Chapter 18 – Injuries and Love

Jane's face was buried in her hands as she sat on the dirty floor of her cell. She had long since tuned out the jeers of the other prisoners there; the snide comments and wicked laughter of those being held for trial or for the decisions to be made of their fates. They had all but screamed with glee and their cat calls were nearly unintelligible as they spoke over one another when she had roughly been dragged down to the cells by Felix, too weak to move since her limbs were barely reattached.

For over an hour she sat there, unable to hear anything going on in the castle above her, wishing she had the slightest clue what was going to happen to her now. She just couldn't comprehend why so many of her coven members had come to the aid of the stupid human, she couldn't fathom why Master Marcus had reacted so viciously when the doctor ordered him to be kept back. She remembered the snarls of the other ancients, and the hiss of pain from her sire as she heard the unmistakable sound of teeth and flesh. She had been unable to see what was happening, for her nose – her head – had been pressed up against a far wall nearly twenty feet from her body.

Finally, the door to the dungeons opened, and Jane listened as the other prisoners began jeering at the newcomer as they came down the stairs.

She opened her eyes, only to see her brother Alec standing stoically on the other side of the bars, his face impassive and his eyes burning with pain.

"Brother!" She gasped, bounding to her feet so quickly she ended up falling because she was still not completely healed from the severing of her limbs.

"Jane," He said softly, acknowledging her words as he came to crouch near the bars of her cell, now at eye level with her. "I've been given only five minutes to speak with you before the others come to take you to trial. You have the option of having Stella represent you, and you must decide now."

Jane stared at him. Stella was the lawyer, the only lawyer the Volturi coven had – she had been hired by the brothers nearly five centuries beforehand so that covens and nomads could have someone to represent them during trials if need be. Because quite frankly, people sucked at defending themselves sometimes, and the things the accused would say would make their case worse rather than better, so Stella had been hired to keep things as fair as possible.

But she was rarely used and had only been called upon four times, and all four of those occasions had been to settle disputes among the guard.

As Jane continued to stare at him, saying nothing, Alec's expression became irritated. "Yes or no Jane? There isn't time to think about this. If it hadn't been for all the years we had served the kings loyally, you wouldn't have been given this option."

Mouth agape, Jane shook her head at her brother, uttering a quiet "No."

Alec's expression hardened and he nodded, before saying over his shoulder to someone out of sight at the top of the many stairs that lead down to the cells, "She wishes to represent herself."

There was the swooshing of a cloak and the soft thud of a door closing before silence fell. The prisoners were too interested in listening to Alec and Jane to continue jeering.

"Sister." He sighed, "Do you have any idea of the seriousness of what you have done?"

She continued to stare at him, too in shock to process what he was saying quickly. Had he not come down here to let her out? And what was that nonsense about the lawyer – why did she need a lawyer?

Everything clicked at once.

"I – I'm being put on trial?" It was a statement, but she said it like a question, and for the very first time she looked fearful.

He nodded.

"But… But…" She stammered "But why?"

Alec stared at her for a long moment, taking in her shocked and fearful expression before the depth of his sister's ignorance finally hit him.

"He loves her Jane. Master Marcus loves the human. She isn't a concubine, and as far as I know they've never even slept together. They still have yet to consummate their bond – she isn't just a whore." Alex watched Jane's face as he said this, seeing the incomprehension there, his words not touching her at all.

And this was the sad truth about the twins. Neither of them had the slightest idea of what romantic love was like. Perhaps it was because they had just been changed too young… or maybe it was because of their distrust of nearly everyone during their human life that made them this way, but neither could empathize as to what it was like to love someone that way.

While neither could necessarily empathize these feelings, Alec was able to sympathize with those who did romantically love. He was able to understand the level of commitment partners had to one another even though he had never experienced it himself.

Jane however, could do neither. Alec had known this for a very long time. That was what was going to make this trial unbearable to watch because he knew that Jane would not be able to truly comprehend that she had done anything wrong.

"But… she's…" Jane breathed, her eyes darting around as she tried to understand, "Oh come on Alec! He can find another human to slum with. I admit Aro won't be pleased because he's been looking for her gift for a while but-,"

She was talking very fast, but Alec's hiss silenced her, "Master Marcus won't find another human to slum with. She's his imprint sister – do you not understand the law you have breached? If she dies-,"

"She isn't dead?" Jane interrupted, "If she'd not dead why am I here? And you can't tell me you honestly believe she's his imprint? She's human! Master Marcus is probably just confused-,"

"He isn't!" Alec was staring at her in astonishment, unable to believe the words that were coming out of her mouth; unable to grasp the true depth of her obliviousness. "How could you think that he, he of all people, would confuse the bond he has to her? Jane you-,"

But he was cut off as the door to the dungeons opened, and the sounds of two heavy pairs of feet came trudging down until Felix and Santiago were visible.

Alec stood.

"Time is up Alec. Master Aro is permitting you to attend the trial, but you must go quickly as the available seats are filling up and once the last chair is taken the courtroom will be closed from further entry." Santiago's deep voice rumbled through the room, the soothing vibrations of it only interrupted by the jingle of keys as Felix moved to unlock Jane's cell.

"And no funny business from you Jane. We have been given permission to dismember you again if you try anything and you will face your trial in pieces." Santiago continued, turning his back to Alec.

And Alec, with no other option, turned and made his way back up the stairs.


The atmosphere in the courtroom was tense, every seat was occupied, and the inhabitants stared forward with bated breath. No one breathed, no one adjusted themselves in their seats… no one made a single sound at all. All was silent.

This silence was broken as a door behind the judge's stand opened, and the ancients glided in, all wearing sweeping robes of black.

A rumble ran through the room as the guards stood as a whole, waiting respectfully for their master's to sit first. They watched as Aro took the spot directly in the middle of the stand, and Marcus and Caius moving to stand on either side of him, the wives following soon after and sitting on the chairs at either end of the small line they created. The men did not sit until after the women had taken their seats.

Another rumble sounded as everyone resumed their seats, and now through the door came a jury of 12; each vampire randomly selected to represent their coven walking single file toward the two benches to the right wall of the judges' stand. They did not look at the crowd, or even each other as they found seats, all sitting straight backed and dignified, waiting for the start of the trial.

Across from the judge's stand in front of the watching crowd were two empty tables… well almost empty. Alec sat alone at one of the tables, the chair next to him pulled out as he waited anxiously. And as hard as he tried to hide his fear – to keep his expression neutral – he could not completely wipe the anxiety form his face.

It was plainly obvious why this was so, because the expression on Master Marcus' face promised retribution.

Without warning the main doors to the courtroom banged open and Felix and Santiago entered with a feebly stirring Jane between them. The little blonde figure seemed to be having trouble keeping her footing as she was dragged up the aisle toward where her brother was sitting. Jane's scent was strong and spiked with the sweetness that was always present as the venom in a vampire's body worked to reattach limbs. This explained why she wasn't moving properly, and why when she did move, it was in strange jerky movements. Once reassembled it usually took a vampire up to three days of careful care and feeding by Arkos in the hospital wing before they were back to normal. Jane had obviously only been reassembled in time to stand for her trial.

At least this meant she would be too weak to use her gift.

Once Jane was sat rather roughly onto her chair, and Santiago fixed bone white cuffs around her wrists which had been forced behind her back, Felix and Santiago flashed over to the main doors before turning with their back to them and staring forward toward the Masters, eager for the trial to begin.

"We gather here today," Master Aro's voice broke the silence, no louder than a whisper, but still crystal clear to all those in the room, "To discuss, and give ruling, over the matter of and unprovoked attack onto a superior officer, with the intent to maim or seriously injure."

A soft whisper ran through the room as he paused because of the guards leaning toward one another to whisper among themselves. Attacking a member of the coven of a higher rank than your own was punishable by exile – meaning an immediate and permanent removal of Volturi Guard status.

"Jane Volturi, offspring of her sire Aro Volturi, Elite member of the Volturi Guard, and part of the Gifted Genus, is here to stand trial for her attack on Castiel Rodgers, mate and imprint of Marcus Volturi, member of the inner family, and part of the Gifted Genus." Aro spoke as if from a script, though he had no papers in front of him.

"And the charges are listed as follows; that the accused, Jane Volturi, did in full awareness of the illegality of her actions, use her gift of torture on her Mistress Castiel Rodgers with the intent to commit serious bodily harm. Premeditated attempted murder, premeditated assault and battery, use of highly dangerous talents without authorization and –,"

He was cut off suddenly, as Jane let out a wail of disbelief and pain as Aro's words fell upon her ears, finally beginning to grasp that this was real – that she really was standing trial.

"Master Aro!" She cried, her voice taking on a pitch that caused some of the attendees to cringe, and others to look embarrassed at the social faux pas Jane was committing. "Master Aro please-,"

"And these offences-," Aro raised his voice over Jane's cries, refusing to acknowledge her, "Are what we gather here today to discuss. And unlike trials of the past the victim, Castiel Rodgers, will not be present for testimony as she is under heavy sedation in the hospital wing."

More murmurs, more rustling as this fact came to light. Things certainly didn't look good for little Jane, and perhaps she knew this too, because her cries only became sharper as her brother desperately tried to calm her down. She was getting pity from no one else.

The trial commenced, the courtroom and the jury reviewed the facts of the attack as Aro spoke of the mental account he had acquired from Jane's mind. Individual guards were called forward to give their versions of the incident – versions which all backed up Aro's claim. Three guards testified of the scene they had walked in on when Castiel was on the floor before the doctor arrived, and two others explained what they heard from their surveillance on the roofs of buildings neighboring the castle.

Even the jury, who for the most part remained stony faced and impassive as they listened to the facts, shared sidelong glances with one another when it was revealed that Jane was on the list for that morning's feeding and had purposefully missed her role call as to accost Castiel unaccompanied knowing Master Marcus, Afton, and Kemar were all set to attend.

Hours passed, and Jane had controlled her outbursts for the most part due to her brother's careful insistences. She had tried to get Aro to acknowledge her two other times after the first, between witness accounts and musings as to her possible intents and motives. And the final time it was Caius' snarling at her – reminding her that she would have her chance to speak, and another outburst would forfeit that chance as he would remove her tongue – that caused her to give up her attempts.

Jane just couldn't believe that Aro, her sire, Aro, the man she viewed as a father, was choosing the mortal over her. He was putting her on trial over a stupid blood bag.

After the last witness account was given the door behind the judges' platform opened and Arkos entered – being led in by Afton, who had slipped out of the room only minutes before to retrieve him.

Arkos did not wait for any prompting as he head over to the witness stand and made his vows to tell the whole truth. He also swore, at Aro's scripted prompting, that he was indeed Arkos Volturi, resident doctor of the Volturi Coven, member of the Mortal Rights Defense League, and Immortal High Court.

And as Arkos began to tell his side of the story and began to expand on the severity of the injuries Castiel had sustained, Alec couldn't help but think one thing.

The doctor's account was by far the worst of them all.

Castiel had been dangerously close to going into cardiac arrest, and if she hadn't fainted when she did… well she just might have. Master Marcus had not uttered a single word during the entire trial, but as Arkos spoke, his expression began to truly show his rage. The detailed accounts of his mate's pain and suffering were digging Jane a deeper grave with every word.

But Alec also couldn't help but notice that even undiluted rage on his face could not hide the pain in the king's eyes – the fear and the worry for the small human that he loved.

"Upon my return to the hospital wing I plan to take Castiel into surgery for the injury to her ribcage. The extent of her injuries leaves her at high risk for splintering if the bones are not taped, which could pose significant dangers to her lungs and breathing capabilities."

"And why hasn't she been taken into surgery already?" Aro asked, though of course he knew the answer. It was just protocol that all facts be presented to the court.

"Because I do not have the proper consent forms signed by the patient, and therefor I do not have the authorization to make medical decisions on her behalf. Though there is the clause that she cannot deny treatment if she is unconscious, and that unconsciousness can be considered consent to treatment in these matters, but if she remains completely still I saw no need to bring her to surgery without speaking to her first."

"And surgery is necessary?"

The doctor nodded, "Yes, she won't be able to move or function at all for months if I do not operate – which is not possible for humans. Especially when we consider the muscular trauma that she will face over the coming weeks and the spasms that will undoubtedly pain her because of the aftereffects of her torture."

A quiet wave of sound flowed through the room again, and Aro had to call for order before silence fell once more.

"The jury is asked to please note, that under the charges of the use of highly dangerous gifts without authorization, that Jane's gift has not only been proven to lead to cardiac arrest in mortals, but also lead to months of genuine physical trauma to the muscles and nerves of human beings. It causes painful muscle spasms, and nerve damage in more serious cases."

There was silence for a moment as these words were considered, before Aro turned his attention back to the doctor.

"So, you state that there is evidence that Jane used her gift?" Aro asked, and Arkos gave an un-amused smile.

"Yes, I'd say four broken ribs from an uncontrolled fall is evidence enou-," but he was cut off by the shrill beeping sound of an electronic device coming from an area on his belt. In less than half a second his expression became alarmed, and he barely spared the beeper a cursory glance before he stood from his place at the stand and flew through the door that Afton had wisely thrown open at the sound of the beeper, Master Marcus trailing behind him.

