Avery is holding York's hand when he wakes up.

It took three hours for the alcohol to take effect, and the children awoke first.

Hayden and Toby were curled up in the corner, the father not releasing his son as soon as his eyes started fluttering.

It was a lovely sight.

Byron's daughter had woken up five minutes before York.

She had been unable to move when she first opened her eyes, and everyone was terrified she was paralysed in an unknown side-effect.

It took her a minute or two to be able to feel her limbs again, and Byron was slowly sitting her up as York opened his eyes.

His hand started twitching first, his muscles spasming.

Avery could see York's eyes shoot open, and she put her hands on his shoulders and held him down to the bed as he started thrashing.

She puts as much weight as she can on him, not wanting to suffocate him or scare him, but not wanting him to fly off the bed.

"York, you're okay, you're in the hospital," she quickly says as clearly as she can.

Her words don't seem to register at all, and his thrashing increases in speed and aggression. His heart rate shoots upwards, and the intense beeping starts to scare some of the children in the room, even as their parents comfort them.

Avery slams on the button to call for a doctor and nearly gets flung off her brother as he shakes.

"York, stop," she roars, not wanting to put any dominance into the order - that could hurt him as he comes out of the coma, and she doesn't want him to revert to the unresponsive state he's been in for over two months.

A doctor hurries in and grabs York's left shoulder, pinning him down as best he can.

"Mr Wilcott, you need to calm down," the doctor barks, another hurrying into the room to pin down his other shoulder.

Avery steps back from her brother, covering her mouth with her hands in horror.

Her brother was never violent.

Even drunk, York was calm and laid-back.

She quickly linked her parents to get back to the wing from the house.

Richard and Marie had been there most of the night - Avery had told them to go home and sleep for a while because nobody knew how quickly everyone would wake up.

We're on our way, sweetheart, Richard immediately responds, closing the link.

He could sense his daughter's distress, and Avery pulled her phone out.

"Louisa, he's woken up," she chokes out, backing up to the wall facing the beds.

"Why do you not sound happy?" Her sister asks after a second, and she can actually feel her sister's concern.

"He's freaking out," she manages to spit out, watching as another doctor secures York's legs and a nurse injects something into his IV line.

"What do you mean freaking out?" Louisa asks, and Avery can hear her stand up and begin to pace, "I'll come down today."

Avery rubs her face, closing her eyes and turning away from the scene in front of her.

"No, you're over three months pregnant. Stay where you are, it isn't worth the risk," Avery babbles, and Louisa releases a puff of air.

"What do you mean he's freaking out?" Louisa repeats.

"He's fighting off three doctors right now. They're trying to sedate him I think, he's gonna hurt himself if he keeps going," Avery whispers, turning back around to look at her brother.

She can't handle not knowing what's happening with him - it's been too long since he moved properly, and she wants to watch everything he does, even if it isn't good.

"Shit," Louisa swears, and Avery nods.

"Yeah," she mumbles shakily, looking around the room cautiously.

The smaller children are being cuddled by their parents, their eyes covered by hands or being blocked by bodies.

"It's okay; he's just reacting differently," Avery announces, "like when Amy couldn't move when she woke up."

Some of them slowly nod, but the younger ones look less impressed.

Toby sucks on his thumb and curls up into Hayden's lap, his dark eyes looking into Avery's.

She gives him a small smile, and he hides in Hayden's shirt, peeking out after a minute.

"Okay, I'm gonna see what they want to do with him," Avery sighs, running a hand through her hair.

"Keep me updated, please," Louisa pleads, and Avery nods absently.

"Of course I'll phone you later. Is the baby okay?" She asks, and she can hear a little giggle on the phone.

"She kicks when she hears your voice - right now, it feels like she's playing a game of soccer. She's okay, not ready to leave any time soon," Louisa sighs, chuckling as she holds her bump lightly.

Avery releases a little laugh before she says goodbye to her sister.

Louisa has changed for the better, at least in Avery's presence.

