"That smells great," Dwight said as Marsha put the finishing touches on the Lasagna.

Marsha smiled.

"Thanks honey," she said.

"I can't help thinking about what this gift might be," Dwight said.

Marsha nodded.

"I have no idea what it is though," she said.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Dwight intoned, laughing.

Marsha shook her head.

"My guess is ridiculous," she replied.

"It can't be any more ridiculous than a vacuum cleaner," Dwight replied.

"It's… I can't even go there in my mind," she said.

"My mind went there too," Dwight told her, pulling her into a hug.

"It did?"

Dwight nodded.

"He may as well have said Moral Bears," he told her.

Marsha smiled so wide her eyes lit up like a Christmas Tree. Dwight's thoughts had taken him further then hers had taken her.

"Y-you don't think-"

"Not as well as Adrian does," Dwight replied jokingly.

"That would be like Christmas, both our birthdays, Valentine's Day, Easter and the biggest celebration all in one!"

"Oh yeah," Dwight agreed, "It would be an amazing gift."

"Is it possible?"

"GOD that would be wonderful."

Neither Marsha nor Dwight had the courage to say what "it" was. They both were afraid to speak it. Saying, "Trudy" would be like saying something that didn't make sense. They didn't want to stop believing it just because they heard themselves say it and it sounded ridiculous!

At exactly 6:10 PM Adrian knocked on the door. Trudy was with him, but of course they didn't know that she was Trudy yet. Their eyes lit up when they saw the petite blonde with the faltering smile.

"Natalie," Dwight exclaimed, "It's so good to see you again! Have you been taking good care of our boy, Adrian?"

"Of course. But there's a reason we stopped by. You see, after the "incident" I lost my memory. My face was disfigured and there was no ID on me, so this is the face I ended up with. But I've just regained my identity. I know who I was...who I am."

Dwight hugged the young woman he came to know over the last few years. She'd taken such good care of his son-in-law, Adrian.

"That's wonderful!"

Trudy and Adrian shared a glance.

"Yes, it is," Trudy said and whispered the last part, "Dad."

To call it a whisper would be an understatement. Trudy barely eked out the word. That didn't matter. Dwight and Marsha heard those words as loud and clear as if Trudy had shouted them. Dwight felt his heart pounding in his chest. Marsha felt tears of joy coming to her eyes.

"Trudy," Dwight whispered audibly.

It wasn't a question.

"I know this must be a shock," Trudy began, "I only found out today, around midnight. Believe me I'm shocked about it too. But I can prove it. I have the scar-"

"Honey," Marsha said, running to hug her, "There's no doubt about what you just said.

Dwight nodded and kissed his daughter on the forehead for the first time in ten years.

Not a second later they both started crying and holding Trudy like they would never let her go. For ten years Marsha and Dwight had prayed that GOD would see fit to return their daughter to them and finally the answer was yes.

"Something smells great," Trudy said finally.

"Your mom made lasagna," Dwight explained.

"If I had known," Marsha added almost apologetically, "I would have made Chicken Cacciatore, I know it's your favorite."

"I love your lasagna mom," Trudy said, smiling brightly.

"We did get a bottle of your favorite wine," Dwight told her.

"1984 Allacco Cabernet?"

"That's the one," Dwight said, "and we got pretzels."

Trudy grinned. She loved pretzels as much as her mother did.

"I think dinner's ready," Marsha said as the timer went off. They all followed her into the dining room.

"It will just take a minute to put out the lasagna," Marsha said.

"I'll help," Trudy offered.

"You will do no such thing," Marsha said, "Sit down and relax."

"She's right," Adrian said.

Trudy laughed and went to sit down.

"So, honey," Dwight asked, "Are you moving back in with Adrian?"

"Actually," Adrian told them, "I'm moving into Trudy's house."

He looked at her with love shining in his eyes.

"Aren't you afraid of change," Marsha asked, bringing the lasagna over to the table.

"Not in about 18 hours," Adrian replied, "Since I learned Trudy is still alive!"

"This definitely calls for a celebration," Marsha said looking at Dwight.

