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This was not how Becky Botsford wanted to come out to her parents as Word Girl. She had always imagined it to be a calm, peaceful reveal. It was supposed to be a happy, safe moment. No pressure from being forcefully outed. No dire stakes pulling her secret out of her.
Perhaps, she would have told them after saving Dr.Two Brains from himself. She would have figured out how to separate the man and mouse. Dr. Boxleitner would regain consciousness and she'd invite him over for dinner. He'd make a toast to her for how far she had come. He'd get emotional and take it too far, leading too much to her being Word Girl. So she'd come clean and elaborate.
TJ would throw a fit, in complete denial of her confession. He'd beg their parents to excuse him from her gross sap fest. Her parents would just tell him to hush, too preoccupied with their pride in her. Her mom would envelop her in a bear hug. She would probably try to get everyone in it, including Dr. Boxleitner. Then her dad might even start crying when she's not looking.
She would chalk her confession up to the heat of the moment, the feeling of triumph and closure she had been searching for for years. After all, she would have saved the city from her most formidable foe and had saved her friend from himself. How wouldn't that be the perfect time?
But the reveal had not gone that way. She hadn't defeated Dr.Two Brains once and for all. He wasn't her greatest foe anymore either.
It was well past midnight when Becky had burst through her family's front door, profusely bleeding. She was hysterical, panicked by her first ever truly failed battle. She hadn't been thinking. She had been acting on instinct, her instinct to find safety. Where else felt safer than home?
Her parents came running down the stairs, yelling. Yelling what? Becky couldn't recall. The last thing she remembered was her father scooping her up in his arms. It was dark in their living room, as no one had even turned on the lights during the commotion, but Becky could see the horror in her father's eyes.
The emergency and medical professionals who worked to save Becky's life that night all had taken an oath to keep her secret. With solemn respect, no one dwelled on, not spilled, her identity.
There had been more important matters such as slowing the bleeding and safely transporting her a hundred miles away to the country’s top hospital. Her identity was a silly matter compared to her life.
Becky was unconscious all the way through the emergency. Countless people had gotten to see Becky as Word Girl and Word Girl as Becky, and she hadn't been awake for any of it.
She fell in and out of consciousness for three days straight. It was on the fourth day she remained awake enough to notice her father’s hand in hers.
“Hey my Becky-roo… how are you feeling?” He spoke above a whisper, voice hoarse. He smiled softly as if he was putting on a brave face to comfort her, but tears filled his eyes.
“Dad?” It took her a moment to find her own voice. Her throat was so dry, her voice cracked. She wanted to ask what happened. The unmistakable beeping of a heart monitor, the scratchy thin gown loosely covering her, and the sterile white room pretty much told her all she needed to know.
He called her name, pulling her out of her stupor. She looked into his tear filled eyes. The look of unwavering love and concern made her chest ache. His free hand was combing through her hair.
“I’m sorry,” she said at last.
“What for?” He laughed through his tears. He gave her one of those pained, huge smiles. His smile twitched, fighting off a pitiful frown.
“I… for everything.”
For lying to her family for all these years. For letting the city down. For letting the villain get away. For hurting her father right now. She must be hurting her mom and TJ, too.
So Becky and her father sat in her hospital room crying together, holding onto each other’s hand tight. She bawled her eyes out, stringing apologies together so fast they were incomprehensible. He repeated over and over again how much he loved her, and her mom loved her, and her brother loved her, and he repeated over and over again how she was safe now and everything was going to be okay.
When her mom and brother walked back into the room after a breather, they were hit with a flurry of overwhelming emotions again spurred on by the emotional breakdown going on inside. The family was left alone to their reunion for a good hour. There was a lot to be said, but everyone was too strung up on their emotions for the words to come out right– even Becky Botsford, Wordgirl herself, was too choked up for a coherent conversation.