Part One

Pairing: Reed/William
Category: Hurt/comfort
Implements: none (yet)
Type: pre-slash
Series: Navigating the World and Relationships
Warnings: none

The Meeting

The worst was how the world was a blur as he spun through the air. The blur was
worse even than the sickening snap of his leg. As he lay in the street, the car
that hit him screeching away, all he could think to himself, over and over,
"please, God, I don't want to move back home". The sound of people talking to
him didn't bring him out of his silent chant. The sound of the ambulance did.

After a wild ride in the ambulance and the emergency room doctor made the
obvious diagnosis of a broken leg, William was admitted into the hospital.

"I don't need to be admitted," William said through his teeth. "Just set my
leg, get my cane, and I will go home"!

"But…." The doctor paused unsure of how to say it.

"But, what?!" William asked, knowing what the doctor wanted to say. William
refused to make it easy for anyone.

"But, you're blind," said the doctor.

"Yes," replied William. "I have been for over 20 years. Matter of fact, I've
been blind my whole life! So, I repeat, set my leg, get my cane, and I will go
HOME!"

"Your cane was broken into multiple pieces and until I am sure there will be no
complications, you will be admitted, " the doctor stated.



The knock at the door of his hospital room was swiftly followed by the sounds of
feet that did not have the same squeak as the nurses or the tap of dress shoes
that the doctors wore. This was the sound that William thought he would never
again have to hear. This was the rugged sound of sturdy, durable foot wear that
Orientation and Mobility Specialist wear.

"Hello, are you William Richardson?" a deep voice called out.

"Do you see any other blind people here?" William asked snidely.

"Nope, you are it and I am Reed Chaffin. I am your O&M instructor until we can
get you back on your feet." Reed said in a cheerful but matter of fact voice.

"I don't need any O&M, I have been on my own since I graduated college. So just
give me a new cane and see yourself out," William all but snarled.

"The doctor prescribed O&M services to help you while your leg is in the cast,"
Reed calmly said as he thought to himself, `What a beautiful man but oh how
angry he is'. `But this is nothing new', continued Reed's silent thoughts. `So
many young blind adults are angry or have a chip on their shoulders, and this
one is both!'

"I don't NEED or WANT your services", William did snarl this time.

"So, you know how to use your cane with a cast on your leg? You know how to
hold the cane and your crutches at the same time?"

"I've had O&M before," William spit out.

"With a cast on your leg?" Reed persisted.

"I've been using a cane since I was 3 years old, I think I can figure it out!"

`Time for a reality check,' Reed thought to himself as he let the cane unfold. 
"Here you go, your new cane, if you can navigate to the front entrance of the
hospital, I will shake your hand and be on my way."

William swung his legs off the bed, ignoring the throbbing pain of the one
encased in plaster, and held his hand out for the cane.

"Crutches first," Reed said as he handed William the crutches.
William stood with the crutches under his arms and tried to hold his hand out
for the cane. The crutch crashed to the floor.

"Pick it up," Reed demanded.

William awkwardly tried to lower himself down while protecting his injured leg,
and use the sweeping hand motion he had learned to find things that he had
dropped. Immediately William crashed to the floor. `Well, I found the crutch,'
he thought to himself as the crutch dug painfully into his side.

"Pick up the crutch and stand up," Reed demanded again as nurses and aides came
rushing in the room.

"Sir, he is Blind!" a nurse whispered furiously as she reached down to help
William.

"Stop!" Reed ordered. "Yes, he is blind but he is not helpless, nor does he
need anyone rushing to help him. If William needs help he can ask for it. And
without the attitude!" Reed directed the last to William.

As William fumbled to gather the crutch and the cane and protect his still
throbbing leg, he thought `And this is why I don't like O&M instructors, they
push and push for independence when they can SEE and I can't!" Finally William
broke down and asked quietly, "Will you please help me?"

Reed reached down and helped William to the bed. He knew he had to get the
situation under control. The nurse was glaring at him and William seemed
subdued now.

"William, wait here while I get discharge papers settled," Reed said calmly then
turned to the nurse. "Let's go to the nurse's station and fill out the
paperwork."



"Listen," he said to the nurse. "I am an Orientation and Mobility instructor; do
you even know what that is?"

"No but you were so mean to him!"

"Yes, sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind," Reed said gently. "Orientation
and mobility instructors sometimes called O&M instructors, teach blind people
how to navigate this world. I am here to teach William how to use his cane with
his crutches. And sometimes, most of the times, they don't want to be helped,
sometimes it makes them feel more helpless and that they have no control over
their lives. I can help him gain some of that control back."

The nurse looked doubtful at Reed but knew that the blind man in that room
needed someone to help him.

Reed looked around William's apartment, noticing how organized the place was, he
decided that the best way to start was to ask William what he wanted to get out
of the O&M lessons and to see if William just needed help because of the
crutches.

"Ok, William, tell me a bit about yourself and then we can decide our best
course of actions and what your needs are."

"Well, I am a single, blind, gay man," William stressed the word gay hoping that
the O&M would be a bit homophobic and this would make him go away.

"More and more of us gay guys coming out everyday," Reed replied casually. "But
I was talking more about where you work, how you get there, you know, that kind
of stuff."

"Oh, I, well, umm," William stumbled, processing the fact that Reed was gay
also. "I work at the bank, across the street from Starbucks, down on Main St.
and I walk there."

"So, you cross at the corner of Main and Elm? That is the only 4 way stop in
that area."

"No, I just line up with Starbucks and cross the street." William replied.

"WHAT?!" Reed almost shouted. "Is that where the car hit you?"

"Yes," William said defensively. "It takes like 5 more minutes to walk all the
way to the corner, and then I have to walk back up the street to get to the bank
and that is another 5 minutes!"

"So set your alarm 10 minutes earlier and give yourself some time to get to work
safely!" Reed said, his palm itching to swat the defensive man. Reed knew that
being a Top was sometimes an asset as an O&M instructor but he also knew he
couldn't go around swatting his clients. No matter how much his palm itched to
connect to that perky backside! And William was giving off Brat vibes that was
oh so hard to ignore.

"Everyone crosses there!" William exclaimed.

"Well, not everyone is blind!" Reed threw back and watched as William slumped
into a chair.

"Listen, you have had O&M before, you know the way this works. I will always
teach you the safest way to navigate. And it is up to you to follow through."
Reed told William firmly but gently. "You only need me for a short while, until
you get back on your feet. But I expect you to always put your safety first
even if it does take 10 minutes longer."

Reed knew that in a couple of weeks his professional interest in William would
stop but he planned on taking a personal interest in him. William said he was
single, he was all but screaming "Brat", and Reed could feel the chemistry
pulling at him to take William in his arms and kiss away the pout that was on
William's lips. It was either kiss him or pull him across his knee and he could
do neither until the O&M lessons were completed. Reed hoped that William was a
fast and dedicated learner so that the lessons would only be a few weeks, then
he would give it a few weeks more to create that professional distance, then he
would ask William out.