Eliana spent the next three days in the medical wing under the watchful eye of Doctor Theodore. Since she hadn't exercised her gift to that extent previously, her body completely overexerted itself in the worst case of it he had ever seen. Even Alec, who'd suffered a similar situation once before, was only unresponsive for a few minutes

Marcus stepped to the side so that Theo could access the IV. She'd been fed blood intravenously since she was currently unable to feed herself for obvious reasons. Getting a needle inside a vampire's flesh is an undeniably challenging task since the skin is the toughest substance known to exist, but it is manageable by sinking one tooth into the vein and piercing the needle through the bite mark it leaves.

The blood bag was very quickly replaced and Theo shot the kings a sympathetic look before dashing out again. It had been two days now, and there was still no sign of recovery other than her fingertips twitching on occasion.

The kings had loyally waited by her side for the entirety of that duration. Of course, they were more than proud of their perfect queen for quite literally saving the entire coven and world, but it may have come at the cost of her, which was something they couldn't even bear to think about.

All they could do was wait.

The first thing I was met with was darkness, complete darkness. A faint beeping sound continued to play by my ear, and already I was pissed off by it. That was when I realised that the only reason it was dark was because my eyes were closed.

My eyelids fluttered open with ease, and for some reason I was staring at the ceiling, although this wasn't the fancy ceiling in any of the bedrooms. No, it was much uglier…

"Tesoro?"

I turned my head a little and my gaze met a very tired looking Marcus with heavily set bags under his eyes. From how I was feeling, I was pretty certain that I didn't look much better in all honesty.

"Wassup?" I inclined my head towards him.

Suddenly, three pairs of arms were wrapped tightly around me and a light "oof" sound escaped my lips. It took me a few moments to figure out who was who, but Caius was nuzzled deeply into my hair, Aro had his head tucked just under my chin, and Marcus' head was on my stomach. I moved my left arm to run my fingers through Aro's slightly knotted hair only to realise that there was an IV tube poking out from my skin.

"Anyone willing to explain the tube thing I'm attached to?" I asked, scrutinizing my arm.

Caius glanced over briefly. "Afton, bring in Theodore."

Aro's grip around my middle only tightened as he clung to me like a lost child. "I thought I lost you, il mio amore, I thought I lost you," he mumbled hysterically, and I could've sworn he started sobbing from the way his shoulders moved.

"Ssh, I know, I'm fine, I'm okay baby," I soothed, somehow managing to just about reach his hair despite my arm almost getting tangled up in the process.

My other arm moved to caress the side of Marcus' face and he purred deeply at the contact. I leaned my head towards Caius and purred which earned a series of contented purrs in response. It was like cuddling a bunch of cats which probably sounded ridiculous to anyone listening.

A few minutes into our silent purring session and Theo appeared at the foot of the bed with his usual warm and friendly smile. "And sleeping beauty awakens once more. How are you feeling, Mistress?"

I glanced down at myself and realised I was now in a hospital robe with a blanket over me like an ill old woman. "Great, can we maybe get rid of this," I motioned to the blanket, "and this?" I pointed to the IV.

"Oh, the IV can come straight out, now that you're able to feed yourself."

A couple seconds later and I was finally fully disconnected from the whole drip feed thing going on and no longer felt like some kind of vampire robot hybrid.

"Any fatigue? Headaches? Nausea?" Theo asked.

I shook my head and he quickly scribbled something down on a clipboard he'd picked up from the end of the bed. I was made to endure a few more unnecessary examinations to ensure I wasn't going to spontaneously pass out again on the spot.

"I thought vampires didn't get unconscious?" I questioned while Theo moved the papers from the clipboard into a binder.

"No, typically we do not. However, you overexerted yourself and your ability which led to your energy being drained entirely. I can safely say that your case was the worst I've ever seen, I'm afraid. But you should be very proud of yourself, Mistress; not many can take on the scum like you did. Now," he closed the binder with a thud and tucked it under his arm, "I'm certain that there are no further problems now that you are fully fed, so you are dismissed. Be free my child, but I encourage you to take it easy for the remainder of the day. Other than that, you should feel completely back to normal now."

I let out an unneeded cheer and threw the blanket off me only to realise that I wasn't wearing anything underneath the hospital gown. Like, at all.

"I'm not…" I began. "My bare butt is showing, isn't it?"

Caius simply laughed and scooped me up off the bed into his arms so that I was covered up at least a little by his arm. "It is not an issue, carissima."

"To you three maybe." I shook my head disapprovingly. "Thanks again Theo!" I called behind us as Caius carried me back out of the medical wing.

"It's my job," he countered with a laugh behind me.

Usually I'd be very insistent on Caius letting me walk myself because I hated being carried around like a toddler when I could walk perfectly fine, but considering that I didn't want to be seen butt naked by any guards wandering past, I didn't have that much of an issue with it. Once we made it back to Marcus' quarters, I was placed down gently on his bed.

I went to get up and dress before Marcus pushed me back down with a firm "no."

"You don't even know what I was going to do yet, I just wanted to change out of this," I gestured to the weird-smelling hospital gown.

Aro laid back on one side of the bed with his head propped up on his hands. "Just take it off, cara mia," he shrugged nonchalantly.

I didn't even have a chance to object before Caius began untying the knot that held the gown together and it fell unceremoniously to the floor. With a roll of my eyes, I barged straight into Marcus' wardrobe and re-emerged in a simple pyjama t-shirt and leggings with a pair of fluffy socks.

Once I came back into the bedroom, Aro and Marcus were both lying side by side with a space between them and Caius was perched on the end of the bed. Aro audibly sighed once he noticed me.