Not a single soul in the room dared to move, speak, or even breathe in those moments. Everyone's attention was trained on the sound of their run toward the hospital wing, each immortal listening hard for the beeping that could very faintly be heard in the distance – the chaotic thrumming of a human heart.

They could hear the exact moment that the doctor entered the wing less than a minute later – though it was faint since the hospital wing was a ways away and they were further underground – everyone could hear the commotion and hurried questions as Arkos and the few nurses in the wing leapt into action.

And then came the sound that bought some of the guard to their feet, the sound that had Aro and Caius standing so abruptly that their chairs crashed to the floor behind them with a loud bang.

Master Marcus' cry of agony, and the long, unbroken sound of the heart rate monitor as Castiel's heart stopped.

"No!" Athenadora cried in denial, the only thing keeping her from sprinting out of the room after her brother and the doctor was Caius sudden grasp of her elbow.

The air in the room seemed to thicken, and the guards present who knew Castiel – those who had spoken to her, and those who had never shared words with her, but knew what a profoundly good effect she had had on Master Marcus and the other kings – all stared around, waiting for someone to act, for someone to do something, for someone to fix this.

She could not have died. The little mortal who all the family was so fond of could not be dead. Castiel would not have believed it if she had been told, but all the guard – well maybe not all but most of them – firmly believed that her joining of their coven had been a major turning point in their lives. She could not have known for she had never attended a single trial, the change in the way the kings and the wives ruled. She could not see that the kindness their rulers had, the compassion that had been there once very long ago, resurfacing when she joined them.

"Wait." Sulpicia breathed, tilting her head as she listened to something new.

They heard a shuffling of movement far off, Arkos' voice sounding out a loud "Clear," and the sound of electricity crackling through a device.

There was a loud thu-thump as Castiel's heart struggled to restart and failed again. Another flurry of movement, Arkos' voice instructing someone, the sound of electricity-

And this time, when Castiel's heart began another panicked thumping, it did not falter. The machine monitoring the beats began to beep in synchronization with her frantic heart, and they could hear the sound of wheels. The guard knew the doctor was moving her into surgery.

Everyone was still for a long minute, and then they heard one of the nurses – Elizabeth – whispering something. But she was too far away for anyone to pick out her exact words.

A deeper whisper responded – Master Marcus – and the sound of two pairs of feet. The heavier pair seemed to be dragging.

They could only assume that Master Marcus must have collapsed, or almost collapsed, when Castiel's heart stopped, and that the nurse must have been supporting him.

The guard watched as Sulpicia whispered something low in Aro's ear, the latter leaning down toward her as she spoke, before she grabbed Athenadora's hands and the wives exit the courtroom, shutting the door behind them softly.

Afton and Chelsea moved silently, picking up Aro and Caius' chairs from their places on the floor so the master could sit again, and all eyes were either on Jane, or on Aro as he cleared his throat unnecessarily.

"All evidence has been presented on our side." Aro murmured, his right hand rubbing his chin in an unconscious gesture as he tried to dispel the sound of Castiel's frantic heart from his mind, "And now Jane Volturi, you have permission to enter the stand and give your piece as to why you tried to kill Castiel."

And as she stood Jane knew, absolutely and unconditionally, that even though Castiel and Marcus had yet to be married, that she had indeed tried to kill a Volturi queen.


Castiel's body felt heavy, and her mind hovered somewhere between sleep and reality as she heard hushed voices around her. Someone was stroking her hair, and she felt cool fingers clasped around her hand. It felt nice, and she felt comfortable even with the weird pressure on her face. And though she felt heavy, at the same time she also felt lighter than air, as if she were floating.

As she breathed deeply, she marveled at how wonderful her body felt, and how very little she wanted to leave this comfortable place. She wanted to drift back off to sleep, and she might have too if it weren't for the more logical part of her brain telling her she needed to open her eyes, or the soft voices piquing her curiosity.

"You'll have to tell her at some point Marcus. Imagine how she'd feel if she knew you were keeping this from her." A male voice whispered, she recognized the voice, but she felt so tired and confused that she couldn't pull a face or name from her thoughts.

"No," Another voice whispered back, she knew this one as well, but again she couldn't bring faces or names together. She was so tired. Anxiety was beginning to make her thoughts all jumbled up. "Not now, she's too badly hurt, she needs time to heal physically. I can't do mental damage onto her as well."

"Marcus." A female voice soothed, "No one was saying you have to tell her the moment she wakes up, and we can wait for a better time just-,"

"If I may," Another male voice interrupted the woman, "I would suggest refraining from telling her any news you may have that would make her anxious or upset, as it could greatly impact her healing process. She's going to have a very difficult couple of months ahead of her and she will have to be handled with great care both physically and mentally."

"Of course, Arkos," Yet another voice said. There were so many voice's and Castiel recognized them all, but her head was just so befuddled and the images in her thoughts muddy and confused. All the talking was stressing her out.

"Arkos," A new woman's voice asked softly, "Castiel's expression looks pained. Is she alright?"

There was movement around her, she could hear it as she felt something brush against her arm. The hands that had been stroking her hair and gently clasping her fingers had disappeared. Pressure on her throat, a gentle prodding on her ribs–

"Hmm," Arkos' voice speculated, "Her vitals are fine, but perhaps it's time for some more pain medication. It'll help her sleep more easily."

What? She thought desperately, trying to get her eyes to open and failing. Pain medication? What's going on? No, no I don't want to sleep.

There was the sound of a machine buzzing, and the feeling of water being injected into her arm, before what Castiel could only describe as complete and utter bliss began to flow through her veins.

She breathed in deeply, though the motion was restricted by something wrapped around her torso, and her head sagged to the side as she fell back into a dreamless sleep, unaware of the hand resuming its stroking of her hair or the thanks of her family to the doctor as her expression relaxed.


Someone was speaking softly to her, telling her encouraging words and whispering sweet nothings into her ear. There were other voices too, people talking quietly among themselves around her. It wasn't very easy to pin down exactly what was happening or where she was, but the soft voice talking in her ear was helping rouse her from sleep.

She felt a thumb gently brush across her eyelid, fingertips gently running down her cheek near her ear.

"Everything's okay baby, just take your time, open your eyes when you're ready. Can you squeeze my fingers?" Marcus' voice murmured, and she felt the lightest of pressure against her right palm.

It took her a second to do it, but she managed curling her fingers in slightly in response.

The voices around her stopped and she heard the sound of a chair being dragged closer, its legs scraping against the tile.

"Elizabeth if you could fetch Arkos for us please?" Aro's voice came from somewhere to her left, "Inform him that Castiel is waking up,"

A woman's voice she did not recognize replied an assent to his words, and a couple seconds later Castiel heard a door opening and closing.

Castiel's brows furrowed as she tried to move her hands and feet, tried to wiggle her nose or open her eyes. There was something weird pressing down on her face and she didn't know what it was. Trying to make the slightest movement was way harder than it should have been.

"Easy Castiel," Aro's voice was gentle, and she swore she could hear the slight smile in it, "Give yourself time. You've been out for a while and the medication you're on is strong. Collect your thoughts before worrying about moving."

But I can't move, she thought desperately, I feel like I've been tranquilized, why is it so hard to move?

Her expression became pinched in stress, and she was surprised when Aro responded to her thoughts. She didn't know he was touching her, she thought only Marcus was.

"Don't be frightened. I promise what you're feeling is just the medication and it's wearing off. You won't be given another dose until you've spent a little time conscious."

It took a good five minutes longer before she was able to start getting her eyelids to cooperate and flutter as she tried to open them. She had pinpointed all her focus onto what she knew was Marcus' hand rubbing her right arm, focusing on the feeling while she mentally took stock of everything – replaying events in her mind.

Jane accosting her in the hallway, Jane torturing her, Kemar and vomiting, Arkos' face, waking up with only Kemar in the hospital, him telling her about Jane going on trial, and needing to throw up and-

She remembered the pain, but nothing else after that.

Castiel groaned and finally opened her eyes.

The hospital wing was dim, the overhead fluorescents were out, and the only sources of light were those of the emergency lights above the doors. Her family was surrounding her bed – Marcus and Athenadora were in chairs on her right, and Aro and Caius were on her left with Sulpicia between them. She realized that the thing pressing down on her face was an oxygen mask and assumed the little tube that had been under her nose before must not have been enough.

The first person she made eye contact with was Marcus, and his black eyes softened as he lifted her hand to his face to hold it against his cheek.

She noticed two bracelets around her wrist when he did this – one was white plastic with her information on it, and the other was paper, colored brilliant red with bold white lettering that said FOOD ALLERGY.

Her gaze drifted to her left arm. She was still wearing the heart rate monitor on her finger, and someone must have turned the sound off on the machine because it was no longer beeping though the screen still displayed her vitals. She also had the IV still in the crease of her elbow, and two other tubes attached to a needle in the back of her hand.

She groaned again, shifting her gaze from her arm up to the ceiling.

"What's wrong?" Sulpicia whispered and began fussing immediately, standing from her chair as her hands drifted over Castiel's body as if looking for something to mend, "What hurts?"

Castiel managed to shake her head, though it was a gesture made in the tiniest of movements, "Nothing hurts." She rasped, her throat feeling very dry and her voice muffled by her oxygen mask, "Just lots of needles."

At her words Aro grasped the end of the thin hospital blanket that was tucked around her body and adjusted it, so it covered her left arm. The thoughtfulness caused her to smile, and the movement of her cheeks felt weird as the mask around her nose and mouth moved.

She tried pulling her hand back from Marcus, but sensing what she wanted to do, he held it firm.

"We can ask Arkos if the mask can come off when he gets in, just try to lie still for now." He whispered, adopting the same soft bedside manner as the others. No one was talking loudly or asking her a bunch of questions, they all just watched her with expressions of mingled relief and worry as her eyes darted around the room, trying to come to terms with everything that had happened.

"Speak of the Devil." Caius muttered, his eyes shifting from her face to the entrance to the wing.

"And he shall appear." Arkos' voice said jovially from somewhere outside Castiel's range of view before the doctor himself appeared at the foot of her bed.

He was dressed, surprisingly, in light pink scrubs, holding a clipboard and a pen and smiling at her. A stethoscope was draped around his neck, and he placed the pen in his breast pocket before hanging the clipboard on a hook at the foot of her bed. He didn't have to say anything before Aro, Caius, and Sulpicia all stood, pushing their chairs back against the bed on her left and moving out of the way so Arkos would have a clear path to her.

The doctor smiled his thanks at them as he came to stand beside her head. He seemed to be in a positively sunny mood by his expression, and Castiel found it very hard not to smile back at him. His joy was always strangely contagious.

Castiel wondered if she was having some kind of fever dream.

"And now for the million-dollar question. How are you feeling?" Arkos asked, his hands fiddling with something she couldn't see behind her, before removing the mask from her face. Her first breath without the mask felt strange and she grimaced.

"Fine I suppose," She mumbled after a moment's pause, "My whole body feels funny… nothing hurts though."

Arkos nodded, "Yes that'll be the muscle relaxers and pain medication, and since you say there is no pain, how about discomfort? Does everything feel okay other than feeling a little funny?" His smile was patient as she took another moment to consider his words.

"No… It just… takes a long time to think," Castiel's brow furrowed in frustration, "And I have to pee."

Arkos' hands came to her neck, putting pressure on her throat under her jaw as he felt her pulse, "You were asleep for a very long time after the surgery, and it's natural to be a little confused. And as for the bathroom I'm afraid moving is a no go for you right now, but do you have a catheter."

Immediately after his words Castiel felt her face get very hot as embarrassment coursed through her. It was the feeling of Marcus' lips against her palm that caused her to turn her head away from Arkos, who was now observing a printout that was coming from the machine monitoring her heart rate.

"Don't be embarrassed." Marcus whispered, "No one here is judging you-,"

His words were cut off by whispered assurances from the others, and Castiel turned her face back to Arkos, feeling her anxiety growing at all the attention on something she wished wasn't acknowledged at all.

The doctor's expression was understanding as he removed the stethoscope from around his neck and placed it in his ears before lightly tugging the collar of her hospital gown down some so he could place it just above her left breast.

She stared at him incredulously. "You don't really need that do you? I mean everyone here can hear my heart on a normal day. Isn't that just a prop?"

Arkos moved the stethoscope to another part of her chest, "Take a nice deep breath in for me; as deep as you can without pain that is."

Castiel did as she was told, now curious as to not only why he was using a stethoscope to hear her heart – but why did she have to be hooked up to the heart rate machine at all? She was glad they turned off the beeping from before, but honestly it all just seemed wholly unnecessary when she thought about it.

Arkos gave an unconscious nod to whatever he was hearing before answering her thoughts with a doting smile. His gaze followed hers to where she was staring at the machine logging her heart rate, "While not entirely useful for listening to your heartbeat, the stethoscope does give me a much better idea as to how well your lungs are doing, and your lungs are my primary concern at the moment."

"And as for the glare you're giving my machines…" he laughed, "It's very useful to have this–," he motioned to the monitor, "As not only does it keep a backlog of your heart rate over the course of multiple hours, but it is linked to my beeper so if you were to ever enter dangerous territory I would know to come to your aid."

