"Rachel what happened?" Susan repeated, this time hiking Ella on her hip and moving over to Mark's daughter.
"I feel down the stairs on my way from the EL." Rachel said quickly, a bit too quickly.
"Rachel there's dried blood all over you. This didn't just happen." Susan insisted. "What happened?"
"I promise… I just fell… I just need some stitches…" Rachel tried to insist.
Susan pushed away Rachel's hair from the side of her face. "Rachel, did someone hit you?" She asked gently as she pressed on the wound slightly.
"No." She replied automatically.
"Rachel." Susan insisted. "Who beat you?"
"He didn't mean to I swear!" Rachel began to cry. "I just need some stitches and then I can go back to St. Louis." Rachel insisted.
"Rachel you took a six hour train ride here… So you can get some stitches?" Susan asked in disbelief. "You do know they have hospitals in St. Louis right?"
Rachel looked down at her hands. "Mom… she kicked me out." She admitted softly.
"When?" Susan asked in disbelief. "Three AM this morning?"
"No… a couple of weeks ago." Rachel admitted quietly.
"Where have you been living?" Susan asked as she led Rachel to a table and sat her down, setting Ella down on top of the table and handing her a banana.
Rachel looked down at her hands again. "With a guy… I met him at school… He said I could stay in his apartment as long as I needed to…"
"Is he who hit you?" Susan asked softly.
Rachel nodded before crying out in pain. "He didn't mean to… I promise."
"Alright Rachel we're going to take you down the ER so that I can stitch up your face." Susan decided, standing up and picking Ella up off the table. "If you don't act up I can just do it in an empty room and no one has to know."
Rachel nodded and they proceeded quietly to the room in the furthest corner of the ER. "Rachel… why did you come all the way here?" Susan asked as she began stitching Rachel's face.
"I couldn't stay with… him anymore… And I didn't have anywhere else to go." Rachel admitted. "I came because I know Elizabeth won't… I mean she has before… But she wouldn't send me onto the streets."
Susan looked at Rachel's sad eyes. "Sweetheart, why did this guy hit you?"
Rachel shook her head. "I can't tell you… You would laugh." She said quietly.
"There's nothing funny about men hitting women Rachel." Susan said, pausing in her stitching. "Whatever the reason is you should tell somebody what happened."
Ella was climbing on the gurney around Rachel. "He hit me because I wouldn't… you know… do it… with him."
Susan dropped her scissors onto the medical tray in shock. "Rachel you're barely over fifteen… How old is this guy?"
"Nineteen." Rachel admitted softly. "He cares about me though… He really does…"
"Rachel… No man who hits women really cares about them." Susan said softly. Especially when it's for something like that."
"Susan!" Rachel protested as she felt her stiches being tied off. "I don't want to talk about it."
"How many times did he hit you?" Susan asked as she probed her head looking for any other injuries.
Rachel sat quietly in thought for a moment before replying. "Just the once."
"Rachel can I do an exam on you?" Susan asked softly. "I just want to make sure you didn't sustain any other injuries."
Rachel shook her head. "I don't want you to." She said softly.
"Rachel…"
"He's hit me before okay?!" Rachel screamed. "IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR FROM ME?!"
"Rachel someone's going to notice we're…" Susan began before Doctor Weaver threw the door open.
"Susan you don't have a chart made up for this patient so everything you've used so far has been stealing…" She began to lecture on a lack of procedure before she saw who was on the table. "Rachel… Rachel Greene." She said, very surprised to see her sitting there. "Did you get into some sort of accident?" Kerry asked obviously confused.
"Kerry can I talk to you outside?" Susan requested softly as she escorted her out the door.
"What's she doing here?" Kerry asked crossly. "Not that I'm unsympathetic, but her mother needs to be informed that she's here."
