"Lex, can I ask you something?" Serena said, looking at her friend over her plate.
"Sure, go ahead," Lex replied, pausing from taking the next bite of her sandwich. She'd come over to spend lunch hour with Serena, and Art, who kept silent watch from his laptop on the table in the corner. They hadn't been able to explain about Art to Serena yet, though, so Lex just nodded a greeting to him.
Lex felt a surge of happiness in her chest as she answered, still glad from the time several days ago when she'd heard from the tone in her friend's voice that let her know that Serena had remembered her. It had happened almost a week after Chris had left, convinced after seeing where they'd been proposing for Serena to stay that it would be adequate for her.
"Just tell her to call me every couple of days" he'd warned them before boarding his plane back home. "She'll have whatever money she needs, I'll see to that, but I'm going to need to have a lot of contact with her for company business, and if any of you see any need for me to come back, or to send an assistant over for her, let me know right away."
They'd all agreed, waving as he'd left to board his flight, but the only thing Lex had called Chris about in the intervening days had been to warn him that Serena had been getting restless in the hospital. His response had been to have a laptop with a bunch of software on it delivered the following day, along with a new smart phone to replace the flip phone he'd gotten for Serena while he'd been in town. Lex smiled, remembering his response to her comment. "Well, one of the best cures for boredom is some work, and there are a lot of things I need her to do for me."
The week and a half since Chris had left town had been filled with the usual Special Forces work, as well as frequent trips to the hospital to see Serena, including some overnights. Lex had been glad to see her friend recovering her strength as well as some of her memory, but she had to admit to herself that the irregular time schedules had begun to wear on some of the group.
Realizing that Serena had paused, something quite unusual for her once she'd started talking, Lex caught up the threads of her thoughts and focused her attention back on her friend. "So, what is it?"
"Everyone here has been nothing but nice, though they've made me wish that I'd worked harder on my French in school," Serena began, playing with the food on her plate. "I don't have anything against anyone here, which is way more than I can say for any other hospital I've been in. I just want to know, though, when can I leave?"
Lex tried not to wince at the look Serena gave her then, intense and unhappy. "How are you doing with your physical therapy?" she asked, wondering if her progress might be a reason to continue holding her.
"They said that everything seems normal," Serena replied, still looking straight at Lex. "I had some problems with weakness at first, but I'm not having trouble with anything anymore, not walking or running or any other physical skills."
"That's good. What about your memory?" Lex paused before asking, not wanting to poke a sore spot, but continued since that might be one of the main reasons Serena might be asked to stay.
She sighed with frustration. "It's...some days are better than others. I remember a lot of my life past when I left my parent's home, but I still have some big empty spots. At least I remember all of you now."
Serena's head had drooped to the point where she ended up studying her lunch, and what Lex could see of her friend's expression seemed discouraged. She reached over to touch Serena's hand and smiled. "I don't mind asking Lily about it, if you haven't already. I take it you haven't?"
"I have, but she'll never talk with me about it. 'Let's see in a few more days,' she keeps saying. Like I said, the people here are very nice, I don't mind them, but I don't like hospitals."
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.
