Page 45 of In the Grey of Dawn

My voice is soft as I look down at one of the strongest women I know, barely a shell of herself as this sickness has ravished her body.

“Blood,” she rasps, a worried look on her face.

“Try not to think about it. You've most likely torn your oesophagus a little from all the vomiting. Right now we need to get you past this current spell and Dr Johnson will take a look over everything in a little bit when we've got you set up. Also, we’ll hook you up to a foetal heart rate machine and we can listen to little Theodore Bartholomule the third.”

Her nose scrunches at my name suggestion for their baby and I can feel my shoulders relax a little. She might be going through one of the hardest things she’s ever done but her spirit is still strong.

???

“Who knew adult nappies would become such a lifesaver,” Mila says. Her voice is gravelly after several hours of intermittent vomiting but after three days of being monitored, I think she’s on the other side of it. The fact that she's trying to make a joke about her newfound love of adult nappies means I can breathe a little easier still.

Porter has been an incredible support over the past few days, keeping watch from the waiting room and sleeping on a makeshift bed with me during the night.

Nova just let me know she will be back in a few days after spending almost a month with her sister. She was super reassuring, explaining that this has happened with Ace before in previous missions, where he would disappear for a couple of months with no clue as to where he could be, and then he just randomly walks into Beans, acting like he never left.

“I'm going to leave you to get some rest and I'll have some broth for you to eat when you wake up. Gotta get as muchinto you so little Elizabeth Antoinette is getting everything she needs,” I say chuckling, closing the door and dimming the lights as I leave her room.

When we first arrived Porter took two waiting chairs from the front area and pulled them into a small decorative alcove right next to Mila's room. We've taken over the nook as our everything space. He works from his laptop there and I read while Mila naps. When she’s awake he’ll sit by himself or come in and chat with us. It's not really chatting though, I usually read Mila a few chapters from her book, or we watch an episode of the first cooking show we can find. She says it makes her feel like she's not missing out on eating. That she wants to eat so badly she thinks it curbs the hunger she's always feeling but at the same time, she said she can't fathom the idea of doing it because it always comes back up. I've got a note on my phone of all the things she wants to eat again and I've decided we're going to put all of the options in a jar and pick one out for a shared potluck dinner once a month. This little group of people has slowly morphed into being my family, with Porter at the centre of it.

The crash of a door swinging open gets our attention and we both leap up from our quiet moment. Heavy footsteps echo down the halls as Porter moves to stand in front of me slightly, the glint of some sort of hunting knife in his hand.

Where the fuck did he pull a knife from?

The crash of another door bangs and slightly muffled voices can be heard timidly telling whoever it is causing a scene to calm down.

“WHERE. IS. MY. WIFE.”

The roar of the man is deafening as it echoes across the ward and I instantly know who it is.

Dante.

Back from the dead or whatever hell hole he was just in. Little does he know he's in my territory now and he's got a fight ahead of him if he thinks he's getting past me with that sort of entrance.

His steps grow louder and I swear the walls are vibrating with each thud. I see his shadow before he turns the corner, his face going through a hundred expressions in the seconds he takes to register we’re standing in front of what he wants. He looks weathered. The strain of the last few weeks clearly showing on him.

“Charlie,” he says in a low growl, the anxiety rolling off him in waves.

Porter takes a step closer to my side, looking him dead in the eye.

“Careful now sasquatch, you wouldn't want to accidentally fall on my knife for insulting what’s mine now, would you?”

“Stay out of thisVdovets.You already failed at keeping one woman safe.” Dante spits the words at Porter so venomously that I'm taken aback at the coldness he's showing,andthat he mentioned the woman that Porter lost so freely.

With unbelievable speed, Porter's knife is at Dante's throat before I even have time to understand what the fuck is happening. Typical men making everything about them.

“Absolutely not!” I say, getting in between them both. “Abso ...” I say, poking my finger into Dante's chest, “lutely ...” another poke, “NOT.”

Giving Porter a push away, I turn my attention to Dante. Hissing the words at him, “Thisis not about you. I know you've just gotten back from whatever hero thing you were doing but you will not come into her room with all of this hostility.” Waving my hand around him, I continue “Have you ever grown a baby? Have you ever painstakingly cell by cell grown a human being while it literally sucks the life from you. No, I didn't thinkyou had,” not waiting for him to answer. “Every day the woman inside that room is fighting for her and her baby's life and you going in there guns blazing is not helping her in the slightest. You need to check yourself right now, big guy. I don't give a fuck about what you think you’re entitled to right now because all I know is what she's been doing, and that's sacrificing. Her body, her mental health, her entire world has fallen apart from this sickness and you better go in there and do nothing but worship her. Got it?”

My chest is heaving. I’m hot, angry, and wound up tighter than a priest at choir practice; but there is no way my best friend has gone through all of this for him to go barging in there like a bull and upset her in any way, shape, or form.

Taking a deep breath I look up at him, noticing Porter leaning on the wall behind, smirking at the scene I've now created.

“Now. If you can go in there and try not to wake her, she's been worried sick about you. No pun intended,” I sass, moving away from the door to let him pass.

His jaw is clenched and he gives me a quick nod before quietly opening the door, stopping for a moment when I say, “Oh and Dante, it's really good to see you back home. We've all missed you.”

Chapter 26 - Porter

---