Heartbeat, Steady
Three months changed the world again—but this time, gently.
The power plant no longer felt like a place they were borrowing from the past. It felt claimed. Lived in. Earned. The residential wing buzzed with quiet routines now: footsteps in the hall at dawn, the low murmur of voices over shared breakfasts, laughter that still surprised people when it escaped them.
The ultrasound setup had taken three separate trips into the city and weeks of trial, error, and careful rewiring before Chandler trusted it enough to use it on Emily.
The machine itself sat on a reinforced rolling cart scavenged from a physical therapy wing—steel frame, locking casters, weight rated well beyond what it now carried. The ultrasound unit had originally been a portable model, designed for bedsid
