Four hours. Maddy never knew that two hundred and forty minutes could feel so long.

Carter’s parents—Lindsey and Bill—were truly the nicest people. They kept trying to take care of Maddy—and ask her questions—even though they were going through such a stressful wait. She did her best to keep them distracted—she answered any question they asked, and even got in a long discussion with Bill about the Rube Goldberg machines that he and Carter had built when Carter was in middle school. But there was no way to truly distract a mother and father from the fact that both of their children were currently in surgery, one of them trying to save the other’s life.

It was a beautiful gift. It was a humbling sacrifice.

And it had to be terrifying for both parents. So Maddy did her best to be as supportive as possible, fetching coffee and snacks from the cafeteria, paging through magazines and discussing who wore it best with not only Lindsey, but Bill, who had some surprising opinions about draping. It turned out that Carter’s father had been a tailor.

When the doctors came in, the three of them took a collective breath, but then the two lead surgeons broke out into smiles. “Everything went very well,” said Olivia’s surgeon.

“Carter is recovering in his suite and should be awake soon,” said Dr. Lee.

“And Olivia will likely take a little longer to wake up, but she came through beautifully,” said Olivia’s surgeon. “It was an excellent transplant. I think she’s going to bounce back very quickly.”

“Oh, thank God,” Lindsey said, hugging both of the women tight, then turning to hug Maddy, and then finally clutching her husband, who stroked her back, rocking her back and forth. “Thank you both so much.”

“I can take you to be there when Olivia wakes up,” her surgeon offered.

Lindsey looked over at Maddy, looking unsure. She knew Carter’s mom was torn between her two children. But Carter, being the son he was, had anticipated this.

“I’ll go to Carter,” she told his parents. “He made me promise to tell you he would be fine and that he wanted both of you to be there when Olivia woke up.”

Bill reached out and took Maddy’s hand, squeezing it. “We’re very glad he found you, Maddy,” he said.

“Me too,” Maddy said, squeezing his hand back. “Now go be with your little girl. I’ll take care of that handsome son of yours. He’ll be cracking his cheesy jokes in no time.”

“Probably even more under anesthesia,” Bill said with a wry grin.

Maddy watched them leave with the surgeon before turning to Dr. Lee. “Take me to my guy, Dr. Lee,” she said.

The surgeon grinned. “Today is the kind of day a surgeon like me dreams of,” she said as she led Maddy to Carter’s recovery room. “I’m very happy for you and your husband.”

“Oh, I—” Maddy stopped, deciding not to correct her, trying not to feel a little—okay, big, giant, totally huge—thrill at being mistaken for Carter’s wife. “Thank you for everything,” she said, when they came to a halt in front of Carter’s recovery suite. “We’re so appreciative.”

“Let the nurses know if you need anything. He’ll be a bit groggy when he wakes up. He might be confused… ask you the same question a few times. There’ll be ice chips for him, and then water, if he can manage it.”

“Got it. Thanks again.”

Maddy entered the recovery suite alone. The lights were dimmed, Carter’s bed in the center of the room. He had an IV in his arm and an oxygen cannula in his nose, and her heart clenched, even though she knew from his surgeon that he had done great.

She sat down in the chair next to his bed and brushed his hair off his forehead. He looked so much younger when he was sleeping like this. She couldn’t wait for his eyes to open, for them to fill with that now-familiar light she loved so.

He murmured, his head tilting into her palm as she continued to stroke his hair.

“Hey, baby, are you awake?” she asked softly.

“Mmm,” he said, his eyelids twitching, but not opening. “Livia?” he asked.

“She’s good. You’re good. Everything went amazing. You did it,” Maddy said. “She has a working kidney. You’re so amazing.”

“No, you’re amazing,” he said, pursing his lips, like he was trying to kiss her and getting only air.

Maddy tried to suppress her laugh. He was still all loopy from the anesthesia.

“That thing you do with your hips,” he murmured. “It’s gonna kill me one of these days. Gonna die a happy man.”

“Shh, shh,” Maddy whispered, looking over her shoulder, worried a nurse would overhear.

“S’wonderful,” he sighed, pushing his head into her hand like he was a six-and-a-half-foot kitten. She was never going to let him live this down. He was so freaking cute right now.

“… Love you so much.”

All of her amusement was suddenly replaced by edge-of-your-seat, oh-my-God, did-he-just-say-that?

“What?” she said, not daring to believe it.

“I love you so much,” he said, and his eyes finally opened. They were sleepy, but so damn happy it made her heart start doing cartwheels in her chest. “Like, baby, I didn’t even get it until you came around. I love you more than science!” He said this last thing with such wide-eyed sincerity, with such awe and reverence, that tears of happiness and mirth filled her eyes.

“You love me more than science?” she asked, smiling at him like a fool, loving him so deeply, so truly, that it took her breath away.

“Way more,” he said, beaming back at her.

She stood up and kissed him. His smiling mouth was heaven against hers, a promise of a lifetime of this: silly, beautiful moments, joyful kisses, and nights so steamy the fogged-up windows would never be the same.

When she pulled back, she cupped his face in her hands. “I love you, too,” she said. “And when you aren’t really drugged up, I’m going to tell you that again. Because I love you way more than science. I love you more than anything.”

A wide smile broke across his face. “Do you love me enough to dress up like Wonder Woman again?”

Maddy laughed, and reaching to press the button to call in the nurse to check him now that he was awake.

“I’ll tell you a secret,” she said, leaning over to whisper in his ear. “I love you so much that next Halloween, I’ll dress up as Xena.”

A few hours later, she’ll laugh because he’ll remember her Xena promise, but not his first confession of drugged-up love. He’ll tell her he loves her again, his hands in hers, his eyes bright and his mind not influenced by heavy drugs and major abdominal surgery.

A month later, he’ll ask her to move in.

Six months after that, he’ll propose to her—using a Rube Goldberg machine.

But for now, it’s just the two of them in a hospital room, two people who finally found their match in each other. Her fingers tangle with his, their foreheads touch, and they just breathe together into their forever.

Fin