Super

Chapter 61: Recall and Relocation

Lex sighed at the dejected look on Serena's face. "I'll talk to Lily, then," she promised. "I can't make any guarantees, though. She's the doctor, and when it comes to medical things, what she says goes."

Serena sat up straighter then, her expression breaking into a bright smile. "I feel great, though, Lex, be sure to tell her that. I just want to go home."

Frowning as she replied, Lex said, "I know we talked about this some days back, in case you don't remember, but you're going to be staying with us for a while. We're still not sure what's going on back in America. Chris has been looking into it, but he hasn't been able to get any information, or even get back many of your things from the M Agency."

"I know, I know," Serena answered, nodding in agreement. "I'm going to be just as much at home with all of you as I would be in America."

"All right then, I'll talk to Lily and see what she says." She tried to hide the big smile that had broken out on her face by taking another bite of her sandwich.

Lex hadn't been able to catch up with Lily until that evening at home, as the two of them set the table for dinner together. After explaining the conversation she'd had with Serena, Lex added, "So, do you have any idea when she might be able to leave the hospital and come stay with us? She seems to think she's ready. What do you think?"

Lily looked down at the table, appearing to be focused on straightening the silverware at the edge of one place setting. "I don't want to rush things," she replied after several seconds, looking up and staring Lex straight in the eye. "She had a traumatic bodily experience and I want to make sure we've observed her for long enough before turning her back out into the world and her having a relapse. Besides, she's safer in there."

"I can understand you wanting to make sure that she's well before releasing her, but what do you mean by safer?"

"We still don't know what happened to send her over here," Lily, said, pointing out one of the most well-known gaps in Serena's memory. "If they've sent someone over here to finish her off, like they did for you and Riss, she'd be better off in the hospital since there's always security there."

Lex shook her head, straightening the napkin next to the plate she stood nearest. "I see what you mean, but I don't agree. I'm guessing you've never had a heart-to-heart chat with her, because if you did, you'd know that she pretty much hates hospitals. I think it's only because one of us is there so often that she's stayed as long as she has."

She saw Lily's frown as she looked up and took it as a sign to continue. "Apparently, her parents thought they could treat away her interest in sex. I think she spent time in and out of group homes before they had her committed in her teens."

As Lex watched, she could see Lily's shoulders slump as she stared back down at the table. After a few moments, the doctor's head came back up again and she nodded. "You're right, I didn't know that. I'll start talking to her physical therapy team tomorrow to see what they think of her physical fitness and I'll think about the rest. I hope you know that we're not going to be done with the therapy after we get her home, though."

Raising an eyebrow, Lex let that ask the question that Lily answered. "I've got to work with her here to try to figure out whether her ability to travel is still intact, and if it's been changed at all. That might be one of the hardest parts of her recovery, if she recovers in that aspect at all."

Sighing as Lily left the room a moment later, Lex finished putting the glasses out in front of all the place settings, hoping that Lily's speculations would turn out to be untrue.

It wasn't until almost a week later that Lily pronounced Serena fit enough to come home. Lex, Rolf, and Kate had come with the van to pick up Lily and Serena from the hospital, Kate having decided that it wouldn't be good to expect Serena to walk home her first day out. They waited, standing by the door, as a nurse went over the discharge paperwork, complete with several sheets of exercises for Serena to do at home and the schedule of her next physical therapy appointments and checkups for the next month. Lex shivered as she followed the group out into the dark and frosty evening once Serena had been checked out, and she handed Serena one of her spare coats as they stepped outside the hospital and Serena could walk on her own again.