Chapter Seven: Healing

The Davenport parents, Leo, Janelle and the Collins children are all waiting in the waiting room for an update by the doctors on Chase. A half hour comes and goes when a doctor in a white coat comes out of the double doors and heads for the group, "are all of you here for Chase Davenport?"

"Yes, I am Mr. Davenport, Chase's dad. How is he?"

"Resting. First, let me introduce myself, I am Dr. Luke Lafferty and I am currently the Chief Resident in the ER department and I have been treating Chase. One of our main concerns was obviously the painkillers that was in Chase, the second was the wound to his abdomen, however we couldn't treat the first until we treated the second. I cleaned the wound back up and stitched it, it doesn't look like it was infected which is good, now once I had done this, we remove the drugs by pumping his stomach by using activated charcoal. I am going to admit Chase and I am ordering a psych consult on Chase. Do any of you have any questions and or concerns?"

"When can we see him?" Mr. Davenport asks.

"I'll let you visit now for a few minutes, Chase is sedated so when Nurse Diaz tells you to leave, you leave."

"Ok. Thank you." With that the Doctor takes them down a hallway to Chase's room, walking into the room, Tasha and Leo heads straight to his side. Tasha taking one of his hands in hers, the other hand stroking his head. Mae and Angela starts crying, so Matthew gathers them in his arms, hugging them while Mr. Davenport moves to Leos' side putting his hand on his shoulder, Leo turns into his chest and starts sobbing, "why?"

"Why what kiddo?"

"Why did he try to do this to himself, I thought we got through to him yesterday, that we are going to help."

"We don't know why he took those pills, not until he wakes up."

"But what if he did on purpose?"

"Then we will get him the help that he needs and we stick by him through it all."

"Always." Leo turns towards the bed, grabbing Chases hand and starts talking softly, "you are my brother Chase, you hear me, my brother and I will always help you, I will always be there for you. I love you big brother." A young women walks into the room, "hello, I am Nurse Diaz, it is time for you all to go."

"Ok."

"I suggest that you go home and rest, Chase won't wake up tonight."

"Ok, thank you." Mr. Davenport leads the group out of the room into the hallway when they see Chase doctor coming up to them with a women, "hello Mr. Davenport, I would like you to meet Dr. Alicia Lafferty, see will be the psychologist that is going to be consulting on your sons case, and yes she is my wife."

"Hello Dr. Lafferty."

'Hi Mr. Davenport, I hope you don't mind but I would like to go over with you your sons case if you don't mind."

"Of course."

"Ok, why don't all of you follow me to my office?" The group follows the psychologist down the hallway to her office, once gathered in the office Dr. Lafferty starts explaining to them about Chase.

Mr. Davenport, Leo, Tasha and the Collins children arrive back at the house late into the evening, where upon opening the door they see Bree and Adam on the couch with a pizza box on the table in front of them. Leo, Tasha, Mae, Angela Matt goes into the kitchen to prepare themselves some sandwiches while Mr. Davenport stays in the room, "Adam, Bree please come down to the lab with me now."

"Sure." Bree reply's back, and they head to the elevator to head down to the lab. Mr. Davenport heads over to the console, turning it on, he goes to the footage of early in the morning and turning it on, the video showing Bree and Adam working in tangent, spilling water on the floor, high fiving each other on the way out and showing a smirking Bree, they get on the elevator. Mr. Davenport turns back to them, frowning, "Chase is currently in the hospital."

"So, what does that have to do with us?" Bree responds.

"Apparently Chase stitches ripped from his wound from when he slipped in the water, he didn't say anything, I'm assuming that either one of you or both of you said something to Chase last night. Chase also overdosed on painkillers, now we don't know why, it is either from the pain when his ripped out or because you said something that made him intentionally take enough pills to kill himself. Either way, you two is at fault in my eyes. I have told you what would happen if you continue to bully and maliciously pull pranks on Chase, both of you are grounded, no friends, no electronics, no missions, I take you to school and I pick you up at school, and if you continue this at school then I will have the school deal with you as they see fit. You might not know this, but hopefully there will be changes coming to Mission Creek High and Principle Perry won't reign supreme anymore. Go to your rooms." Both Bree and Adam hurries out of the room and to the elevator while Mr. Davenport slumps down in the chair, putting his face in his hands, he starts sobbing.

The rest of the family is upstairs in the kitchen eating their sandwiches when they see Bree and Adam come storming out of the elevator and up the stairs to their rooms. Leo and Tasha shares a look, Tasha gets up from the table and heads to the elevator, getting on the elevator she goes down to the lab where she sees her husband and the desk crying. Walking over to him, Tasha puts her arms around him gathering him, he continues crying into her shoulder. Eventually the sobs quiet down, "why would they do this him, they are supposed to be his siblings?"

"I don't know why they do it, maybe they want to impress their friends or they don't care about Chase."

