"I've got it!" one of the doctors shouted. She pushed through the crowd and jabbed the syringe she had into the IV bag.

Cinder prayed it would ease Scarlet's seizing. The fiery French girl was getting harder and harder to hold down. Thorne had already been smacked in the face three times.

The sap-like substance in the syringe seeped through the IV, tainting the color from clear to light blue. It dripped down the IV and into Scarlet.

Seconds ticked away, and as whatever the doctor put in the IV worked through her, she stopped spasming. Her body rested, and her eyes closed on their own.

Heart heart rate stabilized, and everyone in the room was permitted to relax. Scarlet's eyes finally drifted shut and she was allowed to sleep in peace. Thank the stars.

Thorne and Kinney relinquished their holds on her, and Cinder did the same. For the first time since she entered the room, she could breathe.

"We should check on the other patients," suggested Thorne. "Others might have been effected. Like Goldi."

Cinder couldn't disagree. "I'll check on Cadmar, and you take Goldi. Kinney, ask one of the doctors outside if there are other patients that need special medical attention after the power outage."

The guys took to their assigned jobs, and Cinder followed Thorne down the hall to Cadmar's room. Thorne stopped one room short of Cadmar's to see Goldi. Cinder peeked in to see Goldi's medical state, and found the person she was looking for was sat at her bedside.

Cad kept a protective hand over Goldi's and a weary eye on her heart monitor. It was flat lining, but Goldi was clearly awake and well.

Thorne stepped in the room and tilted his head at the screen. "Unless someone is using a glamour to make Goldi appear alive, that heart monitor is way off."

Cinder approached the thing, more peeved with the sound as she got closer. She grabbed the screen at its sides and shook it. It did nothing. Next, she went to her go to when fixing any object at her old mechanics booth in the Eastern Commonwealth.

She hit it.

Rather than move the screen, she used her metal hand to punch the darn thing. In the side, she made a small indentation. On the bright side, it stopped omitting a high pitched beep. The monitor corrected itself, and began recording the actual heart rate Goldi currently possessed.

"I'm surprised that worked," Goldi chirped, impressed.

Cinder shrugged, "You'd be surprised how often it does."

..................

Wolf loomed outside Scarlet's room, waiting for all the doctors to leave. She was hooked up to a plethora of tubes and needles now, which she would not be pleased with later. After everything she'd gone through, and how she decided to come back to being human, she deserved to feel better.

She never deserved to get hurt in the first place either.

One by one, the doctors shuffled out of the ward, scribbling notes on their clipboards and talking to themselves about possible medications they could administer to her. As soon as Wolf could walk, he was out of his ward and not daring to take anything that wasn't forced down his throat. He guessed that Scarlet would do the same.

Once the last doctor left the room, he stopped just outside and said, "Call for us if she starts seizing again."

Wolf nodded, and the doctor left. Now, Scarlet was all alone in her room, asleep and ashen. Slowly, he strolled over to her bed and sat on its side, his hand inches from hers.

The last thing Wolf could remember of Scarlet was her telling him she didn't love him anymore, and that she probably never would. That love was frivolous and useless. It nearly broke his heart to hear her say that.

It was a long shot, but he hoped that now that the contagion was out of her body, she would be free to feel love again. And have the freedom to love him again as well.

Scarlet took in a sharp, deep breath, and her eyes forced themselves open. The first few breaths after that sounded labored and painful. But after she got used to her own body and the devices plugged into it, she relaxed slightly.

Her eyes wandered around the room, squinting at the bright light above her. Eventually, her eyes landed on Wolf, and she became more at ease.

"Wolf," she smiled, her voice a tad ragged. "You're okay."

His heart warmed a little to her she was thinking of his well being. "You are too, now. I'm sorry I hurt you. I can't believe I let myself turn you into a thing like me."

"You weren't you then." She stretched her hand towards his and tapped him with her fingers. She moved her fingers to trace small circles on the back of his hand, calming him.

"I ... I remember some of what happened," she told him. "I remember you biting me, and turning Cress. I know we were planning to break out of the palace. But... after that, nothing."

"Thorne and one of the guards got to you after they cured me," explained Wolf. He turned his hand over under Scarlet's and felt her pulse through her wrist. "They cured you and brought you back here. The doctors have been taking care of you since."

Her eyes searched his expression. He tried not to look her in the eye, but he gave away his worry and anxiety anyway.

