Cole moved around the small surgery on the other side of the glass wall. There were so many instruments in there with him that at some points, I only saw a flash of the white coat he wore.

He checked dials and knobs, marking things off on the clipboard he carried until the pen made it to the bottom of the page. He nodded to himself and then scanned the room. Stopping on the table in the center, he then turned his attention to where I stood.

I touched the barrier as Cole crossed over to the window and met my eyes briefly before the glass went opaque. There wasn’t anything to do but wait. It seemed like it was all I’d been doing since I returned from Mongolia. In reality, it had only been a few weeks, but they’d felt like a lifetime.

“Thought I’d find you here,” Grant said, putting his arm around me.

“This has to work,” I answered, closing my eyes and fighting the wave of emotion threatening to swallow me.

He turned me in his arms and then kissed my forehead. “All we can do is wait and see what happens.”

He was right. No matter how much I wanted to be able to help, I couldn’t. Cole would either succeed, or he wouldn’t.

I’d avoided everyone since returning from Mongolia. Not only did I have my own wounds to tend, and a husband to answer to since I’d taken off without a word when intel handed me the whereabouts of Ivanov, but the truth of it was I just couldn’t face any of them.

Grant had been beside himself with worry. When I called for evac, he was the team that came. Just him. And he had been pissed. He held it together long enough to get us out of Mongolia and back to Chicago before giving me a sound piece of his mind. And then once he’d calmed down, he held me in his arms and we both cried.

“No point in asking you to go rest is there?” Grant said as I pulled back to look at him.

A faint smile wobbled on my lips as I shook my head.

“I just saw Flint a few minutes ago,” he said. “He said she’s doing better than Cole anticipated.”

“Does she have a name?” I asked.

“Not that she remembers. I’m guessing that’s either a side effect, or normal. Cole doesn’t seem to be too concerned, though. You know how he gets when he’s in mad-scientist mode.” Grant chuckled. “It’s like you can see equations, hypotheses, and diagrams all dancing in his eyes when an idea strikes.”

I snorted. “Some would call it playing God.”

He shrugged. “And some would call it cutting-edge science. Good thing our thinking falls on the same side as his, so we can just label it a miracle.”

“Two miracles,” I added.

“Nova seems to be doing really well. Cole was right about bringing her in,” he said, changing the subject.

“Good. That’s really good to hear.” It made me feel a bit better knowing she was all right after dealing with two heavy blows. It told me that she was strong enough to handle whatever came at her from here on out.

“Cole signed off on the plans for the facility in Nome. Construction will start in the spring, so we’ll need to pick who will oversee the project and field off any unwanted visitors,” he said, catching me up on everything he’d taken on since I couldn’t pull my thoughts together to be much help.

I shifted and flinched.

“Side bothering you?” he asked.

“Just a twinge.” Actually, it ached like a fiend; healing bullet wounds usually did. As far as I was concerned, it was my penance.

He lifted my chin with the crook of his finger. “You’re a terrible liar. I’ll let it slide for now. But there’s only so much I’m going to let slide, because I can’t stand back and watch you flog yourself for things that can’t be changed.”

“Grant, you have a few minutes?” Roman Flint called from down the hall.

Grant sighed. “I’ll be back to check on you.”

When standing became too much, I moved to sit with my back braced against the wall. My backside had fallen asleep hours before, but I wasn’t going to give up my vigil. Exhaustion sank its claws in deep, and I found myself fighting to keep my eyes open with every passing second.

I woke with a start to someone shaking my shoulder enough to rouse me.

“You stayed out here this entire time?” Cole asked, eyebrows climbing up his forehead.

I tried to sit up on my own and failed.

Cole muttered something under his breath about stubborn women before helping me into a sitting position.

“What?” I asked, hissing when he ran his hand over my side.

“I said, you aren’t doing yourself any favors by refusing to rest like I told you to.”

I came fully awake and grabbed Cole’s wrist. “If you’re out here, that means—”

“That means I’ve done all I can do for right now,” he finished.

“I have to see,” I said, putting both hands out so Cole could help me up.

He sighed. “I suppose you do or else you’ll probably take up permanent residence right here on the floor.”

Not only did he help me stand, but he looped his arm around me and kept me on my feet as we slowly made our way over to the door.

A door that would only open when Cole pressed his thumb to the fingerprint scanner beside it.

Once we were inside, I closed my eyes, pinching them as tight as they would go while Cole led me across the room. Worry, fear, anxiety… all of it washed over me. I was scared to open my eyes and find I’d been dreaming all along.

When Cole released me, my eyes popped open.

A sob caught in my throat and my hands clapped over my mouth as tears I could no longer hold back rolled one after another down my cheeks.

Cole had done it. Eli was breathing.

“He’s holding his own right now, but I can’t make any promises, Nadia.”

I nodded, unable to say anything as I reached out and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, hoping that somewhere behind his closed eyes, deep inside his mind, he would know I was there. His hand tightened against mine, and I felt the last of my composure slip.

Cole had done it. Eli was alive and I could finally rest.