Chapter 7: Saving Mia
1738 Words
“She’s dying.”
Dr. Harrison says it flat. No sugarcoating. Just those two words that make my world stop.
I’m at the observation window watching Mia seize on that table and I can’t… I can’t breathe right. My chest hurts. Everything hurts.
“Alexander’s bond isn’t working,” Dr. Harrison continues. “We need her biological father now.”
Alexander is next to me with his wrist all bandaged up. His bond failed. He tried so hard and it failed anyway.
“I called Nick,” he says quietly. “He’s on his way.”
“He won’t get here in time.” My voice sounds weird. Too high. “Look at her, she’s—”
The monitor flatlines.
That sound. That horrible flat sound.
I’m screaming before I realize I’m screaming. Pounding on the glass with both fists. “MIA! NO, BABY, NO!”
If Mia dies, I would never forgive myself.
Someone’s doing CPR. Pushing on her chest. Her little chest. She’s so small under their hands.
My vision goes blurry and I realize I’m crying. Ugly crying. Can’t-catch-my-breath crying.
Then something in my chest pulls. Hard. Like a fishhook yanking.
The mate bond.
Oh god. He’s here.
The doors bang open so hard they hit the walls.
Nick runs in and he looks, he looks terrified. Wild. His hair’s all messy like he just woke up and he’s wearing sweatpants and a ratty MIT t-shirt and he’s carrying a little kid.
Mason.
My brain kind of stutters seeing them. Nick’s got this little boy in his arms, can’t be more than five and the kid’s in pajamas with dinosaurs on them and he’s clinging to Nick’s neck.
“Where is she?!” Nick’s voice cracks on the last word.
“Surgical suite, she’s coding, we need you now!” Dr. Harrison is already moving.
Nick puts Mason down. Gets on his knees so they’re eye-level. His hands are shaking when he touches his son’s face.
“I need you to be really brave right now, okay buddy?”
Mason’s chin wobbles. “Is my sister gonna die?”
“No.” Nick’s voice goes fierce. “Not if I have anything to say about it. I need you to wait here. Can you do that for me?”
“I’m scared, Daddy.”
“Me too.” Nick pulls him into a tight hug. Kisses the top of his head. “I love you so much. Be good for the nurses, okay?”
Then he’s running again.
There’s an older man with him, expensive suit, white hair, following fast behind him.
“That’s Dr. Morrison,” Alexander says. His voice sounds far away. “Top genetic specialist in the country.”
I can’t respond. Can’t take my eyes off the window.
Nick bursts into the surgical suite. Doesn’t even stop to wash his hands. Just shoves through the doctors.
“Move. MOVE!”
They step back.
Mia looks dead. Her lips are blue and there’s no beeping and she looks so pale—
“Mia.” Nick grabs her hand. “Baby girl, I’m here now. You hear me? I’m here and you gotta fight. You gotta—” His voice breaks completely. “Please, baby. Please don’t leave me. I just found you. Please.”
Nothing happens.
My knees buckle. I’m on the floor and I don’t remember falling.
“Come on!” Nick yells at her. At the doctors. At god. “COME ON!”
He bites his wrist. Just bites down hard enough that blood pours. Presses it against Mia’s mouth.
“DRINK!” It’s not just loud. It’s Alpha command that makes the windows rattle. “DRINK RIGHT NOW!”
One second.
Two.
Three.
Nothing.
I’m making this sound. This horrible gasping sound like I’m the one dying.
Then Mia’s throat moves.
Just once.
The monitor beeps.
Silver light, bright, pure, almost blinding explodes around them.
Another beep. And another.
Mia’s eyes flutter.
“Daddy?”
Nick makes this sound, half-sob, half-laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, baby, I’m here. Keep drinking for me. That’s it. Good girl. You’re doing so good.”
I’m sobbing into my hands. Full-on ugly crying with snot and hiccupping breaths and I don’t even care.
She’s alive.
Oh god, she’s alive.
“Emily.”
Alexander tries to help me up but my legs won’t work right.
“She almost—” I can’t finish. Can’t say the words.
“I know. But she didn’t.”
“Because of him.” The words come out choked. “Because I was too stubborn and she almost died and—”
“Miss?”
I look up.
Mason is standing there. Tiny in his dinosaur pajamas. His eyes are red and there are tear tracks on his face.
“Is she okay now? My sister?”
He calls her “my sister” like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Like they didn’t just meet. Like she’s always been his.
