At 2:47 a.m., a little girl called crying: “It hurts… daddy’s baby wants to come out.”

The surgery lasted nine hours.

Tomás remained in the waiting room the entire time.

He ignored his shift.

Ignored his phone.

Ignored the world.

For the first time in ten years, he prayed.

Not for himself.

Not for redemption.

Only for a little girl he had met a few hours earlier.

Mariana from Child Protective Services sat beside him.