I'm uncomfortably warm, and can hear a steady, and annoying beep next to my ears.

My eyes crack open, and I am blinded my the searing light. I snap my eyes shut, and slowly part my eyelids once more. A shadowy figure crosses my vision.

"A...Abe?"

I hear a soft sigh, and the touch of cool fingertips against my warm forehead.

"Oh, thank God, Rose. How do you feel, sweetheart?"

I groan, and try to sit up, but instantly feel his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to lay down on the bed. He's dressed... unlike I've ever seen him. A simple white button-up, with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, and jeans. Without the gold pirate earring, I would barely recognize him. For an old man, he still looks like he could win a bar fight, or do hundreds consecutive push-ups. I wonder if he'd let me spar with him some day.

"No, Rose, you need to lay down. I'm calling the doctor."

He reaches across the bed and presses the bright red button on the wall. The buzz sends a sharp pain through my head, and I groan, reaching up to grab onto his forearms, pulling his hands away from the call button.

"Rose? Are you alright? Does your head hurt?"

I nod, wincing. "Yes. Why am I so warm? Do I have a fever? Oh God, how long have I been out?"

Without hesitation, he replies, "Fifteen days."

My gut tightens. "Fifteen days?

He nods, and sits gently on the side of my bed. "We were really worried about you, honey."

I felt tears build up in my eyes, and I throw myself into his arms.

Now, on normal circumstances, I would be horrified to ever let mobster-Abe see me cry, but my emotions were overwhelming, and the memores of what had happened were too much to bear on my own.

He wraps his arms around me, and lets me burrow into his shoulder, no doubt staining his obscenely expense white shirt with my tears. Rocking me back and forth, he waits until my sobs subside before brushing his calloused thumbs across my cheeks and giving me a fatherly kiss to the forehead.

"It's alright, Rosemarie. Everything's going to be alright."

"Wh...Wh...Where is everybody. Wh..at happ...happened to everyone?" I ask between sobs. He is gripping my by the elbows, attempting to keep me upright.

"Rose," he murmurs. "We'll talk about this later."

My heart sinks, and I try to supress the tears that threaten to spill over once more. I know it's something bad.

The door creaks open, and, the worst of possible moments, my mother walks in. What a sight it must have been. I was still leaning heavily on Abe, his arms around me, a large wet spot on the shoulder of his shirt.

"Abe, you said you'd call the second she opened her eyes!" my mother seethed. Like Abe, she looks like she hasn't slept in weeks.

Abe furrowed his brow. "She just woke up, Janine. Did you want me to ignore her until I could get on the phone with you?"

"I was worried sick! You should have called me when she woke up!" She growled threatingly. Abe rolled his eyes.

"She's my daughter, too, Janine, you weren't the only one worried sick. You weren't the only one who thought you were going to lose her! I'm not going to apologize for thinking of nothing but her when she's concious for the first time in over two weeks!"

"Don't you dare turn this around on me-"

"You were on your way here anyways! What difference would a phone call have made! You wouldn't have gotten here any sooner!"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Janine, you're acting like a child! What is-"

"Enough!" I cry. My parents immediately cease their fighting, turning to face me.

The yell has caused my head to throb, and I sink back into the pillow, rubbing my temples.

"Rose? Rosemarie?"

"Where's the damned nurse?"

Just as the words leave Abe's mouth, the nurse appears in the doorway, sending him a glare before coming to my bedside.

She assesses me before announcing that she will increase my pain medications.

"No!" I cry. "I don't want to sleep any more! I haven't been awake for over two weeks. I can handle the headaches, just tell me what happened? Where's Lissa? Where's Adrian?" Tears gather in my eyes once more, to my embarrassment. "Where's Dimitri?"

My mother sighs loudly. "You're in no condition-"

"I don't care!" I cry. "Tell me what happened to them! What happened to Viktor? What happened to Robert? Would someone tell me what the hell happened?" I break down into sobs. God, what is wrong with me? I've cried more in the last ten minutes than I have my entire life.

Abe gathers me up once more, holding me close, trying to sooth me. "Darling, we need to talk about this later. Okay? You'll get answers I promise. Everyone's here, they're all... alive, okay? Is that enough? For now?"

Enough to relax me? I suppose. I choke down my tears of panic and nod. "For now."

Abe smiles gently, and brushes the hair from my forehead. Janine seems stunned by our interaction. How quickly we've gone to Father-Daughter, instead of despising each other.

"Can I..." I swallow, almost afraid to ask. "Can I see Lissa?"

Abe tells me he'll try his best, and pulls out his phone.

"See how easy it is to use your phone?" Janine retorted, and we both turn to glare at her before Abe storms out of the room, his phone in hand.

My head begins to pound again, and I break out into another sweat. "Leave him alone, he's just trying to help," I grunt.

Janine sighs and sits at my bedside. "I know he is. Something about him has always rubbed me the wrong way."

"Well, he obviously rubbed something the right way, because here I am..."

"Watch your mouth," she replies, and takes my hand. "How are you feeling?"

My fevor seems to climb higher, my temples are throbbing, my body is sore and stiff. "Not so good."

Her eyes fill with tears, and before she can open her mouth, Abe reenters, followed by Lissa, and a overwhelming number of Guardians.

"Rose!" she squeaks, and throws herself into my arms. "Oh my God, Rose, what you did for me... I'm so sorry, Rose, and so thankful..."

Tears are streaming down her flawless skin, as she cries into my shoulder.

"Oh! Rose, you're burning up."

I nod. "Yeah, I've been feeling like hell since I woke up..."

Without a word, she places her small hands on my temples, and closes her eyes.

My fever spikes, and the pounding in my head increases drastically. And, despite my attempts, blackness once again takes me over, the pain in my body exploding.

I should've taken the pain meds.

Dear Readers:

I'm a sucky author.

How long has it been since I updated? Far too long, I know that much. I am SO sorry, for the millionth time.

I've had such a hard time getting this stupid chapter right, with at least three different versions of it. I've been trying to get it jsut right, believe me.

Well, it's a little shorter than my last few, but the end is drawing near! Don't know if that's good or bad...