Finally Home

10. Tyler

Samantha was in much better spirits when she woke up. And even more so when Jenna arrived with Brendon and Sarah.

She got trained on crutches and the PT said she was ready to go. The doctor would have to discharge her.

While we waited for that, Samantha napped. I watched her sleep, and while we were, once again in a hospital, it wasn't because her diabetes was out of whack, or because she was gravely ill, or had been in an accident. She was here because she'd done something she loved and unfortunately, broke her ankle.

Around two, after Sam had had some lunch and was dozing a bit, the doctor came in with some films and papers.

"Okay, Samantha, I'm going to show you what we did, and then, if your parents still want to, they can take you home," he smiled.

Sam looked at us.

"Don't even think it, of course we do," I said. She grinned at me.

The doctor put the films up on the light box and showed Sam the hardware they'd used to fix her ankle.

"So I have a robo-ankle?" She asked.

"I suppose, in a way, sure," the doctor smiled.

Sam smiled, too.

"So, unless you're just in love with the food here, and honestly, you're kinda cool to have around, I can let you go home. What do you think?"

"Um..." Sam pretended to hesitate. "Heck ya I want to go home!"

Because it's hospital policy, Samantha had to go by wheelchair to the car. I ran down to bring the car to the main entrance and Brendon pushed her wheelchair while Jenna carried her crutches and Sarah carried Rosie.

I helped Sam get into the car and she sat up front so she could stretch out her leg. Brendon and Sarah and Jenna and Rosie squeezed into the back. Which was tough because it's not really a 3 seater at the best of times with the car seat.

Once we were home, Samantha crutched her way to the front door.

Josh and Debby were waiting inside and he picked Sam up and carried her to the couch.

"You're home you're home you're home!!!" He said. Swinging her around as he held her in his arms.

"Uncle Josh!! Put me down!" Sam laughed.

He sat her gently on the couch.

"Welcome home, string bean," he said, hugging her. She smiled and lay up against him.

I went into the kitchen to make Sam a snack and brought it into her.

"I help SaSa!" Rosie said, taking the glass of milk from me and very carefully carrying it to Sam.

"Thanks, Rosie!" She said, taking the glass. Sam looked at the snack, checked her glucose, and bolused her pump.

"I help!" Rosie said, handing Samantha a cracker and trying to feed her. It wound up on Sam's nose. The two of them were laughing. It was so sweet to watch my girls together. 14 years between them, and Samantha treated Rosie like a friend. Their relationship was simply amazing.

"Fortnite?" Brendon asked her. She smiled evilly at him.

"You know it." She said. Brendon got up and got the controllers and set up the game.  They had a blast and it was great to hear Samantha laughing.

"You did good, Dad," Jenna said, coming up behind me and hugging me. "You made our very disappointed teenager very happy."

I smiled.

"I'm glad I could. She has such a special relationship with them, and I'm glad I was able to make this happen. I'm glad they were able to make it happen."

"Me too," Jenna said.

Jenna's phone binged with a text.

"It's Erin, checking in on Sam," she said.

"I love that woman," I said, smiling.

"More than me?" Jenna asked.

"Ummm..." I pretended to think. Jenna swatted me on the shoulder. I smiled and hugged her. "Never."

"Good," she smiled back, typing to Erin.

"Sam," she said. "Erin wants to bring Jill by quickly to say hi. You up for that?"

"Sure!" Sam called back from the living room. Jenna texted back to tell Erin that Sam was up for a visitor. We knew they'd be over in about ten or fifteen minutes.  Samantha continued playing with Brendon while leaning on Josh. Everyone was laughing and watching them play.

When the doorbell rang, I went to get it and Erin and Jill were at the door with a somewhat large gift for Sam.

"Hey there. What's this?"

"A little care package for the not so basketball inclined. By which I mean, something for Sam because she's out of basketball for the season," Erin said.

"You didn't have to do that!" I smiled. "But I'm sure she'll appreciate it. She's in the living room, if you can't hear her. She's playing Fortnite with Brendon."

"Brendon and Sarah are here?" Jill said. "Cool!"

Jill went into the living room and said hi to everyone.

"I thought you had surgery," Jill said to Sam.

"I did. And then they put a cast on top of it. I have a robo-ankle now,"

"Cool," Jill laughed.

"What's this?" Sam asked as Jill handed her the gift.

"Open it," she smiled.

Sam pulled off the paper and opened the box. It was a signed basketball.

"Who's that all from?"

"It's the game ball from the game on Monday," Jill said. "We won! We beat Hillhurst! So the team signed the game ball for you."

"We won! Awesome!"

"Yep. And they felt so bad you got hurt. And worse that you're out for the season. But Coach wants to talk to you when you come back to school. When are you coming back to school?"

Sam looked up at me.

"You can go back tomorrow if you're up to it," I said. She looked over at Jill and said 'tomorrow'.

Jill seemed happy about that. We invited Jill and Erin to stay for dinner, but they already had dinner planned. We reminded them about the party on the weekend and Jill and Sam said they'd see each other at school. Jill would meet Sam at the front door as always.

Sam was all smiles as she finished playing with Brendon, we ate dinner and then she got ready for bed.