"What is?"
"This. All of it." I gestured at the crowded table, the laughter, the easy camaraderie. "Feels like family."
"It is family." He squeezed my knee under the table. "Your family now."
Maria appeared at my elbow, refilling my coffee without being asked. "You need to eat more," she said, eyeing my half-empty plate. "You're too skinny."
"I'm really not?—"
"Eat." She fixed me with a look that brooked no argument. "You'll need your strength."
The mood shifted around mid-morning. I found Axel in the war room, frowning at an inventory list. "We're short on trauma supplies," I said, reading over his shoulder. "Chest seals, QuikClot, IV kits. I used most of what we had building the field kits."
"Can you make do?"
"For minor injuries, yes. But if someone takes a serious hit—" I shook my head. "We need more."
"Where do we get it?"
"St. Mary's." The words tasted sour. "I still have access. My badge should work."
His expression darkened. "You're not going alone."
"I didn't expect to."
"I mean it, Kai." He turned to face me fully, grey eyes hard. "There's a kill order on you. Chen's people could be anywhere."
"I know. That's why you're coming with me."
He studied me for a long moment, searching for something. Whatever he found must have satisfied him, because he nodded once. "We leave in an hour. In and out. No detours."
"Yes sir." I mock-saluted.
His mouth twitched. "Brat."
"You love it."
"Yeah." He pulled me in for a kiss—brief, fierce. "I do."
The ride to St. Mary's was tense.
I pressed against Axel's back, arms tight around his waist, watching the city blur past. Every car felt like a potential threat. Every pedestrian a possible spotter. Paranoia had become my default setting, and I hated how natural it felt.
The hospital parking garage triggered a visceral memory—Slash emerging from that van, the cold certainty that I was about to die. I pushed it down, focused on Axel's solid warmth in front of me.
"You okay?" he asked as we dismounted.
"Fine."
"Liar." But he didn't push. Just took my hand, squeezed once, and led me toward the employee entrance. The familiar smell of antiseptic hit me like a wave. St. Mary's. My domain, once. The place where I'd built an identity separate from foster care, from loneliness, from all the broken pieces of my past. Now it felt foreign. Hostile.
"I need to access the restricted pharmacy," I told Axel. "It's on the third floor. Badge-controlled."
"I'll come with you."
"You can't." I gestured at his cut, his tattoos, his general aura of barely-contained violence. "You'll cause a scene. Security will be called within five minutes."
His jaw tightened. "I'm not leaving you alone."