Her therapist forced her to see her attitude from other's perspectives, and it seemed to have worked. Avery wasn't going to question it; it was nice to be building a relationship with her sister, especially since York had been absent for over two months.

York's body gradually stops jerking as the medication he was filled with starts to take effect.

Slowly, the five doctors who had been holding him down released him, looking between each other and him as they step back from their Alpha.

They look around, and they all seem to lay eyes on Avery at the same time.

"Oh, Alpha," three of them stutter out.

Avery nods at them blankly, stepping forward and looking them evenly in the eyes.

"What was that?" She asks calmly, and one of them clears his throat, stepping forward to speak.

"We think it was a reaction to the alcohol. He hasn't been awake in nearly three months, it was probably just the shock of it too," he reassures her, and Avery raises her eyebrow.

Hayden appears by her side, resting a hand on her upper back while holding his son on his hip.

"You okay?" He murmurs under his breath, and Avery nods, smiling down at Toby.

"Okay, so what can we do?" Avery asks the doctors, clasping her hands in front of her and straightening her back a little.

Hayden gently rubs her back, staring at the doctors.

They seem slightly reluctant to talk in front of him, but he doesn't move, and Avery doesn't ask him to.

The presence of her friend is comforting, and she knows that nobody will dick her around with somebody as dominating as him around.

The fear he created rivalled the fear she could cause, and she respected that.

"We're going to bring him out of the induced sedative slowly. We might give him a paralytic so that he can't move when he wakes up," he announces after some murmured conversation with the other doctors.

"Wonderful, you can tell my parents that," Avery mutters, running a hand through her hair as she lays eyes on Richard and Marie.

The two look ruffled and exhausted, clambering through the sliding door and clinging onto one another's hands.

They rush up to Avery, and she shakes her head.

Marie doesn't acknowledge the intimidating figure behind Avery, ignoring him and directing all of her attention to her daughter.

Richard nods to Hayden, who quirks a brow in his direction.

"How is my baby?" Marie demands, and Avery shakes her head.

"Ask the doctors," she simply responds, and the doctors all seem to pale at those words.

Marie turns to them, and Richard turns with her, the two forming a human wall in between the doctors and her.

Avery breathes a sigh of relief, and Hayden guides her gently over to the corner where Toby lay.

She sits in the chair by the bed while the father and son sit on the bed.

"Are you okay?" Hayden repeats quietly, and Avery nods again.

"Happy he's awake, concerned about what will happen next," she mumbles, and Hayden lays a tender hand on her arm, glancing down at his son.

"He'll be okay," Toby exclaims loudly, eager to reassure his father's friend.

"Yes he will," Avery chuckles softly, grinning at the child.

Toby has a broad smile on his face as he looks up at his father, delighted that he could make the woman laugh.

Hayden winks at his son before looking back at Avery quickly.

They all glance at Marie and Richard, who look devastated at the doctor's news.

Avery looks away from her parents, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply.

She rubs her forehead and sits back, pulling out her phone and texting her sister the updates.

She gets a response of several different emoticons, and Avery rolls her eyes at the amount of range there is.

"Louisa?" Hayden asks, adjusting his hold on his son as Toby slightly slips.

He has some muscle wastage from his time in his coma, even with physiotherapy throughout it, so his father is doing his best to support him.

"How did you know?" Avery teases jokingly, responding with some emoticons of her own.

"Who else can speak fluent emoji?" Hayden chuckles, kissing Toby's forehead and looking around the room.

The room is full of happy families and couples.

Everyone is trying not to cry; everyone cuddled up and talking as fast as they can.

Nurses are checking blood pressure and running basic cognitive tests while the patients sit up in bed.

Out of the thirty patients, York is the only one not awake.

Everyone else in the room of ten is still slightly startled by the outburst, and Marie and Richard are basically sitting on their son, holding one of his hands each.

Marie is praying to the Goddess for relief or help, while Richard is clenching his jaw furiously in an attempt not to let any tears fall.

Toby begins to fall asleep in Hayden's arms, and the nurses give him the nod to take him out of there.

