She was alive. Ironically, she had to thank Sage for that. Currently, her mind and focus were only on two things; recovery and her baby girl. The ordeal, which is what she was calling labor and delivery based on the play-by-play she was told by her friends and loved ones, was frightful. She didn't remember much. She could easily recall the day before, the conversation with the doctor, and the conversation with Keir. She eerily remembered the fresh pasta she made and the carbonara he made with it. She could evoke the memory of informing Terrence about the new direction for delivering their daughter and that he was falling back in the morning. She could recollect Keir driving her to the hospital, Imani meeting them there, and being rolled back into an operating room. But after that it was hazy.

All she could remember after that was hearing a baby cry and a doctor saying we need more blood. After that blankness captivated her mind until she opened her eyes in a hospital room to see Terrence and Keir asleep on the couch. 

She wondered what could've happened to have them there and not be offended by the presence of each other. She hadn't asked then, the only thing she wanted to know was where her baby girl was which took all of her energy to ask. The swiftness of how they reacted and the gleeful relief on their faces helped her fill in the fogginess of her memories. She didn't know what exactly happened but she knew it had to be scary. From the way her body felt, like her torso had been beaten with a bag of bricks and tears sprang to her eyes if she even shifted a centimeter was all the information she needed.

That had been three months ago. The pain was gone. The incision had healed and her doctor had given her the clearance to resume her regular life without any limitation. But there was someone that didn't think the doctor knew best and from the way he peered at her she knew it would take a while before he thought she was back to her old self.

"I could've brought you some water," Keir told, tapping the pencil on the table and watching her drop ice cubes in the glass fighting the urge to spring from the chair, get the glass from her, and do it himself. "All you had to do was text me."

His phone sat on the table and she knew it was fully charged. "I can handle it, Nurse Keir." She said before taking a long gulp of water. She didn't know what it was but ever since getting released from the hospital she needed water in the middle of the night. She knew motherhood changed a woman's body but not that it gave you a nighttime thirst. "I'm not porcelain anymore. I can walk down the stairs."

He nodded, the crimp between his eyebrows evening out as she neared him.

"Whatcha doing?" She asked. She took another swallow of water before leaning against his back, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder while draping her arms around his torso lazily. "Making plans."

Keir stopped tapping the pencil and settled his head against herself inhaling a long breath with his eyes closing briefly as if having her skin against her was more calming than any drug could ever be.

Katrina hadn't caught the simple gesture. Her eyes were busy perusing the etchings his pencil had made on the big portion of white paper taking up two-fourths of the table. Perfectly straight lines constructed squares, rectangles, and circular into one structure.  

"A play house." Her sleepy eyes widened. "Nori can't even hold her head up, yet."

"But she will." He brushed eraser shavings off the paper. "And everyone needs their own special place."

Katrina tightened her arms around him and placed a kiss on his shoulder, his warm skin treating her lips. "You're too good to me."

"I think I'm the right amount of good for you." He replied, stroking her arm under the dim light that was still on over the stove. "But speaking of being good enough, he came by again while you were sleeping. I didn't want to wake you. He said he'll come back tomorrow."

Katrina entangled her arms from around him and sat down, "I'll be sure to be gone. Nori needs fresh air anyway. A walk will do us some good."

He humped, sliding the rule across the paper to spot on the playhouse's roof.

"What does that mean?"

"You know what that means." He answered by tracing a short line for the chimney.

It was true. She knew what that meant which was odd to her. They'd only been doing this thing with each other for a couple of months and she knew what his nonverbal language meant.

"I don't want to see him. I'm an adult. If I don't want to see someone then I don't have to." She shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know why my Aunt called him, anyway."

"Because he's your dad." Keir lifted his pencil from the paper not wanting his shift in concentration to cause a mistake to his creation. "And you were in a medicated coma with a fever. He deserved to know."

"Fine." She understood it when he put it like that. "I'm awake and thriving. So, he can go back to his life. I don't have to talk to him."

Keir turned away from his project, stood, and held out his hand, "Dance with me."

"There's no music and we can't play any." The last time they did that Clive started barking and Nori started crying. It was almost one in the morning and getting her on a sleep schedule was too much work to thwart for melodic tunes.

"The music's in my head," He kept his hands extended. "Just follow my lead."

She sat her hand against his palm and lifted from the seat. He drew her in close to his body, circling an arm around her waist while her free hand clung to his shoulder. She stepped on his foot twice and started to peek down.

"Aht Aht." He sounded, regaining her attention. "Eyes on me. You'll get the rhythm in time."

Three more steps on his foot and in time she did get the rhythm and motion as they shuffled across the floor. It was easy but he made trying and failing; learning and practicing fun. No berating or snide remarks. Just encouragement and positive feedback. If he wanted to retire from being a TA she knew he'd be a great professor.

"He broke down in the hallway after visiting you." Keir started as they got in a groove. "I'm not saying to be best friends with the man but there's something there. The way you recoil when he's mentioned and that anger you feel. These are things you're holding in. Why not hear him out and express how you feel instead of keeping it held in?"

"I don't want to." She said, and tasted the words as they left her mouth knowing she sounded like a teenager. But that's how she felt every time she thought of him. That same teenager pushed to the side for the new wife and the new daughter.  "I don't care about his feelings. He didn't care about mine."

"Don't tell me that. Tell him." He spun her around and then said. "He hurt you. Let him know that.

Katrina let his words simmer in her psyche then asked, "Do you let the people who hurt you know how you feel?"

"Yes." He answered. "Then how will they know what they did  affected me negatively? People don't know how you want to be treated if you never tell them."

She sighed to herself, his words made sound sense. "But I never told you and you're doing just fine."

He spun her once more, this time letting her back meet his front, then he nestled his head in the crook of her neck, "That's because..." He took a moment. She felt the pounding of his heart against her back and the exhalation of his breath brush across her chest. "You're my habib albi."

"What does that mean?" She asked before he spun her around again so she was facing him.

His eyes shifted from him as if he was contemplating his answer. Her eyebrows drew together as she read the nonverbal language she knew so well. He was about to lie or obstruct the truth.

"It means..." Adam's apple descended slowly as he swallowed, he pulled her flush against him holding her gaze. "I care about you and hurting you will hurt me. And making you happy makes me happy. Seeing you smile is an aphrodisiac. I only want the best for you."

The ponderance of uncertainty that was momentarily in his eyes was now gone and which made her doubt if it had ever flickered across his face to begin with or if it was just the low lights and shadows distorting her view.

"I only want the best for you, too." She glanced at the plans he'd been working on and then yawned.

"We should go back to bed before the kids wake up." He told before turning off the light and he led her to the stair.

As she followed him up the stairs she knew his sister was right and that truth was a hard pill to swallow. But after the ordeal that she'd been through she was seeing a lot of things clearer. She needed to have an honest conversation with her dad and Keir was destined for something greater...even if that didn't include her.

Katrina doesn't know but what do you think happened to get Terrence and Keir to fall asleep on the same couch in her hospital room?

Why do you think Keir stumble on giving her the translation for 'Habib Albi?

Should Katrina tell her dad how she feels?

What do you think Keir's sister told her?