AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for all the well-wishes, I had no idea that migraines were so prevalent! I'm still having headaches, but they're not as bad, so I'm able to write, thank goodness! Love you all!
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"Well, here we are!" Daddy said, as he pulled into a parking space. The hotel didn't look like a regular hotel, it looked more like little houses all connected together.
Everyone got out of the car, and Daddy held his hand out for me, to help me get out. I was feeling a little bit tired, because they had had a little going- away celebration for me at the hospital with cake and ice cream, and I had done some walking around.
Daddy unfolded the walker while I stood by the car and then I grabbed the handles and started to walk with it. He looked at me. "You doin' okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said. It was important to me that I walk into the room and not have to use the wheelchair.
Uncle Sam walked ahead of us and unlocked the door, pushing it open and walking in. Grandpa John came behind us, carrying my duffle and Hello Kitty blanket.
The room was large, bigger than any of the other hotel rooms we had been in. There was a living room area off to the right, with a large flat-screen tv on the wall, and then at the back of the room was a little kitchen, with a table and chairs. There was a low half- wall that separated the two areas. There was a door off of the kitchen, and another one nearer to the front door.
"That's the bedroom," Uncle Sam pointed to the door off of the kitchen area, "and that's the door to our room," he pointed to the other door.
I walked over to the sofa and sat down. There was a long desk up against the wall, and a laptop was set up there, with my tablet and school books.
"That's where we'll do your school work," Uncle Sam said.
Daddy brought in my wheelchair and left it by the door all folded up.
"Come here, Charlie," he beckoned me with his hand, and I got up and followed him to the bedroom.
There were two beds in the room and a door to a bathroom.
"I looked for Hello Kitty sheets, but these are queen-sized beds, and they don't come in that size," Daddy told me, "That's your bed," he pointed. I walked over to it.
There were two Hello Kitty pillows on the bed. One was flat and in the shape of her head, and made of soft furry material. The other was square and had a picture of her wearing a pretty pink nightgown.
"Look at the back," Daddy said with a grin.
There was a pocket on the back of the square pillow, and inside it was a pink nightgown, just like she was wearing. There was a picture of the front of the nightgown of Hello Kitty sleeping in a bed with her teddy bear. The nightgown had ruffles at the end of the sleeves and on the hem and it was made of a shiny soft material with sparkles in the ruffles.
"It looks like some thing a princess would wear," I said in an awed voice.
"Well, you are a princess," Daddy said. He scooped me up and hugged me to his chest. "You're my princess," he kissed the side on my head.
I felt embarassed. "Dad-dyyy-"
He put me down, and then looked at me. "Sweetheart, I'm just so glad you're out of the hospital now. When we first found you, I thought- I thought-" he swallowed, and I saw tears come to his eyes.
He sighed, and cupped my cheek with his hand. "I'm just so, so happy that you're okay and you're up and walking." he blinked, and smiled at me. "I knew you'd make it."
Grandpa John walked in with my duffle, and set it on the bed. "Lisa and Ben just got here," he told us.
We walked back out to the living room.
Lisa and Ben were there, carrying bags and boxes. Lisa had a tray of cupcakes, and some food. There was a big box with a photo of dishes on the front.
"I know there's dishes already here, but I thought it would be nice for you to have your own set," she said to Daddy. "It's matched, and it's new. All the stuff in these places is usually mismatched and old."
"Thanks, Lisa," Daddy said, smiling at her.
"And for you!" Ben held a gift bag out to me. I took it and sat down on the sofa. Inside it was a set of Hello Kitty barrettes and headbands, and a cloth bag made with Hello Kitty fabric.
"It's a little bag that you attach to the front of your walker," Lisa explained, "My friend makes them, her mother is in a nursing home and she makes them for the residents there."
"Thanks!" I said, looking up at her. "I didn't know there was Hello Kitty fabric!"
There was also a couple of X-Men action figures at the bottom of the bag.
"Ben insisted that we get you some," Lisa said with a chuckle.
"So we can play together," Ben told me.
"Cool! Thanks, Ben!" I looked up at Daddy. "Uh, is that, is that okay?" I asked hesitantly.
"Sure, I think we can let you play with them," Daddy said easily.
Lisa looked at him and then me. "Is there a problem with the X-Men?" she asked.
"Charlie was having some negative feelings about...herself, and the X-men comics were making it worse," Uncle Sam explained. "Hopefully it won't be like that now."
There was a knock on the door, and a delivery person stood there.
"We ordered Chinese," Daddy told us. He went to the door and paid the man, and then brought the bag over to the table and started to unload all the little white boxes.
Lisa opened one of the bags and got out paper plates and plastic utensils, and Daddy and Uncle Sam opened up all of the containers.
