The nurse's answer sent a cold shock down Riley's spine, a loud gulp leaving her throat as she slowly turned to look at the door.

"Yeah..." The girl admitted as her throat constricted around her, making eating that much harder.

Especially with her hands trembling.

"Hey, don't worry hun, they definitely aren't gonna take you anywhere, you're still much too rattled for that. I don't think they're even armed." Nurse tried to calm her down as she glanced out the room, Riley taking a shaking breath as she finally finished her plate, eggs feeling uneasy in her stomach.

The sliminess didn't help her anxiety any.

With the cup of water downed the nurse grabbed the tray and went for the door, exchanging a couple words with a pair of gruff voices before the corresponding cops walked in, greeting the girl with deep nods as one of them spoke up-

"Good morning miss, we're from Duluth PD. Sorry for what'd happened to you, we just want to collect your testimony to help with the criminal case against your attacker, that alright?"

As if she had a choice.

"Sure..." She muttered out after a while, scuttling deeper into her bed as the cops pulled the chairs over to her bed and sat down, entrapment making her squirm internally.

One of them pulled out a pocket notebook and clicked his pen a couple times as the other prepared a voice recorder, giving each others a go ahead with light nods before the one with the notebook spoke up once more-

"Can you describe what had happened on the day of your assault?"

"Sure, I suppose..."

In way too much detail.

***

All of which she was asked to provide.

Riley's unease steadily rose throughout the interview, the girl nervously staring up at the sluggishly ticking arms of the clock, trying to distract herself from the surfacing memories and associated sensations.

The two weirdly enough appeared unphased when she'd told them of Bruce's involvement, a detail that mostly escaped her as she quietly prayed for the questioning to finally end, which it eventually finally did, thank god.

Just as she was done shaking off the reprise of all the horrible sensations from that day and preparing for the cops to finally leave her alone, the previously silent one caught her attention again with another question-

"So, any questions Riley? You probably have so many questions, what with being out cold for a couple days and all."

Can you two piss off already?

"N-not really, I don't think. M-maybe the motive I suppose..." She looked to the side, some curiosity managing to push through her general distaste towards the situation.

"From what we could gather, it's just money, got paid some up front and promised the rest afterwards. We couldn't find anything that would suggest a crime of passion." The officer explained matter-of-factly, a seed of confusion planted in Riley's mind before she asked once more-

"How much?"

"Seems to have been five hundred dollars, altho we still have to interrogate Bruce."

Riley did an auditory equivalent of a double take at the amount, the number striking her as... rather minuscule compared to the severity of the crime.

"Just five hundred upfront?"

"Five hundred in total, half of that upfront."

She wasn't sure if she would even punch someone for that amount.

"That's... less than I expected." Riley couldn't help but admit, an uneasy smirk sliding onto her face as she briefly considered the possibility that the guy was just that dumb as to agree to something like that- before being wiped as more doubts sprouted up.

This just didn't make sense.

"Isn't it? Hence why we looked as hard as we could for any additional reasoning, something personal- but couldn't find a thing." She didn't expect the cops to share in her confusion, uncertainty continuing to grow inside her skull.

She took a few moments just nodding idly as she tried to process the whole thing, a box of puzzles with only the borders and none of the center filling.

"W-with the way you said it I assume you've already caught him?" She muttered out soon after, voice still deep in thought.

"Not even caught." The cop chuckled out, the other one joining in soon after, laughter feeling almost like it was mocking her for not getting what they meant.

"He'd turned himself in not two hours after it'd happened." He'd clarified a few moments later upon seeing Riley's expression, making whatever pieces Riley's mind thought it had of the big picture burn up into ashes.

Nothing about that made sense.

"Anything else you wanted to ask before we get going?" The words didn't manage to take her out of her daze, Riley only responding with a slight shake of her head, still baffled over all this as the cops left her room.

Didn't even bother to close the door behind themselves, the douches.

