"TAKE A DEEP breath, Sloan," Warren said as we sat in the waiting room of Dr. Watts' office the next Friday for my twenty-week checkup.

My knee wouldn't stop bouncing.

The front door of the practice swung into the waiting room and my dad walked in. "Did I miss it?"

I shook my head, tapping my nails against the side of my chair. "Nope. Still waiting. She's a little behind today."

He looked around. "Is it just the three of us?"

I clicked my heels together. "Yep. Az and Lamal drove to Claymore yesterday for the next few weeks. Reuel is in the car."

"They're both gone for a few weeks?" Dad asked, surprised.

My toes were tap dancing under my seat. "Yep. Azrael wanted to be there for something with Nathan's training, and he took Lamal with him so that The Destroyer wouldn't be tempted to crash through my house again. They're going to be gone almost a whole month. It's glorious."

Dad seemed a little puzzled as he sat next to me. "Is that safe? He's been such a close guard all this time."

Warren nodded. "She's well protected, Dr. Jordan."

"Of course she is. No offense intended, son," Dad said.

Warren smiled. "None taken, but really, you shouldn't worry. There's always a team nearby, even if you don't see them."

Dad let out a sigh. "That does make me feel better. Thank you."

I drummed my nails on the armrests of my chair until Dad put his hand on top of mine to stop it. "Sloan, why are you so jittery?"

"She's going to have a lot of explaining to do today with the bruising on her stomach and the scar on her uterus," Warren answered for me.

Dad curled his arm around my shoulders. "Tell her the truth. Or a watery version of the truth."

I raked my fingers through my hair. "Too many people are finding out about me. Nathan's whole family, now the doctor…"

"And nothing bad has happened. Right, Warren?" Dad asked.

Warren put pressure on my bouncing knee. "Nothing at all."

"Sloan Jordan?" the nurse called out as she entered from the hallway.

I popped up out of my chair so quickly I got a head rush. "Here!"

She looked twice when she saw the fading bruises on my face, but she didn't say anything. "C…Come on back." She stuttered slightly.

"Can they come too?" I asked.

She looked at Warren with wide eyes and finally nodded. "Of course."

"She thinks I'm a wife beater," he whispered.

"What did you expect?"

Our first stop was the scales. Shockingly, I'd only gained about five pounds that month and I'd lost the food diary right after Chicago. She scribbled the number down, then led us to the exam room where she took all my vitals and asked all the routine questions.

Have you had any nausea? Only when I thought about demons coming to take my baby.

Are you feeling the baby move? All the time, like she was training to be a gymnast.

Have you noticed any fluid or vaginal bleeding? Not since my uterus was ripped open.

Have you had any contractions? See previous question.

Of course I didn't say those answers out loud.

"Dr. Watts will be in shortly," she said and left the room.

Warren offered me a high five. "Only five pounds this month. Congratulations."

I shot him the bird instead of slapping his hand. He laughed and kissed my forehead. My father sighed and shook his head.

There was a light knock on the door, then Dr. Watts walked inside. "Hello, Sloan."

I waved. "Hello."

She froze. "My stars. Are those bruises? What happened to you?"

My nose wrinkled. "I was in an accident a couple of weeks ago." I pointed at Warren. "I promise, he didn't do it."

She gripped my chin and turned my face to the side. "No one is assuming he did, but what kind of accident?"

"Train."

Her mouth fell open. "You were in a train accident?"

I nodded. "Well, not so much an accident as an incident, but a subway train derailed in Chicago."

"Oh. I heard about that, I think. It happened downtown?" she asked.

"That's the one." I pointed to my dad, hoping to lighten the mood. "Look who's here."

It worked. Her face brightened when she saw my father. "Hi, Dr. Jordan. This is a pleasant surprise."

He gave her one-armed hug. "It's good to see you," he said. "I hope you don't mind a proud grandpa crashing an ultrasound."

She smiled. "I'm honored. Have a seat. Sloan, how have you been feeling? Any belly trauma in that accident?" she asked.

"Maybe a little."

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised. Let's check you out." She flipped on the machine by the exam table. "Go ahead and pull your shirt up for me."

I sucked in a deep breath. "About that."

