It was over a week before Katya and Tori checked out of the hotel.
Miraculously, her father didn't die. Defying all odds, he actually woke up. After four days of a medically induced coma, they stopped the drugs and waited to see what would happen. A day later, he opened his eyes.
He couldn't talk because they had a lot of tubes down his throat. But using his fingers to squeeze a doctor's hand in response to questions, he was able to indicate that he could hear, that he knew what year it was, and he knew his own name.
It really felt like a miracle. There were still a lot of hurdles to overcome. They had managed to save one leg and one eye – but he would need to be in a wheelchair for a long time before he could learn to walk with crutches or a prosthetic limb, and his eye was still seriously damaged. He could see a murky sort of grayness, he told them, but that was it. They couldn't guarantee he'd ever see more than that.
Katya got to see him, but it didn't go so well. She cried so hard she couldn't walk over to him. The whole thing upset him so much, she had to be removed. It was Tori who went into the room and assured Mr. Tocci that though his family was upset, they were holding it together. She promised that she would take good care of his wife and daughter, and that he'd be back home before he knew it.
Mrs. Tocci was not doing well, unfortunately. She'd moved into the hotel room next door to the girls, and even after she'd been told her husband would survive, she wouldn't leave. She had to be right next door, she had to be five minutes away, she insisted.
Tori suggested they go home. Get the house ready for whenever Mrs. Tocci decided to come back, clean out the fridge of old food, things like that. Katya finally agreed, and they headed to her parents' house.
“God, I haven't been back here in years,” Tori sighed as they drove through Katya's old neighborhood. Tori had lived on the other side of town, and since graduating, her parents had moved to another city.
“Hasn't changed much,” Katya said, watching the houses roll by.
“No. Not at all. Look!” Tori laughed, pointing at a huge home with big pillars. “Remember that kid!? He was in love with you!”
“No,” Katya chuckled. “He was using me to get to you.”
“Get out of here!”
“Yeah. He had a huge thing for you, wanted me to tell you he was a good kisser.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because he was an asshole.”
They both laughed.
“Look at you, feisty even back then,” Tori teased as she pulled the car into the Tocci's driveway.
“Hardly feisty. I think he kissed me once, no tongue, and I nearly peed myself. He wasn't even that good, he – holy shit,” Katya leaned forward in her seat for a second, then she leapt out of the car.
The house had looked normal, at first glance. But when they'd come to a stop, she noticed the inside of the garage. There was a long white ramp leading up to the door to the house, complete with railings. When she turned to look at the front of the house, she saw that a similar ramp had been built there, but painted in colors to match the exterior paint.
“Did you arrange this?” Tori asked, coming around the car and putting her hands on her hips.
“No, I didn't.”
“Your mom must have -”
“No,” Katya shook her head. “This morning, before we left, she was talking about how we'd have to get it done. She asked me to look into it. I figured we had a month or so before even thinking about him coming home.”
“Then how did this happen?” Tori asked.
They went into the house and were in for more of a surprise. An electronic chair lift system had been built into the stairs. Emergency pull cords had been installed in all the bathrooms, the kitchen, and in her parents' room.
In fact, the entire home had been made handicap accessible. It was amazing, as if someone in a wheelchair had always lived there. She couldn't believe it. It must have cost a small fortune. Who could've done something like that!?
Who do you know who could afford something like this?
“Wulfric,” she whispered.
“Huh?” Tori asked as she headed into the kitchen.
“It had to have been Wulf,” Katya said, following her friend. “He's the only one who could have afforded all this, and his mother has a key to the home.”
“You really think so? Have you heard from him at all?” Tori asked.
“No, but I've barely been checking my phone.”
“Do you think he's here?”
“I have no idea. I've talked to Vieve a lot, she didn't mention anything.”
“If he did do all this, I'm going to marry him,” Tori threatened, and they both laughed.
A thorough search of the kitchen showed that they didn't need to do any kind of cleaning. Any food that had grown old since the house had been empty was long gone. Fresh food filled the fridge and lined the cabinets. In fact, they almost over flowed with it. The pantry was fully stocked, too. Lots of water and cans of food.
And, she noticed, lots of ingredients for baking all sorts of different things. She almost cried as she looked it all over. Brand new pans and pie tins and molds lined a whole shelf. He'd gotten her stuff to bake with, because he'd guessed she would be there for a while, and Katya always had to be baking.
“Hey,” Tori interrupted her thoughts as she poked her head into the pantry. “I have an idea. You call and check on your mom, and I'm going to run out and get us a shit ton of Chinese food and some cheap beer. We'll have a mini-celebration, in honor of your dad.”
“Yeah. Yeah, that sounds awesome.”
Tori skipped out of the house and Katya dialed her mom's number. She was on the phone for about ten minutes when the doorbell rang. Figuring Tori had forgotten the house key, she trapped the phone between her ear and shoulder and yanked open the door.
Of course, she wasn't expecting to see Wulf standing out there. He always popped up when she wasn't at all prepared for him. She stared up at him for a second, then she grabbed at her phone.
“Mom,” she said, stepping out of the way and letting Wulf walk inside. “I was just calling to tell you that the house is good and we got here okay. Glad to hear Dad is still doing good. You'll call me if anything happens, or if you need anything?”
“Of course, dear,” her mother sighed.
“I don't care if it's three in the morning, Mom. You call me.”
“What would I be doing at three in the morning?”
“I know you and your partying ways.”
“You're so silly. I'm so glad you're here, honey.”
“Me, too. I'll talk to you in the morning,” she said, shutting the door and following Wulf into the living room.
“Love you, sweetie.”
“Love you, too.”
Katya hung up the phone and slid it into her back pocket, then she finally looked up.
He was standing at the other end of the sofa, one hand casually shoved into his pants pocket. She felt like she hadn't seen him in a long time. Much longer than a week. Almost like she was looking at him for the first time since they'd been neighbors. When her father was whole and she wasn't broken.