The brief moment of indignation took her mind out of the circle it was running its fastest in, ultimately coming up with absolutely nothing.

And she couldn't even get privacy, noises from the corridor making it hard for her to relax even after she gave up on trying to start her thinking engine again.

How swell.

A few minutes of laying awkwardly afterwards she finally decided to take *an* action, even if just to be able to try to take a nap in relative peace until everyone showed up.

Trying to get off the bed was surprisingly painful even in places where she didn't get hurt at all, her legs almost sliding out from under her completely when she tried to put any weight on them.

At least she didn't fall over completely, one arm supporting itself on the bed and the other clinging onto the IV pole providing her at least the illusion of stability.

She was much too close to that for comfort, sore legs needing a good moment to just be able to support her frail self, and then another one to figure out how to walk.

Easy there, easy-

And just as she was about to reach the destination of her ill-fated journey the door was opened wide open, the nurse from earlier walking in nonchalantly, holding something that looked like paper in her paw as she opened her mouth to speak, words getting stuck as she got a look at Riley, a question brought up immediately-

"Do you need to use the toilet?"

The question sure took Riley out of the left field, the girl standing there for what felt like minutes as she processed the words, trembling like a dried leaf all the while.

"N-n-no, just w-wanted to c-close the door..." She admitted quietly, the nurse quickly adding two and two together with an irritated groan before helping Riley stagger back to her bed, mouthing obscenities towards the cops under her breath all the while.

Once the girl was comfortably laid to bed the nurse shook off her irritation with a deep breath, returning to a soft smile as she picked up the papers from where she'd left them and walked up to Riley, informing her softly-

"So, you've got a handful of cards while you were out, want me to help with the opening?"

Riley didn't expect the kind gesture, a hint of a blush sliding onto her cheeks as she nodded in response, the nurse sliding a chair over before carefully tearing the first envelope often and passing it off to her patient-

'''
ARTHUR & SOPHIA NELSON
278 22ND ROAD
ST. CLOUD MN 56301

RILEY ASHER
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL
915E 1ST ST
DULUTH MN 55805
'''

Arthur? Sophia?

The names came up blank as she tried to scour her memory for them, eventually deciding to take a look anyway and see what's up with it all...

With some effort her good hand pulled the card out of the opened envelope and spread it open, the front cover full of generic 'Get well soon!' imagery, coupled with that line written verbatim in a way too flowing font.

Fortunately, the message inside was much less overly... glittery-

'''
We're sorry for what'd
happened to you and that
we weren't able to meet you
any sooner Riley. What you
did was so incredibly brave,
and we're all proud of you.
We were too wrapped up in our
xmas preparations to pay you
a visit, we'd love to
correct that someday sweetie.

Get well soon darling!

Arthur, Sophia, Nica, Kate,
Derrick, Eric,
Caleb, Emma, Red
with help of their mom,
Beth, Granny Gwen,
Grandpa Bob

Sigs collected with help of
Caleb <3
'''

That felt nice.

A slight smile refused to wash itself off her face as she set the card upright on her bedside table, kind words helping wash away the leftovers of earlier anxiety as the nurse passed her another opened envelope, Riley taking it with a quiet 'thank you' and inspecting the sender-

'''
LUCA MARTINEZ
GRAND RAPIDS FOSTER HOME
236 SW 9TH AVE
GRAND RAPIDS MN 55744

RILEY ASHER
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL
915E 1ST ST
DULUTH MN 55805
'''

Luca!?

Riley took the card out as fast as her one hand could manage, not even sparing the front cover a glance as she dug in into the message-

'''
God I wish you were here.

I got so scared when I heard
the news, again and again,
the closure, relocation,
all the shady things,
you getting assaulted and hurt.

I had an inkling
that someone would harm you in
revenge for blowing the
whistle, but I hoped I'd be
wrong. Please get well Riley.

I knew it was you ímmediately.
Didn't have a concrete reason,
but it all struck me very much
as something you'd be invoĺved
in.

