Portoris met them near the front entrance after his office confirmed the appointment. His first question was addressed to Emily, not Cole. He asked her what happened, where she was hurting, and whether she was comfortable having the men remain while he spoke with her. Emily hesitated, then asked Cole to wait outside during the examination. He looked surprised for one moment and immediately agreed.
That small respect mattered more than she expected. She had spent years being discussed by people who were not looking at her, in rooms where her knee seemed to belong to forms and categories rather than to a person. Portoris listened as she described the original injury and the gradual worsening since her return to civilian life. He reviewed the old records she had managed to bring on her phone and explained that the next step was imaging and a thorough evaluation before anyone could talk responsibly about treatment.
"I can't tell you exactly what's wrong from pain alone," he said. "And I won't pretend I can. But a knee that repeatedly gives way after an old injury deserves investigation. Repeated falls can make an existing problem worse, and I don't want you trying to walk it off again."
Emily nodded, concentrating on the edge of the examination table. "I haven't had money for all the appointments. Every time I started the process, something came up."
"Then we make a plan that includes the cost," Portoris said. "But the medical facts come first. We need to know what we are treating."
He explained the possible causes in careful terms and emphasized that surgery was not automatically the answer until the findings were clear. He also asked questions about her daily function: whether she could use stairs, whether she had fallen at work, how often she woke from pain, and what tasks had become difficult. Emily answered clinically at first, minimizing the frequency of the bad days as she always did. Then she caught herself looking for the least alarming version of the truth and began again.
"It gives out more than I admitted," she said. "Some weeks twice, some weeks not at all. I've had falls. I didn't report them because I thought I could manage."
Portoris wrote that down without scolding her. "Thank you for telling me. That's the information I need, not the information you think would make you easier to treat."
The examinations and imaging took time. Cole sat in the waiting room holding a paper cup of coffee that grew cold while Cody scrolled through his phone and pretended not to be worried. For someone who solved most problems by making calls and giving orders, waiting was difficult. He had been able to summon a doctor he trusted, but he could not order the injured structures inside Emily's knee to repair themselves.
When Portoris asked Emily whether she wanted Cole present for the explanation of the results, she surprised herself by saying yes. Cole came into the consultation room and chose the chair beside the door rather than standing over the table. For a few seconds nobody spoke, and Emily studied the images displayed on the monitor, seeing for the first time the shape of damage she had been carrying for years.