Chapter 11
Around two in the afternoon, Carolyn woke up, needing the toilet and tried to sneak away from him, without waking him. But as she came back into the room she found him awake and smiling at her.
"Think you can sneak away!" he grinned with a tease and patted the bed.
She smiled and went over to give him a quick kiss then asked: "Hungry? Thirsty, for I am."
"Actually, I would love desert," he winked and she blushed. "But I suppose I have to wait a while longer. Yes, some food and water would be great."
Blushing, Carolyn chuckled and darted out the room into a quiet cabin area, with everyone sleeping except Selene and Philip who were chatting together quietly.
She crept up to Selene and whispered into her ear, "busted", causing Selene to squeak and cover her mouth so she didn't wake the others.
Blushing red, she whispered to Carolyn. "Nothing happened, I swear!" but her lips showed other evidence.
Smiling at her and Philip, she signalled her mouth and left them behind to clean up, while she went to the front to get something to eat. There, the stewardess quickly jumped up, curtsied and apologised for not being at her station and offered to make wherever Her Highness would like.
Smiling, she calmed the young girl and requested a couple of ham, cheese, tomato sandwiches with bottled water for her and Max, then left her to prepare it and headed back.
On the way. She stopped and stared at Ashley sleeping. With her phone, she took a few pictures and quickly snapped one of Selene and Philip lost in their world again. Grinning, she headed to the bedroom where she lightly re-joined Max on the bed and showed him the pictures.
Laughing at the pictures, he asked if the nurse was awake, to which he was informed: "no, but I can wake her if really needed. Or I can help".
Relenting, he explained he needed to urinate and wanted the bag and catheter checked, in case it was full or had come loose, and he also needed to be raised a bit.
Carolyn got off the bed, closed and locked the door.
Then came around to the other side of the bed and lifted the covers, pretending she was the nurse. She checked the bag, which was only half full. She inspected the catheter visual, and to her uneducated mind, it looked fine.
Grinning at this, as she kept a fair distance away from his penis. He suggested she rather call the nurse and get it properly checked. Blushing at him while also trying to glare at him, she relented and went to seek the nurse's assistance. But refused to leave and watched the nurse deftly empty the bag, checked the catheter was secure and asked him to release his bladder while holding a towel in case of spillage.
Carolyn saw this and glared back at him. Max asked if she could show Carolyn how to raise him a bit with pillows. Carolyn had to suck it up and take a lesson as she was jealous of the nurse. But as soon as the nurse left, she gave him a punch on the right shoulder in the area where she knew was safe, causing him to yelp and laugh out loud. A few moments afterwards, she starts to laugh also as she realises how silly she looks and acted.
Soon, a knock sounded on the door and Carolyn answered it, only to discover it was the stewardess who was delivering the food and water. Carolyn thanked her and took it and went to Max to assist him with eating and drinking.
As they were finishing their meal, a faint knock sounded on the door. Smiling, Max bid Ashley to enter, and she stumbled in with a teddy in her arm, while rubbing her eyes. She climbed into Carolyn's lap and yawned.
Max giggled and tickled her with his right hand, which she playfully smacked at like it was a fly, then climbed on the bed to snuggle with him. Carolyn, sitting on the edge of the bed, watched the pair and quietly took a photo of the two, before Ashley could be aware of it. She sent it to her parents and grandmother, then snuggled up with Ashley in the middle.
Carolyn extracted her phone from her pocket, opened the Instagram app and enabled the funny faces. Then she turned and laid down, with Ashley above her and Max to the side. For the next 10 mins, they took countless photos of themselves, with funny overlaying masks on their faces.
Selene stood up to check on them and found all three on bed having fun. She turned away and returned to her seat, where she replied to Princess Amelia, informing her what they were doing. It was all perfect.
Putting down her phone, she chose to close her eyes for a moment and Philip pulled her into his arms. She snuggled up and sighed happily, falling asleep.
Carolyn's phone rang silently, vibrating. Checking it, she saw her mother was calling. She quickly answered it and put it on video, so her mother could see the three of them.
'Who's that?' signed Ashley, Max interpreted with a grin.
But before he could answer. "Hi Guys!" said Princess Amelia. Smiling, she added.."And a special hello to you, Ashley."
'She knows my name!' said Ashely, with Max still interpreting.
"Yes poppet. That is Carolyn's mother, Princess Amelia. Wave hello, poppet," Max said.
Ashley gave a small wave and turned slightly towards her dad. She signed, 'Princess? How can she also be a Princess? I thought Carolyn was the princess.'
"Poppet. Carolyn's grandmother is the Queen. Soon, Carolyn's father will be the King. When he is King, Princess Amelia will then be known as Queen Amelia."
Giggling on the phone. "I am an old princess, but you can call me 'Amy'. I can't wait to meet you, and show my ponies."
'Ponies! She has ponies!" Ashley frantically signed.
Laughing Max replied. "Yes love. I am sure they have many horses and ponies. And I know one day, we will go see them."
Bouncing with excitement in between them, Max semi protected his right side from where they removed a portion of his kidney, laughing at her happiness. Then he calmed her down and said, "Why don't you go tell Granny and Nanny. I know they would love to hear about this."
And off she went.
"Sorry," said the Princess Amelia, cringing as she belatedly remembered his injuries. "Didn't mean to set her off like that. I am just so happy for you both and can't wait to spend time with her. I am already starting with my sign language lessons so I can try communicating with her. Oh, I see I must go. So ciao for now. And see you in the morning."
And she hung up.
After a bit, Max asked Carolyn to please call the nurse again.
"Why?" she asked. "What seems to be the problem?"