"What do you want, baby?" Daddy asked me.
"I want some dumplings, and chicken with mixed vegetables," I said.
"We also got sweet and sour chicken, you want some of that?" Uncle Sam asked.
"Yeah!" I said. He put some on my plate. "Go sit down, and I'll bring it to you," he told me.
"Is there any Kung Pao?" Ben asked, looking around.
Daddy looked at him. "You like Kung Pao?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's the best!" Ben said. Daddy held out his hand, and they high-fived each other.
"Ben has always liked spicy food," Lisa said. "I craved it when I was pregnant with him, but I'm not really a fan."
"That's my boy," Daddy said with a grin.
"Mary craved red meat when she was pregnant with Dean, and then with Sam she couldn't stand the sight of it," Grandpa John said, "She barely wanted to eat any meat when she was pregnant with Sammy, but then as soon as we got out of the hospital, she had me drive to the store and pick up steaks for me to cook on the grill," he laughed.
"Hmm, I wonder if that's why Dean is 'Mr. Cheeseburger and Fries' and I like salad and eating healthy so much," Uncle Sam said.
"Could be," Lisa said.
"I doubt it," Daddy scoffed. "Sam just likes rabbit food and refuses to eat real food."
Ben laughed at that. "Rabbit food!" he grinned.
Uncle Sam brought my plate over and I balanced it on my knees. He gave me a fork and set a napkin on the arm of the sofa next to me. "Would you prefer a spoon?" he asked me.
"No, I'm not a baby!" I said. "I can use a fork just fine!"
Everyone started to eat- Lisa and Ben sat at the table, Uncle Sam sat at the desk near me, and Grandpa John leaned against the stove. Daddy was getting beer out of the fridge for everyone, and he brought one over to Uncle Sam.
I had been having problems getting the vegetables to stay on my fork, and I was getting more and more frustrated. A big piece of broccoli fell off of the fork and rolled onto the floor.
"Dam- I mean dangit!" I corrected myself, as I saw Daddy stop walking and turn to me. He came over to me and looked down at me. "Charlie, I've had enough of the bad language from you recently," he said sternly, putting his hands on his hips.
I looked up at him, and snapped, "Well this is freakin' annoying!"
He squatted down in front of me, and then put his hand on my neck, and pulled me forwards a little so that our heads were almost touching.
"One more bad word, and I will wash your mouth out with soap," he said in a harsh whisper. "I'm not going to argue with you, and I better not hear anything else. Do you understand?" His clear green eyes flicked back and forth between mine.
"I—I can't help it!" I spoke in an angry whisper and tried to move my head away.
"Well you'd better help it, unless you want to get in trouble in front of everyone here," he said. "Cool it."
I gulped, imagining everyone knowing that I was getting punished. "Yes, Daddy," I said meekly.
"Come sit at the table, and then you won't have to hold the plate with your hand. It'll be easier to eat if you're not holding on to your plate," Daddy said to me, standing up.
"Okay, Daddy," I agreed. He took my plate, and I walked over and sat next to Ben. It was easier to concentrate on eating when I wasn't having to hold my plate still and keep it balanced.
I blushed, because Daddy had scolded me in front of everyone.
Ben looked at me and crossed his eyes and stuck out the tip of his tongue, trying to cheer me up. I giggled a little bit.
Then he started tossing the peanuts from his dish in the air, and trying to catch them in his mouth. He caught most of them, but a couple bounced off of his chin or his nose, and I laughed.
"All right, that's enough," Lisa said, coming over to us. "You're getting peanuts all over the floor, Ben. Clean them up, please."
Ben scooted his chair back and disappeared under the table, and then put the peanuts he'd found on a napkin.
After we ate, we had cupcakes for dessert.
"So what's the plan now that Charlie's out of the hospital?" Lisa asked, folding the boxes of food closed.
"Charlie's got PT over at the hospital three times a week and a check up once a week for now," Daddy said. "Her doctor is doing a study on her."
"I'm going to be doing home-schooling with her," Uncle Sam said. "We'll do that every day. When does Ben's school start?"
"Next week," Lisa told him. "I also wanted to let you know, he's doing baseball again, and if you want to come watch his practice, his team practices on Mondays and Thursdays. They'll have a game every weekend, and we'd love it if you could come."
"That would be great," Daddy said.
"The games are at a community park, they've got a couple of playgrounds and a concession stand and a track for running, as well as a walking path. It's about 15 minutes away from here," Lisa said. "And Dean, I need you to sign that paper for school that I told you about."
"Okay," Daddy said, "I asked Sam and Dad and they're fine with it too."
"What paper? Fine with what?" Ben asked.
