I drifted up through the clouds a couple of times and, whenever I did, I sort of knew that Master was there. Somehow that was a comfort.
He was still there when I woke up properly but, by that time, he was fast asleep in a funny looking armchair with his head hanging uncomfortably to one side. My own head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool and there was a funny sort of dull ache in my side. There was also some sort of funny clicky thing going on though I wasn't quite sure whether that was just inside my head.
I looked around and was astonished to see that Terri was there too. The poor thing looked as if she had not slept for a week. And in the corner there was an old woman who I'd never seen before. No... I corrected myself. She was not an old woman; she was definitely an old lady. She was tiny - even smaller than me - and, though she was really old and dressed all in black, she managed to look really smart. She was busy knitting - that explained the funny clicky noise. She smiled and nodded when she saw me looking at her and sort of waved with her knitting needles; whatever it was she was knitting was a beautiful baby-blue colour.
"Where..." I managed to croak.
The old lady said something in Italian and Terri stepped across, poured some water into a baby-style sippy cup and helped me to drink. "You're in hospital," she explained. "Simone..." she managed to pack an astonishing amount of anger and disgust into that name... "shot you."
Then I remembered - not so much the facts, they were all blurry. Instead I remembered my feelings: my terror that the vile Slimeball was going to get his hands on me; and how angry I was when I realised that the silly, plastic, toy gun that he was pointing at Master was the real thing.
For some reason, poor Terri sounded really scared by the whole situation. I mean, nobody likes hospitals but she sounded much worse than that.
"Who..." I asked, looking towards the old lady.
"This is Zi'Anna," Terri explained. "My Aunt Anna, I suppose. She was my governess until I was eighteen. Then, when Nonno worked out that I was going to have to come to England without him, he asked her to come with me. He didn't think it was..." she paused for a moment trying to work out the proper word in English, "fitting, I suppose... for me to be travelling on my own."
"But what are you doing here?" I asked, still trying to fight my way through the cotton wool that was filling my head.
"We all wanted to know that you are alright," Terri explained. "And to see if we could help."
"And Mr Andretti wanted to convince me that he had nothing to do with the attack," Master explained, stretching out his shoulders. He was rewarded with a startlingly loud crack. "So he has offered me the most precious thing he possesses as a hostage."
"But you won't hurt..." For a moment, the horror that Mr Scary might do horrible things to Terri overcame the cotton wool in my head.
"Certainly not," he promised, taking hold of my hand. "Not even if I thought he was responsible for the attack. I never extract vengeance by proxy."
He turned to Terri and looked her in the eye. "Little one," he reassured her, "you are completely safe with me."
She automatically dropped to her knees, lowered her head and said, "Thank you, Sir."
He stepped across and helped her to stand up then kissed the back of the hand he was still holding. Then he flashed a wink to Zi'Anna who was trying to look cross but not doing a very good job of it.
Though I was beyond happy to see the two of them, it was all getting a bit much. "I'm a..." I began but everything was becoming too blurry.
Mr Lovely was suddenly back with me. "I'm sorry, Kitten," he said. "We should have paid more attention to you." He stroked my hair gently. "Either Theresa or I will be here when you wake. But now you must rest."
Obedient, as ever, to his command, I allowed the waves of sleep to close over me.
There were a couple more minor disturbances as people took my blood pressure and things and generally prodded and poked at me but I pretty much managed to sleep through all that stuff.
The next thing I really remember was a doctor coming into the room. He was quite young and tall with short, dark hair and he looked as if he was Indian or something. He was quite athletic in a runner or cyclist sort of way and was wearing a smart, ironed, blue and white striped shirt and a deep maroon tie covered by a white coat.
And then he saw Terri.
And Terri saw him.
Now I'd always thought the whole 'love at first sight' thing was a bit of a silly joke but as the two of them looked at each other there was the whole Cupid's arrow and cherubs playing harps thing going off. They stared at each other for so long that poor old Zi'Anna even paused her knitting. I suppose, to be fair, this was precisely the sort of thing that she was meant to be stopping.
And the poor old dear didn't stand an earthly.
To save the old lady from a heart attack or something, I managed to croak, "Hey, you two! Aren't you supposed to be paying attention to me?"
The doctor managed to drag his attention away from Terri and then spent half a second trying to sort his brain out before gliding smoothly over to my bedside. "Good afternoon, Catherine," he said calmly. "My name is Doctor Nil Patel and it's my job to make sure you get better as quickly as possible."
"Hello," I managed to croak by way of reply.
He gave me a little sip of water then asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Everything's a bit fuzzy and my side sort of hurts... except, in a funny sort of a way, it feels like it's happening to someone else."
He smiled at my description. "That's a completely normal side effect of the medication we have you on," he explained. "We need to keep your pain levels down so you can rest. May I have a look at your side, please."
I gave a nod but that made me feel quite dizzy so I decided I probably shouldn't try it again. Meanwhile he had neatly folded down my sheet and folded up my nightshirt thing to expose my side without revealing any of the personal bits. Mind you, I don't know why he was bothering. I hadn't been to the toilet in ages so there were probably all sorts of tubes stuffed into places where tubes didn't really belong and it was a fair bet that he'd been responsible for most of the stuffing!
"I'm sorry but this may be slightly uncomfortable," he warned.
