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eleven

Eleven

Kemper was released for the hospital the next day, still on antibiotics and painkillers when she needed them. Sierra and Luke took the week off, still on call just in case they were needed though, but their friends offered to pick up their patients while they were at home trying to make Kemper comfortable. After gathering Kemper's belongings, they took her back to their house, but it was a silent car ride. Kemper was clearly nervous and excited to go to their house, and they were feeling the same.

"Kemper, do you like dogs?" Luke asked, which Kemper nodded in response. "We have a dog, Petunia,"

"Is she nice?" Kemper asked.

"Super nice and cuddly," Luke confirmed, making Kemper smile. They eventually made it home and Luke pulled the car into the driveway that led to a large house.

"Welcome home, Kemper," Sierra told the seven year old. Luke parked the car in the garage and the two led Kemper inside, who looked around mesmerized by everything.

"This is Petunia," Luke introduced Kemper to their dog as she came rushing over. Luke knelt down and held the dog tightly so she wouldn't jump. "Do you want to pet her?"

"No thank you," Kemper shook her head, now scared of her.

"That's alright, I'll go put her in mine and Sierra's room," Luke said and led the dog up. Sierra began showing Kemper around the house, then Luke came back down to help with the house tour.

"This is your room," Sierra opened the door to Kemper's room that they had spent the evening setting up. The room was painted white and had a large queen bed with pink bedspread and a white canopy over it. Kemper's smile grew as she looked around the room.

"Do you like it?" Luke questioned and Kemper nodded happily.

"Thank you," she thanked the couple.

"You're welcome," Sierra smiled. "We can get you some toys and clothes this week," she offered and Kemper nodded. "We're going to go make lunch, do you want to come down with us or stay in your room?"

"Stay in my room," Kemper answered.

"Alright, we'll call you down when it's ready," Luke said and Kemper nodded. The couple left to go downstairs as Kemper sat down on her bed. She wasn't going to lie, it was weird being around the couple not in the hospital. They weren't rushing around getting work done and all of their attention was on her, she wasn't used to that. She didn't know how to act now, she wasn't their patient, she was their kid.

Kemper laid down on the large bed, lifting her shirt to look at the bruising that was beginning to clear up. It did feel a lot better, but it was still there and gave her some pain sometimes. Sierra had called Kemper down once the meal was ready, and the three ate with mostly silence. The normal chatterbox was now quiet, and they knew she was just trying to adjust, so they gave her that space to do so.

The leftover lunch went into the fridge and Luke and Sierra decided to take Petunia outside to the porch, "Do you want to come out and throw the ball with Petunia?" Luke asked, but Kemper shook her head.

"Can I go back to my room?" she asked.

"Of course," Luke nodded, "we'll be outside if you need anything," Luke said and Kemper nodded. She went to the steps, but instead of going up she sat on them, watching the couple on the porch for a couple of minutes until she saw they were distracted. Quickly, she rushed back down to the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing the leftover pizza from lunch and a couple bottles of water. She then went to the pantry and grabbed a bag of chips and a box of cereal. As she stacked the items up and grabbed them, the backdoor opened and Sierra came in, shocked at what she saw.

"Kemper, what are you doing?" Sierra asked. Kemper went to run away, but forgot about the bruising, which made her stop and scream out in pain. She dropped all the food items, which the cereal box opened and spilled everywhere. "Hey, it's ok," Sierra rushed to her side and knelt down to her height as she clutched her lower abdomen. Sierra sat down on the floor, then Kemper collapsed in her lap, sobbing from the pain and how frightened she was from getting caught.

Luke came in from all of the chaos and looked around at the food scattered on the floor, "Can you get an ice pack?" Sierra asked and Luke nodded, heading to the freezer and grabbing one, then going over to Sierra and Kemper.

"Here baby," Luke said, "I'm gonna put this on your bruise," he said, then sat it on top. Kemper started to calm down after a while, so Sierra decided to ask her about what she was doing.

"Darling, why did you grab all of that food?" Sierra asked.

"Cause you are not gonna feed me," Kemper stuttered out.

"We're going to feed you, princess," Luke promised her, "you don't need to bring all of that up to your room, you can just come down here and grab something if you're hungry," Luke reassured her. They could tell Kemper was skeptical, so Sierra came up with a compromise.

"Do you want to bring a bottle of water and some fruit snacks up to your room?" she suggested. "We can keep the fruit snacks in your closet and only you'll be allowed to touch them," Kemper nodded in agreement and wiped her tears. Sierra stood up, still carrying Kemper, then went up to her room with Luke following as he carried some water bottles and fruit snacks. When they got up, Luke placed them on a shelf in her closet that she could reach while Sierra laid Kemper down in her bed and tucked her in.

"We'll put them here," Luke told her, "and when you run out we can just add more," Kemper nodded in agreement and Sierra went down to get her painkillers. She came back up with the painkiller and a water bottle for her.

"Here darling," she sat down on the edge of the bed, giving her the pill and opening the water bottle. Kemper took the pill, then handed Sierra the water bottle back, so she capped it and sat in on her nightstand. Before anyone could react, Petunia came rushing in and laid down next to Kemper, demanding attention.

"Here, I'll take her out," Luke offered, but Kemper shook her head and petted Petunia's head.

"It's ok, I want her to stay," Kemper said softly. The couple smiled at the little girl, seeing she was getting a little more comfortable.

"How about you get some rest?" Sierra suggested. "We'll wake you up in a couple of hours,"

"Ok," Kemper nodded. The two gave her a quick kiss on top of her head, then left the room, leaving Kemper and Petunia there to take a nap.