Libby stirred.
Her brow pulled together first, a small furrow of disturbance, and then her eyes opened—unfocused for a moment, disoriented, still half-caught in sleep.
Then she looked up and found my face.
Everything in her expression sharpened at once.
“Finn?”
Her voice barely made it out, as if she didn’t trust it to carry the weight she needed it to.
I managed a rough exhale. “Yeah. Still kicking.”
Her entire face changed. Two days of held breath releasing all at once—relief moving through her so visibly it almost hurt to look at directly. She pushed herself upright fast, one hand pressing flat against my chest as if she needed the physical proof of it.
“You’re awake,” she whispered. “You’re actually—”
“Looks that way.”
A sound came out of her that started as a laugh and didn’t quite finish, her hand tightening briefly against my chest before she seemed to catch herself and pull it back, sitting up straighter and pulling composure around herself like a coat.
“You’ve been out for two days,” she said.
I let that information sink in, turning it over in my mind.
“Two days,” I repeated.
“Yeah.”
“Damn.”
She exhaled another ragged breath. “You scared the hell out of us.”
I met her gaze, truly seeing her past the composure she’d reassembled. The two days were etched on her face: shadows under her eyes, lingering tension in her jaw, and hands that hadn’t quite stilled.
“Sorry,” I said.
She immediately shook her head. “Don’t.”
A comfortable, full silence settled between us.
I carefully tested my shoulder, pushing against the pain to gauge it. It was still significant, but no longer the blinding spike from a moment ago. Manageable. Something I could work with.
“Fiona,” I asked. “Is she okay?”
“Exhausted,” Libby said, “but okay. Lily, too.”
I nodded slowly, letting the relief settle deep in my bones. They had made it. All of them. Whatever had happened on that bridge and afterward, they had all reached this room.
“Good,” I said.
Another pause stretched out, and I looked back at her. “You good?”
Her expression shifted, just slightly.
“Yeah,” she said.
The word landed wrong.