"I don't care why, all I know is that they are grounded indefinitely."

"Ok, why don't you clean up and come upstairs, I made us some cold sandwiches and then we can go to bed so we can get up early in the morning to visit Chase."

"Ok. What about the Collins kids."

"They called their parents already, they are staying the night and since I believe they already know about the kids' bionics, it shouldn't come as a surprise to them if they sleep in their capsules." Tasha and Donald gets up and walk towards the elevator, taking the elevator up to the main floor, they exit and sit down at the kitchen table. Tasha puts a plate in front of him that has a sandwich and chips on it and starts eating. When everyone gets done eating Mr. Davenport addresses the group, "why don't we go get some sleep, Leo can show where you four," Mr. Davenport points at Janelle, Mae, Angela, and Matt, "will sleep. When we wake up we will have breakfast and then we will visit Chase."

"Ok." Leo shows the four where they would be sleeping and then goes to his own bedroom and gets ready to sleep. Janelle, Mae, Angele, and Matt walks into the rooms where they would be sleeping, finding clothes on the bed in their size they also gets ready for bed and soon falls asleep. Tasha and Donald walks into their room, Tasha going into the bathroom while Donald sits on the edge of the bed. Tasha comes out having changed into her nightgown, and sits by her husband, holding his hand, "Chase will be alright, we will make sure of it."

"I know, Chase is strong and we will be there for him. I love you."

"I love you too, come get change so we can get some sleep."

"Ok." Mr. Davenport gets up off the and changes into his nightclothes, getting into bed he lays next to his wife, gathering Tasha in his arms, both of them falls asleep.

Leo wakes up in his bed, looking at his clock, he sees that it is just after five in the morning, getting up instead of trying to fall back to sleep he walks down the stairs and into the kitchen, spotting Mae sitting on the couch in the living room, he gets two glasses and the quart of milk in the fridge and a plate of cookies, bringing everything over to the table in front of the couch, Leo sits down startling Mae, Mae looks up, "what are you doing up Leo?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I couldn't sleep, I keep replaying the scene from yesterday over in my head."

"I know, I am too."

"I just wish I know why. Whether or not it was accidental or he did it intentional."

"We won't know until he wakes up."

"I know, I just hope we can help him through this."

"We will."

"Thank you Leo, Janelle is lucky that she has you."

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm the one who is lucky to have her, I don't know why she keeps putting up with me after everything that I've put her through."

"She cares about you and it shows that you care about her and Janelle see that, being in a relationship isn't about the perfection it is about the flaws, and whether or not you can get past those, obviously Janelle can weather those obstacles and still see you for you."

"Thank you."

"Of course, now I see that you brought out some of the delicious cookies, and I am hungry." Both of them dig into the cookies and milk, finishing them, Leo grabs the remote, making sure that the volume is on low, they turn the TV on to some cartoons. Eventually they were joined by Janelle, then Angela and then Matt trudging down the stairs. They goes into the kitchen will Leo getting the spoons and the bowls down from cabinet, Janelle and Mae getting the cereals, and Angele getting the milk, they sit around the table eating their breakfast when Mr. Davenport and Tasha comes down. They both get a bowl and spoon and sits at the table as well, getting their cereal, they all eat quietly until they all finish. They go back upstairs to the bedrooms and get dress for the day. They leave the house, with Mr. Davenport giving last minute instructions to Eddy to keep a watch on Adam and Bree, and then they are off to the hospital to see Chase around nine in the morning.

Chase wakes up around seven in the morning, confused, looking around he see a nurse puttering around the machines, the nurse noticing Chase waking up comes next to his bed, looking at his stats, "hello, I'm Nurse Cali, Dr. Lafferty will be in shortly, we currently have you on ibuprofen since we had to pump your stomach last night. Your family should be here soon, they went home last night to get some sleep." The door opens up behind them, "thank you Nurse Cali, hello Chase, I am Dr. Luke Lafferty and I treated you last night when you came in, do you have any questions."

"Yea, what happened?"

"You don't remember."

"Not really, all I know was that I was feeling pain and went to the bathroom to take some pain pills, next thing I know, I wake up here with a nurse next to my bed."

"You overdosed on painkillers yesterday, your brother and friends found you and they called the paramedics. Chase, you almost died yesterday."

"No."

"No what Chase?"

"I wouldn't overdose, I'm smart enough to know not to take a lot."

"Chase, it's not about being smart, with what you have been dealing with, it's understandable to try to find an easy way easy way out."

"No, I would never do that. I couldn't have overdosed."

"Chase, half of the battle was empty."

"What?"

"With painkillers, you take one to two every four to six hours, according to your brother Leo, the bottle was barely full when he left in the morning and when they found you it was more than half empty, it would suggest that you took more than the intended amount."

"I didn't try to kill myself, I wouldn't do that to my family."