"No kidding," Dwight and Adrian said at the same time.

Trudy and Marsha both grinned. For Trudy her parents had always been her best friends.

Once she met Adrian, he also became her best friend. Trudy relaxed as Adrian took her hand.

"I absolutely didn't remember anything from before the incident," Trudy admitted, "But the memories are starting to come back to me in bits and pieces."

"That's wonderful," Marsha remarked.

"It may be a long time before I'm the person I was before the incident," Trudy said.

"You still are the same person you've always been," Dwight told her, "Sure, you're older and you look a little different but that doesn't change who you are."

Trudy looked over at the fireplace mantel.

"Didn't I win an Emmy once," she asked.

"You won two Emmys'. The first was when you were six years old and the second was when you were eight."

"Do you still have them," Trudy asked.

Marsha smiled.

"We literally kept everything of yours," she told Trudy.

"So did I," Adrian added.

"What were the Emmys' for," Trudy asked.

"For starring in Moral Bears," Dwight explained.

"We have the tapes," Marsha added, "We should watch them sometime."

"Great idea," Trudy said, "Why don't Adrian and I come over next week and we can watch the tapes and then go out to dinner?"

"Yes," Marsha, Dwight and Adrian all said at the same time.

"How about Saturday," Adrian suggested.

"That's perfect," Trudy exclaimed, "Would that work for you two?"

"ANYTHING would work for us," Marsha replied.

"This is absolutely the best day of my life," Dwight replied.

"Mine too," Adrian said.

"I third that," Marsha exclaimed.

"Hey, you guys should sleep over," Dwight added, his eyes lighting up.

"We'd love to," Trudy said, "But we're hardly in the position to do so. We haven't packed anything."

"Trudy's right," Adrian replied, "How about we sleep over next week sometime."

"Yes," Dwight and Marsha replied in unison.

"That would be great," Marsha added.

"Did we ever have any pets," Trudy asked.

"We had two dogs," Marsha said, "We got Peaches for you when you were three. We got her at the mall pet store. When you were six, Peaches died, and her mother gave birth to a new litter. The owner allowed me to have Peaches' little sister. It was a surprise to you. You called her Ginger."

Dwight laughed.

"It was a surprise to me too," he added, "You had written the first episode of Moral Bears. Your mother said, 'I think "we" just found "our" next show.' Of course, she was a stay-at-home mom that knew nothing about shows so the 'we' was the royal we."

"Did you get mad," Trudy asked.

"Not at all," Dwight laughed, "We had a reasonable discussion and of course we did things your mom's way. A few seconds later I heard barking coming from the car and I asked why I heard barking. Your mom casually tells me she got you a new dog as though she said it's going to rain tomorrow or something. I told her she's lucky I love her so much. At first you thought Ginger was Peaches. You were so excited."

"Your excitement didn't waver when we told you that was Peaches little sister," Marsha added, "You said, 'I love her. I'm gonna call her Ginger"

"I… remember that a little," Trudy said smiling.

"Everyone loved your idea for Moral Bears," Dwight added, "as I found out the next day. You played Beary Good Bear. Two of your friends played Beary Sweet Bear and Beary Nice Bear. There were guest spots all the time too."

"Has anyone famous guest starred?" Trudy asked.

"Willie Nelson," Marsha said, "He played Beary Good Bear's cousin."

"I actually met Willie Nelson?"

Trudy's eyes lit up. She was a huge Willie Nelson fan."

Marsha laughed.

"You did," she said, "and he took you out to lunch."

"That's amazing," Trudy exclaimed.

"Willie Nelson is very kind," Adrian said, "He's always happy to meet a fan."

"You met Willie Nelson," Dwight asked.

Adrian nodded.

"He was a suspect in a murder," he explained, "but of course he was innocent."

"Of course, you would prove him innocent," Trudy said empathically, "There's nothing you can't do."

Adrian kissed her.

"I couldn't function without you," he said honestly.

"You functioned okay," Trudy said.

"I was catatonic for the first three years," Adrian explained, "Until Sharona came along…"

"I met Sharona once," Trudy said, "She was really nice."

