Chap.7: Home is where the…hurt is?

True to his word, Dr. Gramenz released Stephanie the very next day. A smile curved at the tips of her mouth as her mother wheeled her out of the hospital. Finally she could relax with no more nurses bugging her and no more doctors watching her every move and, best of all, no more gross hospital food. Even if she couldn't actually go home, getting out of the hospital all together was great. She sighed as her mother put the wheel chair away.

"You know, the stupid wheel chair was entirely pointless. I could just as easily have walked out here."

"I know, but it's just how hospitals do things."

"Yeah well, I think it's silly. I mean, if you just spent some 3 or 4 days in the hospital doing nothing but laying in bed, wouldn't you want to walk out on your own."

"Actually no, I think I would want to just let them do things they way they always do them. It's not worth arguing over, Steph." Mrs. Meanswell took on an annoyed yet motherly tone. "You should be happy, you're out of the hospital and you can relax now."

"I know, I know, I am happy to be out of the hospital. And your right I guess, it's not really worth arguing about. I'm just really tired of the way hospitals do things."

"It's a hospital, dear, full of doctors and nurses. They're trained to annoy you." She smiled at Stephanie, who started laughing as she got in the car.

"So, since for some reason no one's bothered to tell me yet, is…there anything, ya know, left of our house."

"Well, it was a pretty big fire, but the house did somehow manage to stay standing. I don't know if there's anything left of the inside; I had asked the firemen if we would be able to go in, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"Oh…" They lapsed into a comfortable silence until they got to the mayors house and were welcomed into the open arms of Milford and Bessie.

"Oh, Stephanie, I'm so glad to see you out of that hospital. You looked so miserable in that hospital bed." Bessie smiled as she hugged her niece.

"Oh I was, aunt Bessie." Bessie noticed that her niece seemed slightly distracted, but decided not to say anything about it since neither her mother nor Milford seemed to have noticed.

"You know, I'm just curious as to how the fire started." Her mother said innocently. "The firemen told me that it most likely started in the kitchen, but they weren't sure how."

"Oh…Mom I…I'm sorry." Stephanie looked at her mother guiltily, as though she was about to confess to some huge crime.

"What? Why are you sorry, it's not like the fire was your faul—"

"Umm…well it kind of was. I was baking a cake and I went into my bedroom and I was thinking about…" She was about to say she was thinking about Sportacus, but stopped herself just in time. "I was just thinking about some things that had happened and I got upset and started crying and then I fell asleep and then when I woke up I smelled the smoke and I went into the kitchen in a panic because I knew exactly where the smoke was coming from and stupid, stupid, stupid me I opened up the oven to take out the cake instead of calling the fire department and then I felt this huge wave of heat and then before I could do anything else the flames were just all around me and I can't believe it because I didn't even think it was possible to start a cake by burning a fire…I mean start a fire by burning a cake and…Oh I'm just sorry alright. It was my stupid, dumb mistake and I'm sorry." It all came pouring out of her mouth in what seemed like one long endless sentence, and she started shaking like crazy as tears started to run down her cheeks. Oh wow Steph, your 22 years old and your crying. That's real mature. I can see why Sportacus still sees you as a kid…no. Don't think like that. Your house just burned down, you have every right to be upset. She argued with herself in her mind.

Meanwhile, her aunt, uncle, and mother stared at her dumbfounded by her slightly rant like confession. Finally her mother, driven by her maternal senses which had just kicked into over drive, walked over and hugged her daughter comfortingly.

"Sssh, don't cry baby girl, it's alright."

"No it's not alright." She pushed away from her mother. "I made a stupid mistake and now our house is gone. I wouldn't blame you if you hated me now." She knew she was acting childish but she couldn't stop herself.

"Don't be ridiculous, dear. You're my daughter and you know that I could never hate you."

"…"Stephanie stood there, sobbing quietly. She had been bottling all of this up from the moment she had come too in the hospital 4 days earlier, and now she couldn't seem to stop herself from crying because of how guilty she felt.

"Ssshh, no more crying, okay? Forget about the fire. It's over and done with. We'll just have to find somewhere else to live, okay?"

"Mom…Where on earth are you gonna find the money for that?"

"Well…I don't know. But I'll…we'll find a way. You said you're staying her, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you know why now."Tears were still dripping down her cheeks, but she had managed to stop sobbing. "I couldn't go back to Italy knowing that I was leaving you behind to clean up my mess. I mean, you couldn't stay with aunt Bessie and uncle Milford forever."

"That's true, but even if you do go back I'm sure I'd find a way."

