The celebration in the Black Box hallway was a whisper compared to the silent, clinical war still being waged behind the ICU doors. Astraea was safe in her bulletproof nursery, but the "Queen of the Fortress" was currently balanced on the razor's edge between life and death.
The ICU Atmosphere: "Code White"
The ICU wing had been completely sterilized and isolated. Keifer had ordered Section E to guard the vents, the roof, and the electrical room. Inside the room, the only sound was the rhythmic, mechanical whoosh-hiss of the ventilator helping Jay breathe and the frantic, high-pitched blip-blip-blip of the heart monitor.
Ci n, Mica, and Freya hadn't changed out of their blood-stained scrubs. They were hovering over the monitors like restless ghosts.
Her hemoglobin is still critical," Mica whispered, adjusting the IV drip. "We've cycled through ten units of blood. Her body is in shock, Ci n."
Ci n didn't look up from the tablet. His eyes were bloodshot. "The hysterectomy stopped the main hemorrhage, but the secondary oozing from the bladder wall is the problem. If we can't get her clotting factors up in the next hour, she'll slip into multi-organ failure."
POV: Keifer (Mark Keifer Watson)
I sat in a chair pulled tight against her bed, my suit jacket discarded, my sleeves rolled up. I was holding her hand—the hand that was usually so warm and steady, now cold and as pale as marble.
"Look at her, Ci n," I said, my voice sounding like it was being dragged over gravel. "Why isn't she waking up? You said the surgery was over."
"She's in a medically induced coma, Keifer," Ci n said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "We have to keep her under. If she wakes up now, the pain and the stress will send her heart into arrest. We're letting the machines do the work so her soul can rest."
I didn't care about the science. I looked at the tubes snaking into her throat and the wires attached to her chest. This was my wifey. The woman who gave me "Savage" replies and looked at me with so much love it made me feel invincible.
You promised me, Jay," I whispered into her ear, ignoring the doctors. "You promised you wouldn't leave me with the kids. I'm holding you to that. If you don't wake up, I'm going to find the doctor who did this and—"
"I did the surgery, Keifer," Ci n interrupted softly. "If you want to blame someone, blame me. But right now, just talk to her. She can hear you."
The Family Vigil
Outside the glass partition, the family was a mess of raw emotion.
Ma (Jeena) was leaning against the glass, her hand pressed against where Jay's head was. Pa Pa (Jasper) was holding her, his face a mask of silent prayer.
Alexander was sitting on the floor with Keigan and Keiran. He wasn't playing with his cars. He was holding the tiny knitted bonnet Ma had made. "Is Mumma sleeping because she's tired from the ninja?" he asked.
Keiran (who calls Jay 'Mumma') couldn't stop crying. He was leaning against Keigan's shoulder. "She has to wake up, Kuya. The house is too quiet without her yelling at us."
Section E was standing in a line. Percy (Blue Eyes) was pacing, his eyes darting to every monitor. Aries (Horoscope) was sitting cross-legged, holding a massive piece of obsidian. "I'm grounding her energy," he murmured. "I'm pulling the darkness out so the light can stay."
The Turning Point
Suddenly, the monitor let out a sharp, jagged alarm. Beep-beep-beep-beep!
"Tachycardia!" Freya shouted. "Her heart rate is spiking! She's fighting the ventilator!"
"Jay! Jay, stay calm!" Ci n lunged for the sedative, but I stood up, blocking him.
"No!" I roared. "She's trying to come back! Jay! Wifey! Open your eyes!"
"Keifer, move! She's going to rupture the internal stitches!"
I ignored them. I leaned over her, my face inches from hers. "Jasper Jean Mariano Watson! Your daughter is waiting for you! Alexander is waiting! I am waiting! Don't you dare give up now! FIGHT!"
The room was a blur of medical alarms and shouting. Section E pressed against the glass. Alexander stood up, screaming, "MUMMA! WAKE UP!"
Then, as quickly as it started, the alarms stopped. The heart rate began to level out.
Ci n stared at the monitor, breathless. "She's stabilizing. Her oxygen saturation is climbing. She's... she's breathing on her own, Keifer. The machine is barely doing anything now."
The First Breath
A slow, fluttering movement caught my eye. Her eyelashes, dark against her pale skin, trembled. Then, with a small, pained moan, her eyes opened.
They weren't focused at first, but then they landed on me. The "Starlight" was faint, but it was there.
"H...hubby?" she whispered, the sound muffled by the oxygen mask.
I let out a sob that felt like it had been trapped in my chest for a lifetime. I buried my face in the side of her neck, my tears soaking the hospital pillow. "I'm here, wifey. I'm here."
"The... baby?" she gasped, her hand searching for mine.
"She's perfect, Jay," I choked out. "She's a ninja. She has your eyes. She's waiting for you."
Jay closed her eyes again, but this time, she was smiling. The "Critical" status hadn't vanished—she still had weeks of recovery ahead—but the war was over. The Queen had reclaimed her throne.