Her brow lifted in question.

"I don't want you to freak out," I said. "But it was pretty intense belly trauma."

"And you didn't call me?"

"I went to the hospital in Chicago. They said the baby's fine," I said.

"What kind of belly trauma?"

"The worst kind."

She stared at me.

"You should prepare yourself. If you think my face is bad, I'm afraid my stomach is much worse," I said.

I slowly pulled my shirt up to my ribs. The smile-shaped bruise that stretched from beneath my bellybutton to well below my panty line had faded to lighter shades of brown and green, but it was still horrifying to behold. That was obvious from the doctor's gasp, which was a pitchy note well above middle-C. "Sloan!"

I threw my hands up. "I warned you it was bad, but I'm fine."

She looked like she might cry. "What happened?"

My dad took a step toward the ultrasound machine. "Emily, maybe we should start with the ultrasound so you can see for yourself that the baby is fine. That will make it a little easier to stomach when you hear the whole story."

Dr. Watts was visibly shaking, but she nodded and moved over in front of the machine. She cleared her throat as she squeezed warm blue jelly on my stomach. "Try to relax."

I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or herself.

She took the ultrasound wand and pressed it into the jelly, then she moved it a few inches below my bellybutton. The computer screen filled with black blobs and gray fuzz. She moved it around.

"There she is!" I pointed excitedly at the screen when the shape of the baby filled the black space.

Dr. Watts breathed an audible sigh of relief.

I covered my mouth with my hand. "I can actually see her without being shown this time," I said with a laugh. "She really looks like a baby now."

Dad chuckled. "What did she look like before?"

Warren answered "an alien" and I answered "a bobblehead" at the same time.

"Is that her hand up by her head?" Warren asked.

"It is." Dr. Watts pointed to a flashing black spot. "And there's the heart. Let's see if we can get some sound." She flipped a switch, and the glorious sound of her heartbeat filled the room. Warren squeezed my hand.

"Are you two still sure it's a girl?" she asked.

I nodded. "Pretty confident."

"Will you be disappointed if it's a boy?"

Warren laughed. "We're pretty sure it's not a boy."

Dr. Watts looked at my dad. "It's like these two have a crystal ball or something. I've never heard two parents more certain. Let's try to get a different angle here." She moved the wand around some more. "Ah, OK. See these three little white lines?" She clicked a button and the screen froze.

I strained my eyes. "Yeah."

Warren nodded. "What's that?"

She smiled. "That's your confirmation. You were right. It's a girl."

Warren kissed my lips. He had tears in his eyes.

"It's a girl!" Dad cheered, clapping his hands together.

I smiled at Dr. Watts. "I told you so."

She nodded. "Yes, you did. Congratulations."

I sat up on my elbows. "I also told you she was fine."

She nodded again.

I pointed to the screen. "Now I want you to look for the source of all that blood under my skin. Look around a bit and you should see a scar on my uterus."

She unfroze the screen and moved the wand again. "Huh." She pointed to the screen and traced a faint gray streak with her finger. "I don't understand."

I moved to sit up, and jelly got all over my pants and shirt. "Eww." Dad pulled some tissues out of a box and handed them to me. I cleaned off my clothes, then tossed it in the wastebasket.

Dr. Watts pulled a pen from her jacket pocket.

I held up my hand to stop her. "I need you to not write this down."

"Uh…"

I took a deep breath. "I'm about to tell you something you're going to think is nuts. I can assure you, I'm not crazy, but I need you to know a few things if you're going to deliver our daughter."

Dad put his hand on my arm. "I encouraged Sloan to talk to you so that you'll know all the facts before she goes into labor."

She crossed one leg over the other. "OK?" It sounded like a question.

My hands were sweaty. I sucked in another deep breath. "I'm sorry, this is hard."

She rolled her chair closer and put her hand on my knee. "I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is."

Dad chuckled. "No, it probably is."

"Thanks, Dad."

"When the train left the tracks and came up on the platform of the train station, I was thrown through the air. I collided with a metal structure before landing hard on my stomach. My uterus ruptured. That's what you saw on the ultrasound," I said.

