You heal in more ways than just bones

Spending the next few weeks with Randall was a great way of clearing your head. He almost had to be restrained from dragging you from the hospital bed to his car and with less than a cursory wave, the two of you bounded to his house where he already had a guest room set up for you. Despite the hate that he had for her, you had to admit that Alice, his step-mother, had pulled through. Even Randall's father was more or less pitching in to help make sure you were settled in. Being a child-hood friend who just lost his father in a car accident AND saving a classmate, all of that had made an impression on his step-mom. For your part, you were extremely grateful and that helped to ingratiate you.

For her part, Alice looked after you during the day and helped you with your rehab, a bit surprising considering how rather standoffish she was, and while meticulous to a fault, she was also very thorough and very professional in her approach to your care. She had you stretching, working the muscles, and helped you realize that you were overcompensating for the lack of usage of your left leg, that caused the body's unbalanced angle and your major cause of falling over yourself. "Proper movement means proper understanding of yourself and where you are at. When you have both feet, you take it for granted that you will be standing and walking upright. Don't be so lazy about it."

During the evenings, you hung out with Randall and within days, you were feeling much better. By the end of the first week, the doctor had seen enough of an improvement to cut down on your medications and began to permit you more and more activity to do. Alice, rolling her eyes, told you when you left that there was no way in hell she would let you do that. For once, you were grateful that she was such a hardass, because the next week, you were still taking things slowly and working to build up your arm muscles, your hand movements, your coordination and foot placements. Everything was set to a schedule and by the time the second week ended, you were feeling much better. Your arms were still a bit weak, especially with your left still being in a sling, but you were able to hold and carry things much better with your balance.

Importantly, though, you had time to heal from your dad's "loss". Randall had stuck by you throughout the ordeal, being a joker and overall gaming bud, but his help was instrumental in getting you over the hump. The funeral had been held in a private setting and you took the urn with his ashes and spread them over the lake in the neighboring county, Randall having driven you out there and back. While you were riding, you inevitably turned the conversation to Deborah, though you were sure to avoid mentioning the main thing about your Dad being Deborah.

"No shit...Deborah Zawatsky? Big-tits Deb?"

You nodded as you adjusted the last of your clothes that Alice had washed before you were finally done packing up your things. "I know, weird, huh? Never knew she liked me like that before."

Randall laughed a bit and shook his head. "Dude, you're the only one, then. Hell, even Alison knew. That's why she got so jealous of you and her all those years." He hefted your bag over his shoulder before helping you walk/limp to the car. "I mean, this whole marriage thing is a bit fucked up in the head, for sure, but you could do way worse than her." He leaned forward. "Besides, don't break her heart, man, or else who knows where'd you end up? I hear the West Bank's a nice place these days to dump a body."

"You're assuming they would LEAVE a body to dump," you retorted and he just nodded, leaving you a bit hanging there between a joke and being scared at how true it rang in your own ears.

A few minutes later, as he pulled in, you slipped out of the carseat and slowly started to move towards your bags before Randall motioned at your door behind you. "What?"

You looked back as Deborah stood there, a bit uncertain on how to approach you, or even if she should, but all Randall did was help take your bag out of his trunk and after walking over, he whispered something to her that caused her to blush a bit more, before he handed the bag, gave you a fist bump, and then pulled away. "I guess...I'm home?"