“Anytime. It may make you feel even more better to know that Stone’s awake. Marcus texted me. Delores is with him and he’s being cranky with the nurses.”

“Good. Not that he’s tormenting the nurses, of course. He really ought not to do that. Nurses can make his life either comfortable or really uncomfortable.”

“Apparently Delores keeps trying to tell him that.” Diesel swayed them back and forth, rocking her where they stood. “And Decker says to tell you that his ass cheek hurts because that’s where he took the biggest piece of shrapnel, but he’s ‘had a lot worse.’ His words, not mine.” His fingers began moving, massaging the tight muscles of her back. “I’d tell you to go to sleep, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“Not until they get here.”

“They’re here,” Adam said from his post by the front door. “They just pulled into the parking garage. They’ll be up in less than a minute.”

It was still a long, long minute before the door opened and Joshua bounded in, still wearing his Spider-Man pj’s, his new stuffed dog under one arm. He made a beeline for Dani, throwing his arms around her and holding on tight.

“We did an adventure,” he told her solemnly when he finally let go. “We went in a van with no windows after another van pretended to drive away with us.”

“A decoy,” Diesel said.

Joshua nodded. “That’s what Mr. Deacon called it. Then another van left after us, so it was like a trick. The third van had the dogs. They went to Delores’s house because she has places for them to sleep. Then we changed vans. The first one was white and the second one was . . . white.” His forehead crinkled. “So was the third one.” His sunny smile returned. “And Miss Faith gave us cookies.”

“So many cookies,” Deacon groaned, signing the conversation for Michael, who walked sedately at his side. Hawkeye trailed behind them, never more than a snout’s length from Michael. “I kept telling Faith that the sugar would keep him up all night, but she said that would be your problem, Dani.”

Dani’s eyes met Michael’s and she saw true exhaustion. And fear. And maybe some guilt. Faith had texted her that Michael blamed himself for Stone’s and Decker’s injuries. They’d have to work on the guilt later. The fear she understood because she felt it, too. The exhaustion, however, she could fix right now.

“You look tired, Michael,” she signed. “I fixed a room for you. I’ll show you where it is. Even though I know you’ll sleep on the floor in Joshua’s room.”

Michael just nodded.

Diesel picked Joshua up and swung him around, making the little boy laugh. “I think you need to brush those cookies off your teeth, then off to sleep for you, too.”

“Do I get a story?”