The Search for a Miracle
The emergency room was a blur of harsh fluorescent lights and the sterile smell of antiseptic.
The moment the triage nurse saw Kai’s high fever, they were rushed back into a private examination room.
A pediatrician immediately began conducting tests, leaving Adrian and Luciel to wait in agonizing suspense.
As the doctor examined Kai, the heavy, throbbing ache in Luciel’s chest reached a breaking point. His shirt was dangerously close to showing a visible wet spot.
“Adrian,” Luciel said, his voice a bit strained as he gently tapped Adrian’s shoulder. “I... I need to step out for just a quick second to use the restroom. And maybe hit the hospital pharmacy. My stomach is a little upset from the stress.”
Adrian, eyes glued to his son, nodded numbly. “Yeah. Go ahead. I’ve got him.”
Luciel practically bolted out of the room.
He sprinted down the corridor to the 24-hour hospital pharmacy, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Scurrying down the baby aisle, he spotted them: a box of ultra-absorbent, overnight nursing pads.
He snatched them up, grabbed a plain gray cotton t-shirt from the hospital gift shop next door, and locked himself inside a bathroom stall.
“Oh, thank god,” he gasped, peeling off his damp shirt. The nursing pads he had put on that morning were completely soaked through.
With trembling hands, he unwrapped the new pads, pressed them securely inside his undergarment, and pulled on the fresh gray t-shirt.
The relief was instantaneous. The heavy, painful pressure subsided slightly, and he looked completely normal again.
He tossed the soiled shirt into a plastic bag, took a deep, steadying breath, and headed back to the examination room.
----
When Luciel walked back into the room, the pediatrician had just finished up, and Kai was resting a bit more easily after a dose of infant acetaminophen.
But Adrian looked entirely defeated. He sat in a plastic chair, his large face cupped deeply in his hands, his broad shoulders trembling slightly.
“Adrian?” Luciel whispered, stepping forward and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Hey. What did the doctor say? Is Kai going to be okay?”
Adrian slowly lifted his head, his green eyes bloodshot and filled with a profound, exhausting despair.
“The fever is coming down because of the medication, Luciel. But... it’s his stomach. The doctor says his digestive system is incredibly sensitive. He’s having a severe, adverse reaction to the synthetic milk formulas we’ve been trying.”
“An adjustment difficulty?” Luciel asked, pulling up a chair.
“More than that. His body is completely rejecting it. It’s causing severe inflammation and bloating, which is what triggered the spike in his fever,” Adrian explained, his voice cracking. “The pediatrician told me that for Kai’s health, he needs real breast milk. He needs a wet nurse.”
Luciel’s breath hitched. His mind went entirely blank. A wet nurse? Real breast milk?
“A wet nurse...” Luciel repeated, his voice barely a whisper. He unconsciously pressed his arms against his sides, feeling the warm, hidden reality hidden beneath his fresh gray t-shirt. Right now, he was practically a walking dairy, yet he had to sit here and play dumb.
“Yeah,” Adrian sighed, rubbing his face aggressively. “The hospital gave me a list of certified agencies. I’m going to start calling them first thing tomorrow morning. I don’t care how much it costs. I just want my son to stop hurting.”
“Right. Of course,” Luciel stammered, looking down at Kai, who was letting out soft, exhausted little sighs in his crib. If only you knew, Adrian, Luciel thought, his heart aching with a mixture of guilt and anxiety. If only you knew.
----
The next three days were an absolute nightmare of interviews and failed attempts.
Adrian, entirely unaware of the biological miracle sitting right next to him on the living room couch, spent thousands of dollars hiring the most highly recommended, certified wet nurses from the city’s top agencies.
The first wet nurse was a kind, professional woman named Sarah.
She sat comfortably on the armchair, gently cradling Kai in her arms to feed him.
But the moment she tried to get the baby to latch, Kai took one sniff, wrinkled his tiny nose, and began to scream at the top of his lungs, arching his back in complete rejection.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Vance,” Sarah said defensively, handing a sobbing Kai back to a panicked Adrian. “Some babies are just incredibly particular about the scent or the taste of the milk. He’s completely refusing me.”
The second wet nurse, a soft-spoken woman named Elena, had no better luck. Kai wouldn’t even let her hold him for more than a minute before turning bright red and crying until he gasped for air.
By the third day, Adrian was pacing the living room floor, a screaming, hungry, and miserable Kai tucked against his chest. The baby had rejected every single wet nurse they brought through the door. He was growing weaker, his little green eyes dull with discomfort.
“Why won’t he drink?” Adrian cried out, his voice thick with tears of sheer frustration and helplessness. He looked at Luciel, completely at his wit’s end. “They’re professionals, Luciel! Their milk is perfectly fine! Why does he keep rejecting them?!”
Luciel stood by the kitchen counter, his heart breaking into a million pieces for his nephew.
He could feel his own chest tightening, a heavy, sympathetic ache blooming deep within him as Kai’s distressed wails echoed through the apartment.
His nursing pads were already working overtime, absorbing the heavy, unexpressed milk that his body was desperately trying to offer.
“Maybe... maybe he’s just scared of strangers, Adrian,” Luciel said softly, his voice trembling as he stepped closer to the frantic father and the sobbing child. “He’s lost his mother, he’s been to the hospital... he probably just wants comfort.”
“I don’t know what to do anymore,” Adrian whispered, dropping his forehead against Luciel’s shoulder in pure exhaustion. The muscular tech assistant looked entirely broken. “If he doesn’t eat soon, we’re going to have to put him back on an IV at the hospital. I just want him to be okay.”
As Adrian leaned against him, the proximity and the sheer emotional weight of the moment caused a sharp, tingling spike to shoot straight through Luciel’s chest.
He felt a sudden, massive surge of fluid rush into his nursing pads, the damp warmth threatening to break through his clothes at any second.
Luciel swallowed hard, keeping his secret locked tightly behind his teeth, even as his body screamed to give the starving baby exactly what he needed.