The Confluence leaves seemed to intensify the sound of the wind, clattering together in a way the conifers at home never did, and throwing around the weird storm light with their shadows. It was easier to look out the window than it was to keep watching what was happening six feet away, to keep waiting and waiting. Tem stole a glance back anyway. Marietta was still making small talk with the nurses, though it was getting bigger the longer it went on. Probably Tem should be talking too, pretending that all this was real normal and they weren’t that worried. But they didn’t feel quite like they were in the room anymore. The worry and the panic surrounded their mind completely, and they were getting through it by just not thinking about it too hard. Not thinking about how their roots were still locked into Marietta’s, and would be until their sprout, Milo, finally split off their combined rootstock, however many more hours that took. Not thinking about the brace around Milo’s tiny body, covering so much that it looked like per was just a metal can with limbs and a head, the only thing standing between per and all manner of infection and injury. Not thinking about what happened if the brace wasn’t enough, and despite the doctors’ confidence, Milo died when per differentiated. Just thinking about the strange foreign leaves. The strange foreign wind, and the strange foreign shape of the window. Just how this was their first, and Marietta’s, and if per died, they would have to get out of this job. There was no way they could brave it again after that. It was honestly a wonder they hadn’t passed out from the stress yet.
They were half-rehearsing a worst-case call to their husband when they felt an odd creaking in their roots. Turning back to the room, they found the nurses all crowding around Milo, and Marietta watching them. Milo’s roots were lifting up, shrinking back from the rootstock. When Tem could feel the bizarre sensation of Milo standing on their roots rather than as part of them, per eyes opened. They felt per wobble and their heart stuck in their throat. But the machine connected to per brace said that per was breathing. Now Tem was too, coming halfway back into reality out of pure relief.