A nurse must have put the bear on Allie's pillow. There was easily some sort of mundane explanation like that. It didn't manage to stop Barney from giving it a look, and wondering if it wasn't some sort of message. A welcome one, under the circumstances.

Barney felt his smile broaden, and lowered his voice so that only Allie would hear. "Didn't Rafe say it would be? Allie Lachlan, are you doubting the word of an angel?"

Hypocritical to the extreme, naturally, but Allie shouldn't have a reason not to hope. Not to believe. "There's going to be one more operation," he told her gently, "and then you're going to be absolutely fine. A few more months with the other children, and it'll be like you were never sick in the first place."

If things went well, if the operation was successful, and if rehabilitation was possible after that.

But for the moment, Barney could believe they would be.