"We had it set to beeping earlier as I'm sure you heard, because it was easier to pick up the machines beeping from the courtroom than your individual heartbeat-,"

"And though Marcus would be able to pick out your heartbeat from far off regardless of all the others in the castle and city-," Athenadora continued, "It calmed the rest of us down a bit to be able to hear the machine after you fell unconscious earlier."

The room grew silent again, probably due to the pinched expression on Castiel's face as her sluggish brain struggled to keep up with the conversation. No one bothered her with further comments for another minute, before Arkos called to the woman named Elizabeth across the room and asked her to help him adjust Castiel into a sitting position so he could listen from her back.

"No need." Marcus interjected quickly, before the blonde vampire could come to the foot of her bed, "I can do it, just tell me where you need me,"

If this upset Arkos at all, he didn't let anything on as he told Marcus where to stand, and where to place his hands under her back, instructing him to lift her slowly and raise her body as evenly as possible so she wasn't too jostled.

The first thing her brain registered was discomfort somewhere between moderate and extreme on a mental scale. There was no pain but her whole left side felt numb as if her bone and flesh had been removed and replaced by foam. The aches she remembered all over her body before had been replaced by a terrible soreness.

"Breathe Castiel." Arkos' voice snapped her out of her reverie, and she realized that she had been holding her breath and was unaware that her face had gone very red.

She let out a gasp, and her eyes began to water.

"Does this hurt?" Arkos asked sharply, one of his hands against her shoulder, the stethoscope in place against her back.

"No-," she gasped again, and no one believed her for a second.

Abandoning it as a bad job Arkos and Marcus lowered her back to the bed. She began to feel a twanging pain in her left side as she breathed heavily, finding the motion of expanding her chest becoming harder with each breath.

She closed her eyes when the doctor's hand came to hold the oxygen mask over her face again, but it obviously wasn't just oxygen this time. Rather than making it easier to breathe her head began to spin, and a lot of the discomfort in her body seemed to seep out of her as she relaxed a little more fully with each breath.

Thankfully Arkos didn't keep the mask pressed to her face for too long. She really didn't feel like going back to sleep and she certainly would have rather quickly if he didn't pull the mask away. She opened her eyes to see the doctor and Marcus frowning at each other.

"Everyone," Castiel said softly, after an uncomfortable moment of silence, "Keeps saying surgery and I don't understand… what happened?"

Thankfully this seemed to break the tension. Arkos pulled the chair that was behind him toward the bed before sitting down besides her. Marcus and her family did the same, except for Caius who hat to remain standing due to the new shortage of chairs.

"I know you had a conversation with Kemar when you woke up briefly earlier. Do you remember it?" Arkos asked, placing his stethoscope back around his shoulders and lacing his fingers together in his lap as he watched her expression.

She nodded after a moment's thought.

"Well," The doctor sighed deeply, leaning back in his chair, "By Kemar's account, you bent forward to catch the bucket he gave you when your leg accidentally knocked it off the bed, and this motion unfortunately caused some fragments of bone from your broken ribs to break away and imbed themselves in your muscle tissues. Two punctured your left lung. I blame myself personally because while you weren't in immediate danger before, I still should have taped your ribs right away. But alas I convinced myself that this wasn't necessary."

"You see rib taping is a rather old practice. Unfortunately, with ribs there isn't much that can be done medically other than wait for them to heal as there's no way to properly brace them. Your third rib here," He gently placed a finger over the area to give her some idea of where he was referring, "Was cracked, your fourth and fifth ribs," He moved his finger down as he indicated the other two, "Were broken entirely for the most part, and this rib," He referred to her sixth rib down, "Was… surprising for lack of a better word. You have a fracture very similar to a spiral fracture along this rib. This was the first time I've ever seen anything like it. It's probably just multiple fractures joined together and, unfortunately, that rib is going to hurt fairly more than the others for a while."

It took her much longer than she would have liked to process everything he said, and Castiel felt a little embarrassed when she saw Athenadora and Caius exchange a nervous glance when she took a long time to respond.

Swallowing, she nodded, trying to find something to say to break the silence. So, she had just had a serious surgery and had a long road of recovery ahead… but she wasn't dead, so that was something to be happy about at least.

"You also had a blood transfusion." Marcus said softly from beside her, and her gaze shifted to his face as he spoke. She smiled when he wrinkled his nose, "I didn't like it, you smelled all wrong for a little while."

Unable to help grinning, Castiel beamed at him, "Yeah that must've been really unfortunate."

He smiled back at her before kissing the back of her hand, "Really it was terrible. And the donor didn't smell nearly as nice as you do."

Everyone laughed.

"Arkos," Castiel asked, turning back to him and letting her eyes roam over his attire questioningly. "Not saying I don't one hundred percent approve… but why the pink scrubs?"

The doctor spread his arms with a smile, as if showing off his shirt. "Because on Wednesdays we wear pink."

As predicted, Castiel started to laugh – this was the reaction Arkos desired, as it was Aro and Athenadora's idea that he wear the pink scrubs for when she woke up – knowing the reference to one of her favorite movies would amuse her and hopefully boost her morale.

But unfortunately, Castiel couldn't laugh very long before the motion became painful, and she began to wheeze as she frowned at the bed, her eyes watering again.

"Gah," She gasped, "Laughing hurts."

She sounded sad as she realized this, and Marcus immediately began petting her hair in a soothing way, his free hand rubbing her arm to try to bring her focus to something else – this being something Arkos had advised earlier.

"And wait a second," She squeaked, "Wednesday? I thought…" Castiel paused, staring around at them all, her expression suddenly stressed.

"You've been unconscious almost forty hours," Athenadora whispered when Castiel's eyes locked with hers, "We've all been very worried."

"What?" Castiel's voice had become high with anxiety. This was all too much to comprehend. One minute she was tired and confused, then she was getting her questions answered, then she was confused again, then she was told she had just had a serious surgery over something that was probably life threatening, then everything was fine and she was laughing, and now…"

Suddenly, Castiel wanted very badly to cry, the weight of everything crashing over her at once, at she fought vainly against her quivering lower lip.

Her entire family all seemed to shift toward her, as if trying to figure out what to do – sensing her oncoming meltdown – but Arkos' voice sounded out before anyone else could utter any words of comfort.

"Castiel," The doctor's voice was steady and radiated calm, and it was him resting his hand on her shoulder that caused her to turn her face toward his. "I know how confusing everything is right now, and I know this can all be very frightening. But the one thing I will swear to you is that everything is okay. You slept for a very long time because of the anesthesia, and quite frankly you're amazingly coherent considering everything you've been through. Take this time now to relax and be with your family. Sometime tomorrow once you've gotten a little more sleep, Marcus and I will sit down with you and answer any questions you might have… alright?"

At Marcus' name, Castiel's eyes flashed to his face, and his answering smile gave her the peace of mind to nod to Arkos' words.

"And if it's alright with you," Arkos continued, smiling at her and inclining his head toward Marcus, "I'd like to steal your mate for a few minutes so we can go over your care instructions once you're discharged. And perhaps Elizabeth would be kind enough to bring you some Jell-O in the meantime if your stomach feels up to it."

Across the room, the vampire with the sweeping blonde hair looked up from where she was straightening the sheets on another bed to smile at Castiel, who smiled back timidly in return.

Marcus rose from the chair beside her, promising he'd be back soon and followed the doctor into his office at the back of the room, only glancing back once as he heard Caius take his previously occupied chair.


Once inside the office Arkos removed the stethoscope from around his neck and set it on the counter, before turning back to Marcus with a sigh. He wished to have the conversations about Castiel's medical treatment in semi privacy, because while he understood that all the ancients saw her as family, it wasn't everyone's business to know everything about her treatment. Of course, Aro would be involved as it was impossible to keep him in the dark about anything due to his gift, and Marcus was the closest thing to a representing party for Castiel. She was without family now and though they were not married Marcus was the closest thing to a spouse Arkos could find.

"The thing about broken ribs…" Arkos began slowly, his words heavy with implied importance. "Is that pain control is one of the most important things to focus on in order to avoid lung complications. Castiel will be at a high risk for pneumonia during her recovery over the next two to three months and we absolutely can't risk anything that may impede her ability to breathe. I've devised a schedule for her pain medication – how long I will have her on each drug and at what points we switch her over to something else. Once the worst of her injuries have healed to a satisfactory level and the pain becomes more tolerable to her, we will wean her off the heavier painkillers and onto ones that are both a mixture of ibuprofen and something stronger."

As Arkos explained this, he withdrew a packet of paper from one of the drawers nearest to him and gave it to Marcus. A cursory once over showed Marcus that it was a detailed schedule of medications already typed out for the next three months, a list of foods that would be gentle on her stomach since some of the medications could make her stomach upset, and physical activities she would be banned from until further notice. There was also a sheet on physical therapies that they could try; things to help her regain motion as her healing progressed.

"Something important that you must know," Arkos sighed, his expression severe, "Is that the painkillers Castiel are on can form addictions in humans. This is the case for nearly all hospital-grade – in other words strong – painkillers, so it is unavoidable. This is why I said we will wean her off as time goes on, and I worry that Castiel might try to skip doses on her painkillers for these reasons."

Marcus frowned. He wasn't concerned about the possible side affects as long as she felt better – of course none of them would allow her to have a substance abuse problem – but the reason Arkos was telling him this concern bothered him.

"You're worried that she'll try to avoid taking her painkillers and that she won't be able to breathe." Marcus stated, and the doctor nodded.

"The painkillers are more than just for her comfort. You've already seen how difficult it can be for her to breathe. If she develops pneumonia…" Arkos ran a hand through his hair, his expression troubled, "While it's not untreatable, it could be a great risk to her life with how badly she injured. What I am asking of you Marcus is that you keep an eye on her. Make sure she is following the schedule, drill into her head how important it is that she doesn't downplay her pain which I have no doubt she will do as to not be a bother."

"I will," Marcus promised solemnly. Castiel's health and safety were always of the utmost importance to him, of course he would make her recuperation a priority above anything else in his life.

"And…" Arkos smiled halfheartedly, "As much as Castile won't enjoy this option – if getting her to stay on schedule proves to be an issue, we can always hook her up to an IV. Kemar has the capabilities to care for her of course. Does Castiel know that only myself and Kemar have been given the clearance to make medical decisions for her?"

Marcus shook his head.

"Well I must suggest you tell her. Since Kemar is the only other vampire in this coven trained as a doctor she might have to deal with him caring for her if I am called away for any reason."

Marcus sighed very deeply, but nodded, and Arkos had to suppress a chuckle.

"Getting those two to get along is like pulling teeth isn't it?" Arkos asked, grinning, and at Marcus expression he laughed once before turning back to the drawers by his side and pulling out informational packets on all the painkillers, antibiotics, and sleep aids Castiel would be on for the next few months. He was sure Marcus would want to read them. "They will warm to each other eventually. Two very different personalities are bound to clash in the beginning. Once they get use to each other I'm sure everything will work out for the best."

Stacking all the pamphlets into a neat pile, Arkos clipped them together with a binder clip and gave them to Marcus, who tucked them under his arm with the schedule.

"Another thing," Arkos said quickly before Marcus could turn to leave, "When a person is on painkillers, they have the tendency to forget that they are injured, so making sure Castiel doesn't overexert herself will be a very important task… And as for how she is handled…"

Marcus gave him a strange look, not understanding what he meant.

"I meant physically, when you or anyone else touches her." The doctor clarified, "Her humanity has always made her more fragile than the rest of us, but for the next couple months she is going to be extremely delicate both physically and emotionally. Aside from the injury to her ribs, the muscle spasms she will be getting due to Jane's torture will be extremely uncomfortable. The muscle relaxers should help to an extent, but I'm afraid that when they happen the most you'll be able to do is comfort her until they pass. She'll be frightened and in pain, and we can't risk doing further harm onto her."

The look Arkos was giving him said one thing very clearly. He was referring to the conversation he had overheard while Marcus spoke with his family at her bedside while she rested. Any upsetting information should be held from her until she was in a less vulnerable state.

"Think about the soap bubble test. That is how careful you will have to be with her until she heals."

The soap bubble test was part of the examination process to become a Volturi Guard. Applicants had to prove that while they were strong enough to withstand the most brutal of tasks, they also had to be tame and gentle enough to stroke and hold a soap bubble for a set amount of time without popping it. This exam was usually failed by eight out of ten applicants since vampires were usually unused to exercising the extreme amount of control required to pass. It was the Volturi's way of being sure their hires were capable of control and exhibiting the utmost care in any assigned tasks so humans would not become suspicious of them if they were out and about.

"Of course." Marcus agreed, but before he could exit the office Arkos clearing his throat unnecessarily caused him to turn around again.

"And though I feel so much goes without saying, it's my duty as a doctor to remind you that in saying physical activity must be at an all time low for her that this includes sex. I am aware that you two haven't consummated your bond-," This was of course obvious, as Castiel still did not have a mating bite, "But all the same, I'm going to have to place a firm restriction against any sexual activity for the time being. I of course will inform her of this later when the three of us are alone."

