Althena

19. Full Recovery

I wake up and Conner is sitting beside me. He looks fine but I can tell he wants to cry. I move over and sit on his lap. This calmed Mike down.

He hugs me. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. Nobody knew they would come after me. Mike would have dragged me to Woodland if he even thought it."

"I still shouldn't have left you."

"Don't blame yourself. They did this. You had nothing to do with it. You do so much for me. You're always taking care of something. You can't possibly do everything. Please don't blame yourself. I had so much fun shopping with you. It was the best day I've had in forever."

"I'm never going to leave you like that again."

"I can go in the front door. You'll be able to see it from the car."

He chuckles and relaxes a little. "It scared me."

"It would have scared me if it was you. You're one of my best friends. I would be insane."

"We all were."

"They were waiting for me. It happened so fast. If you would have been there, I don't know what would have happened to you."

He rubs my arm. "They're gone. Let's not think about it. You can stay with me as long as you need. You'll be on my packland. Nothing will get to you."

"I want to go home. I can't let them win."

"Ok. I'll sleep on your couch."

I laugh and push him with my shoulder. "I'll be fine. You said it yourself. They're gone. We need to go back to normal. I need normal."

"I'll try."

He's so warm. I try to fight and fall back to sleep.

I wake up and Chris smiles from beside the bed this time. "Good morning."

"Good morning." I stretch.

Conner and Mike are on the other side of the bed. They have matching black eyes. "What...?"

Chris interupts me. "Look at the prince."

Darmon and his dad are at the foot of the bed. Darmon has a knot on his head. "What?"

Chris laughs. "Mike and Conner were working out their differences. Darmon got in the middle of them."

The king side eyes Darmon. "He's always jumping in the middle of everything. Maybe now he'll learn."

I rub my face. "Good morning."

"Is there anything else you remember? Try please."

"I went home. I put the code in and opened the door. Then I got hit in the back of the head. I fell into the table. I woke up and saw bars on a window, high above me. I was so sore. I could barely move. Then next time I woke up, it was dark. I sent the ladybug." I hold out my hand. "It's back. But that's when I noticed I was in a cell. Then I heard a crash it sounded like a wall fell. Darmon took the cell door off. A lady was there. You were saying something but it was mumbled. I woke up here. That's all I remember."

The king takes my hand and touches the ladybug. "They are protecting you... We believe demontail to be gone. Your entire place has been searched. You'll still need to change the security code. They could have seen it. One could have gotten away, we'll never be 100% certain."

Conner rubs his face. "We'll upgrade the whole thing. Put in cameras and sirens."

Mike takes a deep breath and doesn't say anything.

Chris rubs my hair back. "If a window opens, we'll know about it. You'll be fine."

"I just want to go home."

Darmon smiles. "You need to eat and be able to stay awake before they'll let you go. And you can take our plane back. That would be a long time in a car. I know you have to be sore."

"My belly hurts."

"You had some internal bleeding. They had to open you up to stop it." Chris keeps rubbing my hair. "Nothing permanent. You'll make a full recovery."

"I'm tired."

He laughs. "Good night."

Mike kisses my head. "No. Let's try to eat first. You're never going to get better if you keep sleeping."

Darmon nods. "I'll have them send in dinner."

The rest of them take off and Mike helps me eat. I do good. I guess I was hungry. I feel a little better.

"What's the security code? We're going to need it to put a new one in."

"Your birthday."

He stops moving and stares at me. "Really?"

"Yea. I'll never forget your birthday. I figured it was perfect."

His eyes fill with tears and he blinks them away. "That would be hard for me to forget."

I laugh. "Yea, you'll never ask again." Then I lay back. "I need sleep."

"Good night."

We go home the next day. The security company adds in so much s**t I don't know what's going on. There are alarms on the windows and doors. Then more on the windows. If the window breaks, it's 1 alarm. If they open, it's another. Every door is alarmed. There are motion detectors and cameras outside. And it's all connected to a company.

Nobody leaves me alone for 2 days. Mike tries to talk me into going back to woodland the whole time. I finally get him to let me stay. Conner is convinced he's going to live with me. I end up putting him on the security camera list so he can watch the doors. Chris finds them both insane. He goes home without issue.

Finally, I'm home alone. I start to make some dough and someone knocks on the door. I check the screen and it's Darmon. Of course it is. I let him in.

"You feeling better?"

"I'm mostly ok. Still tired at times. How are you? Your head looks better."

"I'm fine. And I'm so sorry."

I rub my face. "It's not your fault. Why do boys always blame themselves? I can't sit on you. You're standing up."

"What?"

"I think I'm tired."

He carries me upstairs and sits with me on his lap. "This better?"

"Yes." I snuggle against him. He's warm.

He tilts my chin up and kisses me. "It is my fault. I think I led them right to you."

"You didn't do it."

"I came here more than once. They were searching. They could have smelled me. Then they knew how to get Gold Moon Pack involved too. It was some big plan. I played right into it and gave them what they wanted."

"No one could smell you over the hair chemicals. Even Chris didn't know anyone had been here and he's the gossip king. It wasn't your fault. Just like it wasn't Conner's fault for not walking me to the door. It happened like it did and everyone's ok. Let's just be happy about that. Stop playing the blame game. And you were there to save me. That counts. You found me."

"I'm surprised you saw me. Your eyes were barely open. I didn't think you were conscious."

"I saw you. I knew I was finally safe. I let myself pass out after that."

He hugs me. "You were finally safe. I could see you."

I nod and close my eyes.

He wiggles me. "I'll put you to bed. But how do I get out?"

"Once you shut the door push the percent button. It arms everything. Push it within 5 seconds though, or every alarm goes off, and everyone will be here for a visit."

He picks me up. "I'm not so sure I want to visit everyone at 1 am in your apartment."

"You could say you just got here too."

He lays me down and gives me a kiss. "But the camera footage will prove that's a lie."

"Yea, that's a problem." I give him another kiss and he kisses my hand.

"Sleep well. I'll stop in and check on you in a couple of days."

"Good night." My eyes are already closed.