An hour seemed like a week to James and Penny as they waited for Gabrielle to show signs of waking up. At the exact moment that the hour was up Gabrielle opened her eyes to see James looking out her room window. She could see he was deep in thought. Deciding to use her powers she focused, and could see she was what was on his mind.
"You know it is not nice to poke and prod in peoples head without their permission." He said as he rushed to her side and grabbed her in an embrace. "You made me so worried about my love. What happened?"
"My head started throbbing and before I could call out to you, I blacked out."
"Maybe we should get a head scan ordered then." Penny spoke up as she walked in.
"Granny! You're here."
"Of course, I am here. I have been here; I just went to get a cup of coffee. You could not sleep for two minutes and had to wake up when I left the room. "She said jokingly and leaned over and kissed the top of her head, "but I am glad you are better."
"Thanks. So how long have I been out of it?"
"Just a little over an hour."
"It seemed longer."
"You are never allowed to leave my side, and if you do that will be because Penny is at your side. I am ordering an electronic medical bracelet that will notify me when anything is not normal. Whether it be that your pulse dropped one beat a minute for no reason at all or your temperature is one degree above normal."
"Isn't that a little bit extreme?"
"Until you are immortal then the answer will always be no." James said. "I love you too much to risk anything.
"Aww, I love you too, Frizzell."
"Frizzell?" Penny asked looking around the room, "Who is Frizzell?"
"I am, or at least I was at one point. "James spoke up. "I have never told her that name, so she must have had another dream of her past life."
"When were you Frizzell?" Penny asked.
"When I was called Hannah." Gabrielle answered before he could answer her.
"Is there anything else you know now that you didn't know before you blacked out?"
"Yes, a whole bunch of stuff to be exact."
"Anything you want to share?"
"Not here."
"Why not?"
"I remember every moment from every past life. Right now, I don't trust that I can say what I want without thinking someone might be listening. So, if James could get the doctor to discharge me, we can talk as soon as we get to your place."
"Is there something wrong with my place?"
"Can you just get me out of here and I will explain everything, I promise love."
"Give me a few minutes and I will have the doctor handing you your papers." James said and left the room feeling even more worried than he had when he arrived.
"So, are you going to tell me the real reason you wanted James to leave the room?"
"I don't want to get his hopes up, but I may know a way to break his curse."
"Which curse would that be? The immortal curse, or the one where he is doomed to keep losing you?"
"Maybe both. But I will need your help, and he doesn't need to find out until we are sure we found a solution that will work."
"Whatever it is that I can do, just let me know."
At that moment James walked in with the doctor shutting the door behind them.
"How are you feeling Ms. Powell?"
"I am feeling great actually."
'I am your doctor; my name is David. Your boyfriend here just tried to get me to discharge you before we could finish running all the tests that need to be run."
"Like I said I am feeling fine, so no need to run anymore."
"Do you know why you blacked out? Do you know if you received a concussion when you fell?"
"No, and if I had a concussion would I have a headache now?"
"That is why you are not the doctor and I am."
"Do you know why I am the best in my field?"
"Again, my answer has to be no."
"I have the ability to tell what is wrong with somebody and heal them just with the touch of my hand."
"Really?" She asked him with sarcasm in her voice, and looked at him like he was crazy. "
"Yes. What your boyfriend needs to do is not try to force on a being that cannot be compelled."
"Great, now I am never going to get out of here." She said as she looked at James "We really need to get you a spiffy necklace that will let you know what kind of creature you are talking to."
"Yea, yea, yea."
"So, would you like to know what was wrong with you or not?"
"Was? What do you mean?" Gabrielle asked.
"I healed you."
"Actually, I gave her my blood, so I think I healed her." James spoke up.
"You did what?" Gabrielle and David both asked at once.
Penny was laughing quietly to herself. She decided to explain it to them before James could and said "since neither of you seem to know, James is a vampire. Vampire blood has healing abilities. Since he didn't know if she was going to live or die, he took it upon himself to try and save her life. Now there is vampire blood in her system." She said all this with sarcasm in her voice.
"So that is where you get your sarcastic side from." James said, looking at Gabrielle.
"She taught me everything I know." She answered him then turned to David and continued. "But back to the topic. If James gave me blood and you supposedly healed me, then why did it take so long for me to wake up?"
"Vampire blood takes time to heal when it comes to witches. The worse the condition the longer it takes, but even that has its limits. By the time you became my patient the blood was already in effect. I knew you eventually would be okay if I just let the blood do the work. But you have to remember that this is a public hospital and if you had a human doctor and they had your blood drawn they would have found traces of vampire blood inside you. They might not have known what it was but they eventually would have found out and both of you would have ended up in a government lab or worse, facing the Ancient Ones. We supernatural creatures must stick together. But like I said the vampire blood was healing you, but when I healed you it was immediate and dissolved James' blood. The reason you stayed asleep is because you had a memory overload and apparently there was something you needed to find before your body allowed you to wake up. He saved your life; I just saved your bodies from becoming lab rats."
"So, it was physiological?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
"Thank you, both of you." Gabrielle looked back and forth between the two and continued. "James, you didn't have to save my life, so thank you again. David you didn't have to save us from exposing ourselves, if there is ever anything I can do to pay you back, please let me know."
"It's my job, don't think about it."
"Isn't it kind of ironic that you are an angel and a doctor?" Penny asked.
"It is something I am good at and I love healing so I knew I would succeed. My brother is a writer."
"So, he does nothing with his healing powers?"
"I mean if and when he meets someone with a life-threatening disease, or with a sickness that has no cure, he will still use his gift and heal them."
"That is understandable."
"Now that I have given you all the information, are you sure you are ready to leave? A few hours rest never hurt anybody. It might even do you some good."
"I'm sure. They will make sure I get plenty of rest, besides it is nearly dinner time and I am getting hungry. Rest might not have hurt anybody but I can't say the same about hospital food."
"You got me there." David replied, "Well give me 5 minutes and your discharge papers will be ready."
"Thank you."