Labor stretched on through the night, longer and more demanding than either of them had prepared for. Elena moved through hours of mounting intensity with the same fierce, steady determination that had carried her through every other trial of the past year.
Dante stayed close the entire time, exactly as promised. He gave her a steady hand to grip through each contraction and a calm, low voice that murmured encouragement even as his own composure frayed further with every passing hour. The medical staff moved around them with practiced efficiency, monitoring Elena carefully and offering quiet reassurance whenever her breathing grew ragged with exhaustion.
"You're doing so well," Dante murmured sometime after two in the morning, wiping a cool cloth gently across her forehead as another wav
