The response to the first chapter was fantastic. Thanks to those who took the time to review. Hope you enjoy round 2!
Stef feels as though she's just fallen asleep when she feels someone touch her arm. "Dr. Foster", the nurse whispers, trying not to wake Callie. "I'm sorry to wake you, but Callie's social worker is here with an Officer Foster". Stef rubs her eyes with her free hand, the other was still tightly enclosed in Callie's hand. "What time is it?" she asks the nurse.
"Just after 7:30. We were going to wake you at shift change, but you both looked so peaceful."
She becomes more alert, realizing she'd spend the remainder of her shift in Callie's room. She pulls her pager from her scrub pants and checks to see that she hadn't missed any pages.
"It's okay", the nurse reassures her. "They called up from the ER at shift change to check on Callie. Uneventful night down there, minus this girly" she says gesturing towards Callie.
Stef carefully extracts her hand from Callie's trying hard to not wake the girl. She lets go of her breath when she realizes her hand is free and Callie sighs but doesn't wake up. "Her social worker is here?" Stef asks, remembering what the nurse had told her as she was waking up.
"Yup, I asked them to stay out in the hall."
"Thanks. Will you stay with her while I talk with them?"
"Will do", the nurse responds. They switch places and Stef takes a moment to pull herself together before stepping out in the hallway.
She see's her ex husband first. Although they'd been divorced since Brandon was a young child they remained amicable. "Mike" she greets him with a hand shake. "You are working Callie's case? The social worker who'd been standing with his back to her talking with Mike, turns at the sound of her voice.
"Stefanie", Bill says extending his hand towards her. "It's been awhile.". Standing beside her ex-husband was the social worker that had placed Mariana and Jesus with her and Lena five years earlier. She'd not seen him since their adoption had been finalized a few years ago.
"Bill", she greets him. She was still angry that it had taken him close to ten hours to arrive at the hospital after Callie had arrived.
"How is Callie?" Bill asks. "I understand from her foster parents that she took a tumble down the basement stairs".
Stef takes a few steps away from Callie's room, "A tumble down the stairs?" she replies trying to keep her temper in check, "Bill that child has been beaten and this is not the first time".
"Stef", Mike says cautioning her, placing a hand on her arm. "That is a pretty strong accusation. Did Callie tell you that?"
She shakes her head and gives them a full update on Callie's condition before continuing, "Callie hasn't said one word since she was brought in here last night. Everything that child went through last night, she didn't even cry. She may have fallen down the stairs last night but I don't think it was an accident, nor were the multiple healed rib fractures or the other multiple bruises she had in various stages of healing."
Before Stef can continue, Bill interrupts, "Callie's been in care for almost three years now. She's been in a lot of foster homes Stef. She's only been in this last home for a few weeks now. She's been . . . difficult."
Stef takes a moment before she can respond, it almost sounds like Bill was trying to make excuses for what happened in the home the previous evening. "What has this child lived through?", she wonders. Stef turns and looks through the window in the door into Callie's room. She looked so tiny and broken that it brought tears to her eyes. "Mike", she says without turning back around, not trusting herself. She was this child's doctor, nothing more. She needed to at least try and keep this professional. "What is the status of the investigation?"
Even though they'd been divorced for a long time, Mike could still read his ex. While Stef had a tough exterior he could tell this was eating her inside. "I spoke to the foster dad last night, he says he was working out in the yard and heard a crash, came in and found the door to the basement open and Callie at the bottom of the steps. Apparently they were the only two home last night, he didn't come to the hospital because he'd had a few drinks. The other kid in the home was have a sleepover at a friend's house. The foster mom was out with friends. It all seems on the up and up Stef."
"What's going to happen to her?" Stef asks, not taking her eyes off Callie. She knew she didn't have a right to know, but she needed to know. She had a sixth sense about these things, all was not right in that home.
"Once the investigation is complete, if it's ruled by the police as an accident . . she'll be placed back in the home. They are willing to take her back.", Bill tells her.
She takes a deep breath and turns around, "You said she was difficult. Why has she been moved around so much?"
"She has had some trouble with male authority figures. She acts out, runs off for long periods . ", Bill tells her.
"Maybe there's a reason for that", Stef replies sarcastically.
"Stef.", Mike starts and Stef interrupts. "Lena and I will take her. If she has issues with male authority figures that won't be a problem in our home. She can't go back to that home. I know what you said, I know that you investigated. But I'm telling you, I've been an ER doctor for a long time now . . . " she trails off, they seemed to understand what she was implying.
Before Bill or Mike could respond there was a plea for help from inside Callie's room. Stef turns at the sound of the nurses voice and pushes open the door to Callie's room. "What happened?" she asks as she see's Callie thrashing around the bed, fear plastered all over her face."
"I don't know", she nurse replies. "She just starting freaking out, trying to pull out her IV's, grabbing at her casts, thrashing all over the place. I thought she was waking up, but I think she's still asleep."
Stef runs to Callie's bedside, leaving Mike and Bill standing in the doorway watching. "Callie, sweetheart" she says calmly, trying to bring the child back from wherever it was. "You are at the hospital, what's wrong honey?" She glances at the monitor on the wall which had started screaming and notes Callie's heart rate and respiratory rate both significantly elevated.
"What's wrong with her?" Bill asks from the doorway.
Before Stef could answer him, a larger team of medical professionals had started to push their way into Callie's room. Stef calls out orders and medications are drawn up and injected into Callie's IV line. Within a few minutes Callie settles and the monitors stop alarming. Once Stef is assured that Callie is okay she leaves her bedside and walks over to where Bill and Mike were still standing and watching.
"What the hell was that?", Mike asks.
"My best guess is a night terror or a panic attack. She never really did fully wake up, I gave her sedation and more pain medication. She'll be out for another few hours now. I don't like sedating her but she was going to hurt herself further."
Bill nods his head, seeing Callie he realizes in the weeks since he'd dropped her off at her new foster home she'd changed. It wasn't just the bruising and swelling to her face, he's sure she'd lost weight as well. "The other child that is placed in the foster home is Callie's biological brother Jude. He's 7. The family wants to adopt him. They really only wanted one child but Callie and Jude have always come as a package deal. As of right now their story seems to check out, Callie's accident was unwitnessed and Jude was out of the home. I can pull Callie, but Stef, her brother has a real chance at being adopted."
Stef. hadn't been prepared to hear that the other child in the home was Callie's biological brother. She'd said she'd take Callie on a whim, Lena knew nothing of any of this yet They hadn't spoken about taking in another foster child, let alone 2. Between their jobs, her call schedule and the kids schedules did they have time for more kids? Despite her nagging doubt, the pit in her stomach telling her that her instincts were correct continued to guide her decision making. She couldn't let Callie go back to that house. "I"ll talk to Lena. I want to take her. You can't send her back to that house."
