Page 71 of Echos and Empires (After #3)

His world was reduced to fragments, disjointed pieces of sound and movement and raw, unfiltered fear.

Emma’s breaths came fast and shallow. Her pain was palpable, and Chris felt it like a knife in his own gut.

He was paralyzed by the enormity of it all, the loss of control, the terrifying unpredictability of life and death and everything in between.

“Chris,” Alex said again, firmer this time.

“She’s going to be okay. They’re all going to be okay.

” The words were like a lifeline, and Chris clung to them with everything he had, hoping against hope that they were true.

But hope was a fragile thing, easily shattered by the harsh reality of the moment.

Alex’s voice faded into the background as he worked beside the doctor, the steady hum of medical equipment filling the space.

Chris was barely aware of anything but Emma, her hand gripping his with a strength that belied her condition.

She was fighting, and he had to fight too. He couldn’t lose her. He wouldn’t.

Yet for all his determination, the familiar sensation of helplessness crept in. It was too much, too soon. But then again, wasn’t everything? He held onto Emma with both hands, as if he could hold on to their future with sheer force of will, as if he could will them through this to the other side.

The world disintegrated into chaos, a whirlwind of sound and sensation that left him breathless and bewildered.

Emma’s cries pierced through the din, slicing into him with a precision that left him reeling.

It was all too much. He was losing his grip, losing control, losing her.

The edges of his vision blurred, and he struggled to focus, to be present, but the chaos was relentless.

The room was an echo chamber of fear and pain, and Chris was drowning in it.

He clung to Emma’s hand, desperate to anchor himself in the storm.

She was screaming, her voice raw and visceral, a sound that reached deep inside him and wrenched something loose.

He had never felt so helpless, so unable to give her what she needed.

She was supposed to be safe. They all were.

But this was something he couldn’t fight, couldn’t control.

All he could do was hold on, and even that felt like it was slipping away from him.

“Remember when I said I would be too happy to hate you all?” Emma asked, sweat dripping off her forehead. “I hate you. I hate all of you and will continue to hate you every time I go through this, because I want a big family.”

Chris gave a small chuckle, her anger taking away some of his panic.

The door burst open, and suddenly Liam, Bash, and William were there, rushing in with urgency and concern etched into their features.

The room seemed to shrink, the intensity magnifying as the chaos crescendoed.

Liam reached other’s Emma’s side, his face a mix of determination and fear.

Bash was right behind him, his usual gruffness softened by the sight of Emma in pain.

William joined Alex at the foot of the bed, his eyes wide but resolute.

“Emma!” Liam called, his voice barely cutting through the tumult. “We’re here! We’re with you!”

Chris watched, a bystander to his own life, as the people he trusted most surrounded Emma, bolstering her with their presence.

Alex barked orders, his calm the only thing keeping the situation from spiraling completely out of control.

“Chris,” he said, snapping Chris out of his daze for a moment.

“You have to help her through this. Be there for her.” But Chris didn’t know how.

He was frozen, caught in the flood of his own inadequacy.

Time warped, seconds stretching into hours, contracting into moments. Emma’s cries were unrelenting, a soundtrack to Chris’s unraveling sanity. Yet through it all, he could see the love, the determination in her eyes. She was fighting, even now, even when everything seemed impossible.

Chris watched in stunned silence as Alex and the doctor worked, and the others offered encouragement and support.

Liam held Emma’s other hand, his grip steady and reassuring.

Bash was at her side beside Liam, murmuring words Chris couldn’t hear but knew were filled with strength.

William kept pace with Alex, ready to jump in and help at a moment’s notice.

Chris felt like the ground was shifting beneath him, reality altering with every breath.

“Come on, Emma,” Liam coaxed, followed by a whine from Ranger.

“Ranger!” Chris hissed, having forgotten the dog as he’d rushed Emma to the clinic.

Minutes passed like lifetimes, the intensity building to a breaking point.

Then, suddenly, it happened. The first baby—a boy.

Chris heard the cry, a sharp and insistent sound that cut through the chaos and grounded him in a way nothing else had.

He was stunned, unable to move, unable to process the enormity of it. Their son. Their future.

“He’s here,” Alex said, holding up the tiny, wriggling miracle for Chris to see. “Our boy’s here. We have a son!”

Chris couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. He was too overwhelmed to even acknowledge the wetness in his eyes, the way the world seemed to stop and start all at once. The moment stretched, timeless and infinite. But it wasn’t over.

Ironically, it was Bash who leaned over and scooped the small, very pale, child from Alex’s arms and Liam who cut the umbilical cord.

The second baby came just as fiercely fast. “A girl! A fucking daughter!”

Her cries joined her brother’s, and the sound was the most beautiful, chaotic, overwhelming music Chris had ever heard. The room spun, and he was the center of it, caught in a whirlwind of joy and disbelief and love so profound it almost hurt.

“A girl,” Alex announced again, and Chris felt the words resonate through his entire being. “We have a daughter. We have a little of us, and a little of Emma in two beautiful babies.”

Chris looked at Emma as Doctor Huey handed him the scissors to cut this umbilical cord—looked at the fierce triumph in her exhausted eyes, and felt his own heart echo that victory.

The others were cheering, their voices a jubilant cacophony that blended with the cries of the newborns, creating a new kind of chaos—one that Chris welcomed, one that he would never again fear.

The world steadied, and he was there, truly there, for the first time since it all began.

This was the start. This was the future they’d fought for.

The room filled with a sense of new beginnings, of possibilities as vast and limitless as the love that had brought them here.

Chris finally let go of the breath he’d been holding, let go of the fear, and let himself believe in this fragile, beautiful, unbreakable life they were building together.

Chris watched as Liam and Bash passed both children to Emma, who greedily set them against her chest, tears and laughter filling the room.

“Ethan and Sophie,” She whispered, kissing their heads. “Welcome to the world, we’ve gone to a lot of trouble making it safe for you, thank you for coming to enjoy it.”