He was right. A sort of jabbing pain cut through the fuzziness as he prodded and probed and generally fiddled around with me. I sank back, closed my eyes and just let it happen.
Then the doctor was gone and Terri was hovering over me with the sippy cup. "The nice Dr Patel," she blushed beautifully, "said that you had to keep drinking and there's some egg custard here if you want to try to eat something."
I had a drink of the water - I was getting more used to the whole 'drinking whilst lying down' thing now. I even let her feed me a couple of spoonfuls of the pudding before I faded out. After all, I didn't want to get a reputation for ever willingly refusing pudding!
The next thing I knew, it was dark and Mr Lovely was leaning over me and kissing me on the forehead.
"How are you feeling, Kitten?" he asked when he saw my eyes were open.
"Still fuzzy and sleepy but very happy to see you," I answered.
He smiled then leaned over and kissed me again.
"Where's Terri?"
"I sent her home to rest. She hardly slept last night, poor little thing. I hope you don't mind but I told Elroy to put her in your room for tonight. I'll get him to organise twin beds in the middle room when you get home so she can share with Zi'Anna."
"She can share with me!" I suggested, my excitement almost cutting through the fuzziness.
"Not until you're better, she can't!" he replied, stroking my hand. "So we need to get you better. And Dr Patel told me I had to make sure you kept drinking."
I giggled when I heard the name.
"What?"
I giggled again.
"Kitten!"
Mr Lovely sounded as if he was about to turn into Mr Grumpy so I told him about the nice doctor and Terri.
"Oh!" he said in a Mr Bossy tone. "I will have to have words with him. But in the meantime..."
He helped me to drink and then produced a small tub. "I thought you might like some mango," he said.
I lay back, luxuriating in his presence... and in the mango, of course!
I was starting to get sleepy but before I let myself drift off, I had to say something. "Master."
"Yes, Kitten."
"I love it when you're here but I'd sleep easier if you were in a proper bed tonight."
"Thank you, Kitten." He squeezed my hand. "In that case, I'll have a nurse sit with you. There's a hotel just next door so I can be here in five minutes if you want me."
"OK." I yawned and didn't even get told off for not covering my mouth. "Please would you leave the mango?"
"But I might want a midnight snack," he teased.
I smiled up at him, though by now my eyes were closed. And I fell asleep with him still holding my hand.
I slept quite well through the night, waking only a couple of times to be given a drink and a couple of bits of mango.
And when I woke properly, Mr Bossy was back. He had a huge plate of scrambled eggs with bacon.
"Is that for me?" I asked. I was a bit hungry but that plateful just looked ginormous!
"No," he replied. "It's for me." I bet nobody else could tell that he was smiling inside! "But if you're very good, I might let you have a bit."
So he stuffed forkfuls into me until I was just about ready to pop.
At last, I had to beg for mercy and he put the plate aside. Then he took my hand, looked me in the eye and turned all Mr Serious on me.
"Kitten," he said, "I have to thank you, not just for warning me about Simone but also for risking your life to save mine. You have more than repaid all the debts you owed me and I relinquish all rights I held over you... or over your little finger." He leaned down and kissed it. "I will release you from my service, if that is what you wish."
"But I don't want to be released," I responded, shocked almost to tears at the very thought.
"Good!" he said with a smile. "Then you are still my kitten but now you are bound by ties of love. The offer will remain open should you ever change your mind."
"I won't," I said without thinking, "but thank you, anyway, Master."
"Now give me your ankle, please."
I stuck my leg out from under the duvet and he unclipped the security tag and replaced it with a pretty little ankle bracelet. "This also contains a locator beacon," he told me, "so I can look after you." He raised an eyebrow, telling me that he knew that it was me who had kept him safe and not the other way around!
He stroked my leg, down by my ankle, which felt very nice then he smiled a smile that made all sorts of lovely promises and kissed me on the knee. "Get well very soon, Kitten!" he told me.
"Oh, one last thing, he added as my eyes started to close. I was talking to Mr Andretti last night. He requested that I pass on his personal apologies to you for his misjudgment and to give you his best wishes for a swift recovery. He would have come in person but he was busy dealing with..."
"Slimeball."
"Slimeball," he agreed with a smile. There was absolutely no reason for us not to call him that anymore, "Slimeball is currently being shipped off to Italy to be punished and he no longer has any use for money so Mr Andretti suggested that all his personal wealth should be given to you. You are now a wealthy little kitten."
And, not knowing how much of what I'd just heard was a dream, I drifted off to sleep.
By the time I woke up again, he'd vanished, presumably gone off to work, but Terri and Zi'Anna were back. I passed on Master's news but I made the mistake of calling Simone her cousin.
"He isn't my cousin any more," she told me. She wasn't angry but she was very, very cold.
"I'm sorry," I said, hurriedly.
"It's all good. You weren't to know," she said, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. "You weren't to know... sister."
I froze when I realised how important that word was. "Thank you, sister," I replied.
She continued to hold my hand for a long time as we stared at each other.
"So you think he's already dead?" I asked at last.
"I don't know for sure he's dead..." she replied, "but Nonno will have disowned him. There's no way he's a member of the Family any more."
We chatted for a while longer, making up for lost time, until Zi'Anna looked up from her knitting and said something.
"She says I should give you a bit more to drink and let you rest." Terri explained.
I smiled. The old lady was probably right.