She turned off the screen, and I scratched my head. “I’m missing something.”
“Blaze.” Anders nodded toward him. “He guilted her into outing herself to her husbands who she was hiding from. It wasn’t pretty. But he does know how to get people to do what he wants.”
I loved this banter. I could listen to all of them talk all day and night. I’d rather not have to do it from behind this glass. That was another thing to look forward to.
“Will it hurt?” I hadn’t asked, and it seemed like something I should know.
Wade winced. “I think it probably will, but I will do everything to make sure I do my best to mitigate that.” He sighed. “I wish I could say no. We could maybe make it so you don’t remember the pain.”
I leaned back on the bed. “Use your best judgment.”
Corbin opened the door and came inside with me. I stared at him, shaking my head. This was a constant problem. Wade didn’t want them in here, and they didn’t care. They were going to argue about it, and it was going to stress Wade out. He had not been the least bit amused to find Trenton with me. That was even scarier for him than the Super Soldiers, as Trenton could actually get really sick from me easier than these guys.
I pointed back at the door. “You should probably not make him upset right now.”
“I’m not leaving you alone in the hours leading up to your surgery.” He kissed my cheek. “Besides, Wade likes yelling at us. It’s a good stress relief.”
I put my head on Corbin’s shoulder as he sat down. I didn’t mind the company. It was nice to know that I wasn’t going to be alone. Especially in these times when minutes felt like hours.
It was funny how things could be a hurry up and wait situation followed by so much immediate action it made my head spin. Or maybe it wasn’t funny. Maybe that was just the sort of thing that was amusing to me.
But despite the fact that the minutes crawled in preparation and I had to get in and out of the med machine five times to check levels, whatever that meant, I was suddenly on the table with Waverly, Wade, Cash, Lewis, and Ari all around me. The last smiled down at me kindly.
“He’s not wrong. Artemis has been good luck for all of us. We’re going to take good care of you, and you won’t remember this when it’s over. You’ll be out cold for most of it.”
I nodded, but I had to add a caveat. “If I end up in cryo, it can’t be more than a year.”
“There’s no reason we should have to put you in cryo.” Cash looked at Wade. “Do you have plans for that?”
Wade shook his head. “None at all. But I do understand, my love. I know what you want. No waking up having lost too much time. I promise.”
“You guys couldn’t wait for me?” All heads turned as Melissa’s husband Dane entered fast. “I rush from Mars Station to see this historic, albeit legally questionable, thing you guys are throwing yourself into, and you can’t even wait for me to get here?”
Wade smiled, and so I took a deep breath. He was obviously glad to see Dane.
Waverly squeezed my hand before she put a device under my nose. “This is just oxygen.”
“Sienna?” Wade’s voice called out to me and drew me from the nothingness where I’d been. It was hard to think, like I was being asked to do so from inside some kind of fog. “Can you hear me?”
This was strikingly familiar. “I can.”
“Good.” He smoothed my hair again. Wade could be so gentle when he wasn’t obsessing over things.
“If I open my eyes, are you going to be ten years older?”
He laughed, an easy sound. “Twenty, I’m afraid.”
“What?” I tried to sit up but was quickly stopped by strong hands on my shoulders.
“Sorry. Bad joke. No, I’m only a few hours older. About eight of them. Rest. Don’t dart up, although I’m impressed you could do that. Open your eyes for me so I can shine a light in them.”
I groaned. “Not giving me a lot of incentive to actually open my eyes.”
“I know. And if you could remember how unhappy you were during the procedure, you’d not want to do what I asked now either. But the good news is that we induced amnesia and you should have no idea. So please? Open your eyes?”
I did as he asked. He stared down at me for a second before he nodded like he could tell I could see him. Then he shined the light in my eyes. I took that for two seconds before I swatted at his hand. “That hurts. Stop.”
He pulled the light away. “Welcome back, my love.”
I really loved the way he called me my love. I smiled at him. “How did I do?”
“Good. It seems to be working.” He held up my arm so I could see. My number was down to one. I stared at it like I couldn’t believe it. It was at one?
He smoothed my forehead again. “I expect it to be zero in a minute. If it stays that way for several days, I can take the device out of your arm. You’ll be cleared.”
I swallowed. That was the best possible news. I couldn’t control myself and threw my arms around him. He held on tight. “I think it’s working in many ways. You should be weak and exhausted. But you’ve twice managed to get up now when you should be flat on your back. We tried to contain the nanos to your immune system, but they tend to do what they do. We’ll have to watch it.”
Right then, I didn’t care. Not at all. “You saved me.”
“Not quite yet.” He shook his head. “Almost. And it wasn’t me. It was Kellan’s idea. I almost said I wouldn’t do it because I was too nervous about what could happen to you. I need to do some testing on you. For just a second.”
I heard the telltale whoosh of the door opening as Blaze strode in. “Her heartbeat is the same. I can hear it. Nothing changed.”
Wade nodded once. “Okay.”
“Can you hear my heartbeat?” Blaze asked me, and Wade rolled his eyes. Maybe he didn’t want to do it this way?
I listened but no, I couldn’t hear anything. “Nothing.”
Blaze nodded once. “You did it.” He must have been speaking to Wade, because I hadn’t done anything that I could remember. I’d been a passive participant in this. I looked up and then caught my breath.
What the heck was that? It was like balls of light were floating and banging into each other with little people singing in the center. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were definitely singing. How did I know that?
“Something’s wrong.” I grabbed Wade’s hand. “I’m seeing things.”
“Oh.” He laughed. “Don’t worry on that. The little men singing are always there. Sorry you didn’t notice it before.”
I stared at him, my mouth falling open. This wasn’t real. In a million years that would not have been the answer Wade would give to me. I backed up on the bed. “What’s going on here?”
Blaze waved his hand. “It’s just a little singing. Why make a big deal about it?”
I pressed my head against my knee. I wasn’t awake. This was some kind of dream. Or hallucination. Or something.
“I’m not awake. This isn’t real.”