroom is unclear. He looks up from his laptop for a brief glimpse of Ted rolling Joan into the bathroom, and looks down again with a slight smile on his face.

Once they're in the bedroom and Ted has helped her out of the chair and onto the bed, Joan requests a tunic and leggings, something nice and simple and comfortable for her visit with Beard.

Either Sherlock did so assuming they would get up to something, or he heard something. Either way, Ted doesn't really want to consider.

He helps her into the clothes as well, even if she doesn't need as much help anymore. It actually takes him longer to get dressed, because he's run out of sweatpants and need to get a pair of khakis over the cast.

She appreciates the help. Some things are still a little difficult, like hooking her bra. Even with things that aren't difficult, though, it's still nice to have him looking out for her, if just for a little while longer.

She watches him struggling with the khakis, wishing she could help.

"When do you get your cast off?"

"Oh, and least 3 weeks," Ted answers, frowning down as he wiggles the khakis over the cast. "But probably longer, cause my ribs have been healing to."

And then there's the hypothermia. He was basically told that his body was healing from so many different things, it was probably gonna take a bit longer for the cast to come off than it usually would with this fracture.

He finally manages to get it over, and stands up to pull the pants on properly finally.

She nods. That sounds about right.

"I'm sorry," she says softly. She knows this is hard for him, being out of commission and away from his team. "Do you have to be out of the cast to go back to coaching? I mean, you don't absolutely have to be able to run with the players, do you?"

"I mean, it's more fun that way," he answers with a smile. "But no. I was thinking of starting up again on Monday, assuming you're alright without me by then."

It is looking very promising, otherwise he wouldn't have put a specific date on it, in case she insisted him going back despite her needing him.

He'll have to do a whole lot more sitting, he supposes, but as long as he can be present and he can use his voice, it shouldn't be a problem. He is nervous about going back though.

"That's great!" she says with an enthusiastic smile. "I'm so glad you're going back to work. I'll be fine." Even if her strength isn't completely back to normal by then, Sherlock can stay with her. It's important that Ted get back to his team.

"Do you think I could be at the game that Saturday?"

Ted smiles, relaxing a little at her enthusiasm, which reassures him.

"Yeah, of course," he answers immediately. "I'm sure Rebecca and Keeley will love to have you up there with them."

"I'd like to be there for your first game back," she says with a smile. She wants to be as supportive as possible, because she knows this is really important to him, and that it can be tough going back after something very traumatic and very public.

He nods, smiling warmly. "I appreciate that," he answers softly.

He pauses buttoning up his shirt, and goes to sit next to her for a moment, just to give her a grateful kiss. He loves her so much and is so happy he has her to support him.

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