"I asked Dean if he'd be okay with being an emergency contact for you, and I also put down that he and Sam and John can all pick you up from school if they need to," Lisa told him, "If that's okay with your majesty who needs to know everything."
"Sure!" Ben said. "I didn't know when I got a Dad, I'd be getting a whole family too!" he looked at me. "The park where my games are is really cool, they have this one playground that has a big climbing area with lots of tunnels, my friends and I play this game in there."
"Oh, I saw a park down the street from here, is that an okay place?" Uncle Sam asked.
"As far as I know," Lisa said, "It's maintained by the church that's on the other side of it."
"We can go there during the day for part of your exercise, Charlie," Uncle Sam said.
"Can we go now, and look at it?" Ben asked.
"Sure, why not?" Daddy said. He looked at me. "How are you feeling, you okay to go?"
"Yeah, I want to try," I agreed.
Daddy helped Lisa finish cleaning up.
"Do you want to walk, or use the wheelchair?" Uncle Sam asked me.
"I want to walk," I said.
"Charlie, maybe you should use the chair, you don't want to overdo it," Daddy looked at me.
"No, I want to walk," I insisted.
"Okay then," Daddy said.
We walked past the hotel, through a residential neighborhood, until we got to the playground. Ben started to run around, and I sat on a swing and Daddy pushed me, then Ben pushed me.
"Wanna play chase?" he asked me.
"Uh, I'll try," I said. I started to try to run after him.
The adults were over by a bench that was under a tree. "Hey, Charlie, what are you doing?" Daddy called, "Be careful please! I don't want you to hurt yourself!"
"I won't!" I called back, and then I tripped over my feet, but I caught myself on the edge of the slide. I climbed the ladder and went down the slide a couple of times- it was a tall curvy one.
Then I sat down heavily on the end of the slide. "I'm tired now," I said. My arms and legs felt heavy suddenly. "I want to go," my voice was a whine, even though I wasn't trying to. "Carry me, Daddy," I held my arms up.
"You sure?" he asked, coming over to me.
"Yeah, I'm too tired to walk," I said. Daddy leaned down and picked me up. I felt sleepy, and rested my head on his shoulder.
"Sam, can you grab the walker?" Daddy called over his shoulder.
We walked back to our room, and I was barely aware of everyone talking because I was so tired.
Daddy set me down on the floor when we went inside. "Go brush your teeth and get changed into your pajamas," he told me.
"I'm too tired," I whined, "I just wanna go to bed."
"You should brush your teeth, you had cake twice today," Uncle Sam said.
I burst into tears. "I'm really tired, I don' wanna do anything! I jus' wanna go to bed!" I wailed.
"Well, I guess we now know what happens when Charlie over does it," Daddy said. "All right, go get in bed. Say good night to Lisa and Ben."
"Bye," I sniffled. "Thanks for everything."
"I'll put you to bed," Grandpa John said, and he picked me up and carried me into the bedroom. He set me down on the edge of the bed.
"Is this what you want to wear?" he asked me, pulling the new nightgown out from the pocket in the pillow.
"Yeah," I said, still sniffling.
He knelt down and took off my shoes and socks, and then helped me off with my shirt and shorts, and slipped the nightgown over my head. He leaned over and pulled the covers down, and I crawled over and laid down against my pillow.
Daddy and Uncle Sam walked into the room as Grandpa John was pulling the covers up.
"Are you okay?" Daddy asked with concern.
"Just got really tired all of a sudden," I murmured.
"You had a big day today. We'll know next time to make sure to bring your chair." He leaned over and picked up MaryBear and Hello Kitty and tucked them in next to me, then leaned down to kiss my forehead and hug me. Uncle Sam was next, and then Grandpa John, and he ruffled my hair as he stood up after hugging me.
I felt lucky just then, that I now had not one person who would tuck me in, but three people, whereas with my Mom, when she had been sick, there had been no one to tuck me in or hug me or kiss me goodnight. By the time I went to bed she had usually been asleep for hours, and I hadn't been tucked in for a long time. I had missed it, and I had made myself not miss it, so that I wouldn't get upset.
That thought made me start to cry again, and I called out, "Daddy!"
He came to the door, holding a beer bottle in his hand. "Yeah, baby?"
"Can you...come sit with me?" I asked hesitantly.
"Sure, what's up?" he walked over and sat down on the bed, and I sat up and leaned on him. He pulled me onto his lap and put his arms around me.
"I just...was thinking about when I was with Mommy...and how no-one tucked me in or anything for a long time...and how I missed it...when we met I didn't think it would be like this...you didn't seem like a daddy...but now it's nice..." I murmured, trying not to cry harder. I snuggled into his flannel chest.
