Chapter 45: Three Days

There were decisions that announced themselves and decisions that waited until every escape had closed.

Adrian keeps vigil without entering Claire's room until Naomi tells him Claire named him as medical proxy years ago and never changed it.

Adrian understood that the next choice would be remembered long after the explanation. Nothing between them was simple now. Attraction lived beside anger; tenderness stood beside evidence. Every kind act raised the same dangerous question: was this change, or merely fear wearing a better suit?

He authorizes the risky procedure she once told him she would want, finally listening to a past conversation he had remembered.

"Please wake up and tell me I had no right."

The moment did not repair what came before. It did, however, alter what might come after.

Claire opens her eyes and asks for Lucy.