Guess who has more time in their hands? Also, the fact that my brain is deciding to give me a lot of dopamine to everything that I've been procrastinating on, and that includes this.

Chapter 8: Recovery

When Maia came around, she noticed that her head was in an uncomfortable position. Her body felt incredibly weak and her eyelids were just unwilling to open. She blinked away the blurriness that clouded her vision, and managed to keep them open even though it felt like it was a struggle too.

She shifted in the bed a little bit, before she tried to get her body to sit up. Her body still wasn't cooperating with her, but that was fine. It was such a different experience from last time. She looked around-her mind quickly noting that she was in the recovery room, and noticed someone sitting next to her wearing light blue scrubs.

"You're awake… How do you feel?" The nurse asked.

"Tired," She whispered, noticing that her lips and cheeks were numb and made it hard to speak.

"Well that's to be expected," The nurse clucked her tongue, before she demanded, "Open."

Maia opened up her mouth as the nurse looked to see if there was any gauze in her mouth. The nurse seemed satisfied that there wasn't any and Maia swallowed-noticing that her throat tasted like sandpaper.

"Do you want your ice chips?" The nurse asked.

"Yes please," She murmured.

The nurse got up from the stool she was sitting on, and left her alone for a few moments.

When the nurse came back, she was holding a small, white styrofoam cup. She passed her the cup and Maia took it with shaky hands, grabbing an ice chip and putting it into her mouth. It was cold-freezing cold, but it helped relieve her sandpaper like throat.

The ice melted quickly inside her mouth, giving her the moistness to wetten her lips. She passed the cup back to the nurse, who put it on the side. Her tongue went to the extraction sites, and noticed that there was something loose hanging down from her gums-a loose piece of a stitch which was going to drive her crazy until they decided to dissolve.

"Well, I'm going to get your parents," the nurse said, getting up from the chair.

Maia didn't respond, as she looked around the recovery room. The clock in front of her read 2:30 which wasn't that long, considering that her surgery was at 1:30. She shivered slightly in the brown blanket that was covering her legs downwards. She noticed two things on her left, one that was also a styrofoam cup with something in it, and what it looked like to be a clear jar with her two pink wisdom teeth, that was whole and intact.

Her heart was racing as she took in her surroundings. She was fine. She did this before, but than why did it feel like she wasn't going to be okay.

It was only for what it seemed to be like a minute before the nurse came back with her mom in tow. She looked impassive and just sat on the chairs provided.

"Welp before I could release you. I have to see if you know how to let water dribble out and not spit," the nurse said, handing her the styrofoam cup Maia saw earlier.

Maia rolled her eyes, but she took out the water and took a small sip. She swished around, just like the nurse wanted and brought the cup to her lips. Her head was pointed downwards, and opened her mouth. Water dribbled down her chin which she quickly wiped it up with her arm. Her eyes caught sight of a white sticker that was still attached to her arm.

"Good," The nurse said. She passed her mom a packet of information about the post-operative care . Her mom accepted gracefully. "All the information is in there, and go back to the doctor if you develop any infection or dry socket. Remember no spitting, no straws and you could go back to eating semi solid food after twenty-four hours."

"Another thing, here are your wisdom teeth. Would you like to keep them?" The nurse held up the jar with her two teeth in them.

She declined. Those little bastards were the cause of her misery. There was no way that she wanted them.

"Okay then… I'll lift your bed up, unhook your IV and your mom can help you get changed," The nurse said.

She pressed a button, and the bed moved up to a 'sitting' position. She leaned next to Maia's arm. She watched as the nurse disabled the IV before she got up and closed the curtain. Her mom passed her the bag and Maia tried to get up. Her feet stumbled and her vision went blurry for a second.

She held onto the bed for support. Her mom helped her, as she struggled to get the hospital gown off, and get her shirt and pants on. Eventually, she did and got her jacket on. Maia got her black tennis shoes on, and sat on the bed, taking a deep breath in.

After a couple of minutes the nurse came back.

'"All set?"

They nodded and the nurse put on a white jaw strap that was filled with ice on both sides of her head. It was really cold against her numb cheeks and so tight, but she ignored it. Then, the nurse told her to get into the wheelchair.

"If you want to call your husband so your car can be out front."

Her mom pulled out her phone and called her dad. The nurse wheeled Maia down through the recovery room, into hallways and down the elevator. It was quiet with the only sounds of being the clicking of the nurse and her mom's shoes across the hardwood floor. The nurse stopped at the exit, and Maia took some hand sanitizer before they left.

Her dad was waiting for them out front, with the back door being opened. Maia walked, more like stumbled to the open door and got in. She shut the door and leaned her head against the car window. Her dad got in, and then her mom and they drove off.

…

Maia collapsed onto her bed, her body feeling drained still. The effects from the anesthesia was wearing her down and just tiring. She grabbed the two remotes from the bookshelf right next to her. She pressed the red button on the small button that turns on her dvd player and the red button the big TV remote. Thundercats were playing and she paid no attention. She grabbed her phone and looked at the notifications.

Nothing.

She brought up Aro's contact list and considered sending him a text. She was about to type hey, but erased the text and put down the phone right beside her.

Not right now.

She watched a little bit of Thundercats, and tried to close her eyes while she leaned against her thousands of pillows that she had on her bed.

