“You know it,” Damon promised.
“Ohh . . .” Elena took a long drink from her cup when they were gone. “We didn’t even get our velociraptor sisterhood hug, and now it’s too late.”
“Not if you want me to run and get them back here.”
“No—oh, Damon, you’re so good to me—but, no, no,” Elena said. “Besides, it would have been a little bit weird, anyway. I have to tell you about what happened with Bonnie.”
“No, you don’t. I was right at the door, just behind the curtains. I heard everything and saw pretty much everything, too.”
“She scared me half to death, saying that I was going to die.”
“I know. Although, technically, I suppose she was right: everyone who was in the room is going to die . . . eventually.”
“But she said I’d die first. And her voice when she said it—and the way she seemed to have heard someone talking to her, saying something completely different. It was just so strange—”
“Says the girl with the disappearing blood.” Damon shook his head. “I think Bonnie was under incredible emotional stress last night, and that she probably didn’t get any decent sleep. Add to that the fact that she’s a skittish little filly—”
“Or a sweet little red bird?”
“Ah, you caught that, did you? Jealous?”
“Not until you tell me you prefer her.”
“Oh, my lovely love. My angel with hair like sunlight, and the spirit of a questing tiger. My princess of—”
“Ha-hem,” Robert half-coughed at the door of the ICU room.
Damon, who had been bending, slowly, toward Elena’s lips, now quickly raised his head. He became the soul of courtesy.
“I’m so sorry; of course you and Elena’s aunt want to speak to her. Maybe even to stay with her for a while? Here’s a chair.” He smiled at Elena’s aunt, who—to Elena’s amusement—put a hand up to smooth her hair.
“Margaret’s fast asleep, and we’re going to take her back home,” she said. “We’d just like a moment alone with Elena.” Damon stepped out of the room with a little half-wave at Elena.
Aunt Judith came over to kiss Elena’s cheek. “The doctors need to keep you for a little while to finish your treatment and their tests—and to make sure you’re really as healthy as you seem to be. I’ll be back with pajamas and a toothbrush and so on in an hour or so.”
Elena laughed. “Oh, no. You’ll go home and get some sleep. Damon will get my t
hings from my dorm room.” She laughed again at Aunt Judith’s expression, but said as gently as possible, “I’m keeping my promise to you—honestly. But Damon can find some sweats for me to wear. He knows his way around a dresser.”
“But you still need—”
“No, I don’t. I don’t need anything, Aunt Judith, except a biiiig hug. Thank you. And one from Robert. And one from Margaret.”
“Oh, I thought you were asleep,” Aunt Judith said as the five-year-old went to stand by Elena’s bed, looking like a little pajama-clad spirit with her hair shining like a torch. Robert lifted her up so she could hug Elena.
“They’re still putting, um, medicines into me,” Elena explained, looking at her left arm with the IV in it, and the bags of fluids hanging above.
“Medicine and blood,” Margaret said. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were dewy with sleep. “Blood’s important,” she said solemnly, looking into Elena’s eyes.
“Yes, blood is important,” Elena said, taken aback. She wished adults would be more careful what they said in front of her baby sister.
“And hair’s important, too,” Margaret said, causing Elena to glance up at her quickly. Margaret produced a full-sized hairbrush from her Pegasus Unicorn backpack. Elena could see that she had books and her little kiddy computer inside.
“I didn’t put that in!” Aunt Judith exclaimed, staring at the hairbrush.
“No, the tea lady gave it to me. She said it was for Elena. Elena, I brought Missus Kissus, too. Here.”
“Oh, sweetie, that’s so nice of you. But I want her to stay with you tonight, and every time you hug her I’ll feel it. Okay?”