Only later did Leo understand the rest. Toby had been born unable to speak. He had always used gestures, drawings, and careful writing to say what mattered. When he saw his mother struggling to breathe, he had taken the clipping from her bedside because he knew meeting Leo was one of her biggest wishes. The boy wanted his mom to be happy.
A few weeks later, Soline walked through the open bay doors of Station 42 holding Toby’s hand. She was still thin and tired, but she was smiling. Leo stood by the engine, speechless for a moment, as she thanked him properly in the place where Toby had found him.
Toby opened his notebook and showed Leo a drawing of a fire truck, a woman, a little boy, and a man with a marked wrist. Under it, he had written: Thank you for saving my mom. Leo smiled and touched the old scar. For ten years, he had thought the Harren fire had ended with smoke and pain. Now he knew it had also ended with Soline alive, and Toby standing beside her.