Chapter 18: Come to Me

Leah's POV

The hospital smelled the way I remembered.

Floor wax and hot plastic and antiseptic.

The same ceiling tiles had the same brown water stain over the elevator.

My legs wanted to stop.

Miles had a hand at the small of my back, and I walked through the double doors anyway.

They took Brooke into a curtained bay in the emergency ward.

Dean sat in a chair outside it with his head down and his hands hanging between his knees.

A police officer stood three feet from him.

I stood in the corridor.

A nurse with a clipboard passed me, then a man pushing a gurney, then two aides in blue scrubs, and the lights hummed.

Miles stayed at my shoulder and said nothing, and I was more grateful than I could tell him.

The curtain slid back.

A doctor stepped out, tired and young, with a tablet under her arm.

"Family of Brooke Tanner?"

Dean stood up.

"I'm... a friend."

"Ms. Tanner is stable. She fainted, which can happen under stress."

The doctor looked at her screen.

"She asked us to confirm a pregnancy. We ran a blood test."

Brooke's voice came through the gap in the curtain, high and urgent.

"Don't tell them that. That's private."

"It isn't positive," the doctor said, kindly and plainly. "She is not pregnant."

Dean closed his eyes.

An aide near the water fountain turned to look.

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