The balance of Azucena's time in Roswell was a blur of cognitive tests, walking the hospital hallways to build her strength, and lots of sleeping. Marshall and Mary popped in a few times to check in on their witness and to see if she remembered anything.

There were some pretty heavy moments, specifically when Azucena saw the damage WoFat had inflicted on her in the bathroom mirror. She couldn't miss the patch of missing hair from when the doctors cut open her head to relieve the pressure on her brain. Or when she saw all the stitched up knife cuts that covered her torso. She had felt the pain, but seeing the actual damage enraged her. Her body had become a shrine to all the WoFat encounters she had endured.

Steve and Catherine did their best to help her through these difficult moments, but they knew it would take time for her to get past. While she slept, Steve and Catherine discussed the idea of her talking to a counselor, but Steve knew that would take an act of God. Knowing his sister, she needed to get back into a routine that allowed her to exercise, he would just have to keep an eye on her and make sure she ate and didn't overdo the exercising. He was honestly surprised that she wasn't unnaturally skinny when he arrived in Roswell. He assumed it was because she was working full time and didn't have the opportunity to run every morning and dance for two hours.

Eventually Azucena was released from the hospital, and the Marshalls escorted them to a private airstrip to put the family on a private jet back to the islands. Steve could see the joy on his sister's bruised face as they climbed into the blacked out SUV. Standing at the bottom of the stairs to the jet, Marshall and Mary gave Azucena their business cards, in case she remembered anything. They also gave her a going away gift to remember her time in Roswell, a little green alien figurine and a bucket hat with the little green alien embroidered on the front of it. The hat to cover her shaved patch of scalp and the alien to remember that she's not alone. She laughed at everything and the alien really rang home in her mind; she had felt like an alien her entire life.

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Danny stood at the edge of the tarmac as the family slowly descended the stairs of the jet. Steve leading the pack, wanting to be able to catch his sister if she lost her balance and strength on the stairs. She was stronger than she had been, but she was still easily tired and had a long way to go to get back to her original strength.

Although the bucket hat hid part of her face, Danny could see the bruises on Azucena from across the tarmac. Her face was still slightly puffy, but both of her eyes were visible. Part of the bruising on her face was turning to an ugly shade of greenish yellow, but the other parts were still heavily dark blue and purple. The way she walked, he could see she was still in pain. He was surprised when halfway across the tarmac, she reached out for Steve's arm to steady herself. That wasn't the Azucena he knew, the fiercely independent, spunky little sister was in bad shape.

As they approached Danny, he opened his arms, "Welcome home kiddo."

She slowly reached out to Danny, and he tentatively enveloped her in his arms. Danny made eye contact with Steve, and Steve mouthed to him, "Gently."

"It's good to be home Danny." She said, as she let his arms wrap around her.

"We missed you."

"I missed you guys." She said, and Danny slowly pulled back. He got an up close look of the damage inflicted to her face, and internally he cringed. She had been through hell multiple times, but this looked worse than anything else.

Danny hugged Steve and Catherine, as they had been gone a little over a week. Eventually they all loaded up in Steve's truck, Danny had switched out vehicles to pick everyone up. Steve helped Azucena climb the running board and get situated in the back seat of the truck. His stubborn little sister over exerted herself by trying to do everything herself, but he wasn't surprised.

Steve drove them home, while Azucena and Danny sat in the backseat, "I hear Grace is taking ballet."

"Yes, she's loving it." Danny raved, the proud dad in him coming out. He pulled out his phone, "This was her first recital. It was about a month ago."

Danny handed Azucena his cell phone and she watched the little girl dance her heart out. Azucena's insides turned to mush, as she watched the joy in the little girl. A tear formed in her eyes, but she push it down. She had missed Danny and Grace so much, this was hitting her with all the feelings she had been suppressing.

When the video was over, Azucena gushed over Grace's debut. She was so proud of the little whirlwind of energy. Then, when the feelings were becoming too much for her, she changed the subject, "How have you been Danny? Keeping my brother in line?"

"Well, that is my full time job. It's not easy and I am considering asking the governor for hazard pay."

"Probably not a bad idea." Agreed Azucena, Steve just looked at the two of them in the rear view mirror, "You two are so dramatic. I'm perfectly safe every day."

Danny snorted, "Yeah, if you consider jumping off a bridge onto a moving semi perfectly safe."

Azucena's jaw dropped, she wasn't prepared to hear this. She caught her brother's eyes in the rear view mirror, he tried to plead his case, "I was perfectly safe. And there were children's lives at stake."

"You caught the bad guy?" She questioned him, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

"Yep." He said, nodding his head for confirmation. He could hear the fear in her voice and he knew it was going to take her a while to get used to him doing his job. She hadn't had to think about it for a while, but she had lived her life without him and he knew she was terrified of losing him again. His job was dangerous at times, but he helped protect the citizens of Hawaii and that was the best part of his job. That, and his team.

