Cam: The thought meant more than the food.

Three dots blinked for a few minutes, then stopped, but no other text message appeared. I would have traded a year of my life to know what she’d typed and deleted.

…

“Hey,” Walt called from the doorway in a whisper.

I held up my finger, then checked to make sure Dad was still sleeping and crept past Xander’s outstretched legs from where he was passed out on Dad’s other side.

“How are you doing?” Walter asked me once I made it into the hallway and shut the door.

“About as well as you’d expect.” I ran my hands over my face. How was it only eight p.m.? It felt like it had been years since I’d woken up across from Willow.

“Okay, then how is Art?”

“He’s doing better than this morning. Probably needs another couple sessions in the hyperbaric chamber. Still hasn’t woken up yet, and he’s not capable of breathing on his own. There’s some serious lung damage they’re hoping to reverse.”

“Not capable…” Walt’s face fell. “Did Xander put him on a ventilator?”

“Yeah.”

Walter’s eyes slammed shut, and his mouth flattened as he took a deep breath, then another.

“It’s my fault, too,” I admitted.

“What?” He visibly startled.

“When I got to the house, I helped drag him out and told Xander to stop chest compressions because his heart was pumping. I told him he only needed rescue breaths.” I folded my arms across my chest.

“And you think that led to him being on life support?” he questioned.

“I didn’t say anything to Xander until the paramedics already had Dad and were loading him on the chopper. I should have said something from the beginning.”

We stepped apart as a medical team came through the hallway, and I saw Simon hovering near the waiting room down the hall. I offered a wave, and he sent one back.

“It’s nice to see Simon,” I told Walt. The guy looked good. Happy. Just like his dad.

“He wanted to give us a few minutes before ‘barging in,’ as he put it,” Walt explained, waving to his son. “It’s understandable that you told Xander how to save him. Understandable that you helped save him. It would be understandable if you were okay with that ventilator. That’s your father in there. No one is going to fault you for wanting him to live.” He slung a small duffel bag from his shoulder. “Your girl dropped this off and asked that I bring it for you. Sorry it took so long. Took Royal until this afternoon to get the power back up. I swear that system hasn’t been upgraded in the last fifty years. It’s a miracle we’re not all on nob and tube.”