“Emma? Open your eyes for me."
A soft voice, the rustle of paper scrubs, the steady beep of a monitor like a metronome teaching her body to stay. Emma blinked at a ceiling tile speckled like salt.
“Hey," the voice said again, smiling through the word. Sophie. Ponytail, badge clipped to navy scrubs, kind eyes she knew from a hundred hallways. “Welcome back."
Emma wet her lips. “Where—?"
“ER holding." Sophie adjusted the rail. “You came in by car. Dr. Wu brought you."
Emma turned her head. A chair. A coat folded on its back. Clarence rose from it, quiet, relief loosening his shoulders.
“Hi," he said, that human first. “You scared me."
“What happened?" Emma's voice was a scrape.
“You passed out at home," Clarence said. “Pain, lower abdomen. I carried you in. They gave fluids, labs, ul