Even though Marcus knew all of this without it being stated, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Surely there were things he could do for her that wouldn't require a lot of participation on her part-

And for the briefest part of a second, Marcus pictured the view of her with the head on the pillow, moaning in delight as she held his head between her legs…

Pushing the thought away before Arkos could read the expression on his face, Marcus nodded his agreement with his words, before chuckling at the mental image of the undoubtedly chagrined expression that was going to be on his mate's face when this topic of conversation came up between them.


Castiel watched as the door to Arkos' office closed and took advantage of the moments she had without Marcus around to ask the question she couldn't bear to speak in his presence.

"How bad was it?" She asked quietly, looking around at her family on either side of her, not directing the question at anyone in particular so they would know it was a question meant for whoever was willing to answer.

"How bad was what hunny?" Sulpicia asked, her face confused but her eyes apprehensive.

"The surgery." Castiel rasped, locking eyes with each of them in turn. "I completely blacked out after talking to Kemar. I didn't just fall asleep. And when Arkos said that part of my bones broke off inside me… Marcus' face."

Castiel went very pale, and her eyes took on a faraway look as she remembered Marcus expression when she had glanced over at him, the pain there…. He looked at her as if… as if…

"Hey." Caius was the next one who spoke, and his voice was unexpectedly soft, "Let's not talk about this right now-,"

"It was bad." Castiel interrupted, letting out a shaky breath, "It was really really bad wasn't it-,"

"Shh!" Caius hushed her a little too loudly, sending a worried glance at Arkos' office door. But that room was soundproofed, so Arkos and Marcus shouldn't be able to hear anything. "It's not important now… so please try not to overreact."

"Caius!" Athenadora hissed under her breath in reprimand to her husband's poor bedside manner.

But when they looked toward Castiel they saw she didn't look offended and was actually nodding to herself before taking as deep of a breath as she was able. "Right. Calm. Everything's fine." She let out her breath in a gust, and settled back into her pillows again, shutting her eyes.

She was so much paler than usual, and the dark purple circles under her eyes made it hard to believe that she had been sleeping for nearly two days. She just looked so tired.

Aro's eyes roamed the faces of Athenadora, Sulpicia, and Caius in turn, and saw that they were all looking at Castiel with the same amount of concern, probably all thinking the same thing.

Before anyone could start a new topic of conversation, Elizabeth came to the foot of the bed, dragging a small metal cart behind her with what looked like an IV bag, and a tube of some liquid sealed in a package, among other various random things. The sound of the cart's wheels caused Castiel to open her eyes, and her expression became wary.

Aro held out one hand silently to Elizabeth, who gave Castiel a small reassuring smile while pressing her palm to Aro's.

"Hello Castiel, we haven't formally been introduced but my name is Elizabeth. I'm just here to set you up with a new line for fluids here," She motioned to the bag, "And flush out the line connected at your elbow so we can set you on a different medication. I'm also going to remove the needles in the back of your hand."

As she explained each of these things, Aro and Sulpicia moved back so the nurse could push the little table up near the head of Castiel's bed, and she hung the new bag of fluid from one of the posts before reaching for Castiel's elbow to disconnect the line there from the IV.

Castiel's expression became paler and more anxious looking by the second.

"C-can this wait til Marcus gets back?" She sounded frightened, and it was only then that they noticed her trembling slightly.

"You're afraid of needles?" Caius asked, and at least he had the grace to not sound amused, only curious.

"I – I don't liked needles that stay in my body. Shots are fine but I don't like things staying connected to my veins." Saying it out loud sounded silly, Castiel knew that, but it didn't change that she wanted Marcus here to hold her hand.

She was surprised when a second later Caius' hand came to clasp over her own free hand.

"Relax," Caius said, unable to stop the word from sounding like an order. "Just look at me, it'll only take a moment."

And as her expression remained frightened and unconvinced for another long moment, and the nurse still stood silently as she waited for Castiel's consent, Caius sighed. "We won't let anyone near you unless they are going to help you in some way. This is going to be how things are for a while. Just trust us, we have your best interests at heart."

Caius and Castiel stared at each other for a second, before the latter gave a quick nod. "Okay, okay, please just be quick about it."

Knowing that these words were meant for her, Elizabeth disconnected the tube at Castiel's elbow – which had previously been attached to a now empty vial on her IV stand – and tore open the package that the tube of clear liquid had been in on the cart.

"I am going to flush this IV out now Castiel. It's just saline, but it's going to feel a little cold and you might get a slight medicinal taste in your mouth."

She was right – it was like ice. Castiel shivered and gripped Caius' hand a little too hard, and though she dug her nails into him it had no effect on his hard skin. Caius didn't make any comment to this and thankfully his eyes didn't stray to what Elizabeth was doing, because since Castiel was watching his face he knew that if he were watching the nurse she would have been tempted to look too.

He was just watching her expression in return and trying to keep his face neutral.

Elizabeth was quick about hooking up the tube of new medication, and even quicker about the process of cleaning off a new area of skin in Castiel's arm for another needle.

"Alright Castiel you're going to feel a slight pinch-,"

"Ah!" Castiel hissed and shut her eyes, and this time her death grip on Caius hand was met with a reassuring squeeze.

Caius couldn't help but feel an immense amount of pity of her in that moment, as he took the seconds in which she shut her eyes to watch as the nurse set up a new tube in her arm. He could understand why Castiel found this so unpleasant.

Elizabeth taped the needle down, removed the two in her hand, and finished hooking her up in record time. Castiel still wished she could have been faster about it though.

"All done!" Elizabeth exclaimed cheerfully, patting one of the only areas of Castiel's arm that was free of tubes and needles. "I promise there will be no more medication changes for today, and-," The nurse paused, taking in the awkwardly straight way Castiel was holding her left arm, "You can relax your arm a little bit. There's no need to keep it straight."

This seemed to confuse her some, because Castiel's brows pulled together in confusion, "But… the needles…"

Elizabeth's eyes brightened in understanding when Castiel paused hesitantly, looking suddenly sheepish. "Oh! Oh no dear the needles are flexible; they aren't solid steel. You're free to move around a bit, it just might feel a little strange at first is all."

Very carefully Castiel rest her arm on the bed at her side, allowing it to bend slightly at the elbow.

There was a little sting, but she didn't snap the needle off inside her like she had expected originally.

Satisfied, Elizabeth gave her another kind smile and rolled the cart away.

Aro and Sulpicia resumed their seats, Aro making sure to pull the blanket over to cover her arm again.

Castiel shut her eyes, trying to pretend she was somewhere else – anywhere else – and was surprised to find that her eyelids seemed to be unwilling to open again. She wanted to sleep.

No one spoke, and her family merely watched as her body relaxed more fully, and her breathing took on a more even tempo. For a moment they wondered if she had fallen asleep again, but then she let out a small sigh of agitation.

"What is it?" Athenadora asked worriedly, but Castiel shook her head.

"Nothing. I just can't see."

"Yeah well," Caius said with his eyebrows raised, "Your eyes are closed so…"

"Oh, ha ha," Castiel said sarcastically, opening her eyes to stare beseechingly at him. "Very funny. You know that's not what I meant."

Caius smirked; glad to see that her sarcastic attitude with him was still present in light of everything that had happened.

"You mean you can't see anything?" Sulpicia whispered, surprised, "Your visions are gone?"

Castiel nodded, shutting her eyes again. "Yeah, ugh. It's worse than when I'm sick where I can only see vague outlines. It's like hitting a wall of color. I can't make out anything at all and I wanted to see when Marcus was coming out."

At these words, Sulpicia, Athenadora, and Caius all turned to look questioningly at Aro.

But Aro looked completely unconcerned and jerked his head silently toward her IV stand. The plethora of medications she was currently on where surely muddling her brain a bit.

There was silence again for another minute, and this time they were almost positive she must have fallen asleep.

Castiel spoke again, startling them slightly.

"Thank you." She whispered, her voice sounding thick with emotion, "I can't tell you how thankful I am that – that you're all here."

Since her eyes were shut, Castiel didn't see how each of their expressions softened and became incredibly tender at here words – even Caius, who made his expression a blank mask the moment he felt his emotions showing on his face.

By the time Marcus emerged from the office with the doctor, which was only a few minutes later, Castiel had fallen asleep. And though she couldn't breathe deeply, her breaths were still even.

While Arkos checked her lines, Aro, Caius, and their wives made to leave, uttering quite goodbyes and assuring him that he should stay with her as long as necessary. They would expect no less than him to stay by her side until she was out of the hospital wing at the very least. Sulpicia and Athenadora told him to let Castiel know they'd come back tomorrow before each kissing his cheek and leaving after their husbands.


By lunchtime the next day, Castiel was beginning to feel very antsy. Lying in the hospital wing with tubes stuck into her arms and nothing to distract her was beginning to take its toll. The worst part of it all though, was that fact that she really wasn't in any condition to change her current predicament. She was anxious and uncomfortable and wanted to get up and move around, but she couldn't. She wasn't in any state too.

And of course, Marcus was with her. He was currently quietly reading a book by her side but otherwise remaining still and silent. He was hoping she'd fall back asleep again, and the quiet and the fact Arkos was keeping the lights dim was tilting the odds in his favor. Because sleep was good for her right now, if she was asleep then that meant she was still and in no risk of accidentally straining something.

They hadn't been having long conversations when they did speak, mainly because Castiel had fallen asleep twice while Marcus had been talking to her before. She would of course start apologizing profusely the second she woke up and realized she had fallen asleep on him, but he didn't care because she needed her rest.

Castiel unfortunately was unable to sleep for more than two or three hours at a time due to her discomfort. She would be given a dose of one painkiller or another every four hours, and four times a day she'd be given cup with five different pills in it and a bottle of water to down them with. But she didn't complain. She was a model patient all things considered.

As she sat in the quiet with Marcus she thought back to when she woke up in the middle of the night – the first time she woke up after the rest of her family had left – and blushed in embarrassment.

She had woken with a start, panicked, distressed, but most of all mortified as she looked around in a hurry and locked eyes with Marcus.

She burst into tears immediately, and Marcus was on his feet trying to calm her down as she began apologizing and crying in such a rush that he couldn't understand her. Arkos joined Marcus at her bedside only a few seconds later, and her mate only became more distressed as he tried to calm her down when the doctor's appearance seemed to make her feel even worse.

And it was through Marcus' worried voice trying to get her to tell him what was wrong, and Arkos asking her is something hurt that she was able to speak coherently enough for them to understand what was wrong.

Because she had fallen asleep with a still full bladder before her family left, and what had woken her up was the feeling of finally urinating after holding it too long.

Castiel had been woken up from her dream by the feeling, and thought she had wet the bed – a fact not made any better by seeing Marcus next to her.

"Castiel," Arkos said softly, handing her a small box of tissues that had apparently been on the top of one of her machines so she could wipe her face. "You have a catheter." He reassured her quietly, repeating what he had told her earlier. "You didn't wet the bed. And even if you did no one would have cared."

Marcus' much less panicked, but still exceedingly gentle voice interrupted the doctor's words then, and his reassurance and the feeling of his hand gently stroking through her hair were the only thing she focused on as Arkos' feather light footsteps retreated from the bed as she wiped her face.

Marcus turned the page of his book, the sound of the paper shuffling snapping her out of her musing as she thought about that embarrassing moment during the night. But what was interesting to her was finding out that Arkos liked to wear what were basically tap shoes with a dress shoe look to them when he was working in the hospital wing at late hours. He did it so that his patients would always be able to hear him approach. The good doctor didn't want to startle any injured patients into sudden movements by appearing silently at their side.

With a quiet sigh, she settled back into her pillows before pulling her thin hospital blanket up to her chin and closing her eyes. Hopefully she would be able to sleep off some of her anxiety.


Two days. Castiel had lain in the hospital wing bored out of her mind for a whole two days – she really should be given some kind of award for not going mental. To be fair she did sleep a lot, probably something like 16 hours a day when all of her short two to three-hour napping periods were added together. And even though she got twice as much sleep than what she usually got on a normal night, she still felt exhausted, as if it has been weeks since she last had a proper night's rest.

But finally, the tubes were out of her arms, all the needles removed and replaced with cotton balls held to her skin by tape. Marcus held her hand as she focused on his face while Arkos removed the catheter – making her cringe and yelp. Arkos retrieved a set of sandals for her and set them on the floor before using the manual bars on the bed to raise her into a sitting position.

Gingerly, Castiel lifted her torso off the mattress, sitting up straight without assistance for the fist time in days. Her ribs protested slightly but the pain was merely a dull ache since she had been given another dose of pain killer only an hour before, so it was still running strong through her veins.

Neither Marcus nor the doctor spoke as she breathed deeply twice, adjusting to the feeling of the bandage that was wrapped tightly around her torso – a band of it wrapping up over her left shoulder – in an effort to compress the area around her ribs and restrict her movements. There was no way in hell she'd be able to bend at the waist or stretch to either side all taped up like this.

Other than that, all she was wearing was the thin cotton hospital gown with the ties in the back. She knew she wasn't going to be walking back to Marcus' rooms – he was going to carry her there – but Arkos wanted to have her walk to one end of the room and back before he officially discharged her.

Castiel scowled as she considered this. Walking the length of the hospital wing on a normal day would have been a piece of cake, but she had been confined to bed with the worst injuries she had ever sustained in her life for the last few days. She was beginning to feel tired just sitting up on her own and thinking about how out of breath she was going to feel after the short walk was not particularly something she was looking forward to.

