Trudy was in recovery for an hour before they moved her to a regular room.
"Hey guys," she said softly when she saw her parents and her husband.
"Hi honey," Marsha said, "How do you feel?"
"With my hands," Trudy joked.
Everyone laughed.
"The doctor said she wants you in a wheelchair for awhile," Adrian said, "So you don't irritate the leg."
"For how long," Trudy asked– alarmed.
"Just a couple of weeks," Marsha said.
"I'm so sorry," Trudy said softly.
"For what? You've just had a little bit of bad luck. You'll be absolutely fine."
"I know, but if I hadn't had the accident, you guys wouldn't have your world disturbed. I mean, you guys are here because-"
"We're here because we want to be," Marsha said firmly but gently, "You haven't disrupted our lives in the slightest."
"When you 'died' that disrupted, damaged and destroyed our lives," Dwight added, "Finding out you were alive put our lives back together."
"Honey," Adrian said, "You're being way too hard on yourself. You have no reason to be hard on yourself in the first place. Nobody plans to break their leg. It was scary when it happened. It's frustrating that the leg was still broken but they fixed it. You did nothing wrong."
He kissed her.
"Thank you," she said, "Thank you all. I love you guys so much. I just… this is-"
"We love you too," Marsha said.
"Did I get this emotional when I was sick," Trudy asked.
Marsha nodded.
"You were sensitive," she said.
"I remember," Trudy said, "one time I saw you guys crying when you thought I was asleep. I asked you the next day why you were so sad last night."
"You did," Dwight said, "It was hard to explain it."
"I probably would have asked how she knew we were sad last night," Adrian said.
Trudy tried to sit up and groaned.
"Painful?" Adrian asked.
"No," Trudy explained, "I have morphine on board. I just… am having a little trouble sitting up right now."
Adrian adjusted her bed to sit her up.
"We're staying here with you tonight," Marsha told Trudy.
"Thanks guys," Trudy said.
The nurse brought 3 cots in.
"They're pretty comfortable," she said with a smile.
Marsha smiled back.
"I'm sure it is," she said.
The nurse left.
"How do you feel," Dwight asked Trudy.
"I don't know," Trudy admitted, "Sometimes I feel so frustrated."
"That's understandable," Marsha said rubbing her daughter's hand, "You're confused. You have a broken leg. You had surgery today. Your life is different than it has been."
"Yes," Trudy said, "And I sometimes feel like if I hadn't had gotten hurt… or in the bombing never happened-"
"That everything would be alright," Adrian finished for her.
"Everything is alright," Trudy said, "But I wouldn't have caused everyone I love so much pain."
"Hey," Dwight said gently, "That wasn't your fault."
"How is it not my fault," Trudy asked, "I was the one who was raped at fourteen. If I hadn't been out past my curfew that night Rickover wouldn't have gotten me. I was the one that broke my leg. If I hadn't tripped my leg wouldn't have been broken. I was the one that was in a car bomb because Rickover was trying to hide his past."
"The common word I'm hearing in the first thing you said and the third thing you said is Rickover. He was the one that raped you. It doesn't matter that you were out past your curfew. It was Rickover's fault that you were raped… and ours. If we hadn't let you go to that party, you wouldn't have been raped. It was Rickover's fault that you'd been in the car bomb. He set it up."
"Was it his fault I broke my leg," Trudy asked.
"As much as I'd love to blame that a$$ for everything," Marsha said, "No, that one was just an accident. But Trudy, I don't want you blaming yourself for anything that happened. None of this is your fault."
"I'm sorry," Trudy said softly.
"Stop apologizing," Adrian said, "When you do something wrong that's when you apologize. You haven't done anything wrong."
He squeezed her hand.
Trudy was released the next day.
"Welcome home," Adrian said as he pushed her wheelchair into the house.
"Thank you, Adrian," Trudy said.
"Who's hungry," Marsha asked
"The kids in Biafra," Adrian replied.
Dwight and Marsha laughed.
"So am I," Trudy said with a slight smile.