The hospital room was quiet.
For the first time since arriving, Lillian wasn't sitting on the edge of panic.
The fever medication was working.
Slowly.
But it was working.
Ellie's temperature had started coming down, and her breathing sounded less strained than it had earlier.
The little girl slept peacefully beneath the blanket while Lillian sat beside her bed.
One hand remained wrapped around Ellie's small fingers.
She hadn't moved much all evening.
Hadn't wanted to.
Every time she looked away from her daughter for too long, anxiety immediately crept back in.
So she stayed.
Watching.
Waiting.
Making sure Ellie was alright.
Like any mother would.
A soft sound broke the silence.
"Mommy..."
Lillian immediately looked up.
Blue eyes blinked sleepily from the hospital bed.
Relief washed through her.
"Hey, sweetheart."
Ellie looked exhausted.
But awake.
And that alone made Lillian feel better.
"Hi."
A small smile appeared on Lillian's face.
"How are you feeling?"
Ellie thought about it seriously.
Then:
"Yucky."
Lillian laughed softly.
"Fair enough."
The little girl shifted beneath the blanket.
Then frowned slightly.
"Thirsty."
Lillian immediately nodded.
"Okay."
Ellie rubbed one eye.
"Juice?"
"I don't know if they'll let you have juice yet."
Ellie immediately looked disappointed.
"Water then."
Lillian smiled.
"Water then."
She carefully stood.
"I'll be right back."
Ellie immediately reached for her hand.
"Promise?"
The question made Lillian's heart ache slightly.
Because her daughter was still feeling vulnerable.
Still scared.
Still sick.
Lillian leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"I promise."
Only then did Ellie relax.
The corridor outside was quiet.
Or at least it had been.
Lillian headed toward the nurses' station.
Her thoughts remained focused entirely on Ellie.
Whether the fever would return.
Whether she'd need to stay overnight.
Whether she was comfortable.
Normal concerns.
Parent concerns.
Nothing else.
Then suddenly—
Shouting echoed through the hallway.
Lillian stopped.
Several nurses rushed past.
Their expressions immediately caught her attention.
Something serious had happened.
Very serious.
A doctor appeared around the corner.
Then another.
Then more.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Urgent.
Focused.
Tense.
Lillian instinctively stepped aside.
Giving them room.
Then she saw the stretcher.
It came around the corner at speed.
Doctors surrounded it.
Machines attached.
An oxygen mask.
Someone lying motionless.
Lillian only caught a glimpse at first.
Dark hair.
Broad shoulders.
Pale skin.
For a moment, she barely paid attention.
Hospitals saw emergencies every day.
Then the stretcher moved closer.
And she saw his face.
Everything inside her stopped.
Sebastian.
The world seemed to disappear.
The corridor.
The noise.
The doctors.
Everything faded.
Because the man lying unconscious on that stretcher was Sebastian Wolfe.
Three years.
Three years since she'd last seen him.
Three years since she'd spoken to him.
Three years since she'd walked away.
And now—
This.
He looked different.
Not older.
Not exactly.
Just...
Worn down.
His face looked thinner.
More hollow.
Exhausted.
His skin was pale beneath the fluorescent lights.
Far paler than she remembered.
And he wasn't moving.
Not even slightly.
The stretcher rushed past her.
Close enough that she could have reached out and touched him.
She didn't.
Couldn't.
She was frozen.
Completely frozen.
Then she heard the doctors talking.
Quick.
Urgent.
Professional.
But loud enough to catch fragments.
"Possible liver failure."
Lillian's heart dropped.
"Blood work is critical."
"Found unconscious at his residence."
"Alcohol-related complications likely."
"We need ICU prepared now."
"Move."
The words slammed into her.
Possible liver failure.
Alcohol-related.
Found unconscious.
Her stomach twisted violently.
Because she remembered.
The whiskey.
The flask.
The drinking after the breakup.
The way alcohol had slowly become one of Sebastian's coping mechanisms.
And suddenly a terrible realization hit her.
It hadn't stopped.
The stretcher disappeared down the corridor.
Doctors followed.
Nurses followed.
Then they were gone.
Leaving silence behind.
Lillian stood there.
Unable to move.
Unable to think.
Her heart pounded painfully against her ribs.
No.
No.
This couldn't be right.
Sebastian was thirty-one.
Healthy.
Strong.
Disciplined.
How had things reached this point?
"What happened to you...?"
The whisper escaped before she realized she'd spoken.
A nurse brushed past her.
The spell broke.
And suddenly Lillian remembered why she'd left the room.
Water.
Ellie.
Her daughter.
The thought immediately pulled her back to reality.
She forced herself to move.
Forced herself to breathe.
Forced herself to focus.
A few minutes later she returned to Ellie's room carrying a bottle of water.
Ellie immediately smiled.
"You came back."
The simple statement nearly broke Lillian's heart.
Because for one terrifying moment she hadn't been thinking about anything except Sebastian.
And that made her feel guilty.
"Of course I came back."
Lillian sat down beside the bed.
She helped Ellie drink.
The little girl took several careful sips.
Then immediately curled against her mother's side.
Much too tired to stay awake for long.
A short while later, Thomas and Caroline returned.
The moment Caroline entered the room, she paused.
"Lillian?"
Lillian looked up.
"What?"
Caroline frowned.
"You look pale."
Thomas immediately noticed it too.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
"Lillian."
Thomas moved closer.
"What happened?"
For a moment she didn't answer.
Didn't know how.
Because she still wasn't entirely sure she'd processed it herself.
Finally she swallowed.
Then said quietly:
"I saw Sebastian."
The room immediately fell silent.
Thomas blinked.
Caroline stared.
"What?"
Lillian looked down.
"He was here."
Neither of them spoke.
So she continued.
"He was unconscious."
Caroline's expression changed instantly.
Thomas looked shocked.
"What happened?" Caroline asked softly.
Lillian shook her head.
"I don't know."
Her voice sounded distant.
"They rushed him through the corridor."
A pause.
Then:
"I heard one of the doctors say he might have liver failure."
The silence that followed felt heavy.
Because all three of them understood exactly what that meant.
And all three of them remembered Sebastian's drinking.
"Oh my God," Caroline whispered.
Lillian lowered her gaze.
Unable to stop thinking about how pale he'd looked.
How still he'd looked.
How broken he'd looked.
Meanwhile, only a few floors away, Sebastian lay unconscious in intensive care.
Completely unaware.
Unaware that Lillian was in the same hospital.
Unaware that she had seen him.
Unaware that his daughter—his three-year-old daughter with bright blonde hair and his blue eyes—was sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed down the hall.
For three years, fate had kept their lives separate.
Tonight, for the first time, those paths had crossed again.
And neither of them was prepared for what would happen next.