Backstabbing, a chicago med fanfic

Dr. Charles sits in his office trying to wrap up a tough phyc case when he gets the call.

"This is Maggie," a hint of melancholy in her voice, "It's Dr. Reese, she's been stabbed 9 times. You need to get down here."

What!? Dr. Charles leaps out of his chair and rushes to the emergency department. The whole time he is thinking what kind of monster would do this to anyone, let alone small innocent brown eyed Reese. Was it random or was it meant for her!

When Dr. Charles gets to the emergency room Sarah Reese is just getting out of surgery. Why did they wait so long to page him? Maybe because they were working so hard and fast that they didn't have time.

Well either way, she is lucid now but just barely.

Natalie is yelling from Reese's room "Dr. Charles! She won't calm down! Please come in here and help!"

Sarah won't stop chanting "he stabbed me, he stabbed me."

"Sarah look at me, calm down. Look at me I'm here."

"No, no I can't."

"Yes you can, I know you can."

Sarah turns her brown eyes toward him, takes a deep unsteady breath in and tries to remain calm, but the tears running down her cheeks don't stop coming. She is obviously in pain.

"He stabbed me Dr. Charles" Sarah whispers.

"Who stabbed you Sarah?"

"Joey stabbed me" she says with a hiccup."

"Joey did this to you?" She gives a slight nod.

Joey has been Sarah's boyfriend for 2 years. He's the nerdy type, wouldn't hurt a fly.

Dr. Choi walks into Sarah's room.

"Hey girl, how ya doin?"

"She was just given another dose of morphine" Dr. Charles says from the seat next to her bed. "You can take my seat."

Ethan Choi gives a slight nod and takes a seat. He sits there watching Sarah, listening to the machines bep with her heart rate. All of a sudden her monitor beeps faster which means her heart rate is spiking.

She cries out "Joey stop!"

Sarah rolls over and rips her IV out, she's having a nightmare.

"Hey-hey, Sarah, wake up, wake up "Ethan tries to calm her.

"Sarah c"mon" Ethan pleads.

Her eyes snap open and move to meet his eyes.

She dips her head down and then tears stream down her face. Sarah is the type of person who cries silently. She covers her mouth with her hands unable to stop crying.

"I'm sorry" she cries " if I would of just volunteered to be on call like you wanted…." she can't finish her sentence.

"No, no, this is not your fault." Ethan reaches to take her hand. He strokes her hair back and they sit like that until she calms down.

Two detectives walk into the hospital to see if they can talk to Sarah Reese.

"No, uh, I don't think that will be necessary" Dr. Charles persuades, "we already know that J-Joey stabbed her so….."

He is interrupted by Detective Hank Voight. We need to talk to her personally to get a formal statement."

"And to see if she will testify" Detective Erin Lindsay adds. "We just came to you to see if she's psychologically ready."

Dr. Charles gives a slight nod, not wanting to make Sarah relive that moment anymore then she has to. Knowing that every time she does, she is reliving a nightmare.

Erin knocks on the hospital door, Reese's door.

"Come in" a raspy voice calls from inside.

When Detective Lindsay walks into the hospital room, Reese is facing the door. When she sees the detective she tenses a bit, then sits up.

"Hey Sarah, I just want to ask you a few questions, is that alright?" Lindsay is careful not to rush into things. Just from the few interactions she's had with Sarah, she knows that she is fragile.

"Sure" Sarah smiles. "Hey do you know when I'll be able to get out of here because my vitals are stable and I feel fine."

"I, I don't know" Lindsay says. "I want to ask you about Joey, is that his name?"

Sarah stiffs but tries to remain with a straight face "OK."

"Ok, so you and Joey were together, correct?"

"Yes, two years."

This goes on for 45 minutes until Detective Lindsay constructed a formal statement and convinced Sarah to testify in the court.

Two weeks later it is the day of the trial. Sarah has been back to work for 3 days now. Maggie, the head nurse, has been giving her only small cases, y'know like broken arms and sprained ankles.

Ethan didn't want Sarah to go to the trial alone so he decided that he would accompany her. They walk into courtroom and Sarah stops clear in her tracks.

Joey is sitting right there.

Dr. Choi sees what is happening "hey, look at me, he's not gonna hurt you. That's what the guards are for."

Sarah nods slightly and keeps walking to her place in court.

Sarah sits in the on-call room after the trial. Joey was given 5 years in prison and then 1 year probation.

She puts her head in her hands and just sits there with the lights off, thinking about " how relieved she is. But in a way she feels guilty. She just ruined someone's life, sure he stabbed her but…

Light sheds through the door, Dr. Will Halstead walks in, but Sarah doesn't look up from her hands.

"Sarah? Watcha doing in here?" She still doesn't look up. " Is everything ok? He walks over to her and kneels down.