I wish I cóuld say it was all
a smooth ride from the get go,
but it v́ery much wasn't. So
much panic, so many tears at
everyone getting separated and
sent god knows wheré.

I can only hope that everyone
will get over it in time, as
painful as it all is. Or that
we'll be allowed́ to somehow
reunite once the whole thing
blows over.

I don't blame you for aný of
this, I can't. Oakwood and
its staff had it all coming
for a lóng time now,

I just wish the girls would
cry less at night.

Thank yoú for what you've
done Riley.

I hope you'll get better soon.

Luca
& everyone else in GRFH
'''

That one hurt.

After wiping a couple of stray tears from her cheeks she set the card down on her covers, unsure of how to feel about it all, feeling just the faintest sting of regret at bringing her orphanage down, oblivious to how it would affect everyone actually in it.

Still, everyone would get better in the end because of it, right?

Right?

"Is everything alright?"

The nurse's question brought her out of the panic that has been creeping up on her, Riley only now realizing that the couple of stray tears have grown into couple hundred, her body shaking at everything she took in.

"Y-yeah, j-j-just... m-may I use t-the bathroom?" Might as well take an out and hopefully get a hold of herself.

And deal with the bladder.

"Of course! Just let me grab a wheelchair and I'll help you out." The nurse wasted no time quickly walking out of the room, giving Riley just enough time to put the card on the table before she walked right back in, holding a contraption of metal and black fabric that she then magically unfolded into an ordinary wheelchair.

Medicinal wizardry.

Scrambling her way off the bed and onto her means of locomotion was fortunately much easier this time, the nurse lifting her onto the chair relatively easily.

Riley still got a good feel of how powerless her legs were as she was sitting down, suddenly feeling very, very thankful that she wouldn't have to stumble over there on her own.

She wondered for a while as to what would happen with the IV stand with them leaving the room, the imagery of the entire pole joining them in their mechanical convoy making her chuckle before the nurse just moved the two bags onto an attachment on the wheelchair, the solution certainly convenient if lacking in absurdist department.

Riley definitely appreciated none of the hospital staff giving her more than a passing glance, despite her eyes still happily tearing up in presence of any more light than the shade they were used to, and that's without even including sad tears that kept on trickling.

Nothing going on, move along.

A minute or so later they finally made their way into the bathroom, lacking the stalls Riley subconsciously expected, instead proudly displaying one entire porcelain throne, flanked with white hand rails.

The unspoken question of 'what now' was immediately answered with the nurse speaking up-

"Do you need further help?"

Oh no no no I'm good.

"I-I'm good, don't worry." Riley answered nervously before breathing a sigh of relief, the nurse thankfully closing the door behind her without any further questions.

And then she realized she still had a couple meters to go between herself and the toilet.

Go go Riley wheelcha- oh fuck that took a lot more effort than she thought it would, even when taking only being able to use just one hand into consideration, but she had finally reached the throne.

The sink was thankfully within an arm's range of one of the hand rails, legs cooperating with their owner for long enough to let her wash her good hand and face as well as manage to spin the wheelchair around, Riley's brain coming up with absolutely nothing else to answer the question of how she would she even turn it around without that.

But that was done now, and she managed to land her rear back on the black fabric seat.

Go go Riley wheelchair.

***

If she had to wheel her way back to her room on her own her good arm would have probably just fallen off.

Thank god for that nurse.

Not long after she was finally back in her bed, chair taken away back into storage as she snuggled on the soft mattress, feeling much more tired than she'd any right to be.

Nothing like having your body rattled with a boot, woo.

The sudden warm comfort brought with it some drowsiness, forcefully banished away by her aching left arm as she reached over for the night stand, grabbing the final envelope that the nurse had opened but not handed to her yet-

'''
ELIZABETH & MARVIN ASHER
144 E 4TH ST
SUPERIOR WI 54880

RILEY ASHER
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL
915E 1ST ST
DULUTH MN 55805
'''

Liz and Marvin! Maybe they'll visit as well?

