Penelope didn't answer.
She was already moving.
Slowly, she approached the bathroom door.
The crying grew louder.
Her hand closed around the doorknob.
She opened it.
And froze.
A baby carrier sat in the corner of the bathroom.
Blankets.
Formula.
Diapers.
And inside the carrier—
A newborn baby girl.
Alive.
The baby cried again.
Not because she understood what had happened.
Not because she was afraid.
Simply because she was hungry.
For the first time that day, none of them knew what to say.
Penelope carefully knelt beside the carrier.
The moment she lifted the baby into her arms, the crying stopped.
The apartment became silent once more.
Behind her, Kai slowly exhaled.
"Oh."
It was the only word he could think of.
Penelope looked down at the child.
The baby couldn't have been more than a few weeks old.
Tiny.
Warm.
Alive.
A family photograph on the bathroom counter caught her attention.
A man.
A woman.
The same woman lying outside the bathroom door.