"Did I do something?" She started tensing up again. "Did I hurt someone?"

"No. You didn't hurt anyone after you turned Cress. Thorne and his friend got to you before that could happen."

She took a breath, still uncertain. "Then ... what aren't you telling me."

He didn't know any other way to say it, though the way he could was painful enough. "You were losing your ability to feel emotion after a while. You started being monotone, almost lifeless. Like a normal android. And ... you said you didn't love anything. Including me."

She gripped his hand and sat up from her leaning back position. Wolf though she'd cry out in pain, but she help his gaze and didn't so much as wince. "I wasn't me then either. But Wolf, I swear, I still love you live I have since we escaped Paris together with our friends. Nothing is going to change how I – in might right mind – love you."

He felt a warmth crawling up his chest that nestled in the cavity where his heart was. His breath got lighter, and red heat fell on his cheeks. And either it was his imagination, or the fatigue and weakness in Scarlet, or she was blushing too.

Scarlet turned to her arms, which had a bunch of needles sticking out of them and connecting her to IV bags and tubes that collected blood. She looked less than amused when she noticed blood was being drawn from her.

"Nurse!" she shouted. "Or Doctor! I really don't care which!"

In ten seconds, a doctor was speed walking through the doorway with a clipboard in hand. "Oh, Ms Benoit. So glad you're finally awake."

"Me too. Could you take all these needles out of me?"

She grew concerned at that request. "Why?"

"Because they're bothering me," emphasized Scarlet. "I can't move without feeling one of these things tugging on me or burying deeper in me. So, I think the ones drawing blood or the unnecessary bags attached to me aren't doing me much good now. I'd like you to take them out, or I'll do it myself."

Wolf couldn't help but smile at his girlfriend's uncanny ability to be aggressive towards almost anything. The life support I'm hooked up to, I don't need it. Rip the sucker out of me or I will.

"I'll speak with the doctor in charge of your case," she announced before departing.

Scarlet eyed the tubes plugged into her left arm, the one away from Wolf, ready to do the deed of her desire.

"Please wait for the doctors to come back and say it's alright to remove them," pleaded Wolf.

"I'm doing it whether or not they say it's okay," she said, revealing she was still her old, rebellious self.

After a minute or two, the doctor from before came in with another doctor. He checked Scarlet's vitals and the tubes collecting samples of her blood.

"This is more than enough, and I believe all she needs now is the regulation IV bag. So we can take out the rest."

The two worked together to safely remove the needles from Scarlet, and Wolf got off the bed to get out of their way. Once they finished, they tossed all the needles in a locked back designated for hazardous materials. The first took to placing gauze on the puncture and taping them down like make-shift band aids. The second doctor took a case out of a nearby cabinet and carefully set the blood samples inside. He locked the case and said, "Call again if you need anything." and left.

Wolf sat back down on the bed, and smirked at Scarlet. "Is that better?"

"Yeah. But I wish I didn't need an IV bag anymore." She didn't tug at the tube, which comforted Wolf. She still wasn't happy with being hooked up to anything. Wolf knew he wouldn't be thrilled either if he was in her place.

She leaned forward onto him, her head on his side. "I don't want to be stuck in here."

"I'll keep you company, if that will make you happy," he offered.

She sat up and grinned. "That will definitely make me happy."

After some awkward maneuvering and some uncomfortable pinches, Wolf sat against the head of the bed, and Scarlet rested against his chest. She toyed with the sides of her blanket and hummed to herself. Wolf gently played with her hair, like he usually did when they had nothing to do.

"Scarlet?" he started, finally sure of what he wanted. She hummed a single tone in response. "Will you marry me?"

Rather than freeze up or bolt out of the room, she leaned her head back and looked up at him. "We've only been together for a few months. But ..." Wolf eagerly awaited her answer, and hoped she would at least give the idea a chance. They wouldn't marry right away of course. They'd just be engaged, and marry when they could. When it was, unfortunately, made legal.

"I didn't start thinking about the possibility of getting married until after I met you. You're the only person I could picture myself being with. So, I'll think about it, if you come and live on my farm with me indefinitely. Not just visiting or as an employee." The whole time, she'd been beaming up at him, knowing he'd take the gesture.

He was not going to start disappointing her now.

He kissed her forehead and agreed to her terms. "I would love to live on the farm with you. I honestly meant it when I said I wanted to be a farmhand there for as long as I was able."

"I know."