Lauren’s fingers shifted around his, and the hesitation gave him his answer.

"They mentioned Canada."

"Because of your daughters?"

"Because they’re already there, yes, but no one promised anything." Frustration entered her voice despite her attempt to hide it. "The officials asked whether I would consider training, then told me several departments still needed to discuss our situation."

"So they don’t know what they’re doing with us."

"They probably know more than they’re telling us."

Luke disliked that possibility even more.

"Would they let us choose where we go?"

"I asked them that." Lauren gave him a tired smile. "They said it was too early to make promises."

His gaze moved across the restored café.

The government had repaired the damage, covered their treatment, and treated them politely, but none of that meant Luke and Lauren would have control over what happened next.

The authorities had already taken their registered headsets and subjected them to mandatory evaluations. They might offer training, keep them under observation, or decide they were not allowed to leave until the investigation was finished.

"So Canada is only a possibility," Luke said.

"For now." Lauren glanced toward the staircase. "They could send us somewhere else, keep us here, or decide they need more tests before they allow us to do anything."

"And you still want to become a hero."

Her eyes returned to him.

Luke already knew the answer. Powerforge had shaped Yvonne’s class around Lauren’s need to sense danger, protect the people beside her, and prevent disasters before they happened. Her abilities reflected the kind of hero she had always imagined becoming.

The difference was that it had only been a fantasy before.

Now she might have a real chance.

"I do," Lauren admitted. "That hasn’t changed."

"You sound excited."

"I am, and I feel guilty for being excited when we don’t know what the government intends to do with us." Her thumbs moved slowly across the backs of his hands. "I don’t know whether they’ll treat us like future heroes, research subjects, or something in between."

"But if they give you the choice?"

Lauren did not hesitate. "I want to try."

The quiet certainty in her voice told Luke that the attack had not created this desire. Powerforge had simply made an old dream possible.

"What would happen to the café?" he asked.

"I haven’t figured that out." She looked toward the counter. "I could close it for a while or ask someone I trust to manage it. Selling would be the last option."

The final possibility made her voice falter.

Luke followed her gaze. He could still remember the first day he entered the café and counted the coins in his pocket before deciding whether he could afford the cheapest drink.

Lauren had given him a pastry anyway.

Leaving this place would not be simple for either of them.

"You don’t want to sell it," he said.

"No. This is my home." Lauren paused before correcting herself. "Our home."

Luke lowered his gaze before she could see how deeply those words affected him.

"I also don’t know what any of this would mean for you," she continued. "You’ve only just found some stability here. You finally have your own room and somewhere you can feel safe. I won’t decide that you have to leave it behind because I suddenly have powers."

"Would you leave me here?"

"No."

Her answer came immediately.

Lauren stepped closer and tightened her grip around his hands. "No, Luke. I would never leave you behind. If they give us a choice, I want us to stay together. Whether that means Canada, somewhere else, or remaining here."

The idea of leaving still frightened him. He knew nothing about Canada, hero agencies, or what training would demand from him.

The café had only just begun to feel like home, and part of him wanted to hold on to it before the world changed again.

Then he looked back at Lauren.

The room upstairs and the café beneath it mattered because she had made space for him inside them. Wherever the authorities sent them, he would rather face the uncertainty beside her than remain behind without her.

"Then we wait until they tell us what our choices are," he said.

"And after that?"

"We decide together."

Relief softened her face, though worry remained in her eyes.

"You might have to train," she said. "You could get hurt again."

"So could you."

"That does not make me feel better."

A faint smile appeared on Luke’s face. Lauren tried to maintain her serious expression, but the corners of her mouth lifted.

"You still haven’t answered me," she said. "Do you want to become a hero?"

Luke considered what the word meant to him now.

He remembered the alley, the café, and the fear on Lauren’s face during the attack. He remembered what it felt like to have no strength and how different everything became once his body finally responded.

More than anything, he remembered standing between Lauren and danger.

"I want to become strong enough that you never have to face something like that alone again."

Her lips trembled, and Luke continued before embarrassment could silence him.

"If becoming a hero is how I do that, then yes."

Lauren smiled. "Mhm."

That familiar sound brought his earlier suspicions rushing back. He shifted awkwardly and looked away before forcing himself to speak.

"O-Only if your hero outfit isn’t as revealing as Yvonne’s."

For several seconds, the only sound in the café came from the low hum of the refrigerators.

By the time Luke risked looking at her, his entire face was burning.

Lauren’s eyes had gone wide, but the surprise quickly gave way to a delighted grin.

He immediately regretted saying anything.

Releasing his hands, she wrapped both arms around him. "Mhm... Yvonne is only for her mama’s boy."

Luke nearly inhaled his own tongue. He coughed and stumbled half a step backward, but Lauren kept him trapped against her.

"W-What?"

Her laughter filled his ears while he tried to recover. His heart pounded so hard that he barely heard the bell above the door sway in the otherwise silent café.

Once she finally released him, Lauren reached into her purse.

Luke watched her search through it with a mixture of dread and excitement. He knew what was coming, yet some stubborn part of him still expected one final misunderstanding to save him.

Lauren pulled out her identification card and held it beside her face with one hand. With the other, she pointed at it while wearing the same triumphant expression as the woman from that meme with the positive pregnancy test.

"Look."

Luke lowered his gaze.

Her full legal name appeared beneath the photograph, and his attention immediately settled on her middle name: Yvonne.