Her gaze was fixed, like she was staring right through me. "That's not possible. If your uterus had ruptured at this stage in the pregnancy, the fetus would have been lost. It would have required major surgery, possibly a full hysterectomy, and you could have died."

"I warned you it sounded crazy, but I'm telling you that's what happened. Did you ever see that scar there before?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "No, but—"

"You didn't see it because it wasn't there," I said slowly.

I pulled up my shirt and touched the bruising. "That's why there's so much blood. The wound healed, but the bruises fade normally, unfortunately."

She touched her temples. "This isn't medically possible."

I nodded. "I know."

"Emily," Dad said, causing her to look up. "I'm a doctor, too, remember. I know we're not trained to accept things for which we can't see a reason, but Sloan is telling you the truth."

"Dr. Watts, I understand if you don't want to be my doctor anymore, but whoever delivers her needs to know at least this much of the truth. I don't know what may happen when she's born, but as I understand it, these kinds of ruptures can be quite serious."

She nodded. "Uterine ruptures can be fatal for you and your baby."

I smiled. "Well, I'm not that easy to kill, if it makes you feel any better."

She didn't laugh, and she didn't speak for what felt like an eternity. She simply stared at the tiled floor like she was doing a calculus problem in her head. Maybe she was trying to come up with a nice way to tell us to get the hell out of her office.

"Dr. Watts?" I asked, drawing her attention back to us.

She took a deep breath and let it out quickly. Then she leaned to put her hand on mine. "You're right. This all sounds nuts to me, but"—she squeezed my fingers—"I've known your family for a decade. You're not crazy and you're not a liar. I'll still be your doctor."

I fully exhaled for the first time all day. "Thank you."

"Now, I need you to lie back so I can get some measurements," she said.

* * *

"Well that turned out better than you expected," Warren said, taking my hand as we left her office and walked down the hallway.

My father slapped him on the back. "And you're having a very healthy baby girl."

"Yes, we are." Warren pulled me against his side and wrapped his arm around my waist.

When we reached the elevator, Warren pressed the down button and my father pressed the up one. "Are you two headed home?" Dad asked.

I nodded. "I think I'm going to go home and take a hot bath, then pass out till it's time for Warren to feed me."

Dad laughed. "That sounds like a great idea. I wish I could do the same. Alas, I must go back to work and try to heal people the old-fashioned way."

I smiled up at my dad. "I can go with you if you'd like and cut your day short."

"As tempting as that sounds, I'm going to let you go home and take your bath." He gave me a hug. "Thanks for letting me come to your appointment."

"Of course. I'm so glad you wanted to." I gave him a hug as the elevator doors slid open.

"I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too, Dad."

On our drive home, Reuel sat in the front and I wedged my only-five-pounds-bigger frame into the tiny back seat of the Challenger. Warren looked at me in the rearview and smiled. "Since it's official, can we finally pick out a name for her?"

"Of course we can," I said. "Although, I need to warn you that someone, I won't name any names, is insisting that if it's a girl we call her Adrianne and if it's a boy, then Adrian, without the last n and e."

He laughed. "Why would we name our baby anything else?"

"Do you mind if we swing by her shop since we're so close? She said she'd cut my hair if I came by," I said.

"Sure." He glanced at his watch. "I might actually let Reuel stay with you. I need to run a quick errand." He looked at Reuel. "Is that OK?"

Reuel grunted and nodded his head.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"No being nosy," he said. "Not this close to the wedding."

I rubbed my palms together. "I love your surprises."

He laughed. "I hope so."

I leaned against the back of his seat and traced my finger along the seam of his shirt. "So, did you have any baby names in mind?"

He glanced back at me again. "I was thinking maybe we could name her Audrey, after your mother."

I clasped my hands over my heart. "That's so sweet. You would really do that?"

"Absolutely. I loved your mother," he said.

I leaned my head back against the seat. "Man, I miss her."

He reached back and patted the side of my knee. "I know you do."

"What about your mom? What if we named her Audrey Nadine?" I suggested.

He shook his head. "I'd rather not. I never knew her, so I don't feel like it would be honoring her life as much as it would be memorializing her absence."

"I guess that makes sense," I said. "I wonder if Nathan's had any luck with finding out more about it."