"What's your issue?" I asked with an eyebrow raised as I walked back over to the bed.

"You looked much better without this," he motioned to my entire outfit.

"Clothes?"

He hummed in confirmation and the other two agreed with a nod. Boys will be boys.

I crawled over the bed to join them and reclined onto my back. Caius must've been waiting for me as he draped himself over me like some kind of blanket with his head on my chest. Aro and Marcus both curled into me possessively from either side. They were acting as if I'd been gone for years, not hours.

"You're not going to let me leave any time soon, are you?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

Marcus shook his head and began absent-mindedly tracing patterns on my forearm. "Theodore recommended you to take it easy for the rest of the day, and we are here to ensure you do exactly that, tesoro. No risks shall be taken with regards to your health."

"I'm fine, seriously. Anyway, don't you need to get back to work and fixing the now trashed castle?"

"Carissima, if we stayed with you for three days with Jane and Alec in charge, the same arrangement will work for one more," Caius mumbled lazily.

My eyes widened in shock, to the point where I thought they were going to fall out of their sockets. "Three days?! I was out for three days?! I thought it was a few hours!"

Aro let out a calming purr into my neck. "The way you handled that situation and the amount of your gift you used was extraordinary, we could not be more proud of you, il mio amore. Regardless, Alice could definitely have done a better job at warning us of what was to come."

That much was true. Surely her warning could've been at least a little more urgent when you think about the purpose of her call.

"Marcus, can you please pass me my phone?" I requested.

He was up off the bed and back beside me in less than a second with my phone in hand. Alice had said she would call me later but, for obvious reasons, I hadn't heard anything. I scrolled down in my contacts and pressed on Alice, who I had saved as 'crazy pixie child'."

The dial tone continued for a minute or so before I reached her voicemail where her soft, fairylike voice sung through. "Hey, this is Alice Cullen. Sorry, I can't come to the phone right now. Leave a message!"

Rolling my eyes, I began recording the message. "Pixie, you said you'd call me back and it's been three days. Granted, I was unconscious, but that's not the point. Thanks for the advice by the way, thanks to you I'm not dead. It sounds sarcastic, I know, but seriously, I appreciate it. Please call back soon. Oh, and get Bella to call, I want to hear about her honeymoon and if they trashed Isle Esme as badly as Emmett predicted, if ya know what I mean. Ta-ta!"

Caius glanced up at me with a strange look. "Alice is the crazy one?"

I playfully whacked him around the head and he simply scowled before nuzzling into my chest. His white blonde hair was still a little knotted, splayed across my front.

Instead, I tried to call Bella myself but it went straight through to voicemail. Then Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Carlisle, Esme, even Rose, but no one was picking up their phones despite the fact that they really didn't do much most of the time except feed and…act like vampires.

Once I'd failed at calling Rose, I groaned annoyedly and threw my phone at the velvet footboard of the bed. Aro handed me his phone and I looked at him in confusion.

"Try calling Carlisle on my phone," he recommended. "I have never known him not to pick up in the past. I like to think it is due to our friendship but I am aware that he subtly fears me."

I giggled and took the phone from him. Honestly, Carlisle really wouldn't be in the wrong to fear Aro. The only reason I didn't was because he was my mate so I knew he wouldn't be a threat or whatever.

Aro's contact list was much easier to navigate than mine since everyone was saved with their real names rather than nicknames. I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my lips when I spotted myself saved as 'Il mio piccolo piantagrane' with a heart emoji on the end. It was better than what I had him saved as, i.e. 'psychopathic lobster baby' with a series of heart, lobster, and baby emojis.

When we got maybe 20 seconds into calling the good doctor, things really weren't looking up. I sighed and hung my head down when it went straight through to Carlisle's voicemail.

"I apologise, but Dr. Cullen cannot come to the-"

I cut it off instantly, already given up with trying. "Where the hell are they? Originally, I wanted to talk to them, now I just want to yell at them," I groaned.

"Maybe they are just busy, tesoro," Marcus suggested.

"No offence to them, but they're the Cullens. How busy could they possibly be?"

Aro took the phone back from me and placed it in the pocket of his waistcoat with a sigh. "That is rather worrying. Let us not jump to conclusions, for we know the Cullens are busy people."

I narrowed my eyes and nodded sarcastically. "So, what happened while I was out?" I asked, just trying to start a conversation to take my mind off the fact that my own unofficial family were ghosting me.

"The remaining Romanians were all newborns, but we were able to dispose of them with ease," Aro informed me. "We are much lower on our guard numbers than before due to both encounters, but several more members have already been successfully been recruited by the twins. A few final renovations are being done, but my quarters have already been repaired as well as the throne room."

"Why the twins? I thought you're usually in charge of overseeing any new guards?"

He laughed. "Eliana, we were with you. Alec reported back to me at the end of each day but nothing has been overseen by any of us."

"I don't even want to think about the amount of paperwork that's going to be on our desks by tomorrow," I muttered.

The three of them laughed warmly, snuggling into me further. And just like that everything was back to normal.

For the time being, in anyway.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: My babies are back together again, awhhhhhh! I took a long time trying to think scientifically how a drip feed would work on a vampire, but I hope it made sense. I will repeat but I think it's pretty obvious: I AM NOT A MEDICAL EXPERT DON'T SUE ME OR WHATEVER.

I think you can see where I'm going with the Cullens ghosting her out. Personally, I was never a huge fan of the whole hybrid thing and Jacob's imprinting since I thought it was kind of a cheap idea with little thought put into it, but I'm going to make it work in anyway because why the hell not.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love to hear your thoughts, stay safe, and ily lots!