welcome home 35

While Riley's exhaustion often got the better of her, she rarely just dozed off on the spot without any awareness that she was falling asleep. In these precious few moments inbetween awareness and sleep, she would often fantasize about something she had read, or twist her position ever so slightly just to make it that much more bearable.

This time, she had wondered when would she wake back up. If it was really just a nap, she would've woken up in not too long, and enjoy some more of her family before the evening inevitably forced them out. But if she really was this exhausted, she would sleep through the whole night in one fell swoop, waking up fresh and ready to finally leave the Dentist-scented building for good.

Or at least until her next checkup.

Unfortunately for her, the fates weren't quite satisfied with either option, flipping the coin of Riley's awakening and having it land on its edge.

She awoke with a start at the sudden impact, her eyes darting around the fluorescent lights and white paint of the room's ceiling before her ears came online, finally resolving the noise she was hearing to be... laughter?

With a squint and a bit of an ache she leaned her head forwards, added stimuli helping her figure out that she was laying flat on the hospital bed's shitty substitute for a mattress, and that she was holding even less awake Timmy to her front, the tyke's weight preventing her from easily sitting back up.

And that the rest of the family was softly giggling at the scene as they slowly put on their jackets.

"Wha'appen..." Riley muttered out half awake before her mom reached in to pick her younger child up the older one's still bandaged, still very much achey chest.

Judging by Lily's amused giggles, the question was the peak of comedy, somehow.

"You looked so calm sleeping like that, and then I got up from the bed and you just very slowly tipped over and bwam, down for the count." Younger sister's recollection only reignited the wave of giggles around the room, even Riley joining in once her mind revved itself awake to the point where it could actually imagine how she must have looked.

"Wh-what time is iiiiiiieeee-" Her question turned into a yawn halfway through before a jolt of pain from an aching muscle cut it short, some more of her awareness returning to her at the worst possible hour.

"Ten to nine, sadly we really have to get going now." Rick answered as he slipped into his jacket, Riley groaning quietly in response after glancing to the side at the window and seeing the black rectangle of night sky confirm her dad's words as her own growling tummy provided the extremely important second opinion.

"We got you something to eat since you missed dinner, the bag is next to the bedside table, hope it hasn't gone all cold yet."

Riley nodded subconsciously at her mom's words as she tried to rub the sleepiness off her face before feeling a pair of soft arms embrace around her, making her lips curl up into a slight smile as she was pulled into a gentle hug, resting her head against Ella's tummy as her hair was scritched.

"We've arranged you being discharged at eleven, so don't worry about oversleeping, especially with your nap here already, heh."

"I can't wait!" Lily chimed in, getting a smile out of everyone still awake as her mom patted Riley's back and let go, only for her big sis to be attacked with intense hair ruffling by her big bro, the former squinting and clenching her sleep deprived face in response.

Jokes on Andrew through, all this hair ruffling had managed to do is just change her utterly bedraggled hair into a slightly different variation on the theme.

"Alright alright, best not wake Riley up too much, it's bedtime already, heh." Rick gently nudged them all out, after all they'll have all time in the world with her once more in less than a day.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from giving her a lil' hug after saying the last 'sleep well's and heading out, closing the door behind himself.

And so she was alone once more, the harsh white light on white and gray furniture providing exactly no distraction from having to actually move herself into a better sleeping position if she wanted to do even as much as distract herself some more with her phone or stop her tummy from distracting her in turn.

She wondered how being discharged like that would look like considering her everything still felt like it was made out of a combination of cotton and broken glass.

That's almost glass wool, right?

Before her exhausted mind would conjure any more questions that would baffle theoretical physics PhDs, she finally managed to scramble towards back of the bed and drag the table along with her, the titanic effort required to lift the brown paper back up onto it proving so tiring she had to take a phone break.

Fortunately, the pillows were that much less uncomfortable than the modest layer of foam that constituted the rest of the hospital bed, providing at least some excuse for comfort even if only in comparison to its absolute absence.

Still, it was almost enough to knock Riley out there and then, the sheer exhaustion having hidden in plain sight only to reemerge when she was at her weakest.

And in all likeliness she would have lost that fight to the pillow's vile sucker punch of comfort if her phone hadn't vibrated right there and then, distracting her from her own sleepiness enough for her to reach over and take a closer look-

'''
WhatsApp
_________

Liz Asher: Desperation pushes many towards ends
they find at best illogical and at worst
immoral, towards ends that have a vanishingly
small chance of working, because that's still
better than the seemingly impossible reality
they have found themselves in. Towards ends
that even if they end up working out, are not
any less morally repugnant to the ones forced
into them.
(3 more messages)
'''

The words made Riley pause as she mulled on them, hardly able to disagree with anything but still feeling like something was missing from the bigger picture, namely the very first word, desperation.

