Drs. Bell and Hector came over, as promised, later that night. Sharona had already left for the day, but the Davenports were still around, so Dr. Hector left Neven chatting with them as she went up to Natalie's room. She found that Adrian had already settled Natalie in bed for the evening and was busy engaged in scrubbing her bathroom. When he heard the doctor's cheerful greeting, he stripped off his rubber gloves and washed his hands.

He found Dr. Hector sitting on the bed, chatting amiably with Natalie. "Hello, Adrian," she said.

"Hi," he greeted. "Thanks for coming."

"My pleasure," she said, smiling. "I wanted to see how Natalie was getting on, anyway. The last time I saw you, Natalie, you weren't in very good shape, but you look much better now."

Natalie flushed, looking pleased. "I wanted to thank you for keeping my ring," she said. "At first I was worried that it'd gotten lost or something, but Adrian said you kept it safe for me."

"I knew it was important to you," Dr. Hector said sympathetically. "How have you been feeling?"

"Great, all things considered," Natalie said brightly. "It's nice to be home."

"And how have you really been feeling?" the doctor asked, raising an eyebrow.

Natalie reddened. "My ribs hurt. A lot," she said honestly. "The medication helps, but they still ache pretty much constantly. Sometimes it's hard to breathe. And I still feel sore everywhere."

Dr. Hector nodded. "That's to be expected. How's the head wound?"

Natalie touched the stitches on her forehead. "It itches like crazy sometimes, but it seems to be healing well."

"And your surgical incision?"

"Sharona said it looked good when she last changed the bandages, but there's a lot of bruising around it still." She hesitated, and then said in a low voice, "I haven't really been able to bring myself to look at it yet."

Adrian hadn't known this. He took her hand in his, but he said nothing.

"That might take some time," Dr. Hector said, patting Natalie's leg reassuringly. She looked from one to the other. "Neven tells me that you're having a disagreement over postponing the wedding."

The two exchanged a glance. "I think we should wait a few more months," Adrian said, a little testily. "So she has time to fully recover."

"And I don't want to wait," Natalie said, lifting her chin slightly. "I think ten weeks is plenty of time for me to recover."

"Not when you're trying to plan the wedding at the same time you're trying to recuperate," he objected. "The stress could cause a setback."

"I'm going to have lots of help," Natalie protested. "You heard my mother – she said she'd help in any way she could. Plus I'll have Cassandra. And Julie, Sharona, and T.K., too."

"I'm not sure if adding your mother to the equation will make things less stressful," Adrian said grimly.

"I thought you two were getting along now," Natalie said, puzzled and a little hurt.

"We do. We are," he said. "It's just… she's being very nice now, but she…" He searched for a more tactful way to say that she could be pushy as hell. "She has a very forceful personality and I'm worried she might try to take things over and do things her way – which would make you upset and cause you stress. I remember how she was with Jonathan's wedding."

"If that happens, I'll have Cassandra to run interference," Natalie said coaxingly. "She does this for a living. She's probably accustomed to dealing with pushy mothers."

"Cassandra is…?" Dr. Hector questioned.

"The wedding coordinator," they said together.

"From the Four Seasons," Natalie added.

Dr. Hector smiled. "What a lovely place to get married."

"It is," Natalie said wistfully.

The doctor thought for a few moments, tapping a finger on her chin. "Have your invitations been sent yet?" she asked.

Natalie shook her head. "They were supposed to be printed last week, but the accident happened the night before we were going to finalize them."

"I see." Dr. Hector contemplated a bit more. "Here's what I propose," she said, finally. "Proceed, for now, on the assumption that the wedding will go on as scheduled – "

"Really?" Natalie interrupted excitedly.

"But," Dr. Hector emphasized, "hold off on the invitations for another month or so, and try to avoid making any selections that are very time sensitive – that is, that aren't easy to cancel or reschedule if needed. In four weeks, you can reevaluate how things are, both in terms of Natalie's physical health and your overall stress level, and make a final decision then. It should still be early enough at that point to send your invitations." She looked at Adrian. "In the meantime, perhaps you should decide on an alternate wedding date, just in case it becomes necessary."

He considered, and then nodded reluctantly. "I could agree to that," he said.

"Me too," Natalie said, still excited.