Why did breathing have to be so hard?

"Castiel?" Marcus asked softly, calling her attention to him. She had been sitting up scowling for the last 3 minutes. "Are you feeling well enough to do this?"

Her eyes flashed to his face, color rushing to her cheeks. "What? Yes, yes of course I feel fine, I can do it." She rushed the words out and swung her legs over the side of the bed. If she couldn't do this – if she admitted to Marcus that she wasn't feeling up to it – she would be stuck in the hospital wing for a few more days and the needles would be put back into her.

But she must have moved too fast when she swung her legs over the side of the bed, because her head swam and the room went blurry for a moment, and next thing she knew both Marcus and Arkos had a hand on one of her arms and shoulders to steady her.

"Perhaps," Arkos murmured sardonically, "A little slower?"

Castiel could tell he didn't think she was ready to be discharged, but she couldn't see why it mattered so much. She was just going to be put on bed rest in Marcus' rooms instead of here. The main differences where she wasn't going to be hooked up to machines and would have to get up to use the bathroom on her own; and these bathroom breaks were the only times she was supposed to leave bed as per the rules Arkos had outlined for her discharge earlier that morning.

"Right." Castiel agreed, taking a deep breath, well as deep as she was able with the way her ribs were wrapped, and sliding off the bed and onto her feet.

Marcus' hands were firm on her upper arms, and she could feel her body sagging forward into his chest as her cheek pressed against the fabric of his shirt.

"Whoa, whoa I can't feel my feet." Castiel tone was bemused. It felt like her legs had been cut off below the knee and replaced with crude, lead-filled imitations.

"That's normal." Arkos reassured her from somewhere to her right, "Marcus, why don't you help her stand straight. Castiel, lean into Marcus and try to move your feet with his. Just come around and stand at the end of the bed here."

They did as instructed, Marcus kissing the top of her head when she whispered, "Please don't let me fall," before they started to move.

The feeling in her legs did come back quickly, and at least she was able to wiggle her toes even if she still couldn't quite feel the sandals on the soles of her feet. Walking felt a little strange, and even after they made it together to the foot of the bed, Marcus didn't let her go as she took the walk to the end of the room and back. Castiel was thankful for this, because she was absolutely right when she assumed the walk would drain her of the very little energy she had stored up. The reassurance of Marcus' arm – the forearm she held onto with both hands as she walked – was what she needed to be able to do this.

Once the walk was done, Marcus helped her sit down on one of the chairs as Arkos filled out some paperwork that Marcus had to sign as well. Even though they were a secret immortal organization the Volturi sure were serious about their paperwork.

Castiel was only half listening as Marcus and Arkos went over all the conditions of her discharge but perked up immediately when Arkos mentioned someone bringing her lunch in the next hour. She hadn't had any solid food since before Jane attacked her. All the nutrition she had been given was intravenous, and the most solid thing she ate was half a cup of Jell-O two days before hand, but the Jell-O had made her so nauseous she couldn't finish it.

But that was likely only because she had been in a significant amount of pain when she had tried to eat it. Her ribs felt like they were on fire and she hadn't been due for more pain medication for another half hour. She ended up abandoning the Jell-O and going back to sleep instead of possibly throwing up.

Apparently, she was only to be given a small amount of chicken broth, some crackers, and half a slice of bread at first. If she could hold it down, then for dinner she would be allowed to have the same meal again but with a small portion of carrots and other vegetables in the soup. According to the doctor they would have to build up her tolerance for food again before she would be able to eat anything heavy.

Once all the papers were done, Marcus turned back to her with a smile that was so unguarded that she couldn't help but smile back. Castiel knew that he was happy that he could have her back in the safety of his rooms, that they could be somewhere private together, but most of all it was that she was deemed well enough to leave the hospital. Seeing her lying asleep in the bed with rails and looking so exhausted had been taking a toll on him.

Castiel took a deep breath to prepare herself before Marcus stooped down to pick her up.

When she was in his arms, Castiel felt like electricity was humming between them. It was the first time she had been in his arms in days and it felt nice.

Castiel rest her cheek against his shoulder as he walked silently from the hospital wing. She was a little cold in nothing but her thin hospital gown, but she didn't want to say anything and interrupt the feeling between them. Marcus, her brutal and dominantly male mate, her sweet, loving king… she thought about all the strength and power that was imbibed in him, and how the strength and depth of his love for her contrasted that. Her loving mate who was always so worried about her, and who cared for her so deeply…

She let out a sigh. It was a sound of such profound contentment that Marcus couldn't possibly mistake it for anything else. He purred deep in his chest in response.

"I know." His voice was thick with and unnamed emotion, "I feel it too."


"Please?"

"Castiel you need rest."

"Please Marcus I need a shower so badly."

Castiel was seated on Marcus' bed while he tried vainly to convince her to lie down. She was paler than usual, and her heart was beating rather fast considering all she was doing was sitting up on the edge of the bed. Marcus wanted nothing more than to tuck her into his bed and have life resume some semblance of normalcy for the two of them. He didn't want her to strain herself. She had walked around a little bit and sat up without assistance a few times that day already and he was convinced that was enough physical activity for her for the day. The way her body was responding to those activities only supported his claims.

"I feel gross and my hair is so dirty." She wined, pouting at him. She could see his resolve crumbling.

"You don't look dirty at all and you smell fine." Marcus sighed, exasperated, "You can shower tomorrow I promise-,"

"Please?" It was one final plea, and her expression and slumped shoulders showed she accepted defeat.

Castiel couldn't hide her surprise when Marcus sighed and stooped to lift her. He had her in the bathroom before she could even take a full breath and set her on the ledge at the end of the tub while he started the shower, setting the water to warm.

When Marcus came back over to her and ran his fingertips across her jaw, obvious tension in his eyes at the idea of leaving her in case she slipped and fell or, even worse, collapsed in a dead faint from overexertion. Castiel caught his hand in hers and held it against her cheek, her stomach seeming to ball up into a tense knot as she considered her next words.

"Stay." Was all she could manage. Castiel wasn't foolish enough to think that she wouldn't need some type of help bathing and wasn't quite confident enough in her current physical stat to assure Marcus that she wouldn't fall.

Marcus lips parted slightly in surprise, his eyes losing their tense edge before he tamed his expression back into something close to nonchalance. The fact that she was allowing him to care for her this way, that she was allowing him to help bathe her at her most vulnerable state... He switched to his bond sight, and saw their connection glowing, and humming in anticipation.

As Marcus helped her stand and came behind her to undo the ties to her thin gown, Castiel couldn't help the thought that this was the first time he would see her naked – but there was nothing sexual about this act. There wasn't anything sexual about him bathing her when she was unable to do it herself.

She was also sure her ribs couldn't look too pretty at the moment. She hadn't gotten a look at them after the accident.

Castiel felt the gown loosen as all the ties were undone, and felt her skin erupt in goose bumps as Marcus pushed it from her shoulders and it slid down her arms to the floor.

She wasn't wearing any underwear; wearing panties got in the way of the catheter when she was in the hospital and wearing a bra would be too uncomfortable for a long while.

Marcus was still behind her, and his soft voice asked her to lift her arms away from her side slightly so he could unwrap the bandage around her torso.

Removing the bandage felt odd since the lack of the constant pressure made her ribs throb. She was now free to move around unrestricted but did her best to remain standing perfectly straight and tall. One wrong move would put her in a world of pain.

Marcus hands found their way to the end of the messy braid her hair had been in – something she insisted Sulpicia do for her yesterday when Castiel felt how dirty her hair was becoming, knowing that at least if it were braded it wouldn't look quite so greasy – before pulling out the tie and running his fingers through her hair.

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, Castiel looked down at her ribs for the first time in nearly five days.

She was both prepared, and unprepared for what she saw. She was prepared to see the stitches that closed the incision made under her breast, and another set of stitches along her side, marking the places where Arkos had gone in for surgery to remove the fragments of bone that had given her two small punctures in her left lung and stabbed into her muscle tissues. What she wasn't prepared for was the bruising.

Her entire left side was bruised, from under her armpit down to her navel, roughly the size of a basketball. The bruising spanned halfway across her front, and she was sure it was the same on her back. Her skin was dark black, purple, and red; not even beginning to heal and turn the yellowish green of fading marks.

She must have gasped aloud, because suddenly Marcus was in front her, gently tilting her face up to his.

"The bruising will begin to fade in a couple of weeks. It looks bad, I know. But you've been taped up and are on your way to recovery. Arkos promised you'll still have full movement once you've healed and that there are creams that can be bought to help the scarring." He was trying to reassure her, but she wasn't all that worried about scarring or thinking she wasn't going to recover. As silly as it was, she could only feel ashamed that the first time Marcus saw her naked, she was black and blue and frankly disturbing to look at.

She said nothing, looking forward at his chest rather than his eyes as she processed this, wishing to hide these thoughts from him. But over the last few months Marcus had become her very best friend, he knew everything about her, and knew her in ways her previous best friend Trent did not. He knew her well enough to understand why she was suddenly upset as if he could read her mind.

"You," Marcus whispered, "Are the most beautiful creature in the world to me. This injury does not change that. Believe me sweet one if you weren't hurting right now…" He trailed off, laughing once.

He dropped his hand from her face to take her hand, "Come, let me take care of you so you can get back to bed."

And with that Marcus lead her into the shower, positioning her under the warm water before stepping back to remove is shirt, watch, crest, shoes and socks and coming into the shower with her.

His straight black trousers were soaked within seconds. Of course Castiel knew he wouldn't really be able to wash her without getting in the shower too since the opening of the glass doors was not within the spray of the water, but she hadn't considered that that meant he would be naked as well.

She was secretly glad he hadn't undressed completely. She wasn't sure she would have been able to focus if he were naked too, or if her nerves would have allowed her to consider asking for his help. There was a good chance she would have been too shy if she had been thinking about it fully.

The warm water felt nice, though it felt almost boiling hot on the tender flesh of her side, and Castiel shut her eyes with a small groan at the feeling of the warm water on her scalp.

Castiel could hear when Marcus set back down the bottle of body wash even if she didn't hear him pick it up and couldn't help as she gave a little start at the feeling of the warm wet cloth on her shoulder. Opening her eyes, she saw that Marcus had wetted a hand towel and lathered the body wash into it and was gently washing the skin of her right shoulder and down her arm.

She shut her eyes again, her skin feeling warm and tingly wherever the cloth brushed the soap over it. He might not have been touching her bare skin, but the feeling of his strong hand through the towel was enough to make her body feel as though it had been set alight.

Marcus washed her body with slow, almost practiced strokes. He lathered her back, her legs, and her chest – when his still covered hand brushed over her nipples, they hardened in response immediately at the touch and she let out a shaky breath.

"Easy," Marcus hushed her, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

Then Marcus' hand came up to brush the soap over her neck, and Castiel felt as if everything in that moment had stilled; as though time itself must have stopped.

She felt like she was floating, like her feet weren't even touching the ground anymore. And there was something else, something bright and warm seemingly to embrace her, filling the air around her body.

She heard the wet thud as Marcus dropped the towel, and felt his hands cradling her face. Castiel hadn't opened her eyes the whole time he had been washing her, instead electing to just relax and feel, but this feeling… this was something separate from just her enjoyment of the warm water and her mate's gentle touch. It was something stronger and much more potent.

"Marcus?" Castiel was surprised to hear that she sounded scared and opened her eyes to check the expression on Marcus' face.

A very powerful, and indecipherable swirl of emotions hit her the moment she looked into his eyes, and she gasped in shock, feeling as if the weight of the emotions swirling inside her body were going to crush her-

"Relax," Marcus voice was steady, completely unafraid, and this bought her up short.

She opened her mouth as if to argue with him, though she had no idea what she would say, but was unable to say anything before he spoke again.

"Hush," Marcus cooed at her, before leaning down and pressing his lips to her forehead.

And just like that, the onslaught of emotion was gone.

She was in front of him, standing naked just out of the stream of the shower, her body almost completely covered in soapsuds with the exception of her left side and the area between her legs.

Castiel was unable to do anything but left out a shaky breath. Of course, she knew that what she had just been experiencing was the mating bond between them, but she was confused as to why the simple action of him touching her neck had bought it about so strongly.

Marcus did not stoop to retrieve the washcloth from it place by their feet, and instead just put more body was directly into his hands before rubbing them together to create a lather and bringing them back to her skin.

And it took everything she had to not let out an embarrassing whine of longing when his hands came up to reapply soap to her collarbones and shoulders where her dripping hair had begun rinsing it away.

And though she might have held in the embarrassing sound that threatened to escape her as Marcus ran his hands down to stroke across her breasts again, Castiel was sure he could see it on her face because he smiled wolfishly at her.

It was strange, being so badly hurt she couldn't move properly without pain, but still having this feeling of want for him… apparently even serious injuries were no match for hormones.

Carefully, without breaking eye contact with her, Marcus ran his hand gently down to the area between her legs, washer her in the most intimate way yet, and causing her legs to shake unsteadily.

And then his hand was gone, because he knew now wasn't the time for this, even if the less sensible part of her didn't care.

