The recovery suite door clicked shut with the finality of a confession booth, sealing Alec and Ceecee into a silence that breathed with seven months of lost time. She sat on the bed's edge, hospital gown replaced with one of Daisy's loose dresses that made her look like she'd been wrapped in storm clouds. The afternoon light caught in her hair, turning it to spun gold—a fairy tale princess who'd woken to find the kingdom burning.
"You look like s**t," she said finally, because Ceecee had never met a silence she couldn't break with brutal honesty.
"Feel worse." He stayed by the door, unsure of his welcome in this strange new world where she carried his child but might not want his presence. "Turns out seven months of freezing does things to your muscle mass."
"Among other things." Her ha
