And then in the way that grace sometimes arrived, without announcement, without ceremony, simply and suddenly, and when hope had almost finished packing its things to leave. The monitor changed again.
A sound. A beep. Then another. It was unsteady at first. Uncertain. Like something feeling its way back from a very long distance. But there. Undeniably, miraculously, there.
"We have a pulse." The doctor's voice. Quiet but enormous. "We have a pulse, let's stabilise her, let's go.." Julian's legs nearly gave out.
He caught himself on the wall behind him with one hand and just stayed there. Bent forward slightly. Eyes closed. The tears that came now were entirely different from the ones before. They came from a different place. The place that had just been handed back something it thought it had lost.
He exhaled. Long and shaking and complete. His mother said nothing. She simply moved closer to him and stood there, and that was enough. That was everything.
