Poitr took a cab home. He had a lot to catch up on for work. And he had to have a serious conversation with Lindsey. He scripted out a few lines of dialogue with Lindsey in his head, but he had no idea how to bring Ella up or how Lindsey would react. They had talked about adoption before but decided against it. That had been after the second miscarriage.

He decided that worrying over the conversation wouldn't help anything now. He took out his phone and began responding to the six unread texts and more than fifty unread emails for work, but not before sending a text to Lindsey letting her know he'd be home soon.
---
The following morning, Poitr pulled up to the hospital in his car, alone. Lindsey had told him - sincerely - to do what he thought was best. She hadn't wanted to miss another day of work. There was a big merger going on, and she couldn't afford to miss more meetings while still being an integral part of the merger. Poitr had secretly hoped that Lindsey would decide about Ella one way or the other - it would take a burden off of his conscious. He still hadn't told her that Ella was a shapeshifter.

He met Sister Lazenby in the visitor's area as planned. After a brief greeting, they went to meet Ella for breakfast. Sister Lazenby didn't push Poitr about the decision yet.