Disclaimer: It isn't mine
AN/ Hi! This is a little later then it was originally intended to be but it is still a much shorter wait then last time. I want to thank all the amazing 698 favorites that I've gotten so far. When I started this story I never imagined that I'd have almost 700 favorites by chapter ten and the fact that this has happened is mind-blowing so thank you.
Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans! Everyone else can thank the holiday for being the reason I finally posted. (I've never posted anything on a holiday before!)
Chapter Ten
The first thing that greeted Harrison's eyes as he opened them was a blinding whiteness that had him quickly squeezing his eyes shut. Yet even as the teen was blinded by the light a deep sense of relief enveloped him. Harrison had been in hospitals enough to know the blinding light that greeted him, the soft and clean sheets beneath his hands and the pleasant numbness that came with being hooked up to medication could only mean he was in one.
The emerald eyed teen had enough intelligence to know that this most likely meant that he had been rescued and that the noise that he had heard before he lost consciousness had probably been the door being kicked down or something of the like. Harrison felt the stress and fear that he had been under melt away as the realization of his escape hit him once again, harder this time than the last.
Harrison attempted to open his eyes again, squinting so he could see through the bright light. As the teen's sight adjusted he noticed the nurse that had presumably noticed that he was waking up and had gone to stand next to his bed.
"Good morning, sweetheart." Greeted the nurse softly, "You are in the Boston Children's Hospital at Waltham. You were admitted a few hours ago after you arrived in an ambulance. Please don't try to speak, while there should be no long term damage to your throat we don't want you put stress on your throat while it is healing."
Harrison paused for a moment, taking in the information, before nodding in understanding. He then made a motion of writing with one hand while the other acted as the imaginary paper, trying to convey his wish to write a response. The nurse understood and handed him a pen and a small pad of paper.
"How long will it be until I can talk?" Wrote Harrison, holding up the pad for the brunette woman to see.
"We want the make sure that your throat is all healed up before you try to speak so I'd give it a few days, a week at the absolute longest." Answered the nurse politely.
The teen nodded, looking downtrodden. He knew from reading about medicine and the field that he wanted to go into that it would have been at least a day but a whole week? It seemed a little bit excessive.
"Can I keep the paper and pen so I can communicate?"
"Of course you can, sweaty. Just remember to leave it on the side-table when you check out if you don't see me first." The women paused before seeming to remember something, "Oh, there is going to be a woman from Child Protective Services coming to talk to you soon. She asked that we call her as soon as you wake up. Why don't you try to get some rest before she arrives, you'll need it to heal." With that the nurse walked out of the hospital room, oblivious to Harrison's shock at the new information.
Harrison had been emancipated and was therefore, no longer a child in the eyes of the law. That meant that there was no reason that anyone from Child Protective Services should want to see him. The only explanation was either than somehow, the fact that he was emancipated had been lost in communications at one point, or that they had decided to revoke his emancipation.
It was the second thought that caused Harrison to freeze. He had always know that it was a possibility for this to happen but that didn't mean that it would be any easier to live with. While he had gotten emancipated in Britain at the age of fourteen the only state in the US that a teen could be emancipated that young was California, most places they would only give you guardianship of yourself if you were at least sixteen.
Even without that working against him Harrison had been abducted twice since he had been emancipated which was a reason to put him back in the foster system all on its own. The teen hoped that it was the first option, he really didn't want to go back into the foster system.
Harrison hadn't the most pleasant experience with the system. The teen knew that it could have been much worse and he would forever be thankful that he was removed from the Dursley's in the first place but that knowledge didn't stop him from wishing to be welcomed into a nice, warm home with loving parents who would care for him as if he were their son. It was every child's dream really.
It also didn't help that Harrison had heard that the American system had even more problems than their British counterpart. That meant that there would be a greater chance of Harrison ending up in an abusive home, even one worse than the Dursleys.
The young genius sighed. One thing that his larger than average IQ allowed him to do was process thoughts faster than most people, the result of this was Harrison being able to spew out worst case scenarios before they might even occur to others. All that aside, the teen knew he should get some rest. He was still fatigued from his time at the mercy of the psychopath that had kidnapped him and he would need all his strength to deal with the Social Worker.
LINE BREAK
This time Harrison didn't wake on his own but rather was shaken awake gently. As the teen blinked slowly, his sleep filled eyes took in the sight of the kind nurse from earlier standing above him.
"Hey sweetheart. Mrs. DeLay from the Children protective services is here to see you."
Harrison groggily nodded in thanks as he sat up in the hospital bed.
"Well I'll just leave you two to talk." Said the nurse in a satisfied tone, leaving Harrison alone with the woman. She looked to be in her mid-forties and had short blond hair that looked to be dyed.
The woman smiled at Harrison before pulling up a chair next to his hospital bed and taking a file out of her purse. Her smile was obviously fake and didn't reach her eyes, leading Harrison to start to dislike her. He despised people who hid behind a mask. The teen knew this might be a tad bit hypocritical seeing as he didn't tell people so much about his past yet Harrison had always made an effort to be genuine about his emotions because of his dislike of when others weren't.