“Yeah.” I wipe my face with my sleeve. “Yeah, she’s okay.”
“My daddy saved her?”
“Yes.”
“I knew he would.” He says it with this absolute certainty that makes my throat tight. “My daddy’s the strongest person in the whole world.”
And the way he says it, this little kid who loves his father so much, something in my chest just cracks wide open.
Nick isn’t the same person who destroyed me. Or maybe he is but he’s other things too. Things I never got to see.
He’s this little boy’s whole world.
“Can I see her?” Mason asks. “Please? I won’t be loud or anything.”
I look through the window. Mia’s sitting up. She looks weak but she’s awake and Nick’s right there holding her hand.
“Come on,” I hear myself say.
I stand up shaky and take Mason’s hand. It’s so small in mine. Sticky like he was eating something sweet before Nick grabbed him in the middle of the night.
We go into the surgical suite together.
Nick sees us and his whole face does this thing. Relief and fear and hope all mixed up.
“Mama!” Mia reaches for me with her free hand.
I’m there in a second. Touching her face, her hair, making sure she’s real. “Hi baby. Hi. I’m here.”
“Daddy saved me.” She sounds amazed. “Just like in stories.”
I look at Nick. He’s got tears on his face. Not trying to hide them or anything.
“Um. Hi.” Mason edges closer to the bed. “I’m Mason. I’m your… I’m your brother.”
Mia’s eyes get huge. “Really?”
“Really really. We have the same daddy. See?” He points at his eyes. Then at hers. “Same.”
“We match!” Mia smiles, actually smiles and it’s the first real smile I’ve seen in weeks.
“I made you something while we were waiting.” Mason pulls this crumpled paper out of his pajama pocket. It’s a crayon drawing. Two stick figures with capes. “That’s us. We’re superheroes. ‘Cause you’re really brave.”
Mia takes it with shaky hands. Stares at it like it’s made of gold. “This is the best thing anyone ever gave me.”
“I’ll make you more! I’ll make you a million pictures!”
They’re just looking at each other. These two kids who share a father. Who should’ve known each other their whole lives but didn’t because of my anger and Nick’s mistakes and everything that went wrong.
And watching them, god, watching them together, I feel the ice around my heart start to crack.
Not melt. Not yet.
But crack.
“Ms. Winters.” Dr. Harrison’s voice pulls me back. “We need to talk about what happens now.”
I force myself to focus. “Okay.”
The older man Dr. Morrison steps forward. “The bond is strong. Your daughter will live. But there are requirements.”
“Like daily bonding sessions?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “Constant proximity. She can’t be more than a few hundred feet from her father. Not for an hour. Not at all.”
Wait. “What?”
“Same house. Same roof. Twenty-four seven. For at least six weeks. Probably longer.”
“You’re saying we have to live together.”
“Yes. If she goes beyond that distance, even briefly, the bond will destabilize. She’ll crash. Fast.”
I look at Mia. She’s holding Mason’s hand now. Both of them talking quietly.
My daughter is alive.
That’s all that matters.
“I have a guest wing,” Nick says quietly. “You’d have complete privacy. Your own entrance. You wouldn’t even have to see me if you didn’t want to.”
“For months.”
“However long she needs.” He meets my eyes. “I know you hate me. I know I don’t deserve this chance. But please. Let me save her. Let me be her father.”
There’s something raw in his voice. Desperate. Real.
“I want everything in writing,” I say. “This is medical. Temporary. I keep custody. You have no parental rights except the bond.”
“Done.”
“Separate wings. Privacy. You don’t come in without asking.”
“Of course.”
“Weekly checkups with the doctors. The second she’s okay without you, we leave.”
“I understand.” He takes a breath. “Emily, I know, I know I might never make up for what I did. But these next few months, I can try to be the father she deserves. I can show you I’m not… that I’m different now.”
“A few months doesn’t fix six years.”
“I know.” His voice cracks. “But it’s all I’m asking for. A chance.”
Mason tugs on Nick’s shirt. “Does this mean Mia’s coming home with us?”
“Yeah, buddy.”
Mason pumps his fist. “YES! Mia, we have a pool! And a huge backyard! And I can teach you how to catch fireflies!”
Mia giggles. Actually giggles.
I watch Nick with both kids and something in me shifts.
The ice is cracking.
And I don’t know if that’s good or terrifying.
Maybe both.
- Writer
