Although Eleanor's grasp on life is tenuous, she's a fighter.
Helena and Liam sit waiting anxiously by her bedside, waiting and hoping she will stabilise. Jasper stays beside them, leaning tensely against the wall, his eyes never leaving Eleanor's face.
The nurse stays in the room, monitoring the Princess.
Helena's security detail, who's been waiting discreetly outside is dispatched to get the Queen coffee. Twice because the first cup from a vending machine the Queen declares to be "bloody awful" so he is send out into the night to find something more palatable.
From the palace a maid arrives with a change of clothes, hairbrush and makeup for the Princess on the Queen's orders.
As the night wears on, Liam's looking increasingly tired, but he refuses to leave his sister's side. A nurse brings him a pillow and blanket.
He's dozing when the doctor comes in to check on the Princess at 3.30am. He checks her over carefully, questions the nurse for a few minutes and then turns to the family and announces that he believes the Princess is through the worst of it now and he's no longer concerned that her heart may stop again.
Liam's awake now and struggles to pull himself upright. "So she's going to live?" he asks urgently.
The doctor nods and adjusts his glasses. "The chances of anything going wrong at this stage are minimal. I would suggest you all go home and get some rest and come back later in the morning when she may be alert. The nurse will stay with her here and continue to monitor her progress."
Helena stands, smiling tiredly. "That's wonderful news doctor. Thank you so much to you and your team for your care of Eleanor." She turns to the nurse. "Sarah, I appreciate your care of my daughter.'
The nurse nods, blushing. "Just doing my job, that's all."
"Liam," Helena prompts.
Jasper moves over to help Liam to his feet.
Liam shakes hands with the doctor and the nurse and thanks them for looking after his sister.
Liam and Helena move toward the exit but Jasper makes no move to follow them.
"I'll stay with her," he tells them, and his voice has a tone of finality as if he's not going to be arguing with anyone over this.
"Very well then," Helena replies, noting the set of his jaw. "Be sure to contact us to let us know when she wakes."
Jasper nods and turns his attention back to the Princess as the King and Queen exit the room.
As soon as they're gone Jasper seats himself by Eleanor.
He leans forward to hold her hand.
He checks and the nurse is busying herself at a computer screen on the edge of the room, so he bends over Eleanor.
His lips brush her cheek then he whispers in her ear, "I love you Eleanor. Just keep fighting Princess."
Sometime in the early hours of the morning he falls asleep by her bedside.
He wakes when she wakes because that causes a flurry of activity by a nurse who Jasper doesn't recognise by her bedside.
He looks at his watch - 10.43am.
The nurse is checking the Princess over, and asking her a volley of mundane questions - what's your name, what month is it, who is your family, where do you live.
Eleanor's obviously weak and exhausted but at least she has her wits about her because she answers them all correctly. It's taking all her effort just to focus on the nurse and she doesn't seem to have registered Jasper's shadowy presence, now leaning against the wall, at all.
A few minutes later the nurse asks him to leave and then he's stationed outside her room once more, resuming his standard bodyguard pose.
He runs a hand over his face tiredly then picks up his phone to call the Palace butler and inform them the sleeping Princess has awoken and is doing well.
The King and Queen arrive back after lunchtime but by this time the Princess is asleep again.
They enter her room once more, with Jasper following silently behind.
The doctor, this time an Indian woman in her 30s, gives them both an update on her condition and they question her on whether she will suffer any lasting effects.
Everyone is relieved when the nurse tells them the Princess is lucky to have suffered no harm as a result of last night's incident.
Helena takes a moment to run a finger down her daughter's face and then she turns to the doctor and nurse and takes command of the situation.
"My staff informed me you think Eleanor will be well enough to be checked out this afternoon."
The doctor nods. "Yes your majesty, the Princess has been doing well and if she continues to recover smoothly she could be checked out after 5pm today."
"Very well then," Helena responds. "I don't want the Princess returning to the Palace."
Liam raises an eyebrow. "But she'll want to be back with her family," he tells his mother.
"What Eleanor wants and what is best for her are two entirely different things," she informs her son. "Eleanor needs to be removed from temptation and she will not be returning to the Palace until her room has been searched and decontaminated of whatever she has stashed away there. And god only knows what she's been hiding there. I suspect we will need to employ a drug dog and handler to sniff it out," she adds testily.
She continues on, issuing a series of commands. "I have made arrangements for the Princess to check into an exclusive drug rehabilitation clinic in Provence. The jet is on standby to take her there tonight. James will go with her."
"The media will be informed that the Princess is suffering from nervous exhaustion on account of her brother's illness and is taking time to recover and-"
Liam interrupts. "Won't she need to be away for several weeks? They're not going to buy that explanation after she's been there a month or,"
Helena holds up her hand to silence him. "We shall combine the nervous exhaustion with some type of plausible illness. The doctor may have a suggestion," she adds, looking towards the doctor.
The lady doctor looks back at the Queen, startled. It's not really her line of work to identify credible fake illnesses to cover Princesses going into hiding at drug rehabilitation facilities.
She frowns, considering the question. "I would suggest glandular fever your Majesty. It can take several weeks to recover from."
Queen Helena nods, satisfied. "Glandular fever it is, combined with nervous exhaustion," she decides.
"I will not have it put out there that Eleanor is in hospital or rehab for a drug overdose. If that gets out we can kiss goodbye to her ever assuming the throne and that would spell the end of the Henstridge Monarchy," she issues a decree. "Because who would want a junkie making decisions on matters of national importance."
Liam nods, "yeah we can't let that get out there. As for the rehab I agree that would be best for Eleanor but she has to agree to go. You can't just bully her into submission mum," he tells her, because he's had a fair bit of experience of how intimidating his mother can be when she wants to get her way.
Helena considers his comments haughtily. Once upon a time she would have had no quarm about bullying her daughter into doing what she wanted. Now she is trying to be a better mother but she still wants to do what's best for her daughter.
"She will go if you ask her to Liam," she tells him. "So please ask her to do it for you. Now I must return to the Palace to give Rachel instructions on the statement we will be issuing. But when she wakes again I will return," she adds.
Jasper can't help but think it sounds like a threat.
Liam nods. "I'll stay with her."
He looks to Jasper.
"I'll be staying too," he announce - a response which Liam finds entirely predictable.
Eleanor doesn't wake again until three hours later at 4.20pm.
Liam and Jasper are in the middle of some banter about which Die Hard movies are the best and worst when Eleanor stirs.
She must have been listening to them for a good couple of minutes when she interrupts them tiredly. "You're both wrong. They're all rubbish," she tells them, decisively. "And the storylines are ridiculously implausible."
Liam turns to his sister, his face beaming. "It's so good to see you awake finally Lenny."
Jasper clears his throat when she turns her face towards him. "Yeah, everyone's been real worried about you."
Eleanor struggles to sit up and the nurse quickly moves to her side, helping her sit upright and propping up her pillows.
Jasper gets up to pour her a glass of water and she accepts it gracefully, thanking him.
"Now can someone explain what the bloody hell I'm doing in hospital while you two spend your time arguing over shit movies," she demands. "And a public hospital at that," she adds, sounding unimpressed as she surveys the shoddy curtains and the tired carpet on the floors. "I mean this place is seriously downmarket."
Jasper and Liam glance at each other quickly.
Liam frowns as he considers how best to explain everything that's happened in the past 24 hours to her.