Before she could go on thinking idly any longer, she noticed the addition about this not even being her grandma's full message, unlocking her phone and navigating to the app, eyes ready to take in the rest of it.

'''
Liz Asher: That's the general lecture, but
I'm more than aware of why you're asking
about it. Don't ask how I got my hands on
any of this, the answer is much more
boring than you'd expect.

Liz Asher: James H. Lewis, Born 08.31.82,
Chicago, IL. No criminal record before now
aside from a couple cases of public
intoxication. Married in '09, had a son in
'13, divorced in '14, mother resigned the
custody of the child. Fell into alcoholism,
lost job in '17, house in '18 and custody
of his son in January this year, and
has been desperately trying to hold onto
any job since, being discharged because of
alcoholism. In debt and been trying again
again to regain the custody of his kid,
which was denied every time.

Liz Asher: 500 is nothing for a hitman job,
but plenty if you want to kickstart
yourself back into society.
'''

Riley's tired eyes took in the rest of the message, numbers and dates making it more difficult to take in than it had any right to be, the teen eventually giving up in frustration and setting the phone down as she dove into the by now tepid brown bag.

A rather light burrito and a small bottle of cola, any temperature the two might have previously had having long since equalized. Neither part of the meal was particularly awe inspiring in its tastiness, but it more than enough to shut her stomach up for long enough to be able to eat something homemade tomorrow.

And with that out of the way... it was finally time to get some rest, the brown bag discarded on the floor on account of Riley not thrusting her aim nowhere near enough to be able to pull off a left handed dunk into the trash bin halfway across the room.

That and the bottle would most likely just bounce right back at her even if she did manage to nail the arc to stick the landing.

Either way, this all could be dealt with tomorrow, it's not like a Christmas fairy of hospital room cleanliness would visit her overnight and replace her teeth with coal if she'd find the room to be too dirty.

Probably.

Hopefully.

With everything else dealt with, she pushed the wheeled table away from herself, the wonderful possibility of her waking up fresh in the morning only to bash her head into the plywood surface upon sitting up providing enough motivation to push the table as far away as it'd go.

Or at least as far as her arm would reach.

One final contortion to reach the light switch with her better arm later and she finally allowed herself to lay back down again, lasting an approximate eight seconds before tired breathing turned into light snores.

***

To Riley's chagrin, her sleep was nowhere near as long or refreshing as she wished it would've been. She was exhausted to heck and back, but her brain would not spare her, making her constantly wake up every couple hours or so, the plaintext mystery in grandma Liz's message not letting her rest for a while afterwards despite her exhausted half consciousness not managing to make any progress in it, rinse and repeat.

The end result was Riley somehow managing to finish the night even more exhausted than she had started it, not able to get any more sleep once the sun had finally crawled its way from behind the horizon, but definitely not able to stay awake in any real sense.

She never had much of an interest in coffee, the bitter scent occasionally wafting from the upper floor offices filling her with many things, namely disgust and spite, but hardly any interest in the dark brew.

But in her present state she was about ready to give it an honest shot, preferably many of them, one after another.

Time was being so sluggish were it to tick any slower it would be actively going backwards as Riley desperately looked for something to distract herself with, boredom pushing her to new heights of dealing with the hospital's awful Wi-Fi.

Fortunately, eventual arrival of more painkillers, food, and Lucy, not necessarily in that order, lifted her spirits just that bit more she needed, thanking any celestial being that was listening in on her once another nurse had told her she would be discharged soon, once her father had arrived.

Cue him showing up not five minutes later, carrying gifts of the three wise men. Like clothes to change into. Or another bottle of soda. Or an actually good pillow.

She never read that part of the good book but that ought to have been more or less accurate.

After repeatedly refusing nurse's help with changing herself into something more suited for the outdoors and only slightly regretting it through the annoyingly long ordeal, she was finally ready to head out, all the necessities packed into pockets and all the trash stuffed into the slightly overfilling bin.

Only for the nurse to return with a wheelchair, Riley's brain short circuiting as she tried to grasp its purpose, leaving her just staring at the accessibility device like it was made out of gold.

It was definitely made out of rust, guess at least the number of letters matches.

