Chapter 14 - Eleven
Noelle left the interview room without answering.
She walked past Damian.
Past Agent Carter.
Past two guards.
Into the bathroom.
Locked the door.
Vomited.
Then sat on the tile floor.
Eleven.
She hated the number instantly.
Eleven possibilities.
Eleven violations.
Eleven things that did not fit neatly into any moral category.
A knock came.
"Noelle."
Damian.
She closed her eyes.
"Go away."
"No."
"Please."
Silence.
Then.
"I'll sit outside."
She almost laughed.
Of course he would.
Ten minutes passed.
Noelle opened the door.
Damian sat on the floor in the hallway.
Expensive suit.
Back against the wall.
He looked up.
"Hi."
She stared.
"You're ridiculous."
"Frequently."
She sat beside him.
For several seconds they said nothing.
Then Noelle whispered.
"Eleven."
"Yes."
"How do I feel about embryos made without my consent?"
"However you feel."
"What if I don't know?"
"Then you don't know."
"What do you feel?"
Damian rubbed his hands together.
"Angry."
"At them?"
His head snapped toward her.
"No."
"Me neither."
That relieved her.
He continued.
"At everyone who created this decision for us."
Noelle nodded.
"What happens legally?"
"Agent Carter says courts will decide disposition."
"I don't want Victor Hale's estate deciding anything."
"It won't."
"Crane?"
"No."
"Sofia's estate?"
"Probably not."
Noelle looked at him.
"Us?"
"Maybe."
Her throat tightened.
"I don't want eleven more children."
Damian's mouth twitched.
"Neither do I."
She laughed unexpectedly.
It turned into crying.
He put an arm around her.
Noelle leaned against him.
"I feel horrible saying that."
"Why?"
"Because they're genetically ours."
"They're embryos."
"But the triplets were embryos once."
"So were we."
She looked at him.
"That didn't help."
"I tried."
She rested her head against his shoulder.
Eventually, investigators located the archive beneath a private clinic in Switzerland.
International warrants followed.
Crane's bargaining power disappeared.
She was extradited three months later.
Victor Hale accepted a plea agreement requiring full cooperation.
Dr. Bell testified before a grand jury and died eleven days later.
Noelle attended his funeral.
Only seven people came.
Damian stood beside her.
"Do you forgive him?"
he asked.
"No."
"Then why come?"
"Because he told the truth before he died."
Damian nodded.
"Sometimes that's the last decent thing a person has left."
The embryo case took longer.
Noelle and Damian agreed to permanent preservation until courts established a legal framework.
No implantation.
No destruction.
No transfer.
Not yet.
For the first time in the entire story, Noelle allowed herself not to have an answer.
The children turned two.
Rosalie's closed for the afternoon.
Teresa baked three cakes because sharing had become a war crime in toddler logic.
Matteo wore blue frosting in his hair.
Luca cried because his candle went out.
Emilia stole Damian's fork.
Noelle stood in the middle of the diner and watched.
Customers.
Staff.
Friends.
Agent Carter had even come for twenty minutes.
Reyes wore a party hat that made him look deeply offended.
Noelle laughed until her stomach hurt.
Then she saw Damian across the room.
He was holding Luca.
Talking to Teresa.
Smiling.
Something inside her settled.
Not exploded.
Settled.
That was how she knew it was real.
Later, after everyone left, Noelle cleaned frosting from a table.
Damian leaned against the counter.
"You own employees."
she said.
"Technically you own employees."
"People aren't owned."
"Good correction."
"Make them clean."
"They offered."
"And?"
"You said family party."
Noelle looked at him.
"That was surprisingly thoughtful."
"I have moments."
She wiped the table.
Damian watched her.
"What?"
she asked.
"I need to tell you something."
Her stomach tightened.
"That sentence has ruined my life before."
He smiled faintly.
"No conspiracy."
"Good."
"No stolen babies."
"Better."
"No secret freezer of genetic material."
"Excellent."
He walked closer.
Noelle put down the cloth.
Damian looked nervous.
She had seen him under gunfire.
She had seen him face federal agents.
She had seen him survive surgery.
Nervous Damian was new.
"What?"
she whispered.
"I love you."
Noelle stopped breathing.
He didn't rush to fill the silence.
Good.
He had learned.
She looked down.
Then back up.
"When?"
"I don't know."
"Bad answer."
"Maybe when you ordered me to sit down in my own house."
"Reasonable."
"Maybe before."
"How romantic."
"I wasn't prepared."
"Also reasonable."
Damian's smile faded.
"You don't have to say anything."
Noelle's throat tightened.
"I love you too."
His eyes changed.
She lifted one finger.
"But."
He sighed.
"Of course."
"I'm not marrying you tomorrow."
"I didn't ask."
"You were thinking it."
He looked offended.
"I was not."
"Damian."
"Eventually."
She laughed.
He stepped closer.
"Noelle."
"Yes?"
"Can I kiss you?"
The question mattered more than he knew.
Or maybe he knew exactly.
Consent.
Choice.
Permission.
Everything stolen from them had begun because other people believed wanting something was enough reason to take it.
Noelle looked at him.
"Yes."
He kissed her gently.
No fireworks.
No dramatic music.
Just warm lips.
His hand against her cheek.
Her fingers closing around his shirt.
A choice.
Hers.
His.
Freely made.
Then a small voice shouted from the doorway.
"Mama!"
They jumped apart.
Matteo stood holding his rabbit.
Teresa appeared behind him.
"I thought he was asleep."
Damian sighed.
"Nobody sleeps in this family."
Matteo pointed at them.
"Again."
Noelle covered her face.
Damian laughed.
"No."
Matteo frowned.
"Again!"
"No."
Noelle was laughing too hard to speak.
Damian picked him up.
"Absolutely not."
Matteo looked at Noelle.
"Mama."
Then at Damian.
"Dada."
Then he pushed their faces together with both hands.
Teresa walked away laughing.
Noelle kissed Damian again.
Briefly.
Matteo cheered.
And for one beautiful moment, the story that had started with three screaming babies contained nothing dangerous at all.
Then Damian's phone rang.
Noelle groaned.
"Ignore it."
He checked the screen.
His expression changed.
"What?"
she asked.
He answered.
Listened.
Said nothing.
Then ended the call.
Noelle's happiness tightened into caution.
"What happened?"
May you like
Damian looked at her.
"Evelyn Crane escaped federal transport."
