Evelyn
I had woken up to see Julian sitting by Leo's side, his hand enclosed around Leo's own little hands, his other hand brushing slowly through his hair.
I stayed in the doorway and watched him for a moment, this man who had driven back in the middle of everything just to sit beside my son, and something in my chest cracked open quietly.
The night had been long and mostly sleepless.
Leo had stirred sometime around two, pulling at my hand. "Mama, I need water."
"Alright dear," I had murmured, untangling myself from the chair beside his bed, pouring a cup from the jug on the bedside table and helping him drink it slowly before he drifted back under.
I had tried Julian again at three, sitting in the corridor outside Leo's room with the phone pressed to my ear and the hospital quietly