"No. No 'even ifs'. I'm staying and that's final. It's just a dance school, right? I've learned enough to be a small time dance performer if nothing else. But I don't think I'd be able to concentrate anyways knowing that you'd be back here searching for a new house with not nearly enough money for a proper one. Besides, I already called the school and told them that they can give my spot to some other lucky girl."

"Well, if you were gone, it would just be me. It's not like I've got anyone else to share it with." She smiled. "So it's not like I need a huge house anyways."

"Hmmm, that's a very good point, but still." The tears had long since dried up and she forced a smile. "I mean, it's not only a new house that we'll need. We've lost everything and, come to think of it, we're going to need new clothes, not to mention the fact that all of our jewelry is gone. The medicines you were taking are gone, it's going to be a fortune just to go to the doctor to get all those new prescriptions, never mind paying for all of them at once. And my medical bills, they'll be insane I'm sure. I mean put it all together—"

"Stephanie, shutup." Her mother said, annoyed at her daughters over anxiousness. "Relax. It's not quite as bad as you think, alright. I have…some money saved up. Quite a bit of money, come to think of it, and I've been saving it in case of just such an occasion."

"Money…Mom how much money."

"Oh, enough money."

"Mother how much money is enough money."

"Oh I don't know, it's been sometime since I've even thought of that bank account." Her mother replied in a calm and almost incoherent manner.

"MOTHER! I want to know right now, how much money are we talking about here? Are you telling me that I worried about all this for nothing? That I gave a way my position at the school FOR NOTHING!"

"Well…I guess maybe you did."

"MOTHER HOW MUCH!" Stephanie was mad, and it wasn't helping that her mother seemed so perfectly calm about it all.

"Well…I…Last time I checked it was when you were 10 and we moved here and there was about…uuuhhh…3 million.

"…" Stephanie just stared at her mother in disbelief. 3 million dollars. Dang, after 12 years who knows how much there is now.

"Well, I did warn you dear, not to make any split second decisions."

"SPLIT SECOND DECISIONS. I thought I was staying here because she needed me too. Because it would be wrong to leave my mother here to have to pay to get all of that back and that I should stay her and help and get a job and pay for insurance and a new house and all that stuff. I even call my school and tell them to give my spot to someone else. I should have just gone back. NO WAIT I should have just stayed in Italy. I should have just stayed there and finished school and then gone to New York and done Broadway shows, just like everyone told me to. Heck, I shouldn't even be here. I should be living a millionaire's lifestyle in a mansion surrounded by hot guys out side by a pool. I DON'T BELIEVE THIS. We're rich and she doesn't even tell me. She just hides all that money waiting for a disaster to strike. We could pay for all that stuff and we'd still be rich. I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!"

Again, her mother, aunt, and uncle just stared at her, dumbfounded by her rant that started with her being mad because she was guilty for nothing and went on to pretty much nothing.

"MOTHER." She lunged at her mother. "I don't believe you. How could you hide something like that. I mean, for heaven's sake, we're millionaires!"

"I know that dear. The reason I didn't tell you is because I didn't want you to grow to be a spoiled little rich girl. I put it away and took some out now and then when it was needed. We were always happy the way things were, so I didn't think it would matter. I mean, jeez if your father had been alive and it have been up to him he would have taken all of the money from his company and…Oh no, oh no, oh no, I shouldn't have said that." She face-palmed her forehead. "I should not have said that. Just forget I said anything alright."

"What about daddy? He owned a company of some sort? Oh to heck with it, I don't care. Mom, we're going to go to the bank right now and we are going to take out a large withdrawal and then…And then you and I both are going to go shopping at the mall. No if, ands, buts, or excuses. You hid this from me for too long, now you owe me. BIG TIME!"

"I…but…wecan'tjust… Oh alright fine. I suppose I really do owe you. I should have at least told you about it, even if I wasn't going to use any of it. But I want you to know that I'm doing this under extreme protest. Just because you're out of the hospital doesn't mean much, you still have a lot of burns and you need time to recover. But then again, you are 22 years old, I suppose I can't really stop you."

"Now that's more like it." Stephanie latched arms with her mother and practically dragged her back out to the car. This is going to be fun. Just me, my mother, and who knows how much money. Wait till I tell Trixie about this. She'll forget all about hating me and she'll probably freak out. And Pixel, I could do any number of things with him. I could even take him to Tokyo in Japan. He always wanted to go there because of all the technology. This is so great, this changes everything…But I wonder where all the money is coming from. Who was my dad really. I remember him going off on business trips all the time but I never knew what they were all about…This is definitely something I need to find out more about…

Ok, so, I basically made this chapter up as I went along. I honestly didn't even know that I was going to make her a millionaire until I got about half way through this chapter, but I think it works sooo…