"Wheelchair ride is part of the discharging procedure. No, you can't just walk instead." Nurse's voice was as audibly worn with having to explain it to everyone as it was final and definitive, Riley ending up shrugging and begrudgingly sitting down on the plastic seat, ready to at least try to enjoy her tiny ride.

Only for any hopes to be dashed by all the doorways, wonky wheels, and the weird grated flooring of the industrial-looking elevator unit, the end experience proving to be so bumpy she'd have preferred to roll on the floor towards her destination.

Fortunately the whole thing only took a couple minutes, as uncomfortable as they might have been, before she was finally right in front of the main entrance with its tinted glass doors, the end result looking like it was inviting her to get out.

She was definitely not gonna argue against such a menacing glass door.

With Rick's help, she managed to pull herself onto her feet, balance still proving to be an issue, but at least one she could temporarily sidestep by clinging to Rick's side, his arm wrapping around her giving her enough of a reassurance to push on, soon getting back into something resembling a rhythm as they pushed on towards the parking lot.

It was only then that Riley consciously noticed that it was just her and Rick here, unfocused eyes managing to make out her dad's car and that there was nobody else inside.

"Oh, did everyone else stay home?" She muttered out quietly, pushing on despite feeling like her every individual muscle was simultaneously trying to fall asleep.

"Yeah, but rest assured, they're staying home for a reason."

That definitely didn't sound menacing or anything.

"Slept well sweetie?" He followed up softly, his voice full of relief that she was finally out of that place.

"Closer to the opposite of well, but I suppose I'm awake now. I've never been more inclined to give coffee a shot, heh..."

"We can definitely grab you some sweeter one to try if you're so inclined."

"Sweeter?" Riley tilted her head as they slowly waddled over to the right car, thankful absence of wind making the cold temperature much less impactful than it would have otherwise been.

"Ella drinks it straight without anything else added, and I doubt you'd enjoy it too much that way if you haven't had any coffee before."

"And you?"

"I don't really drink much of it anymore, and when I do I just borrow some from her."

Riley nodded idly in response, feeling more confident now that she had someone to turn to about the subject.

"Guess if I do end up enjoying it she'll help me choose which kind to get?"

"Hah, I really doubt. She only drinks it while working and refuses to touch the thing otherwise."

Riley took long enough to compose a response together that they managed to get into the car in the meantime, the singular crutch laying on the back seats making her groan internally as they strapped in.

"Why would she drink it at work and not otherwise?"

"Well, her work day starts at five, which is coincidentally also when she gets out of bed and remotely checks in, then forces herself awake with some coffee. Not exactly the healthiest day to day cycle, but after so many years it's hard to kick the habit- or how she'd call it, addiction."

"Addiction?" The word stuck out to Riley in particular, many unpleasant associations putting her off just a bit.

"Oh don't worry, she means it in a tongue-in-cheek way. That's not to say she won't be unaffected without her morning coffee, I remember when we forgot to restock on it and she just had a couple of days where I had to call her every half hour just to make sure she wouldn't collapse on her desk. She did anyway but thankfully nobody noticed, and afterwards we napped the exhaustion away."

The adorable anecdote helped to calm Riley down a bit as they both finally strapped into the seats, the mention of a nap combined with the soft padding of her seat definitely not doing her awareness any favors.

And Rick definitely did notice, his daughter's quiet grumbles at her own exhaustion forcing a sly smile on his snout as they pulled out of the parking lot, urban buildings decreasing in density as they drove home.

"Nothing wrong with taking a nap sweetie, will help the ride go by faster."

"I know, I know, it's just so frustrating, feeling so tired like that constantly."

Rick reached over to stroke her shoulder a bit, eyes remaining focused on the dreary road, dirty snow decorating its sides.

"Hopefully once we're back home you'll be able to get some more quality rest. Had a hard time falling asleep tonight?"

"The opposite if anything, just kept constantly waking up again and again and once it began to get brighter outside it was all over."

"Hmm, was something on your mind? Stress, anxiety- I know I can't stay asleep if I go to bed concerned about something, even if I do somehow manage to doze off the first time."

Riley forced her eyes away from him, unsure as to whether her grandma intended the things she sent to remain confidential, or whether bringing it up there and then was the best of ideas.

"Probably, don't quite remember what it was exactly."

She saw him raise his brow as he glanced at her, hoping he wouldn't notice her obvious misdirection, and if he inevitably did, he would at least spare her by not speaking up about it.

"Still, I think it'd be the best if you got some more rest, no point in forcing yourself awake to the point of getting grumpy."