"So, Harrison Evans. You were removed from your Aunt and Uncle for child abuse before being bounced from foster home to foster home until you were fourteen. At that point you were granted emancipation and were promptly kidnapped. Despite your kidnapping your emancipation remained intact and you moved to America for college. You did very well in school yet despite this it says here that you have a history of panic attacks and a rather severe form of PTSD. Just recently you were kidnapped again and now, well, here we are." Said Mrs. DeLay, reading the information from his profile.
Listening to the social worker Harrison quickly grabbed the pen and paper beside his bed and wrote out a response as fast as he could.
"If I may, the kidnappings were out of my control and could have happened to anyone. I took proper precautions such as carrying pepper spray in my school bag at Harvard, I simply had no chance to use it. And as for my PTSD and panic attacks you said yourself that I was managing well in school despite my issues."
Mrs. DeLay looked down her nose as she read what Harrison had written, pursing her lips as she reached the end, "Well, it sounds as if you already may know what this is about. Unfortunately for you no amount of arguing will change the mind of the Children Protective Services. It has already been decided that your emancipation will be revoked, effective immediately."
With that Mrs. DeLay stood, smoothing any wrinkles from her skirt, "We will get in contact with you as soon as you are released from the hospital with information regarding your new foster home. An agent will pick you up from the hospital and drive you to their house." Having said her piece, the agent turned on her heal and quickly exited the hospital room without leaving any room for Harrison to say anything in return.
No, mouthed the teen as he watched to woman go. It seemed that he had been right earlier when he had been thinking of the worst possible scenarios. Even worse than that it had sounded like it would be up to the family that he was placed with whether or not he would be allowed to continue his education at Harvard. The thought that these strangers might be able to rip apart everything that he had worked for until this point and simply send his to high school with the rest of his peers was a terrifying one.
The teen curled his knees up to his body and tucked his head down with his arms wrapped around his knees. As Harrison did this he began to feel the familiar sensation of his chest tightening and his breath becoming more labored, he was having a panic attack. Yet even knowing what was happening didn't prevent the oncoming attack as his thoughts became more and more jumbled and he fought harder and harder for breath. The teen knew that during a panic attack he should be breathing slower because he was hyperventilating yet the thought didn't even cross his mind as he was suddenly nowhere near the hospital but instead in a dark room with blood and laughter, why was their so much laughter. As the teen screamed the laughter came to a sudden stop, only to start again as the scream came to an end. It was this that caused Harrison to come to a sudden realization. HE was the one laughing. Why was he laughing? What was so funny? Was it the blood, the endless line of psychopaths that seemed to line up in order to take a hit at him, or was it the fact that even when he had finally been 'saved' the universe seemed determined to make his life hell.
Suddenly in the midst of the hell that Harrison had been trapped in he felt a hard chest against his own, taking large even breaths and forcing his chest to conform to the same movements. As his breathing slowed the blood covered cell disappeared, giving way to the hospital room that he was staying in. As the surroundings became clearer Harrison also became acutely aware of the large chest that he was being held against and who it belonged to. The teen blushed as he realized that he was pressed up against the chest of Agent Morgan, one of the men who saved his life not once but twice.
Harrison pulled away and settled back against the headboard of the hospital bed, reaching for the pad of paper and pen that remained on his bed side table.
"You okay?" Asked Agent Morgan as Harrison gripped the pen so tight he was afraid in would snap.
The teen nodded shakily before pausing and starting to frantically whip his head back and forth.
"Hey, hey it is alright." Soothed Morgan, reaching over to rub Harrison's arm in an attempt at comfort. The Harvard student flinched away violently at the unexpected touch, causing Morgan to awkwardly drop his hand to his side.
'They're going to take away my emancipation. Send me back into foster care.' informed Harrison by way of paper.
"What?" Startled the Agent as he read the message, "But you haven't done anything wrong."
'I've been kidnapped twice since I was declared a legal adult, I have shown signs of PTSD and I was granted emancipation in England, not America. Technically I'm not even old enough to be emancipated here. That is all the reason that they need.' Responded the teen, the hopelessness that would have been clear in his voice if he could talk portrayed clearly in both his writing and body language.
"I- That's not going to happen." Declared Derek in a determined voice after reading the note.
'I don't think that they're asking.'
"I'm going to go talk to the agent that has been given your case and tell them that from what I've seen you function better than most adults in your situation. What is their name?"
'Mrs. DeLay.'
Morgan looked at the paper firmly and nodded, reaching over and ripping off the piece of the paper that contained the name of the woman he was going to have a very serious conversation with. They had no right to take someone that was doing the best that they could, given the circumstances, and do something to mess up their life even more.
"If she doesn't listen to me I'll damned well adopt you myself, you're NOT going back into the foster system." Stated Agent Morgan forcefully before exiting the hospital room on a mission, leaving behind a shocked teenager with no idea how to respond to the thought that someone was willing to adopt him to stop him from going back into the system.
AN/ I don't really have anything else left to say other than another big thanks and to please review.