rubbing her arm, looking embarrassed for her emotional display.
"Why don't you go on ahead, Jeanie! There's a few more checks I have to make, here, then I'll be right behind you. Oh, and thanks for the hug," he added. "God knows, I really needed one today! I'll notify you of your future duties here. I'm still not sure what I want to do next."
"Thank you, sir, thank you!"
In seconds Jeanie was racing out of the lab toward the clinic.
"To be young again!" Cooper said to himself, and for the first time in hours HE smiled.
Jeanie tip-toed into the clinic as if she was walking into an intensive care unit. She saw the curtain was still pulled around Mike's bed and expected it was because he was still sleeping, or something. When she could not find Dr. Horton, she brought herself to peek around it. She went very slowly to the edge of the curtain. Mike was sitting in a chair beside the head of his bead, reading the newspaper. Though he was really engrossed in an article, he suddenly felt a strange awareness that someone had entered the room. He hadn't heard a sound, but just KNEW there was someone else there. He sighed, and moved the paper just enough to see the curtain. Although there was a light on his side of the curtain, there was none on the outside, but suddenly Mike could see the outline of Jeanie's form on the other side of the partition, as if a bright flashlight shone directly on her from behind, projecting her outline as if it was a movie screen!
Mike stared, not truly surprised for some reason, but waiting with fascinated amazement to see what happened. Jeanie had her hand on the edge of the curtain preparing to look around it. Mike put the paper up again, so that just the top of his head appeared, and she saw him immediately. Surprised at his improved condition, she managed a smile, and said "Hi!" She could tell he was grinning by the sparkle in his eyes.
"Hi!" he repeated enthusiastically, and put down the paper, folding it neatly, to his bed. "It's good to see you! I knew someone was here, but I thought it was Dr. Horton with some more of those horrible tests for me! Come on in and find a seat! Sit on my bed if you'd like." He stood up to stretch and Jeanie was pleased to see he was only clad in pajama bottoms and slippers. She couldn't hold herself back from staring at his handsome body. Mike seemed to ignore this, but he sat down quickly, not wishing to let her know he was nervous at her gaze. He fought back a blush, and Jeanie moved closer to the opposite bedside where the now silent machines stood.
"I didn't expect you'd be awake, so soon after...." she began.
"Oh, yeah," Mike nodded, looking down at the mattress. "I WAS pretty sick, wasn't I? Well, that's all over with, now, Jeanie, and I'm sorry if I scared you yesterday. I'm much better now, as you can see, and I'm very glad you came to see me! You know, you're my first official visitor!"