Max informed her that he would like to actually go visit the toilet as he was flat on his back for over 2 weeks and dying to be normal again.
Caroline smiled and quickly slipped out of the room and returned a moment later with the nurse and the doctor.
Standing by the door, the Doctor confronted his patient.
"I hear you already wish to defy the rules and try to use the toilet. It hasn't been long enough for your hip to heal. Your back is only being held together with a special brace from your L1 vertebrae till the top of your pelvis. I would rather you not do so."
"Doctor, I hear what you say, but I really would like to do my deposit in the toilet and not feel like an invalid baby with someone wiping poo from my a… rear end, as I have had for the last two weeks. I understand it could be dangerous, but I managed to sit on the bed for a bit in the hospital with the therapist and nurse, while they changed the sheets and washed my back. Surely, with support from you and the nurse, we can hobble to the toilet, and I can do my job with a towel covering my privates. I would love it if I could lie/sit in one of the chairs in the main part of the plane for a short while to interact with everyone."
Huffing, he walked out and returned two minutes later with some sort of brace.
"This is what I had brought with me from Denmark and was hoping to put you in as a back support. But it needs your pelvis to properly support your back fully. As you know, your left pelvis is out of action. So this brace will properly not work. I suppose, it could give you about 60% support, as it wraps around your shoulders, chest and waist. But we can leave the straps that go around your bum and front end."
Max agreed.
Sighing, the doctor said. "Ok let's strap you in this, and test you out first."
While strapping him in, and also inspecting the spinal wound when they sat him up. Carolyn also got her first glimpse at the 20cm long scar on the spine. She shuddered but continued to watch the doctor and nurse place padding over it and continue to strap the special brace on.
Then Dr van Losé ran a few tests on him, including to see how much strength he had in his right leg after informing him he was not to stand or put any weight yet on the left leg, at all.
Mildly happy with the results, and noting the right leg shook quite a bit, he told Max. "This shaking is because the muscles are not strong enough to fully support and function. But with exercise, they will grow stronger again."
Smiling and listening, Max,with the support of the Doctor and Nurse (Raul came and stood by the door in case he was needed to assist), the trio hobbled, walked him towards the bathroom and sat him down carefully on the toilet.
The nurse semi closed the door for privacy and removed the nappy. She placed a towel over his lap while the doctor was supporting him in a sitting position, as his back muscles too were weak. Max was not allowed to support himself yet.
Max could feel slight pain in his left pelvis side, and shifted more weight over to his right. Every now and then, he would unconsciously activate or use a muscle near or around the wounds, and a small joint of pain would flare from the wound area.
The Doctor saw this, as his face flinched each time. He suspected and checked if the pain was from the spinal cord, internal or external braces or the wounds. But was thankful, when Max described the pain and concurred it was the wound, muscles and stitchers.
Once the nurse was done prepping Max, she swapped with the doctor who then left Max alone. Max, still very self-conscious that the nurse was there, relented and relieved his intestines and bladder. After a bit, he used his right hand to grab some toilet paper and quickly cleaned himself while apologising for the smell.
Nurse Tarryn chuckled and asked. "Are you ready to be rewrapped in a nappy?"
Only, Max pleaded with puppy eyes, for a pair of boxer shorts rather.
The doctor was still in the room, and heard this. He agreed, only for the time, while Max was awake, but he is to wear the nappy when he sleeps later tonight. Agreeing to this, Max was awarded with a pair and with assistance of the Doctor, the Nurse still held him against the toilet cistern, and they both of them raised him into standing position.
Quickly covered him and 'walked' him to the main cabin where one of the chairs was made ready for him.
After seating him and Ashley demanded to sit next to him. Carolyn smiled happily, relenting her spot to accept the chair across from him. Everyone applauded Max, for his accomplishment. Smiling happily, he got to spend time with his family, including his new love. But not really excluding Selene, Philip, Raul – who sat next to the nurse, while the doctor sat opposite them writing up notes
They all chatted and joked around, enjoying themselves. Little did Max know, Carolyn had tasked the two air stewardesses to secretly take photos of this moment, from either end of the plane, until Max looked up in hopes to ask for something to drink and saw her take a picture.
Both in shock for a bit, he glanced at Carolyn who smiled and winked her eyebrow in acknowledgement, quickly edged Ashley into joining him. Together, they made smiley and funny faces at the camera, which the Stewardess gladly took smiling.
Carolyn was enticed to join too, and soon Granny Joyce hobbled over with assistance, to sit next to Max to have her picture taken with Ashley and Carolyn too.
Afterwards, supper was served and with Max's approval, Nurse Tarryn hid a crushed tablet in Ashley's meal which would make her sleep properly, in fear she would wake during the rest of the flight. About 45 mins later, after eating and having a quick bath, Ashley was lights out, on one of the couches that can convert to a single bed.
And Carolyn was with Max, back in the bedroom, lying on the bed, chatting.
Max and Carolyn were woken up by Selene early in the morning, around 1am. She informed them they were soon starting to descend and would shortly land at 2am at Copenhagen Airport.
Max, with assistance of the Nurse, Doctor and Carolyn, was gratefully allowed to dress into a large pair of stretchy pants, while still needing to keep the nappy on. He reluctantly agreed to wear it, in case of spillage from the reapplied catheter. With a t-shirt on, after they had to cut the left sleeve a bit to allow the fixator slip through, and a stretchy woollen jersey over it, he felt decent enough to meet and greet the world, if anyone was awake.
Ashley, still out for a count, was to be carried. She, with Granny Joyce, were transported directly to Sorgenfri while Max, Carolyn and the rest of the staff were transported to Amalienborg's King Christian VII Palace.
There, they slept the last of the morning hours in the suite specially reserved for them.