Page 99 of Sebastian

Sebastian walked to the elevator and pressed the button for his apartment. His stomach churned, knowing he was about to keep Emma in the dark. It was only her second day home, after all. Better to make sure everything went smoothly and Addie was on her way to Emma, safe and sound before he got her hopes up. And fuck, he was praying with every fiber of his being that by morning, Emma would be holding her daughter in her arms.

“Emma?” The bedroom was empty and Sebastian felt his chest tighten. Had something happened?

He turned to Eileen, the in-home nurse he’d hired, who was busy working in his living room.

“Where is she?”

“She hasn’t come out of there today,” she said, eyes wide at the aggressive tone Sebastian had questioned her with.

He turned back into the room, and that’s when he heard it. A sob coming from the bathroom. He knocked on the door and tested the handle.

The sight froze him in place. Emma was there, standing at the sink in the robe he’d gotten her, scissors in hand, cutting off her beautiful hair. Tears streamed down her pale face.

“Sprinkles? What are you doing?” He held her hand, gently turning her towards him. Her hazel eyes were red-rimmed from crying.

“I r—remembered how h-he touched my hair. I c-can’t do anything about how he marked my body, but I don’t want his touch on me a-anymore.”

“Okay. We’ll take care of your hair.” He brushed his hand across her forehead. “Em, you feel warm. You’re not supposed to be up like this yet. Let’s get you back to bed.”

“No, Seb. I want it gone.” He felt her whole body shiver, and the pit in Sebastian’s stomach grew.

“And I’m going to cut it for you. But you need to be taking it easy. And that means getting that beautiful body of yours back in bed so we can get the nurse to check out your temperature. No arguing.”

“Fine.” She handed him the scissors and walked gingerly out of the bathroom, her hand pressed low on her belly where her wound was. He didn’t miss how her face winced with each step, or how she gasped when she had to get back in the bed. He’d made the mistake of offering her help, only to be met with a glare full of self-determined rage.

“Why don’t you let me ask the nurse for more pain medication, too?”

“No. I’m not in that much pain. And I don’t want to be in a fog when you find Natalie and Addie. I don’t want her first time finding out I’m her mom to be when I’m looped out of my mind.”

“Okay,” he sighed. “Open your robe so I can check your stomach.”

“You don’t need to do that. It’s fine.”

“I just watched you hold on to your belly like something was about to fall out. You winced when you got into bed and you feel warm to me. I want to see it, Em. Now.”

“They discharged me from the hospital, Seb. And Eileen has been checking on me all day. I’m okay.”

“Yeah, well, I still think you should have stayed for a few more days. Now quit stalling and let me see.”

“So bossy.”

“I’m never going to let anything hurt you again. That stands for tiny germs, too.”

Emma laid back and smiled as she opened her robe. Seb washed his hands and walked back to the bed, lifting the tape holding her bandage in place. He winced at the slight redness around her incision, shouting to call the home nurse to their room.

“What’s wrong?”

“How long has this been bothering you?”

“I just figured it was because we started tapering off my pain meds.”

Eileen walked in and washed her hands.

“What can I do for you?”

“How about the fucking job I’m paying you an outrageous amount to do?” Sebastian growled, not caring about the gasp that left the nurse’s shocked face.

“Sir, I assure you?—”

---