Dr. Hector gave her a piercing stare, which caused her to shrink back a little. "Let me make two things absolutely clear, Natalie," she said in a sharp tone. "First, you need to follow Dr. Harmon's and Sharona's instructions to the letter. No trying to do more than they've cleared just because you think you feel up to it. And Adrian's right, high levels of stress will only complicate your recovery. If the wedding planning gets to be too much, you either need to delegate more effectively or you need to be truthful about your need to postpone."

Natalie nodded, her eyes wide and her expression solemn.

"Secondly," Dr. Hector continued, "you need to be fully and completely honest, with Adrian and with yourself, when it comes time to reevaluate. If your progress is not up to par, then you will need to reschedule. Trying to sugarcoat your condition will not do you any favors. I'm going to examine you in four weeks, and I'm going to ask Neven to examine you as well. If we conclude your physical or mental recovery isn't on track, no matter how you claim you feel, I will strenuously recommend postponing the wedding. Do we understand each other?"

Natalie nodded again. "I understand," she said in a small voice.

Dr. Hector's expression softened. "Good. We're all just looking out for your best interests, you know. The last thing we want is for you to land back in the hospital."

She smiled at them both. "I'm glad that's settled. Adrian, why don't you escort me out so Natalie can get some rest?"

Adrian grinned, impressed. He hadn't heard such an effective dressing down since his rookie year at the police academy. "Absolutely."

When they went downstairs, they found that Leland had dropped by. The Davenports said their farewells and left a few minutes after they came down.

"Hey, I brought you a copy of the accident report, like you asked," Leland said, handing Adrian a manila folder.

"Thanks," Adrian said, accepting it. "Did you fax a copy to the insurance company?"

"Yesterday," Leland said, nodding.

"May I?" Dr. Hector asked, holding her hand out.

"Sure," Adrian said, nonplussed. He gave the folder to her.

She opened it and leafed through its contents. When she got to the accident photos, she studied them for a full minute, and then shook her head, puzzled. "Are you sure these are the right pictures?"

Leland glanced at them and nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, why?"

Her brow furrowed. "I don't understand. Natalie's injuries aren't consistent with a crash of this extent."

"What do you mean?" Adrian asked.

She examined one of the pictures again, a particularly harrowing one of Natalie's vehicle. Her car was crumpled and twisted, barely recognizable. "If you asked me to guess at the injuries received from this crash, I'd say that the driver – if they survived, which would be questionable – likely had severe spinal damage, and perhaps neurological damage as well." She studied the photo again. "I don't see how anyone could have escaped this crash with only some broken ribs and internal bleeding. At the very least, I'd have expected broken arms or legs, perhaps a fractured pelvis."

"But you said… the airbag, and the seatbelt…" Adrian stammered.

"They probably did save her life," Dr. Hector said, shaking her head again as she handed him the file, "but I don't see how they could have possibly prevented the injuries she should have had."

"You know, it's funny, but the accident reconstructionist in the department said the exact same thing," Leland mentioned casually. "He couldn't believe it when I told him she was alive and well, relatively speaking."

Dr. Hector shrugged. "It's a mystery, all right. Well, we've taken up enough of your time. Neven, are you ready to go?"

Dr. Bell nodded. "I'll see you next week," he said to Adrian, and he and his wife left the house.

Adrian stared at Leland, visibly shaken. "How did she survive?" he asked, looking down at the accident photos. This was the first time he had seen them as well, and he was as perplexed as Dr. Hector had been. During his years as a cop, he'd seen a lot of vehicular accidents, and ordinarily he would have agreed with her – there was no way someone could have survived a crash of this severity with no life-threatening injuries or permanent disability. Yet, somehow, Natalie had.

Leland shrugged. "I have a theory, but it's not very scientific." At Adrian's questioning gaze, he continued. "I think Natalie had one hell of a guardian angel."

"A guardian angel?" Adrian repeated dubiously.

"One named Trudy," Leland said simply. "She knew that losing the woman you loved, again, would destroy you. So she used divine intervention to make sure that didn't happen."

Adrian shook his head, looking at the pictures again. "I guess it's as good a theory as any," he said quietly, remembering how he'd begged Trudy for help during those endless hours in the ER waiting room.

Leland smiled. "I'd better get home. Talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay," Adrian said absently, still leafing through the accident report. "Thanks."

After Leland had gone, Adrian went upstairs and sat at Natalie's bedside for a long time, watching her face as she slept. After a while he kissed her cheek, very gently so as not to wake her, and went to the guest room to get some sleep himself.

But before he drifted off, he whispered, "Thank you, Trudy."