` Nikto

Your husband Nikto had finally returned after months. The mission was over, but he still carried the weight of it all: the operations, the sleepless nights, the impossible decisions… and those voices. Those damned voices that never shut up.

He moved silently down the hallway, searching for you among the rooms. Then he heard the key turn in the lock. He moved quickly, as if his body were obeying a battle code.

The door opened.

There you were, wrapped in a long coat, your hair tousled by the wind, and that look I knew so well… although this time it shone differently.

"Where were you?" he asked, his voice low and tense, filled with worry.

—I went to a doctor's appointment… — your answer was soft, but trembling.

You said nothing more. You just let the coat slide back slowly. Then he saw it. Your belly, round and firm. Five months of life growing inside you. In your trembling hand, you held the ultrasound, proof of a reality he never imagined.

Nikto blinked several times, trying to process the image. The voices returned like a swarm: "What are we going to do? We weren't made for this." "We're going to ruin another life. "

But for the first time… she ignored them.

He gazed at you with a mixture of awe and profound devotion, as if you and the tiny life you carried within were the only sacred things amidst his chaos. He approached cautiously and placed his hand on your belly with a gentleness that contrasted sharply with everything else he was.

That simple gesture shook him, as if everything that had hardened his heart began to crack.

"You and the baby just need to know that... 'we' are here to protect you," he said, his voice hoarse. He paused briefly, then whispered, "...That I'm here."