Chapter 22

Emma's POV:

"No, no, no, no, no! Damn it, Mila, wake up!" I was on the ground holding Mila to my chest.

"Someone check out my daughter, and please help my wife!" I cried out. I stood up with Mila in my arms and took Mila to an empty bed. Doctors started swarming around her. I got pushed to the back of the crowd as they all worked to keep her alive. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her till I heard a small voice.

"Mommy?" I looked back and saw Alyx looking at me with tears in her eyes. I flickered my gaze back at Mila before I made my way over to Alyx. I sat down on her bed, and she climbed on my lap, snuggling into me.

"This is what I didn't want to happen, mommy!" Alyx cried out. "It's all my fault." She was now sobbing.

"It's not your fault, sweetie." I tried to pull her close, but she pushed back and shook her head no.

"It is. This is the nightmare Aleksey and I was having. This exact moment." She wiggled out of my grip and ran over to where Mila was.

"Please don't do this!" She screamed out. Just like she screamed out that one night when she was having the nightmare. "Momma, please. Please don't leave us. Don't do it." The beeping on the machine was just one singular tone. "No! Please don't do this." Alyx was slumped to the floor, now crying. "Please don't give up, Momma." She kept pleading. We all froze when The sound of beeping started up again on the machine.

"We've got a rhythm." One of the doctors said out happily. I closed the distance and picked Alyx up off the floor.

"Come on, sweetie, we need to get you checked out." She tried to wiggle her way out of my hold again, but I made sure she didn't this time around.

"I don't want to leave her, mommy. Don't make me." She now had her arms crossed and was pouting.

"I don't want to leave her either. She's still fighting, and she's still alive." I sighed as I looked over to Mila. She was the one who looked pale and lifeless now. "You know she would want you to get checked out." She looked over at Mila and didn't take her eyes off of her.

"Fine." She huffed out, then turned back to me with a smile. "If I do this, then I'll be a good girl for momma, and if I'm a good girl, then she'll keep fighting." I broke when she said this. I didn't show it, but I was. I didn't think I could shatter into any more pieces, but somehow I did. The pieces of me that had shattered were now shattered themselves: nothing but pulverized dust.

"You don't have to be a good girl for momma to keep fighting, okay? She's going to fight as much as she can to come back to us." Her smile went away from her face, and the sadness washed over it again.

She didn't fight me anymore as we walked further from Mila's bed. She didn't say a word to the doctors when they asked her questions; she just simply nodded her head yes, or shook her head no. She didn't even react when the doctors drew her blood. She must take after me in that way. In situations like this, I tend to close off and become silent. But don't mistake my silence as me being docile; I'm anything but that. I'm just trying to hold back on taking my pain and rage out on someone. My silence doesn't mean I'm friendly; in fact, it's when I am more deadly.

"Well, all her tests came back, and she's perfectly healthy. It's like her body never had the virus in the first place. You both can head out towards the lab now. We have already moved her to the bed by the plexiglass wall." I mumbled out a thank you as I picked up Alyx and walked us both back towards the lab.

When we got to the chairs, I let Alyx down to reunite with her brother and her Mimi. I just stood there staring at Mila. I wanted to just lay next to her so badly. I wanted to hold her, and I wanted to be able to lay my head on her chest and hear her heart beating. I wanted to feel the warmth of her embrace, and I wanted to feel her breathing on me. I wanted to feel her skin on mine. I would give my life to be next to her right now.

I didn't move from where I was standing except on two occasions. The first one was when I hugged the kids before they left to go home with Mila's mom and right now sitting in the chair. I just sat there staring at her. That's all I could do is just fucking stare. I wanted to walk through this plexiglass bubble and be right next to her. I don't care if I got sick, even though I knew that I should.

My thoughts started traveling to the kids. As much as I wanted to risk it all, even my life to be with Mila right now, I know it isn't the right thing to do. Mila basically gave up her life to save our daughter, and I couldn't throw myself on the knife in return. The kids are going to need me; they can't lose two parents. They really shouldn't even be losing one.

With that, my thoughts traveled back to Mila. I never thought I would ever lose her, but now looking at her, as she is basically on her deathbed, I don't know what to do. I never thought I would have to prepare myself for a moment like this moment shouldn't have ever existed.

"Mrs. Ambrogio." I looked over my shoulder to find the doctor I had picked up by their collar from earlier.

"Yes?" I didn't continue looking at him, and I just focused my eyes back on Mila.

"We have made some progress." This made me look back at him.

"Well, what is it?" He cleared his throat.

"May I?" He gestured to the seat next to me. I nodded, and he sat down. He looked in the direction of Mila, and I focused my gaze back on her too.

"She is truly remarkable. She should be dead." I rolled my eyes.

"Can we not talk about my wife and soulmate being dead? Can you please just tell me the progress?" He shifted his body to where he was facing me. I just watched him out of the corner of my eye.

"We have finally narrowed it down to how patient zero became exposed. We have confirmed that it is a manmade virus." This got my full attention. It also added fuel to the fire that was burning inside of me.

"What do you mean it was manmade?" The intensity of my stare and voice caused him to flinch a little.

"Someone created the virus. It did not naturally occur." Why does this guy always seem to be pausing for dramatic effect?

"So, what does that mean?" I waved at him to go on.

"It means that someone specifically made this virus with the intention to harm supernatural beings and supernatural beings only." He stood up from his seat. "It means that we have a bioterrorist on our hands." I stood up, too, matching him.

"Okay, do you have any idea on how to track them down?" He scoffed.

"No, and that's not really my expertise. What I can help you with is giving you the exact location of where patient zero became infected. From there, you can narrow the list down to people who have the knowledge to create such a virus and go from there." I was tapping my foot on the ground, trying my best not to snap on this guy.

"Okay. So, tell me, where was patient zero infected?" He lifted up his clipboard, unclipped a piece of paper, and then handed it to me.

"This tells you who patient zero was, where they were, and all the places they visited the day they became infected." He pointed to each section of the paper as he was talking. After he was done mansplaining to me how to read a piece of paper, he headed back in the direction of the research lab. I looked down at the sheet of paper, just scanning it; for now, I'll go over it in greater detail later. There it is, the city and country patient zero was infected.

"Hamburg, Germany," I whispered out to myself. Then, I pulled out my phone and immediately called Lance.

"Meet me in the lab." I didn't wait for a response; I just hung up. It didn't take but five minutes till Lance was standing in front of me.

"I heard about Mila. How is she doing?" I just simply pointed in her direction.

"How do you think she's doing? Obviously not fucking great." I shook my head at him. "Now I called you here because they've made some progress, unfortunately, not on the cure but about the virus. Apparently, it was man-made to target supernatural creatures specifically. It specifically targets the supernatural gene within us, which is why it does affect humans. The doctor gave us this paper with information on who patient zero was, in what city and country they were infected in, and all of the places they had visited the day of infection." He was nodding along with me reading over everything.

"Hamburg, Germany. Well, Emma, I'll take over from here, okay? You focus on Mila and your family. I'll make sure that we find the person who did this." He started walking away with a purpose but paused and looked back at me. "And Emma, take care of yourself too. We'll get this person in time to get a cure, I promise." I just crossed my arms and shook my head.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Lance. Let me know as soon as we learn anything new." He sighed out and nodded his head before making his way to what I presume will be the tracking department of our building. I put my hand up against the wall.

"Keep fighting, Mila. Please." I whispered out, hoping she would hear me. I then sat back down in the chair and continued doing what I've done for hours now, just stare at Mila. Hoping for her to make up and be perfectly fine.