Freedom Series: Chasing Butterflies

Epilogue

Chapter 24

Two Months Later

"Babe, can you get Neil?" Nova shouted, her arms elbow deep in soapy water as she tried to stop him with her leg as he stumbled around her. She didn't understand how he could be taking his first steps last week and now he was stumbling around the house faster than she could keep up with.

"I got him!" Andy yelled, scooping the laughing baby up into his arms and flying him through the air making zooming noises. She watched the two of them briefly, having mixed emotions.

On one hand, life was going great. Anderson and Nova had decided to take their relationship slow, as Andy was still healing. On the other hand, Nigel had yet to wake up. And she knew that in this situation"no news is good news", but that still did not stop the ache in her heart when she saw Neil do things like taking his first step and Nigel wasn't here to see it.

Noticing her sudden change in mood, like he always did, Anderson approached her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I think Nova needs a kiss, Neil." She watched as he gave her an adorable smile and reached for her face, planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you." She said, attacking his face with kisses as he shrieked, and she could have sworn that one of those shrieks sounded like the word "no". The boy was too smart for his own good as he was only turning one, today in fact.

Today was Neil's first birthday and they planned to celebrate it at the hospital in Nigel's room. All three of them had made a batch of red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing to take with them and after they were going to go to the park for cake batter ice cream. Andy's parents, sister, and Maddox were going to meet them at the park, including a couple of Andy's old friends that he had reconnected with.

Ever since Lily's untimely demise Andy has become a new man with the help of Nova. He wore fewer suits, ate at less ridiculously expensive restaurants, stopped traveling around in limos and started to make more decisions when it came to their relationship and everyday life. Every time Nova thinks about the restaurant debacle of 2017 she wanted to spit on Lily's grave.

It was two weeks into their relationship when Nova noticed that every time she asked Andy what he wanted to eat or do he would say "whatever you want too". It began to annoy her after a while and one evening she had trapped him in a corner and made him decide where they were going to eat. It had taken her a week to convince him that it was okay for him to decide before he had finally picked the Silver Diner. She now made him pick one thing a week that they were going to do, whether it was lounging on the couch in pajamas and watching a movie, or going to an amusement park. He had taken it too far one day however when he had told her that he didn't want to see the newest chic flick out in theaters.

Sufficient to say that he eventually learned to pick his battles

"We're going to be late if we don't leave right now Nova," Anderson warned her, as he watched her pick up another dish. "And I told you that I would do those later." He chastised her, pulling her hands out of the soapy water and kissing nose.

"Fine." She said, kissing Neil on the forehead but skipping pass Anderson.

"Where's my kiss?" Anderson asked, pouting.

"Talk to me on your birthday." She said, laughing and then yelped when he smacked her butt as she ran down the hall to her room.

Anderson shook his head as he walked out to his car and placed a squirming Neil in his car seat. He smiled and looked down at him brushing his curly dark brown hair back as Neil smiled back at him with nothing but trust in his eyes. A vibration in his pocket caused Anderson to break eye contact with Neil and fish his phone out of his pocket. His eyes widened as he read the message that had one written word from Doctor Benzer.

Emergency!

"Nova we have to go!" Anderson yelled, running around to the driver's side.

Upon hearing Anderson's panicked voice Nova came flying out of the house, not bothering to see if the door closed fully, as she jumped into the car. He pulled off before she could even close her door.

"What's wrong?!" Nova asked, already fearing the worst. What if her brother died? He had been in a coma for almost three months and she could tell that although it astonished the Doctors that he was still alive, they were doubtful that he would ever wake up.

"I don't know. I just got an urgent text from Doctor Benzer." He said, coming to a halt at the red light. He turned to face Nova and cursed as he saw a tear slide down her face that she attempted to hide. Cupping her tear-stained face in his hands he said, "Whatever happens I'm here for you, just know that, okay?" He told her reassuringly. She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded her head. He kissed her forehead and then sped off trying to drive as fast, but safe, as possible since he had precious cargo in the front and the backseat.

They pulled into the parking lot and ran into the hospital heading straight for the familiar elevator. The nurses that watched them run by felt deja vu as they recalled a moment a couple of months ago when the same family had run into the hospital. They waited impatiently until the elevator doors opened and complete chaos met them.

The information desk looked as if an anvil had been dropped on the middle, papers and broken glass were strewn all across the floor, the lights were hanging from the ceiling, and worst of all, there were at least half a dozen nurses and doctors laying injured on the floor and another half a dozen hiding under the broken desk or in hospital rooms.

Anderson immediately pushed Nova and Neil behind him, his wolf urging him to protect his family against the unknown threat. He signaled for all of the hospital staff to run towards the elevator and they did as quietly as possible.  The last nurse, a young girl, was running across to the packed elevator when she was suddenly tackled to the ground by a golden blur. Anderson immediately charged the wolf, to protect his pack member, shifting into his multi-colored wolf and tackled the male to the ground. He kept his senses constantly heightened to scan the area for other threats as he wrestled the wolf into submission.

The male wolf was big but clearly inexperienced as he had most likely caught the hospital staff off guard. It did not take him long to make the wolf submit, although he did it begrudgingly, and Andy was able to glance into his eyes. And what he saw made his eyes widen, as he was met with familiar whiskey-colored eyes.

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The End...

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