As she laid down next to him, his murmurings became a little clearer. There was the occasional growl and snarl, obviously from the curse, as well as some mutterings about destruction and obliteration... clearly from his hunter DNA.

However, in between the two ideals arguing with each other, there was also heard what could only be her father... and he was quietly saying her name repeatedly.

His muscles were tensing up considerably, and the sweat falling down his face was getting far more frequent, and she could tell his fever was getting higher... the heat was practically emanating off of him.

Then it seemed like everything about him... his fever, his vitals... reaching an alarming high... and then it all seemed to go down to nearly equally alarming lows, as Marcus let out a very heavy breath, his body relaxing a bit TOO much now.

However, the machines indicated that that was a definite emergency, which caused Rene and several medical staff to come bursting into the room in a bit of a panic.

"Desiree!?" Rene exclaimed, seeing the girl in bed with her father.

The medics made sure Marcus' chest was bare, before they put some wired pads on it.

"Clear!" Rene yelled, as something pulsed through them, causing Marcus to jerk some.

"Clear!" he repeated, as the same thing happened. Again, and again, and again. They did this about 12 times, before the machines started to emit a high-pitched sustained tone.

"No..." Rene whispered.

"No, damn it! Do NOT leave your daughter!" he growled at Marcus.

"If you care about her so much, then LIVE, god damn you!" he said further.

The machines continued to emit the tone for another 5 seconds, before Desiree saw her father's hand twitch... and the machine beeped slightly.

"......." Rene was silent, before motioning to Desiree.

"Come." he said.

She approached him, and Rene sighed.

"He's not dead... but he's almost there." he told her.

"Just... hold his hand, talk to him, do something. It might help." he told her further.

"His sheer will is keeping him alive right now, and if you can reach him, it might be what he needs to rebound."

"........" again, Rene was silent.

"All right, then don't." he said.

He then looked at Marcus again, and gritted his teeth.

"Hang the fuck on." he muttered.

"Don't you DARE die now." he told the man.

"Don't you give up on her."

After a couple of minutes of her laying down beside him, she thought she felt something.

And then she was SURE she felt it. Her hand had been in contact with his, and he had softly grabbed it. He was holding her hand.

That's when the machine beeped again. And again. And again.

The beeps became a little more frequent, and she swore she saw her father move slightly.

She held onto him for what seemed to be an eternity, before she swore she saw her fathers' mouth twitch.

"D... D..." she barely heard.

"Desiree..." he whispered.

"D-Desiree..." he repeated, as his grip on her hand became more sturdy.

And the machines continued to beep as well.

Had a miracle occurred?

After an unknown amount of time later, his eyes slowly opened.

He seemed to be in a daze, but they were open, and they were moving slightly.

He then shifted a little, and looked at Desiree.

"....D... Desiree..." he said quietly.

"....I'm sorry..." he apologised.

"I'm sorry I worried you." he elaborated, a small smile forming across his lips.

Marcus just continued to smile, and managed to bring his arm closer to himself, pulling Desiree close to him.

"Yes." he said.

"I did." he agreed.

"I don't want to leave you alone." he told her. "I love you too much." he went on.

"...." he was then silent, and sighed.

"Just... get some sleep, sweetie."

"....all right, Desiree." Marcus replied.

"You do that, then." he told her.

He then looked towards the ceiling again, and sighed quietly.

"Just tell them a miracle happened." he said with a smile.

"Tell them a father with a daughter as precious as you has no right dying this soon in life." he added with a light chuckle.

"Or whatever you'd like." he added.

"I'm just sorry I worried you, sweetie."

"......" the nurse was silent for a moment, before paging Rene.

"Yes?" Rene asked when he saw who was there. "...did it finally happen?" he asked solemnly.

"Actually, Dr. Calder, she says her father's awake." the nurse replied, handing Rene the note.

Rene took the note and read the simple message, before looking at Desiree.

"...really?" he asked her, disbelief and shock in his tone.

Desiree just nodded, and the two of them made their way back to the room, where Rene found that Desiree was, in fact, correct.

"Well. Gave us all quite the scare." Rene said to Marcus.

"Sorry about that, Dr. Calder." Marcus apologised with a small laugh.

"At least you made it through this, which is more than we expected, admittedly." Rene told him.

"Regardless, you need to stay here and recover, and I need to make some calls." he went on, before looking back towards Desiree.

"And you." he said to her. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "I'm sure you're tired, but what about your injuries and such?" he clarified further.