She reached the maternity floor. The hallway was filled with the heavy silence of grief.
Inside the room, the small still body of baby Ethan lay on a table while doctors and nurses stood exhausted beside the devastated parents.
Lucia pushed the door open.
“Who are you?” a nurse shouted. “You can’t be in here!”
A doctor stepped forward. “This area is restricted.”
But Lucia kept walking.
“It’s not over,” she said, her voice trembling. “Please… let me try something.”
Daniel looked up from the floor.
“Who are you?” he asked weakly.
“I just don’t want another baby to die,” she replied.
Before anyone could stop her, Lucia placed the container on the floor, gently lifted the baby the way she had seen in training videos, and carefully lowered him into the ice.
The room exploded with shouts.
“Are you crazy?” Sophia cried.
Then suddenly something happened.
The heart monitor gave a faint beep.
Then another.
Everyone froze.
A doctor rushed forward.
“Wait… is that a heartbeat?”
Seconds later the baby’s tiny body twitched.
Then came a fragile cry.
Sophia burst into tears. Daniel collapsed again, overwhelmed with shock and relief.
“He’s crying,” Daniel repeated, unable to believe it.