Timeline: The story takes place a few years after the world created by Dlohov14 as described in Recordatus Caritate. I am in love with that world and most of my stories will be based on it. Short recap: Michael is alive, Varga has been pardoned and is now Selene's right hand. They all live in the mansion/coven and Selene, David and Lena are elders. I would highly recommend to read Recordatus Caritate!

Disclaimer: (Unfortunately) I do not own Underworld or any of the characters. New characters and the story idea are mine :)

The infirmary was empty as always. Vampires didn't really need it. They only needed the infirmary in times of war and the coven hadn't seen war for a decade. Fortunate for Michael, they always had enough supplies to treat at least a hundred people.

He filled his bag with a lot more supplies than he would probably need. He rushed out, almost crashing into someone. He mumbled a small apology and rushed off. He didn't really care who he had insulted.

Michael walked into their bedroom. Eve was sitting next to her mother and held her hand. She moved so Michael could reach the bed and began his work. He looked over his shoulder, Varga was standing in the corner clenching his fists. Michael knew he couldn't send him away. He will kill someone in that state, most likely it would be David if he crossed his path.

Selene was still unconscious, and her heartbeat was getting weaker. He moved fast to start an IV in each arm to get her the much-needed blood. He hoped it would prevent her from getting worse. It took him about an hour to check the wounds and bandage all of them again. The wounds were healing, but not fast enough.

To be sure, Michael checked for any other wounds. A sign of relief escaped his lips when he didn't find any. He moved to put a blanket over her. Michael looked at her face and couldn't help to stroke her cheek. Hoping she would wake up by the light touch despite knowing better.

He looked around the room and everyone was on edge, they needed an explanation.

'She's hanging in there.' His voice cracked. Eve put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly. 'The blood needs to do its work and… and…' He couldn't finish the sentence. Suddenly, it felt like his brain had left him and his thoughts just stopped.

'Come, sit.' Varga guided him to the chair next to the bed. It was the first time Varga had moved and spoken since Michael entered the room. He was glad Varga was there.

'The both of you need rest, I will watch Selene and if anything happens, you'll be the first to know.'

Michael watched Eve get in bed next to her mother. Her head hit the pillow and she was out like a light. Michael on the other hand, felt obligated to stay awake in case Selene would need him.

Varga looked at him and probably saw the doubt in his eyes.

'You need your rest!' Varga said angrily reading his thoughts. 'You've probably been through hell and back. Stay awake and you will not be able to help her if she needs you later. I will wake you up in a couple of hours or when something happens.'

Michael looked at Varga. 'Any sign and… '

'Yes, any sign and I'll wake you, even if I have to hit you in the face. Go sleep!' Varga exclaimed.

Michael did trust the guy and was too tired to fight. Michael sighed and nodded. He put his head down on the backrest and looked at Selene. He fell asleep listening to her heartbeat.

The light touch on his shoulder woke Michael from his sleep. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times to adjust to the light. The grogginess in his mind disappeared when he remembered what happened. He shot up, looked at the bed and let out a sigh of relief. She's still alive.

He relaxed back into his chair but still felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at Varga. Varga looked like had seen a ghost and kept staring at Selene.

'Varga? You ok?'

'Look at her hand.' It was almost a whisper.

Michael stared at her hand for a minute without anything happening. He almost gave up when he saw a small movement. Did her hand just move?

He looked at Varga, he had the same look on his face. Hope and disbelief battled inside Michael. Is she waking up?

'Is she waking up?' Varga spoke his thoughts.

Both men were just staring at her hand and didn't know what to do. Hours could have passed without them moving. Finally, Michael looked beyond his mate and noticed something missing.

'Where's Eve?'

Varga also woke from his stare. 'David came by. You bumped into him on your way out of the infirmary and you scared him to death.' Varga didn't even try to hide his smirk. 'Apparently, you looked at him like fire was going to shoot out of your eyes. But the best part is, you grunted at him.'

Varga almost laughed at that last part, Michael however, knew he had to apologize to David at some point.

'Anyway, when he saw Selene and Eve lying on your bed, I explained. Well, I explained the part that happened here. We both agreed to take Eve to her own room. He is there with her and will come back with her when she's awake.'

Michaels' smile was a sad one. David had taken care of his daughter. HIS daughter. David knew what she needed, while he was asleep in a chair.

'Oh, no you don't!' Varga punched him hard in the arm. 'Your focus was Selene. She needed you more than Eve did. You saved her! Never forget that!'

Michael rubbed his arm out of habit more than pain. 'I'll try. Thanks, Varga.' When did Varga learned to read my mind?

