diff --git a/crates/freshell-freshagent/src/session_handoff/tests.rs b/crates/freshell-freshagent/src/session_handoff/tests.rs
index 22b1d30ca..5dfe39b89 100644
--- a/crates/freshell-freshagent/src/session_handoff/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/freshell-freshagent/src/session_handoff/tests.rs
@@ -6291,20 +6291,29 @@ async fn the_claude_handoff_target_binding_carries_the_handoff_generation() {
 
     // The target resume's sidecar init adoption writes the binding row
     // (async to the runner's commit) — bounded-poll until it lands.
+    // DEFLAKE (wait-depth): the loop previously broke on ANY matching row,
+    // but an interim unfenced row (observed pair None) can land FIRST —
+    // the runner's under-ticket adoption (the row this test asserts on)
+    // follows it. Poll for the SETTLED row — one stamped with the supplied
+    // handoff pair — so the assertions below never read an interim row.
+    // The r27 regression shape (the adoption writing None and never the
+    // pair) still fails here at the deadline, with the full dump.
     let deadline = tokio::time::Instant::now() + Duration::from_secs(15);
     loop {
-        if fake
-            .bindings
-            .lock()
-            .unwrap()
-            .iter()
-            .any(|b| b.provider == "claude" && b.session_id == sid && b.mode == "freshclaude")
-        {
+        if fake.bindings.lock().unwrap().iter().any(|b| {
+            b.provider == "claude"
+                && b.session_id == sid
+                && b.mode == "freshclaude"
+                && b.observed_epoch == Some(rig.ownership.boot_epoch())
+                && b.observed_generation == Some(committed_generation)
+        }) {
             break;
         }
         assert!(
             tokio::time::Instant::now() < deadline,
-            "the target resume's session-init adoption never wrote its binding row"
+            "the under-ticket adoption never stamped its binding row with the supplied \
+             handoff pair — bindings: {:?}",
+            fake.bindings.lock().unwrap()
         );
         tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_millis(25)).await;
     }
diff --git a/crates/freshell-platform/src/mcp_inject_tests.rs b/crates/freshell-platform/src/mcp_inject_tests.rs
index bf6542b19..4e6d8f1b2 100644
--- a/crates/freshell-platform/src/mcp_inject_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/freshell-platform/src/mcp_inject_tests.rs
@@ -502,7 +502,19 @@ fn live_wslpath_timeout_falls_back_and_reaps_the_child() {
         "timed-out conversion should return promptly"
     );
 
-    let pid = std::fs::read_to_string(&pid_file).expect("timeout script wrote its pid");
+    // The child writes its pid as the script's FIRST statement, so when the
+    // file is absent at read time the shell NEVER STARTED: under heavy
+    // parallel load (the workspace gate; WSL fork latency) the conversion's
+    // 3s deadline can kill the child before its fork+exec ever runs. A
+    // pre-start kill+wait IS the reap — the property under test holds by
+    // construction, and the leak this test guards against (a started
+    // `sleep` surviving the timeout) always leaves the pid file behind for
+    // the kill -0 assertion below. (Base-gate flake: the old unconditional
+    // read panicked here on the pre-start-kill outcome.)
+    let pid = match std::fs::read_to_string(&pid_file) {
+        Ok(pid) => pid,
+        Err(_) => return,
+    };
     let status = std::process::Command::new("kill")
         .arg("-0")
         .arg(pid.trim())