Ride

Chapter 18- Welcome Home, Fudge!

Chapter 18- Welcome Home, Fudge!

Friday was the day Fudge been looking forward to feverishly ever since she woke up from her coma. Friday was the day her family had been looking forward to since the accident. She was going home! She was beginning to think that this day would never come, but now, it was only one sleep away!

"Okay..." Luigi looked around at the several bags on the floor, stored under the bed on Thursday night. It was just him and Fudge in the room; the others had all left for the night and Luigi was supposed to be leaving in a couple of minutes himself. "I see that you have just about everything packed."

"Yeah", Fudge confirmed, unable to wipe the smile off her face. "My clothes for tomorrow are on the chair. Everything else is packed."

Luigi smiled. "Good."

"Oh, I'm just so excited to be coming home!" the girl gushed.

"Me too", Luigi agreed, taking her hand and giving her a big smile of his own. "Now, Fudge, I don't want to upset you because I know you are so happy to be coming home and I am too, but I feel like there is something we need to talk about before you come home."

"Okay..." Immediately, Fudge was suspicious.

"Okay", Luigi began. "Just because you are coming home, this does not mean you are magically better, okay?" Just looking at her, he could tell that that wasn't true. It was obvious that she was still in a fair amount of pain. Her knees were kind of scary-looking. They were covered in scars, but nowhere near as nasty as the scar on her back, and were an unusual shape from dozens of surgeries. On top of that, her face was pale, she was abnormally thin and she still looked pretty sick from the medication. "You still need plenty of rest and you can't walk just yet."

"I know!" Fudge groaned. "The doctors and nurses won't stop reminding me! Besides, I still don't feel like I can really move! I don't think I'm gonna try walking anytime soon!" She didn't really mind all of that. She didn't want to move anyway and she would much rather rest at home than in the hospital.

"That is good!" Luigi chuckled. "Because Babbo and I don't want you getting hurt trying!" He kissed the top of his daughter's head.

"Trust me, I won't."

"I know. I am glad."

"Anything else?" Fudge wanted to know.

"Just going on from that", Luigi continued, "you are still going to have to go back to the hospital. You are going to have to have surgeries and soon, you will start therapy."

"I know", Fudge repeated quietly. She had been told about the therapy and wasn't looking forward to it. Sure, she couldn't wait to start walking (if it ever got to that; they were going to start slow) and feeling like herself again and all that. It was just that the therapy sounded like a lot of work and she was sure that it was going to be painful.

Luigi nodded. "Okay..." He glanced at the clock. "It is time for me to go, but I will be back first thing in the morning with Babbo and Mack, okay?" Earlier in the week, Mack had agreed to give Fudge a ride home from the hospital in his trailer since everyone in town had agreed that it was the easiest and safest way to get her home. Besides, there was a bed in the trailer, so Fudge could nap quite comfortably on the way home.

"Can't wait."

"Will you be okay tonight?"

"I have been every other night", Fudge reminded him. "I'll be okay for one more night."

Luigi nodded. "Of course. Well, Papà has to go now." He kissed her again. "I love you and I will see you in the morning to take you home."

"Home..." At that moment, it sounded like the best word in the world to Fudge.