Marcus' expression changed from teasing to grim as his eyes trained on her purple and black stained side. It was the only area he had yet to wash.

And Castiel suddenly felt as if she wanted to step back, to shy away from the hands she knew were going to be reaching forward to rub soap lightly on her tender side. The warm water had felt boiling against her injury, and the steady flow of the water from the showerheads felt like tiny needles against that one area.

"Castiel," Marcus could see the apprehension on her face and read the weariness in her eyes. "I'll be quick about it I promise. Then I can wash your hair."

He knew that would be a part she would enjoy, since she always liked when he ran his fingers through her hair or rubbed her scalp when they were lying down together.

Her expression didn't change.

"Trust me?" Marcus whispered, re-lathering soap into his hands and waiting for her response.

She stared into his face for a moment, the weariness in her eyes changing to something softer as she nodded.

And when his cool hands did find her injured ribs, even the lightest pressure felt like the rub of sandpaper. Her breath caught, and she shut her eyes in an effort to school her face into the most neutral expression she could manage. At least his hands were cooler than the water because the cold felt nicer than the heat.

Marcus rubbed in gentle circles for a few moments longer, whispering praise to her under his breath. He told her how proud he was of her, how she had been so brave during this whole ordeal, and how much he loved her.


Castiel was sitting on the edge of the tub again, her ribs re-taped; wearing a clean pair of socks, underwear, and one of Marcus' button up shirts. She did have pajamas of her own of course, and plenty of t-shirts and sweatpants, but wearing Marcus' shirt made the most sense at the moment because it was large and buttoned up the front, making it the easiest item of clothing for her to get on and off in her current state.

Marcus was standing to her right side, gently towel drying her hair as she stared forward sleepily. Marcus had been right earlier when he thought that she had more than enough physical movement for today. She was just about ready to fall asleep sitting up.

"Did Arkos show you how to re-bandage my torso? I don't remember when he wrapped it in the first place." Castiel asked, only curious because Marcus had re-wrapped her ribs perfectly, exactly as they were wrapped before he removed it for the shower.

"Mmm." Marcus hummed in assent as he set the towel down and picked up the wide-toothed comb he had set on the ledge to gently brush through the knots in her hair. "He showed me and had me keep practicing until I could get it exactly right a dozen times without fail. Athenadora was gracious enough to be my test subject since she is closest to your size."

"Oh," Castiel tried to picture it, sure it had taken place at some point when she was asleep in the hospital wing, and grinned as she imagined Marcus' expression of concentration as he tried to apply and unnecessary bandage around Athenadora's torso, and her nitpicking every slight change in pressure and wiggling around so he couldn't get a proper hold.

Because Castiel was sure that had happened, Athenadora would have made it difficult for him just to give them something to laugh about when things were looking so serious.

By the time Marcus got her into bed it was time for her to try to eat, and once she was settled back into the pillows – more seemed to have appeared since the last time she had been in his rooms – Marcus placed the small tray of food that had been delivered by Afton only moments before on her lap.

She didn't have any time to speak to her guard, but she did give him a small smile, which he returned whole-heartedly before leaving to stand guard outside the door.

Her meal was exactly what Arkos said it would be – a glass of water, a small bowl of broth, some crackers, and half a slice of bread.

It was pitiful looking, but after eating five crackers and half of her piece of bread, Castiel fully understood why she couldn't have anything more substantial.

Her stomach was squirming in discomfort and she was beginning to feel nauseous just looking at the untouched bowl of broth.

Marcus was sitting beside her on the bed, and his hand came up to rub between her shoulders gently.

"Just try a couple of mouthfuls. I know it doesn't look very good right now, but you might feel better with something warm in you." He said bracingly, and Castiel made a face but did what he said.

The warmth of the broth did feel good in her stomach when it first hit, but after letting it sit for a couple of minutes her stomach turned uncomfortably, and she shook her head and pushed the tray a few inches away.

Understanding she was done, Marcus removed the tray from her lap and took it to the door to give to Afton, but not before giving her the glass of water and telling her to at least finish it before she went to sleep.

She took little sips of the water at first, focusing on her task and trying to ignore when Marcus put one of the small gray buckets that were so common in the hospital wing next to her. She knew that he was only giving to her just incase she couldn't avoid vomiting, but seeing it made her think about it, and her stomach rolled again.

Castiel was now holding her nearly empty glass of water in her lap with both hands, when suddenly Marcus' hand was in front of her and there was a small white pill sitting on his open palm.

She recognized it right away and took it to place it under her tongue.

Marcus took the glass from her and placed it on the table before he silently helped her move from her reclining position to lie flat on her back, positioning pillows around her like he was putting her in a makeshift nest.

It was very comfortable. She couldn't lie about that.

As he pulled the heavy blankets up to cover her, Marcus took the pillow that was against her left side and tucked one of the edges under her shoulder to prop it up.

He answered her confused look with a shrug. "You move around a lot when you sleep. I'm hoping this causes you to roll to your right instead of your left."

"Right." She sighed, and Marcus leaned forward to kiss her temple. Before he could move away, presumably to tend to the fire or work at his desk, Castiel caught his hand.

"Can we talk about what happened in the shower?" She didn't know why she was whispering, possibly because this conversation felt like something she wanted to keep private, and out of human habit she lowered her voice.

Marcus' face softened and he sat on the edge of the bed near her waist, taking her hand into both of his own and giving her a small grin. "Do you have any specific questions? Or would you just like me to explain?"

"Just explain." She said smiling back at him.

"Intimacy," Marcus sighed out the word to give himself a moment to assemble his thoughts, "Is something that goes much deeper than physical love. If I were to make love to you right now, you know that our bond would settle and our ties to each other would become permanent?" She nodded, feeling a faint blush color her cheeks. Not because of his comment of making love to her, but because she knew when he said, our ties to each other he really meant your ties to me… because he was already permanently tied to her.

Marcus squeezed her hand, conscious of where her blush had stemmed from and pulling her focus back to the conversation lest she begin to feel needlessly guilty.

"Allowing me to care for you the way you have tonight… allowing me to bathe you when you are unquestionably at the point of utmost vulnerability – naked and injured, to submit yourself to my will in such a way was not something that would go unnoticed by a bond such as ours. Mating bonds and the bonds of imprinting do not ask questions. The bonds see a situation for what it is – what it truly is – and responds accordingly."

Castiel was staring at him in wonder, the way he always referred to bonds as if they were living things never failed to gain her complete attention and awe.

"And while I know that saying submit yourself to my will sounds very crude, because of course I would never exert power over you physically in such a state and-or without your permission, when I ran my fingers against your neck, the predatory and dominant side of me responded to the vulnerability and submissiveness of you. This realization and action became known to the bond and it tied us together more deeply… much more deeply than we were already tied."

There was something in his voice when he said this, an emotion that sounded almost… guilty.

"Marcus…" She began speaking but trailed off. She didn't know what she really planned on saying. She had intended to say something, something important, but the words got stuck in her suddenly too tight throat and her tongue felt like it was swelling in her mouth.

Marcus cast a curious glance at her, as he had previously been staring at her hand in his, and when she locked eyes with him her stomach fluttered – but not due to nausea.

"Yes?"

Castiel felt very warm all the sudden, and her heart was fluttering, and she felt like her hands were going to start shaking… was she about to faint or something?

Marcus' eyes glazed over for a moment, and he shifted in his seat, as if he were responding to something invisible in the air.

Castiel knew then that she wasn't fainting, and that how her body was reacting now was in response to shyness and nerves, not her injury. Marcus was reacting to – and reading – her sudden change in emotions.

And she knew what she had been about to say.

"Castiel," Marcus' expression was gentle, as if he were trying to sooth her. "Do not worry about the bond. I always promised you we would take this as slow as you'd like. I know it can feel like the bond is rather insistent sometimes, but nothing is permanent yet. Please don't work yourself up."

The feeling of guilt pressed on him more firmly. He wasn't lying when he said that they could still take things as slow as she liked, but it still felt like a lie because he wasn't telling her how far the bond had come. He didn't tell her that their bond had reached its highest peak. It was the tightest it could bind them without physical consummating it and participating in the four rituals together. But she was already so stressed, and he didn't want to overwhelm her with this information.

But not telling her all the facts is still a lie. That is why they call it a lie of omission, a voice in the back of his mind whispered.

At his meant-to-be consoling words, Castiel found herself feeling a little horrified. He had misread her emotions, believing her nerves for anxiety.

Tell him! Her conscience screamed at her. Tell him how you feel, you chicken.

Castiel opened her mouth as if to speak, but the words became stuck in her throat again.

Marcus stood and gave her a smile as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. He assumed her speechlessness was due to exhaustion – which was highly likely due to the circles under her eyes and way her eyes would stay shut a little too long when she blinked – before he encouraged her to rest and promised he wouldn't leave.

He turned off the light, and the drawn curtains of the room let no light seep in from outside. The darkness and softness of the bed were comforting, and she was so warm...

She fell back to sleep, and the three words she couldn't seem to get out faded into nothingness.


Castiel was sitting cross-legged on the floor in Marcus' rooms, leaning back against Afton's legs since he was presently sitting on the couch browsing Netflix for something to watch. The coffee table was pulled close to her, so her chest was only a few inches from the edge, with the puzzle she was working on coating it's surface. This was a small puzzle compared to the other ones she had done so far – only 15 inches by 15 inches… but it was still made up of 500 very small pieces.

She had the outer edges done and was biting the tip of her tongue as she looked for pieces that went together.

It had been two weeks since she was discharged from the hospital wing, and in that time she only left Marcus' rooms a grand total of four times. Once to go to the library, once to visit Emmanuel in the kitchens, and twice to sit with her family in the throne room. In her free time, she would watch movies, put together puzzles, read, and sleep – which was fine in the beginning, but got old very quickly.

Her ribs were still painful, she still moved very gingerly, and she still found it difficult to breathe sometimes. Arkos checked on her three times a day, and they had finally decreased the dosage of her painkiller… well they probably changed all of the medications a little each week, as the pills she still had to take 4 times a day changed into some of different sizes and colors every few days. She was glad her painkiller was getting reduced more. She didn't mind the antibiotics, or the muscle relaxers, or the nausea medications, or the mild sedatives that helped her sleep when she had really bad nights… but the painkillers were something else.

She didn't like feeling stoned, and she didn't like that they messed with her visions. When she was in the hospital, she had apparently been on very controlled doses of Dilauded – which was basically morphine's buffer, better-looking brother. This one had her totally zogged-out most of the time and put a halt on her visions. Whatever the painkiller she had been given after her initial release from the hospital wing was not Dilauded, and therefore didn't halt the visions, it just made them very foggy and caused them to cut off at random points. The new one she was on now? Well her visions were clear again but totally messed up.

Such as the other day, when Marcus was sitting on the couch with her as they waited for his family to arrive – as they tended to do five nights a week now, in an effort to give her some other company besides Afton and Kemar, the latter of which was always aloof and quiet when he was set to watch her.

Castiel had tried to see when they would be arriving and the only answer that came to mind was four. And when she relayed this to Marcus, he looked at her curiously and asked if she meant in four minutes, four hours, at four am…

She didn't know. It was like she could narrow down the possibilities into a vague and very broad spectrum of possible outcomes.

It irritated the crap out of her. Her visions were always so… reliable. To have them become so pitiful was really disheartening.

She had tried to avoid taking the painkillers, tried to not take them unless she really couldn't withstand the pain, but the same day she made that resolve was one of the first days Kemar was watching her while Marcus was in court. Of course Marcus couldn't stay with her 24/7, and once she was out of the darkest parts of the woods and he felt reassured by both his brothers, the doctor, and Castiel that she would be fine during the day, he went back to work. And Kemar took absolutely no bullshit from her.

Perhaps he had been warned by the good doctor or her mate to make sure she stuck to her pill schedule, or perhaps he was much more watchful of her than he seemed since he always seemed to be reading, or watching television, or just looking away from her.

It had been an hour past the usual time she took her painkiller… and her ribs were on fucking fire. It had hurt so badly she went and lay back in bed and tried to be still. But the pain only heightened with every passing minute, and she was holding her breath a lot.

It was two hours later, when her pain was so bad she felt like she was going to throw up, pass out, and cry all at the same time, that Kemar came over to the bed, put his arms under her torso, and lift her in a sitting position in one swift movement.

Her eyes watered right away, he disappeared from the room for maybe three minutes and she had debated lying back down, when he reappeared with a small leather case, opened it on the nightstand, and began rifling through its contents.

Before she knew what was happening, and elastic band was tied around her arm, Kemar put on gloves, cleaned her skin with an alcohol prep pad, and had a needle in her arm in less than 30 seconds flat.

Five minutes later she was lying down again, completely free of pain and in some in-between state of wakefulness and sleep.

"Don't try to avoid taking your painkillers again." Kemar's voice was un-amused and almost angry as he closed the re-packed case and went to sit on the couch.