They pulled into the driveway and everyone disembarked from the truck, except for Azucena. She sat there for a minute and took in the sights of the house and the surrounding nature. The last time she had seen this, it had been dark and her life had been turned upside down by a simple phone call. It had been almost half a year and it seemed like nothing had changed. The house looked exactly like it had that night, but she knew so much had changed. Things hadn't stood still, and now she had a lot of work ahead of her. A sense of nervousness she hadn't expected fluttered in her stomach.

She was pulled from her thoughts, when she registered Steve opening the door of the truck. He could see something wasn't right in her world, "You okay?"

"Yep." She answered, pushing the nervousness down and focusing on being home. She had been looking forward to this for a week and a half, nothing was going to stop her from being thrilled to be back with her family and friends. Danny had her bag in his hand, Steve offered her a hand out of the truck, and as much as she tried to exit on her own power, she eventually capitulated and took Steve's hand to make sure she didn't fall.

The walk up the driveway and to the front door felt surreal and she was afraid if she blinked, the house would disappear and she would be back in Roswell, all alone. Catherine opened the door and as Azucena stood in the entryway of the living room, the tears pooled in her eyes. Try as hard as she could, she couldn't push them down, and they spilled down her cheeks. She quickly and discreetly tried to wipe them away before anyone could see them.

The living room hadn't changed, but she could see a dog bed situated in the middle of the room. It was the only item that showed time had passed since she had last been in the house. Her observations were interrupted by Danny talking to Steve, "Junior and Eddie should be home any minute, we have just been looking at cold cases this week."

Danny and Steve began discussing work, as Catherine walked into the kitchen. Azucena slowly wandered out to the backyard and made her way to the chairs that sat on the beach. She gingerly lowered her person into the chairs and listened to the sounds of the waves washing ashore. She closed her eyes and let the sounds of the lapping waves and scent of salt air remind her that she was home. This wasn't a dream or a daydream. She wasn't going to wake up and realize she was in her small apartment in the middle of the desert.

She watched the birds dive bomb into the water to catch fish, and she realized that is how she felt. Her whole time in Roswell, she tried to forget about everything here because it made things too hard. But now she was crashing back into her old life, like the birds crashed into the water for the fish. As thrilled as she was to be home, she was also terrified and that feeling had been building since she had awoken from the coma. Things had changed, friends had left, new people had arrived, but she was right where she was when she had left, except for now she was pretty banged up.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of jangling metal and the feeling of a cold, wet nose nuzzling her arm. She was startled and jumped slightly, which caused the beautiful yellow lab to jump as well. When she realized what was touching her, she offered her opened hand to the canine, "Well hello there, you must be Eddie."

Eddie sniffed her hand and gave her a small lick, wisely avoiding the various bandaged spots on her arm. She reached out and scratched his head and behind his ears. He sat down next to her and just let her love on him, enjoying the attention.

She could hear Steve wander down to the beach, he made his way to the chair next to her, "I see Eddie found you."

"Yeah, he's pretty cute." She responded, a smile on her face.

"He's kind of an attention whore." Steve said, as he smirked at the dog, who was at this point leaning against Azucena's chair, engrossed in the hand that was petting him.

"Eh, we all have our flaws. If that's his worst one, I think he will be fine."

"You doing okay?" Steve jumped right in, knowing his sister was thrilled to be back, but the moment in the truck had him concerned.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She paused, considering how to explain her feelings. She continued to pet the canine and examine his beautiful face, "I've wanted to come home so long and I am so thankful to be back. It's just slightly overwhelming, because things have changed and it is really starting to hit me."

"Life didn't stop here." He offered, knowing the feeling at times. He had felt that way when he would return from a mission. While he had been tromping through god forbidden jungles of enemy countries, the outside world moved on without him and re-entry was always a major adjustment.

"Yeah, that's exactly it." She paused petting Eddie, and looked over at her brother. "You know something about it, don't you?"

"I do." He nodded, and took a deep breath remembering some of his more difficult missions and his adjustment back to the real world. "It takes time and patience. You're going to be fine here and you know we will help you every step of the way."

"Of that I am grateful. I just have to make a plan and jump back in." She said, and he could hear the weariness in her voice.

"Yes, but don't rush yourself, you still have a long road of recovery ahead of you. I don't want you to overdo it and have a setback. You're still healing." He said, as he reached over and playfully pulled down part of the brim of her bucket hat.

"Protective much?" She teased him, adjusting the hat and thinking she needed to get a hat without an alien on the front. She didn't want people to think she was some UFO chaser.

"I almost lost you for the third time, I get to be excessively protective." He responded back in a playful tone, but the truth of the situation hitting him harder than he would have liked.

"Touché." She responded and reached out for his hand. She gently squeezed it, "Thank you for everything."

"It's what family does." He responded, holding her hand a little longer, "You want to come inside and meet Junior?"

"Yes, but give me fifteen more minutes to just enjoy these sounds and smells. I have missed this so much."

Steve understood, the sound of the waves helped him on his really rough days.

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Thanks to all who continue to read and leave messages. I really do appreciate it. ~Avy73

Stephanie - Wow, what an incredible compliment. I am truly honored by your kind and flattering words.

Elle - I am so happy to hear you enjoyed this chapter. Yeah, things are going to get really heavy in the future, but i'm pretty certain it will all work out in the end. :-)