The incredible journey

AN: So here is the second chapter I hope you all enjoy it, I also wanted to thank those who reviewed and followed this story it means more thank you know.

Chapter two:

Three months later…

"So everything has gone through and you both have been approved to proceed to the next step which is meeting the children to see if you can give them a home." Marcus said.

"Do you have a lot of children here?" Jane asked.

"We have about 20 children and their age is varied from 7 to 14 but compared to other placed which have about 35 to 60 children including older teenagers it would be classed as a small group." Marcus replied.

"I think I'm ready to meet them." Maura said as she gave Jane's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Me too." Jane aid as both women stood up.

"If you'd like to follow me." Marcus said as he leads the women to the day room where all the children played.

He had a good feeling about this couple one was a cop and the other was a doctor, they would make great parents. They came to a halt outside some double door Marcus grinned at them before he opened the door for them. Maura and Jane took a step into the day room, they took a good luck at all the children happily playing. Maura spotted one child who was secluded from the rest and felt her body walking towards him before her brain could catch up with her.

When Maura was stood in front of the boy she saw him tense up before he raised his head and met her eyes she crouched down so the boy wouldn't have to crane his neck.

"Hi there." Maura said softly.

Milo looked over the woman from head to toe, she was really pretty and had a nice smile.

"Hello." Milo said quietly.

"My name's Maura what's yours sweetie?" Maura asked.

"Milo-Sven." Milo replied as he wrapped his arms around himself.

"That's a nice name, how come you aren't playing?" Maura asked gently.

"The other kids don't like me." Milo replied.

"I'm sure that's not true." Maura said as she saw Milo try to make himself even smaller.

"It's true they don't want my germs. So they don't play with me." Milo said.

"Everybody had germs sweetie, especially when you get sick like when you have a cold." Maura said as she took a seat next to the boy.

"Last time I played I scrapped my knee and there was blood but Marcus wouldn't let anybody touch me. He even had all the kids leave the room until I was cleaned up because my blood has germs in it." Milo said as he started to sniffle.

At this point Jane had decided to join in the conversation. Maura looked up to Jane then looked back to Milo he was avoiding eye contact.

"Milo this is my wife Jane she's very nice." Maura said.

"Hi Milo." Jane said as Milo looked up at her.

"Why do you have that?" Milo asked as he pointed towards Jane's badge.

"I have this because I'm a detective which means I catch bad guys and make the world safe for everybody." Jane said as Milo finally looked her in the eyes.

"Ne ih sve uhvatiti." Milo muttered.

"Lunch time. A voice called out.

All the kids stopped playing and made the way to eat Milo looked between to two women before he scurried away. Jane and Maura stood up and left the day room and made their way back to Marcus's office.

"How was it?" Marcus asked.

"I think it went well I was talking to a boy names Milo." Maura said and noticed the way Marcus's face looked shocked before he cleared his throat.

"Did he talk to you?" Marcus asked.

"Yes why do you look shocked." Jane asked.

"He hasn't spoken to anybody in a month." Marcus replied.

"Why is that?" Maura asked.

"We had an incident about a month ago, he scrapped his knee and well the children haven't been too friendly with him." Marcus replied nervously.

"He was telling me that nobody wants to be his friend because he has germs in his blood." Maura said.

"What do you mean he has germs in his blood?" Jane asked.

"Well Milo tested positive for HIV and because he was bleeding we had to clear the room to make sure no one else would get infected." Marcus sighed this was one of the big things that put potential parents off.

"I think I would like to see him again." Maura said looking at Jane who just nodded she had looked into the boys' eyes and felt a connection.

"We can arrange that of course that's if Milo agrees we have to be very careful with him, he's still in intense therapy at the moment." Marcus said.

"Please let us know a time and a place and we'll be there." Jane said with conviction.

"Of course here's his file for you look over for the time being." Marcus said.

"Thank you. Do you know if her speaks fluent Serbian?" Maura said as she took the file and stood up.

"His parents didn't speak English so we assume that he can." Marcus said.

When Maura and Jane got back home they sat down on the couch and had Milo's file in-between them, both women could tell from meeting Milo and the vibe they got from Marcus that something bad had happened to the boy. They could have never prepared for what they were about to read, they opened the file and started reading his medical records.

Male approx. 10 years old brought into the ER with a severe laceration to his chest, ribs and upper back. Upon further examination we could conclude that the boy has be physically abused for years due to the scars and healed burn marks all over his back. There were also recently healed lacerations to is right upper arm and on his shoulder and upper chest, and a still healing burn covering the whole left knee.

The patient was rushed to surgery and repairs were made to the chest and sutured up, with further examinations it was confirmed that the patient had repeated anal trauma due to sexual abuse which we suspect has been happening over the past few years. Blood tests confirms that the patient was malnourished and tested positive for HIV the patient was started on antiretroviral medication immediately.

"Oh god." Jane whispered.

"That poor boy what kind of monsters would do this to a child?" Maura asked as they turned the page to read about Milo and his parents.

Milo-Sven Stanovich born on 21/05/2006. Parents are Alana and Roman who are both Serbian but migrated to the US in 2000….

After about an hour of reading Jane closed the file and threw it onto the coffee table, then pulled Maura into her right now she just need to hold onto her wife.

"Before he left Milo said something that wasn't in English I presume it was Serbian." Jane said.

"It was he said 'you don't catch them all' I believe he was referring to when you said you catch bad guys." Maura said.

"What do you think he means?" Jane asked.

"I don't know." Maura replied.

Both women sat silently thinking through everything yes they wanted to be parents but from experience both detective and medical examiner knew what this type of trauma could do to a child. So the big question was whether or not they could help the boy.

AN: Please tell me what you think if this is a story you like then review and follow, if anyone has any questions please feel free to PM me.