He shifted in his seat and reached into his back jeans pocket. "That reminds me. You got a letter in the mail." He handed me a white envelope over his shoulder.

"Really?"

I recognized Nathan's handwriting on the address at once. I slipped my finger under the flap and ripped it open.

Sloan,

Azrael wasn't joking. I'm not allowed to have a phone. I'm not sure why I thought he might be because we all know he wasn't born with a sense of humor. This place sucks balls. I'm not sure what I was thinking. I had a good job with a good department, and I gave it up to be yelled at while doing pushups. I've got my fingers crossed that this will all be worth it in the end, but I'm doubtful after the last couple of days. He's supposed to get here tomorrow. That should be interesting.

I feel like Azrael runs a shady operation here. There are places that are completely restricted, even from me, and yet he wants me to take over someday. How much sense does that make? I hope he's not doing anything illegal. You know I can't be party to that. Ask Warren and see if he knows anything about a building they call Echo-10. I'm going to do some digging and see what I can find out on my own. If I ever get any free time, that is.

It's almost lights out. Write back if you get a chance. I hope you and the baby are doing OK.

-Nate

P.S. Tell Warren my mom called after I left your house and asked if he beats you. That should make him feel good about himself.

I decided not to tell Warren about what Kathy had said.

"How's he doing?" Warren asked as he pulled into a parking space on the street near Adrianne's salon.

"He says it sucks," I said, folding up the letter and sticking it back in the envelope.

He nodded and put the car in park. "It does suck."

"Are you coming in?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to go say hello," he said.

Reuel got out of the car and pushed the front passenger's seat up for me. He offered a hand and pulled me out as Warren came over and met us on the sidewalk. "So you had to go through Claymore's boot camp too?"

"Everyone goes through it," Warren said.

"Why, if you've already been through the military?"

He shrugged and slipped on his black sunglasses. "I think it's so they know we're all trained the same way."

"Makes sense, I guess."

"It's tough though. As hard as RECON school."

"Nathan wants to know if you've ever heard of a building called Echo-10," I said.

He took my hand as we walked down the street. "Yeah, everyone's heard of it. Did he get to go inside?"

"No. I think it's making him nervous. He's wondering if Az might be doing illegal stuff in there."

Warren nodded. "The rumor when I worked there was that there are ten torture chambers in that building. They say it's called Echo-10 because all you can hear inside of it are the echoes of your own screams."

"Geez. Do you believe that?" I stopped walking and Reuel caught my shoulders before bumping into me.

He laughed. "I wouldn't be at all surprised."

The welcome bells chimed when we walked through the door of the Merrimon Avenue Salon. Reuel stayed outside by the window. There were two other stylists working, and Adrianne was painting color onto an older woman's hair near the window. "Hey! What are you guys doing here?" she asked, wrapping the hair in her hands in a square of tin foil.

I twirled a long brown strand of my hair around my finger. "You said you'd cut it, remember? Do you have time?"

"I will in about two minutes, as soon as I put Mrs. Antley under the dryer."

I held up a warning finger. "Only a trim. I don't want you to go all 'Adrianne' on my hair and chop it off. Got it?"

She smiled. "Of course. How was your appointment today?"

Warren walked over and handed her the ultrasound photo he'd stuck in his pocket. "She's perfect. And the doctor confirmed today that she is a girl."

"Yay! I'm so happy for you…and for me because I'll get to braid her hair and take her shopping!"

He looked back at me. "Our kid's not even born yet and she's already creating a monster."

I pointed at her. "If she's half as bad of an influence on her as she was on me, we'd better start saving up bail money now."

He nodded. "I can believe that." He tucked the picture back in his pocket, came over, and pushed my hair behind my ear. "You sure you're all right if I take off for a little bit?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Hey, Adrianne. About how long will this take?" he asked.

She thought for a second, then shook her head. "Not long. Half an hour, maybe."

"Perfect." He kissed my lips. "I'll be back."

Warren left, and Adrianne helped Mrs. Antley over to the stationary hair dryer in the corner, then lowered the dryer over the woman's head and twisted the dial on the timer. "Where's he going?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I have no idea."

