Worst Summer Ever... (Book 7 of Adopted by Jenna and Tyler Joseph)

23. Tyler

Sepsis didn't want to let go of Samantha. Just as we thought she was on the mend her fever spiked again and she lapsed into unconsciousness. She was delirious with fever and barely conscious.

Days passed as Samantha fought. She struggled a little as her fever rose and the doctors put her back on oxygen. They were coming at this with as much as they could throw at it.

On the fourth day, her fever broke. She was drenched in sweat but resting comfortably for the first time in days.

The fifth day she woke up and seemed closer to herself.

"Hey, baby," Jenna smiled at her. She looked around the room and at the two of us. She didn't say anything and at first I was afraid we'd lost her again. That we were going to be dealing with her silence again.

"I feel kinda... crappy. But okay?" She said.

"Your fever spiked for a couple of days there," I said. "But you're doing okay."

She smiled and rested some more.

The next day she was much better and was able to talk to Jake and the agents from the FBI. She told them as much as she could remember. She didn't remember going back to her dressing room but everyone was thinking that Mark was laying in wait for her and knocked her out as soon as she walked into her dressing room.

Mark had claimed he could keep her safe. And yet here we were, in a hospital because he had allowed her blood sugar to climb to dangerous levels and had allowed the sore on her leg to become infected.

Three days after she'd woken up the second time, the results of the imaging came back. The infection wasn't too deep, but the doctor wanted to go in to clean out some of the infected tissue.

Samantha cried, worried he was going to take more of her leg. He assured her it would be a small incision, just so he could see the part of the muscle that still had infected material, he would remove that and close it up. She'd barely have a scar.

The day of the surgery, Samantha was upset. They took her for surgery and she was back within two hours. She was asleep, so we sat beside her and waited for her to wake up.

The first thing she did when she woke up was to throw the covers off and check her stump. It looked the same, except for the small line of bandage covering the small line of stitches on the front of her stump.

"Patrick's fine," I smiled at her. She smiled back.

"I was totally convinced they'd take more off," she admitted.

"I know, sweetie," I said as I smoothed down her hair.

A couple of days after the surgery, the doctors cleared Samantha for discharge and said we could take her home. We started making arrangements to fly home.

Rosie and Junie were excited to hear Samantha was coming home.

Jenna had run out to a mall and gotten Sam some clothes and we got a pair of crutches for her as well. The police were going to try and find out if Mark knew where Sam's leg was, but we had Samantha. And that was really more important.

The day we were set to fly home, Samantha got a little quieter. I asked her if she was okay or worried about anything specific. She shook her head.

We packed up our things and headed to the airport.

"Ready to go home?" I asked her.

"So ready," she said. I smiled and pulled her into, probably the billionth hug just that day. She returned the hug. Clearly neither of us were hugged out.

Jenna had her arm around Samantha as we approached the airport.

"Awfully busy here," the taxi driver said. "Busier than I'd expect."

I looked out the window. Press. There was press everywhere. Word must have gotten out that we were heading back to Ohio.

I felt Sam stiffen beside me.

"It'll be okay," I whispered to her. Tears were in her eyes. She just wanted to go home. Jenna squeezed her hand.

We got out of the cab and gathered our bags from the trunk. A police officer came over.

"Mr. Joseph?" He asked. I nodded.  "I'm here, with my partner, Eric, I'm Ken.  We're here to escort you and your family to your gate."

"All the way to the gate?" I asked.

"To security, anyway. Press can't get through without a boarding pass. But gateside staff also know and are here to help if you need it."

He looked over at Samantha, leaning on her crutches.

"Have a safe flight home, Miss Joseph," he smiled. "I'm sorry for the circumstances that brought you to Nebraska, but I hope one day you'll come visit on your own. And if you do, Eric and I would gladly give you a tour of Lincoln."

Samantha smiled shyly. Jenna hugged her and kissed her head, making Samantha bend down so she could reach.

With the officers' help, we made it to baggage check and security without any issue. We were in the airline lounge waiting for our flight. Samantha was leaning on Jenna and I was scrolling through my phone.

Suddenly Samantha let out a big sigh. I looked over at her. She looked alright.

"Everything okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she said. I couldn't quite read her expression.

"You know you can tell us anything, right?  And I'll make you an appointment with Doc when we get home."

Samantha nodded.

Our flight was finally called and we boarded our flight. We were heading home. After six or so weeks without Samantha at home, we were finally bringing her home.

But would she be comfortable at home?  While her entire life is in Ohio, so is everything bad that had ever happened to her. Losing her mom, her birth father's treatment of her, the accident, the amputation, both kidnappings, the shooting, the assault.

I looked at my daughter. She was 18 now, but I could still see that timid, terrified 13 year old that had landed in our backyard one stormy night in October five years ago, almost.

I had to find something good for her. Something she could look back on and think it was good.

I had an idea, but it would require some help from others. And Samantha needed to approve. But I did have an idea.