Kemar had known the exact time she was supposed to take her painkiller. He had watched her from the corner of his eye and listened to her body's reactions to the pain. He let her be in pain for 3 hours total, and only intervened when he knew she had had enough. It was a lesson and a punishment in his eyes. A lesson about what happens when she ignores the doctor's orders, and a punishment because he waited until she was at the limits of her pain tolerance to do anything about it. Of course he could have told her to take her medication when she was five minutes late to the usual scheduled time – because it wasn't like she would have been able to fake taking it – but he personally felt she would learn nothing that way.

And the very fact that Kemar knew she would try to avoid taking the painkiller; the fact that he knew her habits well enough to know that she would choose her comfort over her health, bugged her. She didn't like feeling any form of kinship at all with him.

Thankfully Marcus didn't even give her a hard time about it when he found out later that night.

When Castiel reached forward to grab a puzzle piece she was sure hooked into the lower right-hand corner of her project, a spasm of pain shot through her back.

It was a blinding, white-hot pain, and she felt it from where her ass was touching the floor to the top of her head. It was agony, and her face screwed up in pain and her ribs throbbed.

Afton's hands were suddenly in place on her left shoulder and the right side of her head, holding her still and straight.

She let out a sound that was a cough, gasp, and cry all in one, and Afton's sympathetic tone reached her ears and he sounded far away.

"It's alright Castiel, just breathe through it, it'll be over in a second"

This was what they all said when the spasms happened, because there was nothing to be done for it. The first time she felt what was essentially the after shocks of Jane's power was the first night she had been in Marcus' bed after the accident. The pain had woken her from sleep, but the spasm had been in her leg, not her back, and she had howled in pain and curled up in the effort to grab her leg. It was an automatic reaction, and she was disoriented because she had woken up from dead sleep.

Marcus' pillow idea luckily worked and she had rolled to her right side and not her left, but the pain seemed to radiate from her foot to her thigh, and moving the rest of her body cause pains to shoot up her back and down her arms.

Marcus had crouched over her, rolling her onto her back and pinning her shoulders to the mattress with his arm while cupping her face in his free hand.

It was the way her body had been twitching that alerted him to the fact it was spasms and not her ribs that were hurting her, and all he was able to do was whisper sweet things to her, try to hold her still and assure her that he was there, that she was okay, that it would stop soon…

So, the two main rules for any guard or family member who was with her when the spasms happened were one; keep her still, stabilizing her torso and neck being the most important things, and two; reassure her.

A minute later the pain in Castiel's back finally began to fade. The next five minutes were taken up by her steady breathing to recompose herself, accompanied by random twitches of the muscles in her back as is she where a horse trying to flick off a fly. Afton released her head and shoulder before bending forward and placing his elbows on his knees so their faces would be closer together.

"Would you like me to send for Marcus?"

She knew why he asked, because when it came to the spasms, she either had good, average, or bad days. On good days the pains would only come to torture her about five times, on the average days the pain would come anywhere from ten to fifteen times, and the bad days? Well those were the days that she had muscle spasms of various severities over twenty times.

She had only had bad days twice; the first night out of the hospital and another night five days ago. On the bad days Marcus stayed with her because he wanted to be there for her. He had left in the middle of a meeting on the most recent "bad day", because it was barely ten am and she was getting the spasms so continuously that she became so distraught that she began to beg Felix – since he and Demetri where sitting with her and Afton just to shoot the breeze for a little bit since they hadn't seen her in a while – to just punch her in the head once and knock her out cold.

She was upset and in pain so talking lunacy like that wasn't totally unexpected, but her saying this really freaked them out nonetheless and Demetri left to get Marcus.

It was 2pm now, and this was the thirteenth attack of the day.

"No," Castiel sighed, reaching forward slowly as if she were expecting the pain to come back if she moved too quickly. "Arkos will be around soon anyway. If there's anything to worry about he'll tell Marcus."

Arkos' daily checks were always thorough, even though he did them multiple times a day and it wouldn't be unreasonable to just do a quick once over check every now and again. But he took his job, and therefore her health, very seriously.

Arkos wasn't merely treating her for a few broken ribs or muscle spasms. He was keeping an eye on her because she had punctured a lung and was still at very high risk for pneumonia. He had her ribs wrapped for the first two days out of the hospital because it was necessary after her surgery and the possible spasms her body would make due to Jane's gift, but the doctor admit that he would have preferred to not have to wrap her ribs at all. Full movement of her lungs was one of the top necessities to fight off the possible lung infection.

That's why it was left to her family and any guards in the vicinity to make sure her torso remained straight when the pains happened. If she curled up on herself it could cause a great deal of complications, not to mention physical agony in her ribcage.

The punctured lung was also part of the reason she had to take so many medications. She had the pain reliever, the muscle relaxer that was really very mild and meant to help with soreness, the antibiotic she had been required to take after surgery, the nausea and sleep medication she was only taking when necessary, and the two other pills she didn't know the names of that were prescribed because of something to do with her punctured lung.

The door opened, and Castiel wasn't surprised to see Demetri, Felix, and Renata file into the room. She didn't see a vision of them coming because of her currently muddled brain, but a gut feeling earlier that morning told her she was going to have more company today. This was part of her psychic gift that was thankfully still working properly.

Renata came and sat across from her on the floor, observing her puzzle upside down from the other end of the little table and beginning to search for a piece. Felix plopped down on the couch next to Afton with an unnecessary grunt as he stretched out and Demetri took one of the loungers to her right.

"So, what are we watching?" Felix asked Afton, folding his arms behind his head.

When Afton said he couldn't decide and passed the remote to Felix, the vampire giant began flicking through the horror movies list.

"Er, Felix?" Demetri mused as his best friend tried to find something that would be decently gory and have a good number of jump scares, "Maybe not horror."

He motioned with his chin to Castiel, who was completely focused on her puzzle. Jump scares would not be a good idea for her. The last thing they wanted was to be responsible for her flinching and hurting her ribs or inadvertently causing a muscle spasm.

Castiel sighed. She didn't see Demetri motion to her or Felix's put out expression, but she knew why Demetri was saying no to horror.

"I'm not really going to be watching Demetri. Felix can pick whatever he wants. And Felix you should probably just rent a movie from Amazon Video, all the horror movies for instant view on Netflix suck."

Felix made a face because he wouldn't be able to rent a movie – his bank account was currently empty.

"It's hooked to Marcus' account," Castiel said, as if she could read his mind but really just because she knew Felix and understood the reason behind his hesitation, "Any movies I want to watch are on him."

This made all four of the guards laugh.

When Castiel originally found out that the Volturi Guard didn't have unlimited funds at their disposal – as she had thought they would because the Volturi were the richest people on the planet by quite a margin – she was initially surprised and then not surprised at all. Her family had unlimited funds yes, but they didn't just let the guard spend money willy-nilly. The guards got paychecks bi-weekly just like most people in the world.

Each paycheck did contain enough money to keep a middle class America family afloat for half a year… well at least those of the Elite guard did. She had seen pay details on a spreadsheet Marcus was working on on his computer about a month ago. But even having an absurd amount of money at their disposal didn't stop some guards from blowing their paychecks the moment they got them.

This was the case for Felix. He liked to go to expensive nightclubs outside the city and spend thousands of dollars on private booths and alcohol, buy new cars every couple months, and keep rebuying video game consoles, controllers, and games that he may have broken unintentionally when he got to into them.

Basically, Felix was very irresponsible with money, and he wasn't the only one in the Volturi Guard who was like that, so it was a good thing her family did keep the funds on lock down.

No one got handouts in the Volturi. If someone needed to borrow one of the private jets to travel to another country for coven business, they would have to fill out paperwork, timecards, and spreadsheets to be reimbursed. The handling of paperwork fell onto secretaries, who passed it onto the Volturi's business division – a group of vampires who resided on lower level 6 (LL6) under the city – who then passed it onto the coven's cyber security division who would convert all paperwork into computer files and save them to the servers and then burn the paper copies. The cyber security division had what was probably the best-protected network in the world, and those who worked on that level were paid the highest rate among the Volturi.

Because those in the cyber division lived on the last floor under the city, it was the most secure and hardest to get to place in the castle. There was one way in and one way out, and in the event of a total structure collapse – such as the Volturi being destroyed by a rival coven who planned to reveal the secret of immortals and other supernatural creatures to the world – the area housing the servers was rigged with explosives that would destroy the five lowest levels and therefore get rid of all of the evidence.

Marcus promised to take her down to that level one day (LL36), because she was really excited to see the computers and meet the immortal engineers that worked down there. When he told her about Lower Lever 36 her excitement really let her inner nerd shine through, and Marcus had laughed himself silly.

She actually bought up wanting to see the servers to Marcus yesterday, and he promised he'd take her down the moment she was feeling better.

Meaning she'd get to see the hidden level in about four more weeks.

"Good shit." Felix laughed, interrupting Castiel's musings about the cyber security division and redirected the smart TV to the Amazon Prime Video app.

Castiel didn't know what he ended up choosing. She and Renata became consumed in putting together the puzzle and the movie had already started when she looked up at the TV. She didn't watch it long enough to see what it was about.

An unknown amount of time later – possibly only 30 minutes or possibly an hour and a half – when Castiel and Renata had managed to get half of the puzzle together in record speed due to the fact that Renata was much quicker at finding the pieces they needed among the jumble of shapes and colors; words of the conversation Demetri, Felix, and Afton had been having began to seep into her focus.

"-yeah, the kid had been acting really weird since Jane was dismissed." Demetri was saying to Afton, and Castiel's head perked up in response.

"Jane was dismissed?"

She hadn't meant to say anything, not wanting them to feel like she was intruding on their conversation, but when she turned her head to look at Demetri, she noticed that everyone was looking at her strangely.

Demetri paused before speaking, "Yes… did you not know?"

Castiel shook her head. She and Marcus didn't talk about Jane. They didn't talk about the attack, and they certainly didn't talk about the trial either. It wasn't because Marcus didn't want to tell her or anything. When she was still in the hospital and he and Arkos sat with her to explain the things she had missed Marcus had opened the floor to her and allowed her to ask any questions she'd like about the trail… but she didn't want to know.

She kind of wished she did ask, because the following conversation about what the weeks ahead would bring and Arkos embarrassing the hell out of her by essentially telling her she wasn't allowed to try and seduce Marcus or do any type of sexual activity with him until the doctor gave her a clean bill of health, was one she would have certainly done anything to put off.

Marcus had smirked at her the whole time Arkos had been speaking too, and that made it very hard for her to keep a straight face.

But it never occurred to Castiel to ask about the trial at any point afterward. Anything that had to do with the attack wasn't something she liked to bring up, both because of how she personally wanted to forget about the whole thing, and Marcus' expression whenever anyone said anything about it.

The pain was still visible in the depths of his eyes whenever he'd look at her recently.

"I've never asked." Castiel explained when Demetri's expression looked unsure. He wasn't willing to tell her anything she wasn't supposed to know.

Because there was something that she was aware of, something that she didn't know and wasn't supposed to know until Master Marcus and his brothers told her. Something they were investigating, that all the Elite guard knew would cause her pain.

But this question had nothing to do with that secret.

"What I was saying to Afton," Demetri explained, "Was that Alec's been really strange since his sister was suspended… depressed I mean. The twins were so used to having each other's company and with this being the first time the two of them were ever to be separated for an extended period it's understandable that he'd be acting a little off."

"Suspended?" Castiel inquired, because the way Demetri said it made it seem like sound like any other case of a human being suspended from work without pay during a pending investigation over some broken workplace rule. She wanted to know what it meant when the Volturi suspended a guard.

And for a second, Castiel imagined Jane hiding somewhere outside the city, glaring vengefully at the castle and at the human girl inside it who ruined her life.

She felt the hairs on her arms stand up in response, imagining what would happen when this suspension was over and the inevitable time she'd see the little blonde vampire again.

Demetri and Afton saw how pale she had gone, and Demetri rushed to reassure her.

"She hasn't just been told to go sit in some cushy apartment somewhere until she gets a letter saying to come back to work." He explained hurriedly, "You don't actually think that nearly killing you would have been met with such a light punishment? No. She's been sent to Russia to work for the Ushakov coven under Raphael. She'll be there until she feels remorse for what she did to you. She'll only be allowed back into the Volturi when she feels sorry – genuinely sorry – for what she did. Not sorry she got caught, not sorry for herself because she's been banished. She has to truly understand what she did was wrong in every definition of the word… and the Ushakov coven, specifically Raphael, will see to it that she does."

Each vampire in the room smirked cruelly at this and Castiel only felt more confused. Raphael was nice! Castiel really liked him. Why did working under him constitute as a punishment that would have earned these looks? The smirks that implied Jane was being punished severely and deserved it.

"Ah kid…" Felix chuckled at her expression, "The way the Ushakov coven handles their guards makes it look as if the master's positively coddle us here. You know how very brutal we can be. Jane being listed as Raphael's servant for a currently undecided length of time is a rather severe punishment. I wouldn't be surprised if Mrs. Veronica makes Jane take her and her husband across Russia in a horse drawn carriage with Jane acting as the horse just to humiliate her."

Everyone laughed unpleasantly, and Castiel frowned.

"Kid." Felix shook his head in mock disappointment at her lack of enjoyment at Jane's predicament, "If you knew how awful Jane has been to all of us here for the last thousand years… If you knew how many guards she tortured like a petulant child and all the cases no one reported of her abuse of power because she was one of Master Aro's favorites… you wouldn't find our dislike of her so strange."

