Chapter Sixteen

Joey talksWest through all the stuff that has to be done after birth, and halfway through some sort of belly massage torture, Wren begs him to stop so she can hand me the baby.

"You won't hurt her," Wren says. Tears swim in her eyes, and I don't think she wants to let Harlow go. But the newborn can sense her distress and wails right along with her. "Support her head and…snuggle her. You have to keep her warm."

In an instant, I'm back at the Fairmont in Boston three years ago. We'd only just met, and Wren was in shock after almost being kidnapped.

"Come here," I say, stretching out on the bed.

"I just m-met you!"

"I'm not asking you to sleep with me, sweetheart. You need to get warm. You see anything else in this room as big as me? Until you can manage to get through a sentence without those teeth clicking like a pair of castanets, you'll…snuggle."

The memory soothes me enough to take our daughter in my arms. Or…arm, since she's so small, my hand dwarfs her head. She quiets almost immediately, as if she can't quite figure out who this big brute holding her is.

"I've got you, baby girl," I whisper. She makes a little noise. Not a sob. More like a sigh. Her face is pinking up, and her fine red hair is lighter than Wren's.

"Ryker?" Joey calls. "Take off your shirt and put her directly against your chest. Skin to skin is best. It'll help her bond with you."

Despite how close I am with this group of men and women I call a family, only West and Inara have ever seen my scars. But if this is what Harlow needs, I don't care.

Except, I can't take off my shirt without letting her go. For a full minute, I try to figure out how I can manage it until Rip steps forward. "For fuck's—fudge's sake," he says. "Someone give me a knife."

Inara hands him her multi-tool, and he kneels next to me, grabs my collar, and slices all the way through the shirt.

Harlow settles as soon as I cradle her to my chest. "Can she see me?" I ask.

"She can see you." Wren reaches over and rests her hand on my thigh. "Just keep her in ‘cuddle range.'"

She's not afraid of me.

"Hey there, little one. I'm…your dad." As soon as the words leave my lips, my tears spill over.

* * *

Wren looks sotiny in the hospital bed. Her obstetrician was pissed that we took a helicopter back to Seattle, but after West informed her that one of her med techs had drugged Wren to help Ramin's men kidnap her, the doc backed down. And gave the SEAL Bobby's home address.

Harlow slept the whole flight, but she was pissed as hell when the nurse woke her up to run all the tests they normally run right after birth. Wren wasn't much happier when she had to suffer through another round of painful belly massage.

But now, they're both out. I should let myself rest too. Trev and Ronan are taking the first shift outside the hospital room, with Vasquez and Ella scheduled to relieve them a little after 2:00 a.m.

After a soft knock, West pokes his head into the room. "Got a minute?"

"As long as you don't wake them." I push to my feet with a groan and meet him just inside the door. "They're keeping her overnight. Well, both of them."

Concern darkens his blue eyes. "Just precaution, right?"

"Yeah." I stare at the man who found me hiding under a bush after hiking for miles in the snow, barefoot, to escape Hell. He saved my life. Then helped me save Dax. And he's been saving me on the regular for three fucking years. "Listen, about what I said…"

He doesn't look away, but what I see in his gaze cuts deep. "If you want someone else to take over?—"

"Fuck no. I was out of line, West. I'm…sorry. You've been the heart of this team from your first mission. Not because you're the best at what you do—though you are—but because you see us. Every one of us. There is no Hidden Agenda without you. Or…there shouldn't be."

If he walks away, I'll tell Inara, Graham, Raelynn, and Wyatt to go with him. Because he'll keep them safe. He'll keep the whole family…safe.

West blows out a slow breath and, for a moment, I think I might see a shimmer in his eyes. "I was really hoping you weren't going to opt for the ‘beat the shit out of me' option."

We share a quiet chuckle, and the tension between us falls away. "So…everything…taken care of at the Battery?" I ask.

"We cleaned up the mess. Austin ‘convinced' the med tech to turn himself in and he's being booked on kidnapping charges now. He already gave them a full confession. But…that's not why I stopped by. Zephyr called. A message came in right before the power went out at the battery. But it got buried with everything else going on. She didn't see it until she logged back on twenty minutes ago."

"You going to tell me what it said?"

West rubs the back of his neck and shakes his head. "One word. ‘Help.'"

"That's it?" I glance back at Wren and the baby. They're still sleeping, and I lean my shoulder against the wall. I'm exhausted, but if this is the person who helped us, who looped the camera feeds so Ramin couldn't see Dax and Rip weren't still tied to those fucking chairs, who shut down the lights and the countermeasures at just the right time…we can't ignore this.

"Yep. She's trying to trace the message, but whoever it is…they've gone dark again." He checks his watch. "I'm heading home for a few hours. If she can find them, I'll handle it."

I don't know what to say to the man. This should be my job. Both because I'm the one who started Hidden Agenda and because I owe the mystery hacker a debt I can never repay. But nothing in this world could get me to leave this room. Not with how close I came to losing them.

"West, if you need?—"

"I won't." He shakes his head. "You have more important things to do, Ry. Watch over them. And for fuck's sake, wipe that stupid grin off your face. It's scaring me." He jabs my arm, a rare smile curving his lips, and I think this is what it's like to be truly happy.