Susan sighed, "It's kind of a long story." She admitted. "Rachel's mother kicked her out recently… And she moved in with a boy… Well actually a man. I mean he's nineteen years old you'd think he'd know how to properly treat a woman… But he beat her Kerry… I don't know who he is but there is a man in St. Louis who beat Rachel to the point where her skull was bleeding…." Susan let out, feeling very panicked.
"…What?" Kerry asked after a moment of awkward silence.
"We have to find whoever it is that did this." Susan said quietly. "Her mother isn't going to care… And Elizabeth won't be able to relax until she knows the man who did this to her is behind bars."
"I'll… I'll try to get ahold of SLMPD. See if they can figure out where she was staying…" Kerry said shortly before heading back to the ER desk and getting on the phone.
Susan went back into the room Rachel was in and smiled at the sight of her playing with Ella. She could remember a day when this wasn't even a possibility, in fact if Elizabeth were involved in the moment it was likely that Rachel wouldn't be anywhere near Ella. "How are you feeling?" Susan asked after watching quietly for a moment.
"I'm fine." Rachel said softly as she continued to attempt to teach Ella how to high-five.
Susan sighed after a moment. "Rachel I need to do an examination on you to make sure you're going to be alright long term." She said rather frankly.
Rachel began to look incredibly scared. "I don't want you to…"
"Rachel I promise it's going to be alright." Susan tried to comfort her. "I promise it's only going to take a minute, I want to check your ribcage to make sure you don't have any broken ribs."
Rachel looked down at her hands, feeling somewhat ashamed of herself. "I know how to detect a broken rib… I have at least two."
"Oh Rachel…" Susan half-gasped. "I can get you some pain medication if you'd like… But that's really the most we can do."
"Where's Elizabeth?" Rachel asked after several moments of silence.
"Rachel now's not exactly a good time…" Susan tried to avert her attention. "If you want I can take you to go get a shower and some food…"
"I really want to try to explain some things to Elizabeth… I feel horrible about where we ended, especially since I'm about to ask her to do me a huge favor." Rachel said, not being distracted from her goal.
Susan sighed. "She's upstairs." She admitted.
"In surgery?" Rachel assumed.
"Not exactly…" Susan admitted.
"What's the matter?" She asked sensing the tension in Susan's voice.
Susan picked up Ella off from the gurney and hiked her on her hip. "It's not exactly my place to tell… But we can go up and see her if she's awake and up to seeing you." Susan offered.
Rachel nodded in response before carefully getting off the gurney, trying not to move too quickly. The trio slowly made their way up the stairs, allowing Ella to attempt to crawl up some of them herself.
After reaching the door outside of Elizabeth's room Susan spoke. "Wait out here for just a moment." She whispered quietly before knocking on the door and walking in.
Elizabeth was asleep in her bed until Ella shouted out with excitement, "Mummy!" Elizabeth's eyes proceeded to flicker open and a smile flickered across her face.
"Hello Ella. Did Susan get you some breakfast?" She asked as she took her daughter from Susan's arms.
"Rach!" Ella said excitedly.
Elizabeth looked at Susan wearily. "You did not give her peanut butter…" She began to get worked up.
"No no." Susan assured her. "Uhm… I don't know if you want to see her but… Rachel's out in the hallway."
Elizabeth looked at the ceiling. "Where's her mother?" She asked sounding more frustrated than anything.
"Elizabeth she needs you right now." Susan tried to convince her.
"I'm not her mother!" Elizabeth began to shout. "What exactly does she expect me to do here?! Welcome her back into our lives as if the past year hasn't even happened?!"
Susan saw Rachel's face duck away from the window in the door as tears ran down her cheeks. "Elizabeth she wouldn't come back if she didn't really need help." She pointed out. "You know that don't you?"
"I can't…" Elizabeth began again before a nurse screamed in the hallway.
"CODE BLUE GET A CRASH CART AND A GURNEY!"
Susan looked petrified before running into the hallway to see Rachel sprawled on the ground.
Author's Note: Whoops I wrote more… You all should review it and tell me what you think because then you can all have all the virtual hugs ever :D