"Yeah" she pauses "yeah I just, I mean I ruined his life and I know he's done terrible things, but he was drunk." Her face hardens as she remembers the day

Dr. Halstead doesn't say anything for a really long time. "I know how you feel"

Sarah gets a puzzled look on her face "You do?"

He smiles "Yeah when I was in the 8th grade my friends pushed me into a pole. I told the teacher but I felt guilty when they got in trouble because they were my best friends."

Reese giggles for the first time in awhile.

"C"mon, let's go for a coffee or something" Will says quickly, lets go, before she changes her mind..

"Yeah, let"s go"

I t's been 4 weeks since the trial and Sarah needs to ask Dr. Charles advice.

"Hey, Dr. Charles, I need your advice."

"Yeah, come on in."

"I want to visit Joey" she gets right to the point, in prison I mean."

Dr. Charles gives a disapproving frown "Sarah, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Dr. Charles all respect, my residency with you has taught me many things, one being that people need closure, this is my closure." She says it matter of factly.

Dr. Charles hesitates "If I let you do this, you have to let me come with you. I care about you Sarah, and I don't want you to get hurt again."

Sarah nods "Ok, actually I would like that."

The visit goes on with a bullet proof glass window between them.

"Sarah, why would you want to see me? I stabbed you. And I would do it all again" Joey says calmly.

Dr. Charles opened his mouth to say something, but Sarah turns toward him, holding up a hand. She's seen Dr. Charles get out of line with psych patients, so what's stopping him now.

"I know you would have, Joey. But I'm not here for you, I'm here to get closure."

The visit last about an hour.

When they exit the prison Dr. Charles grabs Sarah's hand and turns her toward him. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine" she says.

When Sarah gets back to the hospital she goes straight to the on call room and falls asleep. She hasn't told anyone this but she's been having nightmares since the trial. She hasn't slept for a week.

April Sexton walks into the on call room and takes a seat a few beds away from Sarah. She lost a patient and she just needed to calm down.

She sits there for about five minutes before it happens. Sarah wakes up screaming, calling out.

April runs over to Sarah's cot and tries to calm her down.

"Hey, you're ok, it's fine" April coaxes. Sarah looks at her confused, and then, suddenly she snaps back to reality.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she says it until she starts crying. April shakes her head.

"No, you have nothing to apologize for, you hear me?" April brings Sarah into a hug.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good"

"Hey, how often do you have these nightmares?" April questions.

Sarah hesitates, she didn't want anyone to know about them. She thought that she had already put them through enough trouble. But she figures that April is the one to tell.

"Umm….." she takes a deep breath "maybe 4 weeks."

April's eyes widen "4 weeks! Why haven't you told anyone?"

Sarah just shakes her head.

"Ok, you are going to stay with me until they go away, alright?" April made up her mind. "You should talk to Dr. Charles."

"April, I'm fine, really" Sarah puts her head down.

"No you're not, Sarah. You're so tired. How long has it been since you slept?"

"A week"

"Oh my God, Sarah!" April pulls Sarah's head onto her shoulder and within seconds she was asleep.

They sit like that for a while. April was scared that if she moved Sarah would wake and not be able to fall asleep again. April called Maggie and her to cover for her. She doesn't tell Maggie what is really going on because April doesn't think Sarah would want her to.

April holds up her hands "this is my place, what do you think?"

"Um, it's beautiful" Sarah pauses, "But April, again, you don't need to do this, I'm fine."

April rolls her eyes, "come on, you can sleep in the guest bedroom."

"Ok" Sarah was secretly grateful for April's hospitality.

Sarah's childhood was hard. Her dad died when she was 9 and shortly after that her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Her mom's condition was on and off. Some days

she would only have small hallucinations and others she would believe that her family was plotting against her. Sarah's mom attacked her when she was 13. She came at her with a knife. She's never told anyone this but for some reason she feels she has to.

"Hey April?" Sarah starts "I need to get something off my chest and it's gonna sound weird that I'm bringing it up now."

"Sarah in my opinion, you need to talk to people more." April makes her point, "So tell me."

Sarah tells her everything.

"I had no idea! April is astonished.

"It's not like I'm telling you this for your sympathy" Sarah is embarrassed" I'm just saying thank you, because I've never had anyone looking out for me."

April nods "I totally get it, have you always lived in Chicago?"

"No, I lived in Indiana until I was 15. I skipped 2 years of high school and graduated early. I then moved here when my mother needed to be put in a home."

April just nods. You could tell that she was uncomfortable.

"Are you going back to work? Everyone will understand if you don't." April questions Sarah.

"I'm not missing anymore time." It was Sarah's first night in April's apartment and she didn't want to seem like a whimp.

The next day Sarah goes into work early so she can catch up on the carts from previous cases. She runs into Ethan in the locker room.

"Hey, what are you doing here so early?"

"Oh, nothing really, just wanted t beat traffic."