She flipped on the television that was mounted in the corner of the room before walking back to her station. "All right, girlfriend. Get your butt over here before my next client shows up."

I walked to her chair while she retrieved a clean, long black smock from the linen closet in the corner. When I sat, she fastened the smock around my neck. I stared at her in the mirror. "I mean it, Adrianne. Don't you dare whack all my hair off without asking. I want to be able to wear it up for the wedding."

She spun me around to face her. "Don't play the wedding card with me. We both know you want it long enough to yank it up in a ponytail when you don't feel like washing your hair."

I smiled. "And that is why you're my best friend."

"Speaking of wedding stuff, what are your plans next week?" She hosed my hair with water from her spray bottle. "We've got work to do."

I crossed my arms. "So now that Azrael is out of town, you want to make time for me?"

She combed my long bangs over my face. "Something like that. We need to visit the florist and the caterer."

"Yeah," I said. "Brienne needs the order for the cake too. I promised her I would get it done."

"How are you doing with the guest list?" she asked.

"The what?"

She sliced my bangs off below my chin. "Sloan!"

I held my hands up. "You didn't tell me to make a list."

Exasperated, she put a hand on her hip. "Do I have to tell you everything?"

"Yes!"

She leaned in my face, bracing her hands on the armrests of my chair. "I need you to make a list of everyone you're inviting to the wedding. We need names and addresses."

"What about emails?"

She thumped me on the head with her comb. "We're not sending email invitations." She moved to the left side of my head. "And you need to finish the list tonight and tomorrow so we can put the invitations together on Sunday and mail them on Monday."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do we have invitations?"

She sighed. "One of my clients does them and we ordered fifty from her. You paid for them, remember?"

I squished my mouth over to one side.

She groaned.

"Do I have them?" I asked.

"No. I have them. I don't trust you." Adrianne shook my shoulders. "All I need you to do is create a guest list with addresses. It's not that hard."

"OK. I can handle it," I said.

"Yes, you can," she said, combing out another section of my hair.

On the television to my right, I heard the familiar syrupy-sweet and over-rehearsed voice of my arch-nemesis. My head whipped toward the television. "This is WKNC news at noon! Hello and welcome, I'm Shannon Green and this is your—"

"Oh my god!" Adrianne shrieked.

I threw my hands toward the television. "I know! Can you believe they let her—"

"No, Sloan! Your hair!"

I looked up to see the horrified countenance of my best friend. "What? What happened?"

She covered her mouth with her hand and squealed. "Her voice…and then you looked, and I looked and your head moved…" She picked up a huge chunk of hair at the back of my head. "I was cutting the side, and when you moved your head, I caught this back piece between the blades."

My mouth fell open as she lifted the severed bunch that was at least a half an inch thick.

"There's no way I can blend this." Adrianne looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Sloan, I'm so sorry."

I looked at Adrianne. I looked at the television. I looked at the clump of hair in Adrianne's hand, then I looked back at Shannon Green's bouncy blond head on the TV screen. "Oh my god!" Instead of crying, I erupted in giggles.

Adrianne exchanged a nervous glance with one of her coworkers as I went into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"Shannon Green butchered my hair!" I covered my face and howled into my hand. "Of course she did! It's like her ongoing revenge!"

After a second, Adrianne started to relax. I spun around in the chair and took the hair from her hand. "It's not your fault, Adrianne." I pointed the hair at the screen.

"It's Shannon's fault!" We both screamed and laughed together.

Warren's eyes were huge when he walked back into the salon a half an hour later. "Whoa."

"Do you like it?" I asked.

He nodded as he walked over. "I really like it."

Adrianne ended up cutting it all short in the back and layering it longer toward the front, creating an angled bob with long bangs that framed my face. I kind of looked like Posh Spice, but when was that ever a bad thing?

His head fell to the side. "I don't think you'll be putting it up in a ponytail anytime soon."

I sighed. "Nope, but Adrianne promised it will be easy to manage."

"It will be," she said behind me.

"What changed your mind?" he asked.

"Shannon Green."

His head snapped back. "What?"

We told him the whole story and he laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I still can't believe it happened," Adrianne said,

"Me either," I agreed. "I can't wait to tell Nathan."