(Jasper's POV)
She burst out of the elevator like she hadn't seen any of us at all.
Her auburn hair was loose, her green eyes wild, and she was already calling the boy's name before her feet hit the floor. She brushed past me so close I felt the air move. I turned without thinking and watched her go-a small, quick woman with her whole body aimed like an arrow down the corridor.
Henry watched her too. "That's got to be the kid's mom," he said quietly. "She's pretty."
I didn't respond. I stepped into the elevator and Henry followed.
The doors slid shut.
"Tomorrow morning," I said. "Cancel everything."
Henry pulled out his phone. "All of it?"
"All of it. I need to go to the fire station. Liam's things are still there."
Henry went quiet. He didn't say anything, which was the right call. There was nothing to say about Liam that wouldn't make it worse.
Over a year. My brother had been gone that long, and none of us had managed to collect his things from the station where he'd worked for six years. Every time I thought about walking through that door, something in me refused to move. I'd identified the body. I'd handled the paperwork. I'd sat with my mother while she stopped eating and started disappearing. I'd done everything a person was supposed to do.
I hadn't cried once.
The elevator hummed downward. I stared at the number display and felt the back of my eyes go hot and tight, the way they did sometimes late at night when I was alone and the apartment was too quiet.
I blinked it back.
Henry pretended not to notice.
(Eliana's POV)
I saw him the second I turned the corner.
Oliver was standing in the middle of the hallway with Dr. Evans beside him, holding a phone he'd apparently borrowed from someone. His face was blotchy and wet and he looked so small that my chest cracked straight down the middle.
I dropped to my knees and pulled him into my arms.
He grabbed on immediately, both fists twisting into my jacket. "Mom. Mom, I'm sorry, I came out to find you and then I didn't know which way and-"
"Shh." I held him tighter. "I've got you. You're okay. I've got you."
He sniffled hard against my shoulder. "I'm sorry I made you scared."
"It's okay. I found you. That's all that matters."
I stayed there for a moment with my face pressed into his hair, just breathing. Then I straightened up and looked at Dr. Evans. "Thank you. For staying with him."
"Of course." He smiled. "He's been moved up to the hematology ward. Room 508. The team up there is excellent."
"Thank you," I said again.
Oliver looked up at me and wiped his nose with his sleeve. "Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"Will Dad come?"
The question landed somewhere soft and unprotected.