The Green Girl ✓

Aftermath

Alice POV

It's been two months since I got shot; two months, in which so many things had changed.

I'd spent about three weeks in that hospital with many people fussing around me and the nurses often had to force them out. The Millers – grown-ups and twins, Caden and the boys, Morgan, Logan, my aunts and even my mother visited me as frequently as they could. I also had some other guests including Cillian, Will and a few other patrons of  the pub. The big leather-clad men had given the hospital staff quite a scare the first time they visited.

My room had always been full of flowers, get-well cards, stuffed animals, chocolates... I even had my own nurse – courtesy of Joseph and Catherine. I still don't know exactly how they'd managed that. I mean, I wasn't sure that it wasn't against hospital rules or even illegal for them to hire an independent nurse and have her stay with me twenty-four seven. But then again rules changed when you had money and the Millers had lots of them. And they didn't mind using them to make sure I was taken care of at the hospital and the following couple of weeks at our house.

A big surprise for me was that after a week in the hospital and with me complaining that I'd miss a lot of school while being here and then spending two weeks of home treatment, the boys had actually brought me my homework. And notes; lots of notes. All three of them went regularly to classes and penned down everything that I might use to catch up with my studies. I was truly touched by the gesture and happy that they finally paid attention in class. And I hade quite a laugh while they described to me how astonished our teachers and classmates were to see them so diligent.

"They treated us like ticking time bombs," Keegan had said one day.

"As if we were planning to blow up on them at any moment," Asher had added.

Almost immediately after I was discharged, it was time to go to court. The bulky robber was going to prison and this time he was going to stay there; no probation, no chance of getting out due to good behavior.

Caden kept his promised to me. During the time we were in the courtroom he concentrated on helping me keep calm and not on getting revenge. I could tell he wanted to. I could see it in his burning eyes, his alert posture and his fisted hands. All the boys seemed that way. Skyler including, which caught me completely off guard; I'd never seen that boy furious before and I hope to never see him that way again.

The women didn't differ much: my aunts and Elanor stared at the man the whole time, looking like they were about to spring out of their seats and tear him to pieces. Beth and Catherine Miller were the same. The only one who appeared in control of his nerves was Joseph, although he fidgeted around frequently.

As for me – I was scared, angry, upset, I jumped at the slightest noise... I was a wreck. But I did my best to hide it. I had to. I had so many people in that courtroom who were worried about me; if I'd broken down, it would've been harder for them to keep their own emotions in check.

The two robbers had separate trials. I had asked my lawyer – a tall, strict-looking, but in truth very compassionate middle-aged woman, to arrange that. It was my opinion that the second guy should not be judged as harshly as the first robber. After all, he was not aware of his companion's plan for revenge and even attempted to stop him. Because of my statement, Blondie's sentence was considerably less severe and he was even sent to a different prison.

And now I was finally at home. For the past two weeks I'd been well enough to go to school. I still needed to take it easy though. No training sessions with Caden for example.

"Alice?" Someone spoke from behind me and I turned around somewhat surprised. I still wasn't used to her calling me that and not "you" or "Alissa". I still wasn't used to her being in this house. Because it was safe to say that after all I'd been through, the biggest change I had to deal with was my mother actually wanting to be around me and try to act... well, like a mother.