Kotetsu meanwhile, was still apologizing to said family. "I swear kaa-san if I had known it would turn out like that I wouldn't have done it. I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal."

"I'm well aware of what you were doing and I guarantee that it had little to do with thinking." Anju Kaburagi snapped at her youngest son.

Kaede looked between her father and her grandmother and thought, really dad should have known that making a phone call in the hospital would get him in trouble. I mean he should have gone to the doctors the day the bridge blew up if he was hurt. Geez my dad has to be the weirdest dad ever. Of course almost every daughter thinks this about her father at some point, and Kotetsu always acted a bit goofier around his daughter.

The story that Kaede had heard was just another in a long line of ridiculous blunders. The day her dad was supposed to come home was of course the day the weird playing card girl had blown up the bridges out of Sternbuild. Her father had been on one of the bridges and had helped people off until Wild Tiger had shown up.

Sometime during that he had gotten hit in the stomach with something (everyone was pretty vague as to what, but the person himself couldn't remember so who could blame them) and it had caused him to wind up in the hospital. Thinking it was just a bruise her dad had gone home and into work the next day.

A few hours into work a coworker had noticed a stain on his shirt and when they found out it was blood they'd rushed him to the hospital. There was a lot more than a bruise or course and when her dad had called her grandma to tell her he had gotten in trouble.

Honestly even a little kid knew that the signals from a cell phone could mess up important and sensitive hospital equipment. At least that's what she's heard anyway. Now she was stuck here during her weekend when she was supposed to be hanging out with her friends. She tried to convince herself that the only reason she didn't like seeing her dad in the hospital was because it was inconvenient to her social life, and not because the idea of her only remaining parent in the hospital for any reason terrified her.

She could only imagine how her grandmother felt. Muramasa oji-san had frequently complained about her father's disregard for anyone else's feelings. Kaede didn't necessarily understand what exactly what was so upsetting about his job, but she understood that his decision to continue to live in Sternbild was what caused it. Seemed to her that a lot of things would be a lot better if he just moved back to Oriental Town.

Still, her fear of losing him caused her to inch a little bit closer to his hospital bed with each thought, and finally ended with her actually sitting on the bed and attempting to stealthily hold her father's hand.

Showing an uncharacteristic amount of restraint Kotetsu merely squeezed her hand when it found his way into his. She never had to know that it was largely due to the fact that it actually still hurt to move too much because it pulled on the wound in his side. He'd already been told of his future physical therapy appointments. He wasn't looking forward to them, but no one was letting him worm out of them.

Sometime during his family's visit he drifted off and told Antonio that they'd be back after getting some real food. Familiar with the hospital's fare himself his nodded his agreement. He promised to stick with Kotetsu and let him know where they'd gone, holding up his phone to remind Anju to text him when they were coming back so he could escort them back up.

As the two women left Antonio shot a text to Barnaby. He'd promised he'd tell the rookie when Kotetsu's family had left so he could visit his partner today too. He'd actually never found a time to visit his old friend without his new partner being there already.

In the short amount of time Barnaby would leave the room Kotetsu told Bison that he thought it was because the kid felt bad. Either that or he thought Kotetsu needed a babysitter. Considering his friend's behavior Antonio was inclined to agree.

It would still be about a week before Wild Tiger would be released from the hospital. Part of that time was for recovery, and Tiger referred to the other part as punishment days. Barnaby had explained that it meant Kotetsu had somehow aggravated his injuries and the extra time was to account for that. Tiger said that Dr. Peterson was punishing him for some transgression or another, but one thing was certain, it was going to be a long week.

After Kotetsu's family had left, with a generous dose of scolding on his mother's part, his partner was once again visiting every day. The veteran didn't know how he did it. Lloyd had set up a ton of interviews for the blonde and he spent most of his day in interview mode. Barnaby claimed that it relaxed him to visit at the end of the day and listen to the silly stories his partner told.

The day Kotetsu got off all breathing assistance the veteran almost hopped out of his bed and did a dance. The only thing that really stopped him was his ever-watchful nurses and a persistent shortness of breath after anything more strenuous than standing and slowly walking. He was told that he'd have to slowly build up his lungs along with the other physical therapy. Barnaby theorized that the exercises themselves would help, but Tiger in true stubborn fashion wanted to get back to work as soon as he could and used his hundred power as frequently as he thought he could get away with it.

Dr. Lewis and Dr. Peterson were well aware of why his recovery was seemingly happening at an accelerated rate and had taken his advanced healing into account at every turn. Even during the time the hero's powers weren't being actively used he had seemed to heal faster than an average person. Accelerated healing wasn't just reserved to NEXTs though so they were experienced with that as well.

While Dr. Lewis was willing to discharge their patient earlier than promised Dr. Peterson stood firm. She reasoned that even if the veteran didn't need to be monitored as much now a few extra days of forced rest couldn't hurt him. The ward was officially reserved for heroes and NEXT research so an extra day wasn't going to significantly impact any other patients.

Dr. Lewis had just laughed and accused her of having a special fondness for their very difficult case. She had huffed and turned up her nose. He and she knew exactly everything that had happened on that fateful day from Barnaby Brooks Jr. They were in the minority of people in the city who knew of Wild Tiger's heroic struggle to help his partner and idea that had ultimately allowed said partner to defeat the terrorist. There was no way she was at all attached to the silliest, bravest hero she knew.

That's why the day said hero was wheeled to the front doors and met by his friends she had definitely not stayed after her shift to say good-bye, and she certainly had not teared up when saying them. Dr. Lewis received a firm elbow into his side when he even suggested such a thing.

At least he had had the decency of not saying anything until the doors had closed behind their patient. When he proceeded to suggest that she'd still be able to see him when he came in for his physical therapy she had huffed and turned sharply on her heel. It was time for her to go home after all, and she saw no reason to stick around for her colleague's silly fantasies and pointless reassurances.

Kotetsu was escorted to Barnaby's car by his friends, and his partner and best friends escorted him into his house and up to stairs to his bed. When he complained about more 'resting' the two stared him down and Antonio tucked in his blankets, firmly. Barnaby assured his partner that many people would be making visits to make sure he was following the doctors' order. If he dared to show up at work Nathan assured him that he would have fiery, mad, escort back to his flat until he got the all clear.

Resigned to being babied and pestered for a while Wild Tiger, Kaburagi T. Kotetsu, laid back on his pillows and quickly drifted off to sleep, in his own bed once again.

Author's Note: I'm going to call this done for now. I might come back and add onto it later or even just start a whole separate story based on his physical therapy stuff depending on how busy I am later and what I can find about physical therapy. Thanks for all the reviews and encouragements. I hope you enjoyed it!