"Jane is a terrible person." Renata soft voice said, and Castiel was surprised at the sorrowful expression she saw there, "I thought you of all people would agree to that… But then again, I'm not surprised you don't. You like to see the best in everyone Castiel, and you don't like seeing anyone punished for overstepping lines when it comes to you and your position here, but Jane is cruel. She's mean. I swear when she was changed, she lost her ability to love anything besides Alec, Aro, and harming other people."

"Yeah for fucks sake kid," Felix sighed out, and Castiel glared at him, wanting him to stop calling her kid, "If you where there in that courtroom when your heart stopped you wouldn't be questioning any of this!"

Castiel froze, and all the vampires in the room went rigid in stress. Renata's hand stilled, hovering over the puzzle with a piece she was about to put in, Demetri's hand was frozen over the volume control of the remote, accidentally turning the movie all the way up.

But no one reacted to the earsplitting sounds of the girl shrieking as the monster in the movie cornered her. Afton was frozen in shock, and Felix's hand came to cover his mouth as if he could take back the words.

Because Castiel did not know that her heart had failed. It had been a piece of information the doctor, the nurses, and her family had kept from her because they knew how she'd react.

"What?" Castiel's voice squeaked out and the word broke in her throat. What? What were they saying?

Her heart stopped. She tried to remember. She tried very hard to think back to being in the hospital, being with Kemar, and the moment she got that horrible pain in her chest when her ribs punctured her lung.

Blackness. All there was was blackness. But a punctured lung didn't mean cardiac arrest! What where they saying?

"I– I–," Her heart was pounding inside her chest as if it were agreeing with the denial in her head, saying "Look at me! Feel how hard I'm beating! I'm here. I'm fine.'

"Cas-," Afton began, reaching down to touch her hair.

"I don't remember, I don't know, what's-," She was hyperventilating, and the stabbing pain in her left side alerted her of this as she tried to catch her breath.

And for a second, just a second, Castiel worried that the pain in her side was not from her broken ribs, but from her heart. Was she having a heart attack now? Was that more common? If your heart stopped once was it suddenly weak and vulnerable and able to stop at any point without warning?

The door banged open, and Kemar sprinted in with the doctor on his heels.

Arkos had finally arrived for her check up, and Kemar had kicked the door in when the girl in the movie started shrieking. He knew that it was the movie and not the human girl he was assigned to protect, but the fact that the movie had gotten so loud alarmed him.

Castiel's head and vision swam, people were yelling, someone grabbed her-

And everything was gone.


It was five AM, Castiel was curled next to Marcus on the loveseat in Caius' office, her injured side pressed against his, the coolness from his skin radiating through his thin shirt and making her ribs feel nice. His arm was around her shoulders, over the throw blanket that she had tucked around her by Sulpicia.

Sulpicia and Aro were on the other couch, and Dora and Caius were in another loveseat together, her bubbly sister perched on her husband's lap.

This place was comforting to Castiel. Being in the quiet office with her family while everyone talked about unimportant things, with Aro and Caius occasionally telling her stories about times in Rome and Germany and Switzerland and everywhere else they had been and had some kind of funny adventure to tell, was nice.

Usually Caius didn't tell stories of his past. He felt that such stories were unnecessary to bring up unless they held some kind of importance in the current conversation, but he was telling her stories to amuse her because they were trying to make her feel better.

She had fainted earlier when she heard that she had gone into cardiac arrest from Felix. She was roused awake by Kemar and Arkos only a minute later. She had been flat on her back, and Kemar had his arm hooked behind her knees so he could lift her legs above the level of her heart to get the blood flowing back to her torso and bring her consciousness back.

She was distraught the moment she woke up, and even the arrival of Marcus and Aro didn't calm her down.

Arkos had to sedate her. What he gave her didn't force her to sleep, it merely put her into this really foggy, very very relaxing state where everything moved sluggishly and was quiet. She had been in la-la-land for six hours after being given the sedative, and when she was back to normal, she had been surprised to find herself in Caius' office with her family.

They all spoke very quietly to her, and they explained the trial in full detail.

She asked a lot of questions, and did get satisfactory answers in return, so it was easy for her to accept things as they were and easier to nod and believe them when they assured her that her heart was absolutely fine, and that while it did stop for a total of 12 seconds, she would have no lasting health problems because of it.

All in all, Castiel assumed Caius was humoring her because he knew that she had been through enough shit to last her a lifetime in the last 3 weeks.

But as Caius watched her, he began to form his resolve. He knew that as much as his brother's wanted to put it off, that if this was the time for truth telling they had to come forward and tell her that they had been hiding something from her. This shock that happened to her tonight just proved it. Not telling her things to protect her would not protect her in the end. It would only make things worse in the long run.

"Eleazar postponed his trip when he heard of your accident Castiel. He called me a few hours ago to inform me that he was boarding his flight and would be arriving in Volterra tomorrow night." Aro checked his watch, "Well tonight actually. Are you up for seeing him?"

Castiel nodded but didn't say anything. She was looking very tired again.

"I think it's time my mate and I take our leave," Marcus said, removing his arm from Castiel's shoulders and standing. But before he could reach down to pick her up Castiel shook her head.

"Can I walk a little of the way? I haven't walked around as much as I'm supposed to,"

This was true. A week ago Arkos had begun pushing her to do a little more walking. She needed to build up her stamina again since she had been sentient for so long.

"Sure." Marcus smiled, holding out a hand to help her up.

Kemar opened the previously cracked door to the study that he had been waiting outside fully, and stepped inside and to the left, leaving room for Marcus and Castiel to depart ahead of him. Caius had to admit that he was a very efficient guard. Perhaps they should take a few more leafs from the Ushakov coven's book when they trained their next recruits and see what results they got.

"Wait!" Caius said, causing Marcus and Castiel to stop on their way to the door. Well, it caused Marcus to stop and Castiel to bump into his back.

Marcus cast one quick look down at her to make sure she was okay before looking over at Caius.

"What?" Marcus asked, believing that Caius had stopped them because of something he had to say to him.

So he was surprised to see that Caius was looking around him to where Castiel was standing, his eyes obviously trained on her face.

"What Caius?" Her soft voice asked, and Marcus found himself looking back and forth between them in confusion for a moment, before understanding dawned on him.

But he didn't speak quick enough, and Caius had already spoken the words that Marcus knew were about to open a door that would lead to a great deal of pain for his little mate.

"There is something we all have to tell you Castiel. Something important."

Aro, Sulpicia, and his own wife stared at him in horror as he said this; coming to the conclusion that Marcus was already at.

"Hold your tongue." Marcus' voice was nothing more than a whisper, and the whisper held no emotion at all, but this seemed to make the words more dangerous.

Castiel's eyes flashed to the side of Marcus' face, taking in his hard expression, and she was suddenly very frightened for Caius.

"When has keeping secrets from her ever helped her, brother?" Caius responded defiantly, barely sparing Marcus a glace as his focus was still trained on her face.

"Love." Athenadora whispered, and he felt her small hand press against his back, "Not now, this isn't-,"

"She deserves to know." Caius' head turned toward his wife by the smallest of degrees, but his red eyes were still locked with the blue ones of Castiel. Trying to silently tell her that he was doing this for her own good.

"She's hurt!" Marcus snarled now, and it was a sound that made Castiel jump, "She can't handle this now. It has to wait."

"Waiting won't make it any easier for her." Caius snarled back, finally turning his full attention to Marcus, "We know that you have her best interests at heart, you seem to forget that we all do. Now stop growling at me. You're frightening her."

Marcus did stop growling, and looked over at Castiel, his face softening when he saw how pale she had gone.

He opened his mouth to apologize, but Castiel shook her head. "It's fine, I'm really jumpy now a days. Emmanuel sneezed behind me in the kitchen the other day and I jumped about a foot."

She gave him a small smile at the recollection, and her eyes roamed the faces of her family, taking in their nervous expressions along with Caius' look of resolve.

"Does this have something to do with the duffle bag?" Castiel asked, and her words caused everyone's expressions to morph into those of surprise, so she knew she must have gotten it right.

Castiel snorted at all the dumbfounded looks, "My visions might be shit right now but I'm still pretty good at guessing."

Snorting was good, Castiel decided, snorting was very blasé. But it didn't stop her from feeling the weight that had settled in her stomach, and the deep down stirring of some emotion she didn't want to face.

The fact that no one in the room chastised her for her language either only furthered her suspicions that whatever this secret was that they were keeping was bad, really really bad.

Caius spoke again, but not to her. Her blonde brother turned toward the door where Kemar was standing, and Kemar's eyes were guarded.

"Get the bag please. Down in the labs, evidence locker A in the current cases hall. Passcode 649832." His tone was deadpan and Kemar merely nodded before turning and flashing out the door.

Even Castiel couldn't miss the way her guard's eyes flashed to her before he left, and suddenly she needed to sit down, because the emotion there made the fear of what she was about to hear rise in her chest.

Concern.

Aro was next to her all the sudden, his hands gripping her upper arms as he guided her to the seat Caius had previously been occupying with Dora.

She sat with a small laugh, "I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you can read minds form a distance."

Her effort to lighten the situation didn't go unnoticed, but it didn't change how icy the air in the room seemed to have become.

Dora and Sulpicia both came and sat on either arm of the chair, each resting a hand on one of her arms and one of her shoulders. They both gave her looks that clearly said, 'We're here for you. We're here to support you. You are not alone in this.'

Their expressions scared her.

Castiel tried not to think about it though and waited in tense silence for nearly five minutes before Kemar was back. And in that time Marcus had moved to stand behind her chair, unable to stand so far away from her in the face of the news Caius was about to break to her.

The bag Kemar was holding was made of clear plastic. It was large with a white bar across it that seemed to have words and numbers scribbled on it. The absence of a re-sealable zipper made it clear that it was an evidence bag with a wad of dark brown material rolled in it.

Kemar passed the bag to Caius, who held it in one hand as he held the other out to the side with his palm up. "Scissors please."

Aro flashed to the desk and back, placing a pair of scissors in his palm.

In one efficient swipe, Caius cut open the bag and removed the brown material from inside it, before dropping both the scissors and bag to the floor and shaking the item out and holding it in front of him toward Castiel.

It was a jacket, with patches on the arm and other patches on the front.

And Castiel recognized it.

Her heart began to beat hard in her ribs, and before she knew what she was doing she was on her feet, reaching for it.

It was not her jacket. It was too large to be hers. But her name was on it, sewn in a little rectangular patch over the larger crest shaped patch on the arm, and over the same crest shape patch that went above the right breast.

But the initial before the name was wrong.

B. Rodgers.

It was a thick brown jacket made of a sturdy all-weather ready fabric. The patch on the sleeve and the front depicted the crest of the Ivy Peak Fire Company, the bold yellow and red stitching stood out under the black letters that read her father's first initial and last name.

The jacket looked exactly as she remembered it. It was missing a button right in the middle of the line to close the fold that covered the zipper, there was an ink stain in the right pocket that happened when a pen leaked in there… there would have been nothing wrong with it if not for the extremely dark stain that covered most of the left collar and shoulder and creeped down the arm.

Castiel felt like she was going to vomit, because she knew what the stain was.

"W-where did you get this?" Her trembling fingers stopped inches from the sleeve she was going to grab, her eyes still trained on the horrible dark stain.

Marcus' voice answered her, and in her state of fear she flinched as if she had been struck. Thankfully this didn't stop him from talking though, because she was hanging onto his every word.

"When we were in Mexico, after cleaning up the newborn army, I sent Demetri and a few other guards to your home in Ivy peak. I remembered you telling me that you had a stuffed bear that your father had given you when you were young-,"

She knew the bear he was referring to; it was a little brown bear wearing a Marine's dress blues with her father's name stitched on it. She had it since she was a baby.

"I sent them to see if they could steal it without being noticed. I thought it was something you'd like to keep from your human life."

"But when they got to your house," Aro continued for Marcus, who looked as though he couldn't bear to be the one to break her the way they were about to with this news, "They caught the scent of a vampire they were unfamiliar with. The scent was all through the house, and Demetri caught a trail that lead out west. They followed it and the trail cut off at a road… there was a car waiting."

"Demetri and the others combed the woods for hours and one of our younger guards Eevee… she found a human scent that matched another in your home. She wouldn't have found it at all if she hadn't stumbled directly onto it because the previous weeks of rain had washed out all trails of the scent. She dug up the jacket from under a pile of leaves she stepped into."

Castiel's eyes trained on him, and then flashed back to the large bloodstain on the jacket.

"Demetri couldn't track the vampire. He follows the tenors of the minds of people he has met before, or people who have met the person he was looking for. This vampire's trail went cold at the road the car was waiting on."

"And my father?" Her voice was so low that if they weren't vampires no one in the room would have been able to hear her.

Her mouth began to twitch as she tried to stop her lips from trembling, and her eyes filled with tears.

Because Demetri knew her very well and would be able to track anyone she knew without trouble. Including her father.

Caius' expression, his expression of utmost remorse and sorrow broke her as Aro's soft voice fell upon her ears.

"We are so sorry."


Revised January 23rd, 2021

(57 Pages, 24,296 Words)