When Harry turned over the figure in the car park, it took him a moment to realise who it was. The body was thin to the point of malnourishment and cold under the touch of his hand. Bruises and cuts splayed across the face and almost concealed the identity of the person. However, Harry recognised the familiar thin t-shirt and jeans and he could just recognise the person under the disguise of injury
"Erin?" he called loudly "Can you hear me?" he tried to get her attention but the girl was unresponsive
Searching for Erin's pulse, he felt a familiar feeling of nausea rise in his throat as he looked for the throbbing that would show she was still with him.
"Go away" the voice was quiet and devoid of emotion
"Erin?" Harry said leaning over the girl, and sure enough, a pair of pale irises looked up at him
"Go away" she repeated
"No" Harry said firmly "I'm going to get you inside and then I'm calling Leo"
Erin's eyes held a flicker of defiance for just a moment but then the exhaustion set in and it was lost once more. Harry shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around Erin, noting that although it dwarfed her in size it would keep her warm
"Can you stand?" he asked knowing that he had to get her inside soon
The girl gently tried to push herself into a standing position, her muscles went into spasm and a look of pain ripped into her dulcet features. Clearly, she was too weak to walk the short distance to the lab so Harry scooped her up into his arms, appalled at how light she was, and slowly carried the freezing girl into the warmth of the lab. Erin made whimpers of pain as Harry jolted her stiff limbs but he knew he had to get her warm soon. Even wrapped in his long coat, he could still feel how freezing her body was and that her heart rate was slowing down
"Good morning Doctor Cunnin…" Charlie's morning greeting was rapidly halted when she saw Harry "Is that Erin?"
Harry nodded "Charlie, I need you to get me some blankets and some dry scrubs for her to put on" his voice screamed urgency "And you need to phone Professor Dalton immediately"
"On it" Charlie called dashing into the lab
It was then that Harry noticed that Erin was silently crying, "It's okay" he soothed her "You're going to be just fine"
As soon as he walked into the lab he felt the warmth seep into both of them. He set her down on one of the sofa and set about trying to get her changed into the dry scrubs that Charlie had provided. Luckily, the lab was empty and although Erin did not seem to care much about how she was, they at least had some privacy
"I found some blankets," Charlie said passing the thick woolly fabric to Harry who nodded his thanks
Carefully he wrapped the fragile girl into the blankets. Erin wailed when he tried to straighten out her limbs but soon they got her wrapped up and settled on the sofa
"I'll be right back" he told Erin and signalled to Charlie to keep an eye on the girl. He didn't think Erin would try leave, he didn't think she had the strength, but then again Erin seemed to do a lot of things that defied logic and he wasn't taking any chances.
He punched the familiar digits into his phone and pleaded the recipient would pick up
"Harry?" Nikki's voice rang into his ear
"I've found Erin"
"What? Where? Is she alright?"
"She's not great but she's alive," Harry told her
"Have you called Leo?"
"We're trying to get through to him now"
"I'm coming down right away"
"Nikki…" Harry began but she had already rung off and he knew better than to argue with his wife in a situation like this
"How're you feeling now?" Harry came over to the girl who was huddled in a couple of thick blankets he had found lying about in the lab
"Go away" the reply was the same as it had ever been since he had found her
"Can I check your pulse?"
Taking her silence as a sign of consent Harry gently removed one of her hands from the blanket and took her pulse. He was pleased to calculate that it was faster than when he last took it and there was now a bit more warmth in her hands than there had previously been. He returned her arm to her and pulled the blanket closer to her to keep her warm
"I still can't get through to Professor Dalton," Charlie said coming into the room. "He's probably still at a crime scene or driving" Harry nodded to Charlie to reassure the lab technician
"At least we know this one's safe" Charlie smiled at Erin who had chosen to remain her stoic self "I'll get you a hot drink Erin"
"Thanks Charlie" Harry said on behalf of the young girl
With Charlie out of the room Harry turned back to Erin who had now chosen to curl up on the sofa he had put her on
"Do you still ache?" he asked her remembering how stiff and cold she had been when he had found her
The reply was mumbled but Harry could pick out the word 'hurts' and he gave her a sympathetic smile
"You'll warm up soon and then they'll hurt less," he told her "Give it some time and you'll be fine"
There was another muffled response but it was inaudible to the pathologist
"Leo will be here soon" he assured her
This time the reply was clear-cut and it shook Harry right to the core
"I don't want Leo…"
Nothing could have prepared Leo for what he saw when he stepped into the lab that morning. He'd been caught up at a particularly gory crime scene since the early hours of the morning and had not had a chance to return any of the calls from the lab. He had figured it was nothing more than a reminder about a coroners meeting or someone looking for a misplaced file so when he walked into the lab and saw a stressed looking Harry crouched in front of what looked like a pile of blankets, he was concerned
"Harry?" Leo called to the young man who at once looked up and seemed relieved to see him
Leo walked over to the pile of blankets, peered into the depths, and was just able to make out a body wrapped in the core. As he watched the figure closer he felt his blood run cold as he realised who it was
"Erin…" he said sounding utterly astonished
The figure squealed in distress and buried herself deeper into the blanket burrow
"I found her in the car park this morning," Harry said quietly, all the while trying to soothe the anguished Erin
"She does seem to have an aptitude for ending up there" Leo joked weakly but Harry could see the strain on his face
By now Erin was making high pitched wailing noises and was writhing around in the blankets
"Ssh…" Harry soothed the girl "Erin, Leo just wants to talk to you"
Very slowly, a face appeared from the depths of the burrow. Leo winced as he saw how gaunt and pale the face dappled with bruises was. His beautiful girl had been reduced to skin, bones and broken blood vessels. He was sure he could have pinpointed the moment his heart broke into a million shards.
"Hello" he said taking Harry's place and crouching down in front of her "How are you?"
He knew it was a stupid question to ask but he didn't know how else to start the conversation and as he had guessed, Erin didn't reply
"Have you called the police?" he asked the younger man
"I'll do it now," Harry said giving the two some time alone
"It's okay you're not in trouble," Leo said noticing how Erin had stiffened at the mention of the police "We just need to let them know you're okay"
"Leo?" a voice called and he turned round to see Nikki rushing into the lab with Alice held closely to her
"Nikki, how?"
"Harry called me" she said crouching down in front of Erin "Oh Erin…" she sighed
Alice let out a happy gurgle when she saw Erin and gently patted her on the face
"I've called the police" Harry said coming back to the group "And they're very happy you're okay Erin," he said
"Do they want to talk to her?" Leo asked quietly and Harry nodded
"But they don't want to rush it; they don't want to spook her into running away again, so they're giving us some space first"
A small sob from Erin drew their attention back to the small girl
"It's going to be alright Erin," Leo said
Alice, seeing that Erin was crying, started to grizzle as well and Nikki took her away for a moment to calm the infant down
"She missed you" Leo told them young girl "We all did, we were very worried about you"
Erin slowly moved her hand out of the blankets and slipped it into Leo's hand. It was a simple, silent gesture but it spoke volumes.
Author's note: Sorry for le short chapter but I am snowed under with revision and coursework at the moment