Two days later, Hawk’s insides finally unclenched when Dante landed the helo on the pad on the hospital rooftop. He had no idea if this would be their final destination or not, since Max and Maddie’s father lived in Mesa, and they were her next of kin. They hadn’t talked about it yet—they’d just gotten back on U.S. soil as fast as they could, because she needed medical treatment now. With every hour that passed, her condition deteriorated.

They’d gotten a doctor to look at her in Belize, but her situation was way out of his wheelhouse—that became readily apparent looking at his face when he examined her leg. Hawk had to look away too, because he knew it was bad with one quick glance. At least the antibiotics, pain medication and fluids he’d given her while the helo was being fixed, stabilized her condition and stopped the tremors until they could get her here.

Hawk quickly opened the door and was relieved to see medical personnel burst through the door pushing a gurney. Max came to the back and stood at Maddie’s feet.

“I’ll help you get her out of here and onto the gurney,” he said, his voice dire. Hawk nodded and took her right side—the side opposite her injured leg, because he didn’t want to hurt her. It wasn’t because he might pass out from sympathy pains if he saw it again. How she’d borne all the pain she must’ve gone through during her captivity and survived, he had no freaking idea.

“Where are we?” Maddie slurred, stiffening her body when they lifted her.

“The hospital, baby,” he said, trying to keep the fear from his voice. “We’re in Dallas, you’re safe and they’re going to fix you up.”

“Where’s Sarah?” she asked, squirming in their hold.

“We’re going to get her checked out, too. Don’t worry about her right now, worry about yourself. These people are going to take care of both of you,” he said, taking tiny steps in unison with Max to get her to the door of the aircraft.

Max climbed down first, then Hawk. The medical crew surrounded them and all four gasped when they saw Maddie.

“Get a surgeon and scrub team on standby,” the woman who was obviously a doctor directed as she pushed Maddie’s skirt up over her enormously swollen knee. She shook her head as she smoothed her fingers down to her ankle. “I want four pints of O-neg, x-ray and an orthopedist in treatment room seven stat. Get me a blood draw and sepsis protocol first priority,” she barked as she took over from Max and the other three helped to gently secure her on the gurney.

“Give me the baby and get them back to the compound. I’ll call y’all with an update in a little while,” Hawk said, and Levi appeared in the doorway to hand him Sarah. She snuggled into his chest and he put his finger in her tiny hand. When she wrapped her fingers around his, it felt like she’d done the same with his heart.

Levi slid the door shut, and Hawk walked with Max toward the door that had just closed behind the medical crew.

“This may not end well, bud,” Max said.

“I know,” Hawk replied, his eyes on fire as he stood back for Max to open the door. He walked inside feeling like he had when he stepped into that funeral parlor. The only thing different this time was the little piece of them in his arms that she’d leave behind if she died again.

Maddie Carter was in for the fight of her life, and he was going to make sure she gave it everything she had, because leg or no leg, they both needed her to win this war. Hawk walked to the nurse’s station in the E.R. with Max beside him.

“I need y’all to check out my daughter too, please,” he said, the word daughter tickling his throat and tongue. “Her mother is the one they just brought in.”

The nurse sitting behind the counter gasped and flew around the counter to take Sarah from him. She glanced back at the other nurse who sat at a desk doing paperwork. “Brenda, call up to NICU. Tell Dr. Clauson I’m on my way with a newborn for an emergency exam.” She looked back at Hawk. “You can come with me and tell me her history.”

“I’ll check on Maddie and meet you in the waiting room,” Max said, peeling off to walk down the hallway toward an exam room where green-scrub-suited nurses flew in and out faster than Hawk could identify faces.

Hawk’s heart twisted because he wanted to go with Max but he knew he’d be useless inside that room. Right now, he needed to give this nurse as much information as he could about Sarah, which was next to nothing, and hope they would give her a clean bill of health. At least then, he’d be fifty-percent less hopeless than he felt right now.

After coming back downstairs and being turned away from Maddie’s exam room, Hawk stomped down the pristine hospital corridor, leaving a trail of mud from his boots behind as he went to the family waiting room. He plopped down in a yellow, hard plastic chair against the wall beside Max and crossed his arms over his chest.

“They said it would be a while before they had any news,” Max informed.

“Yeah, they told me that too,” Hawk growled. “They should’ve at least let one of us go in with her. If she wakes up, she’ll be scared.” When he woke up from this nightmare, he knew he would be too.

After he told the doctor upstairs about the drugs the baby was exposed to, he said they would probably be keeping her a couple of days for extensive tests. Hawk had to leave quickly when they declared her severely dehydrated and stuck a needle in her tiny body for the IV, because he almost passed out.

“They’re trying to stabilize Maddie and prep her for surgery. The doc said she’s very sick, and she may not be stable enough for that until later tonight.”

“Tonight?!?” Hawk roared, sitting forward in his chair and turning to glare at Max. “It’s just now noon—how can they wait that long if she’s that sick?”

“Chill out, dude,” Max said, putting his hand into Hawk’s chest to push him back. “If they take her to surgery before they get the fever under control, she’ll die.”

“She might die anyway if they don’t take care of that leg quickly,” Hawk said, his heart sliding down to his feet as he sat back in the chair.

“I called my father and told him. He was surprised, to say the least, and is notifying the Army. I haven’t told him yet that I’m leaving the military, so if he happens to show up here, don’t mention it. One shock at a time, because I know that convo isn’t going to be pretty.”

Lord, please don’t let him show up, because in the mood I’m in, Max’s military separation will be child’s play compared to what I have to say to the man. That Maddie was in this situation was his fucking fault.

“Um, what about the baby?” Max asked after a few minutes of silence between them.

“They’re keeping her a few days for testing and observation,” Hawk replied.

“If something happens to Maddie, what will you do?” he asked. “She’s yours, right?”

“Yes, she’s mine, unless your sister had another boyfriend I didn’t know about.” Hawk heaved a breath as that thought caused even more tension in his body. “If something happens to Maddie, I will be the best father I can be to Sarah, just the same as I would if she were alive.” And now that the seed of doubt had been planted, Hawk qualified that in his mind with—if the baby had his DNA.

Did Maddie have another boyfriend? Was her brother trying to tell him something?

The timing was right for the baby to be his, but he didn’t know for sure—couldn’t know without a DNA test, because Maddie didn’t even remember him.

They never formally said they were exclusive, but it was implied, even after he’d left the military. She said she loved him, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love someone else, too. If she wanted to date someone else, the fact he only saw her five or six times a year would have left plenty of opportunity. They’d broken up right before she left for Kentucky, so she could also have met someone else there during her three months of training.

If Sarah wasn’t his, Hawk had no idea what he’d do.

Max certainly wasn’t father material, and neither was the General. He would keep and raise that baby regardless, if her grandfather was the only option for a guardian. That man should never have been allowed to have children.

But then Maddie wouldn’t be around, and she probably wouldn’t be the strong woman he loved if she hadn’t been raised by that man. What didn’t kill her definitely made her stronger, but that didn’t mean he’d allow Sarah to gain her strength by being mentally abused.

With a groan, Hawk leaned his elbows on his knees and shoved his hands into his hair to squeeze his skull and stop the madness inside. He had no idea how long he sat there like that, but woke up fast when his body pitched forward and Max grabbed his arm to keep him in the chair.

“Look man, you’re exhausted. Go lay down on that sofa over there and I’ll wake you up when the doctor comes.”

God, he was so thankful Max was here with him. That the man could stay so calm and think so clearly during all this—like he’d done in Guatemala—told Hawk why he had so many medals on his uniform. The guy had ice water running through his veins.