Tainted Blood

- THREE -

The next time I woke up I was laying in a very white and all familiar room. Reluctantly turning my head to the side I found Dimitri, Lissa and Christian all sleeping peacefully, scattered on the three separate sofas against the wall. A piercing headache tore through my head making me shut my eyes and succumb to sleep yet again.

* *

Shuffling. Murmuring. Tapping. Beeping. Beep. Beep. Footsteps. Ticking. Beeping. Beep. Beep.

Several moments passed before I opened my eyes, only to be greeted by a white ceiling and murmuring to my left. A slight headache was enough to make feel momentarily sick. I bolted up quickly into a sitting position as the thin hospital clothing stuck to my body and the blankets fell around my lower half. The others in the room suddenly stopped talking as all eyes fell on me.

The woman in the white coat grinned clearly happy that I have woken up.

"Good morning Ms. Hathaway. How are you feeling?"

Before I could respond I was quickly enveloped into a hug of bouncing blonde curls. Lissa wrapped her arms tightly around me and placed her head on my shoulder. Looking past the curls to the other side of the room, Dimitri gave me a small smile before walking up to the other side of my bed, grasping my left hand and rubbing it with his thumb. Little sparks radiated up my hand from the sudden contact, making me feel better.

The woman with the coat picked up a clipboard that was attached to the bed and started writing. Lissa let go of me and grasped my right hand firmly.

"Now Ms. Hathaway, I heard you have fainted on multiple occasions. From the information I could gather from your friends, I believe this could be as a result of panic attacks as well as dehydration."

She looked up and made eye contact with me before stating

"That vodka that you had probably didn't help at all as well"

I quickly turned my head to look at Dimitri, who gave me a small smile.

"Now, the dehydration is an easy fix" She pointed to the IV drip on my arm. I was surprised I didn't notice it before.

"But we are going to do more tests on the panic attacks to see what is triggering them. I suggest though, that you should try to get as much sleep as you can. And if you feel like you're going to have another attack, control your breathing and make sure you tell someone."

The lady stopped scribbling on the paper on the clipboard and put it back on the end of my bed.

"If you need anything, just press the emergency button on the wall to your right and a nurse should come and help you. I'm sorry but I need to check on my other patients, I'll be back to check on you later" She said before making her way tot he door and closing it behind her.

"I was so worried about you Rose!" Lissa hugged me again. Out of old habit, I tried to reach out to her mind, only to find utter emptiness. Despair bubbled up inside my heart as I realised how much I missed being able to connect with Lissa, even if she felt like it invaded her privacy.

I opened my mouth to talk but only a croak escaped. And that's when Christian came in, three coffees or maybe teas, in his hands, totally oblivious that I was awake. He opened the white door with one of his hands, and as he passed through the gap, used his back to slowly guide it closed. He looked up as the door closed and quickly stopped in his tracks, seeming surprised.

"Ooh look, Sleeping Beauty is finally awake and gracing us with her presence" His signature smirk graced his face.

"Shut up sparky" I replied, my voice coming out croaky and hard to understand. Christian gave out the cups to both Lissa and Dimitri before sitting down on one of the sofas. Dimitri left my side to grab a clear plastic cup from the corner of the room before going to a tap and pouring water in it. Walking towards me he held out the cup in his hands and I gratefully took it, drinking the contents that instantly soothed my parched throat. No one talked for a while as we all just sat together and sipped on our drinks, but the peace finally ended as Lissa broke the silence. Her jade green eyes crinkled as she smiled at me and pulled my left hand towards her.

"So I take it you said yes to Dimitri's proposal?" She winked at me suggestively. Wait, how did she know about that. Dimitri quickly started talking.

"I asked everyone before we went to Baia, just to make sure that everyone was okay with it" An image of Dimitri going over to my parents and asking for their blessing popped into my head and I felt a smile make its way to my face, I wish I could have seen my parents faces.

"That would have gone down well. How did they take it?" I smirked at Dimitri, I knew the answer. They would have gone mental, and as mean as it sounds I would have loved to see it.

"Fine, I guess. It took them a while to say that they were okay with it, there was a lot of swearing -on your father's behalf- and some very scary death stares by your mother. Eventually, they said they were fine with it" Dimitri shrugged his shoulders half-heartedly, I know something else happened, I could see it in his eyes, there's something he's not telling me, but I stopped myself from saying anything in front of Lissa and Christian. We all talked for a while, catching up on what Dimitri and I missed when we were in Baia.

Lissa and Christian left a little while after that, clearly trying to give us some privacy. The sun looked as if it was close to rising, indicating that it was near 'night' time for the other Moroi and Dhampirs. Exhaustion took over after that as my body was adapting back into its old routine. I scooted over to one side of the bed, hinting at Dimitri to join me. He did so straight away, molding his body next to mine and capturing my hand that held the ring. Gently he traced his finger across my palm, turning his head, and whispering beautiful nothings in my ear. His breath caressed my neck and shivers were sent through my body. I slowly fell asleep to the sound of his voice.