Of course it was useless, as her body was finally getting back to normal. The numbness from her cheeks was going away, and yet she was still so surprised that there was no pain. When she got her bottom ones removed, she was in quite a bit of pain. Of course, she didn't move for three days straight in case she messed up the stitches and caused a dry socket. She was so paranoid and now, she had nothing to do.

She stared at the white ceiling, trying to figure out something to do. She saw her dad from the peripheral vision, setting down the grocery bag that was filled with her food-puddings, and applesauce all the things she will tolerate eating. She noticed the black jacket he was wearing and his pants which were odd. He left her room, and she was alone once more.

Her throat was once again dry and she contemplated whether or not she wanted to get up. Unfortunately, she needed moisture in her throat, and helped ease the fresh new wounds in her mouth, which had an empty feeling in the back of her mouth. She got up from her bed, and her feet touched the ground, getting up slowly in case of any dizzy spells.

She walked down the hallway, noting that there was silence in the house. Her footsteps echoed down the hardwood floor of the hallway and the kitchen as she stopped by the cabinet next to the white refrigerator. She poured herself some warm apple juice, which wasn't going to taste good, but there was no way she was going to be picky now. She saw the packet that the nurse gave her parents on the opposite side of the counter, and took a look at it.

It was basically post treatment, stuff that she already knew.

She went outside onto the porch and saw her mom and dad standing next to each other, with the car doors open. There were a couple of bags that were laying on the concrete, before her mom made her way to the bags and put them in the car.

Her dad had a lost expression on his face. Strange.

"Where are you going?" Maia asked, making her presence known.

"We're going to see your cousins. We're hoping that being close to them can help your dad grieve healthier besides, he's already thinking about being suicidal. We'll be back in a week or so."

"Oh…" She whispered dismayed. Tears threatened to cloud her vision, but she blinked them away. She spoke in a louder voice, "Did you at least pick up my prescriptions?"

"They're on the table."

Maia went back inside, noticing the white bags with her prescription in it. She opened the white bags, and pulled out orange prescription bottles. She walked back into her room, her head racing with thoughts.

It was strange how her parents were just going to leave her like that. She just had surgery, and was expecting her to take care of herself? It was mind baffling. Granted, it was important that her dad would grieve properly, but wouldn't she have the same priority. Or was this the same thing as when she left for Italy and they were doing the same to her?

She took a sip from her apple juice and popped out a 600 mg of ibuprofen from one of the orange bottles, before she laid back down. She felt like she was being watched, and made the little hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"You know you could come in right?" She asked, talking to an empty room.

She merely blinked before a group of four wearing nearly identical cloaks of grey and black, with four sets of matching crimson eyes. She recognized them from her trip to Italy. Alec, Jane, Felix and Demitri, if she remembered correctly.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned, it was the one question on her mind.

"Aro sent us here. He thought it might be best in case something happens to you," Jane explained.

That clearly made sense, Maia thought. She knew exactly what they were referring to when she panicked when calling Aro because her mom hit her.

"Oh… Well, You guys can make yourselves at home. I don't really care." Maia shrugged. She took a seat on her bed, contemplating what to say next. She looked at the time, quickly noticed that it was nearing 5:00, and her stomach was starting to grumble. Of course, eating and drinking nothing all day was going to take a toll on her. "It beats standing outside and watching me. Besides, I won't be going anywhere, at least not until Monday or something."

She got up from the bed and went into the kitchen, grabbing a metal spoon and a blue ice pack to ice her cheeks when she got done with eating. The house was quiet save for the occasional shuffling Maia was making, from the closing of cabinet drawers, the creak coming from the freezer door when she opened it, and the occasional things being moved around as she looked for an ice pack.

She walked back into her room, and saw the four were still standing in the same position.

"Seriously though...I frankly don't care… Besides, my parents won't be back for another week."

She walked towards her bookshelf and pulled out an applesauce. She grimaced a little, before realizing it was a bad idea. Her cheeks were stitched together, causing stitches to pull and causing a slight pain to radiate from her fresh site. She ignored it, and opened the lid of the applesauce.

She looked at the yellow mush of the applesauce. As much as her body was protesting it, she was just going to tolerate it until she was able to eat again. She took a spoonful and ate it. It was bland, tasteless, and every reason why she hated applesauce.

"Here's a weird question. Why did they send you four explicitly here, and not someone else? Is there a ranking system or something?" Maia inquired, taking another bite of her mush applesauce.

This time Felix said something, "We're basically the elite guard. We're the ones that gets sent out to do missions, catch the rule breakers and we're also tasked in taking care of you, my queen."

"That kinda makes sense. So because they're basically 'kings' in the supernatural world, it makes me their queen, right?" She clarified.

"That's correct, my queen."

"One more thing, can you guys please not call me my queen. It makes me feel like I'm in the olden days and sounds quite weird. Look, my name is Maia."

"My queen, we can't do that…" Jane tried to speak. She sighed, before she continued on, "It's a sign of respect. You're on the higher end of hierarchy along with the three kings."

"Why don't you call me my lady, when others are present?" Maia bargained. It was obvious that it was better if there was still a sign of respect, but it also wouldn't weird her out even more while she still figured out the supernatural world and the place she stood within it.

"That we can do, my lady," Felix said, bowing.

"Thank you."

This took much longer than expected. I feel like around Chapter 9 or 10, we'll see the kings again and uhh I can't wait to get back to Italy because I have some scenes planned. Drop a review, and tell me what you think!