Broken (Edited edition)

Road to Recovery

The next morning, I wake up next to Mark in the hospital bed. He asked the Grumps to bring him some pajamas, and was wearing them now. He yawns loudly, and stretches his arms in the air." You get to go home today." He says, and I smile." I know, I can't wait to get out of here." I say, and Mark smiles at me. He brushes a piece of hair out of my face." You okay from yesterday?" He asks, and I nod." Just....don't leave me alone." I say. After my little melt down yesterday, my Mother was escorted out of the hospital. I was told I could leave the next day, and I was put on medication so I could sleep through the night. Mark sits up in bed, and gets out of the bed." I'm going to use the restroom, you get dressed." He says.

I get out of bed, and yank off my hospital gown. There's a nurse stationed out of my room now just in case I need help or I try to run off again. She shuts my door so I can dress, and I grab some clothes from the bag Danny brought for me. I pull on gray pajama bottoms, long sleeved blue shirt, and white socks. No shoes, because I'm not suppose to walk that much unless I need to go to the restroom or getting dressed. Mark is going to carry me around to several places, because I could fall and hurt something. Mark comes out of the bathroom, and sees me just standing there." You ready to go home?" He asks. I look out the window, then nod at him." Yeah, let's go." I say, and bend down to pick up the bag." Oh no, no you don't." He says, and pulls the bag over his shoulders." Doctor's orders, rest and no lifting anything. No school for at least the rest of the month, but during that month we're going someplace." Mark says, and I look over at him." Where?" I ask, and he picks me up." Pax." He says.

I stare at him in shock as he walks through the halls." Really? Pax?" I ask. He nods, and smiles at me." Yep, with Jack and the others. Pax East I believe." He says, and carries me into the elevator." So I get to see Uncle Bob and Wade?" I ask, and he nods." Yep, and we'll have tons of fun. We'll be doing lots of stuff, and go to tons of places." He says, and we take the elevator down. There are some nurses from different floor in the elevator, and some people going to see their loved ones." Aww, you're daughter is adorable." One of the women says, and I start smiling." Thank you very much." Mark says, and I look up at him." Can we get soup before we go home? Chicken and Noodle?" I ask him, and he nods." Yeah we can get some, but then you have to get some rest. Promise me?" He asks, putting up one of his pinkies. I intertwine my pinkie with his, and promise him.

The elevator doors open, and Mark walks me outside. The sun is shining today, and there are only few clouds out today." Great day to get out of the hospital." I tell him, and he nods." Yep, a great day." He says, and unlocks his car. He sets me in the passenger seat, and hands me the bag of clothes." You want Panera Bread Chicken Soup? Or you want somewhere else?" He asks as he gets in the driver's seat." Panera's sounds good." I tell him, and he turns on the car." Okay, Panera it is." He says, and I smile. I pull my sleeves down a bit, and unzip the bag. I pull out one of Mark's jackets, and pull it around me." You're cold? It's like seventy degrees out." He says as he gets on the highway." I just spent a day in the hospital, a very cold hospital. I'm still freezing from it, plus you have the AC on." I say, and he looks down at the AC." Oh yeah, forgot." He says, and I smile. I pull his jacket around me tighter, and smile as I start to feel warm.

Mark goes into Panera as I sit in the car. People pass by me, and give me weird looks. I ignore them, and slide down in my seat a little bit. I don't like people still, I just want to go home. So I can eat my soup, then fall asleep on Mark's lap. I run my fingers through my hair, and a piece of hair snags on the wrist band from the hospital. I carefully pull it out, and see Mark coming back to the car." You okay?" He asks as he sets the bag he has in the backseat." Yeah, just snagged my hair on this stupid wrist band." I say, raising my arm to show him." Oh yeah, those are a bitch to get off." He says, and drives toward the house.