"You shouldn't be up and walking just yet," Lacey admonished.

"If you call this walking," the defiant patient retorted, rolling her eyes in frustration.

"Well, someone insisted on jumping from a two-story balcony, and now she has to live with that stupid decision," Lacey laughed.

"It was either that or die. As long as I get to live, I'm fine with the stupid broken leg. It's the burned hands that are driving me to consider suicide a more pleasant alternative," Cairo gasped, as she swung her right leg, which was encased in plaster, in motion with her body as she attempted to sit in a real chair. She had been in the hospital bed for more than four days, and it was driving her crazy. Her hands were wrapped tightly in gauze, as they had been scalded by the heat of the fire.

It was her pure dumb luck that she had managed to convince Meagan to jump out of the house seconds before it blew. The force of the explosion did throw her a large amount of distance, which is why she had broken her right leg, but had she hesitated a few seconds more, she probably would have been caught in the explosion.

"They'll heal. You're a writer, so it must be hell, but it's only temporary. How's your grandmother doing?" Lacey asked, on a more serious note.

"She coded last night. The old bitch died peacefully in her sleep, which is more than she deserves. I'm more worried about my parents. Do you know how hard it was to tell my Dad about everything his mother has been doing? About how she faked her own death, and then successfully managed to torture his daughter for more than ten months?" Cairo said, grimacing as she recalled the phone conversation she had had with her father. She was happy, though, that for once in her life, her father was on her side, and fought with her against Cairo's mother, who did not believe the story that Cairo had recounted to them.

"I'm sorry about that, Kay. You deserved a chance to get a real explanation about why she did everything she did. I guess you'll never have that," Lacey said, grasping Cairo's arm, avoided the gauze-wrapped hands.

"Thanks, Lacey. I can't figure her out, either. How can you understand how someone would use her own granddaughter's life, to further themselves? It's just...hard. How is everyone else holding up? Last I saw Brian, he looked ready for a complete meltdown. Did you make him sleep, like I told you to do?" Cairo asked, smiling as she saw a slight, almost imperceptible, sparkle in her friend's eye as she mentioned Brian.

"Yeah, I managed to convince him that the world wouldn't stop if he slept for eight hours. It was a lot of work, that man is definitely stubborn. In fact, I think he's still sleeping. The rest of the Boys, as you so lovingly call them, were more than a little anxious to hear some news. I called them at their meeting today, and gave them an update. They're considering nominating you for a sainthood, because they all talked to Nick, and he's going to go to the recording sessions they have scheduled. They mentioned taking some time, just the five of them, just to get back to where they were," Lacey informed her. Cairo's sunny demeanour seemed to drain away as Nick was mentioned.

"That's good. I can't believe they are willing to take him back," Cairo said stonily.

"Because you won't?" Lacey asked gently. Wrong thing to do. Her words seemed to spark a flame within Cairo, as she was then victim to her raging anger.

"Lacey, do you have any idea what it is like to be in my situation? That BOY has no idea what he wants, he has no idea what he did to me, he has no real remorse, and he thinks that he can just say 'I'm sorry' and that it will all go away, but it can't. It just can't disappear, even though I wish to God I wouldn't feel this anymore, I can't stand the hurt anymore, but it won't go away!" Cairo said, dissolving into a moment of tears. A swiftly as they came, they once more disappeared as she regained control of herself.

"I know, sweetie. It's hard, and it will be, but you need to do a few things for me. Breathe. You're still getting a little short of breath because of that smoke inhalation thing, so you need to calm down and breathe. Secondly, stop doing that talking-really-fast-and-not-letting-anyone-get-a-word-in-edgewise thing. It's so annoying, you almost died two seconds ago. And third, talk to Nick. You can't ignore him forever, and if you did, you're just going to end up in the loony bin with Meagan," Lacey said, hoping to crack a smile out of Cairo.

"So, she's not any better, is she? She's so lost in the story that my grandmother created, the journal and her 'role' in it, that she can't understand anything outside of it. She still thinks I'm Katherine, Nick is Andrew and that she's Elizabeth? Of all of us, she got the worst of it all. I got my heart broken, but she lost her sanity," Cairo said sadly.

"Yeah, I know. When can I spring you of this pastel-coloured jail?" Lacey asked.

"Tomorrow, I think. I'm not sure. They change the bandages on my hands tomorrow, and they'll be checking them to see how they're healing. If it's all good, then I think I'm free as a bird," Cairo said.