'But what the hell happened out there? Why doesn't she heal?'

Michael told him about the ambush and explained their theory about the knife. 'In order for her to have a chance, I needed to get the knife out. However, that would also endanger her life further. I sent Eve to the car so she wouldn't have to see her mother die.'

Tears tried to blur his vision. At that moment he was so focused on the job at hand, emotions were banned, but now all the feelings surfaced. Selene could have just died there on the table. I could have killed her. He pushed the thought back inside.

'Whoever plotted this, I will hunt down and wipe off the face of the earth.' Varga hissed between his teeth.

'You and me both.'

They were quiet for a while when Michael couldn't bare the silence any longer. 'I'm going to need to check the wounds.' He said without looking at Varga.

'I'll be next door, call me if you need anything.'

Varga walked out the room and closed the door. He was alone with Selene for the first time today. He kneeled next to the bed and stroked her cheek. She lay there beautiful as ever. She looked as peaceful as when she slept. He sat there for a few minutes, just looking at her.

Unfortunately, he didn't lie to Varga. It had been a few hours and he needed to check her wounds. He started with her hip. The incision hadn't healed as much as he would have liked. The stitches held the wound together, but it was still coated by a thin layer of fresh blood.

Michael changed the dressing and moved to the bullet wound below her collar bone. It had stopped bleeding and the edges already seemed to heal. The other bullet wounds looked the same. He changed the dressings of all wounds.

'Varga, get me 2 new blood bags.'

Varga got in with the bags a few second later. Michael raised an eyebrow.

'You did know you have a fridge in your room, right?' Varga said.

'The question would be, how do you know. Anyway, hang them next to the empty ones.'

Michael connected the new ones to the IV and tossed the empty bags. Seeing the blood, he couldn't help thinking he was hungry as well.

'Does she need that much blood?' Varga wondered.

'Selene lost over half her blood volume. She might even need more before she wakes up.' If she wakes up. Michael couldn't help thinking.

He checked the IVs for flow and a thought popped in his mind. 'Varga, can you send a cleanup crew to the safe house? Let them bring me the knife but be careful nobody gets cut. It might still be coated with the toxin. There might still be some stuff of us there and, well, a lot of blood on the table and floor.'

'Our stuff is still in the car.' Eve said as she walked in with David right behind her. She walked up to Michael and gave him a hug. 'Any change yet?'

'Her fingers moved a bit.' Michael saw the disappointment on Eve her face. 'I'm sorry honey.' He wished he could say her mother was going to be fine, but he wasn't even sure himself.

Michael suddenly noticed they were alone, Varga and David had discretely left the room.

'Eve, are you ok?'

'I'm… I'm…' She sighed and looked down.

Michael set her down in the chair and kneeled in front of her. 'Sweetheart, you can tell me anything. What's going on?'

Eve looked him straight in his eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. 'I… I… heard everything. I heard mom scr… scream.' She managed to get out between sobs.

Michaels' heart broke and he grabbed her hands. 'Oh Eve! I'm so, so sorry!' The tears were flowing freely down her face. Michael put a hand on her cheek. Eve had seen a lot in her life and had to grow up to a woman way too fast. However, in moments like these he knew she was still just a young woman.

He stood and pulled Eve with him against his chest. Michael held Eve tightly in a hug for as long as she needed. Eve was crying into his shoulder. They stood there for a long time before Eve finally calmed down a bit and the sobbing slowly stopped. Michael loosened his hug a bit and wiped a tear off her cheek. Eve looked up at him with red swollen eyes. Her small smile didn't reach her eyes.

'Your mother is very strong. She's going to be ok.'

Before he realized, the words were out. Every fiber in his body wanted it to be true and he hoped he hadn't just lied to his daughter. Nothing like this ever happened before to anyone in the coven and Michael had no idea what was going to happen.

Even though she slept for a long time, Eve looked very tired. 'Honey, when was the last time you fed?'

'Two days ago…'

It was more of a question than an answer. He couldn't blame her. He also had no idea how long they had slept or what part of the day they were in. At that point Varga came into the room with blood for the both of them. Michael raised an eyebrow.

'What?! I eavesdropped, that's my job.' Varga shrugged and gave them the bags. 'In case you want to know, you arrived just after dawn, it's the middle the night right now. You have been sleeping for about 6 hours.'

'Thanks, Varga.' Michael said.

Eve moved to the chair and Michael followed her example to sit in the chair next to her.

'Is the coven already buzzing?' Michael asked as he started to feed.