"I mean yeah, but I'd rather be fully awake once we get back home, I'd guess everyone has had enough of the unconscious ragdoll- hell, I've had enough of it, I just wanna... do things again."

Her words silenced the inside of the car for a bit before a soft chuckle escaped her dad as he responded-

"Oh sweetie, everyone understands that you need more rest than ever right now, even Timmy, and we're just happy to have you around again. Still, I do get your frustration, I remember well how annoyed Ella was about not being able to do anything when she was recovering from her spine injury, especially since the Internet was in its infancy back then. The college we were going to had public terminals and all, and it's own BBS even, but all it had was stuff that she didn't particularly care about."

"...BBS?" Riley blinked in response at the unfamiliar initialism, Rick laughing to himself at how badly he showed his age right there, taking a while to collect himself before heavily oversimplifying-

"Oh, if you've already been to one it's basically like a forum except during the prehistoric times before the Internet existed for real, connected to through the phone lines. Our college could afford to host its own for its students, which was definitely remarkable for its time even if it all ended up being for naught."

"What makes you say that?"

"Hardly anybody used it, and the few active users that did use it turned it into something that, well, repelled everyone else from using it, and so it was shut down just a couple years later."

"W-what did they turn it into?"

She saw her dad chuckle to himself and blush ever so slightly, biting his tongue a bit as he was pinned into a rhetorical corner without Riley even knowing.

"Well... I think Ella said it the best that one time- 'An impressively large collection of impressively low quality smut.'"

Well that was definitely more than enough to wake her up for real.

Riley's eyes were pinned to the passenger side window as she tried to hide her blushing, the barren flora on the side of the road not exactly providing her much to distract herself with as she could've sworn she heard her dad try desperately to suppress his own cackling, succeeding only partially.

They drove in silence for a while, Rick knowing better than to keep prodding his already embarrassed daughter. It's not that he couldn't- the book he had found in her orphanage clothes, and especially the location of the impromptu bookmark giving him enough material to create a 'Richard' memory of her own-

But that was the last thing she needed right now, and it's not like he even had the advantage of being certain he wouldn't do the exact same thing in her situation.

He totally would, where as he doubted that Riley would suddenly switch to preferring her name be written 'Rayleigh', with every individual letter meticulously sounded out.

A few increasingly less-awkward minutes later Rick pulled into a small parking lot in front of a rather underwhelming grocery store, its storefront proudly proclaiming both the owner's first name and the shop's general age, based on the amount of large letter stickers that were slowly peeling off the glass.

"Let's just grab some coffee and head home, wanna come with me or...?"

Inside warm, outside cold, and more than likely requiring her to figure out how to move around with that crutch on the spot- the math wasn't too hard on this one.

Plus she wouldn't have any idea what to get anyway.

"Yeah, I'll pass. You probably have a much better idea what to look for anyway."

"Fair enough. Prefer it sweeter or creamier?"

If there was any correct time to use Ask the Audience it would've been right there.

A few 'um's and confused glances later Rick got the message, chuckling as he grabbed his jacket-

"No harm in getting one of everything then. Be right back."

Sitting alone in the car like that was probably the closest Riley ever got to true meditation, the quaint nothingness of the snow covered landscape not giving her anything to focus on, with the building in front of her being such an eyesore it was actively difficult to even keep her eyes pointed at it.

No noises aside from the quiet rumble of the engine and a very occasional swish of wind, no stimulation in being bound by the seatbelt from moving, no distraction on account of her having slid her phone into a pocket she couldn't reach with her left arm from this position.

Peace and sereni-

*click-swoosh*

Finally, it was getting boring.

"Got you one with extra sugar, one with extra cream, and one that's apparently caramel flavored." Rick's voice brought her back from whatever spiritual plane she had ascended to during these three or so minutes as he scrambled back in, the gust of the freezing air from the outside accompanying him fully grounding her in the realm of her dad's sedan.

"Is that even still coffee at this point?" She asked with a lift of her brow as the car made its way back on the road, its brief stay in the middle of nowhere soon to be forgotten.

"Probably not, but considering that coffee on its own tastes terrible I'd hardly call that a bad thing."

"Fair." Riley chuckled back as they slowly drove into the slightly more familiar territory, the sublime uniqueness of those particular ugly leafless trees guiding them back home, one backwater street after another.

In not too long they were finally taking the last turn into their own stretch of asphalt, dark thick of the woods on her right contrasting with the untarnished snow cap on her left as they drove up to their house, Riley subconsciously relaxing at the sight before reminding herself of one final complication.

No way of getting around that crutch, is there now.