Daddy chuckled in the back of his throat. "I know what you mean. I didn't know what I was doing and I certainly didn't feel like I could be a father when I met you but...it feels different now, and it feels like we're a family. Does it feel that way to you?"
I shifted back and looked up at him. "Yeah," I whispered. "Thank you."
He smiled down at me. "Thank you, sweetheart," he said quietly. "You're the one who made it all happen. We wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for you."
"I love you, Daddy," I whispered.
He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "I love you too, baby girl."
I woke up in the morning to the smell of frying bacon. I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, limping a little bit. When I got to the door of the bedroom, I saw Daddy standing at the stove. He put the spatula down and walked over to me.
"Good morning," he said, leaning down to hug me. I grabbed aholdof him.
"Carry me, Daddy," I said. He carried me over to the table and set me in a chair.
"You want some scrambled eggs?" he asked.
"Yes please," I said.
Uncle Sam walked over and sat down next to me, holding the touch pad.
"Here's the schedule I made up for you," he said to me.
I looked at the screen. This is what it said:
Mon-Wed-Fri / Tues-Thurs
8:00-9:30 schoolwork/ 8-11 schoolwork
9:30-10:00 travel / 11-12 exercises
10-11 PT at hospital
11- 11:30 travel
11:30-12:00 lunch / 12- 12:30 lunch
12:15- 2:00 rest / 12:30- 2:00 rest
2:00-4:00 schoolwork / 2-4 schoolwork
4-5 free time/computer games
5-6 dinner
6-7 playground or Ben's practice
7-8:00 free time/bath/read for bed
8:00 bedtime
I looked at it, then I looked at Uncle Sam. "This- this isn't—my life is over!" I exclaimed.
Daddy burst out laughing.
"What do you mean, it's over?" Uncle Sam asked. "Because you have a schedule?"
Daddy walked over and leaned down, reading the screen over my shoulder.
"Well, think about it, Sam, she's going from being in the hospital and having no real schedule at all to- to this." He gestured at the touch pad.
"She'd have to follow a schedule at school, and it wouldn't be a big deal," Uncle Sam said, "You're making it a big deal out of it because she's at home."
"Hmm," Daddy said.
"Now, let's talk about rules," Uncle Sam looked at me, "I've made up this schedule, and I expect you to follow it, just like you would at school. We're going to do your school work together, and there are times when you'll have work to do on your own. I'll check it later and we'll go over it. And you need to do the work, and not try to get out of it or slack off."
"What about breaks?" I asked.
"I'm getting to that. You'll have a break at lunch time, and during travel, and then in the evening before dinner and before bed. You won't be allowed to play any of the games on the touch pad or do any free reading until all your work is done for the day."
"Geez, what a spoilsport," Daddy said.
"Dean, she wouldn't get time to just play during the school day," Uncle Sam turned to glare at him.
"Sure she would, ever heard of recess? Or free play?" Daddy set a plate of bacon on the table between us.
"She will be getting recess- we'll be doing exercises."
"That's not recess, recess is kids running around doing what they want," Daddy shook his head.
"We'll do that too, when we go to the playground. This isn't written in stone, we can change things if we need to." Uncle Sam refilled his coffee and sat back down.
Grandpa John walked into the room, talking on the phone. "All right, I'll keep looking, and call you back." He disconnected the call and put the phone in his pocket. "There she is!" he said, smiling at me. "How are you this morning, Charlie?"
"I'm okay," I said.
Grandpa John sat down next to me. "What are you looking at?"
"Sam's scheduled Charlie's day down to the last second," Daddy brought a big bowl of scrambled eggs over to the table and set it down.
Grandpa John leaned over and looked at the schedule on the touch pad. Then he looked at Uncle Sam. "Kinda ambitious of you, don't you think?" he asked.
Uncle Sam looked at him. "I don't know why you guys think I'm overdoing this," he said. "Charlie is a smart girl, and I don't want her to get bored. And it's better to have a schedule in place, than nothing at all."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Grandpa John said.
"Like I said, this isn't written in stone, I'm sure we'll need to make changes to it. We'll figure it out. The idea is to have fun, right, Charlie?" Uncle Sam smiled at me.
Daddy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, a tight schedule is a lot of fun."
"Okay Dean, why don't you do it then?" Uncle Sam challenged him. "You make up the schedule and teach her, instead of running off at the mouth here."
"Geez, Sam, I'm just-" Daddy started to say.
"Well I'm sick of you-" Uncle Sam started at exactly the same time.
"BOYS," Grandpa John said loudly. "Stand down, and let's enjoy our first breakfast in our new place with Charlie."
Daddy sighed, and Uncle Sam huffed, but they stopped arguing. Daddy sat down, and we started to eat breakfast.