"Ok." They hear a knock on the door and another doctor comes in, "hello Chase, I'm Dr. Alicia Lafferty and I a psychologist and yes, Luke and I are married."

"I didn't try to kill myself doctor."

"Ok," Alicia looks towards Luke, "Chase was confused when he woke up and asked what had happened and so I told him, he has been adamant that it was an accidental overdose."

"Ok, even so, I would like to ask you some questions about what happened, along with some other risk factors."

"Ok." Luke leaves the room quietly so the Chase and Alicia can talk, he stops in the hallway, looking up he sees the Davenport family, with their friends coming his way, he stops them, "I was just in with Chase, Alicia is currently in with him talking, why don't we go to the waiting room and I can update you on his condition."

"Ok." Dr. Lafferty leads the family and friends to the waiting room.

Seven school board members walk into a room with an oval shaped table, one by one each of the members sit in a chair, the chairperson stands up and starts to speak, "we are here in an emergency meeting due to complaints made by teachers at Mission Creek High School, stating that the Principle, Terry Perry does nothing to deter the bullying that have been happening in the school. When I had received the complaints, I had my secretary to gather all relevant information regarding the complaints. What she have found made me realize some disturbing truths, and one of those is that Principle Perry has been lying to this board. We are here to hopefully rectify those mistakes." The chairperson sits back down in his chair and starts handing out folders to the other board members.

Dr. Alicia Lafferty walks into the waiting room, spying Chase family and friends in the corner, she walks up to them. Tasha seeing the doctor first stands, "so."

"Chase is a remarkable young man. We talked about many things, all of which is under the doctor patient confidentially and so the government will not know about some secrets about your family. I needed to know everything so that I can help Chase better. We talked plenty, but the main point was the bullying that Chase has been suffering both at school and at home, and I don't believe that Chase tried to kill himself, however, from what I have gathered, Chase is suffering from depression. Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings and sense of well-being. People with depressed mood can feel sad, anxious, empty, helpless, hopeless, worthless, guilty, ashamed, irritable or restless, they may also lose interest in activities that were once pleasurable, experience loss of appetite or overeating, have problems concentrating, remembering details or making decisions, and may contemplate, attempt or commit suicide."

"What caused Chase to have depression?"

"From research, depression is most likely caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors. However, depressive illnesses are also disorders of the brain. Longstanding theories about depression suggest that important neurotransmitters which are chemicals that brain cells use to communicate, are out of balance in depression. Other causes include gender, age, health conditions, trauma and grief, changes and stressful events, and medications and substances."

"Ok. What is the treatment?"

"For teens, it is recommended for a combination of medication and psychotherapy or talk therapy. There are two main types of psychotherapies, cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT and interpersonal therapy or IPT. In treating Chase, we will be employing the CBT approach. CBT helps people with depression reconstruct negative thought patterns. Doing so helps people interpret their environment and interaction with others in a positive and realistic way. It may also help with recognizing things that may be contributing to the depression and help change the behaviors that may be making the depression worse. There is an antidepressant medication called Prozac that was approved by the FDA for pediatric patients. Hopefully, with this combine treatment plan, Chase will improve."

"Thank you doctor. When will Chase be released?"

"I have talked with Luke and we won't be discharging Chase until tomorrow. I would like to meet with Chase three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next three months, and I am going to start the antidepressant medication today. You can pick up the medication at your local pharmacy."

"Thank you."

"Of course, I believe Chase is anxiously waiting for all of you." DR. Alicia Lafferty leaves the waiting to her office whilst the others walk down to Chase room. Leo opens the door and smiles when he sees Chase eating breakfast. Chase looks up when he hears the door open and smiles when he sees his family and friends. Since he just finished his breakfast, he push the table away from him and motions for Tasha and Leo and come sit on the bed next to him, Leo and Tasha grabbing his hand, he starts speaking, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take too much pills but I did. I want to thank Leo, Janelle and Mae for saving me. Dr. Lafferty told me what you did and you three saved my life."

"Of course we did," Mae speaks up, walking to the other side of the bed and grabbing his hand, "you are our friend and we care about you."

"Yea, you are my brother and I told you I would be there for you." Leo says. Chase looks up towards Mr. Davenport, "I'm sorry about telling the doctor out secret, I needed to."

"Its fine Chase, she said since it's under doctor-patient confidentiality agreement, she is not required to inform the government of it."

"Ok. What's going to happen to Bree and Adam, I am guessing you found about what they did."

"I did, both of them are grounded indefinitely, which means no friends, no electronics, no missions."

"Ok. So is watching them when on one is home."

"I have given that task to Eddy and trust me he is going to make sure they stay at the house."

"Really."

"Yes, it seems that he doesn't like bullies."

"Ok, that is really weird." They continue to talk.

"Have we reached a decision yet?" The chairperson of the school board asked the other members in the room. "I believe we have."