Nurse Clara: Out of the way! What's happening in here?
Nurse Clara slammed through the door, followed by two pediatric specialists carrying emergency resuscitation gear.
Dr. Evans: The infant is in full arrest! Prepare the infant defibrillator pads immediately!
Nurse Clara: Sir, you need to get this boy away from the incubator right now!
Mark: Toby, get your hands off him! The doctors need to work!
Toby: Don't touch me! Just look at the screen!
Toby stood completely still, his small hand pressed gently against his newborn brother's chest.
The loud, continuous flatline alarm suddenly stuttered.
A single sharp green spike popped onto the black monitor screen, followed by a soft, clear beep sound.
Nurse Clara: What was that?
Dr. Evans: Wait... hold on! Don't charge the pads yet!
Another green spike appeared on the display screen. Then another. Then a steady, rhythmic pattern began to scroll across the digital monitor.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The infant's blood oxygen levels jumped from thirty percent straight up to ninety-eight percent in less than ten seconds.
Nurse Clara: His pulse is stabilizing... sixty beats per minute... eighty... one hundred and twenty!
Dr. Evans: This doesn't make any medical sense. He was completely flatlined for over forty seconds!
Inside the incubator, baby Leo opened his tiny eyes, let out a tiny sneeze, and began to cry with strong, healthy lungs.
Sarah dragged herself up from the floor, staring through her tears at the monitor in absolute disbelief.
Sarah: He's breathing... look at his chest moving!
Toby: I told you. Grandma said we have the same heart. When I touch him, my heart teaches his how to beat.
Mark stared at Toby's small hand, his own hands shaking as he slowly backed away toward the door.
Mark: How... how did you do that?
Toby: Grandma had the same condition I had when I was a baby. She spent seven years teaching me how to control my pulse so I could help Leo when he was born.
Dr. Evans: Nurse Clara, check the child's vital signs immediately. The infant's color is completely restored.
Nurse Clara: Oxygen saturation is at ninety-nine percent, Doctor. He doesn't even need the ventilator support anymore!
Dr. Evans turned around, looking at Toby as if he were staring at a ghost.
Dr. Evans: Young man... who are you?
Toby: I'm Toby. I'm Leo's big brother.
Sarah stepped past Mark and threw her arms around Toby, pulling him into a tight, desperate embrace as she wept against his curly hair.
Sarah: Toby... my sweet boy... I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry I didn't know you were alive!
Toby: It's okay, Mom. Grandma said you didn't know. She said Dad lied to both of us.
Sarah pulled back, her eyes flashing with a cold, unforgiving anger as she turned to face her husband.
Sarah: You gave away my firstborn son, told me he died, and tried to let my second son die today so you wouldn't have to deal with him.
Mark: Sarah, please! I was under so much financial stress! You don't understand what it was like!
Sarah: I understand everything now, Mark. And you are never coming near me or my children ever again.