After making her way past the reception, Tora made her way to Darren's room in the BICU. Having a doctor and hospital director for a mother, she knew the ins and outs of the hospital. Since Darren was put in a cleanroom to lower his chances of infection, she also had to be clean to enter the room. She walked through the first set of doors and washed her hands for thirty seconds. She then put on one of the yellow gowns before taking a pair of latex gloves to cover her hands and a mask to cover her nose and mouth.

She walked through the second set of doors into Darren's room.

Tora strolled around the bed to Darren's face as he rested much more peacefully than the last night. She looked at the monitor. His pulse, blood pressure, and O-two were quite low for him, and he had a bit of a fever from what she could tell. His burned back remained exposed as he rested face down with an endotracheal tube in his mouth.

He slept so peacefully that one would not think he had had such a long night, repeatedly going into cardiac arrest. Tora remained silently by his bedside. Nothing but the monitors beeping, the respirator venting, and the IV dripping could be heard in the room. The scene was so familiar, bringing back memories from two years ago when he watched her adoptive father die.

Miriam was by his side as he laid on a hospital bed, just like Darren, the monitors beeping before his heart stopped.

His heart stopped.

Tora's head whipped to the monitor, watching the line beep rhythmically. She stepped back from the bedside. Her breath trembled. Before she could do anything else, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Tora pressed the button on her earbud to answer. "Hello?... Yeah, I'm here… Why?... Okay. I'm on my way."

Tora removed the mask, the gloves, and the robe, tossing them in the designated trash bin before walking out of the room. She made her way to the elevator, feeling like she just got called to the principal's office. Her mother would not tell her anything on the phone, but her voice was stern when she asked her to come to her office. She said it had to do with Darren.

Tora widened her stride and quickened her pace when the elevator door opened to the executive floor of the hospital.

As the hospital's director and Chairman of the Board, her mother sat at the very top of the hospital since she established the hospital almost 30 years ago.

Long ago, her mother, then Miriam Jesse, was an Army general surgeon, performing surgeries on the battlefield. She was the one the army called on whenever their soldiers were injured. Jordan Carlisle, an Air Force pilot, would often escort her and her injured patients from behind enemy lines to a field hospital via an Aero-Medibus. After several years of working together, they fell in love and married. After fifteen years of service to her country, Miriam retired and established Saint Christoper Hospital.

Tora met General Jordan Carlisle while attending the USAFA. He was her combat pilot instructor, and she was his top student. She was the best in her class, excelling in almost every field. Her ability to follow orders, her physical prowess, and her intellect were unrivaled. The only thing that prevented her from truly being the best was her social skills.

She had no friends in her early years at the Academy. The word teamwork was not in her dictionary.

For class projects, she would change her teammates' contributions or do the whole project by herself if she could get a perfect grade. She'd often run ahead and complete a mission during field exercises so her teammates would not be in harm's way. She found doing anything together as a team a waste of time if she could do it by herself.

She was the Academy's lone wolf. The name, Wolfie, later became her call sign. But no matter how good she was, unless she was able to put her team above herself, she would not be able to pass the Academy. General Carlisle was the harshest on her and placed her in a group wherever he could. He gave her extra assignments because he knew her perfectionist nature would not allow her to fail.

Back then, Tora preferred to stay emotionally closed-off. Although she cared for others, she preferred to keep her distance for fear of heartache if and when she lost that connection. When General Carlisle discovered this through her psych evaluations, he took steps to help her form connections with others. The first thing he did was invite her to spend the holidays with him and his wife, Miriam. The winter of 2022, ten years ago, was the first time she met the people who would invite her to be a part of their family.

Tora gave a few short knocks on the door before a response came from the other side, "Enter."

Tora walked inside the room that was larger than her apartment with a large conference table at one side of the room, near the large floor-to-ceiling windows. Tora's eyes scanned the room, from the breakfast station to the large floor-to-ceiling sliding wooden doors that led to the inner office. Her eyes returned to the table where her mother and two other figures sat.

"Tora, this is Mr. Jacob Morrison. He's a manager at Rouen Industries. And Mr. Martin Ludwig, a lawyer."

The men stood up to face her as they held their hands out. Tora moved past them as if they were air as she made her way to the breakfast area. She served herself some fruit on a plate, a muffin, and fresh pancakes drowned in Canadian syrup. She paid no mind to anyone else in the room until she finished. She took a seat beside her mother.

The men tried to introduce themselves once more, but she paid them no mind as she buttered her pancakes. She cut her pancakes and took a bite before she looked up at the man as he retracted his hand.

Tora ate slowly. "Mr. Morrison wanted to talk to me about the patient we admitted last night," said Miriam.

Jacob nodded and looked from Miriam to Tora. "Are you the patient's family, miss…"

"Carlisle. Etora Carlisle. And the patient's name is Darren Kershaw. And yes, I am his family. Are you here to once again offer your sincerest apologies?" Tora did not mask the sarcasm in her voice.