Jazz woke up, stirring slowly as she became aware of another person in the room. She looked up to realise that Donny was standing over her.

"Don't try to get up." He warned her. "The doctors just want to make sure whatever you've eaten is completely out of your system."

"It feels like everything I've eaten for the last year is out of my system." She grumbled as Dana came back into the room, carrying a chart. "What happened?"

"It looks like you were poisoned." Michelle told her. "I found some of it in your blood sample. It shouldn't cause any lasting damage, but it can't have been pleasant."

"I can think of a lot of other words I'd use for how I feel." Jazz told them. "So can I get out of here?"

"Jazz, we know you don't have an uncle out here." Michelle informed her. "I've seen this kind of poisoning before. It's pretty common. It's usually the result of eating food from the trash that's been sprayed to discourage dumpster divers."

"I didn't..." She started to protest, but Michelle just gave her a look that let her know it was pointless. "Alright, I don't have an uncle out here."

"You've been living rough haven't you?" Donny asked her. She just nodded in response. "Jazz, you're underage. Without a legal guardian, we can't just send you back out onto the street. We've got a duty of care to you."

"We're currently trying to make contact with your mother." Michelle informed her. Jazz just shook her head.

"My mom won't want anything to do with me." Jazz sighed. "She was the one that kicked me out."

"Was it because of the pregnancy?" Donny asked her. Jazz looked to them both, her eyes wide in horror, but again realised that it was pointless to try and deny anything. She nodded again. "Does she know about the miscarriage?"

"It happened after I left." She muttered. "I haven't seen her since I left New York."

"What happened?" Donny asked her. Jazz just shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about it." She told him. Donny took a deep breath as he tried to think of a way to get her to reconsider.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's happened." He reminded her. "I have to alert child services."

Jazz just sank down onto the bed and turned over, pulling the covers over her head. Donny and Michelle just looked at each other, unhappy with the way this had ended. Johnny had warned them that she could be evasive. Obviously they didn't know the full story behind what had happened in New York, and Jazz had no intention of telling them. It was a shame that they had to get the authorities involved. If they did, they doubted it would be long before she ran off again, and it wasn't like they could watch her 24/7. It seemed like there was nothing they could do to stop her.

Johnny made his way into JKP, at which Liv came over to him. He slumped down into a booth as he tried to get his head around everything.

"I picked up your assignments." She told him. "How's Jazz?"

"She was poisoned." Johnny informed her.

"Poisoned?" Liv asked him. "Is she alright? How did this happen?"

"She was dumpster diving for food. It seems wherever she went for food has been spraying their trash with cleaning fluid." He informed her. "She was pretty ill, but she's a lot better now."

"I'm glad to hear that." She replied quietly. "Why would anyone poison the food in their bins?"

"According to Michelle it's pretty common." Johnny said regretfully. "Apparently a lot of places do it to stop homeless people from hanging around making the place look bad."

"Jazz is homeless?" Liv asked her. "I thought she had an uncle she was staying with."

"I did too. It seems she's been living on the streets for months." He told her sadly. Liv could tell he was distracted by something, and just held him comfortingly.

"So how are you feeling?" She asked him. He just laughed.

"I feel like a class one idiot for not figuring this out a lot sooner." He admitted. "I know she's always been slippery, but I always thought I should have known something."

"She had us all fooled." Liv assured him. Johnny couldn't help feeling guilty about taking comfort in her arms. Although he loved her dearly, he had kept one part of the story from her. He hadn't told her about Jazz's pregnancy. It terrified him that he might lose her over a relationship that had been over for about a year. He needed to know for sure what had happened to his old friend, most importantly; he needed to know the truth about the identity of the father.

"Liv, I have some stuff I need to deal with." He told her. "Would you mind covering for me tonight?"

"Sure, I'll take your shift." She responded as she looked at him a little worried. "You'd tell me if something was bothering you right?"

Johnny just leaned in, kissing her softly with a smile on his face as he parted from her.

"You're amazing. I don't know what I've ever done to deserve you." He commented as he left. RJ came over with a curious look on his face.

"Where's Johnny going?" He asked her. "He's on shift tonight."

"I'm covering for him." She replied. "He didn't really feel up to his shift after what happened with Jazz this morning."

"I guess I can understand that." RJ answered with a shrug. "How is she?"

"Apparently she's going to be fine." Liv told him, shaking her head in disbelief. "They found out she's been living on the streets."

"She has?" RJ asked in response. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"RJ, is there something we can do for her?" She asked him. "We can't just let her..."

"Liv, she has a family of her own." RJ reminded her. "They need to try and work this out for themselves."

"Dad, if she ran away, maybe there's a reason." She suggested. "I get the feeling there's a lot more to this than we know."

"Child services will be involved by now. If something's going on, they'll figure it out." He stated flatly. "It's terrible what's been going on, but this really isn't any of our business."

"What about what happened with me?" Liv asked him. "A lot of people would have said that was none of your business."

"Liv, that was different." He told her.

"How exactly?" Liv asked him. "How exactly is this different?"

