Heath stood motionless outside the glass wall, his reflection faint against the dim lighting of the NICU. The world on the other side of that barrier felt distant... muted, fragile, unreal.
Inside, Mariposa lay impossibly small in the incubator.
So still. Too still.
His chest tightened as he watched the slow rise and fall of her tiny body, aided by machines that beeped softly in a steady rhythm. Each sound felt like a countdown. Each breath she took felt borrowed.
He didn’t move. He hadn’t moved in hours. Maybe longer.
Time had become meaningless the moment Rosalie stopped opening her eyes.
The moment her hand went limp in his. The moment her heartbeat became something he could only feel faintly... like a whisper barely clinging to existence through their bond.
And now this.
His da
