Bianca entered Kendall's room and stopped in her tracks with surprise. Kendall was sitting up in bed and slowly feeding herself the scrambled eggs on her breakfast plate. At Bianca's arrival, Kendall turned and waved the spoon at her sister before slowly using her right hand to scoop up another bite of food.

Bianca seated herself next to Kendall's bed and remarked, "This is wonderful, Kendall! But where's mom? She told me that she would be feeding you breakfast this morning."

Kendall smiled and placed the spoon on the tray before replying, "Hhhh-I… Bee—Yah…"

Bianca squealed with delight at realizing Kendall's words, though slurred, were making sense, "You said my name, Kendall! Oh, this is wonderful news! Have you told Zach?"

At hearing his name, Kendall's face fell and she shook her head. Bianca slapped her hand to her forehead before commenting, "That was thoughtless. I'm sorry, Kendall. It's going to take me a while to get used to not having him around. But you didn't answer my question… where's mom?"

Just then a nurse entered the room, "She went home to clean up."

Bianca turned in her seat and looked curiously at the nurse, "Went home? Why did she need to clean up?"

"OoohT—meee," Kendall said.

"It seems that when your sister found her words… she also decided that she didn't like being fed her meals by your mother. She threw her oatmeal on her," the nurse said with barely suppressed laughter.

Bianca didn't bother trying to suppress her laughter as she imagined her always immaculately attired mother wearing oatmeal on one of her designer dresses. She turned to Kendall, "You spilled your oatmeal on mom? What happened to you last night?"

"Ttt-Iii-errr-D… offfff… Mm-uh-TH-errr," Kendall said slowly. "Www-ah-N… Zzz-aaa-K."

"Kendall… Zach's not coming back," Bianca said quietly as she reached for her sister's hand in condolence. "I can't fix this… Mom and Uncle Jack made sure of that."

Kendall shook her head vigorously and pointed to Bianca, "Fff—iii-cks… Www-ah-N… Zzz-aaa-K."

Bianca didn't know how to answer Kendall, but she did know that she couldn't allow anything to interfere with her progress. "Does Mom know that you're talking?"

Kendall shook her head and placed a finger over her lips. Bianca frowned at Kendall and asked, "Why?"

Kendall frowned and struggled to find the words she was looking for. After a moment she replied, "Nnn-OH… Shhhh—OT—s."

Bianca sat quietly for a moment while she tried to understand what Kendall was telling her. Remembering the groggy state her sister was in the previous day, she asked, "Do you think Mom will keep you sedated if she knows you can talk?"

Kendall nodded her head and worked to bring another spoonful of eggs to her mouth while Bianca continued, "She wouldn't do that, Kendall. She only wants you to get better. Besides… the doctors wouldn't let her do that."

Kendall shook her head, "Ccc-aaa-NT… Ttt-aayy—K… CH—aaa—N-S."

"Oh. Do you think this is more about fighting with Zach than you getting better?" Bianca asked.

Kendall nodded and pointed to her whiteboard on the table while answering, "ER—KA… Hhhh—ayyy-T—S… Zzz-aaa-K."

Bianca laid the whiteboard and marker next to the plate of eggs as she replied, "She loves you, Kendall. She wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt you."

Kendall slammed her hand on the tray, knocking over the plate of eggs onto the bedclothes, "Shhhh—EE… Allll—err—ed—dee… did."

Bianca stood and cleaned up the mess. It took her a moment to figure out what Kendall had been saying and then she answered, "She already did? I see. Well… I'm sure that Zach will find a way to come back. In the meantime, you have to work really hard to get better."

"Ggg—Oh… Sss-Eee… Lll—iii—vvv," Kendall said to Bianca and pointed to the door.

"Go see… who?" Bianca asked in confusion.

Kendall sighed deeply and placed the whiteboard under her right arm. She used her left hand to slowly write in shaky letters, L I V I A.

Reading over her shoulder, Bianca exclaimed, "Livia! Is she Zach's attorney?"

"Mmm-ine aaand Zzz-aaa-K'sss," Kendall said as she nodded and jammed her finger against the whiteboard while repeating, "Ggg—Oh… Sss-Eee."

