Chapter 102: The Door

Haley peeked out from the bedroom, one hand still on the doorframe. The moment she saw Ethan her eyes brightened and she hurried across the room, stopping just short of him as if she could not decide whether to throw her arms around him or check the bandages first.

“Ethan!”

He managed a small smile. “Hey, Haley.”

She looked up at him, then at the bloodstained wraps showing through the torn shirt. “Are you hurt?”

“Just a little.”

Debbie shot him a look that said she did not believe a word of it. “A little? You’re covered in bandages.” She settled Nina carefully on the sofa, made sure the girl stayed asleep, and went straight for the medical kit she kept under the counter. A soft white glow rose around her hands as she began working over the worst of the cuts. The familiar warmth of her Healing Ability moved through him, easing the lingering pain in his ribs and accelerating the mending of torn tissue. He let out a quiet breath. Even after the Core and an hour of rest, he could feel the difference once her ability took hold. The ache did not vanish, but it stopped feeling like every movement might reopen something.

“By the way,” he said, watching the white light fade from her fingers, “I found Daisy. She’s safe.”

Debbie went still. For a moment she only stared at him. Then her shoulders dropped and the tight line of her mouth loosened. “She’s alive?”

He nodded. “She’s with the others. I brought everyone to a secure shelter beneath the library.”

Debbie lowered her head. The tension that had been sitting on her for days finally began to ease. She had been holding herself together for Nina and Haley, but the not-knowing about Daisy had been eating at her the whole time. “Thank goodness,” she whispered. Her eyes filled before she could stop them. “If she hadn’t come back, I thought…” She could not finish the sentence.

Ethan reached out and brushed a tear from her cheek with the side of his thumb. “It’s all right. You don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

Debbie nodded and tried to pull herself back together. After a moment he glanced around the apartment. Something felt off. There were fewer bags and blankets scattered than he remembered from the last time he had been here, and two of the places where people usually slept were empty. “Where are Rose and Sofia?”

The relief on Debbie’s face faded at once. Worry took its place so quickly that his stomach tightened. “Rose went looking for Daisy two days ago,” she said quietly. “She said she couldn’t sit around waiting any longer. She hasn’t come back.”

He frowned. “And Sofia?”

Debbie’s fingers tightened on the edge of the medical kit. “She was worried about her mother. Yesterday morning she went out to look for her.” She swallowed. “I haven’t heard anything from either of them.”

His expression grew serious. Two more people missing. The streets were getting worse by the hour. Every stretch of time that passed without word made it less likely they would be found in one piece. He walked into the living room and stopped beside the coffee table. His fingertip brushed the edge of the wood. A faint spatial fluctuation settled over the surface, almost too soft to notice unless someone was looking for it. Space Anchor Point. He stepped back and turned to Debbie.

“You and the children are coming with me. Go to the air-raid shelter and meet up with Daisy. I’ll stay here and look for Rose and Sofia.”

Debbie hesitated. “Ethan, shouldn’t we search together?”

“No. You need to get Nina and Haley somewhere safe. I’ll move faster on my own, and I can come back here whenever I need to.”

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded. She knew arguing would only burn time they did not have. He transferred Nina and Haley into the Survival Space first, making sure they were settled on the soft ground under the open sky. He told Haley to stay beside the sleeping Nina and not wander. Haley nodded, serious for once, and sat down with her back against one of the low stones that had appeared during the last expansion.

Then he turned to Debbie. She seemed to understand what he intended before he said anything. A faint blush rose on her cheeks.

“Ethan…”

He took her hand. “Come with me for a moment.” He led her into the bedroom and closed the door behind them.

The room was dim. Light from the broken window cut a pale line across the floor. Debbie stood with her back against the door for a second, then stepped closer. She did not speak. She simply lifted her hands and began to unbutton his ruined shirt, careful around the bandages. Her fingers were steady even though her breathing was not. He let her. When the shirt was open she pressed her forehead against his chest and stayed there, listening to his heartbeat as if she needed the proof that he was still here.

He ran a hand through her hair and kissed the top of her head. She looked up. The kiss that followed was slow and careful at first, then deeper once she decided she wanted more. She guided him toward the bed. He followed. They undressed each other without rushing, pausing when the bandages snagged or when she needed a moment to breathe. When she lay back he settled over her and kissed her again, one hand braced beside her shoulder so he would not put weight on the worst of his injuries. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer.

They took their time. He moved carefully, watching her face, adjusting when her breath caught. She kept one hand on the back of his neck and the other on his side, careful of the wrapped ribs. The room stayed quiet except for the soft sounds they made and the occasional distant groan of something moving on the street outside. When she tightened around him and came, she turned her face into his shoulder to muffle the sound. He followed a moment later, holding still inside her while both of them caught their breath. They stayed like that for a while. He did not pull away immediately. She kept her arms around him and traced slow lines along his back until the urgency faded into something quieter.

Two hours later Debbie had recovered most of her composure, though a trace of fatigue still sat under her eyes. Ethan brought her into the Survival Space and transported her to the air-raid shelter, where Daisy and the others could look after her. Daisy took one look at Debbie’s face, then at Ethan, and wisely said nothing. She simply pulled her sister into a hug and led her toward the cots.

After he made sure everyone was settled and that the shelter’s entrance was still sealed, he returned to Riverview Heights. The apartment was quiet again. The Space Anchor Point still rested on the coffee table, a faint mark waiting for him. Outside, the pale light of dawn had strengthened. The streets of the western district were as dangerous as they had been when he arrived. Rose and Sofia were still missing. He had a place to come back to. Now he had to find them before the city took them for good.

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!