The Lost Girl (Complete)

Chapter Thirty One - The Awakening

The glide was gentle, sounds of quiet whispers surrounding her as Celestia slowly opened her eyes, their weight giving her the impression that she had been asleep for a very long time.

"She's waking up," a male voice murmured from close by, the image of his face obscured as she squinted against the lights.

"Let's all move back for a moment," a different voice replied as she heard the sound of bodies shuffling. Blonde curls moved into her line of vision, "Hey, sleepyhead, it's nice to see those eyes open." One hand clutching a small light, she watched in bemusement as her Uncle Sean checked her over, asking about any pain or discomfort.

"Uncle Sean?" Her croaky voice was startling as was the realisation that her throat felt dry and strained. "What's wrong? Where am I?"

He smiled, "Do you remember what happened?"

She frowned.

"You were in the attic space with Sebastian when the floor gave way," he moved the controls of her bed, the head rising so that she could take in the rest of the room and the collection of people biting their lips in one of the corners. "You were very lucky to be honest. With your build and the height of the fall, I'm actually surprised that the damage wasn't worse."

Wondering why her family was remaining silent she took a moment to assess the state of her body - there was a dull ache in both her head and one side of her chest but other than that she just felt groggy and exhausted. "I remember telling Sebastian to crawl out past me but I don't remember the fall." She glanced at her Aunt Sang, "Why are they all being so quiet? It's creepy."

Sean laughed, "I told them that I would kick them out if they made any noise while I looked you over," he leant in close, "I finally have them trained after all these years together. So, to make a long explanation short, you have a lot of bruising, some fractured ribs and an almighty bump on the head but I imagine that everything should be fine once we send you in for another scan. You've been in and out of consciousness for the past two days due to a bad case of concussion but it seems that the fog is starting to clear." He grabbed one of her hands and squeezed gently, "You had us really worried, Lesa, but thank you for protecting our son."

"Alright," Gabriel burst out, "I can't fucking take it anymore. The check up is done so I get to talk now," he walked over, hands over his hips and tears in his eyes. "You have some explaining to do, missy. Never would I have expected that my only reliable employee would jump through a floor just to get out of work. You're only lucky that we have a doctor in the family who will vouch for you."

"Aren't I your only employee, Uncle Gabe?" She touched the skin over her temple, sighing when Sean handed two tablets and a small cup of water.

Twitching slightly when she felt fingers graze her foot, Celestia was surprised when Sebastian's bottom lip started trembling, his face taking on the look of a young child. "I didn't know that the floor was like that when I crawled in there. I'm really sorry."

Kota wrapped an arm around his shoulder as the group pushed forward to crowd around the bed, "Sean said it. Thank you for saving our son. And we're so glad that you're going to be ok, Celestia."

By this point, Sang was clinging onto one of her hands, a flood of tears streaming down her face, "Cel..."

"I'm really glad that he wasn't hurt either," she smiled, "I just felt it going and wanted to get him out of there. Sorry for causing you all so much trouble."

"Bah," North replied, his voice its usual loud level, "the only trouble you caused is by making your aunt cry. Other than that, you actually gave me a really good excuse to play with my bulldozer."

"You would've known that tiny Celestia would be able to break a house," Alexander said, tongue in cheek as the tension in the room finally broke.

Squinting, Celestia stared at North's laughing face, "What do you mean, you got to use a bulldozer?"

"He demolished the house," a voice piped up from behind the family. "It was kind of satisfying to watch actually."

Pushing herself up further, Celestia watched with shock as the triplets parted to allow Riley to squeeze in between them, all their faces relaxed as he smiled at her tiredly. "Hey. You look good considering."

"Riley?" She glanced around, trying to read the minds of her family. It was more shocking to see him there than it was to find out that her childhood home had been knocked down.

"Don't worry," Owen touched her shoulder, "Riley has been made aware of our family dynamics and has been spending this time getting to know all of your cousins." He leant in close, "You've chosen a wonderful friend."

Letting out a shaky sigh, she glanced around again, "So the house is gone but what about all the stuff. I hope you didn't run over all the stuff that you all brought over."

"Nah," Mason grinned. "We emptied that motherfucker before he cracked the shits and put a hole in the front wall."

Laughing, Celestia left it at that since she guessed at the answer of what was going to happen now that she had no place to live.

Sang wiped at her face, "I haven't felt like this since Gabriel took on a knife-wielding maniac and got stabbed in the leg."

The triplets looked at their blushing father, "What happened there, Dad?"

"Don't fucking do that! Speak one at a time," he yelped in answer.

"But it's a gift," they continued, grinning as Riley began to creep back a little.

Sean's pager started beeping, the Blackbourne army falling silent again as he glanced down. "Oh, it looks like they're ready for us to take another look inside of your head again. You ok to go?"

She smiled, sinking back as far as she could into the bed, "Sure but only if Uncle North promises that he won't kill anything else of mine while we're gone."

The uncle in question grunted, "For now but if you ever bring home a boyfriend, I can't say that I won't be tempted to test it out again."