"Yes. She's a good friend of mine. After Sharona left, I met… 'Natalie' who turned out to be you."

Trudy smiled and it reached her eyes. Even as Natalie, she loved Adrian. He was kind and loving. He would go out of his way for anyone he loved… and even for strangers in need. As Trudy she loved Adrian even more than words could say.

"Does this feel weird to you guys," she asked her parents.

"What honey?"

"I mean, for five years you knew me as Natalie, and now all of a sudden I'm Trudy," she amended.

"You've always been Trudy," Dwight said gently.

"We just didn't know until today," Marsha added.

"I feel silly," Adrian added, "There were so many times "Natalie" reminded me of Trudy. I can't believe I didn't figure it out."

"As far as you knew I was killed in a car bomb. I had absolutely no memory of what happened. You couldn't have known I was Trudy. I didn't even know I was Trudy, and I am Trudy."

"Right. I'm still the World's Greatest Detective though," Adrian said.

"Modest too," Marsha laughed.

"I'm up there with that fictional detective… Sherlock Holmes," Adrian said.

"Only difference is you're real," Trudy replied, "and I love you."

"I love you too," Adrian said, kissing her gently.

When dinner was over Trudy offered to help clean.

"I'll help too," Adrian said.

Adrian loved to clean. To him, cleaning was a reward. More importantly though he wanted to be with Trudy.

"We'll all pitch in," Dwight smiled, "It'll be fun."

"I agree," Adrian said.

Trudy laughed. Of course, Adrian agreed that cleaning was fun.

They finished cleaning in a very short time. Adrian and Trudy sat in the family room while Marsha made coffee for them both. It was well after midnight by the time Adrian and Trudy left.

"We'll see you soon," Trudy said hugging her parents' goodbye.

That night Marsha was unable to sleep. Her heart was pounding with excitement.

"What's on your mind honey," Dwight asked her, rubbing her back.

"I'm still trying to process… or even comprehend the idea that Trudy is alive. This is literally the best day of my life and I'm in shock. I've prayed every day for this to happen. Every year on my birthday, when I blew out my candles, I made the same wish. I wished for the one thing I knew I could never have. But GOD is so good and so wonderful and finally He said "yes"."

Dwight nodded.

"I know what you mean," he said, "I can barely comprehend the idea that we have her back."

"How do you think the people at the grief center will react to this news," Marsha asked.

"Most of them will be happy for us," Dwight said, "and I'm sure some of them will be envious because they don't have their loved ones back as well."

"I can't believe we had her back for five years and we didn't ever figure out that Natalie was Trudy," Marsha said.

Dwight nodded again. This morning when Dwight and Marsha Ellison woke up, neither of them thought, today is the day I'm going to find out my daughter is still alive.

"Well, we knew her as Natalie," Dwight remarked, "Yes Natalie had a lot of Trudy's traits but we knew about the car bomb. We knew that she had been… killed in the car bomb. There was no way to know that Trudy was still alive."

"I know what you mean," Marsha said, "But still I'm her mom. I should have known."

"I'm her dad," Dwight pointed out, "I should have known too. I should have picked up on it when Adrian said it's something you'll never expect but were once expecting."

"This shock is one I had longed for 10 years in the making," Marsha told Dwight.

"I longed for it as much as you did," Dwight told her.

"I know," Marsha said.

Dwight stroked her hair.

"What time is your meeting at the grief center tomorrow," he asked her.

"It's at ten," Marsha said.

She laughed.

"I don't belong in that meeting anymore," she pointed out, "I'm not grieving."

"I know what you mean," Dwight laughed.

"I don't even know what I mean," Marsha said, "All I know is I have Trudy back."

"We have Trudy back," Dwight commented.

Marsha grinned. It was so true.

"Yes," she replied, "We have Trudy back. Adrian has Trudy back. Everyone who loves Trudy has Trudy back."

Dwight nodded. He didn't mind sharing Trudy with Marsha and Adrian. He did hope it would be awhile before the others found out because he didn't want to share her with too many people.