"Okay. When Mom gets back I'll go to see Livia. In the meantime, can I get you something more to eat? Maybe some more oatmeal? I'm used to wearing it… Miranda likes to throw it on me, too. Must be some kind of mother daughter ritual… you think?" Bianca said with a smile.

Kendall nodded and Bianca left the room in search of some oatmeal. She leaned back against her pillows and remembered the dream that had seemed so real from the night before. Could Zach love me? Do we have a chance at a real marriage? She continued to rest against the pillows with her eyes closed until the door to her room opened and she heard the tapping of high heels against the floor. Opening her eyes she found herself face to face with Greenlee Lavery who was reaching her hand toward Kendall. Without thought, she reacted immediately and swatted Greenlee's hand away from her face.

"Hey! You've got eggs and oatmeal in your hair… I was just going to get it out," Greenlee said indignantly.

Kendall opened her mouth to reply, but thought better of allowing her sometimes friend to know that she had been reacquiring her ability to speak sensibly. Instead, she shrugged her shoulders while allowing Greenlee to use a napkin to remove the food from her hair. However, when Greenlee pulled open the tableside drawer and pulled out her hairbrush, Kendall's eyes filled with tears and she shook her head.

"Kendall… you need your hair brushed and washed. And you need some make-up. You really shouldn't let anyone see you looking like this. Erica called me and told me that Zach finally left the hospital… and now that the ogre is gone we're going to do something about the way you look. I have a suitcase right here with some pretty silk lingerie – nightclothes, robes, and everything you need for a complete Fusion make-over right here in your hospital room. All you have to do is sit back and relax…we'll do all the rest," Greenlee said without pausing for a breath.

Kendall's eyes grew large as a battalion of people entered the room. She recognized a hairdresser and make-up artist as well as Greenlee's favorite masseuse and manicurist… all carrying their own cases and looking prepared to work. She forgot to even think about speaking as the room was set up with portable equipment that would make it possible for her to get the full spa treatment despite her right leg still being immobilized in its bright blue cast.

In the midst of moving Kendall from the bed to a portable salon chair, Bianca entered the room carrying a bowl of oatmeal that she had gone to the cafeteria to obtain. She looked from Kendall to Greenlee to the army of beauty professionals and asked, "What's going on here? Did Dr. Joe sign off on turning Kendall's room into the Valley Inn Day Spa?"

"Your mother signed off on it and told me to do whatever I needed to pamper Kendall. Whenever I'm feeling stressed… especially over a man… I just wash him right out of my hair. Along with the perfect mani and pedi, of course. Erica said that Kendall's been working much too hard and that pampering will be the order of the day until further notice," Greenlee said brightly. She frowned slightly upon noticing the bowl in Bianca's hands before continuing, "…although she did say something about keeping Kendall away from any oatmeal scrubs. You better take that out of here… I understand she gets violent if she even sees a bowl of oatmeal."

Bianca and Kendall shared a look of understanding before they both burst out laughing. Greenlee, although completely misunderstanding the reason for their laughter, joined in. Kendall allowed herself to be set up in the makeshift beauty salon with Greenlee directing her care while Bianca seated herself in a chair out of the way, smilingly observing the process. After a few minutes, Bianca noticed Kendall giving her some very pointed looks and trying to incline her head towards the door. When Monsieur Andre exclaimed at Kendall to hold her head still, Bianca finally understood the message. Realizing that Kendall was telling her it was a good time to visit Livia, Bianca stood up.

"I'm just going to take this oatmeal out to the nurse, Greenlee," Bianca said.

"Fine… fine," Greenlee answered distractedly. "…and tell them to come up with something else for breakfast tomorrow. I don't want to find it in Kendall's hair again in the morning."

Bianca started to reply and noticed Kendall's whiteboard with Livia's name clearly spelled out lying on the tray table. She quickly grabbed a tissue and wiped the board clean before replying, "Mm-hmm… whatever, Greenlee. It looks like you have things under control… so… I'm going to… um… I'll be back later."

Greenlee waved her hand in Bianca's general direction without looking away from the hairdresser who was speaking to her at the same time, "You do that, Bianca. Have fun!"

Bianca stepped as close to Kendall as she could and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, "I'll be back later, Kendall. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Kendall rolled her eyes as Bianca left the room and silently submitted to Greenlee's directed ministrations.