RJ tried to answer, but he found that he couldn't. He just sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not going to win this am I?" He asked her quietly. "I'll talk to Michelle and Donny, see if there's something we can do to help."

Back at the hospital, Michelle was just in her office, getting her jacket on when Johnny arrived, chapping the door softly.

"Hey Johnny, I guess you're here to see Jazz." She commented.

"Sorry to catch you on your way out, I was just having a little trouble finding her room." He told her. "I guess she was moved."

"No, she's in the same room she was this morning." Michelle replied, her brows furrowing. "She's just down the hall."

They both realised what had happened and rushed to the room, finding it empty. Michelle checked the cabinet next to the bed.

"Her stuff's gone." She muttered. "Where will she have gone?"

"She didn't have money, so she can't have gone far." Johnny told her. Just then, a security guard ran into the room, finding Michelle.

"Dr. Rhodes, have you seen anyone acting suspiciously?" He asked her. "A couple of the residents have reported having money taken from the locker room." Michelle just looked to Johnny.

"What do you think are the odds this is a coincidence?" She asked him.

"She can't fly; no airline would let her on by herself." He told her. "You call the train station. I'll head to the bus depot."

Over at the bus station, Jazz clutched her few meagre possessions closely as she sat on a bench, waiting for the announcement of her bus.

She had managed to break into the locker room and steal enough money to get herself a bus ticket to the next city. She didn't really care where she went; the only thing that mattered was making sure she didn't end up being sent back to New York. She knew that once child services got involved, she was either going to end up in a home, or being sent back to her mother. Neither of which was something she wanted.

"Where are you headed?" Johnny asked her as he arrived. Jazz just looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear.

"I managed to get a ticket for Reefside." She informed him. Johnny just shook his head sadly and sat next to her.

"So what do you plan on doing when you get there?" He asked her. She just shrugged.

"I hadn't really thought about it." She said honestly, pulling her jacket around her more tightly. "I'll think of something..."

"Like you did with the baby?" He asked her. Jazz just looked away from him. "When did that happen?"

"It was about a month ago." She told him. "I suppose it was for the best. It's not like I could have raised a kid by myself."

"Jazz, I just have to ask." He continued. "Was...was it mine?"

"Johnny..."

"I mean, we did have that night before I left." He reminded her. "I know we never...went all the way...but I have heard that you don't need to...you know...for the little guys..."

"Johnny, how long have you been out here?" She asked him. Johnny thought about it for a second.

"I've been out here a little short of a year." He told her. She just gave him a slightly withering look.

"Do the maths Johnny." She told him. Johnny thought about it for a bit, and eventually realised what she was getting at. The dates didn't fit, if it had been his, the baby would have been full term months ago. "For what it's worth I wish it was though. I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather have had watching out for a baby."

"So whose was it?" He asked her. "You can tell me, you know that."

"It was Eddie's." She informed him. Johnny's mouth just hung open in astonishment. He couldn't believe what she had just told him.

"Your mom's boyfriend?" He asked her. "I thought you hated him."

"I do, the guy's a total creep." She informed him. "Ever since mom let him move in the first time, he always made excuses to get close to me and touch me. He always made little comments about me."

She looked down to her feet.

"I thought he was gone for good when they broke up, but they got back together a few weeks after you left." She told him. "I tried to tell mom about it, but she didn't believe me. She kept saying I was just trying to cause trouble. One night, he got her out of the apartment for the night. He made sure we were alone, and then..."

She couldn't finish what she was trying to say. She just broke down and wept into her hands as Johnny held her closely.

"I couldn't stay Johnny, I just couldn't." She told him. "Once I found out about the baby, I knew I couldn't risk him getting his hands on me. When mom found out I was pregnant, she just screamed at me. I knew it was pointless to try and tell her what happened, she wouldn't believe me. She kicked me out."

"Jazz, what happened?" He asked her. "I'm never going to judge you, you meant too much to me. I just needed to ask..."

"It was just one of those things." She informed him, rolling up her sleeves. She had a couple of faded track marks on her arm, the scarring having largely healed. "As soon as I found out about the baby, I got clean. I don't even drink anymore. I didn't want to do anything to risk the baby."

"So you took that job..."

"I needed the money." She told him. "I didn't want to risk Eddie finding out where I was, so I knew I needed to run."

"Listen, I don't know what's going to happen out of this, but there are good people here." Johnny told her. "They'll do everything they can to help you."

With that, he reached down, picking up her bag and getting up.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, but the way I see it you basically have two choices." He told her, handing her the bag. "You can stay here and let these people try to help you, or you can get on that Greyhound and keep running. The only thing is though; the world is only so large. Sooner or later you're going to run out of places to run."

She nodded in understanding, getting up. She showed him the ticket.

"Let's see if I can get a refund for this." She told him. "Maybe I'll be able to pay those doctors back."

Johnny put his arm around her, leading her from the bus station. Neither of them noticed a man in a dark coat lowering his newspaper as they passed. He flipped out a cell phone and dialled.

"It looks like that lead paid off. I just saw her at the bus station." He told the man on the other end. "It seems you were right about her seeking out that Italian kid."