"Bring him back tomorrow morning for the tests," a nurse whispers to him, and Hayden nods firmly, the boy looking tiny in his massive arms.

Avery stands up too, nodding to Hayden.

"I'll give you a ride. You can bring him back to mine if you want," Avery offers, and Hayden nods gently.

"I'd appreciate that, it's closer to the hospital than the packhouse," he murmurs, his eyes glued to the small form in his hold.

Avery hides a small smile at how careful Hayden is being.

"Mom, I'm going home," Avery whispers, kissing her parents on the cheeks.

"Goodbye, sweetheart, we'll call if anything changes," Richard mutters, staring at his son intensely as if he could wake the young man up by the sheer force of his glare.

Avery nods and takes her leave quickly, in no mood to stick around all day.

Her brother was definitely going to be out of it until at least the morning.

They probably wouldn't have him up and talking for another two days if they were lucky.

She was disappointed.

At least we got the poison out of his system, Sonya reminds her.

But he isn't awake, Avery sighs.

He's closer to being awake than he has been in two months, Sonya chirps, delighted at the prospect of Ezra coming back to keep her company.

She could feel his wolf stirring again, and that gave her hope that she could see him soon.

The knowledge that York's wolf was okay reassured Avery that everything might just be a little more okay as she leads Hayden to her car.

She opens the door to where she had a child's car seat installed by a pack member while they waited for everyone to wake up.

She knew Hayden wouldn't leave Tobias alone, and she didn't really mind - she wasn't going to let him try to stay in the hospital bed unless there was something wrong with Toby that forced him to stay in the hospital.

She had room in her house.

There were four vacant bedrooms upstairs, and she had transformed one into a nursery and children's bedroom for when Louisa or some of her Alpha friends visited with their children.

The company might make it seem a little less empty.

She had been living there by herself for over a month, and going home to an empty house wasn't her idea of fun.

She was scared something could happen to her.

Nobody would realise until she didn't turn up to the office for a few days.

Avery had isolated herself from most of her friends when it was discovered that Kali was one of the masterminds behind the kidnapping of Lilith.

She felt responsible - she had brought this girl into her friendship circle.

Meredith had been furious, and had sworn that the McConaghy pack would help to find the woman - they had been trying, and Avery appreciated it, but there was little hope of finding the woman if she didn't want to be found.

Scott was the exception.

They had bonded over what had happened, and they had remembered why they got together in the first place.

It was a bond of mutual respect, and everybody had been surprised by the treaty they had signed a few weeks ago. Some of the elders had raised some eyebrows, wondering if this was a sign of a chosen-mating on the horizon.

Avery already had one meeting with the Council with regards to her Alpha position, and she didn't want to have them bring up anything else.

It was going to be bad enough already; they had propositioned it as a hearing to everyone but her.

Scott had eventually informed her that it wasn't a meeting and that they were expecting her to testify in her defence. She had sworn she wouldn't tell anyone she knew, because it was apparent they didn't want her to know.

Avery was enraged by this, but she hadn't said anything.

She had informed Mitchell, Byron, and Hayden. They were the only three in her pack who knew that she was being investigated.

Apparently, only the Alphas of packs knew. No Lunas or Alpha mates knew.

She was slightly offended that nobody had told her though.

Pushing these thoughts away, Avery watches as Hayden finished strapping Toby into the car seat.

"Ready?" She asks quietly, and he nods, closing the door as softly as he can and then climbing into the passenger seat.

"I'll have some of the pack members drop off some clothes he can wear. A tonne of people have already offered according to my Betas," she murmurs as she starts the engine, cringing as it revs loudly.

She glances back at Toby, and when she notices that he didn't move, she reverses out of her parking space, quickly driving home on the road she's practically memorised at this point.

"Thank you," Hayden whispers, his eyes never leaving his son in the mirror.

"It's alright," Avery responds softly, looking at him quickly before facing the road again.

"No other Alpha would have done all of this," Hayden insists, and Avery properly turns and looks at him this time.

"Yes, they would," she shakes her head, furrowing her brows as she swerves around a deer.

