Page 127 of Not Mine to Rescue

That sounded...nice. In another life, another situation, I’d take advantage of that.

“You almost died because of me… because of Molly, and that’s on me.”

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat. You, Molly, Dumb Ass, and hopefully, our⁠—”

I had to cut him off. “It’s only been three months.”

“That’s the first milestone. Jim’s been in my ear about it, and I’ve been reading a lot. Three is huge.”

It was. I was counting my days in hours, minutes, and seconds. Comparing notes every moment I was awake. I had nothing to distract me from it now. My voice was hoarse when I admitted, “Five months and sixteen days is the next one. He was too small to make it.”

Wombat crossed the space between us and sat down next to me to take my hand. “And then twenty-five weeks. That’s even better odds.”

We sat in silence. Molly settled onto her bed next to my desk. It had been unused for a long time. Too many things floated through my troubles to focus on anything, except one thing. “Forty weeks.” I spoke it out loud. A first for me.

Wombat turned to face me. “Do you honestly think we’ll get there?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I am…” Scared to fucking death. The words hung in the air as if I’d spoken them out loud.

He must have picked up on that. “We’ll do it one day at a time.”

I remembered him saying that before, but I needed reassurance, a strong shoulder to lean on, someone to give me a safe space to make my armor “shiny.”

“Together?” I asked.

Wombat nodded and then grinned. “May I stay the night?”

That glint in his eye tipped me off. “You’re going to sleep here?”

“Sure.”

Liar. He didn’t plan on sleeping.

“Where are you going to sleep?” Sue me, I was fishing.

“Wherever you want me to,” he said earnestly.

Ah, he planted the choice in my hands. That was nice... “My room?” Sure, it was a question, but he needed to choose, too.

“I’d like that.” He picked up my hand and kissed my knuckles. “I’d like that a lot.”

I brushed the hair out of his eyes with my free hand. “I’ve missed you.”

“Really?”

There was a brief hesitation in my wobbly nod. I missed a lot of things. But I’d also found a few things. Like time to read for fun. Time to explore who I was. What I wanted. What I stood to lose. It drove home how futile I’d been chasing things that didn’t make me complete. Sure, a lot of what I wanted was likely impossible, but one thing I desired was right here, sitting next to me. I started the negotiations with a number. “Two. And I hope I don’t throw up on you.”

A question sat in his gaze. “Two?”

“Yes, two.” I sent as sultry of a gaze I could muster in his direction.

He grinned. “Only two?”

“I’m a bit tired lately.” Even though I couldn’t do much more than sleep due to my circumstances.

His scan swept down my body and back. “Are your tits getting bigger?”

“Ugh! That’s gross, why did you ask that?”