Chapter Eighty-Six

Chapter Eighty-Six
Cassandra’s POV

Liora made a small sound in her sleep. Not quite a cry. Not quite a sigh. Something soft and unfinished, like she was still learning how to exist outside of warmth and heartbeat.

The hospital room had settled into a different kind of quiet now. Not the stunned silence of birth. Not the fragile silence of shock.

But the softer, slower silence of people beginning to believe they were allowed to stay.

Silas hadn’t moved from beside the bassinet in almost ten minutes. He just stood there. Watching. Like if he blinked too long, she might grow up without him noticing.

Camryn stayed beside my bed, her hands folded tightly in her lap. She wasn’t speaking, but she also wasn’t pulling away anymore either. That alone felt like progress carved out of something fragile.

Levi finally exhaled and leaned back into the chair again, rubbing a hand down his face like he was trying to recover from existing too intensely.

Jordan stretched out on the couch. “Someone is going to have to teach me how to function again.”

Zach didn’t look up from the window. “You never functioned.”

That earned a quiet, exhausted laugh from Jordan. But none of it really touched the center of the room anymore. Because the center of the room was her.

And the way Silas kept looking like he couldn’t decide if he was allowed to touch her.

I shifted slightly and nodded toward him. “Silas.”

He looked up immediately. “Do you want to hold her?”

The question hit him like it hadn’t occurred to him that it was possible. His eyes widened slightly. “I… can I?”

A small smile pulled at my mouth. “Yes.”

That was all it took. He moved as if he hesitated; someone might change their mind.

Careful. So careful.

Levi straightened slightly but didn’t interfere. Just watched—measuring, protective, but allowing it.

Jordan sat up a little too. “Okay, I want to witness this.”

“Shut up,” Silas muttered without heat.

Zach finally turned away from the window. “This might actually be interesting.” Silas shot him a look, then stepped closer to the bassinet.

His hands hovered awkwardly. “Like this?” he asked quietly.

I nodded. “Support her head.”

“I know that,” he said automatically, then immediately gentled his voice. “I mean—yeah. I got it.” Carefully, so carefully, he slid his arms under her and for a moment, nothing happened.

Then Liora shifted slightly in his hold. And Silas froze completely. “Oh my god,” he whispered.

Jordan snorted. “Language.”

“She’s—she’s actually—” Silas looked down at her like she had just changed physics. “She’s real.”

“Yes,” I said softly.

His grip tightened slightly, then adjusted immediately when Levi made a low sound from behind him. “Too tight,” Levi said.

Silas adjusted instantly. “Sorry—sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I murmured. “You’re doing good.” That seemed to calm him. Just a little.

Liora let out a tiny sigh and nestled closer to his chest. And something in Silas’s face just… broke open.

Not in a bad way. In a way that looked like awe didn’t know where to go except through his expression. “She’s so small,” he whispered again, softer now. “How is she this small?”

“You were that small too,” I told him.

He looked up at me quickly. “I was?”

“Yes.”

A pause. “…That’s weird.”

Jordan laughed. “You were smaller and louder.”

“How would you know?”

“You screamed for three hours straight if I remember correctly.” I told him said flatly. "Evey night."

Silas glared at me. “Traitor.” But he didn’t sound upset. Not really. Because he was still looking at her.

Still holding her like she might teach him something about the world he hadn’t learned yet.

Then, quietly—“I’m going to be careful with you,” he said to her. Not to me. Not to anyone else. To her. “I promise.”

Something tightened in my chest. Not pain. Something fuller.

Something that felt dangerously close to hope. “Okay,” I whispered.

Silas glanced at Camryn then, still holding the baby carefully.

“You want to see her?” The room shifted slightly at that. Camryn’s fingers tightened in her lap.

“I already saw her,” she said automatically.

Silas shook his head gently. “Not like this.”

Silence.

Camryn looked at me first. Then at Liora. Then at Silas holding her like she mattered and something flickered behind her eyes.

Slow and careful. Almost afraid. “I don’t want to drop her,” she said finally.

“You won’t,” Silas said immediately. “I didn’t.”

That got a faint look from Levi. “You absolutely almost did.”

“I corrected myself!”

I let out a soft laugh. “Camryn, only if you want to.” That changed something, her gaze dropped to Liora again. Longer this time and less guarded. More… uncertain in a different way.

Then slowly, she stood. Not rushing. Not hesitating too long either. Just… choosing. Silas shifted carefully as she approached. “I’ve got her. I won’t let go until you’re ready.”

Camryn nodded once. Then carefully, like she was approaching something sacred, she slid her arms under Silas’s.

He guided her hold gently. “Support here,” he murmured. “Yeah—like that.”

When Liora was fully in her arms, Camryn froze. She went completely still, and her breath caught. And for a second, I thought she might panic. But she didn’t.

She just… stared at the tiny face pressed softly against her chest. At the little lashes fluttering in sleep. At the hand that instinctively curled around the fabric of her shirt. And then, Camryn’s expression shifted.

Not sudden or dramatic. Just quiet realization settling in. Her lips parted slightly. “She’s…” Her voice broke off.

Silas leaned in a little. “What?”

Camryn blinked quickly. Once. Then twice. “I didn’t get to see you like this,” she said softly.

Silas went still. Camryn didn’t look away from the baby. “When you were born,” she continued, voice thinner now. “I wasn’t there. I don’t remember anything before… before everything happened.”

Silence filled the room again. Different this time. Heavy in a new way.

Camryn swallowed hard. “But I get to see her,” she whispered. Her grip tightened slightly—not in fear, but in something protective. “I get to watch her grow up.”

A tear slipped down her cheek before she could stop it. She laughed once under her breath like she was frustrated at herself for it. “I get to be here for her first words. Her first steps. All of it.”

Her voice cracked again. “I didn’t get that with you.”

Silas’s face softened instantly. “Cam—”

But she shook her head quickly. “No, it’s okay,” she said, though her voice didn’t agree with her. “It’s just… I didn’t realize how much I missed until now.”

Liora made a tiny sound in her sleep. Camryn instinctively rocked her a little. Like she already knew what to do. And that broke something gentle open in me.

Not pain this time. Healing. Slow, messy, and real. “You’re going to be amazing with her,” I said quietly.

Camryn looked up at me then. Her beautiful brown eyes glossy. “Really?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation.

Silas nodded too. “She already likes you.”

“She likes everyone,” Jordan muttered.

“No she doesn’t,” Zach said. “She screamed at me earlier.”

“That was bonding,” I replied dryly.

A small laugh moved through the room again. But Camryn didn’t laugh yet. She just looked down at Liora again. And whispered, almost like a promise she was afraid to make out loud—“I’m not missing anything this time.”

Silas stepped closer and gently bumped her shoulder.

“Good,” he said simply. “Because neither am I.”

And for the first time—the idea of “family” didn’t feel like something we were trying to fix.

It felt like something that was finally growing the way it was supposed to.