She mindlinks some of her patrol wolves to inform them about the carcass on the road.

"No, you're maybe the only Alpha that would take in thirty people on the word of a group of rogues," he insists stubbornly, and Avery shrugs.

"My pack is about improvement, not punishment," she mutters, pulling onto the road that leads to her house.

She makes a mental note to make sure there are more lanterns placed along the road.

It's creepy at night, and she worries about the teenagers and younger wolves who come down to the lake for parties in the summer.

It would be relatively easy for someone to hide in the bushes and jump out at their prey.

"I know a lot of other Alphas that would do what I did," Avery adds after a minute of silence.

"No, they wouldn't. You need to swear us in before your hearing," he points out, and Avery runs a hand through her hair as she pulls into her driveway.

"Yeah, we can't have the idea that I have sixty rogues running around my pack territory freely. I'll announce it in the morning when we go back to the hospital. I can arrange transfers for people who want to return home, or they can stay here as medical refugees," she mumbles, sighing heavily.

Hayden leans over and smooths out her forehead, frowning at her.

"You'll get wrinkles like that. You don't need to worry about it all tonight, you've got three of us to delegate to," he reminds her as they get out of the car.

"Yeah, but I can't put everything on to you guys," she mutters, and he rolls his eyes.

"That's what we're here for," he snorts, "you wouldn't want to leave me unemployed."

Avery rolls her eyes and waits for him to scoop Toby out of the car while she opens the house.

She closes the door behind them, setting the alarms as Toby is carried into the kitchen.

"I'm going to put him to bed, do you want me to make something after?" Hayden whisper-shouts, walking up the stairs.

"No, I'll cook. Third room-" she calls back.

"On the right, I remember," he calls back in a whisper, and she can hear the door opening as Hayden deposits his son into the room.

Avery walks into the kitchen and begins dicing up some vegetables immediately, turning on the stove.

By the time Hayden walks downstairs, he's in his pyjamas, and she has the food cooking in a pan.

"I'll watch it, you go get ready for bed," he orders, and she rolls her eyes but listens to him, traipsing up the stairs.

She had been more or less forced to let Hayden in.

He was the calm to her impatient, and she appreciated having him as an adviser.

If she didn't have Mitchell, she would consider inducting him as her Beta.

We do need a Gamma, Sonya reminds her, and Avery sighs.

If we're only Alpha for another week, no we don't, she grimaces, and Sonya cringes.

The thought of giving back their title was hard.

It had been bad the first time, but the thoughts of doing it again were horrifying.

It was excruciating to remove a title, and Avery was relieved York had been in a coma when it was done.

I wouldn't think York would mind having an actually competent Gamma, Sonya points out.

What about Byron?, Avery asks, and Sonya sighs.

We need an Elders committee, and we have for a few years. Put him on it. He might not know this pack very well, but he knows all about the Connors and the other Southern packs, Sonya volunteers.

Avery contemplates this while she slips into her furry hoodie and plaid pyjama pants, flopping down the stairs in her bunny slippers.

"Avery, dinner," Hayden whisper screams up the stairs until he spots her wandering downwards.

"What's up?" He asks, noticing the serious expression on her face.

"I have a question to ask you," she hesitantly begins, rubbing her nose.

Hayden pales slightly, but nods.

Avery inhales first.

She reconsiders all of her thoughts for a second, and wonders if it's a good idea.

Mitchell said he would trust her judgement for whoever she chose as Gamma.

He and Hayden got along well - Hayden had protected Kathleen from a rabid rogue a few weeks ago, and that won him a lot of favour among the pack, as Kathleen is hugely liked.

She sits down at the dining table absently, and Hayden slides her plate and a can of sprite in front of her.

He sits down beside her, turning his body to face her with a concerned frown on his face.

"Go ahead," he encourages anxiously, nibbling on his lip.

"Would you be interested in the Gamma position?" She asks first, and Hayden straightens up a little.

"Yes, absolutely, it would be a huge honour to be even considered," he immediately responds.