Page 131 of Dragon 7

I should fucking be there.

But I knew if Kenji or Hiro saw me anywhere near that battlefield, they would lose their fucking minds.

They would stop fighting.

They would stop thinking.

They would come for me, and the war would still be unfinished, and more men would die because I could not sit still in a basement and trust the men I loved to do what they had spent their entire lives training to do.

So I stayed and watched the doctor lay out materials on the rolling table beside the incubator—a small bottle, a square of gauze, a needle so thin it disappeared against the light. “Are the twins okay?”

“Yes. Surprisingly so.” The doctor uncapped a small white plastic device with a hidden needle inside. "Right now I’m checking bilirubin again, blood glucose, and another newborn screening sample. Their hematocrit looked good earlier, so I'm hoping these little gentlemen continue to cooperate so I can help the other doctors."

“Okay.”

“They’re so sweet.” She reached into the incubator through the porthole and gently gathered the smaller twin's foot into her gloved hand.

His heel looked impossibly small.

She rubbed it between her fingers for a few seconds. "Warming the heel first helps the circulation."

I looked at my own hands. An hour ago they had been around Kiko's throat. I had felt her windpipe go flat under my thumbs and the shape of her neck change. And now those same hands had soothed her newborns. I had expected to feel something after killing Kiko. Grief, sickness, or even guilt.

Now it was just a hollow place where the rage had been, and that scared the shit out of me.

Humming to herself, the doctor brought out a square of gauze, dabbed the twin’s skin, and gave the small heel a tiny prick.

So tiny I barely saw it.

The baby jerked, and his face scrunched into a fierce little knot as his mouth stretched open.

The cry arrived a heartbeat later.

My heart ached.

"Oh, sweetheart." The doctor caught the first bright bead of blood in a narrow collection tube. "I know. I know. You're telling me exactly how unfair I am."

The tiny cries became sharp little hiccupping wails.

Without thinking, I slipped my hand back through the porthole.

"It's okay." My fingertips rested against his side. "I'm here."

His crying softened and he leaned the smallest fraction toward my hand.

The doctor looked up with raised brows. "He knows your touch already."

Warmth filled my chest. “Maybe.”

The doctor continued collecting several more crimson drops before pressing fresh gauze against the heel. "Perfect."

She wrapped the foot in the gauze for another moment before releasing it. "Now your brother."

That twin is going to see it coming.

Sure enough before she even reached in, the other twin wrinkled his tiny nose, sniffled once, and then twice. Next, his little fists opened and closed inside the sleeves of his blue onesie.

She gently grabbed his foot and warmed the second heel exactly the same way.