It's 1am and four-year-old Cleo Smith is bouncing around a room in the wards of Carnarvon Hospital, delighting nurses and eating an icy pole.
Breathless, her parents – Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon – rush in for one of the most emotional reunions ever to take place inside those hospital walls.
Eighteen wretched and harrowing days have passed since Cleo was snatched by a stranger, Terence Darrell Kelly, from the family's tent at the Quobba Blowholes campsite in Western Australia's north on October 16.
READ MORE: Tara Brown reflects on Cleo Smith's story
Ms Smith, 24, is not sure what to expect of Cleo's condition, all she knows is that she wants to wrap her daughter up in one ginormous hug and never let go.
"I don't think there are words to describe the happiness I had in my heart to (see) her there," Ms Smith told 9news.com.au.
"It's one of those moments you will never forget.
"You don't want to let her go but we kind of had to because … the doctors had to do check-ups.
"Every hug since that day we've had that same feeling – we still don't want to let her go."
A few hours later, a photo of Cleo – beaming from a hospital bed – was released. In it she looks incredibly happy and healthy.
It was a miracle few had dared to hope for and the nation rejoiced.
However, as first revealed by Ms Smith and Mr Gliddon in an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, the road ahead is long.
"Every day is a new day, every day and night is different, but she's OK," Ms Smith told reporter Tara Brown.
"She's happy, she's bubbly, she's sad, she's angry, but she's getting there."
Cleo is having nightmares and, on some days, there are meltdowns, her mum says.
Detectives found Cleo locked inside Kelly's Carnarvon property, just 7km from the four-year-old's family home, on November 3 after a tireless investigation and one of the biggest missing person searches in history.
Kelly was arrested and has since pleaded guilty to child stealing, but he is still facing other charges which are before the courts.
No questions allowed
Meanwhile, detectives had given them what any parent would imagine to be an enormously difficult request.
They were not to speak to Cleo about what had happened to her, until she could be interviewed formally. This would ensure nothing influenced her recall of the events that had passed.
"We did have to refrain from asking her questions," Ms Smith told 9news.com.au.
Knowing she had the most important thing, her daughter back, made it easier to comply with the police request, Ms Smith said.
"She was back and she was with us. There wasn't anything that we needed more than her home and we had her home."
Ms Smith said the family's focus right now was keeping Cleo wrapped up in a "positive bubble", adding she was proud of how resilient and strong Cleo was.
"She is such a survivor, I think that is the best way I can describe her, and she has been like that from day one," Ms Smith said.
"I know she is capable of so much. She has gone through so much and (yet) she is so bubbly, so happy."
'She has definitely changed'
While the abduction had left its mark on Cleo in many ways, one surprising difference she saw in her daughter after her rescue was a burst of independence, Ms Smith said.
"She has definitely changed .. she has grown up a lot. She has experienced something no kid should ever experience," Ms Smith said.
"I guess she is finding herself in a new world that she has entered. Now she is a lot more adventurous. She can go searching for things. She is out and about and exploring everything."
Ms Smith said while she was still struggling with not wanting to let Cleo out of her sight, her daughter had demanded, and been given, a sleepover at her Nanna's house.
"She has had one night away from us now, when she was with my mum," Ms Smith revealed.
"I didn't have a choice, Cleo wanted it. If you knew the relationship Cleo has with my mum, Cleo just loves her.
"I still FaceTimed her as soon as I got home."
In another big move, Cleo started kindergarten this year and was loving school, Ms Smith said.
"We sat down with her school teachers who have been amazing. She is being treated as just another child starting kindy and she feels the normality at school," she said.
"She loves it. I had to tell her that she couldn't go on Friday because she only goes three days a week. She said, 'Is it school holidays?'"
'We got so much hate that we didn't cry enough'
Ms Smith said she and her family were so grateful for the overwhelming support they received from police, the small Carnarvon community and the rest of Australia.
But there is a lot of lingering hurt too, for the way the couple were treated by trolls, armchair detectives and keyboard warriors who decided they were behind their daughter's disappearance.
Ms Smith said she wasn't surprised at the suspicion cast upon them initially, but was taken aback by the level of vitriol directed at them.
WA Police were vocal in their defence of the couple, emphasising they were co-operating fully during the investigation and not considered suspects.
However, Ms Smith said they copped a huge backlash after doing two TV appeals during the nightmarish days Cleo was missing.
"We got so much hate that we didn't cry enough. We weren't upset enough. That was 15 minutes of one day, they don't know about the 23 hours and 45 minutes of the rest of that day," Ms Smith said.
"Just sitting in front of the camera you are going to try not to cry, or be upset. You are trying to hold yourself together to go through everything to get your daughter back."
Astonishingly, Ms Smith and Mr Gliddon are still getting hateful messages from trolls even now.
"I have deleted my Facebook because people are so harsh and yet they have no idea what we are going through," Ms Smith said.
A fresh start
Ms Smith said their stressful experience on social media was one of the reasons they had decided to take back control and tell their story directly.
"Telling (Cleo's) story and telling our story is really important to us, especially because of all the harsh feedback that we had … we want to make sure that people know her story and from ourselves, not someone that has posted … about in on Facebook."
The young family is now planning a fresh start, and will leave Carnarvon to go on a road trip before settling down somewhere new.
"We are going to look into buying a caravan," Ms Smith said.
"We are going to … experience life after having our life taken away.
"And find a new place to call home."