'''
We hope you're feeling better
now sweetie, and are so sorry
for what'd happened.

You're incredibly brave to
have done what you did sweetie.

Your mom is definitely proud
of you, wherever she may be.

We love you and hope to be able
to see you soon, sadly Liz caught
something nasty and is in the
hospital herself, but she's
alright now and will be leaving soon.

Take care sweetie and have
a Merry Christmas!

Marvin & Liz
'''

Merry Christmas to you too.

With her spirits warmed up she put the last of the cards up on the bedside, the empty envelopes laying on her lap, a brief thought of getting out to throw them out evaporating as soon as she felt her aching arm and legs, resigning herself to even more of nurse's help.

Speak of the angel.

The nurse wordlessly threw the empty envelopes into the garbage bin, taking a glance at the clock above the door before pulling another ampule out of the drawer and injecting its contents into the same place to which the IV was connected to on Riley's forearm, all her aches quickly swept away with a wave of warmth.

God bless drugs.

The brief wave of euphoria made Riley downright melt on her bed, sinking into the softness of the pillow with a goofy smile on her face, the nurse chuckling quietly as she took a look around, asking for confirmation-

"Do you need anything else before I head out?"

"S-some water a-and I'm g-good..."

The nurse nodded and quickly refilled her cup, Riley speaking up one more time just as she was about to leave-

"E-excuse me, w-what's your name?"

She lifted her eyebrow in response, expression uncertain as she spoke-

"Lucy?"

"I... t-thank you Lucy, f-for all your help." Riley's voice trailed off as she expressed her gratitude, uncertain of the nurse's response until a warm giggle stilled her fears-

"You're welcome Riley, it's been a pleasure. Take care and get well soon." The gentle smile on Lucy's face mirrored on Riley's as she nodded in response, waving weakly as her caretaker left the room, leaving her finally to her own for the first time in a while.

On her own, free to do... absolutely nothing.

Guess she could try to nap...

By the time her brain brought up the possibility of catching some rest after the strenuous task of existing with a beat up body, the rest of her was already well underway in implementing the idea, Riley dozing off less than a couple minutes later, fading off into peaceful snores.

***

"Hey, 'Nana' does count as a word!"

"Shhhh!"

Riley let out a quiet grumble as she shifted her head on her pillow, tendrils of awareness sneaking themselves into her sleeping mind.

"Timmy, please be quiet, we don't want to wake up Riley."

"But why?"

"She still needs a lot of rest sweetie. Don't worry, she will wake up and we'll chat and all as much as you want, but for now she should still sleep, alright?"

"Fiiiine..."

Aww Timmy, cmere...

"Mooom, I'm hungry, can I take one of the candies?"

"Sweetie, dad will be back with something to eat soon, these are for Riley, remember?"

"Fiiiine..."

The hushed chatter had finally wormed its way into her conscious, one of her eyes lazily opening to investigate what was happening in her room.

Ella and Andrew took the two chairs, Timmy squirming on his mom's lap as he stared intensely at the Scrabble board laid out on the overbed table, his big brother barely able to hold back a smile at the tyke's childish frustration, Lily joining in with a small chuckle as she sat on Riley's bed, tail serving as an impromptu blanket for her sister's legs.

Riley kept observing the scene for a few moments longer before Timmy looked in her direction, his eyes locking with her single one as they stared at each other for a while, a wide smile slowly creeping up on her face before the kit blew the lid on their stealthy exchange, shouting happily as he ran up to the side of her bed-

"RILEY, RILEY!"

He wasted no time in scrambling up next to her, wrapping his lil' arms around her as widely as they'd let him, his big sis unable to hold herself from bursting into soft laughter, wrapping her good arm around him in return.

And then breaking out into more giggling as the rest of the family caught up, the girl fully opening her eyes to the sight of four elated skunks squeezing her as gently and as lovingly as they could manage, responding softly soon after-

"Hey there everyone, glad to see y'all again."