'Not yet, we moved the car before anybody saw it, as it was almost parked in the front door.' Varga smirked. 'David and Lena are currently discussing what to tell the coven and when. They can probably keep up a pretense you're not here for a few hours, but people will start to gossip.'

A quiet moan made everybody tense. Michael, Varga and Eve looked at each other with a questioning look at each other.

'Wait, did she just…' Varga stopped mid-sentence when Michael raised his hand.

Michael kneeled beside the bed. He hadn't noticed both her breathing and heartbeat were stronger. Another sound escaped her lips and she stirred lightly in her sleep. Michael almost jumped for joy. She stirred in her SLEEP.

Michael turned around with a big smile on his face. 'She's asleep.' But Eve and Varga didn't pick up on it. 'She's asleep! She's no longer unconscious!'

Both faces lightened up. Eve ran to Michael and hugged him tight. She looked up. 'When will she wake up?' She asked in a whisper.

'She can wake up every second, but it will probably take a few hours. She's been through a lot.' Michael explained.

'I'll be right back.' Eve said. Before they could blink, she was already out the door.

'Where is she off to?' Michael asked Varga.

'Beats me!' Varga replied and went to sit in the chair.

Michael could feel Varga was more relaxed now that Selene was asleep. He felt the relief too. Selene's body was healing and she was out of immediate danger. A small weight was lifted of his shoulders and breathing went a bit easier.

Eve was back in a couple of minutes with some books. She sat next to her mother on the bed and put the books on Michaels' nightstand. She sat back on the bed and started reading. Michael relaxed back in his chair. Despite sleeping for a few hours and feeding less than ten minutes ago, he was tired. If Varga and Eve weren't in the same room, he would lie next to Selene and sleep for the next few days. I will only rest my head for a few minutes.

A whispered conversation woke him up. So far for not falling asleep. He looked around the room. Eve was still reading next to Selene, who was sound asleep. Varga was gone.

'He's in the common room. David came by.' Eve said, looking up from her book.

'I will go and see what's going on. Thank you, honey.'

Michael got up and stretched his muscles. As soon as he walked through the door, both men looked at him. He felt like he was interrupting a heated argument. He closed the door for some privacy, although he knew Eve would hear their conversation anyway.

'See what you did! I told you not to wake him up.' Varga sounded very pissed. Wonder what David did this time.

'What's going on?'

'The past few hours, Lena and I have been discussing how to handle this whole situation.' David started. 'We both agreed to just tell the coven what happened, but for that to happen, I need the complete story. And since Varga here refuses, I need you to tell me.'

'Let the man relax for a while! He's been through enough without you nagging him!'

'And how would I know if you don't tell me what the hell happened?!' David raised his voice.

'Gentlemen please, my daughter is in the next room, can you please keep it down.' Michael said in a tired voice.

'Michael, I need the full story and we need to discuss with Lena. It won't take long.' David ignored Vargas' stare.

Michael raised his hand to stop Varga from reacting. 'David, I'm sorry, but I have to agree with Varga. Can't this wait a few hours?' Michael said without trying to sound like he was pleading.

'We're down an elder and we need you to make the decisions instead of Selene.'

'You're not down an elder.' Now it was Michael raising his voice. 'She's in the next room, recovering from a vicious attack. At this point I couldn't care less about the coven or your problems. Just deal with them yourself. '

Varga smirked openly at David, while David was probably stopping himself from hitting Varga in the face. Michael gave both men a hard look. He knew he was only talking this way because he was tired. Normally he would be more professional in these situations, trying to sooth the people.

'Lena is worried, she is planning to leave her coven and come here.' David pleaded.

Crap, Lena wouldn't leave her coven for small things. Shit!

'Go and talk to Lena, I will be there in a minute.' Michael sighed. 'Oh and David?'

David already turned to walk out the door. 'Yes?'

'Next time, start with that!' He called after David before he closed the door.

'Wipe that smug smile off your face!' Michael said very annoyed. The tiredness was getting the better of him, but he couldn't care less.

Michael took a deep breath to calm himself down and went back into the bedroom. Eve pretended not to have heard the conversation and kept reading her book. He sat next to her and gave her a hug.

'David needs me to talk to Lena, will you be ok?'

'I'll be fine. Can Varga stay here?'

'Of course, he can honey. I will be back soon.' He gave her a kiss on the head and got up.

He signaled Varga to follow him to the common room.

'If you even think she is starting to wake up, you come to me immediately. I don't care if you have to fly through the coven.'

'Yes, sir.' Varga said in an official tone.

'One day, I'm going to hit David.' He mumbled to himself as he walked out the door.